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  Good News/Bad News
An Introduction to Galatians
Background Passage Galatians Chapter 1
Focal Passage:  Galatians 1:1-10
 
 
 
 

Galatians 1:1 through Galatians 1:10 (KJV)
1Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the 
Father, who raised him from the dead;) 2And all the brethren which are with me, 
unto the churches of Galatia: 3Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, 
and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4Who gave himself for our sins, that he might 
deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our 
Father: 5To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
6I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of 
Christ unto another gospel: 7Which is not another; but there be some that 
trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But though we, or an angel 
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached 
unto you, let him be accursed. 9As we said before, so say I now again, If any 
man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be 
accursed.
10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet 
pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
 
 
Good News and Bad News For a Pastor


Good News: You baptized seven people today in the river.
Bad News: You lost two of them in the swift current.

Good News: The Women's Guild voted to send you a get-well card.
Bad News: The vote passed by 31-30.

Good News: The Elder Board accepted your job description the way
you wrote it.
Bad News: They were so inspired by it, they also formed a search
committee to find somebody capable of filling the position.

Good News:  You finally found a choir director who approaches
things exactly the same way you do.
Bad News: The choir mutinied.

Good News: Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons.
Bad News: Mrs. Jones is also wild about the "Gong Show,"
"The Simpsons" and "Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

Good News: Your women's softball team finally won a game.
Bad News: They beat your men's softball team.

Good News: The trustees finally voted to add more church parking.
Bad News: They are going to blacktop the front lawn of your
parsonage.

Good News: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three
weeks.
Bad News: You were on vacation.
Good News: Your deacons want to send you to the Holy Land.
Bad News: They are stalling until the next war.

Good News: Your biggest critic just left your church.
Bad News: He has been appointed the Head Bishop of your
denomination.

Good News: The youth in your church come to your house for a
surprise visit.
Bad News:  It's in the middle of the night and they are armed
with toilet paper and shaving cream to "decorate" your house.


 
The new Christians at Galatia had a problem within their ranks.  These young 
Christians, who were predominately Greek were faced with a crisis of faith.  
Jewish Christians who insisted upon adherence to the tenets of the Jewish faith 
as a precondition to salvation had infiltrated the ranks of the Galatian 
Christians.  These Jewish adherents were trying to say that Paul had given the 
Galatians an incomplete accounting of the Gospel
 
It’s obvious that the Galatians were in need of a preacher.  The good news, is 
God supplied them with one.  The bad news is that they wouldn’t like what he had 
to say to them.  Paul was shocked at the rapidity with which the Galatians had 
turned away from the Gospel and perverted its teaching.  In the first chapter of 
Galatians, Paul finds himself defending his own authority before he can even 
begin to defend the authority of his teachings.  The good news was that Paul had 
the authority to preach, the bad news is he was about to expose the “grumblings” 
and “groanings” of the early church.
 
The Good News – They Have A Preacher
 
When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a 
second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no 
lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was 
famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the 
woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next 
person in line.
"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of 
chicken?" 
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each 
person." 
"But I'm starved," the governor said. 
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer." 
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time 
he would throw a little weight around. 
"Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state." 
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. 
Move along, mister."
Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, Page 5-6
Before any decisions can be made, it needs to be determined who has authority 
over a situation.  For all his power as Governor of Massachusetts, this man held 
no authority over the woman in charge of the chicken.  She asserted her 
authority and trumped any claims he might have had.
 
In the very first verse of Galatians, Paul asserts his authority.  He tells us 
that he has been sent as an apostle, and presents to us his credentials.  Paul 
tells us clearly that God and no one else sent him.  James, or Peter, or anyone 
else did not send him from the Jerusalem church, but rather Jesus Christ Himself 
commissioned him
 
Having established himself as a credible authority Paul then tells the Galatian 
Christians exactly what message he had come to give to them.  See Paul was a 
forthright person, he made no apologies for what he was about to say.  In order 
to make sure that things were clear, Paul tells the Galatians in verse three 
that he had come to them to preach a message of grace.
 
I would submit to you today that we in the church need to hear that message of 
grace.  We need to understand more clearly what grace is, and the greatness of 
it.  We sing a song about “Grace, grace, marvelous grace” yet I’m afraid that if 
we look at the actions of many calling themselves Christians today we are not 
practicing that grace we like to sing about.  
 
When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day's pay for his 
time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a 
trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate 
recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But 
when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves 
no award--yet receives such a gift anyway--that is a good picture of God's 
unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.
G.W. Knight, Clip-Art Features for Church Newsletters,  p. 53
  Even Paul asserted unashamedly that the source of the grace was from God.  He 
tells the Galatian Christians in verse one, and again in verse three that grace 
comes from God and God alone. 
 
Finally, Paul tells the Galatians why he was sent to them in verses 4-5.  If the 
Galatians were to hear and heed the message that Paul is going to preach in this 
letter, then they will find themselves delivered from the present evil age.
 
 
Especially mark well the words, “for our sins.” For here our weak nature 
starts back, and would first be made worthy by her own works. It would bring 
him that is whole, and not him that has need of a physician. Not only to redeem 
us from the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; but also to recover us from 
wicked practices and customs, to which we are naturally enslaved. But it is in 
vain for those who are not delivered from this present evil world by the 
sanctification of the Spirit, to expect that they are freed from its 
condemnation by 
the blood of Jesus. 
Title:   Matthew Henrys Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible 
Author:   Henry, Matthew 
 
We, today, need to be delivered as well.  We need to be delivered from the evils 
of this world, and the message Paul gave to the church at Galatia is a message 
that we must hear as well.
 
 
The Bad News – The Preacher Is Angry!
 
The good news was that God had supplied a preacher.  The bad news was that the 
preacher intended to preach!  Not a watered down, perverted gospel of half 
truths, and legalistic mumbo-jumbo, but the pure unadulterated gospel given to 
him by Christ. 
 
 
Costly Mistakes 
A teenager worked as a florist’s delivery boy. One day he had two 
arrangements to deliver—one to a church for the dedication of a new building; 
the other to a funeral home. He got confused and took each to the wrong 
location. 
The florist received a call from an angry minister. “We’ve got a basket of 
flowers 
in the front of our new sanctuary that says, ‘Rest in Peace.”’ The florist 
replied, 
“You think you’ve got problems! Somewhere in this town there is a casket with 
flowers beside it that say, ‘Good luck in your new location.”’ Some mistakes are 

more serious than others, but perverting the gospel is the biggest mistake of 
all. 
Title:   Sermon Outlines on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians
Author:   Stone, Sam E.
 
This is the mistake that had been made in Galatia.  The gospel truth of faith + 
nothing = grace had been perverted into faith + Works = salvation.  Even in the 
early days of Christianity false teachings abounded.  Paul makes no concession 
for this teaching, and did not minimize it or pretend it doesn’t matter. 
 
We run into much of the same today with the prevalent social gospel.  It 
manifests itself as a “feel good”  “be happy” kind of emotionalism tied into a 
core of humanism, and it is out and out heresy.  Even today, a group of 
so-called moderate Baptists have written a book with a group of secular 
humanists and have alleged that the Christian “right” have been intolerant by 
our insistence that the only way to heaven is through Christ.
 
Well brothers and sisters, if that makes me intolerant then I’ll have to wear 
that label with pride, because Jesus Himself said that there is no other way.  
To say anything else is heresy.
 
The Galatian Christians were being taught that if they weren’t circumcised or 
didn’t follow other aspects of Jewish ceremonial law then they couldn’t be 
Christian.  Frankly that’s not what God’s Word says.  God’s Word tells us that 
it is by grace we are admitted into heaven.  Any other gospel being preached is 
in error and ought not be followed.
 
We have gotten wrapped up in recent years in a cloak of legalism that would do 
these Jewish Christians proud.  Paul needed to remind the early church, and 
indeed remind us as well that the only reason we can get an audience with God is 
because of His grace through Christ.
 
During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, 
construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally 
fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could 
find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net 
be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous 
cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was 
hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but were saved. 
Ultimately, all the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith 
in the net. As we paid nothing for God's eternal love and nothing for the Son of 
His love, and nothing for His Spirit and our grace and faith, and nothing for 
our eternal rest...What an astonishing thought it will be to think of the 
unmeasurable difference between our deservings and our receivings. O, how free 
was all this love, and how free is this enjoyed glory...So then let "Deserved" 
be written on the floor of hell but on the door of heaven and life.
Richard Baxter, The Free Gift.
 
The truth, as he explained later (2:15-21), is that all people—Jews or 
Gentiles—are saved by faith in Christ, not by obeying the Mosaic law.
 
 
Paul, as he states in verse 10, does not come to please men.  We would do well 
to remember this, and to remember that the gospel of Christ will be at odds with 
the world in which we live.  We cannot be all things to all people.  We must 
stand upon the truth of the rock of ages and let our faith remain firm.
 
We will see Paul’s defense of himself, and of Christ’s gospel in the next few 
weeks as we study the book of Galatians together.  At the end of the study it is 
my prayer that we will be able to both understand, and live with, grace in our 
lives.
 

Rev. Charles Mims    
Copyright ©2000 by Claim The Victory Ministries
South Peninsula Baptist Church
Daytona Beach, FL