A Series of Questions and a Story...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter in our bible called the book of Galatians which revealed the reality that the members of the churches of Galatia had been mesmerized by the false message of religion by the Judaizers and were buying into their form of religion. Yesterday, we saw Paul harsh confronting the members of the churches of Galatia for their stupidity and foolishness of their decision to abandon a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle. Paul then began to ask a series of questions that were designed to expose the foolishness of their decision to abandon a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle. Today, we will see Paul ask some additional questions, beginning in Galatians 3:4:

Did you suffer so many things in vain-- if indeed it was in vain?

Now the phrase “suffer so many things” usually refers to suffering as a result of persecution. However, this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, is also used to refer to positive experiences, which is what Paul is pointing to here. When Paul uses the word vain, this word refers to something that is without success or result. Paul is asking the members of the church of Galatia “Did the evidence of God’s activity through the Holy Spirit that you saw and experienced make no difference in your lives that you would still think that you needed to do things for God to be right with God?” Paul then hammers his point home with a final question in verse 5:

 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Paul finishes exposing the foolishness of the members of the churches of Galatia’s decision to abandon a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle with a final question: “So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”. In other words, Paul is asking “So then, How did God demonstrate His activity among you? How was God’s transformational power revealed to you? Did God demonstrate His activity among you in response to what you did for God? Was God’s transformation power revealed to you because you kept a list of rules for God?  Or did God demonstrate His activity among you that rescued from your rebellion because you responded to the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life? Wasn’t God’s transformation power revealed to you because you placed your confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel?”

Paul here is reminding the members of the churches of Galatia that they were rescued from their selfishness and rebellion and became followers of Jesus that received the Holy Spirit not because of what they did for God. Instead they were rescued from their selfishness and rebellion and became followers of Jesus that received the Holy Spirit because they had responded to the Holy Spirit’s activity by believing and trusting in the message of the gospel that they heard. Their rescue was revealed not by their activity for God, but by the Holy Spirit’s activity as God. Paul then continues confronting the members of the churches of Galatia for the foolishness of their decision to abandon a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle by pointing to an example from history. Let’s look at that example together, beginning in verse 6:

Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

Now to understand why Paul would even mention Abraham here, we first need to understand who Abraham was and his significance to the Judaizers. You see Abraham was the father of the Jewish people. He was the George Washington of the Jewish nation. Abraham was viewed with the utmost respect by the Jewish people. Abraham was the head of the Jewish people’s family tree. So this question would have grabbed the attention of every Judaizer who was reading this letter. As we previously discovered in this series, the Judaizers taught that to become a Christian, one must follow the Mosaic Law’s standards and become circumcised. In essence, they were teaching that to become a Christian, you first needed to become a Jew. The Judaizers were legalists who advocated a faith plus works basis for salvation. In other words it was what you did for God plus trusting God.

And it was the Judaizers who were mesmerizing the members of the churches of Galatia to abandon a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle. So Paul is addressing very people who were objecting to the idea that rescue from selfishness and rebellion was based on what God did for us instead of what we do for God. The very people who viewed God’s right rescue from rebellion by faith in Christ as nullifying the teachings of the Old Testament and as being worthless and irrelevant.

Paul responds to the Judaizers who were advocating a false gospel message of religion by pointing them to a story that is recorded for us in the very first book of our Bibles, called the book of Genesis. In Genesis 15:6, after God makes an amazing and seemingly impossible promise to Abraham that he would have a child in his old age and that his descendants would be too great to count, Abraham had a decision to make. And that decision involved how he was going to respond to God’s promise.

Paul reminds the members of the churches of Galatia that Abraham responded to God’s promise by believing God’s promise. Now the word believed here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, is the same word for faith. It conveys the idea of entrusting oneself to someone in complete confidence. Abraham placed his compete confidence in God and God’s promise. Abraham confidently trusted that God was a promise maker and that God was a promise keeper.

And as a result of Abraham’s faith, as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise, it was reckoned, or credited to him as righteousness. To reckon or credit literally means to put credit to ones account who has no credit or account. God gave credit to Abraham, who had no credit or standing before God. And what God gave Abraham was righteousness. Now, as we discovered last week, a simple and accurate definition of this 50 cent word is that righteousness is the quality or state of being right.

Paul’s point is that as a result of his confident trust in God’s promise, Abraham was given credit by God as being right with Him. Abraham was not rescued from selfishness and rebellion because of what He did for God. Instead Abraham was rescued from selfishness and rebellion because he placed His confident trust in what God said He would do for him.

Paul then reveals the timeless truth of this story to the members of the churches of Galatia in verse 7 by explaining that throughout history, it is not what we do for God that makes us right with God. Instead Paul reveals the reality that that those who place their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel follow the example of Abraham and are thus rescued and in a right relationship with God, just like Abraham. 

Friday, we will see Paul point to another story involving Abraham to hammer his point home…

Mesmerized by the False Gospel of Religion...

During this election season, we are looking at a letter in the Bible called the book of Galatians. This week I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And in this next section of this letter, we will see Paul change the direction and the tone of his letter. You see, up to this point, Paul has been sharing his story and defending the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that he had been proclaiming. This week, however, we will see Paul shift the focus off of himself and onto the members of the church at Galatia. And as Paul makes this shift, we will see him reveal for us another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. So let’s look together as Paul makes this shift in Galatians 3:1:

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

Now I wish Paul would tell us how he really feels.”You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” What is so interesting is this phrase “who has bewitched you” literally means to hypnotize or exert an evil influence through the eye. Have you ever heard the phrase “to give someone the evil eye”? That phrase comes from this word. Apparently, the members of the churches of Galatia had been mesmerized by the false message of religion by the Judaizers and were buying into their form of religion.

Now this sentence, if communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this: “You stupid, foolish Galatians. You are acting like idiots. Who has hypnotized and manipulated you into abandoning the message of the gospel that I had so clearly proclaimed and that you seemed to so clearly understand? How is it that you could be so easily influenced to embrace the false gospel of religion?

After harshly confronting the members of the churches of Galatia for their stupidity and foolishness, Paul proceeds to ask a series of questions that were designed to expose the foolishness of their decision to abandon a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle. We see the first question revealed for us in verse 2:

 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

To understand the question that Paul is asking here we first need to ask and answer the question “What does Paul mean when he asks “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?”  The Spirit that Paul is referring to here is the Holy Spirit. When a person places their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, the Holy Spirit indwells, or takes up residence, in their lives. Paul is asking “How were you rescued from your selfishness and rebellion? How did you begin your life as a follower of Jesus?” As we have previously discovered in this series, the works of the Law refers to the deeds that the Law, which are the first five books in our Bibles, commanded the Jewish people to do. The phrase “by hearing with faith” literally means the hearing that is called faith.

So this question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “I just want to understand one thing from you: How did you begin your new life as a follower of Jesus? Were you rescued from your rebellion so that you received the Holy Spirit because of what you did for God? Or were you rescued from your rebellion so that you received the Holy Spirit because you placed your confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel?”

Paul here is reminding the members of the churches of Galatia that they received the Spirit and became followers of Jesus not because of what they did for God. Instead they received the Spirit and became followers of Jesus by responding to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that they had heard by believing and trusting in the message that they heard. And that reality leads Paul to ask the following question in verse 3:

 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

In other words Paul is asking “are you that foolish? Are you that stupid? How big of idiots are you guys!” I really wish Paul would let them know how he really felt. But what does Paul mean when he asks “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” If Paul was here this morning asking this question, he might have asked it this way: “You who began your new life as a follower of Jesus as a result of the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life, are you actually trying to live out and grow in your relationship with Christ in the power of the flesh”? When Paul refers to the flesh, he is referring to our old nature that is dominated by the evil and destructive power of sin.

So Paul’s point here is “If your old nature apart from God that is opposed to God was unable to rescue you from your selfishness and rebellion by trying to do things for God, then what makes you think that you will be able to experience a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus by trying to do things for God in the power of your old nature that is opposed to God? That is stinking thinking. That is just idiotic.”

But, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, how often do we try to do the exact same thing that these early followers of Jesus were doing? How often do we live our day to day life by saying “God thanks for saving me by faith in Jesus, but I’ll take it from here”.

Tomorrow, we will see Paul ask a third question…

We Are To Vote No On Religion Because Religion Can Only Reveal The Problem...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter in the bible called the book of Galatians, where two of the greatest leaders in the early church, became engaged in a major conflict over living a religious centered life instead of a gospel centered life. Wednesday, Paul revealed the reality that there is nothing that any human being can do that can cause us to be not guilty when it comes to having a problem with God. And that, as we previously discovered, is the definition of religion. Religion is man’s attempt to do things for God in order to be right with God. The religious centered people of Paul’s day then accused Jesus of being a patsy that was used by sin in order to cause people to fall into sin. Paul responded to this accusation with the strongest negative response that is possible in the language that this letter was originally written in. Today, we will see Paul provide the reason why Jesus is not the agent of sin and reveals who is responsible for sin in verse 18:

"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.

To understand what Paul is communicating here, we first need to answer the question “what is being rebuilt that was once destroyed?”  Paul actually provides us the answer to this question in verse 15, when he stated “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus”. Paul here is revealing for us the reality that Jesus life, death, and resurrection tore down and destroyed the Law as the means by which one was to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God. Jesus destroyed that it was what you did for God that made you right with God.

However, if we try to rebuild what we, through faith in Christ destroyed; if we try to live a religious centered life that calls for faith in Christ plus works for God in order to be right with God, Paul says we prove ourselves a transgressor. In other words, we demonstrate and provide evidence that we are guilty of having a problem with God as a result of our selfishness and rebellion.

Paul reinforces this reality in verse 19: "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.” But what does that mean? Paul’s point here is that it was the Law that showed him his need for rescue and forgiveness that could not be obtained through the Law, but only through faith in Christ. It was the Law that revealed his selfishness and rebellion. It was his inability to follow the Law, his list of religious rules that revealed his desperate need of rescue. And it was his inability to keep the Law and his list of religious rules that drove him to Jesus. This is why Paul says what he says next in verse 20:

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."

Now if you were to ask me to pick a single verse that serves to drive how I live my day to day life as a follower of Jesus, Galatians 2:20 would be that verse. Paul is explaining that he has been crucified with Christ; in other words Paul is saying “I no longer place my confident trust in what I do for God to make me right with God. I place my confident trust in what God has done for me through Jesus death on the cross for my selfishness and rebellion. I do not experience eternal life with God because of what I did for God but because of the fact that I have Christ as Lord of my life. And I live my day to day life in a state of devotion to Christ based on my confident trust in Christ, who loved me and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat me as though I lived Jesus perfect life”.

Paul then unpacks the reason that a gospel centered life that was driven by His trust in Christ was the driving motivation for his life in verse 21. When Paul uses the word nullify, this word literally means to reject something as invalid. Paul explains that he does not reject God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world as being invalid, because if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. When you see the word righteousness in the Bible, here is a simple and accurate definition of this 50 cent word; righteousness is the quality or state of being right. Paul’s point here is that if a person was able to be right with God based on what they did for God by keeping a list of religious rules, the Jesus Christ death would be without purpose. Jesus death makes no sense; Jesus death would be in vain and would be needless if I could live a religious centered life and be right with God.

And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is that we are to vote no on religion because religion can only reveal the problem. Paul’s point in this section of the letter is that while a religious centered life can reveal the problem that you have when it comes to a relationship with God, a religious centered life does not provide the solution to the problem that you have with God. Religion can diagnosis the problem of our selfishness and rebellion, but religion cannot treat or cure the problem of selfishness and rebellion.

The winter of 1997 was an extremely active time in my life. I worked a high energy job as a probation officer supervising prison bound teenagers. I worked out six days a week. I played on an extremely competitive flag football team that finished 16^th in the nation in our division. I was also playing in a city basketball league. In late January I tweaked a hamstring that just would not get better.  I hit a plateau in my workouts and just felt tired. So, naturally, I assumed that I was tired because I was too busy, so I decided to take a week off of working out and just be a couch potato.  During that week, I lost 15 pounds and my vision went from 20/15 to 20/50. I was always hungry, always thirsty, and always going to the bathroom.

On a Sunday afternoon, I went to play basketball with some friends, but could hardly see the rim; everything was blurry. And I began to freak out; what is wrong with me. On the advice of some friends, I went to an urgent care facility and explained what was happening to me. The doctor on duty explained that I was not to eat anything for the rest of the day or that evening, and then they would run a test the following morning to try and diagnose what was wrong. The next morning, I went and took the test. That afternoon, I discovered that I had been diagnosed as a diabetic. The blood test revealed the reality that I was gravely ill and would die without intervention.

But here’s the thing, while the blood test revealed my problem, the blood test could not solve the problem. While the blood test diagnosed my problem, the blood test could not treat my problem. And that is exactly how a religious centered life functions. A religious centered life that follows a list of rules can reveal our problem; a religious centered life that follows a list of rules can diagnose the problem.

Religion reveals the problem because every human being on the planet ends up breaking a rule on their religion’s list. Even when we try to make up our own religion, we end up breaking a rule on the list. Religion can reveal and diagnosis the problem of our selfishness and rebellion, but religion cannot provide the solution or cure the problem of selfishness and rebellion.

It is only the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that can provide the solution or cure the problem of selfishness and rebellion. The message that reveals that God responded to our selfish rebellion and sin by sending His Son Jesus, God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. The message that provides the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that we were created for not by what we do for God, but by placing our confident trust in what God has done for us by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

So where are you placing your confident trust when it comes to having a right relationship with God? In living a religious centered life that trusts in what you do for God by keeping a set of religious rules? Or in living a gospel centered life that trusts in what God has done for you through Jesus.

Sharing A Story to Reveal A Similar Error...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter to the members of the churches of Galatia that shares the story a major conflict that occurred between Paul and Peter, who was the undisputed leader of the twelve closest followers of Jesus and the early church. When some Jewish followers of Jesus from the church at Jerusalem came to Antioch Peter began to withdrawal and hold himself aloof. Peter separated himself from the Gentile followers of Jesus. Peter stopped mixing and mingling with the Gentile followers of Jesus. Peter stopped attending their BBQ’s. Instead Peter only hung out with Jewish followers of Jesus at their BBQ’s and only ate Hebrew national hot dogs. Paul explained that Peter’s change of behavior, combined with the influence that he had as a leader, resulted in every other Jewish follower of Jesus at Antioch following his example. Paul explains that the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy.

A hypocrite is someone that says “here is the message and teachings of Jesus, and you need to follow them, but I am not going to follow them”. A hypocrite is someone who fails to follow the message and teachings that they impose on others. And that is exactly what Peter had done in Antioch. Previously, Peter clearly and accurately communicated and advocated for a gospel centered life and lifestyle that was based on faith and that strove to follow the message and teachings of Jesus. But now, Peter was clearly communicating and advocating a religious centered lifestyle that was based on faith in Jesus plus keeping a list of rules in order to be right with Jesus. Today, we will look at Paul’s response to Peter, which we see in Galatians 2:14:

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

When Paul saw that Peter was not being straight with the gospel, when Paul saw that Peter was beginning to distort the message of the gospel in a way that resulted in a religious centered life instead of a gospel centered life, Paul responded by confronting the undisputed leader of the Christian movement in front of the entire church. You see, this was not an open handed issue that was open for debate. This was a closed handed issue regarding the essence of the message of the gospel. Is the gospel faith in what God has done through Jesus? Or is the gospel faith in Jesus plus works for Jesus? And since Peter’s distortion of how the gospel is to be lived out had impacted the entire church, Peter needed to be confronted in front of the entire church.

Paul confronts Peter about not being straight with the gospel by asking him a question. This question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Peter, if you, being a Jew who grew up as a religious person trying to follow a list of rules to be right with God, but now have embraced a life that is freed from religion and instead follows Jesus by faith, if that is who you are, then why are you trying to make these non Jewish people, who are trying to follow Jesus by faith, live a life that follows a list of religious rules in order to be right with God? Peter, why are you trying to make these people follow a list of religious rules that you yourself have said do not need to be followed in order to be right with God?”

While Paul does not tell us how Peter responded, we know from Acts 15:3-30, that Peter responded to Paul’s confrontation and question by being straight with the truth of the message of the gospel and a gospel centered life. You see, Paul shared this story with the members of the churches of Galatia not to focus solely on what Peter had done. The reason why Paul shared this story was to bring the focus on what the members of the churches of Galatia were doing, because the members of the churches of Galatia were acting just like Peter had acted in Antioch. Paul wanted to use the story of his confrontation with Peter to address the similar error that was occurring in Galatia. We see Paul transition to the addressing the error in verse 15:

"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;

At first glance this seems like an arrogant statement, doesn’t it? It is as though Paul is saying “We Jews by nature are better than those sinful Gentiles”. However, Paul is not contrasting Jews and Gentiles in terms of non-sinners and sinners. Paul is contrasting something all together different. This sentence, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today would have sounded like this: “We, as Jews are insiders when it comes to living religious lives while the Gentiles have always lived irreligious lives”.

You see, the Jewish people, as a culture, had always tried to follow a list of religious rules in order to be right with God. By contrast, the Gentiles, as a culture, were irreligious people. Paul here is contrasting the religion of legalism that the Jewish people had embraced with the religion of license that the Gentiles embraced. Paul then takes that contrast and exposes the problem with a religious centered life in verse 16:

nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Now, word justified here was a legal term that means to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God. The works of the Law refers to the deeds that the Law, which are the first five books in our Bibles, commanded the Jewish people to do. Paul is saying “since we know that it is not what we do for God that results in us being declared not guilty of having a problem with God, even we have left a religious centered life. Even we, who were formerly trying to do things for God in order to be right with God, now recognize that it is only by placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus that we can be declared not guilty of having a problem with God.”.

Paul then makes a powerful statement to hammer his point home: “since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” Paul’s point here is that there is nothing that any human being can do that can cause us to be not guilty when it comes to having a problem with God. Notice that Paul does not say some flesh; he says no flesh; no human being is able to earn their way into Heaven by what they do for God. And that, as we previously discovered, is the definition of religion. Religion is man’s attempt to do things for God in order to be right with God. Paul then continues by responding to a potential objection in verse 17:

"But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!

Now this objection, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Does the fact that we have placed our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus instead of what we can do for God in order to be right with God mean that Jesus is an agent of sin?” Sin here refers to the destructive and evil power of selfishness and rebellion that causes us to do things that hurt God and others. The religious centered people of Paul’s day were accusing Jesus of being a patsy that was used by sin in order to cause people to fall into sin. Paul responds to this objection with the strongest negative response that is possible in the language that this letter was originally written in.

Tomorrow we will see Paul provides the reason why Jesus is not the agent of sin and reveal another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion…

Flip-Flopping Into A Major Conflict...

During this election season we are going to look at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament in our Bibles today called the Book of Galatians. As we have looked at this letter, we have been reminded that whether or not you would consider yourself active or inactive in politics, you cast your ballot every day in an election that has far more at stake that who will be the leader of the free world for the next four years. Every day, we cast a ballot in this election for one of two candidates. Either you cast a ballot to vote to live your life as a religious-centered person; or you cast a ballot to live your life as a gospel-centered person. And we have discovered that this election has been going on for thousands of years.

This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week, where we are given a glimpse into a conflict that occurred between two men who played a major role in the early church. And it is in this conflict that we will see Paul reveal for us another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. We are given a glimpse into this conflict in Galatians 2:11. Let’s look at it together:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

Paul begins this section of his letter to the members of the churches of Galatia by sharing with them the story a major conflict that occurred between himself and Peter, who was the undisputed leader of the twelve closest followers of Jesus and the early church. This conflict is recorded for us in another letter in the New Testament of our Bibles, called the book of Acts, in Acts 14:26-15:2. After his first missionary journey, which resulted in the gospel being proclaimed and the churches of Galatia being planted, Paul returned to Antioch, which was his base of operations, and began to share all that God had done through himself and Barnabas.

Peter, who also had been used by God to share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel with the non-Jewish world, came to visit Antioch and rejoiced at the evidence of God’s activity. However something happened between Peter and Paul the resulted in Paul being in open conflict and opposition with Peter. Paul states that Peter stood condemned. In other words, Peter was convicted of wrongdoing. Paul then reveals exactly what Peter did that resulted in him being condemned in verse 12:

For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

To understand what is happening in this story, we first need to understand the characters in the story and define some words. When Paul refers to the coming of certain men from James, he is referring to Jewish followers of Jesus who were from the church at Jerusalem. Gentiles were non-Jewish followers of Jesus who did not follow the Jewish dietary laws. The party of the circumcision refers to Jewish followers of Jesus in general.

Now that we know the characters in the story, let’s look at the story. When Peter first came to Antioch, he was mixing and mingling with the members of the church at Antioch, which was primarily composed of Gentiles. And as Gentiles, these followers of Jesus did not follow the Jewish dietary laws; they enjoyed BBQ ribs and pulled pork sandwiches. And Peter was hanging out and eating some pulled pork and BBQ with them.

However, things changed when some Jewish followers of Jesus from the church at Jerusalem came to Antioch. Paul explains that Peter began to withdrawal and hold himself aloof. Peter separated himself from the Gentile followers of Jesus. Peter stopped mixing and mingling with the Gentile followers of Jesus. Peter stopped attending their BBQ’s. Instead Peter only hung out with Jewish followers of Jesus at their BBQ’s and only ate Hebrew national hot dogs. Paul explained that Peter’s change of behavior, combined with the influence that he had as a leader, resulted in every other Jewish follower of Jesus at Antioch following his example. Paul explains that the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy.

Now to understand what Paul is communicating when he uses the word hypocrisy, we first need to understand what the word hypocrisy actually means. Unfortunately, the charge of hypocrisy is often thrown around like a grenade at followers of Jesus, usually in an inaccurate manner. The word hypocrisy, in the language that this letter was originally written in, means to join in playing a part or pretending. The word hypocrite was used to describe someone who was an actor in the Greek theatre. In our culture today, we would refer to such a person as a poser. A hypocrite creates a public impression that is at odds with ones real motivations.

So, to be a follower of Jesus who strives to follow the message and teachings of Jesus, yet sometimes falls short, is not to being a hypocrite. A hypocrite is someone that says “here is the message and teachings of Jesus, and you need to follow them, but I am not going to follow them”. A hypocrite is someone who fails to follow the message and teachings that they impose on others.

And that is exactly what Peter had done in Antioch. Previously, Peter clearly and accurately communicated and advocated for a gospel centered life and lifestyle that was based on faith and that strove to follow the message and teachings of Jesus. But now, Peter was clearly communicating and advocating a religious centered lifestyle that was based on faith in Jesus plus keeping a list of rules in order to be right with Jesus.

Tomorrow, we will see Paul reveal how he responded to Peter…

How the Gospel Leads to Unity in Community...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Galatians. Wednesday, we saw Paul share that he had traveled to Jerusalem in order to meet in a private and special meeting with the influential leaders of the church at Jerusalem because he was concerned that the gospel that he was publicly proclaiming to the non-Jewish world would cause division among those who were Jewish who were becoming followers of Jesus. Paul’s fear was the there would be a Jewish Christian Church and a Gentile Christian Church.

Paul was concerned because of the sneaky and shady dealings of a group of people known as the Judaizers. The Judaizers were attempting to bring followers of Jesus away from the gospel and to the religion of legalism. And we saw Paul reveal for us the timeless reason that we are to vote no on religion because results in division. Where Paul and the early leaders of the church at Jerusalem had unity when it came to living a gospel centered life the Judaizers were intent on creating disunity and division. The Judaizers were intent and bent on removing the freedom that comes for a gospel centered life in order to enslave people in the religion of legalism.

Today, we will see Paul’s response to those who wanted to live religious centered lives instead of gospel centered lives in verse 5:

But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In other words, Paul, Barnabas, and Titus held their ground. They did not compromise the message of the gospel; they gave no quarter; they refused to submit; they refused to tap out to those who were advocating a religious centered life. For Paul, Barnabas, and Titus, this was a closed handed issue; there was no room for debate. And as the leaders of the church at Jerusalem listened to the debate, they needed to come to a conclusion about how they were going to respond to this debate. Paul records their conclusion for us in verse 6:

But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—

Well, that sounds kind of sarcastic and condescending, doesn’t it? Paul’s point here is not to be sarcastic; Paul’s point here is that this debate is not an issue about pleasing men. This is not an issue of winning an argument or earning the favor of men. This is not an issue of being on the right side among men. This is an issue about being on God’s side, because God shows no partiality. God does not play favorites; God is not concerned about fairness; God is concerned about rightness. And Paul wanted to be right with God. Paul continues:

well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.

Paul’s point here is that the leaders of the church at Jerusalem did not add anything to the message of the gospel that he was proclaiming. The leaders of the church at Jerusalem did not add a list of rules to claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Instead, they did something else, which Paul records for us beginning in verse 7:

But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor-- the very thing I also was eager to do.

Here Paul shares with the members of the churches of Galatia, and followers of Jesus throughout history, that James, the half brother of Jesus who was now the Senior Pastor at the church of Jerusalem, Peter, the first among equals and leader of the twelve disciples, and John, the disciple who Jesus loved, all recognized that Paul had been entrusted with the same message of the gospel that they had been. These three men recognized that Paul was an Apostle that was being used by God to advance His Kingdom mission in a new direction. These three men recognized that God was at work in Paul’s life to bring the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to the remotest parts of the earth, just as God had been at work in Peter’s life to bring the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to Judea and Samaria. These three men recognized that God’s grace, or God’s transformational intervention and activity, was evident in Paul’s life.

And these men responded to what they recognized in Paul by giving him the right hand of fellowship. These three men put out their right hands, embraced Paul’s right hand, and said “you are one of us. We want to live in a close association with you and partner with you in God’s kingdom mission. We are united with you and share in the ministry and mission that we have been given. Just keep in mind and think about how you can engage the poor. Please minister to their pressing needs of the poor so that you can show them the love of Christ and their profound need for Christ”. Paul concludes by explaining that he was zealous to do that very thing. Paul, Peter, James, and John were on the same page. They were united in the vision, the mission, and the ministry that they had been given. They were united because that is what a gospel centered life does. A gospel centered life results in unity.

That is why we must vote no on religion. We are to vote no on religion because religion results in division. Any time we move from living gospel centered lives to religious centered lives, the result will be dissension and division. Dissension and division because we move away from a life that is centered in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to a life that is centered on the claims and rules of man-made religion.

So, are you allowing religion to cause division? Or are you allowing a gospel centered life to unite you in the mission and ministry we have been given in community with one another?

We are to vote no on religion because religion results in division...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Galatians. Yesterday, we saw Paul share that he had traveled to Jerusalem in order to meet in a private and special meeting with the influential leaders of the church at Jerusalem so they could consider the message of the gospel that he was proclaiming. Paul was concerned that the gospel that he was publicly proclaiming to the non-Jewish world would cause division among those who were Jewish who were becoming followers of Jesus. Paul’s fear was the there would be a Jewish Christian Church and a Gentile Christian Church.

Paul was concerned that the message of the gospel that he was publicly proclaiming would divide the church and thus hinder God’s kingdom mission. Paul had been running; he had been striving and exerting himself to spread that message. And Jesus had sent Paul down to the leaders of the church at Jerusalem to consider that gospel message to ensure that there would be unity and not division when it came to the message and mission of this new movement called the church. Today, we will see Paul reveal what happened after the leaders of the church at Jerusalem considered the message of the gospel that Paul was proclaiming in verse 3:

But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

To understand what Paul is communicating here, we first need to understand what circumcision is and its significance to the Jewish people. Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves removing the foreskin from the male genitals with a surgical knife, or in this case, a knife made of stone. The reason that circumcision was so significant was that circumcision was a covenant sign that identified the Jewish people as being God’s people. Circumcision was an outward sign was done in order to demonstrate an inward commitment and relationship to God. Circumcision was a religious act that was required to be performed under the Law so that you would be able to be identified as being right with God as part of the Jewish religious system. Circumcision was something you did for God in order to be right with God.

By contrast, in the Jewish culture of the 1st century, an uncircumcised person was viewed as being in a state which was not right with God and not identified as being part of God’s people. And since only Jewish people and those who converted to Judaism were circumcised, that meant that all of the Gentiles who Paul had been publicly proclaiming the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to were uncircumcised.

So the question on the table for Paul and the leaders of the church at Jerusalem was “do Gentiles who hear the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel have to do anything more than believe, trust, and follow Jesus to receive forgiveness and experience the relationship with God that they were created for?” In other words, is it what you do for God that makes you right with God? Or is it by trusting in what God has done for you that makes you right with God? Or is it a combination of the two?

So when Paul explains that but not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, he is revealing for us the reality that both Paul and the leaders of the church at Jerusalem agreed that both Jews and Gentiles received forgiveness and experienced a relationship with God the same way. Paul is revealing the reality that the gospel is not about what we do for God in order to be right with God. Instead the gospel is all about placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. However, there were some people who crashed the party, so to speak, with a different point of view, which Paul reveals for us in verse 4:

But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

When Paul refers to the false brethren here, he is referring to a group of people known as the Judaizers. Now the Judaizers taught that to become a Christian, one must follow the Mosaic Law’s standards and become circumcised. In essence, they were teaching that to become a Christian, you first needed to become a Jew. The Judaizers were legalists who advocated a faith plus works basis for salvation. In other words it was what you did for God plus trusting God. In addition, they denied Paul’s authority as an apostle and leader.

Paul explains that these Judaizers were brought in to the meeting in a sneaky and shady manner so that they could spy out and gather intel on Paul and the message of the gospel that he was proclaiming. Paul explains that they were spying out the liberty that they had in Christ. When Paul uses this phrase, he is referring to the freedom that the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel provides from the slavery that comes about from attempting to do things for God in order to be right with God by keeping a list of rules, in this case being the Law, which were the list of commands in the first five books that are recorded for us in our Bibles today.

Paul then reveals the motives behind the sneaky and shady dealings of the Judaizers. The Judaizers were gathering intel in order to bring us into bondage. Now this phrase literally means to enslave or reduce someone to slavery. The Judaizers were there to attempt to bring followers of Jesus away from the gospel and to the religion of legalism. And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is that we are to vote no on religion because religion results in division. Where Paul and the early leaders of the church at Jerusalem had unity when it came to living a gospel centered life the Judaizers were intent on creating disunity and division. The Judaizers were intent and bent on removing the freedom that comes for a gospel centered life in order to enslave people in the religion of legalism.

Now you might be thinking to yourself “how can you say that the gospel brings unity while religion results in division? Look at all the different denominations within Christianity; how does that show unity? If you that question is running through your mind, I want to let you know that is a great question to be asking. And here would be my response: while there are a great many denominations within what we would call Christianity today, there is great unity among what I would call gospel centered churches.

In other words, churches that center their ministry and mission in a gospel centered way have unity among one another and within their churches. Mark Driscoll communicates this truth with this word picture: Just as the United States has many different state boundaries that unite under the constitution to form the United States, gospel centered churches may have different state boundaries when it comes to minor doctrinal differences, but are united under message of the gospel.

Now here is my question back to you: when it comes to a religious centered life; when it comes to attempting to do things for God in order to be right with God by keeping a list of rules, who gets to make the list? And who decides which list is right? You see religion results in division. Whether it is the religion of legalism or the religion of license, there is some list to follow that is made by man and that is disagreed on by man. That is why we have so many religious systems and worldviews in the world. And, that is why, in most cases, much of the “division” that we have within churches and with denominations is caused by people who want to live religious centered lives instead of gospel centered lives.

Friday, we will see how Paul responded to those who wanted to live religious centered lives instead of gospel centered lives