Galatians 2:11-16
“Walking In Line With The Gospel” February 5, 2006
SI: The half chapter 1 and most of chapter 2 called
auto-biographical section.
Paul recounts his conversion and early
Christian experience.
Visit he made to
Visit Peter made to
Purpose of these stories to
disprove the accusations of some people
in Galatian churches who were saying that that Paul out of
step with other
apostles—that he
had a different message from them.
Also using
these stories to illustrate the gospel in number of important ways.
Last week looked at the visit
Paul made to
leaders of the
Remember, to make sure all
understand that message is faith in Jesus plus nothing,
brought with him
Greek Christian Titus.
Was not compelled to be
circumcised.
Some time later, Peter
visited the church in
Large Gentile city. Church mostly Gentiles.
Was there for a time when the
following incident occurred.
INTRO: I’m sure most of you know the Johnny Cash song that
goes like this:
I keep a close watch on this
heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all
the time
I keep the ends out for the
tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk
the line
As sure as night is dark and
day is light
I keep you on my mind both
day and night
And happiness I've known
proves that it's right
Because you're mine, I walk
the line
You've got a way to keep me
on your side
You give me cause for love
that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try
to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk
the line
You know what he means by
walking the line. Singing to June, I
guess.
His walk is the way he is towards her.
It’s what’s in his
heart. What’s in his eye.
It’s his plans. It’s what makes him happy.
Walk is everything about his life.
Walking the line means he’s
straight—consistent in promise to be true to her.
Another example: When a policeman pulls over a person
suspected of drinking.
He makes him get out of the car and walk the
line.
If he walks straight—doesn’t
just mean sober, means he is consistent with rules.
There is an important phrase
in verse 14 going to focus on this morning—
use as a lens to
study this passage.
Paul says that Peter and some
of the others
“were not acting in
line with the truth of the Gospel.”
That’s the NIV
Let me read you some other
Bible translations.
ESV “Not
in step with the truth of the Gospel.”
KJV “they
walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel.”
The word that is translated
“acting in line” “in step with” “walking uprightly”
is the Greek word ortho-podeo.
Ortho means straight (we use it
today in the word ortho-dontist)
Podeo means walking (you can hear that in the modern word
podiatrist)
In the Bible a person’s walk
is their way of life.
It includes their behavior—but also
attitudes, thoughts, values, feelings.
Paul confronted Peter because
he saw that his walk was not in line with Gospel.
The reason this passage is
important is because it show us that believing
the Gospel is not
just the way you get into the
Believing the Gospel is also
the way you live and make progress in the Kingdom.
The Gospel is not just for unbelievers and
baby Christians—
it’s for Peter’s
and Paul’s—it’s for everyone. It’s the
way every Christian lives.
You are called to bring every
part of your life in line with the truth of Gospel.
Do you believe that you are a
sinner saved by grace?
Of course you believe that.
You believe that in yourself
you are a hopeless sinner, condemned under God’s law.
But that in Christ, because of what he has
done, God sees you as absolutely
perfect—as
righteous as Christ himself.
Every part of your life has
to be brought into line with that.
Do you ever look down on
people for any reason at all?
Of course you do. You look down on people because not
successful,
ugly, or uneducated. Or because they have made
bad, stupid choices.
Or because they have
irritating personality flaws.
But how can you, a sinner
destined for hell, saved by grace, called son of God—
how can you ever indulge
in any prideful judgment of another person?
And that is totally out of
line with the Gospel. Not walking the
line.
Pride—pride that leads you to
look down nose at other people—
just one example of
not walking in line with the Gospel.
There are other things: fear, bitterness, anger, boredom, anxiety,
discontent, lust
and all the things
you do in response to those attitudes.
What Lord wants you to see is
not just that those things are wrong—
of course they are
wrong—but more importantly—out of line with Gospel.
Tim Keller: “All our problems come from a lack of
orientation to the Gospel. Put
positively, the Gospel transforms our hearts, our thinking, and our approach to
absolutely everything.”
Let’s see how that is
demonstrated in this passage. Two stages for note takers.
First:
A case study of not walking in line with the Gospel.
Second:
Three applications from the case study.
A CASE STUDY of not walking in line with the Gospel
This is one of the most tense
and dramatic episodes in the New Testament.
It was a fight in the
As I
mentioned earlier—most growing, dynamic church outside
The majority of the congregation
were Gentiles.
Church fights are never
pretty. This one particularly tense—
for one thing it
appears to have happened at a church fellowship supper—
where everybody was
supposed to be having a good time.
And it was right out in the
open, right in front of everybody.
Nothing private about it.
But even worse—it was between
two leading apostles of Christ—Peter and Paul.
Both Peter and Paul were
Christians.
Knew what it is to be forgiven by Christ,
and to have received Holy Spirit.
They were both
apostles—specially called by Christ, invested with authority.
They were both honored for their leadership.
Had both been used mightily
by God.
Book of Acts divided in
half—first part the story of Peter, second story of Paul.
But here the apostle Paul
opposed the apostle Peter to his face—
contradicted him,
rebuked him—because had separated from Gentle Christians,
and would no longer
eat with them.
It wasn’t that Peter denied
the Gospel in his teaching—
Paul is careful to show that they believe
the very same thing.
But Peter was not walking in
line with the Gospel in his conduct.
His behavior and attitude
in contradiction with the Gospel.
Let’s get more specific.
When Peter first got to
He did not consider himself in any way
defiled or contaminated by contact
with uncircumcised
Gentile Christians.
He welcomed them to eat with
him. He ate with them.
Then one day a group arrived
in
They were all professing Christians and they
were all Jewish in origin.
They were very conservative, very
traditional. Kept all
Jewish customs.
They said that they came from James—who was
leader of
Learn from Acts 15 that James
denied had ever sent these people—they claimed.
When they got to
began to say that
Gentiles who professed faith in Jesus also had to be circumcised.
They
had to watch their diet. Had to become culturally Jewish.
Wrong for
circumcised Jewish believers to eat with uncircumcised Gentile.
They had an influence on
Peter:
“he began to draw
back and separate himself from the Gentiles.”
Most visible evidence—stopped
eating with them.
Practice of church to gather in homes for
meals.
Seems that they would have
fellowship suppers in conjunction with communion.
Would only
sit at the tables with other Jews. There was a message in that.
I ran across a story while
preparing for this sermon.
Told by
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson—a black man.
When he made it to the big leagues, got on
team bus, white player, orange drink.
Said to his
teammate: “That looks really good. Can I have a
swig?”
Teammate looked down at his drink, looked
back at Gibson and said,
“I’ll save you some.”
There was a message in
that. I don’t want to drink after you
because you’re black.
Deeper message was—your uniform not enough, you’re
not part of the team.
That was Peter’s
message: Faith in Christ is not enough
to be my brother.
Why did Peter give in to the
circumcision group?
Did they really convince him that it was
wrong to eat with Gentiles?
No.
Peter’s convictions hadn’t changed.
He still believed and knew
that Gentiles saved by faith in Christ.
Why did he separate
himself?
“He was afraid of the circumcision party.”
He knew how traditional they were, didn’t
want to offend them.
He craved their approval and
was fearful of their disapproval.
So it wasn’t a change in
convictions.
It was hypocrisy. Lacked the courage of his
convictions.
He still believed the Gospel, but failed to
practice it.
Other’s followed him—even
Barnabas.
Paul saw this for what it was
and confronted Peter in front of everybody.
Will look at Paul’s
confrontation in more detail next week.
But in essence he said to
Peter:
Peter, God did accept you and save you
because circumcised.
He doesn’t base his fellowship with you now
on Jewish customs—
haven’t kept those
perfectly for years now.
You know that God accepted
you completely through faith in His Son.
So how dare you turn around
and require these Gentile Christians to be circumcised
before you will
accept them and have fellowship with them?
If God has accepted them, how
can we reject them?
If He receives them into His fellowship, how
can we deny them ours?
Peter, you are not walking in
line with the Gospel.
What happened?
Aren’t told explicitly in
Galatians—but know from Acts—
Peter and Barnabas overcame their fear of
circumcision group
and once again were
walking in line with the Gospel—
free of fear of
man, free of their craving of approval by men.
Now—a dispute in a church a
long time ago over an issue that doesn’t bother us.
What does this case study have to do with us
today?
Two applications.
1. You can be a
real Christian but live like a legalist.
Paul called the circumcision
group “false brothers.”
He said that if people teach salvation is
faith in Jesus plus works of obedience—
then they should be
eternally condemned.
Churches
that teach salvation by faith + works as matter of official doctrine.
“You must be baptized to be saved.”
They are legalists in the
true sense. Trusting law-keeping for salvation.
There are people who believe
they are Christians—
believe many right things about Jesus—Son of
God, died for our sins—
but they are not really Christians,
eternally condemned false brothers—
because they believe and teach that you are
saved by faith plus works.
But Peter’s stumble shows us
that a real Christian,
who really knows the Gospel,
and trusts Jesus only, can live like a
legalist.
You can be saved but in
bondage to legalism.
Tim Keller calls this
functional legalism. Very helpful term.
It’s not part of your doctrine or
belief—doctrine sound, trust in Christ.
But it’s the way you function.
Functional legalism is often
focused on particular parts of your life—
marriage, children, money, religion, sex,
work.
In those particular parts of
your life you living as if Jesus Christ is not enough,
but that it really depends on you.
The key is that you are being
driven along by ungodly passions like
fear, pride, bitterness, anger, discontent,
boredom.
Peter’s legalism was in the
area of religion, to a degree his work.
He was driven by fear of people, and desire
for their approval.
Functionally, he was a legalist, not
trusting Christ.
Let’s apply this to another
area where some Christians struggle with legalism.
Suffering.
Some of you live like legalists when it comes to suffering.
Deep down you are trusting in
Christ for your salvation.
But when you suffer, you stop trusting
Christ, turn to your works.
The key is your anger and
bitterness.
You get angry with God when
you suffer.
That’s because you think that God owes you a
better life because
you have done your best to live according to
his standards.
Or, maybe you don’t get angry
at God, you get angry at yourself.
The reason I’m suffering is because I
haven’t lived up to God’s rules.
If only I had, then God would have given me
a better life, wouldn’t be here.
So you suffer and you are mad
at God—
because you’ve lived right and God hasn’t
given you what you want.
Or you are mad at yourself—
or because you know you haven’t lived to his
standards, must be punishing.
Do you see how that is
functional legalism?
What are you trusting in the midst of your suffering?
Yourself.
Your ability to keep God’s law.
You are not walking in line
with the Gospel.
That is misery and bondage for a Christian.
This takes thought. This takes pondering and prayer.
Is the trouble I am experiencing—
Is the wall I have hit—
Are these ungodly passions swirling around
me—
Because I am in some way
trusting my works instead of Christ?
Am I not straight walking according to the
Gospel?
You can be a Christian but
live like a legalist.
But that’s not what the Lord
wants for you.
Brings us to our second application.
2. Legalism is
cured by the Gospel, not demands to keep the rules.
How did Paul confront
Peter?
Did he just say: Peter, you are tearing the church in
half—stop!
God’s law forbids favoritism in the
church. You are breaking that law.
No, that’s not how he
confronted him.
He reminded him of the Gospel.
Peter—we have been justified
by faith in Jesus alone.
You know that, Peter. You know our salvation is by God’s grace
alone.
You know God did not have fellowship with
you because of your circumcision.
How can you pull away from Gentile believers
after Lord has accepted them?
It was not gentle, but it was
not a bare demand to keep the rules.
It was a Gospel presentation.
He reminded Peter of the Gospel.
Because Paul knew changing
Peter’s behavior was not the most important thing.
Peter had to be reminded that he was
accepted by God by faith plus nothing.
He had to bring his walk back in line with
the Gospel.
And that not only gave him a
reason to accept these Gentiles—
It also cut the bond of fear he had toward
the circumcision group.
He didn’t have to fear their disapproval if
he knew he had Christ’s approval.
The Gospel is the cure, the
rules are not the cure.
Let’s get back to the
Christian who is angry at God because of his suffering.
It’s a sin to be mad at God
for your suffering. Stop it.
That doesn’t help, does it?
You have to come back to the
Gospel.
The Gospel humbles you out of
being angry at God.
Jesus
was the best person who ever lived, but he suffered terribly.
That demolishes the idea that good people
get good lives, bad people bad lives.
If the Son of God was willing
to get involved in terrible suffering out of love,
then should you, one of his followers think
that you are exempt?
Jesus Christ died in agony
for your sins, all for love.
Bring your anger at God to the suffering of
Jesus Christ.
The Gospel also affirms you
out of being angry or bitter at yourself.
Jesus suffered for you while you were a
sinner.
The suffering you are experiencing
might be designed to wake you up to something
that the Lord wants to change in your life.
It might be temporal
consequences for things you have done.
But your suffering cannot be tit
for tat punishment for your sins.
Because the Gospel says that Jesus got the
punishment for your sins.
And that punishment was so
great that it made the holy Son of God
sweat drops of blood in the Garden and cry
in agony on the cross.
When you start to realize
that, get suffering in line with Gospel—
then it humbles and strengthens you, rather
than embitters and weakens you.
You might be able to say
“Jesus suffered not that I
might not suffer,
but that when I suffer I may
become like him.”
Is there legalism in your
home? Parents, how do you motivate your
children?
Do you use fear, guilt, or shame?
That might control their
behavior for a time, but you are teaching your children
to trust in their works to earn approval,
forgiveness, or reward.
You must guide their feet to
walk in line with the Gospel.
Don’t misunderstand me. The rules don’t change.
But in the Gospel, the motivation does.
Is there legalism in our
church?
Healthy church is one that is
seeking to walk in line with the Gospel.
Jesus Christ, his work, the grace of God for
sinners undergirds everything.
And yes, we confront sin, and yes, we
exercise church discipline,
and yes, we call people to commitment.
But those things alone are
powerless. Alone they become
legalistic.
You can’t make church members committed by
criticizing lack of commitment.
You have to preach the Gospel. And live it.
Treat each other in accord with it.
Could go on and on. Gospel is the way that anything is renewed
and transformed
by Christ—families, churches, relationships,
your own heart.
CONC: Walk the line.
In your challenges this
week—imagine a the Apostle Paul saying
in a Johnny Cash voice:
“Walk the line.”
Walk in line with the truth
of the Gospel. Ortho-podeo.
This is the line.
“A man is not justified by
observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”
This is the line.
In yourself you are still
sinful and sinning—
but in Christ, in God’s sight, you are
accepted and righteous.
Walk it in every area,
especially those where you are
afraid, angry, proud, anxious, bored and
discontent.