week 3 In vain

intro:

Good evening everybody it’s good to be here with you

As you know, we have been going through the book of Galatians over the past few weeks

What are some highlights from Galatians so far?

Who is the author? Who is the audience and why is that important?

In chapter 2, Paul continues going through his credentials and talks about his life and ministry

He also will touch on a few different things I believe are important.

Let’s go ahead And pray THEN jump into the text.

Pray:

Text:

Galatians 2:1–10 ESV

1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

As usual before we jump in what stands out to you in the text, what are some thoughts or observations that you have?

And please, if you don’t know, my talk is a great opportunity just to share a thought doesn’t have to be crazier complicated

My goal is for us to be a community that talks and communicates and shares our thoughts and ideas

No one is better or worse than anyone else here

When I read through the text, I was kind of confused and didn’t understand what was happening so I had to sit with it for a little bit

Spend some time and a few commentaries and just seek the Lord

And I think we can break up the tax into a few different sections

Starting with versus 1-3

Galatians 2:1–10 (ESV) 1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.

To run in vain is to run on a treadmill with the expectation of making it to the grocery store…

It’s to get on a roller coaster and expect to end up somewhere else than where you started

I see people do this all the time they run and a circle around and around and round and end up at the same spot where they started, and they called us the Olympics

Paul was wondering, and Paul wanted to ensure that he himself was not preaching was not teaching to the Gentiles for no reason

Paul wanted to see if what he spoke and was And said to the tiles was the same that Peter spoke and shared to To the Israelites

And once again, Paul is defending the gospel. He is speaking to a people that have abandoned the gospel for another.

Paul is saying listen this isn’t from me. This is from God.

But if me if myself is not enough for you and God is not enough for you, I’ll give you a third source these other influential men who mean nothing to me and nothing to God also agree with the gospel that I presented to you

And for anyone who is a brother this must be more than enough. Paul isn’t standing on his own claiming some crazy story.

Paul, his arm and arm These other influential men within the church who saw Jesus lived with Jesus and ate with Jesus

And Paul is saying Christ is enough and if all of them went crazy and all of them went astray to follow what they had once said

And he warns them about this because of what we see in Verse 4

4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

False brothers who are brought in?

Who slipped in to spy out on the freedom wanted to bring us back into slavery

Now, what is this slavery that Paul is talking about?

The slavery is Jesus and

The gospel and

here, you can add whatever you want…

In their day and age, it was Jesus and the law…Jesus and circumcision Jesus and the Torah and the law Leviticus

But today, maybe it’s Jesus and legalism Jesus and speaking in tongues Jesus and good works

Maybe it’s Jesus and regular attendance in church for salvation in whatever sacrament tradition or hyper, spiritual, or hyper legalistic thing you want

If we add anything to the gospel of Jesus, it now falls apart

Listen, I don’t bake much, but I do understand that it’s hard and for certain recipes it is extremely specific to where if I had too much of anything else or add anything else to the recipe it falls apart it’s dry. It’s soggy it crumbles.

When we add anything to Jesus, anything to the gospel or leave anything out, we lose the recipe we lose salvation. We lose it’s power.

And the gospel becomes worthless

A few worthless gospels I’ve seen is Jesus loves you…

You’re missing stuff

You’re missing the truth of our need for Christ

If I hear Jesus loves you, I’ll be heck yeah man I love me too

Or maybe your hand is it you need to stop sinning

Jesus and no more pornography

Jesus and no more homeless sexuality

Jesus and communion every Sunday

Jesus and you need to be on my political side of the aisle

Whatever you add to the gospel, it stripped it of its power

The gospel is that the God of the universe is holy and just and we are sinful and fallen

And yet that holy, and just God had compassion and love towards the sinners towards you and me

And before time began, he had a plan to send his one and only son a perfect substitute for our punishment. He lived the life we could not and died the death that we deserved.

And he rose again, three days later, victorious over death over the grave and over sin

And if we repent and believe if we accept him as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved

Mark 1:15 ESV

15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Anything else that we add to this destroys the power of the gospel

So I want to ask you tonight are you running in vain? Are you sharing an incomplete gospel?

If that’s the case, talk to me tonight, we can walk through it… And we will do a gospel teaching class eventually

But I also wanna ask you are you in this room and you’re chasing the money you’re chasing relationships you’re chasing whatever it is in this life instead of running your race for God?

Over the past two weeks I have been moved by how much I see the gospel being preached over one man’s death

And I wanna ask us tonight are we running in vain because if everything we do comes back to ourselves, we are running in vain

But if everything we do comes back to Christ is in pursuit of bringing others along with us is in pursuit of preaching and teaching his gospel. Then we are running a race worthy of the run.

Are you running in circles? Are you running on a treadmill and expecting your life to end up somewhere else?

Because if you are tonight is the night that you changed that tomorrow morning I wanna challenge you to wake up and pick up your Bible and read the scriptures and learn the gospel and then step out of those doors into war and save people who are dying on this battlefield that we call life

Anything else the pursuit of anything else is a wasted life…

Everything we Must come back to the glory of God whether we’re eating whether we’re working whether we’re building a life a marriage, a family a career it all must go back to the gospel

We all must be done to honor and glorify God anything else as a race on the treadmill, expecting to have a different destination

6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

And here is where I want to point something out that’s so important something that Peter saw and Paul saw

Verse eight, he who worked through Peter also worked through me

He who worked through Paul also is working through us. The Holy Spirit is the power of God through the gospel, and he empowers us to share to preach and to rescue people from the flames.

If you’re in this room and you think well, Paul had it easy he was an apostle the same spirit that filled that apostle is accessible to you and me if we are believers

And what’s worse is that many of us had it but we leave it dormant and hide it in order to remain comfortable

Please don’t remain comfortable be be moved

Point 1:

Point 2:

Point 3:

Notes:

Paul did not go see Peter until 14 years after his conversion and his goal was not to submit to as if they are the final authority, but to seek wisdom and clarity between the Jewish and Gentile church

They were received well and did not require a circumcision of any of the gentle tiles, but we’re excited that Christ was being preached to all.

Paul was seeking to make sure that his understanding of the gospel was not in vain..

What is a vain gospel?