You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” (Galatians 3:1)
In his rebuke to the Galatians, Paul references the central theme of the Gospel that he had shared with them, which was the heart of their faith: “Jesus Christ … crucified.” This was the core element of his message to them: we are saved by the work of Jesus on the cross, not by our own efforts. This is to be OUR central message too!
Paul wrote in I Corinthians 1:23, “we preach Christ crucified.”
— our message is NOT “come to church and become a nice middle class American”
— our message is NOT “health, wealth, & prosperity” will be yours if you believe
— our message is NOT “get baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues”
— our message is NOT “vote conservative Christian politics”
Paul had one primary message, everywhere he went, and to whomever he spoke — and so do we. May we be as committed to the same focus, and the same message that Paul so single-mindedly emphasized in his day: “Jesus Christ … crucified”!
