Well, we made it down to camp fine. We only got lost for about half an hour (which, when you read the rest of this story, you will realize was pretty much perfect), but we made it. We enjoyed our friends and our fellowship and our flaunting of our adultness. And then we were ready to go home. (Once again, some road trip, huh?!)
As the Driver-Elect, I tried to piece together the bits of directions from the other three before leaving town so that I could at least attempt to get us home in a timely manner. Once again, after the first highway it all went a bit fuzzy. So off we went.
Well, we drove and we drove. And we drove and we drove. And C complained that she needed to use the restroom. But I said, "Hold it. We're not stopping." And we drove and drove. And C complained that she needed to use the restroom. But I said, "Hold it. We're not stopping." And we drove and drove. And finally, C said that if we didn't stop at the next rest stop, then we would be having a mess to clean up in the backseat. So we stopped. We all clamored out of the car and into the rest stop. C went to the ladies' room while I consulted (for the first time, I might add) the map.
My face went pale. I know it did. I may have even wet myself a little bit. Something was wrong. The little "You Are Here" sticker on the map was NOT where we were--some little teenager must have wanted to play a trick and moved the sticker. We WERE NOT lost, we were right on track. How could the map be so wrong?! Well, soon all four of us were gathered around the huge map on the wall, staring in disbelief at our present location. You see, we were in the outskirts of Chicago. We do not live in Chicago. We do not live in the outskirts of Chicago. We do not live near Chicago. Somehow (although, it doesn't take much thought to figure out just how), we had driven about 3 hours out of our way.
All kindred spirits were left lingering around the the map as we piled back into mother's car. Everyone was verbally blaming/abusing everyone else. And guess who got the bulk of the blame? Me, the Driver-Elect. Yes, me. The thing was, I had never claimed to know where I was going in the first place. I was just trying to follow the "directions" that someone else had gotten from someone else. From the rest stop on, we didn't get lost once. After consulting the map, I knew exactly how to get home. And the map didn't fail me. We pulled into town as the sun was just peeking over the horizon.
We were all tired, livid, worn-out and we never wanted to see each other again. I'd say it was a pretty successful road trip.
If only we would have looked at the map instead of half-listening to someone give us sketchy directions. It would have saved us about 4 hours of driving and a 1/2 tank of gas. And a lot of apologies.
Gal 1:6-9 ESV
[6] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- [7] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [9] As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Paul has the same reaction that my dad had. "Why didn't you look at the map? Why were you so quick to accept the "directions" when you hadn't even looked at the map. You could have at least asked me, I've driven that route hundreds of times. I could have given you step by step directions, straight from the map. Why didn't you make sure you had the right directions?"
Remember how yesterday, we looked at how Paul was asking blessings upon the churches of Galatia? Well, this is why. He immediately goes into challenging their actions/decisions. And not just challenging them, but he's all-out pulling the drama card. He says, "I am astonished..." I can just imagine him getting all excited and his neck turning red (basically, I'm just picturing my dad's ranting when I've done something incongruent with common sense). I AM ASTONISHED!
Now, we'll get into all the ins-and-outs of his astonishment later, but lets look at what he is basically upset about: the churches of Galatia have so quickly turned from the Gospel of Christ (which he notes is founded on grace) to another gospel--as if there was even such a thing.
They weren't guilty of completely abandoning the Gospel of Christ; they weren't guilty of anything blatantly, blaringly wrong. They were guilty of practicing and following a distorted gospel. They were guilty of building a house of straw on a firm foundation. And that's just as faulty as a strong, well-crafted house built on sand.
In fact, Paul is extremely harsh towards those who distorted the Gospel in the first place. It doesn't need much explaining--if any angel in heaven or any human on earth should preach something that doesn't line up with the Gospel of Christ, LET HIM BE ACCURSED. And he doesn't just say it once, but he immediately repeats it again: LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Obviously, this Gospel of Christ is not something to be tampered with.
And this is what he's really getting at: check your directions. Weigh your instructions against the Word of God. If at any time something does not line up with the Gospel of Christ, then DO NOT follow it! By following it, you will end up in quite a different place than you had intended.
Trust me--I never want to see Chicago again.
So, what about you? Have you ever been in a situation where you are being told something that you know (or discover) goes against the Gospel of Christ? What did you do? How would you handle a situation where a spiritual leader presented you with something that "wasn't quite aligned" with the Gospel of Christ?
Just trying to get it right,
Hermeneutical Dan
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