Some of you may not know this, but immediately after service on Saturday nights whenever I preach, I host a live Q&A. People can ask questions about anything. Last Saturday night someone asked me about the growing Trad Wife movement in our country.
I’m simultaneously bothered and not at all bothered by that growing trend. I’m bothered because the Traditional Wife movement is often based on patriarchy. I don’t believe that’s how God designed men and women to relate to each other. Patriarchy is rife with depression, shame, and abuse. But I’m not at all bothered by women who want raise chickens, make biscuits from scratch, and homeschool their kids. If that’s what you’re about—go do it and have a blast.
Ironically this week, one of the social media leaders in that movement was exposed as a fraud. She presented herself as a Trad Wife with 14 kids. But the truth is she’s not married and may not have any kids. This was her public statement after being exposed.
The last thing I want to do is pile on. My heart breaks for this woman. For any of us who tend to seek validation from people, we should call lying wrong, but we should be the last ones to judge. Let's ask ourselves a question. Why in the world would someone pretend to be someone they’re not? And, what is the appeal and payoff of the Trad Wife movement that would lead someone to this behavior?
One, our culture is never going to provide a compelling or satisfying vision of womanhood or manhood. At the bedrock of who we are, every single one of us longs for an identity, we long for a story about ourselves that tells us that we matter. Every single one of us wants to know that we count, and we want to have a community. We need acceptance and belonging.
To some degree, many of us are some combination of:
Acceptance Magnets + Approval Addicts
We all need acceptance, and we need acceptance from people. That’s part of being made in the image of God. God is community. He is one is being and yet three in persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are made in the image of God. We are made for community. We are made for relationships. We need acceptance and we need it from each other.
We also need approval. What we are talking about is SIGNIFICANCE. This is where life gets messy and painful. Other people can give or withhold acceptance. Other people cannot give or withhold SIGNIFICANCE. That is only found in the one who made us in his image. It’s in Christ and Christ alone that our SIGNIFICANCE is validated and grounded. You are SIGNIFICANT. You are valuable beyond your ability to comprehend for no other reason than this—you are made in the image of God.
But we live in a broken world, and we are all morally broken people, and we get locked into broken patterns of behavior. While we should extend acceptance to all people, for no other reason than they exist as image bearers of God, our default is to act as though our significance is validated by other people and acceptance is based upon living up to the standards and expectations of each other. That is a million miles from the gospel.
Performance-based acceptance is TOXIC at best and ABUSIVE at worst.
And when this makes its way into a church, performance-based acceptance is TOXIC at best and SPIRITUALLY ABUSIVE at worst. Whenever acceptance is based on performance, it’s human nature to edit, withhold, or outright lie about who we are and the content of our lives so that we will be accepted.
That doesn’t just describe life in junior high. Unfortunately, it can describe churches, too. This was a problem in the churches in Galatia. So, the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to directly confront false gospels and remind them of the true gospel. Grab a Bible and open to Galatians chapter 2. As we make our way through this chapter, this is the big idea, the big truth for today.
The gospel UNITES people who should be divided. Religion DIVIDES people who should be united.
I don’t care what country, culture, or time-period you go to—everywhere you go in this world you will find that differences are used to divide people. Religion is no different. What we mean by religion is an approach to life and God that defines people by what they do. The gospel is radically different. We aren’t defined by what we do. We are defined by what Jesus did for us.
The gospel unites people who the world and religion expect to be divided. Reverting to a religious approach will divide people who Jesus expects to be united.
Chapter 2 continues with addressing the problem of division in the church. False teachers were superimposing religious and cultural expectations. Everything we are about to read is Paul refuting that lie.
GALATIANS 2:1-21 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.
To recap, false teachers taught that you should believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. But to be approved by God and acceptable at church, you had to follow all the rules from the Mosaic covenant.
These churches in Galatia are a long way away from the Jerusalem, where the other Apostles are. They are doubting. Did Paul not give us the full gospel? Is obeying the Mosaic law and making dudes get circumcised what the Apostles are teaching in Jerusalem?
Just to double check, Paul met with the other apostles. He submitted himself to their scrutiny. It doesn’t matter what leadership position someone may have, no one is ever exempt from scrutiny and accountability. He said, this is the gospel message I preach. Is it any different than what you guys preach?
Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
After meeting with the other Apostles, there was no disagreement on how they preached the gospel. After meeting with the Apostles in Jerusalem, Titus was not compelled to be circumcised. Titus is such a man of integrity—if that’s what following Jesus required, he would have. But he didn’t, because we are not justified by what we do. We are justified only by what Jesus did for us by his life, death, and resurrection.
These false teachers were pretending to be something they weren’t. They were actually trying to impose their religion, and their cultural and national identity on Jesus followers. This group of false teachers were called Judaizers. Scott McKnight is a biblical scholar. I think the way he describes the problem is helpful.
The Judaizers saw their entire religion and society at threat in Paul’s supposed “law-free” gospel because he was allowing people to find God’s grace without becoming socially conformed to the law…In contesting the Judaizers, Paul is contesting not just theological variation but theology that serves social and racial interests. The Judaizers were not just converting others; they were nationalizing others. –Scot McKnight
This was published in 1995. It is in no way a reaction to the modern false teaching of Christian nationalism. Trying to blend Christian identity with a national or cultural identity is a very old problem. It’s like blending ice-cream and horse manure. It does nothing to the manure, but it ruins the ice-cream.
As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.
You may notice that Paul sometimes refers to him as Peter and other times as Cephas. Same guy who went by two versions of the same name. We do that, too. My name is James Patrick Henderson. I go by Rick. My wife calls me Rick, except when she thinks I’m reverting to junior high boy behavior. Then she calls me JAMES. She’ll call me Rick and James in the same conversation. Peter and Cephas are the same guy.
James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as 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 circumcised.
Everyone is preaching the exact same gospel message. The audiences may be different, but the message is the same.
All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
It’s not a genuine GOSPEL message if it doesn’t include compassion in ACTION for the poor.
Lately, there is a lot of attention given to the poor because of changes in government funding. Those changes are impacting many around the globe, and those changes have impacted some in our own congregation. I’m not interested in political views or statements. I am interested in the gospel. Here’s my question.
When changes to government funding make the needs of the poor more urgent and their situations less stable, who should the poor be able to count on? When government funding is no longer dependable, will they discover that they can depend on followers of Jesus, on us?
This is not a smack down. This church has a long tradition of generosity. This past year your generosity was on display—BIG TIME. What we are doing right now is taking this passage seriously and reminding ourselves of the gospel. Eugene Peterson was a brilliant scholar and humble pastor. I want to share with you what he wrote in response to this passage.
The moment freedom is used to avoid acts of mercy or help or compassion, it is exposed as a fraud. A free person who finds ways to enhance the lives of the poor demonstrates the truest and most mature freedom. A free person who diminishes the lives of the poor by dealing out ridicule or withholding gifts is himself diminished, is herself diminished. –Eugene Peterson
From beginning to the end of Bible you will read about God’s heart for the poor. Following Jesus and believing the gospel means we are not impressed with power and luxury. Having those things may not be wrong. We’re just not impressed by them. There is money to be made and power to be gained in exploiting the poor. There is no money to be made or power to be gained in loving, serving, and investing in the poor.
And yet, that is the call of Jesus on all his followers. Can I remind us of today’s big truth?
The gospel UNITES people who should be divided. Religion DIVIDES people who should be united.
Followers of Jesus are united with the poor, and that is expressed through action. The idea that the way out of poverty is exclusively a matter of personal responsibility, that people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps has never been a part of the gospel. That way of thinking is antithetical to the life that Jesus gave his life for us to have.
Let’s buckle up because this passage is about to get bumpy. For those of you who don’t like confrontation, hang in there. This next part includes an awkward scene of confrontation.
When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
Hypocrisy is contagious. Will you write this down?
WARNING: The WORST in us comes out in the BEST of us when we forget the gospel.
If you aren’t familiar with Jewish dietary laws, here’s a crash course.
- No pork
- No lobster
- No meat with blood in it
- No food that had been sacrificed to an idol
That was from the old Mosaic covenant. Jesus fulfilled that and replaced it with a new covenant. It’s totally cool to eat bacon. And believe it or not, freedom in Jesus Christ meant that the fact that meat was sacrificed to an idol shouldn’t get in the way of a good meal.
Because of his freedom in Jesus, the Apostle Peter stopped following all the dietary restrictions. He happily shared meals with Jesus followers who weren’t Jewish. He may have had some bacon on his breath. All of that changed when these Judaizers showed up. He buckled under the weight of social pressure. He stopped eating with Gentiles. And he only ate food that met the Jewish dietary restrictions.
He reverted to a religious approach and participated in performance-based acceptance.
The gospel UNITES people who should be divided. Religion DIVIDES people who should be united.
[Pointing to the screen] He was on the wrong end of this.
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
When Paul saw what was going down, and how it was influencing the behavior of believers, that division made it’s way in the church and their good unity was unraveling—he stood up in front of everyone, publicly putting this into practice.
GOSPEL FLUENCY
- Know the content of the gospel
- Understand the Implications of the gospel
- Apply the motivation of the gospel
Content: We know that we can never achieve a right standing with God through religious performance, moral performance, or rule keeping of any kind. We aren’t considered righteous because of what we do. We are considered righteous because of what Jesus did and we receive that by faith.
Last week we talked about the doctrine of RECONCILIATION. Jesus closed the relational gap and included us, making us co-heirs with Christ if we trust in him by faith. Here, Paul is emphasizing doctrine of JUSTIFICATION. We are considered right with God, or we are considered righteous because of what Jesus did, not what we do. By faith we are given his status of righteous. So we are free from the rules of the old covenant.
Implication: We have unity with all people who trust in Jesus regardless of what they eat or don’t eat. If you want to only eat food form the old dietary restrictions—that’s fine. If that’s what you prefer—knock yourself out. But you are not allowed to use that as measuring stick for who is acceptable and who isn’t. We are free from that.
Motivation: We love and accept each other, even if culturally they are different from us.
Public confrontation may not be Minnesota Nice. And yet, public confrontation can be profoundly loving. Love for the mistreated requires standing up for the mistreated. But love doesn’t end there. Love for the mistreaters means standing up to the mistreaters. The most loving thing that Apostle Paul could do for the Apostle Peter, and everyone else there, was to address his hypocrisy publicly and call for repentance and a return to the gospel.
The true gospel will sometimes result in confrontation—it will never result in being unloving. Last week we talked about some false gospels. If you missed that message, this will make a lot more sense if you go back and watch that message.
FALSE GOSPELS:
- Progressive gospel: Conflates acceptance with approval, so they cannot disagree with anyone they accept.
- Regressive gospel: Conflates acceptance and approval, so they cannot accept anyone with whom they disagree.
In the true gospel, we will tell each other the truth all while holding tightly to grace and love. We’ll never compromise truth for the sake of grace and we’ll never compromise grace for the sake of truth. Like a train, we run on the parallel rails of truth of grace.
This is the truth we want to come to terms with.
The gospel UNITES people who should be divided. Religion DIVIDES people who should be united.
There’s a new worship song out right now that I can’t get enough of. It’s called Hard Fought Hallelujah and it’s sung by these two guys, Jelly Roll and Brandon Lake.
If you’re thinking right now, “They don’t look like Christians.” I think what you really mean is, “They don’t look like my cultural experiences with, my personal expectations of, or my preferences for Christians.”
Brandon Lake was one of the writers for Graves into Gardens. He’s known as a worship singer and songwriter. Jelly Roll is not known as that. I want to give you some homework. Go to “YouTube and type in, Outside the Box: A conversation with Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll.”
I want you to see a refreshing example of this:
The gospel UNITES people who should be divided. Religion DIVIDES people who should be united.
And then, I want you to spend some time reflecting on this from Galatians 2.
GALATIANS 2:20-21 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
In Christ, we share the same IDENTITY, but we are not IDENTICAL.
We owe it to ourselves to be honest with ourselves. Because we live in a morally broken world and we are morally broken people, there will always be external pressures and internal pressures to exchange the true gospel for a fake version. If I stood up here today and said to you, it was pretty cool that Jesus died on the cross but probably wasn’t necessary. The resurrection was bit showy. It wasn’t really necessary. We are made acceptable and approvable by own religious and moral performance—you would fire me. And you should fire me. I’d be a heretic.
But are we proclaiming anything different if ever and whenever we try to impose our experiences, our cultural expectations, and our preferences on other people?
If we ever distance ourselves from or discount other believers because ____________________
- Of how they voted or didn’t vote
- Of how they dress up or dress down at church
- They like their music too loud or too quiet
- They’re too traditional or not traditional enough
- They have too many tattoos or too few tattoos
- They’re too rich or too poor
- They’re married or not married
- Of their view on a secondary doctrinal issue
- They don’t fit with our expectations, cultural comforts, or preferences
we should REPENT and BELIEVE the gospel.
If ever we cozy up with and give prestige to other believers because ____________________
- Of how they voted or didn’t vote
- Of how they dress up or dress down at church
- They like their music too loud or too quiet
- They’re too traditional or not traditional enough
- They have too many tattoos or too few tattoos
- They’re too rich or too poor
- They’re married or not married
- Of their view on a secondary doctrinal issue
- They do fit with our expectations, cultural comforts, or preferences
we should REPENT and BELIEVE the gospel.
If ever we do anything, right or wrong, motivated by fear that others will distance themselves from us or discount us, we should REPENT and BELIEVE the gospel.
If ever we do anything, right or wrong, motivated by the hope that others will cozy up to us or give us prestige, we should REPENT and BELIEVE the gospel.
SERIES THESIS: The only thing that COUNTS is FAITH expressing itself through LOVE.
The only thing that counts is that we are devoted to Jesus and that is expressed in unending, unwavering love as he defines it. That is freedom.
GOSPEL FLUENCY
- Know the content of the gospel
- Understand the Implications of the gospel
- Apply the motivation of the gospel
Content of the gospel: Jesus was rejected so that we could be accepted. He was condemned so that we could be approved. He was made a sacrifice so that we could be made significant.
Implication of the gospel: We are free from performance-based acceptance.
Motivation of the gospel: We love and accept each other. And we share this good news with everyone.
SERIES THESIS: The only thing that COUNTS is FAITH expressing itself through LOVE.