Walking Straight on The Pathway of the Gospel in a World of Detours

Imagine with me that Joel and Frank get together to make the church an amazing meal one Sunday after church.

And imagine that as the pastor, I am the first one to taste the food. And I’m thinking, “That’s an odd thing. They’re not usually that nice to me. Either they’ve changed their mind now and they actually like me, or they’ve poisoned the food so they can get rid of me without having to call a vote of no confidence.” I’ll let you all be the judge of that.

And when I taste it, let’s just say, while the food is not poisoned, it isn’t good. I am not impressed. It’s bland. Not enough seasoning. Not even fully cooked. But I really like these guys, and I don’t want to disappoint them. So I say, “the food is great, guys! Thanks!”

But that’s not true — the food is horrendous. So even though I say “the food is great”, my facial expressions say something else entirely. I frown. My eyes squint. I cover my mouth because it’s so bad that I really might throw up, like, on them.

What just happened? What happened was I “unsaid” with my actions what I had previously said with my mouth. And which of those spoke louder?

The title of the sermon today is “Walking Straight On The Pathway Of The Gospel In A World Of Detours”.

The gospel is the good news that God now accepts us completely just as we are on the basis of our faith in His Son Jesus.

That’s the gospel. And we believe and teach and preach and share this gospel with our mouths.

But with our behavior sometimes we tell a different gospel.

God has accepted us completely, just as we are, but we refuse to accept other people completely, just as they are. When we do that, we have “unsaid with our mouths what we say with our lips. We have slid off the straight path of the gospel, and the Bible calls it hypocrisy.

Our text this morning shows us this vividly. And it shows us what to do about it. May the Lord bless the preaching of His word.

Will you pray with me?

[SLIDE: POINT #1]

#1: It is possible to “unsay” with your actions what you say with your mouth (vv. 11-13)

Let’s just begin by saying that again: It is possible to “unsay” with your actions what you say with your mouth.

Look with me at verse 11-12: “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” (Gal 2:11-12 ESV).

We know that a lot of communication is nonverbal, right?

Joel and Frank cooked a terrible meal. With verbal communication, I said to them, “Guys, the food is great. You’re awesome.” But with my non-verbal communication like my facial expressions and my tone of voice and my body language, I said to them: “Guys, you’re not awesome. And neither is the food. Barf.”

So, picture this with me. Peter — he’s called Cephas here, that’s his Aramaic name, it means “rock.” Cephas — Peter — he’s a Jew by birth, right? Now he has become a Christian. He’s become the most prominent leader in the church at this point. And as that prominent Christian leader, he’s eating with Gentile Christians. That sends a powerful nonverbal message. It communicated acceptance.

When we sit down to share a meal with someone today, we can eat with someone we don’t like. We may not have much fun doing it. But we can do it. But in the first century, to eat with someone was to say, nonverbally, “we have something in common. You’re ok with me. I accept you.”

So when Peter used to eat with the Gentile Christians at Antioch, what was he communicating nonverbally? He was saying, “I see you. I acknowledge you. I recognize that you are a recipient of the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ, just like I am. I recognize that you are not second-class Christians simply because you’re Gentile Christians and not Jewish Christians.”

Was that a big deal? You bet it was a big deal! The Jews and Gentiles had never gotten along. Jews saw Gentiles as unclean. Unfit to worship. Unworthy of the grace of God. For the Jews, the Gentiles were “not us”. The Jews in the first century even called them “dogs.” They don’t observe the law. They don’t worship at synagogue. They don’t acknowledge Yahweh as Lord. [Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, p325]

Here was this prominent leader of the church in Jerusalem, part of Jesus’ inner circle. And now he is eating with them, saying to them nonverbally, “You are part of us.”

But when Peter stopped eating with them, what was he communicating nonverbally then? “You are second-class Christians. You are less-than. You are unworthy of God’s grace. I am different from you. I am better than you. I don’t want to be seen with you.” Confusing at best. Hurtful and hypocritical at worst.

And what it made it so much worse was that Peter didn’t really believe this was right. How do we know that? We know that because of just four words in verse 12: “before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself” — and here it is — “fearing the circumcision party.”

And if that’s not bad enough, other people follow Peter’s example. Other leaders follow Peter’s example. Verse 13: “And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him” — that is, all the other Jewish Christians and any other Jewish Christian leaders at Antioch also pulled away from the non-Jewish Christians and refused to be seen with them. “Even Barnabas” — Paul says — “Even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.”

Barnabas once rejoiced to see the Gentiles coming to faith in Christ. Barnabas was called “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” in the book of Acts, and the Lord blessed his ministry so that many Gentiles came to faith in Christ. Now he’s afraid to be seen with them.

Now, when verbal communication and nonverbal communication are saying two different things, which do we tend to go with? We believe the nonverbal. “You’re actions speak so loud I can’t hear what you say”. [Duane Liftin, Word vs. Deed: Resetting the Scales to a Biblical Balance, p30]

It is possible to “unsay” with our actions what we say with our mouths.[SLIDE: POINT #2]

#2: When this happens, we need correction, & our truest friends will provide it (v. 14)

Paul was a true friend to Peter because he provided this correction. He confronted Peter. Verse 14:

[SLIDE: GALATIANS 2:14 NIV]

Galatians 2:14 (NIV)

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?

“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?” (Gal 2:14 NIV).

One reason why Jews don’t eat with Gentiles is that the Gentiles ate foods the OT said were unclean. There are still Jews today who follow kosher food laws. Think about the Hebrew National hot dogs at the grocery store. The whole purpose of those laws was to set Israel apart from other nations — they were to be different.

But when Jesus came, He fulfilled those laws. Now that Christ has come, and now that being part of the people of God is not a matter of being Jewish but trusting in Christ, the food laws are no more. They once separated Jew from Gentile at the table, but no more — and definitely not in the church, where Jew and Gentile no longer matter.

Peter and Barnabas knew these things intellectually. But old habits and old prejudices die hard. It takes us a long time to for our hearts to catch up with our heads. It takes a long time for our nonverbal communication to catch up with our verbal communication. We are slow to change, amen?

And there were some Jews from Jerusalem who didn’t like the changes. We know what that’s like, don’t we? Change is hard. They didn’t like Jews and Gentiles eating together in the church. he closest thing I can compare this to in 2023 is for Christian Republicans to sit down with Democrats and act like there are no differences. And they wanted it stopped. To them it seemed like a compromise, a slippery slope.

Now look at how Paul describes Peter’s action. Look at verse 14: “when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel...”

There’s a photo album at my parents’ house with a few pictures in it of me wearing what my parents called bunny shoes. When I was really little, it was noticed that when I would run, my feet would turn in on themselves. If I was ever to run and walk normally, walk straight, it had to be corrected. And the only correction was to wear these special orthopedic shoes that were connected in the middle by a metal bar separating the shoes. So that when I would walk in these shoes, I was forced to walk with my feet straight ahead.

I barely remember it, but I’m told I hated it. So much so that my awesome parents gave them the name “bunny shoes” and then made themselves similar shoes with a ruler separating them and they would wear them with me.

Gradually, the shoes worked. I walk straight. My feet don’t turn in.

Go back to verse 14 with me: “Their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel.” Peter and the Barnabas and the others had stopped walking straight. They took a detour off the straight pathway of the gospel.

How many of you have ever had physical therapy to correct an injury? I have too. I dislocated my knee years ago. I had physical therapy afterward. It was weird — once they put my knee back in place in the ER that night, I never had any pain again — except when I would go to physical therapy.

The guy said, “Okay, I’m going to bend your knee to a 90 degree angle”. “I’m sorry - what??” It hurt, but it was necessary to strengthen my knee and my leg muscle around the knee, to get back to walking straight and right again.

The word used there “not in step” — we get our word “orthopedic” from that Greek word. Peter and the Barnabas and the others had stopped walking straight. They took a detour off the straight pathway of the gospel.

How? Well, Jesus has fulfilled the law negatively by absorbing the punishment that it pronounces upon those who disobey it. Jesus also fulfilled the law positively by obeying its rules. The law was always pointing to Him as the One who would finally come and perfectly obey it. And having obeyed the law perfectly, the law has been fulfilled and it has come to an end. That’s what Jesus meant when He cried out on the cross just before He died, “It is finished!”

But when Peter left the table of the Gentile Christians, he was saying to them: well, maybe you’re not good enough after all.

I’m going to tell you a secret. My lovely wife, seated down here and looking just beautiful today as she always does, she broke up with me. Not recently, obviously. We had been dating for about month or so. That breakup lasted about a month. If you want to know why she broke up with me, and how we got back to together, ask me privately and I might tell you.

The guys from Jerusalem wanted to see Peter break up with the Gentiles. And he pretty much does.

He knew the guys who had come from Jerusalem didn’t like that the Gentiles were becoming Christians without having to obey the Jewish law first. He wanted their approval. So he caved. He walked away. And when Peter did that, he was saying, nonverbally: “Be better - obey the law - become Jewish — then you can be full and sincere Christians.”

And Peter said all of that to them loud and clear, without speaking a word.

And when we unsay with our actions what we say with our mouths, we depart from the pathway of the gospel.

Peter departed from the pathway of the gospel when by his actions he started contradicting the message of free grace by faith. Paul calls it hypocrisy. Playing a part. Acting one way around the people you like and then acting another way toward the, when people you like more around you. Today our society’s definition of hypocrisy is not being true to yourself. That’s very self-centered. The Bible defines hypocrisy as not being true to God and to others.

It is possible to unsay with our actions what we say with our mouths, and when this happens, we need correction — and like my parents with the shoes — and like Paul with Peter and Barnabas, only our truest friends will provide it.

It’s possible to “unsay” with our actions what we say with our mouths. Whent his happens, we need correction and only our truye friends will provide it. Has anybody ever corrected you, and you needed to hear it? Thank them.

But something else we need to do when we unsay with our actions what we say with our mouths. We need to remind one another what we truly believe, and ask ourselves whether we still believe it.

[SLIDE: POINT #3]

#3: It is necessary to remind one another what we truly believe & ask ourselves whether we still believe it (vv. 15-21)

This is basically what Paul does in verses 15-16: There are three things here. We remind one another of what we truly believe. Paul reminds us first that being right with God is a matter of faith, not rules.

[SLIDE: SUB-POINT A]

A. Being right with God is a matter of faith, not rules

God is a perfect and holy God, and His standard must be absolute perfection. We cannot meet His perfect standard ourselves. And God cannot lower His perfect standard for us ,because He would then become something less than an perfectly holy God. That puts us in a bind.

What’s the solution?

Well, the Jews in Paul’s day, they thought observing the law of Moses was the solution. Do. Do more. Do better. Do more consistently. Do more thoroughly.

That’s what the law — and legalism — say: “do”.

Jesus Christ says “it is finished”!

The law — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy — all those commands — they say “obey the rules, and enjoy God’s favor.”

Jesus Christ says, “Stop trying to do that — I’ve done it for you — all you have to do is trust in Me. And enjoy favor with the Father.”

That is what it means when Paul talks about being justified through faith in Christ. What does justification mean? Why is that such good news?

Justification is when God the Judge hands down the verdict of guilty, pronounces the sentence of death, then comes down from the Judge’s chair, endures our sentence in our place, undergoes His own punishment, then steps back to the Judge’s chair and hands down to us the verdict of not-guilty.

Justification is God saying to us: “You are perfectly acceptable to me. You and I, we’re ok. We’re good. You’re innocent. Not guilty. Acquitted of all charges. Justified.”

Not because we’ve earned it, but because Jesus stepped in and stood in the gap between us and God. Now God the Judge becomes God the Father. Love replaces condemnation.

There was a man who had a Rolls Royce. He lived in Britain and he was wealthy enough not only to buy this Rolls Royce but also to take it on vacation to the south of France.

But when he’s vacationing the in the south of France, the car breaks down.

This was before you could scan a QR ode and immediately make a claim on your warranty. He had to wire the company to tell him what happened.

The company puts a mechanic on an airplane, flies him to the south of France where he looks at the car and then diagnoses the problem. He needs a part that he can’t get in the south of France. So the company flies him back to get the part, and then flies him again to the south of France. He fixes the man’s car and all is well. He flies back to Britain. That is customer service - can I get an amen?

The owner of the Rolls Royce is so pleased that he writes a letter tot he Rolls Royce corporation. The letter says, “Thank you so much for the splendid service you provided. Please, send me a bill and I will gladly pay it in full.”

He sends the letter and in a few weeks he gets a response back. “Dear sir: we have no record of anything ever having gone wrong with your car.” [John Phillips, Exploring Galatians, p75]

That is justification. We talk about God as keeping records of our actions. Friends, justification means God has NO record whatsoever of anything you have ever done wrong. [Phillips p76]

Next, being right with God does not mean we will no longer sin.

[SLIDE: SUB-POINT B]

B. Being right with God does not mean we will no longer sin

Verse 17: “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!”

You’re going to continue to sin. That’s not an excuse to continue sinning. But it’s a reality. It’s a reality God makes provision for in His word.

[SLIDE: 1JOHN 2:1-2]

1 John 2:1–2 ESV

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

[SLIDE: SUB-POINT C]

C. Being right with God is a matter of a personal & present relationship with Christ

How many of you remember the exact day and time when you received Christ as your Savior?

How many of you don’t?

How many of you were taught that you need to be able to remember it vividly and clearly?

You’re probably expecting me to say that if you don’t remember it perfectly, it didn’t happen. I strongly disagree with that.

What’s important is not that you remember an exact day and time. What’s important is that 1) right now, you are trusting actively in Jesus as your Savior and seeking to live for Him; and 2) your life has changed to some degree over time…you’ve become more like Jesus Christ.

You see, church, being right with God is a matter of trusting Him in a personal relationship now, not a decision you made in the past.

Verse 20: “I have been crucified with Christ.” There’s the past event, ok? But Paul doesn’t live in the pat and neither do we. So he goes on: “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.”

Don’t you love those last eight words? Who loved me, and gave himself for me.

There’s a famous theologian whose name was Karl Barth. Karl Barth wrote dozens of theological books, thousands if not tens of thousands of pages. But Karl Barth was also a pastor. And one time someone asked him, “What is the most impactful thing you have learned about Jesus in all your theological studies?”

“Jesus loves me, this I know - for the Bible tells me so.”

[BACK TO TITLE SLIDE]

Call for response

Three questions:

Are you contradicting the gospel with your actions?

How many of you would be honest today and admit, “you know, I’ve done what Peter did. I’ve allowed my fear of a person to impact how I treat someone else”?

Man, it’s so easy to do that. This is peer pressure. It’s not just kids that deal with that. Adults do too. Church leaders do too. And it’s not right.

But God gives us grace.

Do you really believe the gospel?

If you do, you’ll know it, because you’ll be on the pathway of the gospel with yourselves and others.

Grace, not law — that’s the pathway of the gospel.

Relationship, not rules — that’s the pathway of the gospel.

Favor with God — free, undeserved, unmerited, unearned favor with God. That’s the pathway of the gospel.

Church family, do you believe these things? Are you justified? Are you right with God? Are you telling others this wonderful truth? Or are you, by your actions, contradicting what your words say?

What’s keeping you from living it?

Is it fear, like Peter? Do you have trouble stepping out and trusting God and fearing Him alone? Friends, no one but God is worthy of our fear and reverence. Don’t worry what other people think. Love people as God loves you. Give yourself away like Jesus gives Himself to us.

Is it guilt? You need to reminded of the gospel. It’s better than you can possibly imagine. I am set right with God because of what Jesus has done for me on the cross. Doesn’t matter what we’ve done. Doesn’t matter what we’ve not done. Doesn’t matter how good we’ve been or how bad we’ve been.

When I trust in Him, choosing to believe that His death counts for me, and I commit myself to Him to follow Him even if I know I will never be very good at it, God chooses to consider me as innocent.