The Void of Religion

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What’s the difference between Christianity and religion?

It’s a blurred line that’s difficult to see because far to often “Christians” practice religion instead of living in faith.

It can be for many reasons. There may be a fear of rejection, or the premise that we must adhere to a specific doctrine.

In many instances Christianity can even look like a cult and indeed there have been cults formed on false gospel teachings.

None of that is what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that He is the living water that will fill us up and become a river flowing from us.

Our desire to be liked, to be a part of the “in crowd,” to have other people’s approval all comes from fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of having no purpose. Fear derived from doubt.

Today we’re going to talk about how our fear causes us to practice religion and be hypocritical instead of living in faith.

We’re going to look at what Paul says about religion in Galatians 2:11-21 today. What Paul says about placing faith over fear and finding the freedom that comes from living by faith.

In Christ, believers are liberated from the fear of judgment and the pressure to conform to religious standards, allowing them to experience true freedom and growth in their faith journey.

We can experience true freedom and growth by following 4 principles of living in faith.

Confront Fear and Hypocrisy

Center on Gospel Truth

Contend Gracefully with Sin

Christ Lives in Us

Religion in the church has caused major issues from the very beginning. Fear causes hypocrisy and a focus on man-made doctrine.

We are all guilty of this in many ways we may not be aware of our fears or our hypocrisy, but all of us have at least a small part of fear and hypocrisy.

Confront Fear and Hypocrisy

Let’s look at Gal 2:11-13

Galatians 2:11–13 CSB

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. 12 For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. 13 Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Paul is talking about Peter when he says Cephas. Cephas is the Aramaic word for Peter meaning rock. It’s important to understand the significance.

Peter is the rock in which Jesus built His church. Peter, John and James were viewed in many ways like they were Christian royalty.

Anything Peter said or did would have been very influential to the Christians around him. When Paul says he confronts Peter “to his face” he is addressing two fallacies being presented to the Galatians.

First, Paul is making it clear that he is on equal ground with any of the top pillar apostles.

Second, Paul is saying nobody, not even Peter, are above living in fear and compromising the gospel. All of us must be aware of our tendency to let fear interfere in our faith.

You see, the Greek word translated “condemned” is theologically difficult to understand in this context. It means condemned, not as in official judgment, rather in the sense of “to know to be guilty.”

“He regularly ate with the Gentiles” is talking about breaking bread with one another. We have a hard time understanding the spiritual significance of eating together at that time.

Eating at the same table means one in fellowship before God. Everyone at the table eating a piece of the broken bread has an equal share in the blessings of the master of the house (who is God).

Peter of all the apostles after his vision in Acts 10 and breaking bread with Cornelius should understand God’s grace extends equally to the Gentiles.

However, Peter’s fear of being disparaged by the Jews coming from Jerusalem caused him to compromise the gospel. His position of authority in the church caused many including Barnabas to follow his hypocrisy.

Paul knows the strong relationship that Peter and Barnabas have with God. In his rebuke of Peter you can see the hurt in Paul’s heart.

And even some empathy as he recognizes our desire to fill the void by seeking approval of religious leaders. Peter “feared” the Jews who came from James. The rest of the Jews not wanting to disappoint Peter or those he feared followed their hypocrisy.

Don’t we see the same thing in the church today?

Church leaders put fear before faith and seek worldly approval instead of resting in God’s approval.

Some are afraid the church is going to die out. So, in trying to keep the church alive they seek the approval of society to lure them in.

They make the gospel so inclusive that there doesn’t really need to be any commitment to Christ. Anything goes as long as you “say” you believe in Christ.

Other leaders are afraid of what those leaders are presenting as the gospel. So they ensure you follow the rules and all the traditions of the church.

They’re so afraid of any change that they have become overly rigid just like Peter and the Jews. They have become so publicly aggressive in denouncing the liberal turn that they don’t even want to allow a non-believer in their church.

Unless of course that non-believer has cleaned themselves up first.

The fear on both sides has led to their own hypocrisy that has led many of their followers astray.

Where is our fear that leads us into hypocrisy?

Don’t try to tell me you don’t have any.

So, what does this passage say about how we’re supposed to confront fear that leads us into hypocrisy?

We are supposed to first take notice and be aware of our own fears and hypocrisy. We all have moments where fear takes us away from living in faith. We all have times where we don’t practice what we preach.

What fears do we have that cause us to seek the approval of someone else or some group of people?

We are supposed to confront those and bring them before God. Maybe even seek help from another person on how to get beyond those fears. Even by seeking professional help if needed.

We should be so aware of ourselves that when we find ourselves being hypocritical we can immediately address it with those around us.

We aren’t the ones who condemn them for their behavior. It’s on them to recognize the error in their behavior.

They should be humble enough in Christ to acknowledge they know themselves to be guilty. If that humbleness isn’t there, if that self-awareness isn’t there don’t try to stand toe to toe arguing with them.

And most of all whether we are humbly being self-aware of our own behavior or confronting another about their behavior. We must be centered on the gospel truth.

Center on Gospel Truth

Look at verses 14-16:

Galatians 2:14–16 CSB

14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” 16 and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

Does this sound like anything we see today?

How many protestants would judge me for associating with a Pentecostal church?

Or even an Evangelical, Orthodox, or Catholic church?

And that also goes in the other direction as well. You’re not allowed to serve with anyone who isn’t whatever faction of which you belong.

You’re not even allowed to associate with them in most cases.

They don’t follow our traditions. They don’t share the gospel the same way we do. They have crazy interpretations of Scripture.

Do you not think the Jews were saying the same things about the Gentiles?

How can you break bread with them? They are Gentile sinners. We are God’s chosen people not them. If they want to be part of God’s people they better follow all of our traditions to the letter.

They better interpret Scripture exactly how we interpret Scripture. And who knows how many of them if any are saved at all?

Paul reminds Peter that the gospel is the core center. Not traditions, not man-made ideologies. The gospel.

I can almost hear the conversation. Peter, are you an idiot? Why are you being such a hypocrite?

You’re a Jew and you can’t even live up to the standards of our traditions. You’re even worse than the Gentiles.You were born a Jew and can’t keep the law, yet you expect Gentiles who don’t know the law to keep the law.

I almost wonder if there was sarcasm in Paul’s voice when he said “We are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners.’”

I can’t imagine how deep that must have cut into Peter’s soul. The stark reminder that only by faith in Jesus Christ is anybody justified by God.

Don’t try to make this faction of the church try to follow your traditions and your ideologies. They have faith in Jesus Christ, just as we too must have faith in Jesus Christ.

If faith is what Justifies us, and they have faith, then who are we to break the very fellowship Jesus tells us to keep. That Jesus tells us to love as He loves us?

We are all sinners and whether we are talking about sin in the church or in the world we are to contend gracefully with sin.

Contend Gracefully with Sin

Galatians 2:17–18 CSB

17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.

Here’s where we begin to see how faith over fear fills the void of religion. Paul’s sarcasm comes crashing down. We ourselves are “sinners” seeking to be justified by Christ.

We get a sense here of that argument I just discussed. The Jews come in and see Peter fellowshipping with the Gentiles.

The Jews said something like:

“Hey Peter you do realize your fellowship with those Gentiles goes against the Law!! You’re engaging in sin and justifying your behavior actually makes Jesus an agent of sin.”

Have you ever heard any Christian or church leader say something about our behavior making Jesus complicit in our sin? I know I’ve heard it a few times.

Paul says absolutely not!! He tells Peter we as Jews have the advantage of having the Law expose our sin. Having the Law show us our need for Christ as our savior.

And even for us faith in Jesus Christ is the only justification available for Jews and Gentiles.

Breaking bread with these Gentile believers doesn’t make us sinners and it definitely doesn’t make Jesus an agent of sin!

It does the exact opposite. It completely expresses the freedom we all have by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Those crazy, over the top, tongue speaking Pentecostals. Those strange Catholics with their kneel, stand, kneel, stand now say so many hail Mary’s worship. And so many others Christian factions.

If we break bread with those who have true faith and work together in fellowship we are expressing the freedom we have in faith. We understand Christian goes beyond our own ideologies and doctrines.

Christian goes beyond exactly how we interpret Scripture. When we fill the void of religion in our soul we begin to see the freedom in the righteousness we have in Christ.

We see fellowship with other believers that unifies the the body. When Paul says, “If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.” Paul is saying if we resort back to our traditions. If we allow fear to override our faith.

We are nothing more than lawbreakers. Because only true, full submissive faith is what fulfills the law. It is what fills the void of religion.

We fulfill the Law in our faith because Christ lives in us.

Christ Lives in Us

Galatians 2:19–21 CSB

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. 20 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. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

These three verses should be plastered on a main wall in every church that claims to be a Christian church. Every program, every tradition, every piece of our service, every outdated outreach, I could go on.

Every one of these and more that we refuse to let go of is no different than Peter and the Jews holding onto the Law.

What Paul says in Rom 7:7-8 that it is the Law that shows us what sin is and knowing sin causes us to crave that sin. Here Paul is saying because the law exposed sin to me I know my need for Christ.

That means we no longer need the approval of the world. We died to the Law, we died to the world. We no longer live, but Christ lives in us.

We have God’s approval. He’s moved in, He’s taken over. He’s head of the house and He’s rearranging the furniture.

He’s the perfect Father we can come to with every weakness, every hurt, pain, anguish, and insecurity. He’s the perfect Son who died for us. He’s the Holy Spirit who fills us with Christ.

If we place faith over our fear of losing our traditions, fear of change in the church, fear of what others will think, fear of losing whatever it is we want to hold onto. We will find a confidence in who we are in God.

We will fill the void of religion. We don’t trust easily and the one we should trust the mot is often times the one we trust the least.

Let me ask you this: If Jesus Christ physically moved into your home. If He went with you everywhere you went.

And promised He would take care of everything, would you have full trust in Jesus?

Well guess what, if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, then He is living in you and He is with you everywhere you go. You jut have to believe that truth. Then you will fill the void of religion.