Getting the
Gospel Right: Faith, Fidelity, and Faithfulness
Galatians
2:1-10
Introduction: Just last week we passed the 48th anniversary of the Roe
v. Wade decision. Since that date, by one count, there has been an estimated 62
million abortions in our country. Let that number sink in. God created humans
in His image, and in case you weren’t sure about it, He demonstrated the value
of human life by sending His Son into this fallen world, to live a sinless
life, dying as our substitute, taking our sins, and by grace, imputing His
righteousness to all who will believe. God so loved the world… Clearly, God
values human life that highly! Abortion is surely one of the great moral evils
of our time. Why is it so accepted? We live in a fallen world. The problem is
sin, the answer is Jesus.
Our nation is
divided. Racial injustice separates us. Political ideologies divide us. Even
though we’re all descendants of Adam, and for that matter, further down the
line, we are all descended from Noah and his sons and their wives! In the most
important sense we are one race, the human race, and yet because of our fallenness
we latch on to differences in skin color or culture and one person thinks he is
better than another. The problem is sin, the answer is Jesus. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. All of the evil and hatred and
suffering and death we see in the world is the result of sin. We should
protest evil and speak for righteousness. But whether we are talking about
abortion, euthanasia, or racism, social evils are soonest changed by transformed
lives. We need to let the Gospel shape our thinking and our living,
and then we can urge others to trust Him.
The Gospel of Christ,
the Good News, is that through faith in Jesus we are forgiven, we receive a new
heart and life, not through following a man-made set of rules or adapting to a church
tradition, but through God coming to live in us. That is Good News!
And that Gospel is what was at stake as Paul wrote this urgent letter to the churches
in Galatia…
In a world that
questions absolute truth and prizes being “inclusive and affirming” the
exclusivity of the Christian message is often watered down, increasingly conformed
to popular thinking, rather than being consistently held forth in its life transforming
power. Truth is not dependent on what is popular or politically correct. Truth
is absolute, and so all truth is God’s truth. So, we who know God and
take Him at His Word are compelled to live in the light of the Gospel of Grace.
This chapter of Galatians will confront us with some questions: Are we
living a Gospel-centered life? Is the Bible our final authority? Is it
obvious to our family and friends that Jesus is our Lord? We are His witnesses,
and our life is a big part of that. It testifies, one way or the other,
to the power of the Gospel to transform a life. Is God’s work in our life
evident to the people around us? If it is, God gets the glory!
In this letter to
the Galatians Paul is confronting false teachers who had been challenging his
message and his apostolic authority. We’ll see that these false teachers
were trying to drive a wedge between the Jerusalem church and the church in
Antioch. That is why Paul writes with such urgency. He doesn’t get
defensive, rather, he forcefully shows that he and Peter were of one mind—they preached
the same Gospel. Paul was preaching in the beginning a new age, and God was
using him, and the other apostles, to lay the foundation on which the
church would be built. They had to get the Gospel right.
The
false teachers Paul is confronting claimed to be representing the
Apostles in Jerusalem. Could it be that Paul was presenting a different
message? Was there not one, united
church? We’ll look at how Paul deals with this
challenge and consider what difference that should make to us. We’ll look at
our need for: (1) Faith: Believe God. We
are saved by grace through faith. Believe the Gospel, expressed
in Scripture. The Bible is the final measure of truth. We
should be people who take God at His Word. God had spoken to Paul as
he had to the twelve, they preached the same message. We have the complete
Bible, and it affirms the same Gospel! (2) Fidelity: In
2:4–5 we’ll see the need to stay true to Scripture, the Bible, holding fast to sound
doctrine without compromise. And finally, (3) in
2:6–10 our key idea is
Faithfulness: Living in the Light of the truth. Our ministries are diverse, our doctrine, and so our living,
must be shaped by the Gospel (2:6-10). Our gifting and
our ministries will vary, but we are engaged in the same mission. Our doctrine and
practice must be based on God’s Word. Gospel-centered thinking will lead to Gospel-shaped
living. Paul was doing that, and his opponents were not. When, after 14
years, he did confer with the apostles, they added nothing to his gospel, but
approved of it. They were on the same page!
We’ll see that the Judaizers that
challenged Paul’s message did not really represent the Jerusalem
apostles. On the contrary, they are false brothers (2:4) who Paul
resisted, they were not endorsed by the Jerusalem apostles. He is urging the
Galatians to stand firm in the Gospel he had preached to them, and that they
should reject the grace plus works message of the Judaizers. By the way, the
Gospel has not changed. Humans still resist God and strive to make up their own
ideas about God and religion. We don’t have apostles, but we do have the
infallible Word of God written, a summary of the apostles teaching, and by God’s
design, our final authority. Faith in God, Fidelity to His Word, Faithful
living…
What’s the
Big idea? Believe God, stay true to His
Word, and live in the light of the Gospel.
I. Faith: Believe God, take Him at
His Word. The
Gospel, the Apostolic message, expressed in Scripture, is the final measure of
truth (2:1-3). Remember the context, Paul is sharing his testimony, showing the source
of his message and his ministry.
Why does Paul get “historical” at this point
in his letter? The Galatians needed to understand that there was no conflict in
the message of the apostles. Paul’s gospel had to be consistent with the Jerusalem
apostles, if the apostles were not in agreement on the Gospel, the unity of the
church would be scuttled. And so he shows their unity…
Then after
fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along
with me. 2 I went up because
of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who
seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to
make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me,
was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
Let’s be sure we understand
this: the same Jesus who called the first disciples to follow Him, who walked
with them and taught them for three years before His death and resurrection, is
the One who, from before the foundation of the world, had a plan for a young
pharisee named Saul of Tarsus. As surely as Jesus revealed Himself and His
message to the twelve, He revealed Himself to Paul, first on the road to
Damascus, and continuing through the years of his ministry, calling him to
preach the apostolic message among the gentiles. Jesus never planned to have
a Jewish church and a separate gentile church. Ephesians 2:15b-16 says, “…that
he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making
peace, 16 and might reconcile
us both to God in one body through the cross…” I don’t think when Paul says
“lest I had been running in vain” (v.2) that he is saying he had doubts
about his ministry and message and sought the confirmation of the pillars in
Jerusalem. That would be contrary to the message of Galatians. What would be
“vain” or fruitless, would have been to allow division to divide and disrupt
the church. So, putting personal comfort aside, Paul goes with some others
to Jerusalem to deal with the potentially divisive heresy that was being
propagated by a few. Though not all commen-tators agree, it seems to me this
was the Jerusalem Council visit we read about in Acts 15.
I don’t like conflict,
does anyone? But our desire for peace can’t be at the cost of truth! Ignoring false
teaching or sinful living, failing to confront, one another in love, don’t
spring from faith in Christ. They are not the fruit of the Spirit. They are
products of the flesh. They are the kind of thing we experience when we don’t
walk in the Spirit, when we don’t look to Christ. But Paul says in Galatians 5:24, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." By putting our
faith in Him and drawing on the power of his Spirit, we cease to be enslaved by
the love of comfort and the fear of conflict, and we are free to confront
disagreement biblically, in love, with a desire for truth. Jesus did not want
Paul to ignore the problem. For the sake of the ultimate unity and growth of
the body, He wants us to confront disagreement, in love, for God’s glory.
It is also clear by
what is happening here, that there are fundamentals of the faith that cannot be
compromised. We can discuss and debate within the context of orthodoxy certain
points of doctrine and application, agreeing to keep studying and seeking the
truth together. Some things, however, are too foundational to be open for
debate. Surely we can’t tolerate anything that undercuts the Gospel message
itself. As all four Gospel writers show us, we need to understand and believe
who Jesus is and why He came, and what it means to follow Him. After that, we
can talk.
And so, with the
Gospel message challenged and the unity of the church at stake, Paul, along
with his co-pastor from Antioch and co-worker on the first missionary journey,
Barnabas, along with Titus, a gentile convert who Paul elsewhere calls his “son
in the faith,” go to Jerusalem to deal with this matter, to affirm the
apostolic faith. For us, the Bible says it, that settles it. The
apostles had a unique, foundational position in the history of the church. And
there was only one Apostle Paul! Do we live in such a way that the people
around us see us as people of faith, each of us as someone who believes God? We
should believe God, stay true to His Word, and live in the light of the Gospel.
I) Faith, and…
II. Fidelity: Believers should hold fast to the
truth without compromise (2:4-5). Things surely got very tense for a while as the Judaizers (Paul
calls them false brothers!) tried to force the issue of the necessity of
circumcision (see Acts 15:5). But Paul would not budge because the gospel was
at stake… Faith in Christ alone, plus nothing!
4
Yet because of 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 – 5 to them
we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the
gospel might be preserved for you.
Why did Paul include this incident in his
letter if his main point was to show that he and the apostles were unified? I
think he wants the Galatian Christians to understand that this false gospel,
which is no gospel at all, is not new. Earlier he had traveled to Jerusalem and
Peter, James, and John were in agreement with him that circumcision and the
outward stipulations of the Law were not to be added to the gospel, they could
not be considered a requirement of salvation, and that anyone who would insist
that they were, Paul calls them false brothers. Why so harsh? The Gospel is
grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, plus nothing. God has done for us
what we could not do for ourselves, that is grace!
In verse 5 Paul says
that he did not submit to these false brothers for this reason: "…that [or, “In order that”] the truth of
the gospel might be preserved for you." If Paul had given in to the
demand of the false brothers and accepted their “add-ons” to the gospel, the pure
gospel message would have been undercut. There would be no gospel, no good
news, if Paul gave in to the demand for keeping aspects of the ceremonial law.
The good news to the world is that
right standing before God was totally paid for by the death of Christ at
Calvary and can be enjoyed only through faith in him. Any requirement
that causes us to rely on our work and not Christ's work is not the gospel that
the apostles preached.
In 2:4-5 Paul shows
the Galatians who the Judaizers in their midst really are (the false
brothers from Jerusalem), and what is at stake in their demands (the truth
of the gospel). The teachers among them may come from Jerusalem, but they do not represent
the Jerusalem apostles. They are false brothers, and their demands that
you be circumcised and keep the feasts are a different gospel which is no
gospel at all (1:7). The world doesn’t need reformation, sinners need regeneration.
Changed hearts will lead to changed lives. The church, and our families, even
people around us, should be able to see that we believe God, stay true
to His Word, and live in the light of the Gospel. 1) Faith, believing
God, entrusting ourselves to Him; 2) Fidelity, holding firm to the truth;
and…
III. Faithfulness: Though
our ministries are diverse, our doctrine and our living must be
based on God’s revealed Truth, and so shaped by the Gospel (2:6-10). What I mean is that, though our gifts and calling vary, our doctrine and practice
must be based on God’s revealed Truth. Paul describes the affirmation of unity
among the founding apostles of the Christian Church, and the safeguarding of
the gospel from one of its earliest threats. For the Apostle Paul, the first
missionary to the Gentiles, the most essential thing in the mission was to get the
gospel right. Acting “Christian” won’t save us. We’re saved only through
knowing and trusting Jesus. But right thinking will lead to right living…
6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no
difference to me; God shows no partiality)- those, I say, who seemed
influential added nothing to me. 7
On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel
to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the
circumcised 8 (for he who
worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also
through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9
and when James and Cephas and John, 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…
Finally, in verses 6–10 Paul describes his encounter with the
apostles in Jerusalem. Verse 6 makes the crucial statement that Paul has been
maintaining all along: "They added
nothing to me." Recall 1:12, "I
did not receive the gospel from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a
revelation of Jesus Christ." Years after his conversion, Paul did finally
lay his gospel before the Jerusalem apostles; but they did not feel a need to
add anything to it. Grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ
alone. Plus nothing. Together they understood the idea later reflected by the
hymn writer: “Jesus paid it all, all to
Him I owe…”
Even more important
is the positive statement of verses 7–10. 2:7 begins, “On the contrary…” Not only did they not add anything, on
the contrary, they positively affirmed the message Paul preached. Verse
9 says that "James and Cephas and
John . . . gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should
go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." These guys wrote
most of our New Testament! One church, one Gospel. The Judaizers were
false teachers. The apostolic witness, the foundation of the church was not split.
It was one. There was a strong, united base for two complimentary missions, one
to the Jews and one to the Gentiles. Two missions, one Gospel, and one
church. Paul stood his ground "that
the truth of the gospel might be preserved for [us]."
Then, finally, Paul
adds verse 10. There is one other thing they agreed on: “Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to
do.” Paul agreed with the apostles that compassion for the poor was pleasing
to God and a crucial part of the church’s ministry. It had started with Jesus. We
should reflect the heart of Christ. This is an outworking of the gospel, an
example of a “good work” that results from being saved by grace through faith
(Eph 2:8-10). And it is something people in our sphere of influence will see in
us, something that testifies to the reality of our faith. We are living
letters, seen and read of men. Like it or not, people are watching! What will
they see?
What is God saying to me in this passage? Faith, Fidelity, Faithfulness… We should believe God, stay true
to His Word, and live in the light of the Gospel.
What would
God have me to do in response to this passage?
Since God in His sovereignty has preserved the message of the Gospel, since He
has saved us by His grace, shouldn’t we be compelled to seize the opportunities
He gives us to share that message of hope? Jesus is still building his
church – and he has chosen through the foolishness of the message
preached to save those who believe. He is using a diversity of gifts to
accomplish that. His Word is Truth. As
we stand, without compromise on His revealed truth, as we examine carefully the
Scripture, searching, studying, seeking to hear and understand the truth, we
can be assured that “He who began a good
work in you will bring it to completion.” By God’s grace you are what
you are, and you are where you are. God set Paul apart on
purpose, for a purpose. And he has a plan for your life. He has planned
this very moment. We are a body composed of various members, each different,
uniquely contributing to the work of the whole. Our message is one: Christ
crucified, risen, and coming again! Believe it, it is truth, and it changes
everything! Let’s be faithful in passing on that message! AMEN.
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