Galatians 2:11-14 | The Gospel & Ethics

Good evening, everyone.

It's great to see everyone.

I know the sacrifice maybe you've made,

or friends and family, and you'd like to be part of the game.

But it's just exciting to have a small group here

and to get in a really great study.

This passage really blew me away.

I'm sure maybe you've read it before,

but I think there's a lot of treasure

to excavate in this passage.

So I'm really excited to hear it again

and be convicted by Galatians.

So welcome.

It's great to be here on this beautiful day,

this wonderful, man, the weather's awesome.

Let's just prepare on this glorious day

to just come under the authority of the word of God.

Thank you, Lord, for the power of the word,

power of the gospel.

I think of, Lord, the Puritan prayer,

give me an increasing conviction of my tendency to err

and end my exposure to sin.

We come under the word of God

because we need rescue from our tendency

to get wrapped up in all sorts of waywardness.

And so we thank you that the gospel

has power to cleanse and heal us.

We thank you that we can celebrate as a church

just getting to gather again,

even in few numbers in this opportunity to just receive.

We pray, Lord, as you taught us to pray,

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread,

forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

Amen.

Feels like summer, just the heat.

I was like, wow, this is just amazing weather out there.

Well, Galatians 2, Galatians 2,

we're in this little study here.

Book of Galatians, grace abounds.

Regardless of your background, profession, age, ethnicity,

one common thing that everyone hates, hypocrisy.

And we all, let's be honest,

we all intensely dislike hypocrisy.

And it's evident in the amount that we read about it

or the amount that it's discussed on the internet.

A few articles I came across, everyone is a hypocrite.

Maybe that's just part of being human.

Or the Guardian's article,

why do people hate hypocrites?

Going on there with a little description.

Or this one, this, the psychology of hypocrisy.

Why we do it and how to stop, right?

Why is there so much disdain

and displeasure about hypocrisy?

And the article that really caught my attention

was from a psychologist, science of hypocrisy.

And he cites this Yale study from 2017, Yale University.

They discovered that people often perceive hypocrisy

worse than direct lying, right?

I mean, nobody likes a liar,

but now nobody likes a hypocrite.

That's worse than lying.

Why is this?

Well, just think about hypocrisy.

It kind of breaks the assumed

kind of social contract of trust, right?

When we meet people, we think there's kind of

this implied social contract of trust.

You're gonna trust me, I'm gonna trust you.

But we're hardwired for consistency.

And so when someone is untrustworthy,

it really, we really feel duped, right?

Or deceived, and we can be angered

and disappointed and really hurt.

And I hate to break it to you,

because of the presence of sin,

even faithful, Jesus-loving, Bible-believing disciples,

we can display traces of hypocrisy in our lives.

Looking at the gospel and ethics,

four verses, and these four verses,

they are hard-hitting, they pack a powerful punch.

And when we hear ethics, we often think of,

you know, a list of to-do, or a list of rules.

Be nice, be kind, don't lie.

But for the Christian, we'll see today

that ethics is much bigger than just your personal morality.

We'll see today it's actually a gospel issue,

especially when it comes to the topic of hypocrisy.

So in Galatians, we have these opponents of Paul,

they're the agitators, they're customizing the gospel.

And for any church then or today, throughout the ages,

major threat, of course, is customizing the gospel.

But what we'll see today,

there is in fact a more subtle and sneaky threat

to the church, hypocrisy.

When right belief is joined with the wrong behavior.

And so we have this idea to unpack today,

the gospel of Jesus not only unmasks our hypocrisy,

our hypocrisy, but it also restores us

through the grace of Jesus.

So let's see today, there's two simultaneous actions

of the gospel happening.

First, there's the unmasking, the confronting,

the exposing, which we don't like.

And the other action, the restoring, the redeeming, right?

What we do like.

And guess what?

As disciples, we need both actions.

The unmasking and the restoring.

So we're in Galatians where there's this part of the book.

Paul is defending his authority.

So we're right there at the end of chapter two.

He's defending his authority

and it's a very tightly woven argument.

Galatians is a hard argument to understand.

We're jumping into it.

And today we see there's the context and the conflict.

And then we got the contagion.

How does it spread?

And then we're gonna see what's at stake.

The third part.

Let's look at the context, the conflict.

If you remember last week,

Paul put Titus under the microscope

as this living example, right?

What happens when the gospel is lived out in real time?

The agitators were pressuring Paul

with this gospel plus approach, right?

They were pressuring him to circumcise Titus

to have him be included in the faith community.

Paul didn't give in.

But guess who Paul puts under the microscope today?

Peter.

And we wonder, does Peter pass the test?

How does Peter do?

How does he hold up the integrity of the gospel?

I won't spoil it, but let's jump in.

Verse 11, when Cephas, that's Peter, came to Antioch,

I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

Now, we're not clear why Peter came to Antioch,

but the previous paragraph, Peter was in Jerusalem.

So we can assume that he's coming from Jerusalem.

And so how did the visit turn out for Peter?

Not so good.

He comes to Antioch.

This is Paul's home church.

Remember, where's Antioch?

What do we know about Antioch?

Back in Acts chapter seven, Stephen was martyred.

Persecution happens.

People, Christians flee all the way.

They scatter all the way up 300 miles north to Antioch.

And it's the largest city in Syria, Palestine.

It becomes the center of mission to the Gentiles.

And it's the first place, do you remember,

where believers are called Christians.

And so this is where Paul and his teammate Barnabas

kind of set up shop and they have this thriving ministry.

And we don't know when Peter visits.

Luke, the writer of Acts, doesn't tell us.

So this is just from Paul's perspective.

But why does he want the Galatians to know

that something serious went down?

Why?

That's a key question.

He verbally, we see here, confronts Peter.

I opposed him, or as the message Bible says,

a face-to-face confrontation.

Remember, we're in an honor-shame culture.

That's the culture of the Bible.

And so Paul is making a bold attempt to shame Peter.

He wants Peter to rethink his ethics and his actions.

And so no doubt, someone is going to lose face.

And so Paul is beginning the honor-shame game.

And it appears Paul is coming out hot.

He is on the offense and he's causing the conflict.

Have you ever been accused

of starting a confrontation, right?

We wonder, is it okay for a Christian to start a conflict?

It is getting interesting here in Galatians 2.

Maybe you thought all conflict should be avoided

and it's bad.

Well, why does Paul want the Galatians to know

about this conflict, about this incident?

Because as we'll see, it is a gospel issue.

And who stood in the wrong?

Peter.

It says he stood condemned,

or the message, he was clearly out of line.

That means basically he was under God's judgment,

according to Paul.

That is harsh, isn't it, right?

A harsh accusation.

And so it's this kind of face-off happening.

Someone is going to lose face

and someone is going to gain face.

And remember, last week, Paul's mission

is this kind of winning back the hearts

and the minds of the Galatians.

And so he is strategically retelling

this exchange with Peter.

It's not a personal matter.

We see today, it is a gospel matter.

The agitators, they're accusing Paul

of customizing the gospel.

Last week, he put Titus out there as a living example

of what happens when the gospel is lived out.

And now Peter is the living case study.

And so it's like the Galatians are kind of eavesdropping

on this rebuke of Peter.

Remember, Peter is an apostle.

He's got great rank.

And I'm curious, maybe you're curious

if you've never read this, what did Peter do, right?

Here it is.

He regularly ate with the Gentiles before,

key word before, before his visit,

there was a point in time when he had no problem

eating with non-Jews.

But something changed, his ethics changed.

What caused the shift?

Before certain men, here it is, came from James.

Now I'm personally frustrated with Paul

because I wish Paul was clear.

We don't know exactly.

Are these the same people as the agitators

or the false brothers that he talked about earlier?

Not totally clear.

I wish he could have been a clear,

but how did Peter respond?

However, when they came,

he withdrew and separated himself

because he feared those from the circumcision party.

Now just pause here because we have a conflict

over food and eating.

Why is this a big deal?

Today, as you know, we casually and regularly eat meals

with all sorts of people.

We don't understand the significance

of what eating was like in the ancient world.

So we're crossing cultures.

They just didn't sit down and eat with anyone,

but sharing a meal, and I think maybe many cultures today,

Asian and Eastern cultures, it's a very sacred event.

It's a solemn event.

It's much more than eating meat,

having vegetables, eating hummus.

This is about solidarity and unity.

It's a way to break down the social boundaries.

And so they would come under the blessing

of the master of the home.

And so ancient Jews, they would live out their faith

by following the Old Testament food laws.

But remember, also in those centuries before Jesus,

there were all these other traditions that developed.

One of the Jewish writings, not in the Bible,

but this was, again, showing us the custom of the day.

Jews were not to eat with Gentiles,

for their works are unclean.

And so this kind of tradition,

on top of the Old Testament food laws,

it would put up a thick and clear wall

with the Gentile world.

Now, not every Jew thought it was necessary

to avoid eating, but certain men

that were hanging out with James did.

And they believed it was wrong and dangerous

to eat meals with Gentiles.

Now, we know in Antioch,

it was a city of ethnic diversity.

Remember, Jerusalem was largely mono-ethnic.

Jerusalem then would be like today,

Japan or South Korea or Vietnam.

These countries have over 85% of one group.

Jerusalem was like that.

Antioch would be much like San Diego, very multicultural.

There's ethnic diversity.

So Antioch was diverse.

Also, it had a large Jewish population.

So jump into the sandals of someone back then

in the Jesus community,

you're in this very cosmopolitan city.

It was the first multi-ethnic church

and you got Jews following Jesus.

And then you've got Arabs and Romans and Syrians and Greeks.

And eventually, what did these people do together?

They start to break bread and eat.

And what happens is you've got a segment in the church

that's concerned.

And what do we know about this crew?

James's inner circle, right?

Again, I wish we knew more

because Paul doesn't call them agitators.

He's a little bit more respectful.

He says the men from James.

Now, unfortunately though,

they're not eating with outsiders.

And so this is kind of a,

I think a sore embarrassment on the part of James.

He's kind of influenced by this approach.

At any rate, this clique or the James gang,

they've come to town and they are persuasive

but winning over hearts and minds.

After all, who did they win over?

Peter.

We see his ethics changed.

He withdrew.

So what does that message send by not eating?

You're a second-class Christian.

That's what it communicates.

You're less than, right?

You're not really equal in Christ.

And so the Gentile believers, that's non-Jews,

when they saw the withdrawal,

can you imagine what you'd feel like?

You'd feel like you're an outsider.

You're not really in the group.

You're on the fringe.

Maybe you've felt like that,

perhaps even as a Christian in the church,

you're just not quite accepted.

Now, maybe you're wondering, Peter, my boy, Peter,

didn't he know any better?

How could he do this?

Remember, this is not Peter's first rodeo.

Acts 10, remember our study in Acts?

Peter's conversion story, not his first conversion of faith,

it was his second conversion

when he converted from having a prejudice.

So it was a conversion of belief or ethics.

As a faithful Jew, he was horrified of eating unclean food.

And remember what happened?

The vision from heaven, all the food,

unclean animals coming down from heaven.

At first, Peter's confused,

but then he realizes, he kind of puts it together.

God's changing the Old Testament food laws.

God's breaking down the ethnic barriers.

Salvation is for everyone.

And then after that supernatural experience, what happens?

Remember, he meets Cornelius, Acts 10,

who's a Roman soldier, and he converts.

And what happens?

Peter says, yeah, we're one in Christ, we're equal.

But that was Acts 10.

So now we've got eight or nine years have passed.

And what happens?

The Antioch incident.

Really, Peter?

He relapses into his old thinking or his old behavior.

And what does he become?

What we all hate, a hypocrite.

And maybe you're wondering,

why did he change his posture?

Paul tells us.

The same reason that we change our ethics.

It is a four-letter word, incredibly powerful,

that shapes all of our lives, fear.

Notice here, because he feared those

from the circumcision party,

or the NLT Bible, afraid of criticism.

So what is this a fear of?

It is a fear of man.

Have you ever considered how powerful fear is?

It caused Peter to do a big 180 switcheroo in his ethics,

and that is called hypocrisy.

So hypocrisy comes from this ancient word

in the Greek culture that would be used

to describe an actor.

An actor would hide behind a mask,

and they would play a different role in the drama.

And so they would conceal their true feelings,

thoughts, and behaviors,

and they would come under the guise of someone different.

And so, for example, when you fail

at practicing what you believe,

you're masking your true convictions.

Therefore, you're playing a part that's not really yours.

And so, as I mentioned earlier, in our society,

even non-Christians in the secular world,

sorry, I was just noticing someone walking around up there.

Even someone in the secular world, right?

Non-Christians have a disdain for hypocrisy,

but for the Christian, why is it wrong?

Why is it sin?

Because it's a form of lying, a form of deception.

Actions contradict belief.

Now, don't misunderstand.

This is not just failing to live out what you believe.

We all do that.

And that's not hypocrisy.

That's not what Peter did.

It's knowing what's right.

It's knowing a conviction.

Peter knew.

Jews and Gentiles, he knew.

They were one in Christ.

And then he does what?

He willfully puts on a mask, and he covers up,

and he hides those convictions,

and he violates the previous manner of living

that he knew was right.

So here's the first application.

Every person infected by sin, so that's everyone,

can be infected by hypocrisy.

Peter walked with Jesus.

He walked on water.

Three times he had the rooftop vision.

I mean, impressive credentials, right?

Impressive.

But as the saying goes, even the best of men,

like Peter, are only men at best.

I mean, if we met Peter today, if he was here,

I mean, we'd all be super impressed by his boldness.

We'd say, hey, you lead the small group.

You preach.

I mean, you do everything.

I mean, hardly Peter would not be the guy.

We'd say, you know, this guy,

he's gonna become susceptible and be influenced

and give in to the fear of man.

But what do we know about the human condition?

We know in Proverbs here, the fear of man is a snare

or a dangerous trap, but trusting in the Lord,

he is protected.

So this snare is people-pleasing, is approval-seeking,

and this is what hinders and hides our faith conviction.

And so if the fear of man is an invisible trap

and it caught Peter, let's face it,

can't it catch us as well?

And this is why there is a danger of hypocrisy,

why it should, I think, scare us and really humble us,

because it's not just doctrine alone.

It's not just belief alone that protects us.

It's not just knowledge.

It's not just having more Bible knowledge

that is like 100% guaranteed to safeguard us.

I mean, Peter had truth.

Peter had doctrine.

Peter had experience.

But there's another dynamic at work

in which it seems he minimized the danger

of this insidious enemy that's lurking

beneath every decision we make, the fear of man.

Or maybe in common language, we could say peer pressure.

That's the fear of man.

And so why do we give in?

Why did Peter give in?

Well, it appears that there was a short-term gain, right?

It was advantageous in the short term.

He feared the undesirable outcome, right?

Disapproval, judgment from the men of James.

And so when we fear an undesirable outcome,

we begin to fear the people

who are gonna help create that outcome.

Peter feared the reaction of disapproval

from the men of James.

And so that fear crippled him,

and therefore he wanted to avoid that undesirable outcome,

and therefore he ended up becoming a hypocrite.

Short-term gain.

He alleviated the disapproval of man

or the condemnation that would come.

And so for us, what about us?

We don't seek approval from the men from James,

but make no mistake about it, right?

We all long for approval.

And so maybe you can think about some areas of your life now

where you want approval from colleagues,

from a peer group, from a boss maybe.

We will do maybe some things that we're not proud of

if we give in to that fear of man,

where we go against our conviction.

Our longing for approval is why it's so easy to be two-faced

and to play act and to cover those convictions.

And if that is not bad enough,

that all of us like Peter are susceptible and vulnerable,

can fall prey to hypocrisy.

Unfortunately, it gets even worse

because secondly, hypocrisy becomes contagious.

Here's the contagion.

Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy.

Wow.

And get this, even Barnabas, my boy Barnabas,

he was carried away by their hypocrisy.

So here's Antioch, hypocrisy is like a virus

and it's spreading.

When you think about what we know about viruses,

you know, the experts that study viruses,

they say viruses need direct contact, right?

You touch that contaminated surface

or you're in proximity to the respiratory droplets, right?

The virus needs human interaction for survival.

And like a virus, hypocrisy or duplicity,

it searches for the right environment.

And once it's found, we can say it goes viral,

spread and infects others.

And so who gets infected?

I mean, someone we would never imagine falls,

Barnabas, Peter and Barnabas.

I mean, of all the people,

of all the heroes we could say in the early church,

I mean, surely Peter, surely Barnabas.

I mean, come on, these guys,

they must have built up an immunity,

some kind of resistance against hypocrisy.

But what Paul is lamenting to the Galatians

is in fact, that they didn't have immunity.

Barnabas was Paul's own advocate as we saw last week,

leader, he's not a new Christian.

He had no immunity

and he helps lead the Antioch church astray.

Now, how can we relate?

Because on one hand, the book of Galatians,

it's a difficult issue because what they faced

in the early church over Jewishness stuff,

that exact issue, that's not our issue today.

I mean, food laws and circumcision,

this isn't what we struggle with in the church today.

It's not our culture, it's not our custom,

but on the other hand, the issue at Antioch,

it has been repeated throughout history

because the Antioch hypocrisy,

it was motivated by prejudice, right?

I mean, think about it.

And this is really the whole kind of problem

in the New Testament,

because it was a Jewish Christians, right?

Jewish Christians were putting their own interests,

their own status, their Jewish identity,

their Jewish heritage,

they were putting that above the gospel integrity.

And doing that for a Christian is hypocrisy.

And so when we look at church history,

what we know, we know the reason for many conflicts

and divisions have occurred

because Christians in history

have been more deeply influenced by national interest

or racial identity more than gospel convictions.

And so for example, if we identify

or if Christians identify ourselves as American Christians

or British Christians or Chinese Christians

or German Christians,

and these kind of become badges or identity markers,

they can easily become more important

than being a mere follower of Jesus

and that being your identity.

You see, that's what Peter cared about.

He cared more about his Jewishness than gospel integrity.

And so for us, it's likely not Jewishness,

but what will replace the gospel and your identity.

There's gonna be other things

that we replace gospel identity with.

So ultimately we see what's at stake.

We see the gospel witness.

Here's the second application.

Even when we stay in step with the gospel,

it's easy to fall out of step.

Peter, the apostle, his lifestyle,

it was in step with the gospel

until it wasn't, right?

Barnabas, he was in step with the gospel

until Peter came out of step and so did he.

So here we see it.

But when I saw verse 14,

that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel.

So Paul, he's not quick to react.

He's very slow.

He's kind of watching the gospel train

begin to go off the tracks.

How does he see this?

They're deviating or the NIV.

They're not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.

Or I like the ESV.

The conduct was not in step.

So they were in step with the gospel until they weren't.

And this is interesting because here we have

the pillars of the faith,

and by extension, us disciples,

we can fluctuate.

Our walking can fluctuate.

It can waver.

It can oscillate.

It can change.

And what's at stake?

It's not about different approaches or ministry styles,

but it is gospel integrity.

And what is Paul compelled to do here?

He says, I told Cephas.

Now, if you close your mind and you just imagine,

I mean, imagine this scene unfolding.

I told Cephas in front of everyone.

I mean, really?

Like he didn't wait to kind of have a private conversation

with Peter over coffee.

I mean, he waits to confront Peter

in the presence of the Christian community.

Everyone needed to know that Peter was in step

until he wasn't in step.

So this is a public confrontation.

And I mean, who likes public confrontation?

I mean, we avoid it really at all costs.

I think often today we think it's a no-win situation.

Everyone involved, no one's gonna win, right?

I think why we avoid conflict,

especially as Christians.

But for Paul, this is remarkable.

I mean, you probably read Galatians.

Did you ever notice this?

Because it's gospel integrity

and the community is being affected,

according to Paul, there are times when it's acceptable

and it's necessary to have public correction.

It's remarkable.

Now, it is confusing when he says what Paul says here,

little confusing.

If you, remember, he's writing to the Galatians.

I'm sorry, he's telling the Galatians this, what he said.

If you who are a Jew live like a Gentile, Peter,

and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles

to live like Jews?

Now, what does all this mean?

I think he's kind of saying, hey, Peter,

at first, remember, it was no problem

that you ate with non-Jews.

And remember, Peter, you lived with total liberty,

but now you're doing a big hypocritical switcheroo.

And so you're robbing non-Jews of the freedom that you had.

I mean, Peter, don't you see?

You're robbing them of the freedom that you had.

And so this word freedom here, we'll see this,

the end of the letter, chapters five and six,

this is another aspect of the gospel, the freedom we have.

And so he's saying, hey, Peter,

why do you get freedom and they don't?

You know, hey, Peter, remember the sermon you preached

back in Acts chapter two, that was about 17 years ago.

It's how you're acting in line with the gospel

you preached way back then.

He's saying you're out of step, out of step with the gospel.

Imagine for a moment, a marching band.

I don't know, has anyone ever been in a marching band

when you were younger?

I never did, but from what I understand,

marching band, right, everyone stays in step

with a conductor or the drum major.

And what they do is they watch the conductor

and there's this flick of the wrist, I guess,

the conductor does, and it's this singular gesture

that dictates the control of the pulse

of all of the drum beats, right, and the rhythm.

I mean, phenomenal when you think a marching band

can have up to 400 people,

and it's through one conductor's action

and keep the rhythm with precision, right, with timing,

you know when to lift your foot, plant it, turn,

you follow the singular gesture of the drum major

to keep everyone in step with the same rhythm.

But what happens if one drummer

kind of misses the beat, right?

Even just a fraction, fraction, you're off a little bit.

It makes a huge difference, right?

What happens?

They hear a different sound,

so they try to shift and compensate,

and so that poor listening, it's gonna affect others,

because eventually, other people are gonna follow

that new rhythm, and it's no longer aligned

with the original rhythm or beat.

This is what happened at Antioch.

They started off hearing clearly.

They started off hearing the singular drumbeat

of the gospel with clarity, with precision, with unity,

but then Peter, he mishears,

and he's only off by a fraction.

I mean, he's not talking about heresy.

He's not denying Jesus.

He's just off by a very small fraction.

Nevertheless, there's devastating consequences,

because now there's this new rhythm,

and our boy Barnabas, he begins to hear it,

and he follows, and so now they're off course

of, you know, the original drumbeat of the gospel.

It's still there, but there's this new rhythm

that has been introduced, and so they're out of step

with the original beat of the gospel,

and so our challenge as believers is,

do you know when you are out of step with the gospel?

I mean, it's not a massive denial here of Jesus

and these big things, big deviations,

but we see with Peter, it was just a small fraction off.

It's a minor step that had huge implications,

and maybe it's, you know, in your life,

it's just looking for approval from other people

or just having areas of pride.

These areas, we must see,

where are they out of step with the gospel,

and so we need God's Spirit to hear his voice

on identifying that.

Now, perhaps you're wondering

what happened between these guys?

Like, what's the end of the story?

Did Paul win the honor challenge?

Did Peter and the others, did they stop,

and did they rethink their ways?

Now, again, a little frustrated at Paul

because in Galatians, he doesn't tell us what happened,

but we know shortly after this, Antioch blow up,

we could call it.

Maybe, I think it's like one year, two years,

Acts 15 happens, the Jerusalem council,

and Peter and James, we see,

if you haven't read it, go read it today,

Peter and James, they come around

and they're in unity with Paul.

It's a beautiful thing,

and so what does this tell us about hypocrisy?

Well, the gospel, it unmasks, it exposes,

but hypocrisy does not have the end of the story.

It's not the final word.

The good news is that the gospel, it confronts,

it exposes, but it doesn't leave us condemned.

It doesn't leave us hopeless.

It restores us by the grace of Jesus,

and here we have the last point.

I think my favorite, help with our hypocrisy

comes from God's helpers.

You see, the gospel is not just the message we believe,

it's the tempo that we follow and we walk together,

and so how do we stay in step with the gospel?

Yes, it's God's word.

Yes, it's God's spirit through the conviction of the word,

through the conviction of the spirit and correction,

but there is another resource.

Look around in our small gathering.

Move your head a bit.

Yep, you're looking at God's helpers.

Who did God send to Peter and Barnabas?

Paul.

God's plan, he could have used other methods,

but his plan was to orchestrate a helper to come

to deal with their duplicity and hypocrisy,

and so why do we need help from other helpers?

Because we know our nature has been corrupted

by sin, Romans 8, and so we have, I hate to admit it,

but there's this gravitational pull toward hypocrisy,

but we're not left hopeless.

Hypocrisy doesn't have the last word.

The gospel also restores.

How does it happen?

How does restoration look?

It's through God's word.

It's through God's spirit, but it's through community.

Look around.

It's God's helpers and other people who are not here

that are brothers and sisters, and so God lets, as we see,

God lets Peter and Barnabas, he lets their lives

interact with Paul to keep in step.

Now, before, let me just pause,

because this is a big warning,

before you leave in a moment here

and you're quick to go, I'm gonna go help someone,

I've been wanting to say this to someone,

let Christ help you first, right?

We all need to face up with our own proclivities

toward people pleasing, our own proclivities

toward duplicity and pride and hypocrisy

and practical legalism, and so when we personally

and experientially, right, discover afresh

in our own lives our hypocrisy,

that hypocrisy in our own lives does not have

the final word, and we can turn to the resource

that the risen Christ gives us, right,

his spirit, his power.

How do we get those resources into our lives?

Well, it's through confession, right?

It's through repentance, it's through admitting to Christ

that we've gone astray, that we've fallen prey

to hypocrisy, and then this beautiful thing happens

that you know, you've experienced it, right?

The touch of Christ and the restoration

from Jesus himself by his grace.

Let me ask, how long has it been for you

since you've experienced that kind of touch

from the risen Christ?

Maybe it's been a while.

Maybe you've doubted that turning to Christ

and really pressing into him to receive his grace

and forgiveness when you fall, when you struggle,

maybe it's been a big, long season of absence.

Maybe you've doubted.

Well, the proof we all need of the power

of Christ's touch to restore,

well, take your Bible and flip to the pages

my Bible's over there, of first and second Peter.

First and second Peter was written by a big time hypocrite.

Peter has a stained track record, right?

To name a few, I mean, we know Peter,

three denials of Christ, he was overconfident,

he was a coward, he caved in under pressure,

he was arrogant, I mean, he scolded Jesus.

He lacked vigilance, he fell asleep

when Jesus was in the garden, he was impulsive,

he cut off someone's ear,

and then we have the whole Acts 10 prejudice issue,

he was unwilling to eat with non-Jews,

and then to round things off, as we've seen today,

the Galatians 2 incident at Antioch,

Peter's reputation is full of prejudice and hypocrisy.

And yet after all that, think about it,

God has the audacity to not only restore Peter,

but to use this former hypocrite included in Holy Scripture.

Isn't that amazing?

And maybe it's not just God's audacity,

but perhaps it's just because of God's amazing

and scandalous grace, right?

To use broken vessels that have cracks of all sizes,

failures of all magnitude,

and flaws that appear beyond redemption,

yet when we are truly touched by the Savior,

Peter's the example, his infectious grace, right?

His loving kindness, his mercy,

it just flows into our lives,

and it carries us along into restoration,

and 1 and 2 Peter is a great example of that.

And so listen, as we end,

what qualifies you to move to someone

to be God's helper in their lives,

it's not because you aren't a hypocrite,

and it's not because you're perfect,

or you never make mistakes, or you never fear man.

In fact, you're qualified, and I'm qualified,

and we're qualified because you are a hypocrite,

and you make mistakes, and you give into the fear of man,

and you have people-pleasing tendencies.

Listen, as you are a hypocrite,

here's the thing, in your hypocrisy,

you have been, and are being,

and will be continually touched by the Savior,

touched by his grace, and as you continually,

and as we continually experience

the grace of the risen Christ,

and his forgiveness, and his love and kindness,

his compassion, right, as we experience it firsthand

in our failures, his compassion and restoration,

that's what compels us to move towards other people, right?

Because we want others to experience

the same grace that we've experienced in our lives.

As we learn to walk in step with the gospel,

and feel that joy, don't you wanna help others

experience that joy, and walk in line with the gospel,

or as Paul would say in Colossians and Ephesians,

to walk worthy of the gospel that you have received.

So who's God gonna bring you this week to help?

As the worship team comes up, let's pray.

Who's God gonna bring you in your life to help this week?

And the flip question, the flip side,

who will he send to help you?

We are needed in the lives of others, but we are also needy.

We need to help others, but we also need his help

in our lives, and we need his helpers

to deal with our hypocrisy, our pride, our people-pleasing.

May the Lord help us with whatever method,

and whoever he brings, whoever he sees fit to help us

keep in step with the gospel for his glory and our good.

Let's pray.

Lord, I am thankful for this little four-verse section,

where if we're honest, we can relate greatly.

I'll be the first to admit.

Peter, his failures, and Barnabas giving in,

but there's something beautiful

what's happening in these pages,

where we just see the power of the gospel

and the grace that we all desire.

We just see it on display.

We see what happens after failure,

the unity that can come, the grace that restores.

And I just pray, Lord, for myself

and for this small group gathered here,

knows maybe you are gonna listen to this at some point.

We would just press in to the grace that you wanna give.

Maybe we're too afraid to receive

because of our hypocrisy, our shame, guilt,

our duplicity, our arrogance.

Lord, give us a great spirit of humility

to receive all that you want to give us.

Lord, when we look at the pages of 1 and 2 Peter,

we'll hear his words of a mature man of faith,

but we also know his troubled past.

And that, Lord, brings us great encouragement in our lives

as we desire to walk worthy.

Maybe there's a thing in your mind right now

that's coming to the surface.

Just take a minute and just pray that through with the Lord

in the area that's come to mind

where you've been a hypocrite and said one thing

because you believe another thing.

I don't know what it is, but let's just take a minute

and let the spirit of God work in our lives for a moment.

We're together and just continue to come under the power

of the word and just the spirit moving.

Let's just take a moment

and let the Lord search each of our hearts.

Amen.