Galatians: The Gospel Says Something Different

So we're working through Galatians, and this is a letter to Galatia, these people, the Galatians, is to a church, and Paul is writing them because this is a church that has reverted.

Right?

That's the word is reverted.

They've reverted back.

They've reverted from a grace path, the Jesus way, back to a merit path or to law.

And that's what's occurring here.

So you um you remember how you had a particular route to Kroger?

It was your route.

It wasn't the best route, but it was your route.

You've been driving it for years.

It was just your route.

It wasn't a great route, it had some traffic.

There's three red lights, there was a railroad track, there's an ugly development of a strip mall, there was a questionable club that your kids asked about.

It was the route you took.

You just kept taking it.

And then a friend rode with you one day, and the friend gets in the car and says, Oh, no, no, no, don't go that way, go this way, turn this way.

And then all of a sudden you're on this different route, and it's the National Forest, and there's no red lights, there's no railroad track, there's no ugly development, there's no questionable club.

I mean, it's wonderful.

And it was even it was even faster.

It was amazing.

And you get to Kroger, you go, that that's that's my new route.

That was unbelievable.

I can't believe that.

For the next few months, that's your route.

You're driving all the time, praise the Lord.

I mean, you're going through the you are worshiping through the forest.

I mean, it is it is wonderful.

It's so good.

And then one day you get in your car and you get it, you crank up, you get your phone, but you're on the phone and it connects to your Bluetooth, so you're hands-free, and you start, but you end up on the you end up on the old route.

Just by default.

You just sort of ended up back that way, and you went back that way.

Ah, I'm about halfway through.

Wow, what am I doing?

But you just kept going that way, and you get to Kroger, and then you come back out of Kroger and you weren't on the phone, but you just ended up driving home the same old way that wasn't as good, and then you just kept going back that same way.

Right?

You reverted, right?

You reverted.

You had you had a better way, you reverted back to an old way that wasn't as good.

I mean, that's what it means to revert.

To revert means you went back to a way you used to go, even while you knew of a better way, right?

That's what it means to revert.

We all know about this.

You reverted to a former way of life even though you knew the better one.

And we all do this because we start out the new year and we say, enough with the late night snack.

I'm only gonna eat celery for my late night snack, right?

That's what you say.

And then you pick up a little carton of Ginny's ice cream, brown butter, almond brittle, right?

You know what it is, maybe.

If you don't don't know what it is, it'd be good for you.

And it gets in your house.

And once it's in your house, you go, it's only an afternoon snack, is what that is.

I'm not gonna eat it late at night.

And then sure enough, one night you're depressed about yourself and your life.

Celery's not gonna help that, but that brown butter almond brittle will solve your problem at least for those five minutes.

And so you get that jug out and you start into it, and it's so wonderful.

And by the end of it, it is gone, right?

You reverted.

We know this, we do it with all sorts of things.

That's what it means to revert.

We know about revert, and we we revert because we're stubborn, we revert because we're selfish, uh, we revert because we're forgetful.

We we we just we revert because we're not perfect.

That's why we revert.

And in Galatians 2, Paul's calling these people out because that's what they did.

They were on a path of law, and then they get this grace path, but then all this pressure, religious pressure, comes in on them from these Judaizers.

This is the name of the group.

They're trying to make non-Jews who became Christians look like Jews who became Christians, and these Jews who became Christians had gone back to the law, so let's impose law on this other group that was leaving way too free and put it on them, and that's what's occurring, and they're starting to give in, and Paul's going, No, no, do not revert.

Please don't revert.

And so Paul says, Okay, I'm gonna write you a letter and I'm gonna call you out.

So in Galatians 2, he starts to call them out, and he says, Okay, by the way, you as a group are doing something that my friend Peter did, and here's what I said to Peter.

And that's what we pick up in verse 15.

This is what Paul said to Peter.

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.

So, point number one is this salvation and the Christian life.

Salvation and the Christian life, both are by grace.

Never merit.

And in some way, this sermon will feel so familiar to you because it's what we talk about all the time.

And I was thinking this morning as I was preparing, this may not be my best sermon, right?

Like, oh, that was a great sermon.

This may not be my best sermon, but there could not be a more important sermon.

Salvation in the Christian life, both are by grace, never merit.

So Peter and Paul were these two church leaders.

You can get a lot of this narrative in Acts 10 through 15.

Peter has a vision and a dream.

In this dream, he he learns he can eat food that he never thought he could eat, because the law said, can't eat that.

Got to eat a certain way, eat a certain way, then you're accepted by God.

Obey, this is religion and law, obey, and then you're accepted.

And then Peter has this dream.

I can eat that?

Really?

I'm that free?

I could do that?

I could I could break ceremonial law and be accepted before I obey?

Because that's gospel, accepted, then obey.

Peter has this dream, an anti-religious dream.

And Peter starts to live in that freedom where he's accepted by the grace of Christ before he obeys.

So he goes from religion of law to gospel, from law to grace, and there's drama there.

And even times somebody starts to do this, there's gonna be drama, and there's backstory.

Backstory is in verse 11 and 12.

But when Stephas came to Antioch, this is Paul said, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

Why would he be condemned?

Because he's living under laws, why?

That you're always gonna be condemned under law.

And Paul said, I opposed him to his face.

For before certain men came from James, so James is the leader of a little subgroup.

Can you imagine a subgroup in a church?

Can you imagine that?

That'd be a crazy idea.

And these are the Judaizers or the circumcision party.

It's not a great name for a group of people.

This is their name, it's descriptive of what they wanted from people.

Do something, then you'll be accepted.

Peter was eating with the Gentiles.

But when they came, Peter drew back.

So he drew back from his freedom.

And he separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

I see a little of myself in James.

Right?

I want to impose control on other people.

I want them to look a certain way.

They look radically different than me in the freedom of the gospel.

There's parts of me that say, like, oh, I don't know if I like that part of what you look like, and maybe you should look more like me in this way, or more like me in this, more like how I do the Christian life in this way.

I see a little bit of myself in Paul, right?

Like that I can spot legalism and say, oh, I don't want that, and I'll oppose that.

But I see a lot of myself in Peter.

Because Peter gives in to these people because he's just afraid.

And there's a lot of fear.

There's a lot of fear in the world, but there's also a lot of fear in religiosity.

For religious people to put on each other in different groups to look a certain way.

It's easy in churches, and it'll be easy here, now and in the future, to start with Jesus.

And in time, even though we proclaim grace and practice for the culture to be something else, to revert back to law.

Because slowly what the church can say is mature Christians look this way.

And it might be to write watch the right TV show and not the wrong one.

It could be to be a part of the correct political party, according to you, but not the other one.

Cigars are okay, but not cigarettes.

Right?

No, no, no, no cigars.

But we're not going to talk about gluttony.

We love to make rules and law when it comes to gray areas.

Impose it on each other, create a culture of control, law.

And those are decisions we'll need to make.

You'll need to make these decisions for your health, for your well-being.

Some people will form an argument to be God honoring.

You have to make decisions in that.

But not for your justification.

And isn't that fine?

Not for your absolution before God, not for your acceptance, not for your righteousness.

It has nothing to do with it.

It's easy for a church to lose its way.

It'll be easy for our church to lose its way.

It's easy to go from law to Jesus back to law.

To create programs over time.

The programs create a culture.

And it can say this.

Well, if you're really in, you're really in the Redeemer.

If you're really in, then you'll be at this.

You'll be in this.

You'll be at that.

Your life will look just like this.

And this chapter is written to a church that has created and accepted that culture, gone back into law, and it's asking a church to repent of its churchiness.

Because it went from law to Jesus back to law.

Point number two.

By the law we see we are sinners.

So that's what the law does good for us.

It guides us, what's good and bad, it guides us.

By the law, we see we are sinners, and by grace we know we are beloved.

So imagine you're at a party.

You're at this party and a group of people, maybe it's a company party, maybe it's just a friend party, I don't know.

But there's a food table, crock pot, little meatballs, right?

Bunch of toothpicks.

You go get your little plate, and you love those little meatballs.

So you get over there.

You put about eight meatballs on that plate, and you start to get worried.

Other people are seeing that, so you had a few strawberries.

You sit down, you got a little toothpick, you got a bunch of meatballs.

And you know you need to be careful.

It's hard.

A little meatball, a toothpick, a little plate.

You're not at a table.

It's a bad scenario, right?

You already know it.

But you're working it.

You know, you get through the first three, four, sure enough, you stab that fifth one, and you're coming up.

And you know the story, right?

You already know it.

It drops on your white shirt and it rolls down into your lap.

The clean has become dirty at this point.

You smear it around.

You think, well, I'll try to clean it up, right?

Little napkin, a little water.

But nothing mattered.

You can't do it, it's already done.

The damage is done.

So until you can get out the door, until you can get out the door, you have this streak straight down your shirt onto your pants.

The imperfections there.

You're stuck with it.

Can't do anything about it.

The clean has become dirty.

And what do we do?

What do we tend to do with this?

Well, either you kind of hide your way all the way out, or if you're like me, every conversation from here on out goes something like this.

Yeah, meatball.

Right?

I mean it's something like, yeah, can't take me anywhere.

Right?

Your life becomes how to cover what's already there.

That's just what it becomes.

This is life under the law, this meatball, this meatballed shirt.

Imperfection exists.

The law has revealed that.

We don't live up to that which God has called us to or what we even desire to be.

It's already there.

And in that way, you're condemned.

You are the meatballed shirt at the party.

You're condemned.

The law sends you on a mission.

It sends you on a mission from there on out to tell everyone and even God why the clean became dirty.

And the law is that mission that exhausts you.

That you gotta tell everybody constantly why you're valuable, how you're absolved, how you're forgiven, you're telling yourself, and some days you feel prideful, and some days you're in despair, but this is the operation of the law.

And the gospel is something entirely differently.

It doesn't send you on a mission to justify yourself.

It just says your shirt is meatballed.

You're imperfect.

And it doesn't send you on a mission to justify yourself.

Because you are accepted and absolved and loved anyway, because your sin is put on his cross and his righteousness given to you by the grace of Christ.

Verses 17 through 21, last section of scripture, we'll talk about.

But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?

Certainly not.

In other words, like that's what's going to happen.

Like we're going to realize we're sinners.

For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

Verse 19, a key crux verse of the chapter, for through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ.

I 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.

Point number three, last point.

New life with God comes by dying to the earning.

Verse 19 is that key verse.

Through the law, I died to the law, so I might live to God.

My mentor says, and he said it here when he preached in the fall, it is not a death to effort.

It's a death to earning.

That's why you're free.

You're free to put forth effort.

Last week, Christy and I watched this show on Netflix at seven days out.

Is anybody watching seven days out?

It keeps popping up.

Maybe it's you're seeing it.

And so it's the show where it takes seven days leading up to a big event.

Opening of a restaurant, Kentucky Derby.

It's the seven days later.

So the one we watched last week was the Westminster Dog Show.

And so you meet the people who run the dog show in New York City, is the most prestigious, biggest dog show in the world.

You meet the trainers, you meet the people who show the dogs.

You meet all these people.

Well, we met Mike and Phyllis from Ocala.

And Mike and Phyllis from Ocala, they live in a little ranch house in O'Cala.

I mean, it looked like they didn't have a lot of money.

You never know, but it didn't look like they had a lot of money.

And middle-aged, no kids in the house, and they buy a little puppy from a breeder in Oregon.

They buy a harrier dog.

I'd never heard of a harrier.

It looked kind of like a big beagle to me.

And this little dog comes into their life.

Emmy.

Emmy was her name.

The most beautiful little dog.

And everywhere they took this little puppy, everybody would say, that's the most beautiful harrier.

I guess only people know what harriers are, not everybody.

That's the most beautiful harrier I've ever seen.

You should show that dog.

You've got to show that dog.

So these people, just people, just like us, like if you're like, I guess I'll show a dog, they start showing this dog, dog shows, become dog show people.

These are this is a group of people that exist, dog show people.

They're showing this dog.

And this dog, Emmy, starts winning all these dog shows.

And it's not because Mike and Phyllis are trained in any of this.

They're not.

They have no resume here.

This dog, over two years, just win after win after win.

And before long, they're at the Westminster Dog Show, the most prestigious dog show in the world, and they are there.

It's not them, it's Emmy, right?

It is Emmy.

And Emmy wins at the dog show's best of breed.

And Mike is shining.

I mean, he is ecstatic.

Because listen, Emmy won.

And then the award is handed to Mike from O'Cala.

And then he says this a guy like me, I'm middle-aged, out of shape, don't have tons of money.

But because of her, because of Emmy, I walk into the ring on equal footing with everyone else in there.

And because of her, my life is completely changed.

It's a simple question.

It's a beautiful illustration, right?

Of imputation that Jesus wins, hands to us his righteousness.

Simple question for us as a church, as a people.

Do we make ourselves clean and worthy and righteous and lovely by what we do, or do we become that by the grace of Christ?

And tomorrow morning when you wake up, which one will you live by?

Here's our quote from last week.

I'm going to reread it by theologian Gerhard Forday.

I reread it because he quotes verse 19 in the quote.

And because it was so dense last week, I think maybe we need to hear it a couple of times to get it.

For the point is that the unconditional declaration of justification, the imputation, the flat-out declaration that which offends and shocks us so, that which shatters all of our ambitions for something to do, that declaration is our death and our life, the new beginning.

It is the act which recreates, redeems God's creation.

Death, you see, is put in the position of not being able to do anything according to the ways of the world, the law, religion, the upward climb with all its plans and schemes.

They suddenly stop, come to an end.

I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God.

Both our vices and our virtues come to a full stop.

The justification declaration is precisely that, a full stop.

You have died, says Paul.

It is all over.

Last week a friend sent to me a text and said, A nighttime gospel blessing.

Here's what it read.

The parent says, Do you see my eyes?

The child says, Yes.

Can you see that I see your eyes?

Yes.

Do you know that I love you?

Yes.

Do you know that I love you no matter what or how many good things you do?

Yes.

Who else loves you like that?

God.

Even more than me?

Yes.

The child rests in that love.

Our brothers and sisters, by the grace of Christ, nothing else, nothing else, you are justified.

Let's pray together.

Thank you, God, for your justification that does not come by law or our merit or our goodness, but by your grace, which frees us from earning and frees us into effort, frees us into a life of honoring you, but not for, not for absolution or for acceptance or for righteousness or for value, but out of gratitude to honor you.

Help us to be people.

Help us to be first individuals who are free from the law that condemns and free in your gospel, which empowers and brings life.

And help us to be a church that does not create programs and a culture that puts law back onto people, that gives freedom over and over and over again for the sake of your kingdom.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.