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Gal 2:11-21 (ESV)
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?"
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.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And 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. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Not too long ago I preached on this very passage as part of a look at the life of Peter and what we can learn from him as he followed Jesus.
I have included most of that sermon below and I pray that you will be blessed as you consider how the Lord works and moves in our lives, lives that continue to be a work in progress until that day when we stand in the presence of Jesus.
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott
WHITE CLAY CREEK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SUNDAY, November 25, 2018
Scott Vance
A Work in Progress: “Conformity”
Galatians 2.11-14
Introduction:
Well today we’re wrapping up our series where we’ve looked into Peter’s journey as a missional disciple.
A lot has been going on with Peter since the day he had that amazing breakfast conversation with Jesus on the beach.
Just a few weeks later Peter preached the first Christian sermon ever preached.
And soon after that Peter stood before the very same council that condemned Jesus to death but instead of collapsing Peter stood tall, refusing to stop teaching and speaking in the name of Jesus.
Peter became the leader of the early church as it began to grow and flourish in Jerusalem.
And then the Gospel begins to spread everywhere, first to the people of Samaria.
Remember that Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along and so everyone is amazed that the Samaritans are receiving Christ and Peter is called to go and confirm what’s happening and teach people the word of God.
But it doesn’t stop there.
In Acts 10 Jesus leads Peter to go to the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion. Peter goes and shares the Gospel with Cornelius and his whole household comes to faith in Christ.
And Peter realizes, for the first time, that God shows no partiality when it comes to receiving the Gospel. Jesus isn’t just for Jewish people but for everyone, everywhere.
But then, in Acts 12, Herod has the apostle James, the brother of John, killed, and when Herod realizes that this has given him favor with the Jewish religious leaders, he then has Peter arrested and put into prison.
But God delivers Peter from prison. Suzie preached on that a while ago and told us about Peter’s miraculous escape and how Peter then went to Antioch.
But it’s here in Antioch where Peter, this great missional disciple, the leader of the early church, and one of the key figures in Jesus ministry, it’s here in Antioch where Peter reveals that he is still a work in progress.
That’s the history and background to our passage for this morning.
Have you ever seen the TV show called Brain Games?
The show is an examination regarding how our brains work and process information.
It’s educational, but it’s fun because it shows how our brains make assumptions and mistakes as we process the terabytes of information that we take in almost every second in what we see, hear, taste, touch and even smell.
One of the episodes focused on how our brains push us to conform to the pressures of social influence.
I want to show you a clip from that episode.
SHOW CLIP: BRAIN GAMES (CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO SEE THE EPISODE).
Isn’t that just amazing. That woman just conformed to the pattern of group without a single question.
THE PASSAGE: Confrontational Highlights: The pressure to conform is something that our brains are hard wired for and that’s certainly something that Peter experienced at this point in his journey as a missional disciple. It’s a moment of confrontation between Peter and Paul and there are three highlights that I want to draw your attention to this morning.
First, this is a confrontation.
Paul and Peter have this direct and public confrontation in Antioch.
Here’s what we know.
If you remember, it was in Antioch that followers of Jesus were first called Christians and now Peter has gone there after being miraculously freed from prison.
Peter is teaching and testifying about Jesus, sharing the Gospel message not just with the Jewish community, but with the Gentiles as well.
Peter is relishing his new-found freedom of being able to enjoy fellowship with the non-Jewish Christians.
Peter knows that in Christ, God has created one new family that consists of Jews and Gentiles alike.
Peter was there when Cornelius, the Gentile, the Roman centurion came to faith in Christ and received the Holy Spirit.
Peter was the one who testified to the apostles and the Christians in Jerusalem that the Gentiles had received the word of God.
And so Peter has been a trail blazer, leading the way when it comes to welcoming the new Gentile Christians into the family of God.
After a lifetime of looking down on Gentiles and closing the doors to them, Peter is the one opening the doors and welcoming them into the family and kingdom of God.
That is until certain people arrived from Jerusalem, these men from James.
We don’t exactly know who they are, or if James in fact sent them, but what we do know is that they are Jewish hardliners, the ones who firmly believed and held that every Christian should be fully Jewish and keep all the rules and regulations, observances and practices of the Jewish faith.
And that’s when Peter begins to change.
To be fair to Peter, he’s just been through a rough patch. He might still be smarting from his time in prison and perhaps he thought that one struggle with persecution was enough.
It was one thing to be persecuted by Herod; someone that every good Jewish person knows is a Roman puppet and an unfaithful Jew.
But it’s quite another thing to be persecuted by these Jewish hardliners.
So Peter begins to change, he begins to pull away from the Gentile Christians, and only associate with the Jewish Christians when these men from Jerusalem arrive.
And that change brings Peter into conflict with Paul.
But what’s deal here, what’s the problem? That’s the second highlight I want you to notice.
By the way, I think it’s amazing that this incident is included in the Bible. The fact that we have a record of this confrontation is further confidence in the authenticity of the Scriptures.
The Bible is not some sort of propaganda or this nice story.
The story that the Bible tells us of Jesus’ life and the history of the early church, with all the great and amazing things that happened, as well as their failures and fallouts, all of those things point to the fact that this stuff actually happened.
The record of this conflict is one more piece of evidence that tells us that the Bible, and everything recorded in it, is real and true.
Second; this isn’t a tiff or a squabble between Peter and Paul; this is about the heart of the gospel.
It’s a little hard for us to understand how serious this issue is because it’s about table fellowship.
For us it’s not a big deal to share a meal with other people.
We’re not really concerned about a person’s ethnic background or if they have an accent or how they’re dressed. We’re not worried about their religious upbringing.
In our part of the world, we’re generally comfortable with sitting down to a meal with other people.
But in that cultural context, table-fellowship was a huge deal.
Sharing food with someone around the table was a sign of acceptance, closeness and unity with other people.
You can imagine the tidal waves that Jesus created when He ate and fellowshipped with those that were considered sinners and tax-collectors.
It was massive that Jesus ate meals with those who were labeled as undesirables.
When Jesus ate meals with those folks, He was communicating their worth, their value, and their welcome into the kingdom of God.
That’s what Peter was doing when he was eating with the Gentile Christians.
Peter’s sharing table-fellowship with these Gentile Christians was a powerful symbol that spoke of their identity and inclusion into the family of God.
And all that fellowship was taking place without strict adherence to the rules and regulations of the Jewish laws.
But when these Jewish hardliners show up and Peter pulls away from the Gentile Christians, a massive problem develops.
In the act of withdrawing from Gentile Christians, Peter is saying that if you want to be a real Christian you must be fully Jewish first, and that is completely out of step with the Gospel. It’s even out of step with Peter’s own experiences.
And Peter’s actions infect other Jewish Christians, including Barnabas! It’s so bad that a rift develops in the church, there now two churches; a church for Jewish Christians and a church for Gentile Christians.
That flies in the face of the truth of the Gospel; in Christ we are all sons and daughters of God through faith; there is no dividing line between Jew or Gentle, salve or free, man or woman, all are one in Christ.
And Paul calls Peter out on the poison that is being planted. This isn’t a squabble and it’s not about drama between Peter and Paul.
This is about the heart of the Gospel; about justification by faith in Christ alone with no other prerequisites required.
Finally; the problem of Peter’s conformity.
Peter folds under the pressure, Peter conforms to the stance of the Jewish hardliners.
It isn’t just that Peter draws back from his fellowship with the Gentile Christians, that would be bad enough; instead Peter takes it one step further and requires or forces these Gentile Christians to conform to Jewish customs and practices.
And Paul calls Peter out for his failure. Sometimes the Message translation is great, and I’d like for you to hear it as Paul publicly calls Peter out for his conformity.
The Message Bible reads:
14 But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: "If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you're not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?"
Peter is conforming to the stance of the Jewish hardliners and in the process, he was opposing the Gospel by demanding that the Gentile Christians become fully Jewish.
OK, SO WHAT? Lessons Learned:
It’s hard for us to take in Peter’s failure here in Antioch. We tend to put Peter, Paul and the other apostles on a pedestal.
But what we need to understand about Peter, and all the great leaders of the early church, is that while they are truly amazing missional disciples, they are still human, they were still a work in progress until that day when they finally stood in Jesus presence again.
So what can learn from all of this as we continue to pursue being Jesus’ missional disciples?
First; be watchful regarding conformity.
Conformity is something that every Christian, every missional disciple, must guard against. Don’t think that peer pressure is just a kid thing; we are wired to follow the crowd and that can lead us into unhealthy spaces.
Earlier I showed you that clip from Brain Games where the woman conformed to the practice of the crowd and stood when they stood at the sound of a beep.
At first you might have thought, of course the woman stood up, everyone was in on what was happening, and she was just responding to the group. But surely, she wouldn’t stand up if the group wasn’t there.
But then, it was amazing to see how quickly new patients, who didn’t know what was happening, conformed to the practice of standing when they heard the beep.
It’s amazing really, how quickly we’ll conform.
But that’s not what we’re supposed to do as missional disciples. We are to be counter-cultural and not conformists.
That’s not to say that we take the opposite stance of every aspect of our culture and automatically assume that everything in our culture is bad.
What we are called to do is think. As missional disciples we are to think through each aspect of life, filtering it all through our relationship with Christ.
As N.T. Wright said, “We must be ready to challenge those parts [of our culture] where the present age shouts, or perhaps whispers seductively, that it would be easier and better to do things that way, while the age to come, already begun in Jesus, insists that belonging to the new creation means that we must live this way instead.
I’m reminded of Romans 12.2 when I think about conformity. Paul wrote, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…
Here’s the thing, we will always experience that pressure to conform. There will always be that voice whispering and even shouting at us that we need to fall in step.
But don’t you do it, don’t you listen to that voice. Listen instead to the voice of Jesus, work daily at having your heart and mind centered on Him and everything else will find its right place.
There will always be the temptation to conform so be watchful.
Second; repent.
You know, if we’ve learned anything from our look at Peter’s life as a missional disciple, we know that Peter loved Jesus, Peter followed Jesus, Peter made lots of mistakes along the way, but Peter repented whenever he made mistakes.
We know that at some point Peter and Paul reconcile with each other, in fact, Peter called Paul “our beloved brother” in one of his letters, and Peter continued to follow Jesus as His missional disciple after this conflict with Paul.
For many years Peter testified and witnessed about Jesus and he wrote to others encouraging them in their faith and challenging them to follow Jesus as His missional disciples.
That wouldn’t have happened if Peter had not repented.
If that’s Peter, one of the pillars of faith, the guy who was given the keys to the kingdom of Heaven, then what does that say about us?
Nothing; other than we’re no different than Peter. We’re just as human and therefore just as susceptible to failure and conformity as Peter was.
In fact, if you remember from last week, we will stumble and fall and fail as Jesus’ missional disciples.
We, like Peter, are a work in progress and we know that there are always times when we need to repent.
So when you and I make mistakes, I want to encourage you to seek Jesus and simply repent.
He already knows all the details and you’ll find that He is ready and willing to cover you with His love, mercy and forgiveness, if you will humbly come before Him.
Repent when you need to; don’t let the guilt and shame of failures both present and past, hinder a single step as you follow Jesus.
Finally, be authentic.
You may not know this, but there is a growing trend online with websites that offer people the opportunity to air their confessions and yet remain anonymous.
People share their struggles and long-hidden feelings, they even confess secrets that they have been keeping from friends, family and their dearest loved ones.
They’ve been wearing masks and pretending that everything is fine when in fact it’s not.
As Christians we’re not immune to that practice. We put on masks from time to time. Peter sure did, that was part of his failure in this passage.
But we know, don’t we, that’s not what God wants for us as His sons and daughters. No masks in God’s kingdom. He wants us to be real, to be authentic with Him about what we’re feeling, about our struggles, our sorrows, our hurt and even our anger.
And I think Jesus wants us to have that same authenticity with the people around us.
We need to be authentic Christians; Jesus wants us to be open and honest with each other as we follow Him.
What are we excited about, where are we struggling, where are holding back, and where are we facing temptation?
If we’ll do that, we’ll be able to love, care for and encourage each other in faith as we follow Jesus.
I also think that it might be even more important to be authentic with people who do not yet know Jesus.
People are hungry and thirsty, and they look at you and I and wonder if Jesus makes a difference.
Not in a way that’s false, like paint which only covers the surface. Nothing puts people off more than when they have a sense that you’re being false with them.
No, they are looking for something that will stain them through and through bringing lasting change and transformation.
And you and I know that Jesus will bring that lasting change and transformation.
So, as Jesus missional disciples, we need to stop wearing masks, we all must be truly authentic with each other and with those who don’t yet know Jesus. Afterall, you don’t need masks or make-up in the kingdom of God.
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