The Vineyard Church of North Grand Rapids, MI

Ray Befus, Galatians 1:1-10    Confronting Legalism                  27 September 2009

Brennan Manning Video Clip (YouTube, “Live at Woodcrest”).  That’s Brennan Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel.  How about you?  Do you believe that God loves you?  That he really likes you . . . just as you are?  That, even though he knows your weaknesses, failures, and secrets, he longs to spend time with you, grow closer to you, and become a bigger part of your life?  When you wander, he misses you and waits for you. When you fail and sin, he’s already forgiven you? Does God’s passionate love for you ever stir your heart to laughter or tears?  Does the thought, “He really likes me” wake you up in the morning with a feeling of deep peace, a smile, real hope?  When you think of God and his disposition toward you, do you think of the Father of the Prodigal Son?  Or is God’s unconditional love just a point of doctrine you learned long ago in Sunday school?  If you answer “No, I don’t think God really likes me all that much” or “I’m not sure if God really wants to be my friend,”  “or I’m pretty sure God doesn’t want to see my face right now,”  you might be suffering from a spiritual disease called legalism.

This fall we’re going to be talking about legalism, a spiritual disease with many symptoms.    Legalism is an approach to life in which a person believes that he must earn the things he most desires: a positive self-image, strong self-respect, peace of mind, the love of family, the respect of friends and co-workers, the trust of strangers, career advancement, God’s forgiveness and acceptance, God’s trust, respect, and blessings. 

If something bad happens to a legalist, he’s pretty sure its because he deserved it.  He earned this hardship or punishment. His teenager is rebelling, so of course it’s bad karma—his own sins coming back to haunt him.  She has a miscarriage, so she can’t help feeling that God is unhappy with her secret sins and regrets.  Suffering legalists believe that they deserve to take a fall.  If something good happens to a legalist—a raise at work or an answer to prayer at home, he feels that he been blessed because he has finally gotten it right with God.  She feels that God is finally blessing her life because she has finally kicked a bad habit.  The legalist believes that his or her many prayers and careful conduct and tireless serving finally got God to smile.  Legalists are sometimes unconscious of their legalism: they have their doctrinal ducks lined up with grace, but in their hearts they live as though all of life hinges on their performance, their earning power. When they suffer, it’s because they failed in their performance; when they succeed, it’s because they busted their backsides and out-performed other people.  The legalists’ God is a book-keeper deity who rewards careful players, hard workers, high achievers, spiritual winners. How serious is this spiritual disease? Legalism is Hell’s alternative to Heaven’s grace.

Let’s open our Bibles to the NT letter of Galatians (TNIV, p. 796).  We’re going to spend the next twelve Sundays—right up to Christmas—learning to look at God and the gospel, at life and faith, and legalism through the Apostle Paul’s eyes and the spectacles of grace he wears as he writes this ancient letter.  Paul is sometimes called the Apostle of Grace.  He hated legalism.  

Whenever you or I open up a book in the Bible, particularly one of the NT’s letters, before launching into chapter one, we need to ask a few questions about the letter as a whole: 1) what does the letter tell us about the author, 2) what does the letter tell us about the recipients,j and 3) what does the letter tell us about the occasion. So, if you were going to make a personal study of Galatians, you’d read through the book a couple times, making three simple lists, trying to formulate basic answers to these three questions.  Here are some basic answers from my study.

1. The author is Paul, formerly known as Saul—transformed by a personal meeting with Jesus (risen from the dead).  You can read about it in Acts 9.  He is the Apostle to the Gentiles—saved, called, and commissioned to ministry by Jesus himself . . . not a seminary or a denomination or a mission board or a famous televangelist.  Christianity began with a Jewish Messiah and his  Jewish disciples. Outsiders viewed Christianity as a Jewish faith, a Jewish denomination. But, Jesus called Paul, a Jew’s Jew, to give his entire life to taking the Good News of God’s grace to Gentiles (non-Jewish people like the Roman citizen’s living in Galatia).  Paul was a man with a single mission: persuading non-Jewish people (pagans and philosophers, agnostics and polytheists) that God has graciously made room for them at his table.  

And as Paul writes this letter, he is upset—very upset. His words are hot enough to boil the ink and to scorch the paper.  Paul preached the gospel of God’s grace and planted these churches at great cost to himself.   These are his churches—the legacy of his life, his faith, his calling, his ministry.  These people are his spiritual children.  And now, in Paul’s absence, certain agitators have come into the churches and are casting doubt on Paul, his authority, his message of grace, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ itself.   These agitators are ancient Jewish legalists.  They are Christians who have become enemies of God’s grace.  In Philippians, Paul shows his hostility to these agitators by calling them garbage-eating, disease-carrying street dogs.

1. Who are the people to whom Paul is writing?  The recipents of this letter are fairly new Christians (perhaps only a year or two into their faith journey).  They  are Gentiles.  They didn’t grow up in Jewish synagogues.  They didn’t know much about the OT; they didn’t have NT’s. in Paul’s absence, they were vulnerable to older Christians, Jewish Christians, who knew the OT Scriptures very well, who lived very circumspect and attractive lives, whose families were solid, and who were sincerely warning them that Paul meant well, but could not be trusted to teach the whole counsel of God.  When Paul waved good-bye to these new Christians, their hearts were full of joyful enthusiasm, their understanding of God’s grace was rooted in the cross, they were filled with the Holy Spirit’s presence and power and, they were experiencing bonafide miracles in their meetings.  Even more to the point, they were enjoying the freedom of waking up each morning feeling God’s forgiveness, acceptance, love, and blessing.

1. Why did Paul write this letter?  Because some Jewish Christians had come into the churches and were agitating and confusing these new Gentile Christians.  From the beginning of his ministry Paul’s message to EVERYONE was that, because of Jesus’ death on a cross, they too were invited to take a seat at God’s table—completely forgiven, unconditionally accepted, eternally welcome, and blessed with every family blessing (just like Jewish people).  All they had to do was to decide to begin trusting and following Jesus, the Crucified One.  Complete forgiveness, unconditional acceptance, eternal delight, and all the blessings of heaven, meaningful partnership . . . just for deciding to trust Jesus. That’s the Gospel of Grace, the Good News.

Paul’s conviction was rooted in the OT—God’s covenant of blessing with Abraham.  Genesis 12:1-3 records God’s promise to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation.  In this covenant promise, God reveals that it has always been his plan to bless all the different people of the earth (i.e., Gentiles) through the Jewish people.  God has always had it in his heart to have Jews and non-Jews sitting together at his family table.  Paul understood that Jesus’ death on a cross finally opened the door for Gentiles to come and find their place at the table of God’s blessing . . . simply by faith.  Gentiles didn’t have to become Jews first, in order to become Christians. 

ILLUS: Think of yourself, for a moment, standing apart from a huge banquet table in the midst of large dining hall, filled with the smell of good food, the sounds of  happy conversation, and warmed by a roaring fire.  Sitting around the table are unmistakable spiritual heroes  The Apostles Peter and Paul, Martin Luther and John Calvin, Mother Theresa and Billy Graham, Elisabeth Eliot, Jackie Pullinger, Benny Hinn, John Wimber, (men and women you’re pretty sure God likes, alot).  All at once, the conversation dies down and, along with the Father, everyone puts down knives and forks and looks at you.  You . . . with all your regrets and secrets and petty rebellions, critical attitudes and shameful compromises.  And the father points to an empty chair between Jesus and Martin Luther.  Your Father in Heaven is smiling at you and inviting you to take a seat at the table between Jesus and Martin Luther.   Unbelievable!  Not in your wildest dreams.  It can’t be real.  But everyone else at the table is looking at you with wide eyes, nodding their heads, pointing to the chair.  All your life you’ve struggled with feeling like an outsider, a wannabe, a pretender, a disappointment to religious people in general and God in particular.  And now you’re being invited to sit down at the head of God’s family table. Your whole future hangs on your decision now.  All your dreams of acceptance and significance, love and fulfillment and adventure hang on this one decision.  Will you choose to trust that he truly forgives you, accepts you, loves you, and wants nothing more than to share his life with you?  The Gentile Christian in Galatia, decided in simple, trusting-faith to come to the table of God’s blessing and take a seat next to Jesus.

The Jewish agitators were arguing back, saying something like this.  “Ah yes, little brothers and sisters, you can get a place at the table just by deciding to trust God.  But from the moment you sit down, God’s blessings are all dependent on how well you perform.  Initial forgiveness is by faith; continued forgiveness is by performance.  Initial acceptance is by faith; continued acceptance must be earned through careful obedience.  Initial blessings are by faith; all future blessings need to be earned”.  

And, they had some very specific performance standards in mind: circumcision, Kosher food laws and practices, and OT holy days and festivals.  These three performance standards were historic and precious identity markers that revealed to neighbors and strangers who was a real Jew.  All over the world, from Jerusalem to Cairo to Rome, Jewish people tenaciously clung to these three practices as essential to their special identity as a race of people.  In a world of different races and cultures, philosophies and religions, circumcision, kosher food practices, and sabbath worship were identity or boundary markers that visibly set Jewish people apart as God’s special people.

The agitators were teaching the Gentile Christians in Galatia that, “Yes, Jesus is God’s Messiah.  Salvation is by grace, through faith in our Jewish Jesus.  Strictly speaking, these three ancient OT practices aren’t required to get into heaven, but they are absolutely necessary if you want to live your life in a way that honors God, pleases him, is wise, respects his Word, and merits his blessings.  You can be a Gentile believer and go to heaven alright.  But, do you want to show everyone that you love God and his word, that you honor God in your daily life? Do you want to be sure to receive miraculous answers to your prayers and the blessings of revival? Then you must become a Jew, at least in outward behavior.  You must be circumcised and circumcise your sons, eat Kosher, worship on Saturday and keep the ancient holy days like Passover, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashana”.

Paul, takes his first swing at these agitators in Galatians, chapter one and says “To Hell with that”.   Keeping Torah (becoming a Jew) is IRRELEVANT to becoming a Christian and IRRELEVANT to living as a Christian.  These identity markers, given by God in the past and so precious to you in the present, are—because of Jesus death on a cross—now IRRELEVANT to enjoying God’s gracious forgiveness and acceptance, IRRELEVANT to living a life rich in blessing, IRRELEVANT to delighting God’s heart and feeling his smile.  These things aren’t sinful; they’re just IRRELEVANT as a meaningful measure of who’s on the inside with God. If you want to circumcise yourself or your sons, it’s not sinful.  It may even be healthy.  If you want to follow Kosher food and meal practices, you’re sure to eat well.  If you want to meet on Saturday, celebrate OT festivals, and blow shofars in worship, more power to you.  But it doesn’t matter to God if you do, and it doesn’t matter to God if you don’t. These practices are irrelevant to being forgiven and accepted, pleasing him, honoring him, serving him, or receiving his blessings.  So Paul illustrates his point from the agitator’s primary concern, circumcision (5:6).

Now this is the historical background of Paul’s angry letter. Galatians is not specifically about contemporary expressions of legalism in our day (can good Christians vote for Democrats, or drink alcohol, or read The Shack?).  Paul’s single concern in this letter is whether Gentiles must become Jews in order to please and honor God. Paul will argue with singular passion that   the true children of Abraham, the children of blessing, are men and women—Jewish and non-Jewish—who come to God by grace, through simple faith in Jesus, the Crucified One.

But the message of Galatians is bigger than this historical issue.  There is also a profound theology here. Theology is the study of God’s heart and ways. This letter celebrates God’s amazing, extravagant, even wasteful grace in every age and among every people group. God has done everything possible to bring everyone who is willing to his table.    He has sacrificed his own son for our salvation.  Why more could he do to prove his love for all of us—even those prodigals who are still a long way off?  In every age, in every place, among all different races and cultures . . . Galatians shouts that salvation is by grace through faith, plus nothing.  And, spiritual growth is also by grace through faith plus nothing.  Both justification and sanctification are by grace through faith alone. The way in—simply trusting that God loves us and is for us—is also the way on.  If you add any standard, any tradition, any law, any performance goal (even OT laws) to this Good News, its not Good News any more.  You’re living and teaching and promoting a different gospel—legalism.  When any one tells you that, in order to live as a good Christian . . . in order to honor God . . . in order to receive God’s blessing . . . in order to enjoy a deeper relationship with your Heavenly Father, in order to be see miracles in your life 27 September 2009 you must stop doing these several things and start doing these few things,  Martin Luther believed that we have apostolic permission to tell them to “Go to Hell”!  

Let’s look quickly at the first ten verses of chapter one.  These verses are Paul’s greeting or salutation to the Christians who are living in Galatia. Paui’s greeting in Galatians is like no other in his different letters to NT churches.  The people in church that morning were about to have their ears singed.

1:1-5.  From the first line, Paul blasts in with a declaration of his authority.  You can have any opinion you want about how to live out your spirituality.  Everyone has their own Bibles, interpretations, and spiritual experiences. But on this point of what the Good News of God’s grace is, and is not, I am not just another Christian speaker offering advice! I have been appointed by Jesus himself (on the authority of his Heavenly Father) to deliver and defend this message.  I am speaking for Jesus himself.  Paul will go on to explain that, “Jesus gave up his life for us on a cross to rescue us from sin, from alienation from God, from self-destruction, and from every performance-oriented expression of spirituality.  If you think I make too little of the OT, I tell you that you make too little of the cross.  If you think I make to little of sin, I tell you that you make too little of the cross.  If you think I make too little of the spiritual dangers out in the world, I tell you that you make too little of the power of the cross.  It was the Father himself who chose the cross as the means to provide complete forgiveness and unconditional acceptance to everyone who decides to begin the journey of trusting and following Jesus”.

1:6-10.  After introducing himself, Paul most often begins his letter by commending his readers, expressing his gratitude for their love, their support, or their spiritual growth.  Then Paul writes a short blessing of some sort, expressing his own faith in a few lines of personal worship.  But not here!  Paul launches this letter with a double cursing of the agitators who are confusing the Gospel and the Christians in Galatia. Paul is angry, but don’t think that this is personal.  This isn’t personal or even denominational. This isn’t about preference or style.  This is saved or lost, truth or error, life or death, heaven or hell. This is a pending desertion of the one true God by young Christians who are considering deserting his Gospel.

Apparently, the agitators in Galatia have been saying that Paul has been preaching an easy gospel, a gospel of low standards, a gospel of compromise in order to gain more converts. They’re saying that Paul preaches a gospel of easy-believism, of superficial spirituality, of luke-warm faith.  So Paul begins a passionate defense of his integrity and credibility that continues through the first two chapters.  Would anyone who is trying to win the popular vote start a letter like this with a double curse? Of course not.  Paul has one motive only for writing this letter: fulfilling the commission God has given him as a servant of Christ and the Gospel.

VInce Lombari, one of the greatest football coaches of the 20th Century, once called out a player who he caught cheating in practice.  Lombardi yelled out, loud enough for others to hear, “Caffery, if you cheat in a practice session you’ll cheat in a game.  And if you cheat in a game, you will cheat for the rest of your life, and I will not have it”.  That’s Paul’s position and passion: I wiil not have it.  A lie about God, is a lie about the Gospel, is a lie about life, and I will not have it in the churches of Galatia.  It is a lie to tell someone that God is waiting to forgive you, welcome you,  or bless you until after he sees your performance, that you may lose your place at the table if your performance falls below a certain level, that God’s heart toward you is any different that the Father’s heart in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Those who believe lies about God, learn lies about life, and eventually believe lies about themselves . . . their own worthiness, values, and destiny.

So how about you.  Do you really believe—with all your heart and soul—that God has forgiven you everything, that he accepts you and welcomes you unconditionally, that he loves you delights in you just as you are, that he is for you and, having sacrificed his Son for you, isn’t about to withhold any other blessings from you?

Brennan Manning suggests that one of the clearest measures of freedom from legalism is our own transparency with one another.  Those who know they are forgiven, accepted, loved, and blessed lose their fear of being transparent with others.  Sharing doubts, revealing hurts, asking for help with struggles, admitting failures.  To really ‘get’ the gospel is to live with real freedom—the freedom to be open and relaxed about it.  Legalists hide, cover up, withdraw, put on the face, deflect personal questions, sit quietly in the back and often live very independent lives.  They feel the shame of their poor performance and fear the rejection of other performers.  They say that they will share more of themselves with others when they find a friend or a group with whom they feel safe.

Those who believe the Good News of God’s Amazing Grace, find complete security and safety in their Father’s love.  They know that they are safe, even with unsafe people. The don’t bend to peer pressure or cave in under the threat of rejection. They lead lives of uncommon transparency and form small groups with extraordinary openness. Their transparency and openness give all the rest of us a taste of God’s amazing grace.

Brennan Manning’s most recent book is titled The Furious Love of God.  He begins the book with shocking transparency.  “I’m Brennan.  I’m an alcoholic.  How i got there, why I left there, why I went back, is the story of my life.  But it is not the whole story.  I’m Brennan.  I’m a Catholic.  How I got there, why I left there, why I went back, is also the story of my life.  But it is not the whole story.  I’m Brennan.  I was a priest, but am no longer a priest.  I was a married man but am no longer a married man.  How I got to those places, why I left those places, is the story of my life too.  But it is not the whole story.  I’m Brennan, I’m a sinner saved by grace.  That is the larger and more important story.  Only God, in his fury, knows the whole story”.  

Evidently, Brennan Manning is quite a sinner.  It’s shocking, really.  And to think that a Vineyard pastor is recommending that you purchase and read one of Brennan’s books—The Ragamuffin Gospel.  Do you really think Brennan Manning is a lot different than Paul, the author of Galatians? Paul was transparent enough with his young protege Timothy to disclose that he, Paul, was the worst of sinners.  Pick a sin, any sin.  Your worst-case sins were all being practiced in Paul’s day.  People who get grace find freedom, and real freedom is expressed in uncommon transparency.  Who are you really?  Are you ready to come to the table of faith, where no one needs to hide anything, because God’s grace is so amazing?

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