Last week, Lo walked us through a central part of Paul’s testimony in Galatians 2: his interaction with the founders of the early church in Jerusalem, and the agreement on the essence of the Gospel message to both Jews and Gentiles. Lo gave us a great summary of the simplicity of the Gospel:

1. We were created for relationship with God, but we were unfaithful.
2. God is faithful, and gave us Jesus, who lived, died and rose again.
3. Jesus did this to restore us into relationship with God.

Galatians 2:6 – In Paul’s conversation with the early church leaders, including Peter, James and John, “they added nothing to my message” – they agreed upon a common message both to the Jews and Gentiles - This sets the stage for a showdown with two of the greats of our faith: Peter and Paul – and it gives us a picture of the importance of accountability and discipleship within the church – Peter and Paul, both Jewish by birth, both raised with a deep understanding of the law of Moses, and both having a fairly radical conversion experience into the way of Jesus, have differing reactions to the pressure exerted on early Jewish believers as the Gospel was now being accepted as universal to all races, both Jew and Gentile.

Paul’s immediate calling was to take the Gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles – Acts 9:15 – we said this a couple of weeks ago, but Paul admitted in Philippians 3 that he was a Jew of Jews and a Pharisee of Pharisees – he KNEW THE LAW intimately, yet Jesus called Paul out of what he knew into a world that didn’t share his experience – in fact, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is an indictment on those who still leaned on the law as prerequisite for salvation.

Similarly, Peter, after being radically changed by the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, became an early leader and founder of the church of Jesus in Jerusalem, but was quickly called out of his comfort zone – In Acts 10, Peter gets a vision from the Holy Spirit that he is to go to the house of an “unclean” Roman centurion named Cornelius and share the Gospel with he and his household – this was scandalous for Peter, because he was a good Jew, and Gentiles were considered less than and less chosen by the Jews – Yet, Peter walked in obedience, and the entire household of Cornelius was saved and baptized into the way of Jesus – Peter had been drawn by the Spirit into uncharted territory, and seen the results of the Gospel.

Today, we will see Peter slip back into old ways of thinking, and Paul care enough about both Peter and the mission of Jesus into the world to challenge Peter to hold firmly to the truth of the Gospel - For you and me, it is a reminder that while we shouldn’t expect non-believers to act like believers, we have a responsibility to encourage, lovingly hold accountable and disciple those within the church to live the gospel, and not get side-tracked on issues not central to following Jesus – Galatians 2:11-21

V11 – Paul is still advocating for his authority to be writing to the Galatian church – He is clearly stating that his authority is not the church in Jerusalem, but Jesus himself, to the point that he calls out Peter, the primary driver of the early church – remember, we talked about Jesus calling Peter in Matthew 16:18 a few weeks ago, and it came to fruition in Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost – now Paul says he had a face-to-face confrontation with Peter in Antioch, one of early church plants in Asia Minor, and condemned his actions.

We will get into the specifics of the altercation, but because of the language used here, it would be easy to think that Paul was harsh – however, because of sections of this letter, mainly chapter 5, the fruit of the Spirit, mainly gentleness and kindness, as well as other writings of Paul, Ephesians 4:15, speaking the truth in love, I choose to believe that here is simply showing the severity of Peter’s behavior, not the harshness of his rebuke – IMPORTANT: How did Paul approach Peter’s behavior? FACE-TO-FACE – he did not condemn Peter’s behavior to others, but directly to Peter – common in the church today to talk about others who are living in contradiction to the way of Jesus – Matthew 18 principle: GO DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON – if you are conflict-averse, you immediately get uneasy – easy to talk about and condemn someone’s behavior to others, or use electronic or social media platforms to challenge, but Paul chose to go DIRECTLY TO THE SOURCE – We have horrible examples of prominent church leaders standing on stages and publicly defaming people with which they disagree – not ok – what was the issue between Paul and Peter?

V12-13 – I can assume that since his vision from God about the Gentiles, and Cornelius’ conversion, Peter had realized that Jesus was accessible to all, including Gentiles – Eating together was a big deal, because the dietary laws of the Jews according to the Law of Moses were very restrictive – However, Peter was now dining with Gentiles and embracing a new way of life, until some Jewish believers from the mothership showed up, and he immediately began to shrink back, and b/c of his position, was causing other young believers to be led astray.

Maybe you’ve experienced this as a young believer – you’ve started following Jesus, maybe even made new friends, but when you’re old friends come around, your fear of a new way of life causes you to conform to peer pressure to live in an old way – old habits die hard – Peter, while filled with the Holy Spirit, still had some of the old Peter in him – the “people-pleasing” Peter that denied Jesus because he was afraid of what following Jesus would cost him – also, a reminder that others are watching and taking their cues from you in how to follow Jesus, including your kids. 

V14 – Peter was on the wrong side of this argument – to be fair, it is easier for someone with no faith background to embrace the way of Jesus than for someone with religious baggage, who grew up in the church, and maybe learned some unhealthy or unscriptural modes of what we call “Christianity” – Again, they didn’t have the Bible, just men who were called by God to take this message of Jesus to their context and beyond – but Paul challenged Peter to stop mixing the way of Moses with the way of Jesus.

Pause here: this is not a call to abandon the OT – we must see the law for what it is – moral imperative, not salvation – Jesus said himself in Matthew 5:17 that he was not in opposition to the law, but the completion of it – The LAW, and your adherence to it CANNOT SAVE YOU – Paul was reminding Peter that the goal was not to make Gentile act more like Jews, but MORE LIKE JESUS – For you and me, we don’t need more “church people” – in fact, I hate religious, churchy sub-culture talk – we need more “Jesus people”, who are determined to live the way of Jesus, no matter the cost.

V15-17 – “Justified” – used four times in three verses – what does it mean? This is a legal term that means, “just cause”, or an action that makes someone declared right – Paul states here that being declared righteous or in right standing with God is not based on keeping the law, but through faith in Jesus – again, the central message of the gospel in that YOU CAN’T FIX YOURSELF – in context, Gentiles looking more Jewish is not the goal – today, looking more “Christian” is not the goal – 2 Cor. 5:21 – on your best day, you couldn’t fix your sin problem, so Jesus did it for you – you are justified, or declared righteous because of faith in Jesus, not your ability to keep the law.

Paul asks a great question in V17: So, if we are in Christ, does that mean we no longer have any interaction with unbelievers? If we truly believe that the Gospel is FOR ALL PEOPLE, then it is our PRIVILGE and RESPONSIBILITY to not insulate ourselves in Christian sub-culture, but to engage with the people God puts in front of us, out of fear of hanging out with “sinners”.

Illus – Justin Alger, Rod Sled, Sam Oeschlegel, Andy Cano, Jesse Shaw, so many other men who are not shrinking back, but living out their faith in practical ways in the world around them – Justin specifically told me recently that he sees living his faith as both privilege and responsibility.

V18 – “If I rebuild what I destroyed…” - Paul is talking about his Pharisaical life before Christ – he was a legalist and it became the justification for his actions in persecuting the church – now, on the other side of conversion, he is saying, “If I run back to old ways of thinking, excluding and judging people in the name of righteousness, then I am breaking the law of CHRIST” -  he is not abandoning the law, but reframing it – Luke 10:27 – greatest commandment – “Who is my neighbor?” – story of Good Samaritan.

V19 – Irony – Paul thought he was “living for God” by enforcing the law of Moses and suppressing those who were advocating a new way – However, he says that the law actually was a reminder that he couldn’t live up to God’s standard, and that “living for God” was impossible without Jesus.

V20 – “Crucified with Christ” – famous verse – written on mirror, tattoo on skin – but look at the context – Paul is reminding the early church that justification, or right standing with God does not come from being a law keeper, having checks in the right columns, but by following Jesus and dying to self – Again, Jesus is the full embodiment of the law, so when you say yes to Jesus, you receive the Spirit of Jesus inside, who changes your heart condition, your thought patterns, your motivations – It is NO LONGER YOU WHO LIVES, BUT CHRIST IN YOU – so, as a follower of Jesus, you no longer need to try to be better, but ABANDON YOUR WILL TO THE WILL OF JESUS – it is easier to simply try to be better than to sit in the presence of Jesus and let him form and/or REFORM you.

V21 – AND…every time you do, you diminish the cross – Jesus died because you deserved to – the grace of God is that when you were an unfaithful LAW BREAKER, JESUS lived, died and rose again to WRITE THE LAW on the heart of anyone who would receive the cross as payment for your unfaithfulness.

Closing takeaways:
1. It is your responsibility as a follower of Jesus to encourage other believers to live a life worthy of Jesus. This is Ephesians 4:1, being willing to lovingly confront people when they are falling away, and help them get back on track.

2. As a Jesus-follower, you are NEW not because of your ability to be better, but because of the cross. Trusting the work of Jesus on the cross is what makes you new, not your ability to be a better version of yourself – ONLY JESUS.