Galatians 2

Today, we're studying Galatians Chapter 2 in our Women's Bible Study called Finding Grace. And in order to set up this chapter for us, I want to use an illustration of something that happens quite often in our lives. It's a good thing. It happened to me recently, someone said to me, how did I handle a particular situation when my boys were at home? The reason they asked that is because they knew I had experience in that area. When we do that with each other, we'll ask the question, how did you make friends when you were new at a church? Or how did you handle boy-girl relationships when your kids were teens? Or how did you potty train your two-year-old? We naturally tend to seek out someone who has had history and experience and ask those questions. Now, sometimes if we perceive that we have history or experience and no one asks us the question, we just tell them anyway. And this also happened to me recently. I was doing a curbside pickup with my hairdresser, and her son had recently broken his toe. And so I just interjected the things that I knew, and don't worry about this if you see this happen. I didn't hijack the conversation and make it all about me, but I had something to share. And so I shared that with her. I think that's what's going on here in this book, is the Galatians didn't seem to ask Paul for his experience in history, but he is giving it anyway. And he's giving it in an effort to persuade them. The Galatians had been fed a distorted gospel. Paul had experience with that. He had experience with people who mixed grace and law. In fact, these people became his nemesis for life and ministry. So that's what we have seen in chapters one and two, Paul sharing his history and experience. So far, we heard about his dramatic conversion, the three years in Arabia, and then it says he went and made a trip to Jerusalem for 15 days. And now we're going to start in chapter two and continue on. So open your Bibles to Galatians chapter two, and we'll start with verse one. Paul says, then after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. Now this is probably 14 years after his conversion. It may be the event Luke wrote about in Acts chapter 11. It may be a different one, but we see in verse two, I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaimed among the Gentiles in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. Paul was not wavering on his message. If anything, he was checking to make sure that the whole church in Jerusalem hadn't gotten influenced with the same contrary gospel. What better way to find out than to take a test case with him? And that was Titus. If we look at verse three, we'll find out why Titus was the perfect candidate. Verse three, even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek, yet because of the 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, to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. Do you see Paul's history and experience? False brothers have been around for a while. He has experienced that. They didn't just show up in Galatia, and so they'd already been circulating. So if the Galatians had asked him, Paul, how did you deal with it when you met people who mixed grace and law? He would have said, oh, I didn't yield to them for a moment. So now about the leaders. Look at verse six. And from those who seemed to be influential, he's talking about Peter, James, and John here. What they were makes no difference to me. God shows no partiality. Those I say who seemed to be influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I'd been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, Cephas is Peter, by the way, 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. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. So praise God that not the whole Jerusalem church was affected by these false brothers. Paul found the leaders in agreement with him. He said they added nothing to the gospel of grace. The leaders would have agreed with the phrase that we say, Jesus is enough. So that's a good thing. But something, another important thing came from this meeting. And I want us to look back at verse nine in your Bibles again. Look at this. They perceived the grace that was given to me because they saw back in verse seven that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised. So I want us to handle that word grace a little bit here in verse nine. This is grace for doing. It is still an undeserved favor. God graced Paul with the privilege of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. But in this case, this word grace might have a definition that says a God-given ability to do something that not everyone has. Peter, James, and John perceived the grace that was given to Paul to preach to the Gentiles. They perceived it was a work given by the Holy Spirit. And like we like to say in the Calvary chapels, where God guides, God provides. He does the same thing for you and me. How has God guided you in your life? And how has he provided the grace that you have needed to do that task? Let me run through some things. Has God given you the grace to raise a special needs child? Has God given you the grace to work cheerfully through an illness or a disability? Has God given you the grace for a high-maintenance husband? Some of them are a little high-maintenance. Has God given you the grace to persevere through a difficult work situation? Has God given you the grace for a single life, using your time in service to him? Has God given you the grace to raise seven children? Has God given you the grace for a special ministry, either within or outside of your church? Have you ever had that experience? I bet all of us have, where we look at another woman and we go, I have no idea how she does that. I could never do that. And it's true. I never could do that, because God hasn't given you the grace for it. God gave her the grace for that. And so we need to ask ourselves the question, have I found the grace for the work that God has given me to do? Our ministries that God has given us are all the same, and they're all different. They're all the same in that it is the same gospel and the same work of grace from the Lord. They're all different in that it's all to different people and under different circumstances. But it is the grace of God. Okay, let's move to part two. I have three parts today in this lesson. And the second part, Paul continues his history and his experience. I think maybe we could subtitle this second part, Never Underestimate the Power of Influence. And this comes a potentially awkward situation here, especially for non-confrontational people. We really don't like to read about this. Paul's basically telling the Galatians, now I'd like to tell you about a time when Peter failed at this. And maybe I've got too much Midwest nice in me to be comfortable with that. I don't know. Maybe I've got too much failure. I've got a huge bucket of failure myself that I never get around to having to share other people's failures. But here's how it goes. Look at verse 11. But when Cephas, and let's call him Peter here, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. Here's what happened. Before certain men came from James, okay, now that means that they came from Jerusalem. James is the leader in Jerusalem. Doesn't necessarily mean they were sent from. James. It just means they came from the epicenter of the Jews. Before these men came, Peter was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. Do you see what's happening here? Peter had no trouble eating with the Gentile Christians. He didn't believe himself to be defiled by them. He shared the common bond of fellowship with Christ, and then all of a sudden these guys from his old neighborhood show up. And they did have a problem eating with the Gentile Christians. They did think that they were defiled eating with them. They did think that they weren't even yet truly Christians because they hadn't gotten, you know, to be like sons of Abraham through their circumcision and follow the laws of Moses. So what happened? Peter decided to withdraw from what he had been doing. Why did he do that? Because he changed his mind and thought, oh, they're right. I am defiled. No. Peter didn't believe that for a minute. He withdrew because he feared the circumcision party. Fear of people has many dimensions because if we care so much what people think of us, then we empower people to make us feel inferior at the least, condemned at the worst. We empower people to make us feel spiritually inadequate. We empower people to make us feel like we don't have all the information, all the knowledge that we need to know to lead a holy life. We empower people to make us conform out of insecurity. Verse 13, and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter, before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? So we see a strong warning here about impressing and pleasing and conforming and the power of influence. Peter had allowed himself to be influenced by the false brothers. He caved to them and he himself became an influence to others. And so Paul is saying to the Galatians, you guys, be careful here. I need to tell you what's going to happen. If you allow yourselves to be influenced, you yourself will become an influence and the ripple effect will go on and on and on. I have had experience with this. I know how it happens. Before we leave this passage, I want to look at each player here. I want to start by looking at Peter. It's so easy to criticize Peter. It always is. But we know what it's like to be influenced by people. We called it peer pressure in junior high and it's never really gone away. We can still be influenced by people around us. In junior high, people warned us about peer pressure, saying, don't cave to peer pressure. They're going to make you do bad things. And now that we're adult, mature Christians, I feel like it's turned upside down. We need to say be careful of peer pressure because they're going to make you do supposedly holy things for all the wrong motives, just to impress people. Peter had a weakness in the area of peer pressure. We sought the night of Jesus's betrayal. Weaknesses in our lives carve deep ruts. They're formed by years of thinking the same thoughts and taking the same actions. And so maybe while we're going through this, we're all somewhere on the spectrum of these ruts of wanting to impress people or please people. But maybe some of us really can see the ruts here through this passage. There are some people who think tremendously about what they do and think how they're going to make sure people know what they do and think about whether they change what they do depending on who's around them. Peter withdrew from fellowshipping with the Gentile Christians simply to fit in, to fit in with the men from Jerusalem. He was acting like them rather than keeping in step with the truth of the gospel. Now let's look at Barnabas because it tells us here even Barnabas was led astray. And this should be sobering again because of the power of influence. Barnabas had chosen to take his cues from Peter. Barnabas decided, I admire Peter so much. I'll just watch him. Whatever he does, that's what I'll do. And you know what? We can do that too. Us girls do that. It's such a time saver to just watch somebody else's life. It's like, oh I admire her and her relationship with the Lord. I'll just watch her and whatever she does, that's what I'm going to be doing too. We don't have to listen to God. We don't have to read the Bible or pray. It's a real time saver to do that. But it is very dangerous. We need to be careful when we admire someone and take our cues from them and then walk in line with their actions. So I'll guarantee us it will lead us to the path of pleasing men. It will dig deeper ruts. Pleasing man rather than pleasing God. Now let's look at Paul. He was the one confronting. Paul's response was to his friend. He had a friend behaving badly and so his response was to confront him. He even did this publicly, which is what makes it awkward for us to read. But he had to. He had to do it publicly because this was Peter. Peter was the one in Acts chapter 10. He was the one that had been given the vision of the sheet coming down, being let down with all the unclean animals. He was the one that heard the voice, said, Peter get up, kill and eat. He was the one led to Cornelius's house with all the Gentile believers and he preached the gospel and he witnessed the Holy Spirit fall on them and he realized that God was reaching the Gentiles as well. He was the one that opened the door for the Gentiles, if you will, and so now through his actions he was closing that door and Paul would have none of that. That's why he had to be confronted publicly. So in this chapter we see that Paul said, I did not give in to the false brothers for a moment in the case with Titus and we see him tell that Peter did cave to the false brothers for more than a moment. So what should we learn from that? Paul is good, Peter is bad. No, not at all. I actually find it really comforting to see Peter's flesh surface here. It reminds me that once we are saved and once we are filled with the Spirit, we are not perfect. God did not make Peter perfect. God made Peter justified. God has not made me perfect. He has made me his. I will still make mistakes. So I think this section was intentionally given to the Galatians as a warning for what would happen if they absorbed a contrary gospel and we should intentionally apply this to our lives as a warning of what will happen because people are always going to come and make us feel inadequate, unacceptable, not holy enough, and people are always going to tell us that we're not doing something that we're supposed to do or we're doing something that we're not supposed to do. And our responses to that are really important because people are watching us. It affects people. Our responses hinge on our motives and our motives will either be to please people or to walk in step with the truth of the gospel. So let's move into the last section, part three. It's kind of unclear whether this remainder is still in the context of the situation with Peter or not. What is clear is Paul is beginning the next passage on understanding grace. So today we have a little prelude into the next two chapters. Let's start in verse 15. He says, 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 Jesus Christ 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. That is a really good definition of the truth of the gospel, but it all hinges on one word. And if we don't understand that one word, we won't understand what Paul is saying. And so if you don't have that word in your vocabulary, like not many people do that aren't in church, what does the word justified mean? You would say, is that a good thing? Is that something that I need? What does it mean? All right, let's look. Even just a standard dictionary. Dictionary.com says justified means to declare innocent or guilty. To be justified means to be declared innocent. In the church we have a nice little saying that it really is helpful that justified means just as if I had never sinned. Innocent. All right, to appreciate the fact that we are justified we need to appreciate the fact that we're guilty. Guilty of what? We're guilty of having sinned. We are guilty of sinning against God. Listen, it's self evident to us that God is righteous and we are not. And that's what creates the tension between us. That's what generates this guilt, this feeling of guilt that we have. Down deep we have a sense that there's something wrong, that there's not something in place between us and God. So the question is, how do we get rid of that feeling of guilt? There's also something within us that tells us, you know what? If you just do good things then you won't feel guilty. And you know I titled this Bible study, Finding Grace in a Demanding World. And that is the demand that cries out from within us. Just do good things and then it'll all be better. So let's see if that possibility holds up with what Paul's saying here. I'm gonna slip in, go back to verse 16 again where he says, a person is not justified by works of law. Let's slip in words that we do use, okay? A person is not declared innocent by works of the law. This makes sense to us. If I go out and steal a car I'm gonna end up in Malheur County Court. And I cannot become innocent in the county courthouse by keeping more laws. That's not how it works. And I can't become innocent in God's court by keeping more laws. It's not how it works. Paul said, that's what he meant when he said, man is not justified by observing the law. We can only be justified, declared innocent through faith in Jesus Christ. It is only if Jesus, who never stole the car, never did anything against the law, was perfect in fact, stands in front of me, looks at the judge, and says, hey, I don't have any debt to pay so I'll pay hers. And the judge would say, okay, that's fine with me. That is the only possible way, to believe that what's true about Jesus then becomes true about me. So that's what Paul says here. Now if becoming innocent is truly that simple, and it doesn't hinge on being good, what is going to restrain people? See, Paul is continuing to answer questions that they don't have an opportunity to ask, because he knows the questions that they're going to ask. And the question they're going to ask is, okay, if it's so simple, then people are just gonna go off the rails, you know. And also, if God can justify us, then why doesn't he just make us perfect? Okay, let's look at verse 17. But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ we too are found to be sinners, then is Christ then a servant of sin? No, certainly not. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I kind of think he's still thinking about Peter here, rebuilding what he tore down. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. In other words, it only proves that I'm not perfect. It only proves that I still possess the ability to sin, to transgress the law. Verse 19, for through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. Do you see the contrast there in words? Died and lived. And so the question might be asked, so Paul, when did you die to the law? When did your relationship with the law die and your relationship with God become alive? And how did that happen? And he goes on to say in verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. When Jesus was crucified, when he was sacrificed, paid the penalty to become a substitute for me, when I believed and put my faith in Christ, that's when I became justified, born again. So that what's true about him becomes true about me. It was instant. It was immediate because it was by faith. There was no moving target, no target practice. It was instant. And so then Paul finishes this chapter in verse 20 by saying, in the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. But Christ died for a wonderful purpose. Christ died so that he and I could be united. Christ died so that I could rest completely in what he accomplished. Christ died so that he would get all the credit. He died so that when God looked at me, he would see his Son, and he would see on me, debt is paid in full. But one of the most important things, for me anyway, is that he died so that the tension between me and God is eliminated. And now the life I live in this body, while I'm still in the tent, I'm at peace with God. You guys, peace is so important. People live with tension and anxiety with God all the time. What a glorious thing that we can live at peace with God. I want to leave you with just one last set of words from Romans. Romans chapter 5. Since we've been justified by faith, ah, now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a great verse? All right, be back here next week, and we're gonna start chapter 3, the section of understanding grace. Let me just pray. Father God, I just thank you for someone with the history and experience that has gone before and sees the danger of mixing the gospel of grace with human effort. Lord, we should be warned so many things that we need to apply personally to our lives, to be careful that we are not influenced by people because we want to please them, and to be careful that we walk in step with the truth of the gospel. And Lord, I want to thank you too for this word, this understanding that we now are at peace with you if we have accepted the substitute of Jesus Christ. What a glorious way to live, and Lord, I just pray for anyone listening to this. It is so easy to be made, for peace to be made with God. I just pray that you would enable anyone who's listening who doesn't feel that sense of peace to just pray to you and understand and say it is a substitute. I accept what Jesus did. I am now no longer guilty, and now I live for you. Now the life I live in the body, I live for God. Lord, be with us as we go through the next chapter this week and meet again next week, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.