MPC
30th July 2017.July 30 - Galatians 2:11-21 - "Living in Line with the Gospel"
MPC
30th July 2017.
Phil Campbell
EXCLUDED
Let me tell you a sad little story about some friends of mine. They're actively involved in their church. She's a Sunday school teacher. And involved in the music. All kinds of stuff.
And because they care, they're also involved in fostering disadvantaged kids.
They've had two little indigenous brothers with them for a few weeks; five and seven years old. They've had a tough life; they've been malnourished; nobody's loved them.
The last few weeks these little guys haven't just been part of John and Sue's family; not their real names by the way; but they've been part of the church family as well.
Here's the sad bit.
Last Sunday there was a lunch for all the Sunday school teachers. And all the Sunday school kids. And their parents. Sausages. Balloons. Games. fun. At the home of one of the teachers.
Here's the problem. Two days before, John and Sue got a phone call. From the family organising the lunch. The guy says to Sue, "would you mind not coming to lunch on Sunday."
Sue says, "why?"The guy says, "because of the boys. People just aren't comfortable with them. So would you mind... not coming?"
Sue was telling me this a couple of days later, I said to Sue, "what did you do?" And she said, well, we didn't go. We didn't even go to church that day. I couldn't. I just took the boys to the park. And we played instead.
She said to me, "You know, it's the first time I've ever experienced rejection like that. And it feels... terrible."
Sad, isn't it? Friends, we're looking at a similar sad story today. About exclusion from another church lunch table.
A story of barriers and rejection. About a place and time where there should have been fellowship. And unity. An exclusion that cuts right to the heart of the logic of Paul's gospel message. That we've seen over the last couple of weeks.
It happens in Antioch, 500 kms or so north of Jerusalem. Paul's home church. Gentile Central. And news of the events that unfolded that day has probably spread. Event to Galatia. So Paul's explaining the background.
Because in spite of the fact that when Paul went to Jerusalem as we saw last week Peter and the other apostles endorsed his no law gospel... now... . it seems like Peter. Cephas. One of the pillars of the church; has sold out. Changed his tune. Over this huge first century issue of whether non Jewish Christians had to first take all the laws and regulations of Judaism. Before they could be right with God.
If you were here last week, do you remember? Paul wants us to be gospel Christians. Not religion Christians.
He's been preaching very simple good news. That's what gospel means. And the good news is, that the Lord Jesus Christ stepped into our unclean mess; and took our sins on himself. And died for our sins. To rescue us from this present evil age. And to top it off God has raised him from the dead.
That's the heart of it. We saw it back in chapter 1. There's been a rescue; not an escape. Get the difference? We didn't cleverly figure our own way out of the sin problem, out of the death problem. It was a rescue. From the outside in.
But then there are these guys coming from Jerusalem. Jewish Christians. Who are more than just Jewish Christians, they're Ju-dai-izers.
They want to make everyone else Jewish as well. As a precondition to being Christian. To guarantee they'll live the right way and do the right things. Laws. Food rules. Religious regulations. Circumcision.
Now let's talk about food rules for a minute.
I'm not talking about gluten free for health reasons.
I'm not talking about being vegan for preference reasons.
I'm not talking about my no chocolate rule that I stuck with from January 1997 to the 12th of March 2017.
I'm talking about full on religion driven food rules that functionally separate you as a group. From everyone else.
Kosher. Halal. Whatever.
The Old Testament book of Leviticus spells out a list of foods that for Israelites are declared unclean. You're an Israelite, you teach your kids yuck. Don't touch. From day 1. Lists that include lots of stuff you're probably pretty keen not to eat anyway. I mean, we say "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." But you'd probably rather not.
Leviticus 11 puts it this way. The Old Testament Law Book of Israel. Here's how it starts.
Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: you may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
Which means no camel. No hyrax. No rabbit. Well, I could live with that.
But no pig. Leviticus 11 verse 6. "Though it has a divided hoof it does not chew the cud. It is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses: they are unclean for you." No. Bacon and eggs. No. Ham rolls. And look, all kinds of other things as well. No eagle. No bat. No worries. But then Leviticus 11 says no prawns or lobster either.
Clean. Unclean. They're Israel's rules. And look, the point was, clean people only eat clean food. Other people; well, they're unclean. They're sinners. They're defiled.
So the way it played out for Israel, and look they weren't so good on the justice stuff in their law, they weren't so good at the compassion stuff; but when it came to the food rules, they nailed it. This stuff, they were really good at.
It's the way they were brought up. Clean food. Clean people. And don't even eat with anyone who's not. If you're Jewish.
Now the question is, does Paul's gospel... change that? And the answer is, of course it does. Can you see it?
Because he's out there telling non Jews; telling gentiles; that the way to be clean isn't through what you eat and the rules you keep; the way to be clean is through faith in Jesus. Who you'll remember died for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age. It's not the outside stuff that makes us unclean; it's the stuff from our hearts. Jesus said that himself.
And that ultimately, we're all the same. Rescued sinners.
So watch, then, what's playing out in Antioch. And spot the problem.
Pick it up in verse 11. Because when Peter comes to visit. Cephas. Paul's in his face.
When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
How embarrassing. I mean, here he is, an honoured guest. And Paul's dressing him down.
Because we saw that last time. Paul's gone to Jerusalem; and the pillars of the church including pillar Peter; they've checked out Paul's gospel and they say no worries. When a gentile puts their faith in Jesus; no Jewish rules. No clean and unclean. Because God's washed them by his spirit...
And now here in Antioch, because of some pressure from some other Jewish guys... Peter's backing down.
Watch it play out in verse 12.
For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles... because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
Now again, here's the chart from last week as a reminder. Here's the politics. James runs the main church back at Jerusalem. Full of Jewish converts. Who can't cope with the idea that Paul's letting unclean gentiles in. Without keeping the rules.
And now these guys have come up in Antioch. And Peter's afraid of them. Which sounds kind of limp for the guy who's meant to be leader of the church. But gives you an idea of the scale of issue this was in the early days of the church. Plus, Peter's the guy who right through he gospel accounts keeps getting things wrong.
So now he's saying to the Gentile Christians, no I won't eat lunch with you. No I won't come to your place for a meal. And no I won't invite you and your kids to the church lunch at my place, either.
Because the guys from Jerusalem think you're unclean.
And I'm not prepared to offend them.
Which motivates a lot of what we do, I suspect. Not prepared to make waves, even if we know something's right. Trade off offending this group against doing the right thing by that group.
And look, it spreads. Even to Barnabas. Paul's ministry partner. The guy he's working with most closely. Verse 13.
The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas. was led astray.
Maybe theologically, maybe in theory still happy to reach out to the gentiles. But socially, not so much.
Not prepared to have a gentile kid at the Sunday School lunch. Not prepared to be seen having coffee with someone like that. Not prepared to be seen to be all in together.
Look, here's the thing. I hope by now you've noticed that the word gospel keeps popping its head up here in Galatians. Because the gospel is everything.
Jesus has died just as much died for your rescue whether you're gentile or Jew. He's the one who makes us clean. Not food rules.
And the thing is, if you look at verse 14, when you fully get the gospel it's loaded with practical implications in all kinds of ways, including who you sit down and eat with.
And Peter. Just hasn't got it. That he's signalling all kinds of stuff that's not in line with the truth of the gospel.
Which is why Paul calls him on it. Verse 14.
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?"
It's literally, how is it that you force them to Judaize. Peter's been happily living like a gentile; eating their food; going in their houses. touching them without running off to ceremonially wash himself.
And now the Jerusalem guys are in town, he's changed his tune. And Barnabas too. Which is forcing the gentiles to conform; if they want to be accepted.
So from verse 15, Paul gives Peter a theory lesson. It's revision. It's not new. It's a reminder. Of what they've agreed on already. And the implications.
Now again, if you're Jewish; your whole world view is that everybody else ... is sinful. Unclean.
And Paul says in verse 15, he says, Peter, here's what we've learned. We Jewish Christians. You and me, Pete. It took us a while. But we got there. He says, "We who are Jews by birth and not "sinful Gentiles" - we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus. Christ."
Gospel step 1. You and I both know, we didn't get put right with god by keeping Jewish rules. That's why we're trusting Jesus as our sacrifice.
That's why we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ. And not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
He says, That's what we've been preaching. None of us is justified. No one. Is put right with God. By keeping the law. It's never worked. We're all in the same boat.
So he says, what if, because of that, we find ourselves among sinners. If we find ourselves among gentiles? Is that a problem? Does that mean Christ. promotes sin, verse 17?
That's what the Judaisers say. That they're hanging out with unclean sinful gentiles; that they're getting unclean themselves. That they're using Christ. To promote sin. Instead of getting the gentiles to clean themselves up.
Paul says, that's ridiculous. That's just building up the law again. The law that never worked.
Here we are. With the gospel message that Jesus Christ died for our sins to rescue us from this evil age; and the Judaisers are saying, no, tell them to get circumcised. Tell them the food laws. And don't go anywhere near them.
And Peter; is intimidated into submission.
That's the old system. And Paul says, verse 18, if you rebuild the law again, if I rebuild what I destroyed, like you are Peter. Then you're just setting yourself up to fail all over again.
Because we know already. it doesn't work.
One more thing. Verses 19 and 20; he drills down one more level. Into how this justification actually works. How this death of Jesus makes such a transformative difference.
And look, at every point it's a profound exchange; that's beyond our simple logic. And yet for countless people here this morning, for countless Christians through the ages; it's exactly what happens.
Because it's not just that Jesus substitutes in taking the law's punishment. But that Paul says, it's like I become him and he becomes me at every point.
It's hard to illustrate. Except to sports fans. Tuesday night I caught part of a conversation between two of our elders, Rick and Matt. And Rick says to Matt something like, "We had a great win the other night. What happened to you guys?" Rick's laughing about it; and Matt's just hanging his head.
I'm thinking what's Rick been doing? What kind of great win did he have? It turns out all he did was sit and watch an AFL game. Rick's a Lions supporter. They beat Carlton. Matt's a Carlton supporter. Neither Rick nor Matt lifted a finger. And yet when you're a team supporter, when your team wins; you're a winner too. Even though you've done nothing. Except put your faith in your team. And sit back and watch.
You win when they win. You lose when they lose. I gather Rick's probably not quite so happy after Friday night.
Here's Paul the Jew. Talking about where he stands with the law now. As a member of team Jesus. Because when messiah Jesus. dies, he says it's like I died. Team Jesus.
Verse 19. He says when it comes to the law, I died to it when Jesus. died. I'm finished with it. Because when Jesus. was crucified, it's like I was. It's over and done with.
Take a look at his words. Verse 20.
I have been crucified with Christ... and I no longer live...
The law got my death penalty in his death. The old me, gone.
And then, a new start. Because he says Christ., by his spirit; lives in me. Motivates me. So what I'm living now is a new life. Living by faith in the son of God. Who loved me and gave himself for me.
That's my life. Not keeping a list of rules. Living by faith in Jesus. To honour Jesus. Read the words yourself, v. 20:
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
And so for that reason, Paul says to Peter; we're still in the middle of their stand up debate; in front of the whole church in Antioch... And so for that reason, unlike you Peter... who's slinking away and pretending you don't mix with Gentiles; for that reason Peter unlike you in your hypocrisy... he says in verse 21, I don't. I can't. I won't. set aside the grace of God.
Because if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
And we didn't need to be rescued at all. And sure, tell the gentiles all the rules; get 'em circumcised. If righteousness comes that way.
It's either God's grace in Christ's sacrifice. Or our effort. If you could be righteous; if God's going to declare people right with him because they've kept some rules... then why this massive cost of the death of his son? Which one are you trusting?
See all of that? Flows from Peter's one small decision. To no longer eat with the gentiles in the church in Antioch. To re-build dividing cultural walls. In the church. That the gospel has brought down. Peter. Is not acting in line with the truth of the gospel. Which is just making it all thoroughly confusing for everyone.
Friends, we need to keep asking that question every day. You do. I do. As a church we do. Are you... living in line with the gospel? Or just making rules? And drawing lines that divide?
If you're first and foremost in your own mind a Presbyterian Christian or a charismatic Christian or a Baptist Christian, if that's where you feel your primary bonds are. Ask yourself if you're first and foremost a gospel Christian; doesn't matter where you've come from or what kind of denominational label; If you're a gospel Christian you'll know straight away. When you spot another one... you're a brother. You're a sister. Across all kinds of other lines. Across any kind of distance.
And you should find in a church family... the gospel moves you to mix with people you'd otherwise never have mixed with in a thousand years.
And there's nobody. You'll think you're better than. Or cleaner than. There's no kind of person that through the gospel doesn't become your kind of person. If you're a gospel person too.
The gospel's going to mean you include people. That nobody else would include. Maybe even foster kids in your home. Difficult kids in your Kids Church class. Awkward people in your growth group. They might think you're awkward too.
The gospel's going to mean you'll do your best to mix with people; even when you're an introvert. Which just means you prefer to mix with no one at all.
You'll mix with people across different occupations than yours. Different interests than yours. Different educational backgrounds than yours. Different ethnic origin than yours. Even different politics.
And in all of that the gospels going to mean you can't possibly think of yourself as better than anybody else. Because you're just a rescued sinner. Like they are.
And the thing we've got in common, as sinners by Jesus, is far more foundational to our identity than anything else.
Where were you born? Our National Church Life survey says that 7% of us at MPC were born in a non English speaking country. Which is just about exactly the demographic of our suburb as well. Do we need to do stuff better for you guys who need help with English? So you can understand what's going on? We're doing some stuff; but let us know if there's more. Are you feeling included? Let us know if you're not.
Because acting in line with the gospel means getting rid of boundaries. So that the main thing is the gospel. And hey, we should be showing that. In all kinds of ways. In how we mix together. In how we eat together. As a church family. In one another's homes. Church events. Wherever. Where every kind of person is welcome.
So finally, make sure you understand this. Because there's freedom in it. Your justification. Your right standing with God. It isn't affected by who you mix with or what you eat or what you touch. Paul says, "The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
There's nothing more to add. It's free. So you're free.
And when Peter in what he was doing made out there was another standard; when Peter lost touch with the gospel; Paul said, it's worth opposing. Taking a stand. To say, "Don't set aside the grace of God. Just keep trusting Jesus. And don't add anything else to the gospel."