Making God Known: Galatians 1:1-5

For anyone interested in a very quick synopsis of the background of Galatians, I put up a post but did not have it trigger an email.  That post can be found on the DFR website here.

Allowing others to sense Jesus within us is one of the greatest gifts we can give.  I love listening to a speaker weave a masterful message.  I love feeling Jesus in the spiritual acts we share with one another even more.  There is nothing greater than sensing Jesus in the very being of the people around me.

Traditionally, when Paul writes a letter, he introduces himself.  Here, he calls himself an apostle made through Jesus Christ and the God who raised Him from the dead.  The word apostle is an interesting choice; what makes it interesting is the fact that it is a far less common word than disciple.  Christians – myself very much included – love to hold fast to the identity of being a disciple of Christ.  We – again, myself very much included – tend to describe ourselves far less frequently as being an apostle of Christ.

There is something telling about this, realizing I can only speak for myself here. For me it is far more comfortable being Jesus’ disciple than being His apostle.  Being Jesus’ disciple means I get to sit at His feet and learn from the master.  I get to focus on meditating on His ways and putting them into practice in my life.  Being a disciple of Jesus means becoming more like Him, which is a very warming and comforting thought.

Being an apostle of Jesus, though, means going out into the world.  The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos (ἀπόστολος) and it literally means “messenger.”  As much as the word disciple means learner, implying I can stay in my comfort zone with Jesus, the word apostle means following Jesus outside my comfort zone.  Being an apostle inherently means taking a message into the world.  If all I ever do is study my Bible and pray, I’m being a great disciple.  To be an apostle, I need to make an impact on the world for Jesus Christ.

This illustrates a second great point in Paul’s introduction.  Why do we go out?  Through Jesus Christ, God delivered us from this present evil age.  As He has invited us into a new reality, we should invite others into the same new reality.  If we enjoy deliverance from our sinfulness, we should also enjoy other people’s deliverance from their sinfulness!  Like those first disciples who were told to go into the world and carry the message of Christ, we are given the same task.  All who follows God’s ways are disciples; only those who pick up the mantle of the Great Commission and help others become disciples are apostles.

Being an apostle doesn’t mean being an evangelist, however.  Actions speak louder than words.  It is one thing to hear Christ proclaimed.  It is another thing to feel Christ through the actions of someone near us.  Allowing others to sense Jesus within us is one of the greatest gifts we can give.