Who are we Serving?

GracePointe Church of Christ in Elizabethtown, PA

Paul makes clear that any message or effort that seeks the approval of friends, family, spouses, and wins approval from a group of people is not the goal of the gospel. The goal of the gospel, and the goal of ministry is to serve Jesus and please God. If people approve of us, but God does not, then what good is our work. If God approves of us, but people do not, then we are being faithful to our calling. If God approves of us, and people also approve of us, then we have a community of mutual accountability in the Spirit who has brought us together. (13-24) Paul reflects on his conversion and concludes that what mattered the most to him no longer matters, and now there is a new priority! This is how Paul sees all converts of Christ, leaving behind the important defining identities of the past and rooting themselves in the new identity of Christ, which includes for Paul the Mosaic law and the practices of the Pharisees. We exchange the faith of our Fathers with faith in the Father! Paul would question the commitment of the 21st century Church because we have believed a cultural gospel that calls us to be saved but spin our stories to require little moral and ethical change. I have heard Christians tell me, “People don’t really change, so don’t expect too much.” Paul would disagree with this based on his own life story, and He begs us not to buy into this.