Not Through Man – 05/01/2016

WARNING: PREACHY

¹Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man,

but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—…

(Galatians 1:1)

I have noticed that many people today are not as opposed to the idea of God as they are the reality of having to go to church.  Let’s face it, church can be jab-me-in-the-eye-with-a-stick boring at times.  Even if it isn’t “boring” it can often be little better than a stage show that could have been missed all together.  I’ve experienced this myself so I know it’s true.

I had coffee with a friend this week and we talked about the filling of the Holy Spirit of God in a person’s life, the reality of the Spirit of Jesus residing in Christians.  We discussed the very real problems that exist in the church as we men try to determine the reality of one man’s filling or not.  We agreed that while we might have problems among our churches as we men try to assess such things, and all that matters is what has transpired between the man and God.  The manifested reality of God’s Holy Spirit in the man’s life will be evident even if that evidence is different than what we men are looking for.

This discussion is important in light of St. Paul’s introduction of himself in his letter to the Galatian church.  In chapter one and verse one Paul identifies that he was an apostle, but not because men said so.  The credentials which made him an apostle were because God, alone, said so.  Paul continues and points out how it was God who met him and drastically changed his life.  He had a very real external and internal experience with God by which he transformed into the apostle he was.  It mattered not what man thought, it only mattered what God knew.

So what’s the point? 

The point is that there is a difference between going to church because someone tells us to go and being a part of the church because we have had an honest to goodness experience with the God of the universe and the Spirit of Jesus now resides in us.  We go to church not because of man but we are a part of the church because Jesus rose from the dead.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

(1 Corinthians 3:16)