Last week – Conflict in Antioch
Paul’s public rebuke of Peter, who had stopped eating with the Gentiles because of pressure from Legalistic Jews who were treating Jewish Christians in Jerusalem harshly because of Peters association with Gentiles in Antioch.
Paul’s basic argument with Peter was Look Peter,
You are a Jew, but you live like a Gentile (eating with them, free from yoke of Law)
But now, you would force the Gentiles to become Jews in order to be acceptable Christians, and you are denying them the very freedom that you enjoy in Christ.
In verses 15- 18, Paul is Reinforcing that same argument.
We know that Paul likes to use reason in his arguments and explanations
In Acts 17 the bible tells that Paul reasoned with the Jews in the Synagogues on the Sabbath as was his custom as he witnessed to them.
Here in Galatians, Paul is using reason as he outlines for the Galatians why Peter was so wrong to stop eating with the Gentiles
The Christians in Galatia are facing the same theological dilemma. Legalistic Jews are telling the Gentiles they must become Jews (get circumcised) in order to truly be Christians. So this is important for the Gentile believers in Galatia
Lets look at 15-18: Passage in 2 sections today. First one is 15-18, a review of Paul’s reasoned argument in Antioch, then we’ll look at 19-21
Gal 2: 15-21 (NIV) 15 "We who are Jews by birth and not ’Gentile sinners’ 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. 17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
PRAY
15 – Paul makes distinction between Jews and Gentiles here.
Jews thought of themselves as “covenant people”
They had been entrusted with the Law of Moses.
They had lived under that Law for Many Centuries.
Unlike the Gentiles, who had not been under the law. Before coming to know Christ, Jews like Paul and Peter saw the Gentiles as “Sinner” because they did not follow the law of Moses, or even try to.
But when Christ came, everything changed. The law God had given to the people through Moses found fulfillment in Jesus
All of the OT types and shadows were now flesh and blood.
No more blood sacrifices of animals. Jesus had poured out his blood as the ultimate sacrifice, the last one that would ever be needed.
No more did they have to fear the presence of God in the Holiest of Holies
The vale had been torn in two – they had a new high Priest in Jesus Christ
A mediator who was eternally in the presence of God, intervening for them
Standing in the gap between man and God
Through Jesus Christ, Peter and Paul had found freedom from the law
16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Not justified by the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ
Ps 143 2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you
Next, in v 17, Paul exposes the fatal flaw in what the Judiasers are doing.
He takes their premise, that the Jewish laws of Purity are still binding on Jewish Christians and he carries it out to its own logical conclusion.
17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
If we are justified by Christ, and in following his teaching we fellowship with Gentiles and bring ourselves under judgment of the Jewish law, If that law is still binding then that must mean that being a follower of Christ results in sin!
Can that be true? Paul answers emphatically – Absolutely NOT!
Paul brings the matter to a breaking point. Something here has to give.
There are 2 things here that can’t both be true at the same time.
We cannot be a follower of Christ, justified by Christ apart from the law,
And still have the Jewish laws regarding purity and circumcision be binding
The purity laws are set aside, the truth of the gospel reigns supreme. In Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, we are all the same.
To require circumcision, to require a Gentile to become a Jew in order to be a Christian, would be a violation of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Paul’s final nail in the coffin of the position of the false teachers
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
Paul is talking about rebuilding his former relationship with the law.
If he rebuilds what has been destroyed. He has been freed from the law through his relationship with Christ. If he goes back to his former obligation to the law, then he is setting up something against the gospel, he is proving himself to be breaking the law of the truth of the gospel.
This brings us to the seconds half of our passage. In vs 19-21, Paul gives a confession of his faith.
Having set forth his argument using reason and logic
Now Paul adds more strength to his position by describing to the Galatians what the true gospel has meant for him personally.
He tells them what Christ has done for him and IN him, in very personal terms.
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Context is everything as we read through these passages in Galatians. The overall context of the letter, keeping in mind the crisis that Paul was addressing in the letter, and the immediate context of words in relation to the verses surrounding them.
So when we read Paul’s first statement here “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.” We need to look at the immediate context to see what he means by his use of the word law here.
We get that context in v20: I have been crucified with Christ.
Dt 21:23 “because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.”
Jesus Christ endured the curse of the law in our place when he was crucified on the cross.
The law and the fulfillment of the law put Christ on that Cross, (He intended from beg.)
Paul identifies himself, and all believers, with the crucifixion of Christ
Paul explains the concept in detail in Romans chapter 6
Ro 6: 3-7 (NIV) 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
So here in our Galatians passage, Paul is saying that through the law he died to the law
Through the law that put Christ on the Cross, he died, or was separated from the law.
His death to the law is his complete separation from it.
Thats what death is – separation. Physical death is separation from life
Spiritual death is separation from God.
Our death to the law is our separation from the law. Our old self was crucified with Christ. This is the death that is required so that we can be re-born, and live a NEW LIFE
. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me
I no longer live, my old self was crucified with Jesus
I have died to self, I had died to sin, I have died to my old ways
Its not even me anymore, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME!
Pauls focus is no longer on Himself and what he can do, it is on Christ, who is alive in Paul.
CHRIST LIVES IN ME! What a statement
What a truth. If you are a follower of Christ, a believer in the true gospel, then JESUS Christ LIVES IN YOU!
AND IT CHANGES EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW
I Have been SET FREE
Like a LION in a cage I was before I met Christ
The chains of the law had me shackled. My sin like a cage had me trapped, pent up, frustrated, pacing back and forth dreaming of freedom but never having it.
Have you ever seen a LION in a cage, pacing back and forth. So sad, so much beauty, so much potential to run and use his powerful muscles to run, to live.
And now, CHRIST has broken the chains, he has set me FREE
I am a new creation. My old self has died and now CHRIST LIVES IN ME!
V20 b The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Now that the chains have fallen from my wrists, and the prison of my sin is demolished and gone, NOW I CAN REALLY LIVE
But it is no longer me living for the law, now I live by faith in Jesus, the Son of God.
Because of his love for me, because of his sacrifice on the cross
I am FREE, Free to live for him. Like that LION who has been let out of its cage.
Free to live out his full potential, running across the plains, doing what a lion was meant to do.
Now I live for Jesus. My desires have changed, my perspective has changed, my focus in life has changed. I am a brand new person.
I now have eternal life, I now have a heart to heart, person to person relationship with Jesus Christ and through him with God the Father.
No longer is God kept out at arms length, with the law between Him and I.
Now I belong to him, he belongs to ME.
My relationship with Jesus is something that can NEVER be taken away from me.
I would never give it up, and I can never slip from his grasp
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
The JEWS toiled for centuries under the law. They were promised deliverance, they were promised a way out, they were promised a Messiah, and God keeps his promises doesn’t he?
By the grace of GOD, he provided Christ, on the cross, to free us from our sin, to free us from the tyranny of the law
And Paul says there is no way I am going to set aside the Grace of God and go back to the chains and shackles of the law. That would nullify what Christ did for me on the cross
That would mean that Christ died for nothing.
And I know that’s not true
I know because he is alive in me, and I am alive in Him
Christ has made a difference in my life, Christ has made me a new person
How about you today?
Are you living from Christ – are you living out your full potential as a Christian, doing what Christ has made you to do?
Funny thing about an animal who has been in a cage for a long time.
After you let them out, sometimes they will go back to their cage.
The cage is familiar, there is comfort in my cage because I know it so well
My cage feels safe.
It can be scary out there, in the wide open spaces, being all FREE
We have a tendency to fall back on what we have known, what we have been comfortable with.
But we were meant to be FREE.
God made you to live for Jesus, to focus on Jesus, The glory of GOD is meant to be the reason you do everything you do in life. That is what gives your life meaning and purpose.
Don’t run back to your old cage – don’t fall back into those old familiar behaviors.
We tend to think of love as being performance based,
“If you do this, then I will love you, but you have to earn it”
God’s love is unconditional. He has always loved you, he will always love you
Are you still trying to earn God’s love? Have you stayed away from God because you think, “There is no way God can love me, not with what I have done, with how I am” I better fix some of those things before I approach God.
You don’t have to fix yourself to come to God, you cannot fix yourself.
You just have to trust God, he will do the fixing. He already loves you
When you put your trust and faith in Jesus, and in his work on the cross
Believing in him as the Son of God, accepting his payment for your sins
Knowing that God raised him from the grave, and trusting him as your Lord and Savoir
When you do that and your heart belongs to God, and you live your life for Jesus
Out of a heart like that comes the fruit of a life lived for Him.
Good works come from a heart filled with gratitude for what Jesus has done for you,
Not from a heart trying to earn his love
Whether you need to begin living your life for Jesus,
Or you need to re-focus, re-align your life with the Heart of Jesus, let God do that work in your heart this morning.
PRAY
