I wonder… what is your picture of church? What should a church look like? When I ask you to picture the perfect church, perhaps these images come to mind. Something traditional, even catholic. You might be chasing a spiritual high, raised hands praising God with thousands of other Christians. Here’s St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Beautiful, isn’t it. The perfect church is a great place for weddings. But I like this picture the most, and not because I’m a funeral director. The church is there for all of life, not just the joyful moments, but also the time of sorrow. I like this picture because it highlights the beauty of Christ, that He is with us in life and in death. Everyone’s picture of church is different. And no church you see or the community within are perfect. Sometimes we add things to the Good News of Christ and little by little, you may find yourself suffocating, or drowning – a bit like this church. Hopefully that’s not your experience now, but if it is, continue to journey with Christ and as you move forward, I trust the waters will begin to recede.
For the past 2000 years, the church has not been immune to controversy. It has not been immune to challenges and people both internally and externally, questioning its beliefs. As a Church of Christ, we believe in No Creed But Christ, we seek to return to the Scriptures and see where God is leading us directly from His word. Jesus is our example and we seek to use Him alone as our guide. But we have to be careful, because as we all know, everyone interprets texts differently. For that reason, in the centuries that followed Christ’s ascension, the church debated many issues and adopted Creeds. You’ve probably heard of the Nicene Creed, if you’ve read it, I doubt you have any disputes over the truth inside its claims.
As we come to the text today, the Apostle Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia. We don’t know where this region is, but it seems the churches there are embattled with Jewish influence. Even Peter, the most vocal of all Jesus’ disciples, fell into the trap. Before the text today, we read the following in Galatians 2:11:
“11 But when Cephas (Peter) 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?”
Here we find Peter in disrepute. So, what exactly is going on here? We see that Peter has been eating with Gentiles, people who are not Jews. Now Peter is a Jew. They have specific laws to uphold, especially of note here are the Kosher laws. There were specific animals that Jews were not to eat, but also, it was not accepted practice for Jews to eat with Gentiles, because the preparation of the food was different. It may be that the food’s preparation was done in worship to foreign deities.
Before the involvement of fellow Jews, Peter was happy to eat and journey alongside the Gentiles. So why the change in behaviour? Paul’s response is clear:
“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.”
Paul’s thesis is clear. We are justified, not by our works, not by our efforts, but through faith in Jesus. Peter spent three years journeying with Jesus as He ministered before the crucifixion. I don’t think Peter disagrees with what Paul is saying here. Instead, I think Peter has been influenced by fear. Now fear is one of these emotions that can drive us into our fight or flight reactions. We’ve all experienced it, and when we think about the idea of fear, I don’t think any of us get a feeling of joy or excitement. We dread it. We run away from it. Early in the book of Acts we read about the persecution of the early Christian movement. Stephen is the first martyr, and Paul himself, before his conversion, was a Pharisee of Pharisees and intensely persecuted Christians. Why? Because they held different beliefs to what their Jewish origins required. If Peter didn’t affirm Paul’s thesis that we are justified through faith in Christ, he would not still be a follower of Jesus all these years later, with Jewish persecution still going on. But in the face of fear, our actions often change. We talk the talk, but when danger turns up, we’ll either hold firmly to what we believe, or yield. Perhaps that’s part of why many people believe Christians to be hypocrites. Now whether this fear was for himself, or whether it was a drive to try and ease the persecution of the Christian church in Jerusalem, we find Peter changing his behaviour. And Paul takes issue with this, for good reason.
If Jesus Christ is the author and perfector of our faith, why return to the law? What is it about the law that allures us humans to try and keep it – to try and earn our salvation?
I was recently listening to a sermon by John Piper. If you don’t know him, he’s a Reformed Baptist Pastor from the States. He told an analogy that I’ve kept coming back to since I heard it. The law was given to the people of Israel to provide direction. It was never intended to be a yoke on their shoulders. Perhaps rather, a better image is that of a railroad. We’re on the track, and the law provides the direction for us to travel. But how do we move along the track? Are we the locomotive?
In Genesis 17 we read that when Abram was 99, the Lord appeared to him saying:
“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Notice the key idea. It is not we who bring about God’s promise. It’s entirely on Him. It is God who draws us close, and it is God who redeems us. So, God is the locomotive of the track. We’re there for the ride and the law was intended to display God’s character.
But since the law was given, we have always been tempted to lift the railroad track up like a ladder, to make it something it was never intended for. We build rungs to climb, and the better you are at maintaining the law, the higher you climb. Perhaps, you can earn God’s favour and reach His throne room. But you are never going to reach the top of the ladder.
Jesus Christ did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfil it. And like Paul, the Apostle Peter affirmed this. He wholeheartedly believed that. Yet fear still had an influence on him.
“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.”
Here Paul starts with quite an odd statement. It doesn’t quite add up at first. In our endeavour to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? We affirm that Jesus was sinless. Correct? So what is Paul talking about here?
In our affirmation that we are justified in Christ, if we, like Peter, were to eat with Gentiles, does that not make us sinners? According to Kosher law it would. If we don’t follow the law, then logically speaking, we are transgressors of the law. Logically, it would also then flow that Jesus is therefore, a servant of sin. But we don’t agree with this statement, and certainly, both Peter and Paul do not either. And the key here is the interpretation of the law. Is Christ the fulfilment of the law as it was initially intended? Or is Christ the fulfilment of the law as it became known in practice at the time? As we know, Jesus was regularly at odds with the Pharisees of the day. He taught about the heart of the law, the point is to love God with all our hearts, and love people in a similar manner. Everything else is commentary to how we do this. So in Paul’s argument, Christians are indeed transgressors of the law as the Jews saw it 2000 years ago. But that does not mean that Jesus was a servant of sin. Indeed, He was quite the opposite.
For Paul, when Peter withdrew from eating with the Gentiles when the Jewish party arrived, Paul argues that he rebuilds what Jesus tore down. Jesus tore down the ladder we’d built, and laid down the railway for us – and for those who put their faith in Christ, we can continue along the course. But for Paul, Peter was building the ladder again. He was adding to the Gospel message something that ought not be there. Rebuilding something isn’t a problem if what was torn down is good! But this wasn’t, and remains, the case. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
God knows our hearts, and He knows where we’re at. All of us, whether you are Christian or not, we’re all somewhere between living wholeheartedly for Christ, or not. The call of the Christian faith is to see that our efforts are fruitless. Every religion under the sun claims that we can earn our way to whatever paradise they offer. But following Christ is different. We are not bound by law per se, we are bound by Christ. He alone is our law and I believe this is the point that both Paul and Peter agree upon. It is only in Jesus that we can find our justification and redemption.
“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 righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
If we add to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we add burden to people’s lives.
Church is not supposed to be a place where you might feel you’re drowning. It’s a place where you’re supposed to find freedom… and hope. As we journey through this life, there will be moments you’re confronted by fear. There will be moments where you stray from the pure message of Jesus Christ. But if we as a community are striving to learn and be more like Christ every day, then as a community, we can support one another along the journey. We can challenge and encourage each other to return to the railroad when we build a ladder. The message of Christ is not a burden, it is indeed Good News. No matter where you are in your journey with God this morning, can I encourage you to press into the anchor of our faith: our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. However that looks for you, we’re all different and we all relate with God in different ways. But hold on to the hope we have in Jesus and take His message with you. Share it with joy to those around you. May you be a light in a dark world, a city on a hill. May you, Highfields Church of Christ, be a place where people can meet and pursue our Holy God.
