because of me

"And they glorified God because of me."

This is the statement by the Apostle Paul at the end of Chapter 1 of the book of Galatians. It stood out to me this morning as I was studying. I think there is a very real struggle in the life of the Christian that we desire that through the life we live, others (namely other Christians) would glorify God because of us. We struggle because this seems counter-intuitive to the life we feel called to... we are to be humble bondservants of the Lord, not a self-seeking, self-aggrandizing braggart. But, in Paul's words here, it would appear that there is a sense in which we can indeed live out our faith in a way that causes others to glorify God because of us. There is a way to satisfy this that is not only not sinful, but is worthy of the glory. These were not new-convert Gentiles, or uninformed "nobodies" who were glorifying God because of Paul, it is the churches of Judea of whom Paul speaks in Galatians 1:24.

Paul spends this first chapter reasserting to the Galatian churches who he is, and in what way he has been established as an Apostle of the truth. He feels he must repair a foundation within this church that has begun to falter in his absence, stating his astonishment that there are those among this church who are deserting the true gospel for a twisted entanglement of truth and lie. Paul is setting the stage for a treatise on the establishment of faith in the life of a believer, the wellspring of grace that erupts in the heart of the true convert, and the practical walking in the spirit that must be sought by those who lay claim to the adoption as sons and heirs of the promise. And, as he often does, he is starting by establishing himself as an example of the life to be lived by the Christian... he is calling this church to live a life so saturated by the gospel that the true Church would glorify God because of the life of these saints.

I think what Paul lays out here is one of the clearest representations of Jesus' parable of the treasure hidden in the field from Matthew 13:44 ("The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.") Paul lays out the short version of his life, and conversion in such a way that seems to parallel this parable. After recapping his persecution of the early church and establishing himself as a enemy of the faith, reminding the Galatians of who he was as he set forth to Damascus (a man walking through a field), Paul says, "But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me..." (a treasure hidden in a field, found, or rather revealed to, the man)..."I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me,"... (and covered up the treasure.)... "but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem..."

Not a lot is written or known within scripture about the time Paul spent in Arabia, and the timeline of when he began teaching in Damascus, and when he went to Arabia, or when the three years before Jerusalem is not clearly delineated. But we do have words speaking to Paul's strengthening, and deepening in understanding. In his vision to Ananias, when Jesus told the believer to go and pray over Paul, Jesus tells Ananias to go to Paul because he is "the instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." (Acts 9:15b-16). From this, it would seem possible that in his time after his conversion, in Damascus, and in Arabia, that Paul received further teaching and visions from Christ himself. Paul alludes to much as he tells the churches that he did not receive his gospel from flesh and blood but by the Spirit. Having seen the glory of Christ revealed, and being taught by the Spirit, it is easy to see how Paul, as the man walking in a field, found a revealed treasure, covered it up as not to reveal what he had found too quickly, then in his joy of coming to see the glory of the revelation, and under the teaching of Christ, understanding the cost of the field, sold all that he had to obtain the treasure. Jesus told Ananias that he would show Paul the cost of his calling, Paul, tasting of the beauty and glory of truth, sells all that he has... his citizenship, his upbringing, his education, his standing as a Pharisee, his reputation among men, the health of his physical body, the satisfaction of the flesh, material desires... he bets it all on the treasure of the field being worth it.

Paul took the truth and the beauty of the Gospel that had be revealed to him, and he poured himself out fully on the behalf of those to whom he was sent that they might see and savor the Christ who was worth everything. To drive home the validity of the visions and teachings by the Spirit that Paul claimed to have had, he did not seek out the established Apostles in Jerusalem, spending 3 years teaching and proclaiming. Even then he only sought out Peter, meeting James along the way, spending 15 days, before heading back to Syria and Cilicia. Paul makes the point here that in all of this, he did not visit or make himself known to the churches of Judea, relating to us only that it became known to him, that those churches had become aware that "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." (Gal 1:23). The zeal with which he once sought to end the teachings he saw as a threat to what he had then understood as truth had now been turned and levied into the revealed treasure of the field. The veracity with which Paul taught throughout the region, even in this early period of his Christian life became quickly recognized as something different, special, and set apart even from that of the Apostles. Not as a different faith, but as a faith that was not reserved to the biologic heirs of Abraham, but as a faith that was to be spread to the true heirs of faith, the adopted sons of the promise.

And Paul holds up this story, this redemptive Magnum Opus, to show and remind the Galatian churches (and the Church throughout the ages) that the power that brought him from death into life, the light the blinded him to the point of giving him true sight, that the blood by which he had been washed, that a life which sells all that it has so that it can lay hold of the treasure, is not done to the praise of himself, or the praises of men, but to the glory of God. Because when the churches of Judea heard that the enemy of their faith had miraculously began to preach the faith, once for all delivered to the saints, they did praise the redeemed sinner, but they glorified God for the work that had been done.

And thus, Paul starts into a practical outlaying of how we are brought into faith, how we grow in that faith, and what the end of that faith promises. Having reestablished for these believers the foundation on which their salvation rests, Paul seeks to steady the trembling house. He reminds them that the true gospel, the gospel he preached to them was not received by man, and in reminding them of where and how he received the true gospel of Christ, he points not to himself, but through himself to the Glory of God alone.

So, how do we live a life that allows us to say, "And they glorified God, because of me."?

We stand and say, "The only thing that's good in me, is Jesus". We lay ourselves open, and in the right time and place, we show the treasure we found in the field. We live a life that says that that treasure was worth everything I owned. We proclaim the revealed truth, nothing more, nothing less.