Turn The
Outside In Inside Out
Galatians “The Heart of the Gospel” Series
A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Galatians 2:1-10
The controversy Paul addressed in his letter to
Galatia was an important one. Did the new Gentile converts have to follow
the Jewish Old Testament practices or not? Did they need to be
circumcised? Did they need to obey the Sabbath laws? Did they need to
follow the dietary laws? These were huge concerns for the Jewish
Christians. The Judaizers considered these practices as God’s laws to be
obeyed. It was one thing to say one is saved by Christ’s righteousness as
the sacrificial substitute. This was understandable to the Jew who came
to believe the Gospel. It was quite another matter to agree with Paul
that because salvation was granted by grace through faith in Christ that
the Gentile believer need not follow these Jewish practices. What Paul
taught bothered the Judaizers.
You might wonder, “What
does this have to do with us?” Many Christians do not struggle with this
controversy because we have taken the New Testament teachings for
granted. We don’t have people coming to us in our day trying to convince
us we should be circumcised and follow all the Jewish feasts festivals and
practices. We do not have many trying to convince us to follow the Old
Testament dietary laws. So we don’t feel the pressure to conform to the
Old Testament. It helps to understand why we don’t need to. There are
some very practical, yet difficult concepts we can learn from the context
of this passage in Galatians.
3 DIFFICULT CONCEPTS
1.
WE MUST LEARN THAT when Christ initiated a New Covenant between God
and People, He radically changed forever how a person is to maintain a
right relationship with God. (Today’s focus and the first 5 points of the
outline will use a conceptual model to help us get a grasp on the radical
nature of this change.)
2.
WE MUST LEARN TO differentiate between God’s Boundary Markers for
the Israelites under the OLD COVENANT, and His boundary markers for all
people under the NEW COVENANT
3.
(And this may be the hardest point for us) WE MUST LEARN TO
differentiate between our PERSONAL BOUNDARY MARKERS and the universal
principles which are God’s BOUNDARY MARKERS and give people grace when
their Personal Boundary Markers are different than our personal boundary
markers. There is a difference between our applications and the
principles themselves.
·
What are “Personal Boundary markers”? Personal
Boundary markers are the personal applications we draw from biblical
principles. Personal applications are different from the principles
themselves.
But besides that, there are other principles we can
learn about the Gospel and the freedoms we have in the Gospel. There are
still many areas of freedom over which people draw different conclusions
today. People who look at the same biblical principles today, even clear
New Testament principles apply them differently. People draw different
personal boundary markers in an effort to apply the principles or commands
(even the New Testament principles and commands)
What are “Boundary markers”? Personal Boundary
markers are the personal applications we draw from biblical principles.
They are different from the principles themselves.
I’ll name some areas over which people draw different
boundary markers even today. Some of you will remember some of these from
long ago that seem to be passé now, and some of you will recognize many of
them to be current applications, or current personal boundary markers.
Recognize that how one applies the principle is a personal boundary
marker, and all people do not agree on where the boundary should be
placed. These examples should give you an idea about what I mean. You
will recognize that through the generations Christians were not agreed and
differed on where to place the boundaries. Just what was out of bounds
and what was acceptable. Today, we tend to call people with many of these
boundary markers, legalistic because of their focus on the boundary
markers.
Attending
Movies, and if so what ratings are allowable
Watching TV, and if so how much, and which shows
Working for Pay on Sunday
Mowing a Lawn on Sunday
Dining out on Sunday
Fishing on Sunday
Drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation
Cooking with wine
Attending the theatre with live drama
Participating in Sports
Participating in Contact Sports
Participating in Sports on Sunday
Missing Church
Eating food in the building
Running in the building
Spanking or not spanking as a disciplinary measure
Home-school or public school
Political party persuasion
Wearing two-piece swim suits
Playing pool, or cards
Gambling for recreation
Buying Insurance
Smoking, or even drinking Coffee with caffeine
Women Wearing Pants, Women wearing pants to church
Using a Bible Translation other than King James
Raising Tobacco
Listening to Rock Music, Country, Wrap, or whatever
Wearing makeup
Wearing beards
Wearing hair over the ears, or longer than your shoulders (men)
Wearing short hair (women)
Dating, or Kissing (unmarried couples)
Wearing skirts of a particular length
Playing the saxophone in church
Playing guitars in Church
Taking sedatives
Speaking in Tongues, or not speaking in Tongues
Going to a psychiatrist
All of these above have
been boundary marker controversies. Setting these personal boundary
markers were people’s attempts at applying certain Biblical principles.
Each of us needs to
develop personal convictions about our behavior as it relates to the
principles taught in scripture, but we need to be able to differentiate
between our personal boundary markers and the universal principles. There
is a difference between our applications and the principles themselves.
Having said that, let’s look at the focus for this morning.
Focus: The best
approach to righteousness is not staying focused on all the boundary
markers so much as it is focusing on Christ, orbiting closer and closer to
Him by the gravity of grace.
The following is a Conceptual
Review of the RADICAL CHANGE THE GOSPEL INITIATED as to how a
person is to maintain a right relationship with God.
I.
The Insiders Had An Outside In Approach
They had possession of the Law, the boundary markers
of the Old Covenant.
II.
The Gospel Is An Inside Out Approach
The new approach is an inside out approach with
Christ life on the inside drawing us by grace to orbit closer and closer
to him. Christ changes us from the inside out. The inside out approach
was so radically different from the Old Covenant arrangement. In the Old
Covenant the Jews had the Law, but they did not have the Holy Spirit
inside of their lives to change them from the inside out. All they had
was the Law that condemned them then told them what ritual to do (which
were provisional shadow pictures of the reality of Christ to come) in
order to have their sins atoned for. Jesus fulfilled all that, and took
us to a whole new level of intimacy with God. Christ’s atonement made it
possible for us to have God’s Spirit enter our lives transforming us from
within. He changes our desires and gives us the ability to carry out
these new desires that please God.
III.
The Good News: Now Outsiders Can Come In
The inside out approach allowed outsider to come in
by the free ticket through the righteousness of Christ. By Grace and
Christ’s righteousness he gives us an inside out approach to God.
IV.
The Bad News: The Outside Inners were turning the Inside Outers
OUT!
V.
The Solution: Turn the outside inners inside out.
It Takes Maturity to Understand the Inside Out
Approach of the Gospel of Grace. It was particularly difficult at the
transition as when the New Covenant fulfilled the Old Covenant and
superceded it and great sweeping changes were taking place. The Apostles
wrestled with the issues to determine how the New Covenant was now to be
applied. The New Testament is the documentation of how the Apostles
harmonized the Old and New Covenants. The New Testament teachings IS the
Apostolic harmonization of the Old and New Covenants. We don’t need to
harmonize the New Testament with the Old, the New Testament already is the
Apostolic harmonization between of the Two Covenants. So the New
Testament is what we follow. Many churches and many individuals are still
making the mistake of attempting to harmonize the Old Testament and New
Testament. The harmony is the New Testament.
The New Testament is our creed and rule of faith and
practice. We need to study and understand the Old Testament because
without a proper understanding of the Old Testament you cannot understand
the New Testament.
You can understand how the transition from the Old
Covenant practices to the New Covenant practices was stressful. Jesus
changed so much.
Sometimes teaching alone is not enough to turn
“outside inners” inside out. Paul discovered that the Judaizers were too
steeped in their outside in approach for simple persuasion. Sometimes the
only way to turn outside inners inside out is by a confrontation of their
wrong approach. This is precisely what Paul did.
It Takes Maturity to
Know When and How to Confront (2:1-10)
2:1Fourteen years later I went up
again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
2I went in response to a revelation
and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did
this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was
running or had run my race in vain.
3Yet not even Titus, who was with
me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
4This matter arose because some
false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in
Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.
5We did not give in to them for a
moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
6As for those who seemed to be
important--whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not
judge by external appearance--those men added nothing to my message.
7On the contrary, they saw that I
had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles,
just as Peter had been to the Jews.
8For God, who was at work in the
ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my
ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.
9James, Peter and John, those
reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship
when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go
to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.
10All they asked was that we should
continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
A. By Mature
Confrontation
Sometimes it is best to wait for God’s timing or
direction to be “revealed” (2:2)
·
Dare to Confront when Someone’s Eternity Is at Stake
·
Aim for the Clarification of Truth
1.
Only The Truth Will Set You Free
2.
Paul explained His Gospel, clarifying what he taught and why
3.
Paul Demonstrated the results, His Exhibit “A” was Titus. (2:1)
·
Clarification Keeps You From Spinning your
Wheels (2:2)
1.
The reason for his trip to Jerusalem was in order to make sure he
wasn’t just spinning his wheels in ministry. (2:2) He knew that if the
foundation is fatally cracked there was no sense in working hard to build
a building on it. Although Paul showed that his Gospel was not dependent
on those in Jerusalem, solidarity with the Apostles was critical to the
success of the universal world wide movement Jesus called us to. Paul
knew that if Gentiles were not accepted by Grace then he was running his
race in vain
2.
Paul came to make sure the foundation wasn’t fundamentally
cracked. He came to fight for the truth that sets men free from the
humanly impossible task of earning or meriting God’s approval.
3.
The example of Titus proved that one does not have to become Jewish
to receive grace. The best proof is the changed life. Titus was
convincing proof that God’s Spirit was in him.
The Bottom Line: Give Grace to
whom God gives Grace (2:9)
9James, Peter and John, those
reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship
when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go
to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.
We will continue this study next
time clarifying the difference between our PERSONAL BOUNDARY MARKERS and
the universal principles which are God’s BOUNDARY MARKERS. We will study
further in order to know how to give people grace when their Personal
Boundary Markers are different than our personal boundary markers. We
will also learn how some people need to be confronted when they impose
their personal boundary markers on others in a legalistic way as the
Judaizers were doing.
For today let’s hold on to the general
principles as articulated in the “Focus” The best approach
to righteousness is not staying focused on all the boundary markers so
much as it is focusing on Christ, orbiting closer and closer to Him by the
gravity of grace.
Let’s pray,
Lord, help those who are
here this morning and have never yet experienced the inside out approach
to a right relationship with you to have the courage to ask you to enter
into their lives. And Lord, help those of us who have asked you to be the
center of our lives to set appropriate personal boundary markers “putting
off” anything that pulls us out of orbit from you. Help us to “put on”
whatever we need to put on to draw closer to you as the center of our
lives, ordering our lives, giving us purpose and meaning. Lord, help
those of us who have too long been on the same orbital pattern without
drawing any closer to focus more on you as the center. In Jesus’ Name,
Amen. |
