Pastor John D Jakes

Pastor, author, husband, father (the roles keep switching day by day)

A Relationship Worth Protecting

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel. – Galatians 1:6

Desertion. That’s a pretty tough word. It brings up all sorts of thoughts of abandoned families or soldiers who abandon their posts. It speaks of failure. It speaks of giving up or giving in.

This is the word Paul uses to describe people who add something to Jesus in order to be right before God. He doesn’t just say that they are misguided. He doesn’t say that they had made a mistake. No, he says that they had deserted Jesus who had died for them.

How precious this gospel is! This is Paul’s emphasis. It is life to us. It is the only way to God. In fact, the gospel is not just a teaching to believe. The gospel is a person. The gospel is Jesus. No addition is necessary. Any addition is worse than unnecessary. It is a betrayal. Jesus and Jesus alone is how we come to God.

Our encouragement today? Protect the gospel. How? Jesus does not need our protection, but our relationship with Him needs protection from any addition. We trust Jesus alone for salvation. We live our life in and live our life for Jesus alone. Let nothing come between you and Jesus. His is a relationship worth protecting.

Something to think about,

Pastor John

Pastor John

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2 responses to “A Relationship Worth Protecting”

  1. annetteb8578136af Avatar
    annetteb8578136af

    Amen! I wish we could know what kind of ‘different gospel’ the people had turned to. This warning is very serious. It sounds like it was given to a group of believers, and that is very concerning. I’m so glad that Paul was willing to call them to attention to that in the hopes that they would turn from that back to Jesus. Thank you for this reminder today to guard our hearts in our relationship with Jesus and keep Him first!

    Blessings,

    Annette

    Reply
    1. Pastor John Avatar
      Pastor John

      The false gospel was a gospel of works. It was Jesus plus the OT law. In essence, they were trying to be more pleasing to God by following the rules. It sounds so simple and innocent, yet it distorted the good news of Jesus so much that it wasn’t the good news of Jesus anymore. Protecting our relationship with Jesus is just that important. It is Jesus alone that makes us pleasing to God.

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