Only a few months ago I spent some time in the home of Alan and Anne Renshaw. They were the ‘Indiana Jones’ of Elim Missions. If you knew them you were privileged. Anne will need our prayers along with their family. Yesterday morning Alan went home to be with His Lord.
Alan had been called by God to Tanzania when he was in the Royal Navy, where he had stopped off in Dar-Es-Salam. It was in 1960 that he and Anne moved as missionaries to this nation and served there for 3 years before returning to where they were originally placed in Zimbabwe. Alan and Anne (a school teacher) threw themselves into the work of evangelism, church planting and of course it was all supported by his amazing practical skills. He was responsible for not only the building of churches but also of Pastor’s houses.
Alan and Anne have always been connected to our Grimsby church having pastored there in the late 70’s. The church released them to go back to Tanzania for 6 months in 1980 and then in 1981 they returned to Tanzania until 1998 when they retired and moved back to their home just outside Grimsby. But even in retirement Alan was preaching the gospel leading a Pentecostal Church in his village. He carried the clear message.
I wanted to share all that this morning before we move into the next sentences of Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia. For it is a testimony in our day of what was written in the Apostle Paul’s time, around 40-50 AD.
“To the churches in Galatia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1 v 3-5)
Not only did Jesus call God this name, He taught his disciples to do the same and they in turn passed on that same baton which (coupled with the help of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives) we all can call God ‘… our Father’. And who is our? It is everyone who follows Jesus whether from the Jewish culture (traditional greeting is peace) or the Greek culture (the traditional greeting is grace). It is Paul’s way of speaking to everyone and he has a reason to do so, it is the gospel message. Here he summarises that gospels into 4 statements:-
- who gave himself for our sins
- to rescue us from the present evil age
- according to the will of our God and Father
- to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Here is the clear gospel message.
a) Into a world known for its idolatry and paganism where the only monotheists were the Jews and they saw every non-Jew as an idolater and sinner, comes Jesus who gave himself for our sins. This was the world, so much so that if a man wanted to leave idolatry to worship one God then they had to be circumcised to prove they were leaving that idolatrous world behind. But Jesus gave himself on the cross to defeat the powers behind such idolatry and which had such a grip on people’s lives. This is a huge message for Paul because if people are set free from idolatry because Jesus defeated the powers behind the scenes then there is nothing more that needs to be done except to live in freedom. There is no point to circumcision as a means to prove anything. Their/our identity has changed. They/we are no longer sinners.
b) Throughout Bible history up until the moment that Jesus chose to surrender his life (Passover), we have God being revealed as the rescuer. From the Exodus to Golgotha, God has rescued us, that’s what Paul saw. He sees the Passover in the shadow of the cross. Jesus is the Rescuer sent by God. David was able to say in Psalm 116:6 “When I was in great need, he saved me.” Job said in 23:10 (Amplified) “he knows the way that I take.” (He has concern for it, appreciates it and pays attention to it). He knows where you are. You may be a long way off like the Prodigal son. You may be like Moses, someone who became a-nobody. Your best days are over. Forty years ago you made the biggest mistake that altered your whole life. You may be like Elijah, running away, you’ve had enough and are asking what the point of life is. You may be like the woman who lost her husband and with that her future, her life, her security. The only thing she had in her house was a little oil. The Old Testament is full of these people needing the rescuing hand of God.
Continued tomorrow 🙂
Missions Paul 