Religion versus Relationship

There is Freedom in following Jesus

Songs:

Give me Faith

This is Amazing Grace

INTRO:

I don’t talk about this much, but growing up I went to a private school.

I often introduce that by saying I am still a recovering private school kid.

And while that is a joke, there is a lot of truth there.

Looking back, here’s what I believe the average family looked like.

Parents were very disconnected from their kids.

The reason those parents put their kids in private school was because they wanted someone else to teach their kids good morals and good behavior.

Their conclusion then was that their kids would be protected from some of the perceived dangers of public school and that their kids would look really good when they graduated.

Now again, that’s the average kid.

That’s not everybody.

I don’t think that was me.

My Dad especially was a rockstar.

He was very involved and at times I felt he was too involved in my life.

As a dad now myself, I recognize and appreciate his desire to be a parent.

To train me up and teach me the ways of Jesus and not just leave that job up to a school.

Now back to my peers. Because I know alot of them didn’t have that, I saw lots of different things.

Private school kids were the best at masking who they are.

They look like perfect kids to the adults around them, but as soon as those adults turn around, woah… stuff gets crazy real quick.

Alcohol, drugs, sex, all of that was easily accessible to all of us.

Why?

Because these were also kids who had money… access… to whatever they wanted and then they were good at hiding it.

The superintendent of the school’s oldest son was my age.

He went to NGU with me...

And I was scared of getting kicked out of school because he smoked so much weed off our back porch.

The reason I say all that is for this reason.

Private school especially does a real good job at raising kids who think they just need to behave a certain way.

As long as you look the part, you fit in.

When the adults turn their backs, it’s a party that is scary sometimes, but as soon as adults are watching, everyone plays the part of the good kid.

Great behavior.

Perfect actions.

But all that does is train a bunch of teenagers to think that God loves us like that too.

That as long as I look good, act right, and have good behavior, then God will love me.

In fact, the key to being loved by God is by behaving, acting right, looking good.

But as we’ve all learned over the last few weeks,

Christianity is far more than rules and regulations.

Christianity is a religion, 100%, but it’s the only religion that makes a relationship with God the foundation.

Some people say it’s not a religion its a relationship and cool....

IF that helps you connect the dots, great.

But, religion isn’t bad.

James 1:27 “27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

John 13:35 “35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

I mean, these are a system of beliefs that point us to Jesus.

That’s all religion really is, an organized system of beliefs.

But again, don’t let that scare you off.

If you think religion is all about earning God’s love, then by all means, Christianity is not religion.

Someone read Ephesians 1:5 “5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

If a family adopts a child, what happens the first time that child does something that breaks the family rules?

Do we kick the kid out of the family, do we take out our adoption receipt and return him to the adoption agency the first time the kid breaks the family rules?

NO!

In fact, the opposite is true. The family will show grace to that child because they know the child doesn’t know the rules.

In the early days of adoption, it’s all about building that relationship, we show all the grace and all the mercy when the rules are broken.

Galatians 4:7 “7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Paul reminds us of this in Galatians 4:7. We are sons and daughters of God.

As sons and daughters, God shows us all kinds of grace.

Before we dive deep into the rules of God, we just need to know one rule.

We are all sinners in need of God’s grace.

We need to know Jesus paid that debt of sin we owe God.

Then we need to know, because of Jesus we are fully forgiven and invited to be a son of daughter of Jesus.

After that, God is so patient with us dude.

The more we are familiar with God’s mercy and grace, the more we want to Follow Him and the less we want to break his rules.

But even when we do break the rules, Again, He’s so patient with His children.

1 John 4:18 “18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

This is what it means to be a son or daughter of God.

We recognize his love.

We may have been drawn to God because of fear.

We are afraid of hell. Scared of the consequences of sin.

But what keeps people with God isn’t the fear of the bad, it’s the love, grace, and mercy God has shown to the worst parts of us.

Knowing that,

Open up to Galatians 2 this morning.

Someone read Galatians 2:11-13 “11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 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. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.”

Who is Peter?

Jesus disciple.

Who is a gentile?

Someone who is not a Jew.

So all of us in this room would be Gentiles.

Who are Jews?

descendants of Abraham.

Jews had tons of rules, but they were there to remind them of God’s love.

They were also there as a mirror to show them they could not obey God perfectly.

However, when Jesus came and even after Jesus ascended back to Heaven, some thought Jesus’ purpose was to remind us to follow the rules of Judaism.

But that missed who Jesus was!

Jesus came and perfectly followed the rules only to show us, He’s the only one who can!

Then Jesus showed us that the cross is for everyone.

For Jews and non-Jews.

Paul was hugely important to the early church by showing the grace and mercy of Jesus to Gentiles.

Peter got caught up in Jewish customs and stopped eating with some of the gentiles because they weren’t following Jewish customs.

But vs. 11 says, Paul told Peter too his face that that was wrong!

Peter, a guy who literally walked with Jesus as his disciple, who saw him crucified, was being told He was wrong by Paul?

Paul, a previous terrorist, dude who does Paul think He is?

Galatians 2:14 “14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?””

Paul reminded Peter its not about the rules.

Galatians 2:16 “16 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.”

Like we talked about at camp,

our good works don’t save us, only faith in Jesus work will save us.

Paul then doubles down on this in the next few verses.

Galatians 2:19-21 “19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. 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. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Paul is reminding Peter and all of those in Galatia here that hey if we could live as Jesus lived...

If we could follow all the rules perfectly...

Then we wouldn’t need Jesus.

But we do!

We need Jesus!

That’s the point!

We needed someone to do it for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Paul had learned this, and he needed to remind Peter of this too.

We all need that reminder.

APPLICATION:

SO what do we do with that?

Don’t shame yourself.

one of the greatest weapons of satan is shame.

He wants us living in shame.

wallowing in shame.

drowning in shame.

He wants us to be so hard on ourselves when we break the rules.

He wants us to think we need to do something good to cover our shame.

But friends, there’s nothing that we can do that would outshine the cross.

that would out-live the resurrection.

It’s not about what we can do, it’s about what He has done.

So every time you sin, every time I sin.

Every time i do the worst things in my mind.

Every time I feel like the biggest failure.

That I’m not perfect, that I’ve messed up too bad.

That’s when we need to run to Jesus the most.

Jesus love you. Don’t shame yourself.

Jesus wants that shame.

2. Spend time with Jesus.

The best way to overcome shame is to spend time with Jesus.

Just like Mary and Martha, Mary wasn’t superior to Martha or vice versa.

The truth is, Jesus wanted both of their hearts.

And that’s what he wants for us too.

He wants your heart and he wants the bully at school’s heart too.

He wants the #1 athlete on the teams heart, and hey he wants to water boy’s heart too.

He wants to popular kid and the kid whose never even noticed in school.

He wants us all.

Are we listening to that message?

Are we receieving that message?

Dude, when we spent time with Jesus, i promise you, you will be wanted.

You will read about the God who wants you.

Matthew 11:28-30 “28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””

Paul and Peter both knew this about Jesus.

That’s why Paul was so eager to remind Peter.

Hey man, it’s not about getting everyone to follow the rules you want them too.

It’s about showing them the one who wants their hearts! Exactly as they are, right now.

Thankfully, Peter had a friend who loved him enough to show Him that.

Maybe you can be that friend too.

Either way, spending time with Jesus helps us see what matters and what doesn’t.

What matters most is living in the freedom Jesus has given us on the cross.

Are we living in that today?