“Live for the Truth!”

Scripture: Galatians 2:6-10; 14-21

As we discussed two weeks ago, Paul’s focus on his letter to the Galatians was to bring a sense of truth back into their faith. They had begun to resort to the Law of Moses as a means to righteousness, instead of simply having faith in Christ. But he doesn’t only write about that which is false, he must also spell out what the truth is. By only naming the thing that is false will accomplish little except for leaving the hearer with a confused sense of right and wrong. If one thing is false, then what is the truth?

To his credit, Paul never leaves the question unanswered – after all, Jesus never left it unanswered for him! When Jesus introduced himself to Saul / Paul, interrupting his journey of persecution to Damascus, Saul’s life would change. He discovered the truth of Jesus in the flash of a heavenly light, and the false hope that he had been living under would never be his “truth” again. (Acts 9:1-31)

Read Galatians 2:6-10

Paul now discusses his disagreement with the Church leadership in Jerusalem. He describes them as those “who seemed to be important”! Isn’t that the way of so many leaders – that they start out on track, but before long, the position of leadership begins to claim a higher priority than does the responsibility of their office? And Paul should know! As a Pharisee, he expected that people should pay honor to him for who he was and what he did, and “truth” was what he expected it should be, and not what the Lord said it was!

And the importance that any of us feels adds nothing to the Lord’s message of truth. But he says that the members of the Council of Jerusalem had come to recognize that Paul’s call to minister to the gentiles was just as valid as theirs was for the Jews. They were all starting to acknowledge that God looks to our heart and not to our good works, that it is faith in Jesus Christ and his ways that is truly important, and not in how well we follow some extensive set of rigid and oppressive rules.

Pastor and author George Macgregor wrote:
A man cannot buy religion any more than he can buy love. Religion, like love, is an end in itself. It cannot be sought in order to make him well, or to make him happy or to make him prosperous.
It can be sought only for itself; but once found, it overflows in byproducts of health and happiness and prosperity. It cannot be manipulated or controlled by man's personal desire. Those who pretend to such controls are charlatans. They often have a large following, and the only thing that can stop them is the truth.

--G.H.C. Macgregor, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IX (Nashville: Abingdon, 1954), 112-13.

Faith “cannot be manipulated or controlled by [our] personal desires” – not in our adherence to some self-derived understanding of what it means to have faith, and not in a sense that the truth of faith “is in the eye of the beholder”! As Macgregor writes, faith “can be sought only for itself”, and never for ourselves. But that is what the adherents of circumcision and dietary compliance and all of the other Jewish laws were about – the control of faith, not only for themselves, but for others.

Read Galatians 2:14-16

Faith in the Being and teachings of Jesus Christ is all that will ever count. And when we look to other means as a replacement for the truth of Christ, we will never know the fullness of life. In Jesus’ Great Commission to the Church, we read that we are to 1) make disciples of Jesus Christ from all the nations, 2) to baptize them as a sign of their commitment to Christ, and 3) to teach them all that Jesus commanded. Nowhere does it say to teach, or more importantly follow, other means that we claim will lead to faith! (Matthew 28:18-20)

Paul sees that the senior leadership of the Church is veering away from the faith, and he shows no hesitation in calling them to account. You “know that [no one] is justified by observing the law”, so why are you teaching that others must follow the law? For Paul, the truth of the gospel was at stake, and the only truth is THE truth! The issue is not that the gentiles are being forced, or even pressured, to convert to Judaism, but rather to follow the practices of Judaism, and the pressure that is being brought to bear is seen by Paul, and rightly so, as a betrayal of the gospel! They didn't have to become Jewish - they were just expected to act and accept the Jewish way! Sound familiar?

The author John Ortberg offers this example:
Imagine going to the doctor's office for a checkup. The doctor says to you, "You are a magnificent physical specimen. You have the body of an Olympian. You are to be congratulated."

Later that day while climbing the stairs, your heart gives out. You find out later your arteries were so clogged that you were like one jelly doughnut away from the grim reaper.

You go back to the doctor and say, "Why didn't you tell me?"

The doctor says, "Well, I knew your body is in worse shape than the Pillsbury doughboy, but if I tell people stuff like that, they get kind of offended. It's kind of bad for business. They don't come back. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted."

You'd be furious! You'd say to the doctor, "When it comes to my body, I want the truth!"

--John Ortberg.

When it comes to eternity, we also want and need the truth. But every word that betrays the gospel is nothing less than a lie that leads us one step closer to a death sentence. Paul wanted both Peter and the Galatians to know that there was only one faith in Jesus Christ, and the blending of Christ’s teachings with those of other understandings could never stand the test of devotion.

Read Galatians 2:17-21

Paul raises a very interesting point – if we realize that we are sinners simply by accepting Jesus’ teachings, does that mean that Jesus has caused us to sin, and does that mean that Jesus is a sinner, too?
Interesting thought – a false one certainly, but interesting, none the less! His intent is that even though we are awakened to the sin in our lives by faith in Jesus, the result is not a judgment of condemnation, but an offer of forgiveness! Following the law can only bring about a sentence of condemnation – but faith in Jesus Christ is an offer of life.

Paul has “died to the law”, so for him, legalism is no longer an option. And that death, for him, is symbolized by Christ’s crucifixion, which he says he has also received. He has set the law in death so that he can live for the Lord, and his spiritual crucifixion allows him to live that better life – the one that is in the Living Christ.

Paul carries this thought a bit further in Romans 7:8-11, in which he writes “I found that the very commandment [of the law] that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” The law revealed sin, but could do nothing to overturn its penalty. Paul sees faith as the only hope, and rightly so.

But his argument in this passage is far more than just pointing out the Galatians’ shortcomings in faith. He loudly proclaims that the law that prescribes circumcision, dietary restrictions, and every other Jewish rite has never done anything but fail them in the past, and will never be able to do anything but fail them throughout their lives.
And that is the message for us, too. When we become a disciple of Jesus Christ, we are called to follow his teachings, and if they happen to coincide with the Law of Moses, so be it. But it is Jesus’ way and teachings that we depend on, and on him alone.

Accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, though, is only the beginning – Paul and John Wesley referred to this as “justification”. But we must also grow and live in this life as the Lord’s truth – this is what a life of “sanctification” is all about. And this is a way of life that will take us far beyond anything that we can possibly imagine.