There’s Righteousness for YOU! Galatians 2:11-21 (#4)
Paul and Peter
Galatians 2:11-14 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Paul & Peter – both raised Jewish, both Christian leaders, both high profile
God spoke to Peter (Cornelius) & Paul that Gentiles did not to adopt Jewish culture
Single Issue Voters
· Galatia – circumcision
· Antioch (Gentile trade route 1st place XN’s) – diet Daniel (no Lord’s Table, church life)
Fear of man – “from James” = offshoot of Jesus brothers ministry (Acts 15:24)
Peter caves in & changes his relationships to avoid pain
· Hypocrite – e.g. wedding ring off
“false brothers” – Peter & Barnabas joined
Serious conflict – “face to face” – (may have met privately)
7 Leadership Lessons
- Culture is what you teach and tolerate
- Culture is driven by law-fear-hypocrisy; or grace-love-repentance
- God works through unity, Satan works through division
- Wolves cannot gather sheep, so they attack shepherds to get sheep
- Stuff rolls uphill, not downhill
- People follow their leaders which is why leaders are held to higher standards
- Pain is the price of leadership
2 Cor. 11:24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
6 Lessons for all Christians
- Your behavior can change your beliefs
- Christ displaces all other allegiances (e.g. nation, race, culture, gender, political party, etc.)
- Mature Christians are not perfect Christians and to change too – 2 Peter 3:15-16
- To disapprove of people God has approved of is sinful – 2nd degree separation
- God is not just saving individuals, but making a family
- Grace is not just or your relationship with God, but your relationship with others as well
Justified by Faith
Galatians 2:15-16 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
How can you be justified?
“justify” 8X Gal; 15X Rom.
Declared righteous (opposite condemned)
God perfect person, heaven perfect place, you are imperfect.
God is Holy. We are sinful.
Option 1 – What I do “works of the law
Non-Religious
I’m perfect the way I am (God made me this way)
God isn’t looking for perfect people, just good people & I’m a good person
Religious
God Judge
Books of the Law – 613 laws; OT – “torah” 203X + 423 other words for law 626
Jesus – spirit vs letter Law
Arrogance – Pharisees – killed God/Jesus; Paul – killed Christians
Despair
Justification
Catholics – baptism, works, penance, saints, purgatory, indulgences
Protestant – justification by grace alone thru faith alone because of Christ alone
John Calvin “the principle of the whole doctrine of salvation and the foundation of all religion.”
Martin Luther justification is the issue on which the church stands or falls
“The Epistle to the Galatians is my Epistle; I have betrothed myself to it; it is my wife.”
“the battle-cry of the Reformation,” and “the Christian Declaration of Independence”
Option 2 – What Jesus did – “Faith in Christ”
Faithfulness – of Jesus Christ
Faith – your trust in Jesus Christ
= your faith is worthless unless the object of faith is faithful.
= Luke 18:9-14
God Works for You, In You, and Through You
Galatians 2:17-21 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
God’s Work for You (Justification)
Jesus took your place in His life, death, resurrection
God’s Work in You (Regeneration)
HS new you like Jesus
Gods Work through You (Sanctification)
OLD status (crucified); OLD identity (crucified); OLD lifestyle (crucified)