At the start of the school year, a freshman student enrolled in a popular university was asked by his professor to introduce himself in class. He said, “My Name is Paul Closa, 17years old. My Father is a teacher and my mother is a homemaker.” Then his professor asked, “How about your faith?” Suddenly on his mind were flashbacks of that one evening when his mother led him in a prayer to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Then his professor said “Mr. Closa?” and so he answered, “My Father is a Roman Catholic and my mother is a Born Again Christian.” “So that makes you what?” the professor asked again. The young lad trembled when he answered back saying, “Well…. that makes me half a Roman Catholic and half a Born again Christian.”
The story of Paul Closa is not new to many of us. In a way or another, we have experienced denying Jesus, if not hesitant of our faith in front of many people. We avoid talking about him because of fear which is a sad reality that we need to overcome. For when Christ saved us through the gospel of His grace, we then should automatically be vanguards of our faith.
The book of Galatians has been tagged as the Magna Carta of the Christian Liberty, (McArthur, p.ix). In here lies the truth that we have been saved by faith and never by the works of the law. It was written to combat religious legalism and to champion the “Gospel of Grace.”
In Galatians 1:6, we can see the Apostle Paul astounded by the Galatians’ accommodation of a counterfeit gospel, which quickly turned them away from the apostle’s teachings, and had accepted a ‘different gospel’. In Gal. 2:1-10, Paul narrates his return to Jerusalem for the council, where they are to resolve the problem that some Judaizers have created adding the Law to the gospel (Acts 15) which brings them to the shackles of legalism. Knowing the Judaizers, they wouldn’t accept the idea of Peter, whom we know as the apostle to the Jews, eating with the Gentiles for they believe that in order to be pleasing to the Lord, they would not even consider eating a holy meal with an unholy Gentile because this is a moral issue for them.
Our text Galatians 2:11-21 revolves around this particular incident in the Galatian church as a reminder of Gal. 1:8 which says, “But even though we, or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
In this line Paul convinces us that to live in the defense of our faith, we should be vanguards of the gospel of grace. It is along this proposition that we will dig deep on how we are to live as vanguards of the gospel of grace which leads me now to my first point.
I. WE SHOULD DEFY COMPROMISES IN THE GOSPEL (vv.11-13)
When Paul saw how Peter compromised his belief only to accommodate the heretics of his time, he opposed the latter to his face. Paul defended and protected the gospel which was being harassed by the Judaizers. Peter, in his actions sided with the Judaizers which he himself knew in the first place was very wrong, deeply hurting the Gentile believers in Antioch and leading astray the rest of the Jewish Christians. However, true to his being a defender of the faith, Paul reprimanded Peter and there preached the only “genuine gospel of God’s grace.” Peter lacked the firmness to stand by his faith, and this example we need not emulate. The Christian liberty that we have rests on the assurance that it is only by grace that we are saved through faith (Eph. 2:8-9).
In this postmodern world, our faith is being harassed by countless cults and counterfeit religions. Their beginnings had its root from their desire to accommodate certain practices that have no room in Christianity. We who have been saved by the gospel of God’s grace, should never compromise the truths from all these counterfeits and we should defy all the heresies proliferating in the world and creeping inside the church. We need to guard the purity of our faith.
Sad but true, we Christians are sometimes like Peter here. Instead of defying the compromises in our faith, we become afraid to stand firm on it because of what the crowd might think of us. We tend to withdraw from our godly walk and just do what we think would be approved by them. WE BECOME HYPOCRITES. On the one hand, we proclaim the God-given liberty that we have, but on the other hand, we stand against our own words. We tend to “buy-in” to the truths of Christianity but our actions loudly proclaim our not being “sold-out” to the same. We break what we make out of the gospel we preach, thus making Christ, whom we say we emulate, unattractive to more and more people.
II. WE SHOULD DECLARE THE TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL (vv.14-16)
Verse 14 points out to a clear indication of Peter’s inconsistent behavior. At the start of his ministry he was associating with the Gentile believers in Antioch. We have to note here that Peter was a disciple of Christ, but in this situation he might have forgotten the very freedom that Christ gave to him as a man saved by grace and is to live as freedman for Christ’s sake.
With all his might, Paul now declares the truth of the gospel of grace- that man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ. Thus in verse 16 he said, “…for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” Notice here that Paul gave no room for any compromise, but he stood firm and immovable in his faith.
The truth of the gospel is anchored on what Christ and his grace did for us. It was through this grace that we had the privilege of being saved and this we should always take hold of. And so, out of the abounding gratitude of our hearts we should continuously keep watch over the purity of our faith. Living in light with the truths of God’s Word, breathing its very purpose and guarding ourselves from “another” gospel would be helpful for us to remain faithful to our Lord especially that Christ had entrusted to us his very own possession- the Church. We should not just sit in the laurels of our salvation, but we should wear our faith- a declaration of who we are and whom we are serving. We wear our faith in school, in the church, in our homes, at work for it is an everyday walk of the believer, thus we are declaring only the truth of the gospel of Christ, in our everyday with Him.
III. WE SHOULD DEMONSTRATE THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL (vv.17-21)
The truth of the gospel is pictured on the Father’s giving up of His dear Son for our redemption, thus displaying the power of His Word. This expression of the gospel of grace is anchored on the Person of the gospel- Jesus Christ who is the actual demonstration of God’s love for the Church.
Paul certainly elaborated his cause in his defense in v.19 saying “For through the Law, I died to the Law, that I might live for God.” The apostle’s statement is a sure clash between the idea of legalism and of grace. It is a way of saying, if Paul lived in strict adherence to the Law, he could have never lived for God. Now he is implicating that he is living for God for the Law has no power in him anymore.
As individuals who have tasted the goodness and grace of our Father, we ought to walk as freedmen. We are no more slaves to the Law, but now, we are slaves to the freedom that we have in Christ. We are to be constantly reminded of this, for now as emancipated from the Law, we ought to walk as vanguards of the Lord’s freedom- the power that saved us, and the same power that would keep us marching on towards our purposes for His glory. Paul declared himself as crucified with Christ- that his old nature is now dead and now the new man, the man saved by the gospel of grace, now lives. Thus as being crucified with Christ he continues to live by faith and in victory. Because of this truth, Paul was resolved that he would fight for the God who fought for his salvation- Jesus Christ who is the demonstration of the power of the gospel, he himself being the gospel personified.
We Christians are vanguards of the gospel of grace-the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation of man. We ought not to be ashamed of it. We uphold and preserve the pure gospel of the Lord despite the countless attacks of the heretics and compromises of some professing Christians.
Believers are given that precious privilege of acquiring the know-how of apologetics so that we can defend our convictions and take actions to safeguard the thrust of the Christian faith. Whatever challenges might be, soldiers of the cross ought to make a big leap forward, stand up for Jesus, and hold high the banner of the cross.
Just as the military has its vanguards who are in the forefront of protecting the country from anything that will try to harm it, we are the front liners in defending the gospel- the vanguards of the Christian faith and we must be fearless and bold to defy anyone who endeavors to stain the purity of Christianity. As God’s children, we are the vanguards of the gospel of grace and we are to live in the defense of our faith.
With helps from:
Keyword Study Bible
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians by John Allan
The Epistle to the Galatians: A Study Manual by Floyd Hamilton
The New Bible Commentary
*This is one of the first messages I wrote. You can use this manuscript for whatever purposes possible provided that proper citations be made. Thank you.
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