Galatians Chapter 2
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
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Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
So as we continue on our journey through galatians , if you remember last we talked about the Judaizers that would follow Paul through his ministry. In particular they were concerned that Paul was teaching the Mosaic law and specifically circumcision.
Now the start of chapter 2 we see that Paul and Barnabas have traveled to Jerusalem to speak with James , Peter and John. These verse 1 through 5 are very important lessons for us today in the church and in life. Now this is the first century so there is no quick way to travel. Yet Paul and Barnabas felt that this was of such importance that they met with the leaders to get on the same page that they took that journey.
They were meeting because they needed to workout what Paul was teaching to the gentiles and what Peter was teaching to the Jews. Because there are not two Gospels, there is only one which needed to be taught to two different sets of people. This is important to understand. Two different sets of culture, history. These two different cultures could not have been more different. The Hebrews would have had a background in the Old Testament. The gentiles mainly came from pagan backgrounds.
So for example if we look at the Gospel records, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Matthew and John were both Jews but the Gospel records are written for different functions. They both tell the same story of Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel is written so that the Jews could see that Jesus was the Messiah. This is why he has a genealogy at the start of his Gospel. John’s gospel on the other hand was written so that all people could recognize that Jesus was our Lord and Savior. John’s Gospel has a clear evangelistic purpose.
Now as culture’s are colliding particularly because of the vastness of the Roman Empire, there needed to be “one accord” of the teachings of Jesus. In other words they talked about the conflicting teachings. This is something we really need to explore more in the modern church. Right now as we speak, we are living in a post christian society in America. However you still have Christians of course. Now you have a whole new subset of the population. Much like Paul and Peter had to deal with. We have conflicting cultures clashing. So the answer isn’t a different Gospel message. They discussed it and in the end Peter, James and John agreed with Paul. As we see here
James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
So in these passages, we have two traits of Christian values going on here. Paul and Barnabas are brave and stand up for their beliefs. You have to remember that both of these guys are the new kids on the block. They people that they are visiting aren’t just leaders of the church but they are people that walked with Jesus. It must have been an intimidating journey and meeting. But this was to important to shy away from. Now on the other side of this meeting, you have Peter, James and John. They show humility and compassion towards Paul. They recognize in this instant that he is correct. That is not an easy thing to do, to have the humility those gentleman had in these moments.
These two values will show up again when Peter goes to visit Paul. Because at the end of the day, we cannot be perfect. We cannot be sinless. You are going to make mistakes and you are going to have questions. It is what we do afterwards that will cause us to grow as Christians, or cause us to backslide. Peter’s mistake was letting other people influence him.
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. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
Peter falls in with the crowd and no longer eats with the gentiles. So one quick thing about Jewish culture. A person was clean or unclean, it was very important to them. So gentiles were unclean for example. It would be not appropriate to eat with them. But again people will see if you follow your own beliefs, this is why a daily living to Jesus is so important for our faith but those around us as well Because in this instance even Barnabas is lead astray.
This is the moment where we get introduced into one of the most important concepts of following Jesus. We are justified not by the law or works. We are justified by faith in Jesus.
“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So 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.
Paul is saying that above anyone else, the Jews should know that you cannot be justified by works. A works based system is not an attainable system. It simply cannot be done. This is why Jesus had to come, this is why Jesus paid a price that we could never pay. So that we can have the righteousness and the justification to be with the Father!
If you look at our own system of laws, I would argue, while not perfect our systems of laws is pretty good. However, how many people have gotten speeding tickets before? Or had run with other issues. These are man made laws. In order to live the life that God wants you to live; you have to work within a power that is greater than yourself. Which brings me to one of the best verses in the entire Biblical record
I have been crucified with Christ and 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.
Now has Paul been physically crucified with Christ? No of course not. However on that road to Damacus that we talked about two weeks ago, He accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. The former Saul had been crucified. It is a death of his former self. He says that I no longer live but Christ lives in me. This is a power well beyond our means. The law cannot save you, only Jesus can save you. Only Jesus can take all the pain of your past, all the mistakes, sins, bad decisions, whatever you would like to call them. Only Jesus can take them away and that person who you were before is gone.
Where you are now is exactly where God wants you to be. The life you live now, is by faith in the Son of God. The life you live now is because He loved you and He gave himself for you. This is what justification by faith means. No amount of good works could ever get you close to this kind of life. Yes God cares about your salvation, 100%. But He also cares about the life you are living in the here and now. When you have Jesus in your heart and you are living by that faith, you will have hope, you will joy. You will have the ability to navigate through the tough times of life. It is all there for you because of Him.
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
The ultimate act that shows us the grace of God is that Christ died on the cross. There is no greater act of love. This is what we need to understand, we do not live a Christian life because it gets us to eternity to God. We live a Christian life because of what Jesus did for us.
Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.
Jerry Bridges
Justification by faith is the ultimate act of grace in your life. We are never without the grace of God in our lives and this is the true power that we can be a part of when we look to God for our dependency and strength.
Let us pray