From Performance to Faith

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Me

I have a very complicated relationship with the little notification that pops up on my computer and my phone — I know many of you do too… It’s the one that says: “A software update is available.”

You know the one. It shows up at the worst possible moment. You’re in the middle of something — you’re busy — you don’t have time for this right now. And it gives you two options: You can install the update. Or you can tap the button that says “Remind me later.”

It feels like I’ve been tapping that button since 2019. And here’s the problem I face — apps on my phone take forever to load. The batter drains. The stuff that’s supposed to work just… doesn’t. And every few days — here comes the notification again. And every few days — without thinking about it — I hit “Remind me later.”

The thing is — I know the update is good. I know it would probably fix half the problems I’m complaining about. I’m not hitting “Remind Me Later” because I think the old version is better. I’m hitting it because installing something new feels like a disruption. Because right now isn’t a good time. Because I’ll get it to it eventually.

And really — I’m also guilty of doing the same thing with my faith. There are times in life where I say that “This week is finally gonna be different.” I’m going to start my day with prayer every morning before I grab my phone. I’m going to actually read my Bible and not just open it up to the last highlighted verse and call it quiet time.

And then Monday happens. And it’s already slipping. And then by Tuesday — I’m praying — which, honestly feels like a win — and somewhere in the middle of me saying, “Lord — thank you for…” …my brain has completely left the building. I’m thinking about whether a hot dog is technically a sandwich. I’m replaying a conversation from four years ago that I handled badly. I’m wondering — and I genuinely can’t explain where this came from — do penguins have knees?

They do — by the way. I looked it up. During the prayer.

But then right behind that drift comes the feeling. Maybe you know this one. It’s not loud — it doesn’t announce itself… it just settles in: quiet and familiar: “You can’t even do this right. You need to do better. What is wrong with you?”

That low-grade hum of spiritual “not-enoughness”. That sense that everybody else has figured out something you keep missing. That the gap between who you want to be and who you actually are is a little wider than you’d like to admit.

Even as a pastor I feel this — and I think most of us carry some version of it. We’re just too busy to notice until we slow down long enough for it to catch up with us.

Here’s the question I want us to sit with today:

What if the feeling isn’t a “you” problem? What if you’re not broken — you’re just running on an old operating system. What if that upgrade has been available the whole time — and you’ve just kept hitting “Remind Me Later?”

We

Here’s the thing — this feeling of not being enough and not doing enough — it didn’t start at church. It started way before that.

We live in a world that grades everything. Your phone knows how many steps you took today — and whether it was enough. LinkedIn wants to know if your skills are current. Your car makes a little disappointed sound when the tire pressure is low. The kids’ school sends home a reading log. Your doctor has a chart. Your boss has metrics.

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We are evaluated people. We’ve been evaluated since kindergarten — and most of us never really stopped — we just internalized the grader. The report card didn’t go away — it just moved inside.

And what that does — over years — over decades — is train you to relate to everything through performance. Am I doing enough? Am I measuring up? Am I behind? It’s just the water we swim in… we don’t even notice it anymore.

And for those of us here who are followers of Christ — we take those thoughts into our spiritual life too, don’t we? We’re still running on that same performance loop — just now with spiritual categories added.

Did I pray enough this week?

Was I patient enough with my kids?

Did I read my Bible?

Did I serve? Did I give? Am I growing? Am I behind?

It’s the same operating system — just with a new set of apps on it.

And the cruel irony of it all is that the very thing that was supposed to set you free — has just become another metric to fall short of. Church becomes the place you come to feel the gap — between who you are — and who you think you’re supposed to be by now.

That’s old software doing what old software does. It’s slow. It’s unstable. It crashes at the worst possible time. And the problem with old software is that you can get so used to the glitches that you stop noticing them. The lag just becomes normal. The crashes just become part of life. You forget it was ever supposed to work differently.

If that’s where you are — you’re not alone. Not even close.

God

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We're in week three of our series called Amazing Grace — and if the first two weeks have been about what grace is and where it comes from — this week is about why we keep living like we never received it.

The Apostle Paul figured this out two thousand years ago. And he was so frustrated by it that he wrote one of the most direct letters in the entire Bible to a group of people who were doing exactly what we just described — people who had received something genuinely new — and then gone back to operating the old way.

And what he says to them isn’t try harder. It’s something much better than that.

Turn in your Bibles this morning to Galatians Chapter 3. And for context here — I want to explain the situation. See — Paul started this church. He loves these people. He’s poured into them — and then moved on to plant other churches. And while he’s been gone — some other teachers have showed up and started adding things to the message Pal has given them.

Essentially, they were saying, “Well, Jesus is great — but Jesus plus keeping the Jewish law — that’s the real deal. That’s how you get right with God and stay right with God.” And when Paul finds out — he’s not happy about it.

Exposition

And as he writes this letter — he doesn’t ease into it.

v. 1-3

Take a look with me at Verse 1:

Galatians 3:1 NRSVue

1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!

Paul is angry — but I want us to understand what kind of anger this is. This isn’t the anger of somebody who’s disgusted with the Galatians. This is the anger of somebody who watched people he loved walk out of a prison cell into the sunlight — and then turn around and walk right back in.

It’s not contempt. It’s anguish.

The word he uses here — bewitched — in the original language — it meant to be deceived. He is stunned that people who tasted genuine freedom would willingly walk back into a cage. This is the tone of a parent watching their kid choose a terrible situation. He’s not blaming them — he’s hurting for them. He’s saying these people aren’t villains — they’re victims of bad theology.

That’s an important distinction — especially if you’ve ever felt like your spiritual failures put you on the wrong side of God’s patience. And so Paul asks a simple question in Verse 2:

Galatians 3:2 NRSVue

2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

In plain language — Paul’s asking: “How did your relationship with God start?”

Was it because you performed well enough?

Or because you got disciplined enough?

Was it because you finally cleaned up your act?

No — of course not. And it’s the same with us. It started when you believed. It started with faith.

And so Paul’s follow-up question in Verse 3 lands like a gut punch. Look:

Galatians 3:3 NRSVue

3 Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?

In other words — “You started on grace. You’ve got the upgrade. Who talked you into rolling back to the old version?” And that’s worth sitting with. Because 2,000 years later — a lot of us still do exactly that. We come to faith understanding that we can’t earn our way to God — and then we spend the rest of our lives trying to anyway.

Paul says this is foolish. Not because the Galatians are stupid — but because they’ve forgotten something obvious. They’ve forgotten how the whole thing began.

v. 4-6

Paul has made his case from experience. Now he goes deeper — all the way back to the founding father of their entire faith. And what he finds there should stop them cold. Verses 4 through 6:

Galatians 3:4–6 NRSVue

4 Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. 5 Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard? 6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”

Paul is doing something here that cuts to the heart of his readers. He doesn’t just make a logical argument. He goes to history. He reaches all the way back to Abraham. This is a big deal for the people reading this letter. Abraham is basically the founding father of the Jewish people. And Paul does it to make his point that this isn’t new information. He’s reminding them that Abraham believed God. And so when Paul brings up Abraham — everybody leans in.

Look at Verse 6 in the NIV:

Galatians 3:6 NIV

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

That word — credited — it’s an accounting word. It means something was placed into his account. Not because he earned it — but because it was given to Him. In other words — Abraham didn’t earn his right standing with God — he just trusted God — and God said, “That counts. That’s enough.”

If you’re newer to all this — righteousness is just a church word for being on the right side of the ledger with God. Being in right standing with Him. And Paul’s point is that Abraham got there — not by doing the right things — but by trusting the right Person.

v. 7-9

Look at Verses 7 through 9 with me:

Galatians 3:7–9 NRSVue

7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would reckon as righteous the gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the gentiles shall be blessed in you.” 9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

Here’s the kicker. The Jewish law they’re holding on to — trying to “do” all the right things — it came centuries after Abraham. Which means the law was never the mechanism for getting right with God anyway. Faith was. The law came later. And it served a purpose. But it was never the path to blessing.

That blessing — Paul says in Verse 8 — was always meant to flow to all nations — and all people — through faith. That was the plan from the beginning.

In other words — faith and trust in God isn’t a new operating system. It’s the factory setting. The law was an add-on later — and it couldn’t do what the original design was always meant to do.

v. 10-14

Look at Verse 10:

Galatians 3:10 NRSVue

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”

Paul’s quoting Moses here from Deuteronomy. You remember all those laws from the Old Testament? Paul is saying here the same thing Moses was saying in the Old Testament. Basically — he’s saying, “If you don’t do everything perfectly — you’re condemned.” Well thanks, Moses and Paul — that’s not very uplifting or encouraging. But then Paul uses this shocking statement to make his next point. Look at Verses 11 and 12:

Galatians 3:11–12 NRSVue

11 Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.” 12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.”

He’s saying this shows that none of us can do everything right. None of us can be perfect — or do perfect — or live perfectly.

If you’re gonna try to get right with God by doing all the “right stuff” — through your performance — through doing everything the right way — then you’ve gotta do all of it. All the time. Perfectly. Because the law doesn’t grade on a curve. And none of us can do that. Not a single one of us. Which means that performance-based religion doesn’t just fail to help us… but it actually leaves us off worse. It condemns us by the very standard it sets.

So how does anybody get out of that?

Look at Verse 13:

Galatians 3:13 NRSVue

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—

Just sit with that for a second. He became a curse for us. He didn’t just pay a fine on our behalf. He didn’t file the paperwork and make it go away on a technicality. He stepped into the full weight of everything we owed… every shortfall — every failure — every way we’ve fallen short of the standard — and He absorbed it. On purpose.

The upgrade wasn’t free. It cost everything — and He took all of it.

That’s what Verse 13 is describing. And as a result — verse 14 — tells us what the law could never give us: the gift of grace. And this grace isn’t through what we can do — not through our efforts — but through faith. Look at Verse 14:

Galatians 3:14 NRSVue

14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Here’s the image I keep coming back to: think about your phone. When the battery’s dying — you don’t just try harder to keep it on. You don’t concentrate on it. You just plug it in. You connect it to the power source — and the power flows.

Faith is the connection. The Spirit is the power. Anything else is just “performance religion” — and performance religion is just walking around convinced that if you think about the battery hard enough — it’ll charge itself. But that doesn’t work.

And for what it’s worth — you can stop worrying about whether you’re praying correctly. God isn’t keeping a transcript. He already knows about the penguins.

You

So what’s this look like in real life? In the Monday morning commute or the Tuesday morning meeting — or in the kitchen on Wednesday at 6pm and everybody’s hungry and nobody’s being their best self?

God doesn’t want you walking through life running on the old software. Because that old software keeps us held back:

It’s the voice that shows up after you lose your patience with the kids.

It’s the way a hard week at work feels more like a verdict than just a bad few days.

It’s those moments — alone in the car — or lying awake at 2:00 am… when you start hearing that little voice that says you’re not doing enough. You’re falling short. You’re running behind. And it’s exhausting.

But friends — the upgrade is already available. And it has been since the first time you said yes to Christ. Or for some of you — it’s available — right now — for the first time. All you have to say is yes to Him. The question isn’t whether or not it exists — the question is why you keep hitting the “Remind Me Later” button.

So this week — when the performance audit starts in your mind again — name it for what it is. Even if it’s just in your head. That’s “old software”. Not to dismiss the feeling — not to pretend it isn’t there — but to identify what’s driving it. Because you can’t update something you haven’t diagnosed.

“When you blow it — the response isn't “I need to do better,” it's “That's not who I'm becoming. I'm not starting over. I'm continuing.”

And then follow that by acknowledging the fact — that you’re already accepted. That you don’t perform toward grace — that you live from it. That’s not a feeling you manufacture. It’s a decision you make — over and over again — that you’re not going to live under condemnation.

We

And if you begin to belief that about yourself — that you’re no longer living under the weight of failure — then imagine waking up Monday morning and not starting the day with a performance audit, because the verdict is already in. And it’s good.

Imagine making a real mistake — the kind you’d normally replay for three days — and instead of that shame loop — there’s something that actually feels like a reset. Not because you earned it — but because it’s already installed.

Imagine those quiet moments — alone with your thoughts — and instead of the background processes running — there’s something that feels like peace. Maybe for the first time in a long time.

Church — that’s not a fantasy version of faith. That’s what Paul is describing in this passage today. That’s the life that’s been available this whole time — for anybody willing to stop dismissing the notification.

The upgrade has already been paid for. It cost Jesus everything — our every failure — every shortfall — and every way we’ve missed the mark. And yet He absorbed it all so we wouldn’t have to keep paying a debt that was already settled.

And it’s available right now — for the person who’s been following Jesus for 30 years — and the person who’s still running on guilt.

You don’t have to clean up your device first. The only thing left — is to stop hitting “Remind Me Later”. Let’s stop dismissing that notification — and that call from God to trust in His grace.

Prayer

Communion