Give Them Jesus

If this is your first time with us this morning, we're six weeks in to a sermon series in the book of Galatians. The book is actually a letter written by a guy name Paul (he wrote the majority of the NT--last 27 books of the Bible) a letter written by Paul to a group of churches in the Roman Province of Galatia. The whole reason he had to write this letter is because after Paul travelled through these cities preaching the message that he received from Jesus, these other guys who claimed to be speaking for the Judean apostles told the Galatian Christians that Paul was only partially correct on his teaching. Yes, you had to believe in Jesus to be a Christian, but in order to be totally accepted by God and in to his family, you had to become a cultural Jew.

So these guys taught the people that they needed to be circumcised, eat kosher, and observe the sabbath in order to meet that cultural Jewish status. Paul's whole point in this letter is that he wasn't confused nor did he misspeak when he said that all that the only requirement for being a part of God's family was to have faith.

Because the Gospel of the crucified Messiah, Jesus Christ, creates a new, multi-ethnic family that is being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Introduction:

As we have been applying these ancient words to our current context we discovered last week that the reason why we all struggle with committing the same sins over and over again is because we are a lot like one of the BIG THREE apostles, Apostle Peter.

We're like Peter when we repeat the same sins over and over. And just like Peter, the reason we fall in to patterns of sin is because we start going in a path that is "out of step with the truth of the Gospel." The truth of the Gospel that Peter had not been in sync with is that God accepts Jew and Gentile, not on the basis of skin color, race, culture, or even morality, but that God accepts all people (who believe in His Son) on the basis of Jesus' righteousness. Peter was preaching a Gospel that demanded Gentile people to clean themselves up on the outside (by observing Jewish customs) in order to fully participate in God's family.

And I want to take some time this morning to make sure that we really grasp what that means and really understand how we can spot this failure to align with the Gospel in ourselves, our homes, our fellowships, and in Christ's Church.

Explanation:

What is at stake?

What is at stake in not grasping this is to become a church that has a firm grip on what the gospel is ON PAPER, but we can't actually spot a false gospel in action. What happens so often is that (we) preachers only preach to the mind, but we neglect to connect it to the heart. This is a big mistake. I think the majority of us in here this morning could hop online to look for a new place of worship and comb their doctrinal statement with a fine-tooth comb and actually spot doctrinal error and that is important.

But I fear that we as the church have changed the scriptural definition for maturity. A mature Christian is defined by someone who has been attending church for a long time or a mature Christian is someone who has passed the discipleship class, or a mature Christian is someone who has memorized all the terms in a systematic theology book, or has gone to seminary or Bible college or even reads their Bible and prays every day. If we have come to define spiritual maturity by any of these things, we have failed to really understand what spiritual maturity means.

And what is at stake is that we are creating a culture and handing down a faith that isn't actually very mature in the faith at all.

What is Spiritual Maturity?

One of the best answers to that question is answered by the same person who wrote the letter we’re studying this morning; the apostle Paul. He wrote a letter to a different church about how the gospel changes everything. After spending the first half of his letter explaining what the purpose of the Gospel is (that through Christ, he would unite all things in heaven and on earth) he then turned that big theme into bite-size chunks to help the church understand how to translate that into their everyday lives.

And in the fourth chapter his explanation was that God has rescued Jew and Gentile, male and female, rich and poor, slave and free all to be a unified people who were doing the work of the ministry (the ministry of spreading the good news of Jesus). So he said that God gifted the church (the people) with a variety of gifts so that each person inside the body of Christ could use their gift to equip the church until:

Ephesians 4:13–16 ESV

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

A mature Christian is someone who resembles Jesus in thought, word, and deed

The way this connects with the passage that we’re studying in Galatians is what Paul says in verse 15 about “Speaking the truth in love” is exactly what he does to Peter in front of everybody. I think that a lot of Christians are confused about what that phrase actually means. We interpret that to mean I need to be brutally honest with people and then remind them that I am telling them because I love them. Like, “hey man, I’m just speaking the truth, but you have nasty breath, but I love you.” That may be true, but that’s not what Paul is teaching. What Paul is teaching to the church in Ephesus is that the way to spiritual maturity and unity is through Jesus.

So when people are out of step with the Gospel, they don’t need good advise, they need good news! They need Jesus!

If we go back to what Paul says to Peter we see that what he gives Peter is not just a slap in the face, he gives him the gospel.

Galatians 2:15–16 ESV

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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.

Peter’s sin was the sin of racism. He believed in theory that God justifies everyone through faith in Jesus Christ, but when he was pressed by other racists, he folded on what he said he believed. Paul simply picks up the Scriptures and says, “Peter, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law (eating kosher) but through faith in Jesus Christ — Peter that’s why we’re justified, brother.”

Paul speaks the truth (of the Gospel) to Peter and the rest of those who were joining in on this division; because that’s what they needed to hear.

I think we struggle with this for a couple reasons:

I think that we struggle with speaking the truth in love because we’re not actually sure how to do it, and we have no idea when we should do it. But this text answers both questions.

Paul says that the reason why he rebuked him to his face was because “he stood condemned.” Peter was to blame, he was guilty of teaching a false gospel, he was guilty of being divisive, he was guilty of leading other people to follow him, and he was guilty of caving on the gospel under pressure.

I don’t think this is purely descriptive, but I think at least in a few points these are things that we all at some point do. For example:

We preach a false gospel to our children when out of frustration because they have lied to us we say something like, “Shame on you! Haven’t you ever read about the boy who cried wolf? You know what happened to him, don’t you? He was to blame for the death of sheep. You don’t want to be ‘that kid’ do you? Don’t ever let me catch you doing that again!” That’s a false gospel because it fails to confront the real problem and then gives them a poisonous cure. Ultimately that type of discipline only fuels them to hone their skills in deception instead of probing to the heart to find out why they felt the need to present a false version of who they are. Lying and deception is an identity problem. There is somebody that they are trying to emulate, something they’re trying to portray so they can experience love and acceptance. What they need to hear is, “Honey, you don’t have to pretend to be someone else to know how much God loves you. God loves you so much that he sent his very best for you on the cross. And he knew exactly who you really are, but that didn’t scare him away. In fact, the Bible tells us that God loved us when we were his enemies. And I love you too. You can always be honest with me because mommy or daddy is a sinner too, and sometimes I try to pretend I’m someone I’m really not. We’re going to keep reminding each other of how much Jesus accepts us. And you know what else, when we remember those things about Jesus, he uses them to change our hearts so that we are not so easily deceived into believing lies about God.”

Give them Jesus.

What about when someone is describing what a jerk their boss is—what is your response? I know a Christian attorney and I think you should definitely file a lawsuit. Or is it, “It’s really amazing how God uses everything to point us to himself. Your boss is clearly acting in a way that just proves that even when someone earns a lot of money and has a lot of power, without Jesus, they don’t know how to use it. As long as you’re looking to your boss for your motivation to work with excellence, you’ll forever find flaws in her. Jesus is the better boss. That’s why the apostle James told the people in his church who were being oppressed by their employer, “be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” In other words, Jesus sees what you’re going through, and when he comes, he will bring retribution for their wrongdoing. In the meantime, we are called to love even our enemies; so let’s pray together for your boss. Let’s pray that they would come to know Jesus.”

And the gospel creates these lines that call us to walk on in the strength of the Spirit of Christ. And the illustrations are unlimited, but I want to add one more.

We are out of step with the gospel when we allow our political leanings to distort clear gospel implications. The current political landscape is so revealing of the heart of Christianity. It appears that matters of security, comfort, and wealth, overshadow the gospel implications of compassion, risk-taking, and generosity.

We will not answer for what we voted for, but we will answer to God as to whether we followed His Word. I found this quote from the late missionary Francis Schaeffer about how to balance being a Christian and in a political party:

“Christians must realize that there is a difference between being a cobelligerent and an ally. At times we will seem to be saying exactly the same thing as those without a Christian base are saying. If there is social injustice, say there is social injustice. If we need order, say we need order. In these cases, and at these specific points, we would be cobelligerents. But we must not align ourselves as though we are in any camp built on a non-Christian base. We are an ally of no such camp. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different—totally different; it rests on the absolutes given to us in Scripture.” —Francis Schaeffer

Church, I am not here to tell you which way you should lean politically speaking. I am here to tell you that the Gospel overshadows all political perspectives.

It is such a mystery to me that the church believes the way to change people is through shame, or guilt, or law. Imagine Paul blogging about how much an idiot Peter was for doing what he did. Or that Peter should turn in his preaching shoes, or that he should be punished. The snowflake generation isn’t going to change by being told that they’re crybabies… you must give them Jesus. Every other group that boils your blood isn’t going to change by shaming them, exposing them, or silencing them. We must give them Jesus!

Peter was not only preaching a false gospel, but he was causing division in the church. Being divisive is born out of a failure to believe in the Sovereignty of God. When God is great in our lives, we believe that his will is the best will there is, even if it means we don’t get what we want.

But maybe, the biggest reason Paul needed to stand up to Peter was because he was leading others to believe a false gospel. It reminds me of what Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 before he said his final goodbye to them

Acts 20:30 ESV

and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

When someone of influence is preaching a false gospel people will inevitably follow them, unless they are confronted and called out.

Application:

The call for us this morning is to first examine our hearts to understand where flaws in our understanding of spiritual maturity is. Are you defining spiritual maturity by the amount of time you spend reading the Bible, or praying. Those are good things and lead help us develop maturity, but spiritual maturity is when we resemble Jesus in thought, word, and deed.

A second call for us this morning is to be a people who speak the truth in love. In order for us to be fluent in the gospel language we must be immersed in the gospel. We must immerse ourselves in the Scriptures to see where our lives are or are not in line with the person of Jesus. And then once the gospel has begun to bloom in us, we can then be speakers of the truth to our brothers and sisters, and to the world who is without Christ. And in order for us to become fluent we must not only be immersed in the gospel, we must live in community with others. We aren’t great at seeing our own blind spots. But as we share life with others we allow them in to speak the truth in love to us, and vise versa. True fellowship is never just eating, or just studying the Bible, or praying. True fellowship includes those things, but fellowship happens when as we are telling each other how our week is going we are good listeners of where we might be out of step with the gospel. And then we can give each other Jesus. And as we hear the truth being preached to us, we repent of our self-reliance and we cling to the righteousness of Jesus.

Communion:

Matthew 11:27–29 ESV

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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.

It would be a mistake of me to encourage you all to speak the truth in love to each other without giving you, Jesus. Our church is blessed to have many mature Christians—not perfect, but growing in Christlikeness. And sometimes in our attempts to become more like Christ, we become impatient with our rate of speed and actually begin to rely more on our works and our labor to produce Christlikeness…

I read a quote from Tim Keller that is fitting for the text:

“After creation God said, “It is finished”—and he rested. After redemption Jesus said, “It is finished”—and we can rest.”

Podcast:

Gospel Fellowship Discussion Questions:

When is the right time to speak the truth in love to other brothers and sisters?

What is spiritual maturity?

How would you speak the truth in love to a woman whose husband has just left her?

How would you speak the truth in love to a man who has just spoken negatively about his wife in front of others?

How would you speak the truth in love to someone who has just made a joke about a person wearing clothing from a different culture?

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