Freedom Part 2: Galatians 2:19-21

Introduction

Attention:

Many of you know that I used to be a janitor before I moved here.

It was a good job in a lot of ways, and a hard job in a lot of other ways

One of the things that made it the most difficult is that I had to balance out two things: I had to clean really thoroughly, and I had to clean fast.

If I cleaned thoroughly but it took too long, that wasn’t good enough.

And if I cleaned fast but not thoroughly, that wasn’t good enough.

There had to be a balance between these two things. And it took me awhile to figure out

I don’t think any of you have ever been a janitor, but I think you have probably experienced something similar.

Maybe you had a homework assignment given to you without much time to do it. You had to do it fast; aka, if you submit it late, you get points taken off. But also, you have to do it well; you get points taken off for a lack of diligence.

You need to write that paper fast, AND you need to write it well. That’s a tough balance!

A similar issue is that, within Christianity, we struggle to find a balance between belief and behavior

What do I mean by that? What you believe shouldn’t go against the way you behave, and the way you behave shouldn’t go against what you believe. They should both go together

But how does that happen? There is one key verb that is found within the Bible that puts belief and behavior at a balance. The word is faith.

What is faith? Here is a definition of faith:

“Faith refers to a sense of trust, guiding belief, faithfulness, and often a committed sense of loyalty.”

The first two parts of this definition have to do with “belief,” and the other two deal more so with behavior.

Another way to say it is this: faith is believing something, and then doing something because of the thing that you believe.

Belief and behavior are at perfect balance here

Today, we are continuing our Freedom series through the book of Galatians by looking at Galatians 2:19-21

This is a central part of the book

Here, we see how faith comes together to balance both belief and behavior

Need:

We need to hear this tonight so that we don’t misunderstand what Christianity is and how Christianity works.

Most people misunderstand Christianity.

In general, we tend to view it from one of two opposing extremes.

On the one hand, we mishear stuff about living for God and begin to think that Christianity is all about making it through your checklist of good deeds (that is, it is all about behavior).

And on the other hand, we mishear stuff about grace and the freedom that we have in Christ and think that we can live however we want, since Jesus died for our sins anyways (that is it is all about belief).

The problem with both of these extremes is that there is a lack of balance between belief and behavior. The former is characterized by incorrect belief (we have to earn our way to God), and the latter is characterized by incorrect behavior (misinterpreting grace and freedom).

We need to see that true freedom is a marriage between belief and behavior, without one unbalancing the other

What about a friend that is acting kind to you but they are just doing it to take advantage of you?

Maybe somebody that wants to be friends with you but tears you down trying to be funny...

Well, let’s get right on into it!

Body

The Big Idea: Faith balances belief with behavior

The Question: How does faith balance belief with behavior?

1. Faith balances death with Jesus AND life in Jesus

2. Faith balances death to legalism WITH death to pride

3. Faith balances life from grace WITH life for faithfulness

Galatians 2:19–21 (NLT)

For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Explanation:

Christians share in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Firstly, in the same way that Jesus physically died on the cross, we spiritually die to sin. Sin no longer pulls our puppet strings.

Secondly, in the same way that Jesus physically rose from the dead, we spiritually rise to a life that is in Christ.

How is it that this happens exactly? Through what we call justification.

Here is a definition of Justification from Akin and Merida: “Justification is the gracious act of God by which God declares a sinner righteous solely through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Let’s make a few of observations about this definition.

First, justification is an act of God.

It is not something that people do by praying a magic prayer. It is something that Christ does on behalf of sinners.

Second, justification is a declaration.

The picture here is of a judge making a decision.

And it is a decision that is unchangeable. This is where the phrase “once saved, always saved” comes from.

Third, justification only happens through faith in Jesus.

And you know what proceeds from faith? Christ living in us.

If Christ lives in us, then we live in Him, too

This affects the way that we behave.

We don’t behave to try and earn God’s behavior; we’ve crucified that type of lifestyle to the cross

But now that there has been this death with Christ, there is life in Christ… a resurrected life that proves itself resurrected through resurrected behavior: death to sin, and life to righteousness; death to darkness, and life to light.

Illustration:

Here’s an illustration. Let’s say that you want buy a Tesla Cybertruck (aka, buying the Warthog from the Halo franchise, also AKA buying stock in Twitter [.... get it?])

You buy the Tesla, but somehow, it randomly breaks down

You call who you bought it from, and they fly somebody in to get your truck fixed.

And now, of course, you’re expecting to get a really expensive bill from them, since they flew to your location and fixed your truck

But after several months of hearing nothing, you decide to give them a call and said “I can pay the bill, just send it to me.”

But the person on the other end of the line says “I’m sorry, sir, but we have no record of anything ever having gone wrong with your car.”

This is wonderful news! And now, you have the privilege of driving that truck around and telling other people the wonderful story of how kind the company was to you.

That’s what justification is. That is what happens when someone places their faith in Jesus. God looks at you and says “I have absolutely no record of anything ever having gone wrong in your life.”

And now that we are declared dead to sin, we are declared alive in Jesus, which means that we have the beautiful privilege of showing the world what Jesus looks like through our obedience to Him.

Praise God for what we’ve been saved from AND what we’ve been saved to!

Application:

How have you personally joined with Christ’s death and Resurrection?________________________________________________________________________________________

Maybe you can look at it and say “I used to live this way, but now, because Jesus has justified me, I live this way.”

How does the faith that you have make you more like Jesus?________________________________________________________________________________________

If you do truly have faith, you are dead to sin and alive to God. There has been a death and a resurrection in your own life. Think about what that looked like for you, or if it has really even happened

What can you do to make sure that you aren’t focusing on Christ’s death more than you are focusing on His resurrection (and vice-versa)?________________________________________________________________________________________

In other words, how can you keep this two things in balance?

Any time that you thank God for what you’ve been saved from, take some time to thank Him for what you’ve been saved too as well (new life, obedience, etc.

Have a faith in God that demonstrates that you have joined in both Christ’s death AND His resurrection.

Transition statement: Because believers have joined with Christ’s death and resurrection, they have died to two specific things.

Table question: What extremes do you tend to jump towards?

The Big Idea: Faith balances belief with behavior

The Question: How does faith balance belief with behavior?

1. Faith balances death with Jesus AND life in Jesus (behavior)

2. Faith balances death to legalism AND death to pride

3. Faith balances life from grace (belief) AND life for faithfulness (behavior)

Galatians 2:19–21 (NLT)

For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Explanation:

Let’s remember the context of all of this: Paul is dealing with false teachers that are saying that you have to “do stuff” in order to earn God’s favor

The word “law” is a keyword that reminds us of this

Remember the law that God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai? The 10 commandments and all of that other stuff? The false teachers were misinterpreting that stuff to say that, in order to be a Christian, you have to follow certain aspects of that Law in order to earn God’s favor

That’s the type of thing that you call “legalism.”

Essentially, legalism has right behavior. but wrong belief. You do good stuff, but you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

And this is why Paul says that he has “died” to the law; he stopped trying to follow it legalistically, because he realized he could never do it all.

In this way, the law is like a mirror. We look at it and are “condemned” by it, because no matter what, we’re always going to break it. The Law reflects back to us our own inability to keep it.

But because Jesus died for us, when we have faith in Him, we die to the law, because Christ fulfilled the law for us by dying for us

So wait; if God’s pleasure is not based on my performance, how can I please Him? Why should I please Him?

This is where the second thing that Paul died to becomes important

You see, Paul didn’t just die to the law; he died to himself. He died to his selfishness and pride (look at verse 20)

But what do we mean when we are talking about “pride?” Here is a biblical definition given from a theological dictionary:

Pride refers to an unwarranted attitude of confidence.

Self confidence isn’t a bad thing; it is actually something that God has called us to. But if our confidence is like “I can do whatever I want,” THAT’s pride. THAT’s what Paul died to, along with everyone else who places their faith in Christ

Essentially, when we act prideful as Christians, it is right belief with wrong behavior;. We know that we are free in Christ, but we are neglecting the importance of good works.

Another way to say this is that we are being “hypocrites.”

So we can bring all of this together to say that, yes, through faith, Christians die to the law, but that’s not the only thing Christians die to through faith. They also die to pride, which means we don’t just do whatever we want to do.

Legalism has right behavior with wrong belief, pride has right belief with wrong behavior, but faith has right belief AND right behavior.

Thus, Christians DIE to the opposite two extremes.

Thus, belief and behavior are kept in balance once again.

Illustration:

An extreme that I tend to jump towards is the worst case scenario

An example of this the time that Samie told me, “thanks, man!”

It felt like a friend-zone (which it probably was), and it felt like there was no hope after that

But you know what? There was hope, so there was no need for me to jump to that extreme.

But you know, the opposite extreme would be just as bad (if not a little worse)

If I were like “this is going to work out no matter what!” before we had even gone on a date with each other, well… that would have been unhealthy

What’s healthy at that stage is to say “yes, it might not work out, but it might, there’s not way to know.”

What’s healthy is to let those other two extremes die.

That’s what we are talking about with faith. Faith kills the extremes of legalism and pride.

Application:

Which extreme do you struggle with more: legalism or pride? Why?________________________________________________________________________________________

I sometimes bounce back and forth between these two!

But what I’m trying to do is meet in the middle; right belief, right behavior.

How have you been trying to earn God’s favor on your own merit?________________________________________________________________________________________

Is all that Christianity is to you a list of “do’s” and “don’ts”?

What is it going to take for Christianity to become something more vibrant than that? Something that’s real?

On the other extreme, how has your pride blinded you from the importance of living out your own salvation?________________________________________________________________________________________

Maybe you feel kinda “invincible,” like you can do whatever you want without God caring about it.

What can you do to purse humility, while also understanding that you can’t work your way to God?

Don’t be legalistic or prideful. Embrace grace and humility,

Transition question: The death of legalism and pride result in two other things being given life.

Table question: What is one of your favorite gifts that you have ever received?

The Big Idea: Faith balances belief with behavior

The Question: How does faith balance belief with behavior?

1. Faith balances death with Jesus (belief) AND life in Jesus (behavior)

2. Faith balances death to legalism (belief) AND death to pride (behavior)

3. Faith balances life from grace AND life for faithfulness

Galatians 2:19–21 (NLT)

For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Explanation:

Paul says that, if he lives as if the law can save him, he treats grace as being meaningless

Remember: grace is getting something good that you don’t deserve.

Christians GET to be justified through faith, even though we are sinful and don’t deserve it

With that in mind, Paul is saying this: if I can earn my way to God, I don’t need grace.

He reemphasizes this even more by emphatically saying “if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

The whole point of the old system is that the old system didn’t work.

Christ died to show us grace by fixing the system; now, God’s pleasure in me is not based on my performance, but rather...

“God’s pleasure in you is based on Christ’s performance for you.”

Now THAT’S grace! That’s something that will help you with your anxiety struggles

But not only has our life been saved from grace, our life has been saved FOR faithfulness

Pay attention to the phrase “trusting in the Son of God.”

The Greek word for “trusting” here is “faith”

You see, we aren’t simply justified BY faith; we LIVE by faith

Faith isn’t simply for just receiving salvation; it enables us to “LIVE OUT” salvation.

So not only are we saved people, we live and look like saved people, too

As people who have their faith in Christ, our actions are rooted in our faithfulness towards Christ (or lack thereof)

So it’s believing, AND it is doing.

Illustration:

My favorite gift that I have ever received is my acoustic guitar (pick it up)

I really like the way that it looks; this pic guard is really cool

But you know why this is my favorite gift that I’ve ever received? Because this was my Grandpa’s guitar.

He died while my mom was pregnant with me, so I never got to meet him.

On this earth, the closest I’ll ever come to hanging out with my grandpa is playing this guitar. But He was a believer, so I can’t wait to see Him again in Heaven one day

Yet even greater still is the grace that we’ve received. How sad it is for us to lose sight of it by trying to be good enough.

On the other hand, how sad it is for us to lose sight of the concept of faithfulness because we’ve misinterpreted grace.

Application:

How does grace impact your behavior?________________________________________________________________________________________

In other words, how does the fact that you’ve been given something good that isn’t based on your actions compel you to act?

It compels you to act not FOR faith (in order to obtain it, but FROM faith (because of it).

In what ways are you tempted to take grace for granted?________________________________________________________________________________________

What are those things that you are tempted to do for the reason that “well, Jesus died for it anyways”?

How can your faithfulness towards God flow from grace rather than in spite of it?________________________________________________________________________________________

AKA, how can you pursue obedience without forgetting Christ’s grace; that you can never be good enough, but He was good enough for you?

Maybe one simple solution is, any time you do something good, any time that you are kind to somebody, any time that you come to church, read your Bible, etc., thank God for the grace that He has shown to you through Christ Jesus

Never allow yourself to pursue faithfulness and lose sight of grace, and never allow yourself to pursue grace and lose sight of faithfulness. Pursue them both together. That’s what Christianity is all about: belief AND behavior.

Conclusion

Visualization

Don’t lose your balance.

Reiteration

Commit tonight to living a life that is characterized by a balance of right belief and right behavior

Run away from legalism, and run away from prideful hypocrisy

Embrace a faith that’s legit; the real deal.

Maybe that means accepting Jesus for the first time

Or maybe it means embracing your faith more authentically than you ever have before

However it is that the Lord is leading you to respond, respond

PRAY