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And if you’re visiting with us, I’m going to invite you and those that are part of Alpine Bible Church. We’re in Galatians chapter two. If you want to take notes, you like to make notes about what God’s Word communicates to us in Scripture. I’m going to invite you to turn there. And as you turn there, I just want to give a a special thanks to, um, both Greg and and Richie, our youth pastor, and his wife. Uh, they went up this week to Frontier School. The Bible took some of our students there, and then we’re back down on Saturday to do music practice and and traveling with their child as well. And I know that’s that is a difficult thing to do, but we’re grateful for them and their sacrifice. And so if you think about it, you can thank them too for doing that. Even if you don’t have a teenager. Right. They they deserve it after the week they had. So so we appreciate that. And I’m thinking about standing over here because I saw there’s an Apple computer and you get smarter I hear when you do that. So maybe I’m just kidding I don’t do that. I won’t do that today. Um, Galatians chapter two. And the whole idea of why we’re jumping into the book of Galatians this morning for us is because the the book of Galatians is it is a pillar to understanding what the Christian life is all about.
And the idea and the theme of the book of Galatians is about living free. And the Apostle Paul, when he wrote this, when he wrote the book of Galatians, he was one of the first writers of the New Testament. New Testament hadn’t been formulated yet. The Book of James was likely written by this point. And how Paul then writes the second book of the New Testament, which is the book of Galatians, and he notices when he when he writes this book, something’s happening to the early church that just displeases him. And and he recognizes as essential to understanding in the Christian life. And really, that’s the battle that we face as human beings to revert back to religion rather than experiencing the freedom and relationship that we’re given in Christ. Pollux of the early church, and he and he sees that their tendency is to revert back to law. And he reminds them in this verse, in chapter five, in the book of Galatians, that Christ has come to set you free. And it’s with joy in that relationship with Jesus that you experience him. It’s a part from the law, but it’s in Christ and understanding that becomes important to the foundation of your life and walk with God. Paul wants us to see our freedom in Jesus and enjoy that freedom we have in him. Knowing that Jesus, when he says he paid it all, he paid it all. Rather than work for acceptance in Christ, we work from our acceptance in Christ rather than work to please to please him and to be loved by him.
We work knowing that we are already loved by him, and we desire to experience that love in him. And we walk in the light as he is in the light. The uniqueness of following after Christ versus any religion in the world. Any religion in the world has this picture of you climbing this hill, trying to get to God to satisfy him, hoping that maybe he might accept you. But the picture of Christianity is God passionately pursuing you to the extent of his life, to declare to you that he loves you and for you he paid everything that you may experience him for eternity. Beginning now. Christ has set you free. And so when you gather in mornings like this and you praise his name, it’s with joy on our lips. We share those words as we profess a God who has given everything that you may know him. And with that joy, we share it in the world. And you get to chapter two of of the text of Scripture today. And Paul begins to share the importance of this, not not only in your life, but in the lives of people around you. Paul, as he shares today, is going to share something with us that makes us maybe somewhat uncomfortable. Because it deals with confrontation as we share the light of who Christ is to this world.
And Paul does this in two aspects of his life as he talks to us in chapter two. And we’re going to buzz very quickly through the first portion of this passage of Scripture and get and focus more on the on the latter part of this portion of Scripture. But Paul, as he’s sharing his faith, he starts in the first ten verses and he says, he says to us, you know, when I when I share with the Lord and I live my life for the Lord, there’s two areas that I do it. First is the area of my life that I’m gifted in. God’s gifted us all with certain abilities in the area, that I feel that the Lord has led me to use my talents and gifts. That’s where I serve him for the sake of his message to this world. But he also goes on and says. And I recognize there still needs. So not only am I serving God where there’s a giftedness, but I’m also serving God as I recognize the need to serve him in this world. If there is a need, I answer to the call. And Paul takes a stand for the sake of Christ. Matter of fact, the opening point for you this morning is that Paul is willing to stand in the gap for Christ, and he has this this one central thought that motivates him through this.
It says in chapter two and verse five, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. It’s like the this verse says to us, it’s the foundational thought to how chapter two functions. It’s it’s it’s the theme verse. It’s the missional statement of what Paul’s about. I think these these are things that are important to have, I think within my own family, this thought with within our marriage resides for Stacy and I, that what God desires is for us to be one. Right? And so everything we do in the function of marriage, the missional thought to our marriage is for that oneness. What is God desire for us in our lives? That we may experience that oneness that he has created us for in him it’s a missional statement. It resides. Everything else flows under that and how we live for him. And in this passage of Scripture, excuse me, Paul is saying this in verse five. That in all the distractions he’s facing in this current moment and all the things that the church is going through, as the Apostle Paul writes this letter, this one pervading thought becomes central to what he’s communicating to us. And that is the idea of what the gospel is all about. You asked Paul. Paul, why did you serve in this giftedness? Why are you standing in this gap? Why are you serving when there is a need rather than just in your giftedness? Why do you stand like this for Christ even when it makes you uncomfortable? We’re going to find out.
Paul, why are you doing this? It’s for the gospel. Paul opens. I’m going to just share very quickly in the context of verse five, these ten verses, I’m going to buzz through. And guys, I’m going to tell you when we get done with just this portion today, you’re going to say to yourself, yeah, that’s the most important verses I’ve read in a while, and I’ll explain to you why. Then after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem. This is Paul sharing, and he went with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up, and I submitted to them the gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out the liberty which we have in Christ Jesus in order to bring us into bondage. But for those who are of high reputation, what they were were makes no difference to me.
God shows no partiality. Well, those who are of reputation contributed nothing to me. But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. That’s the clever way of saying Gentile. For he who was effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles. And recognizing the grace that has been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me in Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do. Put this in the context for you. This story is taking place before the Apostle Paul goes on his missionary journeys. The Apostle Paul when he became a believer. We saw this in the beginning of his testimony. He was on the road to Damascus. The Lord comes to him. He goes to Arabia. He spends a few years in Arabia, comes back to Jerusalem, talks to a few apostles, and he goes to his hometown. And there he stays until a few years later, a man named Barnabas comes and finds Paul, and he brings him to the city of Antioch. And there they preach the gospel for what seems about a decade. And Paul and Barnabas make trips to Jerusalem.
And you’re going to find that Peter oftentimes frequents the city of Antioch, and there’s a famine existing right now in between the in the city of Jerusalem. So the church in Antioch would come down to Jerusalem, and they would help out the believers there, give them money, give them food, what they needed. And the church in Jerusalem would go back to Antioch and say, hey, man, we’re hungry. Come back down. And so that’s what’s happening in this story as as Paul is, is continuing to be an apostle and preaching the gospel. He’s he’s seeing this need and he’s filling in this gap. And what we recognize within this passage of Scripture is as he sees this need and he’s filling in this gap. He’s also got a giftedness to preach the gospel. What he discovers within this gospel is that the church may be living in conflict and understanding of what the gospel is. And so he goes down to Jerusalem. Concern that he may be running in vain. I think what the Apostle Paul is saying is that he doesn’t. He he doesn’t think that his message is wrong. What he’s concerned about is the unity of the body of Christ as the body of Christ, working together in the message that they’re preaching. Or is it something that’s being contradicted among even our leadership? Are we running in vain in our understanding of what the gospel really is? And so Paul goes down to Jerusalem, and the Bible tells us that he takes with him Barnabas, and he takes with him Titus.
And this is why it becomes the most important passage for you guys. I don’t know, I don’t even want to begin to understand what happens between verse four and five, but it tells us that Titus comes down and he’s one that’s not circumcised, and people seek to spy out his uncircumcision. And I don’t even want to picture what that means. But whenever Titus went to the bathroom, I’m sure he’s being careful. And here’s the struggle. When Paul takes a stand in this passage of Scripture. This is where as guys, you just stop and say, you know, I just breezed through this one. I’m reading. But Lord, I’m so thankful that Titus took a stand here. Because as we went to assemble this church, one of the things that we would have been looking for is this room in the back where we’ll say, hey, do you want to follow Jesus today? And you’d say, uh, yeah, I think I want to give my heart to the Lord. And we say, okay, good. We need you to step in the back. There’s this room. Don’t panic. It’s just an operating table. And about 3 to 7 days you’ll be you’ll be feeling a little better. You might walk with a little bit of gimp for a couple of days, but. But that’s what it takes to follow Jesus.
And we look at verse four and five, and we see Titus in this passage of Scripture. No, that is that is not it, man. I think thank you Titus. Thank you Titus. This is such an important part of the Bible, but not only just in the idea of circumcision, but what what’s being communicated with the gospel. When Jesus paid for your sins, did did he really pay it all? I mean, when you come this morning and you sing his praise, do you really have the hope that what Christ did for you was sufficient to see him face to face in heaven for eternity? That’s the struggle that Paul is fighting with in this passage of Scripture. And he’s saying in this passage that not only has God gifted me with the ability to preach to the Gentiles, to declare to them the freedom that you have in Christ, but I’m also standing here in this need, because there is these things that they’re adding to their life that are unessential, that are robbing their joy in Christ. As Paul said in Galatians one, they are anathema. They are unredeemable. You can’t make God love you more than he already has. You can’t add anything to the sacrifice that Jesus has already given. Christ has set you free. And ye shall be free indeed. Paul gets to this place. And he shares with us the conflict. And it brings us to a place as men at least, you can appreciate.
God. Thank you. When it’s hard to stand in that gap. That someone did. Paul goes on, this is the context of what we’re going to look at this morning. He says in verse 11, this the challenge that he faced as he shared and declared the purity of the gospel even came within the leadership. And it says this. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned for prior to the coming of certain men from James he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof. Fearing the party of the circumcision, the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by that hypocrisy. Antiochus was an important place to Paul. It was really the first church that he helped establish. And Paul’s looking at the seriousness of how religion is affecting the body versus the relationship that Christ has given to them. And Paul tells us in this passage. He opposes a friend. He opposes a friend by standing in a gap. Now I know the way American culture thinks when they look at passages like this. No, no, no, Paul, don’t don’t judge Peter. Judge not, lest you be judged. It’s wrong to judge. You know, we tend to say things like that even though it’s not biblical, the way we we apply the context.
But that’s what we would say to the Apostle Paul. And the reason is, is because when we get to places of confrontation, it makes us uncomfortable. I think some people are tough as nails behind a computer screen. I love what the Apostle Paul does in this passage of Scripture. Not only is he confronting his friend, but he loves him so much he’s willing to do it to his face. No one likes criticism, do they? We don’t like to hear when we’re wrong. We don’t like to know the things that we’ve done, or having things pointed out to us that that may be contrary to what Jesus says. We we sweep that under the rug and I’ll point yours out. But you don’t talk about mine, right? No one likes to be criticized. But, you know, it becomes important to understand the nature of criticism and how the gospel frees us in the idea of what criticism is about. You notice in your notes this morning, if you have a bulletin, there’s a there’s a chart on the opposite side. It’s written by a chart given by Tim Keller in one of his books. And he he distinguishes for us the thought between what religion is and what the gospel really is, what religion is about, and what a relationship with Jesus is about. And one of the things he talks about is about four, four spaces down is the idea of criticism we get in the gospel and outside of the gospel, and how the gospel actually helps us when being criticized.
Let me give you an example. When you’re in religion and you feel that your life is about proving your worth to God, to say that you did something wrong attacks the very nature of who you are as a person. And so the result of that is for you to fight against it, to beat it up, to knock it out of the way. You don’t care if it comes in the form of an individual or a statement. It is not good because it’s revealing something about you, and you’re trying to show this God that he needs to accept you. When you’re criticized in the gospel. You still don’t like criticism? But you recognize. Your behavior. And your actions aren’t up to earning God’s acceptance. As a matter of fact, Tim Keller, I think, even says in that passage of Scripture criticism is how he became a Christian. Meaning this. When you come to know Jesus, what Jesus says about you is that you are a sinner. You’ve already lived contrary to God’s rules and laws. As a matter of fact, we’ll see it at the end of Galatians in just a minute. The law doesn’t bring you freedom. The law brings you bondage. It simply points out to you what you’ve done wrong and why you need a savior. And so when someone says, hey, you’re running wrong or you’ve done something in vain, it’s contrary to Jesus.
You can say, well, that’s no shock. I’ve been doing that my whole life. But the result is the craving of our heart should be. Because Jesus has extended his grace to me. And he’s opened the door for me to experience him. How can I walk from this darkness to this light? To experience it. Criticism is never fun, but when the gospel has set you free. It’s okay to take. Because your life and the way you live doesn’t merit God’s favor to begin with. And so Paul comes to this passage of Scripture, and we look, we look at this opposition he’s bringing to Peter. And his concern isn’t to prove Peter wrong. His concern is for Peter that he may live in light of who Jesus is. And so he knows, if Peter understands grace, that Peter can take the criticism he’s about to bring into his life. His relationship with God isn’t based on on him being a good person in order for God to accept him. But it is based on walking in the light that he may continue to experience him. In this confrontation that Peter excuse me, Paul brings to Peter, if handled correctly, brings a healthy result not only for just Peter, but for the body of Christ if managed in a godly way. So I can say this today, because what Paul did in this passage of Scripture, that here we are a few centuries later, that Paul were thankful, was willing to stand in the gap.
Thankful that Paul was willing to risk the relationship that he had for Peter. Thankful that Paul was loving enough to Peter to to talk to him face to face about his need. The Bible says this. And in Proverbs chapter 27 and verse five. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. I would say this morning that we talk about standing up for God in difficult places. And even confrontation for the Lord that we’re not looking just to confront everybody and everything that you don’t like about them. Sometimes it’s just semantical things. Personalities are different. They clash. What we’re talking about is the beauty of who Christ is and understanding that and your walk with him. And so Paul confronts Peter and it tells us Proverbs chapter 27 faithful are the wounds of a friend. You know, if someone who really, genuinely loves you comes and says something to you, that hurts that because that friend cares about you, they’ve probably struggled with the idea of even talking to you because they they care enough about you to not want to hurt you. We also know that that some of the important parts of our lives, you can think back even in your own lives, the things that made a difference, the things that brought change, the things that woke you up and opened your eyes to what you weren’t seeing were were times where you sat down one on one with someone and they just desired to speak to your heart.
Paul in this passage desires to speak to Peter’s heart. In chapter two. It tells us that that Paul opposes Peter to his face. Even uses that strong vocabulary. One of the things that doesn’t tell us in that passage of Scripture is the detail of how how Paul did this. If you read in Galatians chapter six, one of the things that we don’t see about Paul is the way that he communicates how to stand with someone for the sake of the Lord. And he says this, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual. Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. The idea is. It’s not about proving who’s right, who’s wrong. It’s about helping each other walk with the Lord. It’s about encouraging each other to see the freedom that they have in Christ and experiencing that. Living in light of who he is. And so Paul recognizes that as one brother may be weak. So at some point in your life that weakness may creep in, that temptation may become a part of your life. And you too could live just like Peter. And so in gentleness, knowing one day I may need someone to extend a hand of grace to me.
I come to someone and care and love. It’s not about me with Jesus. It’s about us with Jesus. It’s about sharing his light together. God’s nature. God’s number one command is about love, and love is done in community, and Paul desires to have this extended in Peter not walking in vain, but walking together. And one of the beautiful things in this passage of Scripture. And this is for you, Bible diggers who love word searches. But one of the one of the beautiful things that you don’t catch in this passage of Scripture is the way Paul does this in chapter two. All you see is the he opposes Peter to his face. But it’s interesting when you study the way that Paul opposes Peter to his face in in the original language. It tells us in chapter two and verse one. But when Cephas came. I opposed him to his face. Interesting thing about this word. Cephas. As that other than Paul. The only other person to ever use this word was Jesus. And the only time Jesus ever referred to to Peter as Cephas was in John chapter one, when Jesus met Peter for the first time. When you read the New Testament, you’ll see that Peter has three names within Scripture. Paul calls him Cephas once and in this portion of Scripture, in Galatians chapter one to chapter two. And he calls him Cephas in first Corinthians, and then Jesus calls him Cephas, and in John one and he’s also got the name Simon, which was his given name by birth.
It’s his Hebrew name. And he’s got the name Peter, which you’ve come to know him when you read the name Peter in the Gospels, when Peter’s first introduced it, it says, Simon, you’ll know him as Peter. Saying to us in a historical understanding that Simon was his name. But after Jesus changed it, we tended to start calling him Peter a little bit more. And what what Paul does in this passage of Scripture is he recalls these moments. And in Peter’s life, one of the beautiful things about the Bible is the opportunity we have just to do word searches in the original Greek and Hebrew. The way that the original language is written for us is it gives us these word pictures. It’s intended to give us word pictures in our mind that when you study a word, this thought and this picture and this identity pops within our head to understand what this passage communicates. And that’s exactly what Paul does in Galatians. Paul says, Cephas was there. He was living contrary to the gospel. And so I opposed him to his face. And the reason he calls him Cephas is central to understanding how exactly Paul opposes Peter in this passage. That was a tongue twister. Paul opposes Peter in the passage. Right? Say that five times.
John 142 and he, Andrew, brought him, which is Peter, to Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of son of John, and you will be called Cephas. Notice what Jesus says. The only time he ever uses the word Cephas is an Aramaic word. He says, you will be called Cephas. You’re not this yet by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re going to be. And the only time in the Gospels that Jesus calls Peter. Peter. Is in Matthew 16. All the other times you’ll see is that he calls him Simon. In Matthew 16 he he comes to Peter and he says this I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Peter, you’re going to be called Cephas. You’re going to be called Peter, which means rock. And now I’m telling you, you are the only time that Peter’s ever called Cephas is in this beginning of his walk with Christ. And so Paul comes to Jerusalem and he sees Peter not walking with Jesus, not sharing the gospel that he knows is so important to the freedom that Christ brings. And he says to Peter, Cephas. Do you know where that came from, Peter? Do you remember when you got that name? Do you remember who uttered those words? Peter, you know what’s important. I’m not calling you Peter. I’m not calling you Simon.
I’m calling you Cephas. So when Paul opposes Peter. He’s not coming in just to say, I got to get this off my chest. Oh, there’s something I want you to feel. Because of the way that you made me feel. Do you know I’m up in Antioch working all this off, and you’re down here doing something contrary to that? Paul’s concern is Peter. Paul’s concern is the unity of the body. Paul goes in this argument not to let off his steam. He comes to this argument just thinking of Peter and his walk with Jesus. And so he just says, Cephas, don’t you remember when Christ came into your life and set you free? Faithful are the wounds of a friend. When we sit in our own lives in American culture. Judge not, lest you be judged right. But the foundation of your life and the freedom of your life centers in the gospel of Christ. And walking with that, how more important is that? How more important that you risk the relationship and you just say, listen, I love you and it’s Jesus, I love you. Just think of the freedom that Christ wants to bring. He sets you free. Josephus. Maybe one of the greatest lessons for us in this passage of Scripture. Comes on the understanding that even people who claim to be pillars, as Paul described them in Christ, still need brothers and sisters in Christ. Christianity is in a rogue relationship.
It’s a community lifestyle. How important it is to get plugged in those communities that bring you to him. I mean, you think about Peter, man, if anyone could do it on their own, it’s Peter. Peter walked on water and he drowned. Peter loved and lived for Jesus, and he turned his back on him at the cross. Peter shared Christ with the world, and sometimes he lived contrary to the gospel. How important it is to have those friends that pull you near to the Lord and care enough about you to even say in times when when you don’t want to hear it, they love you enough to say it’s Jesus. Paul’s confrontation. The theme behind Paul’s confrontation. Is always restoration and truth and love. It’s about bringing us to the Lord. Not about attacking or getting things off your chest. It’s the restoration of the body of Christ. In the place where we oftentimes get it wrong. If, if, if you ever come before anyone to talk about the Lord isn’t isn’t that we’re not willing to do it, but that we do it with the wrong spirit? You come to criticize? Rather than lift up. You come to tell someone how wrong they are rather than to say, as Paul says, even if anyone is caught up in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. A gentleness. Be your spirit. You ask the question why? Why is this even important? Why would I even care to do this? I don’t like meeting people face to face.
I don’t like talking about things when I know there’s a conflict there. I am the avoider, not the confronter. And Paul concludes the rest of the book just explaining the essential point of why he did what he did. As we look at these last few verses, I’m going to just give it to us in two ways. One is just the practical reason as to why it becomes so important for us. And the other is the theological problem we face. If we allow someone to contradict the gospel without sharing the truth of who God is. And it says this in verse 14. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, in the presence of all, if you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jew, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? Paul saying this, I noticed you weren’t walking straight forward in the gospel. And so Paul carries again another word picture for us. He’s saying, this is the gospel. Jesus came, Jesus died. Jesus paid for your sins. Jesus resurrected from the grave. And just as Jesus has life, he promises life to you. If you trust in him for the sacrifice he paid on your behalf. That’s the gospel. And he’s saying, Peter, you’re not straightforward with that, which literally means your footsteps are not in line with what is being communicated.
According to Jesus. You’re not walking in rhythm, Peter. You’re not in sync. This is a Paul is saying there should be this this pattern. Right? I don’t know if I can clap, but right. This pattern in your life just the same. This is how the gospel looks, Peter. And your life is crazy. It’s it’s like you stepped into this really white church and they can’t keep rhythm to the song, man. It’s like it is not what the gospel is about. And some of you guys are offended. I know, I know, like three of you can clap, so don’t worry about that, all right? Hmm. And so Peter comes is brought before Paul, and Paul says, listen, this is the rhythm of the gospel. This is why it’s important. In verse 15, he goes on and he says, we are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, justified means made right. So let me read it that way, knowing that a man is not made right by the works of the law, knowing that a man is not made right by the works of the law, I don’t know how many times I’m going to say it over, knowing that man is not made right by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ.
Even we have believed in Christ, that we may not be made right by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Since by the works of the the law, no flesh will be justified or made right before God. You look at these rules. Thank God we don’t have an operating room in the back of the church. It’s not doing anything for you to justify you before Jesus. Here’s the practical thought that they were carrying by circumcision. They thought if they did this. Jesus would love them this much more. If you do thus much more. God loves you this much more. And if you do, don’t do this. God loves you less. How central does that become to your relationship in Christ? It’s a bit of places in my life where I come before the Lord and I’m a failure. I thank God I have really just blown it. I can’t take that back. And I wish I could. And you have that thought creep into your mind. And now you love me less. What can I do to make you love me more? And and Paul is saying no, you need to understand that you’re not working for his acceptance. You’re working from his acceptance. Jesus paid for it all, and you’re coming to him saying circumcision makes you pretty. That’s gross. There’s nothing you’re doing to make you pretty. That God already loves you more than he’s going to love you.
He’s already given all that he can possibly give. His love is lavished on you. He thinks you’re great not because of what you’ve done, but because of what Christ has done on your behalf. So the place that puts you as a believer. It’s to enjoy Jesus. Jesus has paid it all. And so you come and you say, God, I accept that sacrifice. Lord, I know what you’ve done for me. Lord, I feel low in this moment, but I know your love is being extended, so God help me. God forgive me. God help me. Set you free. You don’t live in fear of knowing. Does God care enough about me to save me? Does God care enough about me to be in my life? Does God really hear me? Does God look at me? The gospel already says that Jesus is after you. Let me skip ahead for just a moment. Paul closes at the end of these verses. And he says to us in a theological understanding. If you leave. Hearing this message this morning. And you think you do anything to make Jesus love you more. It’s an insult to Jesus. He says in verse 20. Sorry. In verse 20 I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith, not by works.
And the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law. Then Christ died needlessly. Paul ends with this thought. If you think you fix yourself with Jesus. Why did Jesus come? Why did Jesus even have to die? And the most useless thing in history is the King who humbles himself as a servant and dies for you when he didn’t even have to. And not only does he just do something useless, you just nullify the grace that’s been given. This free lavishing of God’s love has been done away with, because you think your works are more important than what Christ has already done to set you free. That you may enjoy him. I can tell you this this morning. This is why we wear a cross. This is why it’s on our wall. Because the thought within our lives is, I never want to nullify the grace that’s been given to me. And I know the response to that. The cross, when you think about it, is gross. What took place there. What was done to human beings is is disgusting. But man, how beautiful it is for you to understand the message of the cross because God takes something so horrendous, so disgusting and despised in this world, and he turns it into one of the most beautiful things to ever exist in human history.
Christ has set you free on that cross. He died thinking of you and me, of writing a poem as we speak. It is amazing. But that’s what Jesus has done for you. And so you wear the cross and you think this despicable thing has become beautiful on behalf of me because of what Jesus has done. You set me free. How important does it become to see how the ugly become beautiful in Christ, having nothing to do with my efforts and everything to do with Jesus? How central is it for the Apostle Paul to stand in this moment and say, you don’t understand how what you’re doing contradicts the very nature of what Jesus is about? You’re not building up. You’re destroying the freedom that Christ has brought to you. How important does it become for the church to say, and to look in the faces of people who oppose the gospel and say with gentleness, Sephus Jesus loves you. You don’t understand what you’re doing. You don’t understand how this law, this rules, this living, is earning an acceptance that cannot be earned. But a king has come to set you free, that you may enjoy him forever. In the darkest moments, when you come before God and you feel like you’ve blown it and you’re all alone and you just need love, the love is there. And the cross. It’s that message. What it does for us as a church this morning.
It should get you fired up. It should say to you, what am I doing? I mean, if this if this is the message in verse five, Paul says, if this if this is the theme, if this is where everything is built, if this is what Jesus made these walls for in this church, for us to gather together, man, what am I doing? Christ has set me free. And it’s not just for me. And we should look across the pew to one another and say, I care enough about you this morning, when I know it’s hard, I’m going to say Jesus. And for me, you should know enough about me that there are times when I’m walking on water and there are times when I’m drowning and you turn to me and you say, Jesus. The entire passage that Paul shares this morning. It’s about community. And Paul says, I traveled with Barnabas. I traveled with Titus. I’m here with Peter. I’m here with the church. We don’t want to run in vain. We want to be in Christ. It’s about Jesus. Even if you think you’re super Christian and you don’t need a body of Christ, it’s Jesus. It’s Jesus together. Seeing him and savoring him and seeking him because we know we’re not meriting our favor. But it’s his grace that sets us free. That’s in the purity of Christ we stand. Our pursuit of our heart. Becomes about that message. That Jesus may set us free.