"if anybody preaches other than this, let him be damned. who's trying to win friends now?" thoughts from "An Astonishing Trade" by Matt Chandler

I adore Matt Chandler. Check out the link to him in my "axe sharpener" section below to the right.

I recently listened through the whole Galatians series as preached by the Village Church pastored by Matt Chandler. Below are some excerpts from one of my favorite messages in the series, "An Astonishing Trade" covering Galatians 1:6-9.

Click HERE to listen for yourself.


Paul is saying, "I am astonished that you would leave this and go over here, because this isn't the gospel.This doesn't set you free. This cannot work." Paul is going to tell us in the weeks to come, "Trust me, I've tried. That doesn't work." Then look at what he says next, because this is important. "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. 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."

This is bold. Crazy bold. He's going, "Listen, if I come back and tweak this message, if somebody comes from Jerusalem, if some other guy comes in here claiming to be an apostle and teaches something other than this, let him be damned. If, say, you're out in the woods and an angel appears and gives you golden tablets and rolls out another gospel, let him be accursed. There is no other gospel." This is the gospel.This is what saves. This is what delivers.

Then look at verse 10 just as we close, because there seems to be an accusation being made against Paul, and he's not having it. Look at verse 10. "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." I love this. Apparently there's an accusation being made against Paul that the reason Paul didn't tell them about circumcision (because that can't go over well to grown men), the reason he didn't tell them about the dietary laws, the reason he didn't do those things is he wanted to win friends and influence people. The accusation is that Paul soft-pedaled the gospel in order to gain converts. So Paul goes, "If anybody preaches other than this, let him be damned. Who's trying to win friends now? Because if I'm trying to win friends then I'm not a servant of Christ. If I'm trying to tickle your ears, then I do not love Jesus." So the place I want to pull you back to repeatedly between now and the end of June is this is what has been made available to you: Life to the full by Jesus Christ.