KALEO Notes: How To Be Unpopular for Christ


Introduction: If you’re going to be unpopular, you might as well be unpopular for Christ. The book of Galatians tells us how. There are three verses that are especially important.

1. The Bible is a Countercultural Book – Galatians 1:10. Here the apostle Paul admits that his biblical position on some issues isn’t going to make him popular. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Embracing biblical positions brings ridicule and hostility from the culture. For example, consider the biblical position on “sanctity” issues (the word “sanctity” means “holy, sacred, godly, the condition of being inviolable”): The sanctity of marriage. The sanctity of sexuality. The sanctity of life. The sanctity of the Gospel.

2. The Bible is an Authoritative Book – Galatians 4:30. In this verse we have a key question: But what does the Scripture say? Christians base their beliefs on this logic: There is a God. He can communicate. He speaks to us in a permanent form that can be studied and learned and passed from generation to generation and from culture to culture. This Book is inspired, infallible, and inerrant, and it is an authoritative guide to life.

3. The Bible is a Precise Book – Galatians 3:16. In this 3:16 verse the apostle Paul bases his entire argument on justification by grace through faith on the singularity/plurality of a single word recorded in Genesis (“Seed,” not “seeds.”). Likewise in Matthew 22:32, Jesus based His whole argument for eternal life on the tense of a verb. In John 10:34-35, Jesus based His argument on the use of a single word from the Old Testament. In Matthew 5:17-18, He told us that even the smallest parts of the letters are invaluable. These examples of how the Bible regards itself and how the New Testament revered the details of the Old Testament text show us the intensive and precise nature of the process of inspiration.

Conclusion: Every word of Scripture is crucial, and we should read it word-for-word.Deuteronomy 8:3 tells us to feed on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In Proverbs 30:5, we read, “Every word of God is flawless.” God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and as we learn to think as He thinks we’ll be thinking counter-culturally. But it’s a small price to pay for the abundant and eternal life He gives, and for the privilege of being right. So if we’re going to be unpopular, we might as well be unpopular for Christ.