Sermon Text:
Galatians 2:17-21
How should a Christian live? Paul reminds the Galatians that if they are saved by faith in Jesus, they are also called to live by faith in Jesus. We are united with Jesus in his death to sin, and now we live for the glory of God.
Sermon Transcript:
(transcribed with AI)
Good morning, everyone. It is good to be here with you all. For those of you who might not know me, my name is Jonathan, privilege of being the pastor here.
As we get started, I want to ask you a question. Do you think that you have been more influenced, shaped by nature or by nurture? What do you think? Is it sort of how you were born? Was that just the way that you were born, some combination of genetics? Is it the nature you were born with? Is that what has shaped you as yourself, or is it more nurture, your experiences, your upbringing, the way your parents raised you, all of this sort of stuff, which has determined you more?
I think if we were to actually work through that, we'd probably come to the conclusion eventually, you know what, it's really both. Both of those have certainly influenced our lives. It's not just one or the other, both actually are very much active. It's option C. We could say the same thing, are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? Do you only want to be by yourself or do you only ever want to be with other people? I mean, the truth is you might lean one way or another, but it's always a little bit of both. Even the most introverted person wants to see other people sometimes, and the most extroverted of people still need some time on their own. It's not just one or the other.
It's called a false dichotomy, when we set up two options and say you have to choose one or the other, it's either this or it's that, and it couldn't be anything else. Very often there is another answer, isn't there? It's a false dichotomy to say there's only two possibilities.
A writer named John Dewey, writing nearly 100 years ago, wrote about education, and he said:
Human beings tend to think in an either or, between which it recognizes no intermediate possibilities.
100 years ago I think he's still right. We tend to think that way, we tend to think in very polarized terms. It's either this or it's that, and there is nothing else. I think part of the reason that we tend towards that is because it's just simpler, isn't it? It's easier to think in terms of very reductionistic ideas. I don't have to think about the nuance of a situation or what someone really believes or thinks. I can just categorize them over here or over here and then be done with it. But of course, the problem with that is that we miss a lot, don't we? When we say everything is reduced down to one of two positions, we're really missing quite a lot.
It's true when it comes to a lot of realms, and honestly we could probably apply that point to a lot of different discussions and debates that go on in our world. But it also comes true when it comes to our faith. We can tend to ignore details and begin to just go to one extreme or another. In fact, as we open our Bibles this morning, that's really what we're going to see.
If you have a Bible with you, let me invite you to open to Galatians chapter 2. We're going to continue on with our series here, walking through the book of Galatians, and what we're going to find is that as Paul is writing to this group of churches, these churches in Galatia. They've made for themselves a little bit of a false dichotomy. Two different possibilities of which actually both are wrong. They've sat between cheap grace and legalism.
So if you have your Bible open, let me invite you to follow along with me. It's our tradition here, we stand as we read God's word. So if you're able to, would you stand with me? Galatians chapter 2 starting in verse 17. He says:
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, for if I rebuild what I tore down, I'd prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
As for the reading of God's word, you may be seated.
Now it'd be a very interesting experiment at this moment right now, if I went around and asked every single person, OK, what did we just read? Because I don't know about you, but when I came to this text, even this week as I was beginning to study and prepare for it, I read that and I thought to myself, Huh? What are you talking about, Paul? There's a whole bunch of stuff in here that's kind of a little tricky to understand. He's talking about tearing something down, rebuilding something, some sort of question that he's asking himself, and we kind of are left wondering, OK, what exactly is the point here?
But I think actually if I gave you just a few minutes and you looked at that, I think you'd probably come back and say, well, the one thing's real clear here. He says, I've been crucified with Christ, I no longer live, it's Christ who lives in me. That, I don't know what all the rest of it, but that seems to be the point, and I want to encourage you. That is the point. If that's what you were thinking to yourself, great, that is the point of this text.
Sometimes we approach different parts of our Bible, especially when they're more tricky to understand, and we kind of go, I don't know, I could never figure that out, and we almost give up sometimes a bit too early. There are times where actually, reading our Bible requires us to put some effort into it, to think a little bit, to dig into the text just a little bit, and I want to encourage you, we're going to do some of that here this morning, because when we do, we always uncover gold. The word of God is so rich, it's so deep, don't be afraid to give it that extra time to really understand.
And so this morning we're going to dig into our text just a little bit, and really Paul here is writing, and he's asking the question, how are we to live as Christians? It's not by legalism or lawlessness, this false dichotomy they set up, but rather we are to live by faith in that by faith we are crucified with Christ and alive in him.
So, let's dig into our text just a little bit. Just to remind ourselves of where we've been. You might remember if you've been with us for the past couple of weeks, that Paul, he's the one writing this letter, is having a conversation with Peter. These are two of the apostles. These are the people Jesus has entrusted to carry on the message of the gospel. And Peter has been preaching the gospel, and preaching the gospel particularly to the Gentiles. He has been talking to the non-Jewish world and saying you can be saved by faith in Jesus, just the exact same way as the Jewish people are saved by faith in Jesus. We are all saved by faith in Christ.
But the problem is, while Peter has been preaching that he started to live a little bit different. He started actually kind of distancing himself away from the Gentile people. Well, maybe I'm only going to eat kosher, maybe I'm really only going to hang out with the Jewish people more and more. His life was not matching up with the message he had been proclaiming. And so Paul comes along and he calls him out on it. Peter, what are you doing? Why are you drawing away? Why aren't you actually engaging with the Gentiles? Why aren't you really putting into practice what you are preaching?
And so last week we looked at really what is the heart of the book of Galatians, what is really the heart of the gospel. We are justified by faith. Justified meaning made right with God. How is it that people who have messed up, people who have sinned, all of us can ever approach God. How can we ever be right with God? The answer is by faith in Jesus. His death and resurrection is what makes us right with God. It's not about what we eat, what we wear, who we hang out with, our background or our practices, it is by faith. That's how we become a Christian. That's what begins our Christian life.
But if last week that's really the question, the question then today is, but then what do we do after that? What do we do next? How do we live as a Christian? It's one thing to become a Christian, how do we live as a Christian? Are we saved by faith and then we kind of need to get our act together? Alright, yeah, Jesus forgave you, now you got to start working on stuff. And so they're trying to bounce around between these two ideas. Is it all just sort of forget about it, or is it trying to make up a bunch of new rules? And actually Paul's answer is it's neither legalism nor lawlessness. It's not cheap grace and it's not works based.
So Paul here brings in this little hypothetical question, verse 17. And we'll just kind of go slow to make sure we understand what he's talking about. Verse 17, he says:
But if, here's his question, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ.
Remember Paul here, he's talking to Peter. He says, we've been seeking to be made right with God, how? By faith in Jesus. He says, OK, if that's how we are trying to be saved, verse 17, he continues:
We too were found to be sinners.
Both before they became Christians and since they have sinned. In fact, that's everyone, everyone has sinned, has done what God has called us not to do. So if we're trying to be saved by faith, but we're still sinning. He asks:
Is Christ then a servant of sin?
OK, here's the question. If you trust in Jesus to be saved, and you're a sinful person, doesn't that mean Jesus is helping you sin? Isn't Jesus actually giving you then permission to continue on in sin? If Jesus just forgives. He just forgives anyone who comes to him in faith. I mean, certainly, that's kind of like getting pulled over by a cop for speeding, and he says, I caught you speeding, here's the little radar gun, I can tell exactly, yep, you were speeding, but I'm not going to do anything. In fact, just go. Don't worry about it, just go. I mean, are you going to stop speeding? Well, no. Why would I? Apparently I can just get away with it. Apparently there's no real consequence, so why not just keep going?
In many ways, this is the question Paul's asking. In fact, I'm sure many people were asking him the exact same question. If you say it's all by faith, I mean, clearly you're allowing me to just keep on going.
Now here's the thing. Probably we wouldn't state it so boldly. We wouldn't be so blunt. And yet this idea can very easily make its way into our thinking. Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls this cheap grace. That you can just kind of just take it whenever you want, there's no real weight to it, it's cheap.
Let me give you an example. Let's say you're in a small group. Middle of the week, you're in a small group, you're meeting with some other people, and someone in the group says, you know what, I have to confess, I've been really struggling with a certain sin. Whatever it is, lying, gossip, pornography, anger, I've been really struggling with this. And everyone goes, oh, that's tough, that's tough. And at some point, someone might say something along the lines of, you know what, it's really good to remember that whenever you sin, Jesus forgives us. He accepts us, he loves us, he forgives sinful people. And so, just don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. God loves you so much, no matter what.
Here's the challenge that sounds so close to right, doesn't it? It's got a bunch of churchy words in it. Why isn't that right? Because that's not the answer Paul gives us. In fact, Paul's answer to, does Jesus give us permission to sin? Does Jesus just sweep it all away is certainly not. Verse 17, by no means, absolutely no. That's not what we can say. We cannot say, yeah, just ignore your sin, don't worry about it at all. Jesus didn't give you permission to sin, so what are we missing?
What we're missing is, how does God actually feel about our sin? Actually the Bible's really clear on that one. God hates sin. God is holy, he is perfect, he is pure, he is just, he loves what is right and hates what is wrong. God is not sort of impartial towards our sin, no, God is absolutely opposed to it, and so we hear that and we say, OK, it's not just do whatever you want, you know what? We got to make some rules. Let's make sure that we never sin again. So let's get a whole bunch of things together, let's write them all down or get them together, and that is going to be how we make sure we don't sin anymore. And so we make up our own rules.
Years ago, the little rhyme I heard was:
A good Christian doesn't dance, doesn't drink, doesn't chew, and doesn't hang around with girls who do.
It's a fun little rhyme, but it's legalism all the way. It's just legalistic ideas put to a fun rhyme. But is that what it means to be a good Christian? Do we have to hold to all these different standards? We might not say things like that. Today it might be good Christians vote a certain way. Good Christians dress a certain way, good Christians stay away from movies or TV, good Christian parents will send their kids to a Christian school, really good Christian parents will homeschool. I know many of you do. There's nothing wrong with that, but we do need to make a very clear distinction about what saves and what is good wisdom for our children.
See, if we think everyone needs to act and do exactly what we're doing, we're just becoming little legalists, little judges of the gospel, and in an ironic twist, we actually show ourselves to be far more sinful. Look back here in verse 18, this is Paul's point. He says:
For if I rebuild what I tore down,
OK, what did he tear down? Well, Galatians has all been about, we don't have to keep all the Old Testament laws in order to be right with God. He's torn that down, but he says, if I just rebuild it, if I just make a new law, if I just go back to it, if I just make up a whole bunch of other things that I have to do to be right with God, all I'm doing is rebuilding what I've already torn down. And what does he say at the end of there?
I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Here's the irony of legalism, legalism is this whole desire that I would be seen as holy, more holy because I avoid everything, and in this ironic twist you show yourself to be more sinful. Because actually you're not trusting Jesus, you're trusting in what you can do.
Paul writes in Colossians, he says:
If with Christ you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Paul says, yeah, you can make up a bunch of rules. And it can look like wisdom, and it can even look like religion, but it has no ability to actually curb sin itself. The person who tries to make themselves holy by making up these rules has actually exposed their own sinfulness.
So here is this false dichotomy the Galatians are caught between. Is it that Jesus just lets us get away with all of our sins, or is it that we have to make up all these rules and do them in order to be right with God? It has to be one or the other, right, Paul? Paul's answer is no. Both of those are missing the message of the gospel. It's not about what I do, it's not a matter of what I haven't done. Both of these ends of the spectrum are simply relying on ourselves. It's not one or the other, it's neither. Neither legalism nor lawlessness is the marker of the Christian life.
So then what is? If it's not any of this, what is our third answer that we're looking for? How are we supposed to deal with our sin? How should we live as a Christian? God clearly cares about it. So what do we do? The answer is, be crucified with Christ. See, living as a Christian is recognizing that our sinful life has been crucified with Christ, and we bring every sin to the cross.
See, look back at our passage. OK, verse 19. Here's the last sort of confusing bit to this passage. Paul says:
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.
Again, we kind of read that and we think, what are you talking about? For through the law I died to the law. What does he mean by that? I'm going to answer that question here in two ways. One, more technical. And if you get lost, I'm going to go real simple at the end, OK? So go with me.
We need to understand Paul's using the word law in two different ways. If you've ever read through the Old Testament law, you know, it's more than just the 10 Commandments. It's more than just a list of rules that we are to follow. No, in fact, the law has all kinds of things in it. In fact, it's got a lot of promises for us. There's a lot of promises, predictions, looking forward to this coming Messiah who will show up, ultimately, Jesus. It's got a lot that's looking forward to what God's going to do in Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself will say, Matthew 5:
I didn't come to destroy the law, but fulfill it. I came to do it, complete it,
so not only does Jesus uphold that perfect moral standard, but he actually fulfills all the promises that God gave through it.
And so actually when Jesus dies, he brings an end to the law. Paul writes in Romans 7, he says:
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who's been raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit to God.
It is through the sacrifice, the death of Jesus, that the law is brought to an end. Like a marriage covenant, that is till death do us part. The mosaic law had this call that was completed with the death of Jesus. So it's through the law that the end of the law comes. So when we are united to Jesus by faith, the law no longer has power over me. The death of Jesus is the end of the covenant of the law, OK? That's the complicated version.
Here's the really simple version. For everyone who trusts in Jesus. Everyone who believes in Jesus, when Jesus died. Your sin died with him. That's what it means. When Jesus died, your sin died with him. All the punishment for your sin, all the judgment against your sin, it died with Jesus.
This is why verse 20 Paul says:
I have been crucified with Christ.
For everyone who has trusted in Jesus, our sins are placed on the cross. Jesus dies in our place. They're no longer on us. This is why we don't have to work it all off. Jesus dealt with it all. All the demands of God's justice and holiness are met in Jesus.
But please also notice here, Paul doesn't just say my sins are on Jesus. That's true. But notice he says, I have been crucified with Christ. So here's what we need to actually realize. When we trust in Jesus, it's not just that Jesus kind of wipes the slate clean and goes, alright, fresh start, go again. It's not just that he's going to ignore some of those things. No, Paul says, I have been crucified. I died when I placed my faith in Christ. We are not the same people. Actually, a change has been made. We've been made new. Our old life is dead. You're not the same person, before and after trusting in Christ.
I'm not saying you need to make yourself new, I'm stating the fact you are new. Everyone who trusts in Jesus is a different person. Now, does that mean you're never going to struggle with sin? No, you are. The old life, the remnant of it still hangs on. We will still struggle with sin, Christians are not perfect people. But we need to understand that a change was made.
Think about it this way. Imagine you had a boss, OK? And this was the worst boss you could possibly ever work for. I mean, the man was a tyrant. He absolutely did not treat you well. You would get out of it if you could, but the truth is, you have so much debt to your name and you cannot get another job. I mean, it is basically indentured servitude. He screams at you, he yells at you, he insults you, runs you ragged, he even hits you when he gets really angry. The truth is you've now been working for him so long, you don't even fight against it anymore. In fact, you just realized, best way to get through the day, head down, just do whatever he says, and it will go OK. It won't be too bad if you just do that. Don't talk back, just head down and keep going.
And then one day, a friend of yours. Sees what you're going through. He recognizes, hold on, I mean this is not right at all. And you explain, like I can't, I've got so much debt, and your friend says, alright, that's it, I will pay everything, I will pay every penny of your debt, and in fact I'm going to pay so that you never have to work another day in your life. They grab their phone, boom, it's done. Your debts are gone. You don't have to go back to work ever again.
And you say, thank you. I mean this is amazing. I'm so glad. And so the next day you wake up and you're like, I don't have to go to work, no problem. Later that day, your boss shows up at your house. And he starts yelling at you, screaming at the top of his lungs, how dare you, you get back to work, and something in your brain goes, just head down, just listen and keep going. And you go back because it's what you've always been doing. Until your friend shows up and says, what are you doing here? You don't owe this man anything, get out of here. Run away, stop going back.
Hear me, this is what it looks like to fight against sin as a Christian. You've been set free, you owe your sinful self nothing but resentment, animosity and hostility. You owe your sin nothing. In fact, it is dead to you. That is your old life, and though you still have habits, you still have patterns in your life that are dragging you back, maybe even addictions that are holding you, you know, a change has happened. I do not have to be here. I have been set free from this bondage. And so every time your sin nature comes back and is yelling at you to get back, you fight and say, no, my sin is paid for in full. It is hanging on the cross, it is dead. Every time your sin comes back, you say, you belong in the grave, you have nothing over me. That is what it looks like to fight against sin as a Christian. You are changed. That change has happened in Jesus Christ, we fight to live it out. Put on that new head, every time sin rears its ugly head, nail it to the cross.
See, when we recognize this, all our feeble little attempts to ignore our sin or to make up some rules are shown to be so utterly inadequate. In comparison to what Jesus has done.
Paul writes Romans 6, he says:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, for the one who has died has been set free from sin.
Here is the truth for everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ, you have died to your sin. You've been set free from it. Here the invitation for everyone to place your trust in Jesus Christ. Be set free, have the debts of our sin paid in full. We have a new life in Christ. Live then like free people in Jesus.
See, here's the final point this morning. If we've been crucified with Jesus, we are now alive in Christ. Verse 20, Paul writes:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Not only are we dead to our sin, but we have been raised as Jesus was raised to new lives. Paul writes in Romans 6, he says:
So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
How do we live the Christian life? We put our sins on the cross again and again, and we live now for Christ. Growing in the Christian life is not making up more rules, but pursuing Christ more. So that when someone comes and says to you, I've been really struggling with my sin, the answer is not, oh well, just ignore it, the answer is put it back on the cross, we bear it no more. Live now for Christ.
Paul ends verse 20 he says:
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.
He says the life I'm now leading is by faith. I was saved by faith and I live by faith. We don't just trust in God once. It's not as if we come to God and say, well I trust in you, box tick, now I'm done, I can move on and do something else with my life. No, all of the Christian life is learning to trust Christ more. Will Jesus forgive every sin? This one and this one and this one. Does God actually truly love me? Does he care for me? Will he take care of me? Will he provide for me each and every day, learning to trust him more and more, seeking what he seeks, loving what he loves.
And see this is what Paul reminds us at the end of verse 20 he says, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. The Christian life is led by trusting in two things, the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And please notice just how very specific Paul is being here. He doesn't say, I'm trusting in God's general, unspecific love. Now what does he say? Who loved me? Hear me, that is true of every single believer. Every believer in Christ can say two things. Number 1, Jesus died to pay for my sins. Not just sort of the general badness of the world, but actually for ours, for the lie you told yesterday, he paid for your lust, arrogance, greed, slander, and every sin you have personally committed. Do you understand that Jesus went to the cross bearing all of those? And do you know why he did that? Because he loved you. Not the general love of the world. Yes, God loves the world, but that's not what he has in mind. We're talking about God singling you out. Christian, do you understand? God loves you. That God saw you, He knew you. He called you. He drew you to Himself, forgave your sins because He loved you.
See this is why Paul is praying in Ephesians. He's praying for them to understand this verse 17:
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
We need the strength of God to even comprehend his love for us, let alone to live it out in our lives. The Christian life is one led by the love of God and seeking to imitate it. Ephesians 5, Paul writes:
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Sacrifice and love are the examples that Christ has given to us, that we are called to trust Him in and live out in our lives. The Christian life is spent understanding and imitating the love of God for us over and over and over again. Jesus is not our excuse to sin, he is the means by which we run from it.
And so Paul concludes. He says:
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
You have to remember, Paul here is talking to Peter. Peter, who saw Jesus die. Who saw him hang on that cross, who heard Jesus cry in his final breath, it is finished. And Paul looks at Peter and says, do you think that was for nothing? Do you think Jesus went to the cross because things hadn't been finished, or was his final breath true there, that it is done. No, we come to God by faith in Christ. We live by faith in Christ. We are dead to our sins, we are alive in Christ. The Christian life begins by placing our faith in Jesus for our salvation, and it continues trusting him every step.
We don't trust that God doesn't care about our sin. We don't trust that we can make up enough good rules to work it off. Those aren't our two options. We hang our sin on the cross of Jesus. He has dealt with them. We have died to our sins, and just as Jesus rose from the grave, so we will rise with him. We have the hope of eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ.
Let's pray together. Oh heavenly Father. We thank you so much for this gift of grace. Lord, that you would send Jesus to die in our place, not simply so that we could be saved once, but saved through our entire lives. Lord, that every day of our lives we could look to you and trust in your promises, trust in your forgiveness. Lord, I pray, would we. Place our sin again and again on the cross, be rid of it as we seek to follow after you, Lord, continue to help us live out this new life we have in Christ. Father, would it shine through so that many people would see the goodness of your glory of your grace, of your gospel. We ask this in your name. Amen. Amen.