THE GOSPEL CENTERS IN THE PERSON OF JESUS

This is the second major point that Paul made in Galatians. As you read through these first five verses, notice how much the material is devoted to defining Jesus. We've already dealt with verse one which claims that Jesus was sent from the Father and the Father raised from the dead.

But now look at the statements about Jesus in verses 4 and 5. He gave himself for our sins (4). He rescues us from the present evil age (4) and don't miss the fact that glory is to be ascribed to Him. To me it's significant that the letter closes with the fact that Paul's glory is in the cross.

Let's go back for just a moment to the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. There came an occasion when Jesus asked the apostles to go on a retreat with him. He took them to an area known as Ceasarea Philippi, away from the crowds, away from the noise, away from the winds of controversy and he dealt with the fundamental question of his identity. It was a watershed moment in their relationship. He asked, "Who do people say that I am?" They didn't read papers or watch Tom Brokaw, but they knew what folks were saying. "Some say John the Baptist; some think your Elijah; some think you're Jeremiah or maybe one of the other prophets." Then the test question. It was crunch time - time to fish or cut bait. "But what about you? Who do you say?" Was there a pause? Did the sweat break out on their faces? Did they wonder if they would be ridiculed for their honest answer? I don't know. I just know that Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

We still struggle with the question of identity.

• We had a Broadway play a few years ago that identified him as a "Superstar"

  - a sort of first century John Wayne or maybe Mark McGwire, but he wasn't into the kind of adulation and fan devotion that characterizes celebrities.

• Some see him as a social revolutionary leader of the downtrodden.

  They point to the fact that he ate with sinners and publicans; that he angered the religious establishment when he chased them out of the temple. He was a kind of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and Ralph Nader all rolled into one. He did identify with the poor and the downtrodden, but he was also interested in repentance and correct living and you don't find much of that among social revolutionaries.

• Others portray him as a master teacher, a philosopher of the finest ranks, a competitor to Plato and Aristotle.

  Certainly his teachings were profound, but not to be classified along side Plato and Aristotle. Even the officers of the temple knew that. They said, in John 7:46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does,"

• Still others view him as a great humanitarian, to be compared to Mother Theresa, Florence Nightingale or Albert Schweitzer and Jesus did have compassion for the poor.

  In Luke 4:18-19 " . . .he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." But in the end, the great commission that was issued to the apostles was not to go out and do good works; it was to preach the gospel.

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