Does Christ Promote Sin?

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning if you will start turning in your Bibles to Galatians 2.

We are going to cover a lot of ground this morning very quickly and Lord willing, will be covering the entirety of chapter 2.

And our sermon this morning is really going to be more of a history lesson than anything else.

And if you read through Galatians 2, you will find that for the majority of the chapter, Paul is spending his time justifying his position as an Apostle.

Remember, Paul is having to defend himself here against the Jewish Legalists and the Gnostics who were leading the people astray and trying their best to convince the people that Paul wasn’t even an apostle at all.

These false teachers were manipulating the people and trying their best to exploit them in order to line their own pockets.

And as long as there were people like Paul in the way, sounding the alarm and warning people of tactics of these false teachers, then the false teacher’s work would be hindered.

And this is no different than what we see going on today.

There is so much in the way of false teaching and false gospels in our world today that it is hard to differentiate what is truth and what is not.

There are ways to flesh out false teachers but the reality is, that takes work.

We have to be willing to take what the false teacher is saying and actually compare that to God’s Word.

And one major problem that we have in our country in particular Biblical illiteracy.

People don’t know what the Bible says because they don’t study it.

Our culture has conditioned us to only accept information in very short bite size chunks that has no deep roots.

We are a society rooted in the quick Google answer to everything that may or may not even be accurate or true.

If we have a question about anything we Google it and if we get an answer in 200 words or less, we take it and run with it.

If it is longer than that, we move on—too much to read.

Or, if such and such posts it on social media, it must be true!

But if we run across a long social media post, you know the ones that say, “warning, this is going to be a long post,” what do we do?

We scroll on by—ain’t got time for that!

And that is how we are conditioned to take in information.

Which is directly opposite of how information is arranged in our Bibles.

Our Bibles are designed to read a passage and dig into it, study the culture, the languages, the circumstances around what was written in the Scripture.

But because we don’t really do that in our society, we also do not apply that to our Biblical studies so we get the small little tidbits, or the nice “ooshy-gooshy” feel good one liners and that’s what we run with.

And as a result, those who are good with words and are good at manipulating feelings, draw us in and lead us down a path to leads only to destruction.

And this is no different than in the days of our friend Paul, who dedicated the last 1/2 of chapter 1 and the first 1/2 of chapter two to combating this very issue.

Verse by verse he lays it out for them, starting in verse 11 . . .

Galatians 1:11–12 NIV - Anglicised

I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Right off, the gospel he recieved wasn’t some made up thing he came up with in his head.

Because remember Paul was very educated, but his education did not lead him to his understanding of the Gospel.

No, he received it directly from Jesus Christ.

It wasn’t a dream or a vision either.

It was a direct appearance by Jesus Himself.

And Paul continues to talk about his own journey . . .

Galatians 1:13–17 NIV - Anglicised

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

And verse 17 is very important here.

Because one of the arguments was that Paul was just teaching them what other people were telling him to say.

They were accusing Paul of just being a talking head or a puppet, pushing the agenda of the Church.

And the false teachers were accusing the Church of the same thing that Paul was accusing the false teachers of, pushing their own agenda.

But Paul says, no, that is not the case.

When Jesus struck him blind and revealed Himself to Paul, Paul didn’t run up to Jerusalem and consult with the other disciples.

Paul didn’t go and assert himself as an apostle.

No, God sent him into the wilderness, into Arabia, where he prayed and meditated and then later, he returned, not to Jerusalem but rather to Damascus.

And it was there in Damascus that he began to preach and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, based on what Christ had revealed to him and his own understanding of what we would call the Old Testament, in which Paul knew inside and out.

See, Paul remember was in line to be High Priest and he knew the Old Testament frontward and backward, and was able to reconcile everything about Jesus with everything the Old Testament had to say about Jesus.

It is this strength of Paul’s that made him such an effective Apostle.

He was able to pull it all together in a way that none of the the others could.

And for three years Paul did this in Damascus and the surrounding areas.

Galatians 1:18–24 NIV - Anglicised

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie. Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.

So, after three years Paul finally went to Jerusalem, but the only two disciples he saw were Peter, who he stayed with for about two weeks and then later James.

And this is how Paul began his ministry.

It was somewhat slow and methodical, mainly because at first they didn’t trust him.

And can we blame them?

Here is this guy who had been the worst enemy there was for Christians and now he is claiming to be converted and is promoting the Gospel.

In their mind, he is trying to trick them and manipulate them.

And it took a lot of time and patience for them to get to the place where they trusted Paul.

Which honestly is a good thing.

We should never just blanketly accept absolutely everything someone says, just because they have a big name or so many degrees.

We need to test the spirits as John puts it and see if what that person is saying matches up.

See what their true motivation is.

Because they can’t hide their true motivation very long.

It will come out.

More History

So, Paul continues his journey and his work.

Following God’s lead and God’s direction.

In fact, Acts records an incident in which Paul couldn’t figure out where God wanted him to be and he struggled with it and only later God revealed to him to go to Macedonia.

So Paul was trying his best to be completely to God’s leading, then . ..

Galatians 2:1–5 NIV - Anglicised

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run 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 brothers 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 remain with you.

So 14 years went by before Paul even saw any of the other Apostles again.

And the only reason he went to Jerusalem was to gain their counsel on his call to share the Gospel with the Gentiles, which many in the Church at Galatia were.

And there was actually a large debate on how the Gospel was to be presented to the Gentiles and what would be required of the Gentiles, because it was all new to them all.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ symbolized a continuation and a perfection of Judaism to them and they did not know how to handle these new Gentile converts, so Paul went to the authority.

Which is another important point.

Paul did not take on himself to appoint himself as the authority and do what he wanted.

Paul submitted himself to the authority of the other Apostles, who by the way for the most part knew less about about the religion itself than Paul did.

However, they came first and Paul submitted himself to the authority of others.

Which is another sign of whether you are dealing with a person of God or a false teacher.

False teachers will not submit to any authority whatsoever.

They are the know it all and do it their way or no way.

And it is all about lifting themselves up and not glorifying God.

To which Paul says . . .

Galatians 2:6–10 NIV - Anglicised

As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Which is good news for these Galatians because Paul is telling them from the authority of the Apostles of Jesus Christ—all of the Apostles, Paul’s message of salvation to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ by faith and by faith alone is valid and true.

They were ALL in agreement.

Which is the same gospel that we are saved under as well.

But, it was not all sunshine and roses though.

Paul Confronts Peter

A little later Peter visits Paul in Antioch and Paul notices something going on with Peter.

Something that doesn’t quite jive with Paul and Paul being Paul . . .

Galatians 2:11 NIV - Anglicised

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.

Now, this is Peter, the established Apostle.

The most respected of all of the Apostles.

The one who was there for it all.

And here is Paul confronting him to his face about something.

But what was it?

Galatians 2:12–13 NIV - Anglicised

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.

And what was going on here is before the dignitaries sent from James showed up, Peter had no problem eating and rubbing elbows with the Gentiles among them.

But when these other officials showed up, who were converted Jews, he separated himself and no longer had anything to do with the Gentiles.

He was being a snob and a hypocrite.

And was not acting very Christian like.

Ever been around someone like that?

When no one is around they are all friendly and buddy-buddy, but when “important” people show up, they don’t have the time of day for you.

This is what Peter was doing.

And Barnabas was following right along like a little puppy dog.

Paul didn’t like it and he called them out on it.

Galatians 2:14–21 NIV - Anglicised

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing 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 observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified. “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a law-breaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

And in a nutshell, Paul is reminding them all of what they had concluded in Jerusalem.

Gentiles were the same in God’s eyes as the Jews.

And their behavior was nothing more than racist bigotry and they needed to cut it out.

Just because they were Jews by birth, it didn’t cover or dismiss their sin.

They had to repent just like everyone else.

Otherwise, it would be no different than if Christ himself was promoting sin, which we know is not the case.

Our own actions reveal who we really are and the only way to overcome our sin is repentance for all of us.

Altar Call/Challenge

And Paul is using this to set them up for what we will talk about next week.

But for this morning that is where we stop.

And really for us, I think God wants us to think about our attitude toward others.

We are called to carry the gospel to others, but what are we projecting toward others.

What are our feelings toward people who are different from us?

We need to open our hearts and let God examine that is us this morning.

Can we do that?

Let’s pray.