How can church avoid drifting away from Jesus?
Text: Galatians 1:1-9
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2025 CrossTalk Global
Brian: The second law of thermodynamics states that left alone, things degenerate over time rather than come together. This law not only applies to physical objects, but but also to organizations, and it's called mission drift. Mission drift occurs when an organization gradually moves away from the goals outlined in its purpose statement. And it is more common than many realize, even in Christian organizations. Take the YMCA for example. When it was founded in 1636, its mission was for students to be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ. Their current vision statement, the Y is committed to partnering with young people to create stronger communities for all. When Harvard University was founded in 1692, its original model was Veritas Christo et Ecclesia, which means truth for Christ and the church. And students were advised to pray regularly and read their Bibles twice a day. Today their motto is simply Truth and no one is required to read the Bible. Mission drift has affected many organizations, including Christian ones. It occurs when a church makes its food pantry its main focus, when a parachurch ministry becomes so involved in politics that it stops sharing the Gospel, or when a Bible translation ministry adds child sponsorship and drilling wells to its outreach efforts at the expense of translating the Bible. And it even affected the churches that the Apostle Paul founded during his first missionary journey in Galatia. How can you and I safeguard our churches from the danger of mission drift? Join Kent Edwards, Nathan Norman and Vicki Hitzges today as they try to identify the non negotiable core of the Christian faith in the opening verses of the book of Galatians. Welcome to crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. I'm Brian French. Today Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges and Nathan Norman begin their discussion of the book of Galatians. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Galatians, chapter one, verses one through nine as we join their discussion.
Kent: Vicki Nathan, have you ever seen a local church or even a group of churches that have succumbed to Mission Drift, a slow moving away from their core principles?
Nathan: Yes, I've seen some mainline denominational churches where their focus is on justice, which is a good thing, but the justice overtakes the gospel and so everything becomes kind of social awareness or social interaction or hey, we have to write to our senators, we have to go to this protest that becomes the main focus And Jesus is the support system for the focus, not the main focus of the church itself.
Kent: I think in America, of the history of the Methodist Church. Back in the day, early days of America, the Methodists were missionaries. They were famous for going on horseback and sharing the gospel and planting churches. In fact, you know why they were called Methodists, don't you?
Vicki: Because of method.
Kent: Well, they were methodical in their practice of spiritual discipline. Started by John Wesley.
Vicki: John Wesley. I was going to say that, but I couldn't think of their name. Yes. And they really knew the Bible. I studied their mother, Suzanne Wesley.
Kent: Yeah, yeah. So the early days of the Methodist Church, they were given to fasting, prayer, Bible study, works of mercy. All that was highlighted in the Methodist Church. But today you'll find that the Methodist Church is largely non evangelistic and often those churches are closing and maybe to.
Vicki: Go further, don't even share the gospel, don't even know the gospel. They're socially involved, but they're not about sharing that Christ died and Christ arose.
Kent: And I'm sure this happened very gradually. Small little decisions that slowly moved them away from the core. I saw that growing up in Canada with the United Church of Canada and again, once very evangelistic, slowly moved away. The gospel is no longer emphasized and, well, it's withering, you know.
Nathan: And I think the other horrifying reality which I think afflicts a lot of individual churches and even denominations is the inward focus of the church. So the church or denomination is focused on its own preservation more so than they are on glorifying God and sharing the gospel of Jesus. Now, they would say they believe in the gospel, they say they believe in Jesus, they have all the right doctrine, but when the rubber hits the road, they're focused on surviving as an organization. So if something unjust happens within the organization, how do we spin this to save the organization rather than how do we bring justice into this situation and heal those who are hurted? That is insidious as well, where you lose focus on Jesus and it's insidious because you're like, well, this is Jesus Church. So we have to preserve his church. And that becomes more important than we have to glorify God.
Kent: Mission drift happens all too often. And that's why I'm so interested in the book of Galatians. I'm interested in this book because Paul had a personal interest in the churches in the region of Galatia. After all, he founded the four churches in Galatia in his first missionary journey. And we can all read about it in Acts 13 and 14. But this letter was written about a decade later. And Paul is writing to these churches when they are in a time of crisis. Even just in a decade. They were drifting and seriously, drifting. In fact, if you read through this book, you can see that Paul is deeply concerned. This book is full of emotion, and we're going to see shockingly strong language. And even the introductory greetings of this epistle are unique. I mean, many of Paul's epistles begin kind of. Well, kind of standard, almost generic. Do you remember how we began the book of Ephesians?
Vicki: I'll read it. You say standard and generic. He's always gracious for a guy who killed Christians. I mean, seriously, he's always gracious. He starts Ephesians by Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Kent: I mean, that's just very nice and gracious. No question. The same thing in Colossians.
Vicki: He says, paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus to God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful, brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father.
Kent: But in his letter to the Galatians, Paul takes a decidedly stronger tone, emphasizing particularly his authority.
Vicki: This is Paul, an apostle sent not by men, nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. And all the brothers and sisters with.
Kent: Me, an apostle, he says, that's who I am, sent by the Father and the Son. Wow. He's saying, you better listen to me because I really am somebody.
Vicki: Yeah. And the Father who raised him from the dead. Yeah.
Kent: That term apostle is not a generic term. I mean, many people in the New Testament are called disciples of Jesus. But from the many disciples, there is people who followed him. Jesus chose 12 and specifically named them apostles and sent them out to preach. I mean, you can see that in Luke 6:13 and Mark 3:14. But with the fall of Judas, Jesus chose Paul in Acts chapter 9 to replace him and become an apostle. John Stott made a big deal of this in his book only one way in his commentary on Galatians. Didn't he, Nathan? Yeah.
Nathan: He said the apostles had no successors, no one could succeed them. They were unique. Every Christian is a saint in the New Testament vocabulary, while no Christian today is. Is an apostle.
Kent: Wow. And he's saying, you better listen, because I have authority that comes directly from God to speak into your life. Right.
Nathan: These are people that had firsthand experienced Jesus. And Jesus himself had commissioned and given this title.
Kent: That's correct. And notice he says, I'm sent not only by God who gave me this title, but all the brothers and sisters with me. In other words, implying that the Galatians are not faithful followers of Jesus. I'm with the others. So Paul states his authority, and then he comes with a crystal clear message, doesn't he?
Vicki: It says, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Kent: So right away, as he's writing this letter, he lays down the essence of the Christian church. Grace and peace to you from God our Father, Lord Jesus Christ, who what?
Vicki: Gave himself for our sins to rescue us.
Kent: That's it. The death of Jesus was not primarily a display of love, although it was certainly a loving thing to do or a display of heroism. But it was, according to Paul, a sacrifice for sin. Right. In the very introduction, Paul is telling these people that according to be a member of Christ's church, we must recognize that we cannot save ourselves. We are not trusting in ourselves and our own good works, but we are relying solely on Jesus to rescue us from our present evil age. That's a distinguishing mark of Christianity, isn't it?
Nathan: Sure is a lot in there.
Kent: The fact is that I think all other religions that I'm familiar with exhort men to reach up to God and grasp hold of him with their own efforts. But Christianity is different. Right at the very beginning, Paul makes it clear that from the Christian faith, God reaches down to man.
Nathan: There is a good depiction of this in the Sistine Chapel, right, where Michelangelo again, God being a bearded old man. Yeah, it's problematic, but the imagery is perfect because you have God and he's reaching out with his hand. Everyone has seen this picture. God is reaching out to man and reaching out, trying to touch him. And Adam is just like, laid back, reclined, and barely has his hand extended. Like maybe.
Vicki: Yeah, it's almost like he has no energy or anything. And God has all the power, right?
Nathan: He has no energy, he's no interest. And here God is the one doing the action. God stoops down to our level to reach us. He has to because we don't care. Otherwise.
Kent: Yes, we didn't save ourselves. He rescues us from the present evil age, you know? As crosstalk works around the world, this becomes obvious as we encounter other religions. Buddhism, that's a pretty major world religion. But do you know what is the essence of their faith?
Vicki: It's reincarnation.
Kent: Hmm. So whatever a person does in this lifetime, either good or bad, determines what will happen to them in their next lifetime. Right. And if they keep living good enough lives, they keep coming back over and over again until they've eventually reached the state called nirvana, characterized by freedom from pain, worry, and the external world. So if they want to determine their future, they have to act on it on their own. No one's saving them. They have to save themselves. Islam is similar, isn't it? Yeah.
Nathan: Salvation, meaning reward in the afterlife, is only achieved through absolute obedience to Allah, the Quran, and the five pillars of Islam. And those five pillars are the affirmation, consistent recitation of, and belief in the creed that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger. Prayer, praying towards Mecca, which is their holy city, five times a day.
Kent: Wow.
Nathan: Almsgiving, which is giving 2.5% of their income to the poor. The fast, fasting from dawn till dusk every day during Ramadan, that's the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. And the pilgrimage traveling to Mecca at least once. Once in their lifetime.
Kent: Yeah. So they have to do all these things in order to get the salvation that they want.
Nathan: Yes. But I will say, according to the Quran, even if they do all of this, God is under no compulsion to actually grant them salvation from this. God could just say, meh, yeah, that's not good news. Or if they don't follow through with this, God could say, okay, so capricious.
Vicki: Oh, either way, yes.
Kent: Yeah.
Vicki: Oh, I didn't know that.
Nathan: It's fully based on what God's feeling that day?
Kent: No, the major.
Nathan: So you have no assurance of salvation.
Kent: Wow.
Nathan: There's no confidence he could change his mind and just say, no thanks.
Kent: So the major world religions emphasize human effort in order to enjoy eternity with God or somewhere pleasant afterlife. But it's interesting to me that studies are showing that even relatively non religious people in the Western world still depend on works. I mean, recent studies have shown that most people believe in an afterlife and assume that they will enjoy it if they live good enough lives. Now what that means, what that standard is, is unsure.
Nathan: Not Hitler, but not Hitler.
Kent: Yes, Better than that. I know I've done bad things, but I've done enough good things to.
Vicki: To beat that guy.
Kent: To beat that guy. And to qualify, I'm sure God will let me in. But Paul says here to the Galatians, don't fall for that grace. And Peace to you. What is grace?
Nathan: Unmerited favor. That is getting something you don't deserve. That is your child cursing you out and going out to buy them ice cream.
Kent: And peace. What does that mean?
Nathan: He's talking about peace between God and yourself. So there is no more animosity. God doesn't have something against you anymore. There is a reconciled relationship.
Kent: Grace and peace. Paul says in verse three, from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age. That's the core. That's the essence of the Christian faith. But the churches of Galatia fell into mission drift. They still believed in Christ's saving work on the cross, but they added to it. We're going to see as we move through this letter that people had come and began to teach that, yes, Jesus did die for them, but they also needed to obey the law, especially circumcision. Faith was not enough. That's why he says in such a clear terms in verses six and seven.
Vicki: And Paul says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse.
Kent: The essence of the Christian faith is justification by faith alone. So that means that the core of any church is really to be on a rescue mission for those who are lost, isn't it?
Vicki: Yes.
Kent: Sharing the gospel and discipling those who receive it so they can share their faith with others. That's our mission. And the good news of justification by faith is the defining element of the Christian church and how we make our maximum impact in the world. What Paul is saying is that has to be central or you are no longer a Christian church. You drift from that and you have failed. Wow. What does mission drift from the gospel look like today? Nathan, you alluded to this earlier.
Nathan: Yeah. The church's primary concern is for its members to fill the calendar with activities that meet our social and, I guess, spiritual needs.
Kent: And those kind of events are not wrong, right? Nope. It's good to have a Bible study. It's good to get together and have a beach day in the summer with people. That's fun. But if that becomes primary, these small, little, subtle shifts could take us away from the core, our core purpose. I think we see it when we're pleased, when we met our annual budget, pay more attention to our finances than the number of people who were baptized in the Past year. It's when we begin thinking that maybe political action is the moral cure for our nation. Or maybe when we just never kind of get around to equipping our church members on how to share the gospel with friends and neighbors. I find it interesting that I sometimes hear from pulpits, people criticizing the four spiritual laws. Remember that pamphlet that we used days.
Nathan: Ago, God loves you and has a great plan for your life?
Kent: Or evangelism explosion, which was, do you.
Nathan: Know what would happen to you today if you would die?
Kent: I hear people criticizing that as formulaic and so on and may be true.
Vicki: But at least it gets people out there.
Kent: But it was action. People were doing it. And what have you got today, you critics, that is more effective form evangelism for the culture we live in now, right? How come evangelism is not a primary focus of so many churches? I think it's fascinating in terms of mission drift to see how many churches don't take opportunities to share the gospel who are stuck in this and suffering in the present evil age in which we live. I'm amazed how often we can drive by homeless people without saying how could the church help with that? I was in Indonesia last summer and one of the things that impressed me is some of the people from our group went to prison and wanted to pray with some of the people who were there. They came back saying how excited the prisoners were to have someone care about them even though they weren't Christian. The people who went to pray with them from our team shared the gospel, had an opening. How often do we not even think of those who are incarcerated? Or how about unwed mothers who are facing a terrible choice dilemma? What to do with an unwanted child? Are we reaching out to help them? Or at least in America? How about immigrants whose families have been ripped apart and they're in stress? I'm not aware of churches who are seeing that as an opportunity to show the love of Christ and give hope to the hopeless. And in my community, living in California, we have recently had some enormous fires where thousands of people had their lives destroyed. And the response of local churches in the area, almost nothing. Some did, most did not. In the times of crisis, when people are hurting, isn't that a great opportunity for the gospel? And when we choose to do nothing, we're suffering from mission drift and we're no longer being the church. The essence of the church that Paul said needs to characterize us, that's a loss. I found it interesting to learn that back in 1992 when Bill Clinton was running for president in America. He and his advisors had difficulty identifying the main focus of his campaign. They didn't know what the core message was that they needed to convey. One of his advisors named James Carville famously said to the group, it's the economy, stupid. That famous phrase has lived on, and he won the election because of that. Because most people in America care about money. And if the government promises that, they'll respond in a similar way. If our churches are to succeed, we need to focus on our core mission. Our slogan needs to be not it's the economy, but it's the Gospel, stupid, stupid. It's the gospel that's the center of our church. That's what makes us unique. What is the message that the world needs to hear? That Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age. We can be saved because of what Jesus has done for us, not for what we do for Him. And we cannot and we will not succeed as a church. Paul is saying here, unless we keep the main thing. The main thing. The churches of Galatia gave into mission drift. And mission drift can happen to all organizations and all churches. The temptation to veer from our original purpose is real, but let's never forget it's the gospel, stupid.
Brian: People might be attracted to church picnics, classes and other social events, but the one thing Christian churches need to get across is Jesus. Death and resurrection is the only means of salvation. If we put our trust in Christ's death and resurrection, we can be saved. That's the gospel. That is the main thing. We should never veer from it. I trust that today's discussion of God's Word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers. Together, let's bring God's Word to life, to our lives. This week. The crosstalk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more or to support the work of this ministry, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. our next crosstalk events are happening in Asia and Mombasa, Kenya. Help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All you have to do is click Donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by sharing it on social media and telling your friends. Tune in next Friday as we continue our discussion through the Epistle of Galatians. Be sure to join us.
Nathan: And it is more common than many realize, even in Christian organizations. Take the ymca, for example. Their mission Drift started with that song. When it was formed in 1636, its mission was for students to be.