Galatians 2:11-16 (Authentic Life)

Chris Estes

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Introduction:

Let me pray for us...

This is our fourth opportunity to be together in the book of Galatians (every time I have an opportunity). We will be in Galatians 2:11-16 (make your way there) if you will recall this is a letter written by Paul sometime between 49 and 55 AD to several churches in the region of Galatia…roughly the same area as modern day Turkey. When we were last in this book we discussed the scriptural call on our lives to pursue missions, something I will come back to at the end of the sermon today. This morning we will be focusing on the idea of leading an authentic life in-line with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you will please stand for the reading of God’s word...

Text:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Paul Opposes Peter

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas 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?”

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Justified by Faith

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 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 Christ Jesus, 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.

You may be seated Ushers take your seats

Exegesis:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

It might be a good idea to back up and set the scene here. 2:11 Antioch. The capital of the Roman province of Syria and the largest city of that province. Antioch was home to a large Jewish community and, not surprisingly, was the first place mentioned in Acts where Jewish Christians preached the gospel to Gentiles (Acts 11:19, 20). Not only was the church at Antioch the first church in our records to bring Jewish and Gentile Christians together in worship and fellowship; but also, as far as we know, it was the first church to send missionaries to other regions, to preach the gospel specifically to Gentiles (Acts 13:1–3).

That’s a little lost on us today. But we have an amazing cross cultural ministry going on here in Antioch. We will talk more about this in a minute but to say Jews did not like Gentiles is a huge understatement. So this is really ground breaking and we just need to understand that. That these two cultures would for a unified congregation is entirely unexpected and to be honest unwelcome by some.

And let’s not forget who Peter and Paul are...

PETER THE APOSTLE (Πέτρος, Petros). An apostle of Jesus Christ and one of the three named pillars of the early church in Jerusalem. Peter was the first Christian missionary to the Gentiles, a Christian missionary to the Jews, and a Christian martyr in Rome.

His very name Petros meaning rock was given to him by Jesus. Peter became first among the disciples and served as their spokesman

Peter is this larger than life figure in the early church

A Paul a former Pharisee, and by his own admission someone who violently persecuted the church and was at the very least complicit in the death of the first Deacon Steven. Paul is now a country preacher, who as we see in scripture didn’t speak very well. But he was also called by Jesus a calling he took very seriously.

It seems unlikely that Paul would be the one confronting a member of Jesus’ inner circle, but that’s exactly what is happening here and notice the manner in which he does it. That is part of leading an authentic life in the gospel

Paul doesn’t go to his Bible Study and pray gossip about Peter. “You know I am only telling you this so you can pray for him, but you will not believe what Peter did...”

He doesn’t go to the others in leadership and plot to have Peter removed or diminished.

No he does what we should all do he “opposed him to his face”, he went to his brother and said plainly what was on his heart and sought to bring Peter’s actions in-line with the gospel.

Now on a side note, if you right now are agreeing with me that this is the right way to handle a situation like this take a second to consider the implications on an authentic Christian life. I know you are picturing yourself as the brave and righteous Paul, confronting heresy and restoring order to the church. But…but, it just might be the case that you or I one of these days are Peter and when our Paul comes to us to oppose us, to correct us we have to be prepared to receive that. And to the extent that the rebuke is in-line with the Gospel, we have to be willing to accept that criticism and change. This will happen to each of us if we walk this path long enough.

When this day comes for each of us and we should hope it comes b/c we are each going to make mistakes and I hope I have someone here who would confront me in my error. We have to be prepared to humbly receive that rebuke.

Okay back to our text. In verse 12 we read...”For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.”

James is the half-brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem. Based on what we read of James in out Bible it is not likely he would have supported any pressure applied by his emissaries to separate Jew and Gentile. These men although coming on a mission from James are expressing their own views.

Peter is either lead astray by these men or just afraid of what they will think of him. Fear of man can derail even the best among us.

So prior to their arrival Peter is living out what the Holy Spirit taught him back in Acts when the Spirit fell on those in Cornelius’ house “17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” Earlier in that passage the Holy Spirit tells Peter to go with these Gentiles and “Make no Distinction” and here is Antioch he is not. They are all living together as they should in community.

But as we have discussed this before, but the Jewish people believed the Gentiles were to paraphrase several passages of scripture; Unrighteous and beyond salvation.

They were not allowed to be in Gentile homes, or to share a meal with them for fear of defiling themselves.

So Peter knowing better bows, to real or perceived pressure from these men to separate himself and not treat the Gentile believers in Antioch as equals.

Back to the text...

13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas 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?”

And as is so common when a leader goes astray, especially one as predominate as Peter others follow.

One gentlemen is specifically called out here…Barnabas. Barnabas’ credentials are as solid as anybody’s.

Barnabas introduced Paul to the other apostles after his conversion. He also brought Paul to Antioch, which would serve as the home base for their mission to the Gentiles. Barnabas also accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey, and joined him in defending the true gospel from those demanding that the Gentiles be circumcised.

And that’s not all his real name is Joseph, Barnabas is a nickname given to him by the early church it means “Son of Encouragement”. That’s who this guys was he was so welcoming and affirming that his name has been changed for all of history to reflect that trait.

We have many people like that here in our church. The first one that comes to mind is Pastor Tate always encouraging, always there with a kind word. Imagine if you can that when one day we are back to having meals together downstairs you are eating with Pastor Tate and having a wonderful conversation, then someone comes along and implies that you or I am the wrong kind of person for him to be associated with so not only the Pastor but all those at our table get up and move across the room. It’s impossible to imagine that happening in our church, with our Pastor. Think for a second how it felt to those Gentile Christians in Antioch to see Peter a pillar of the church who walked with Jesus, and Barnabas one of their Pastors, and maybe the very person who first shared the gospel with them pick up their plate and walk away.

If you can bridge the 2,000 years since this occured and allow yourself to feel some of that pain, you can understand why Paul had to act.

So Paul calls out Peter’s hipocracy and comes to the defense of his brothers and sisters in the faith.

Galatians 2:15–16 ESV

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 Christ Jesus, 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.

So Paul here refers to Gentiles as sinners which may sound harsh to us, but he is capturing the attitude of most Jewish people of the time toward Gentiles. From the Jewish point of view, a sinner is a person who does not live by the law. Because the Gentiles were not given the law, they are sinners by default

But then he makes him most important point. “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ”

This term justified is a legal term and it is to be found not guilty. To be exonerated of the charges against us. The problem being of course that we are guilty, we did it. Everyone of us has sinned against a holy and perfect God. So the question is how to beat the charge.

It was through the OT Law that the Jewish people thought they could achieve justification, if I do everything perfect then God will accept me. The problem with that of course if we are flawed and broken people and cannot live up to that standard. The law was actually meant to point us towards Jesus, having realized that we could not atone for our sins by our own works.

So the way to be justified, to be found not guilty is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ who didn’t lose your file, or wave His hand and make all you have done go away, no it is much more amazing than that He took the punishment rightfully reserved for each of us and suffered it Himself. (feel deeply)

Paul knew that this levels the playing field in every way. If he and Peter and you and I are all sinners saved by the work of Jesus through faith in Him what distinction could there possibly be?

Who could say they were more deserving or better? Or that they deserved more acclaim or that someone else deserved less. Tim Keller a pastor in NYC puts it this way

“The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself or less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.

What Paul does here...

Application

So what does this mean for us for our lives? The implications are endless, but let’s talk about a few. How do we live authentically.

We must be prepared to confront our brothers and sisters in error

We must be prepared to receive that rebuke when it comes to us (family)

We must live with a deep humility that leads us to love and serve all without distinction

I have an opportunity for us to do that this morning

I spoke to you last time about the Children's Evangelism Fellowship in Ethiopia a program that seeks to care for the youth in Ethiopia sharing the gospel with them in after school programs and in other venues

Last time I read you a letter from the ministry regarding their work, this morning I would like to share another

Dear Pastor Chris Estes

Praise the Lord 2021 successful year for CEF Ethiopia. We accomplished the following things:-This report does not include 2 branch offices. It is a war zone. 1. We reached 725,991 children and counseled 227,639 2. We started 2,776 new GNC 3. People trained 20,303 4. Number involved in CEF ministry 12,081 5. The first time we trained 36 Amharic CMI/LTI students. 6. To finish the CEF Ethiopia office and training center building project. 2. We need a monthly $5,000, yearly $ 60,000 salary for CEF staff. 3. Please pray for peace for Ethiopia.

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