Different Motivations Produce Different Results...

This week, we have been looking at the concluding section of a letter that is recorded in our Bibles called the book of Galatians. Wednesday, we discovered that we are to vote no on religion because religion and a religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to please men, avoid persecution, and to take pride in our performance. We talked about the reality that it is not that a gospel centered lifestyle does not strive to live a life that meets a standard of faithfulness and obedience. The difference between a gospel centered lifestyle and a religious centered lifestyle is the motivation that drives their lifestyle.

Today we will see Paul reveal a second difference between a gospel centered lifestyle and a religious centered lifestyle in verse 16:

 And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

Here we see Paul explain that for the follower of Jesus who is living a gospel centered lifestyle that is driven by the motivation to please and bring glory to God by dying to a religious centered lifestyle that is driven by the wrong motivations, the result is that peace and mercy be upon them, and the Israel of God. When Paul refers to the Israel of God here, he is referring to those who compose the people of God.

While the Jewish people believed that they were in relationship with God as God’s people based purely on their ethnic heritage, Paul is revealing the reality that the people of God are those who live a gospel centered lifestyle, not a religious centered lifestyle. It is the follower of Jesus who is living a gospel centered lifestyle that will experience a state of well being with God and receive the kindness and concern of God that results in them experiencing eternal life with God. Paul then concludes his letter to the members of the churches of Galatia in verses 17-18:

 From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.

Paul concludes his letter with two statements that are addressed to two different groups of people. In verse 17, Paul addresses those who were driven by the motivation to cause trouble or difficulty for him. Paul commands those who wanted to stir up trouble for him not to do so, because he bore on his body the brand-marks of Jesus. Now this sentence, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “you might want to think twice about causing trouble for me, because that will not discourage or dissuade me. Just look at the wounds and scars I have already received, yet that has not stopped me”.

In verse 18, Paul addresses those who were driven by the motivation to support and encouraged him. Paul prays for the members of the churches of Galatia who were embracing a gospel centered lifestyle that God’s divine favor would fill the core of their being in a way that would result in their continued rejection of religion and embracing of the gospel.

Because as we have discovered we are to vote no on religion because religion results in a life that is driven by the wrong motivations. A religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to please men. A religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to avoid persecution. And a religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to take pride in their performance. By contrast, a follower of Jesus who is living a gospel centered lifestyle is driven by the motivation to please God and takes pride in what God has done through Jesus in a way that brings glory and honor to God.

So here is the question before us to consider: how have you been casting your ballot? How have you been voting when it comes to the motivation that drives your life? In living a religious centered life that is motivated to please men, to avoid persecution, to take pride in your performance? Or in living a gospel centered life that is motivated to please God and takes pride in what God has done through Jesus in a way that brings glory and honor to God?