Los Alamos Church of Christ
Galatians 2:15-16
There is a story told about Margaret Thatcher during the time she was Prime Minister of England. Remember her? She was visiting an old folk’s home, going from room to room and meeting senior citizens who had lived there. One old lady showed no sign of realizing that she was shaking hands with the world-famous politician. “Do you know who I am?” asked Mrs. Thatcher. “No, dear,” replied the old lady, “but I should ask the nurse down the hall if I were you. She usually knows.”
That is the point of this sermon. Every now and then, we need to ask the nurse who we are. “Who are we? In order to find my freedom, I need to know who I am!” This is an interesting observation about our society. How many movies and TV shows have there been where the premise is the star got hit in the head and forgets who he is? What is the worst thing that can happen to us? What do we fear most? My vote would be Alzheimer’s. What could be worse than forgetting who you are?
In our Galatians’ passage this morning, Paul is going to argue that Peter had a case of spiritual amnesia and needed to remember who he really was. Because he forgot who he was, he stopped table fellowship with the Gentiles. Let’s pick up the action from last week in Galatians 2:11.
Galatians 2:11-14 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 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. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter 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?”
Paul called Peter a hypocrite. Before those “certain men” came Peter had fellowship with the Gentiles. But when “they” showed up Peter pulled back. He crawldadded. So, Paul accused Peter of wearing the mask of respectability and turning his back on those who needed his affirmation. Peter became the hypocrite and quit fellowshipping with the Gentles.
In the two verses we are going to explore this morning, Paul continued with the same accusation, but now Paul gave Peter the same advice the old lady gave to Margaret Thatcher, “You need to ask the nurse down the hall to find out who you are?” Listen to Galatians 2:15-16.
-------
Galatians 2:15-16 "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing 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 observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
Paul was telling Peter you have forgotten what it is all about. You have forgotten that your identity is found in by being justified by faith in Christ Jesus and not by observing the law. Peter forgot. Peter reverted to who he was before Jesus. He became the old Peter. The old Peter was who he was by virtue of the Jewish things he did. He crawdadded back to his Jewish identity; people who: were circumcised, people who don’t do anything on Saturday, people who didn’t eat pig or shrimp or anything unclean. And, worst of all, he became the people who didn’t eat with the pagans. Peter’s old identity of being a respectable Jew, his old view of himself was, “I don’t eat with the unclean.”
For that period of time Peter had spiritual amnesia. He forgot who he was in Christ. He thought he was one who was justified by observing his list of laws. So, in these two verses Paul told Peter, “Hey, go see the nurse down the hall and be reminded of who you really are in Christ!” You are not who you are by the list of things you do and don’t do. You are who you are by faith in Jesus Christ! And that is an all together different person!
-------
This morning I want to be clear. I want to us to really begin to get a handle on who we are. I want us to check in with the nurse down the hall and make sure we have our identity confirmed. Who are we? When it comes down to the heart, the essence, the core, the nitty-gritty, where the rubber meets the road – I always like a good car metaphor. - Where the BF Goodrich’s get together with the asphalt trying to get some traction. - Who are we?
Let’s start with the negative. Paul does. If we can find out who we are not, then that will help us to know who we are. If I am not you, then that helps me to know who I might be. Make sense?
Galatians 2:15-16 "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law.”
Paul says we are not justified by observing the law. We are not Brownie Point People. Our identity, what we are known for, our self-concept, our internal and external image, our persona, is not the stuff we do or the stuff we don’t do or the stuff we hammer others for doing. That is not supposed to be who we see looking back at us from the mirror.
“Contemporary "works of the law" may be defined as attitudes or activities which function in such a way as to usurp the grace of God; dispositions, whether religious or not, which aim to accomplish what the death of Christ accomplished. Illustrative are those individuals who set out to carve their own niches in life and who feel that by their personal achievements they can affect a relationship with God and inner peace for themselves. They live with the illusion, conscious or not, that God is to be won over from an antagonistic position.” -Charles Cousar-
What is he saying? Perhaps a graph will help. Everyone likes graphs. On one end, let’s say is zero and on the other end is 100. Each of us starts on the zero end; with only God’s anger. In fact we are big trouble; God is, after all, antagonistic toward us. God has to be convinced that we are worthy of being saved. But with every good thing we do, every accomplishment, every achievement, good work, every law we keep and every law we avoid to break, we earn Brownie points.
Don’t you love Brownie points? This is from Wikipedia, the repository of all knowledge: “Brownie points are a hypothetical social currency, which can be accrued by doing good deeds or earning favor in the eyes of another, often one's superior.” The origin of the term is uncertain. It might have come from the stamps you used to get for buying stuff. It could be from the Girl Scout “Brownies.” Or several other options. But Brownie Points are what can be earned on our graph. When we have earned 50 brownie points we move out of the lost zone and into the saved zone. But when we sin then we lose points. But being good people we want to get as close to 100 Brownie points as possible.
I don’t believe anyone really breaks it down like this, literally, but I think non-religious and church-going people alike, are tempted to fall into this kind of relationship with God. But the problem with this way of thinking, as Cousar says, is these “laws” are an attempt to accomplish what the death of Jesus on the cross accomplished.
But this is not who we are! We are not Brownie Point People. We are not those who are distinguished by a set of laws. We are not to be known as those people who are “against” all that stuff. Our image in the world of being hate-filled, ugly, anti-people is wrong. I think the problem stems from our not understanding who we are. So, positively, who are we then?
Galatians 2:16 "…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 observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
We are Jesus people. In opposition to Brownie point theology, our identity should be those who have faith in Jesus Christ. What does that mean? What do we look like? Who does the nurse down the hall tell us we are? Let’s look carefully at verse 16. It is an amazing verse, but difficult to translate. Let’s look at in from the Young’s Literal Translation.
YLT Galatians 2:16 having known also that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, if not through the faith of Jesus Christ, also we in Christ Jesus did believe, that we might be declared righteous by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law, wherefore declared righteous by works of law shall be no flesh.'
The actual translation is, we are who we are, because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ! It is all about Jesus. It is his faith, his obedience, his faithfulness in his mission which led him to the cross. We are who we are because of what Jesus did, not what we do. That is the contrast Paul is making; the contrast of our Brownie points and Jesus’ death. Our identity is solely Jesus. When we look in the mirror we see Jesus. Who are we? We are Jesus. He died on the cross for us to be him!
Perhaps another graph will help us be clear. This outline is Jesus. When we come to believe what Jesus did and have faith in his sacrifice, we are in Jesus. We will discover in Galatians 3:27 that when we make the commitment of baptism we will cloth ourselves with Christ. Our identity is not known by our Brownie points, but rather by our relationship with Christ; in Christ. We are known by our resemblance to Jesus. We want people to see Jesus when they look at us. That is who we are!
-------
Here is where the Goodyear’s get together with the interstate. When we forget who we are, we damage relationships. That is still what Paul is talking about in this passage. When we revert to being Brownie Point People then we have to make ourselves look good. I have to be respectable. I have to have more points than you. What if God grades on the curve? I have to make sure that my 50 points are enough. I have to get ahead of you. Ultimately Brownie Point People are competitive. They are concerned with what other people think. They are unsure about everything. They make up their own rules. It is all about ME! If it is all about me, then it can’t be about you. Relationships are damaged by Brownie Point People.
But if I am a Jesus person, it is not about me at all. It is about Jesus. It is about being Jesus. It is about being Jesus and being his self-denial. It is about behaving like Jesus. It is about table-fellowship with the Gentiles. When we know who we are, Jesus People, then we will begin to look like Jesus in all of our relationships.
-In my relationship with my family, I want to be Jesus to them in sacrifice.
-In my relationship with my church family, I want to be Jesus to them in grace.
-In my relationship with my work colleagues, I want to be Jesus to them in honesty.
-In my relationship with my neighbors, I want to be Jesus to them in love.
-In my relationship with my community, I want to be Jesus to them in sharing my faith.
Do we get it? We must remember who we are in every relationship. Brownie Point People damage relationships. Jesus’ People enhance relationships.
-------
It is also about freedom. There is an amazing freedom in not being you! You don’t have to respond to defend yourself or protect yourself or watch out for yourself. You can respond in any relationship as Jesus. Next week we are going to read Galatians 2:20. But let’s take a sneak peak at it here.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me
This year is about freedom. Remember our first three steps?
Step one – We Please God
Step Two – The Faith becomes Your Faith
Step Three – Be in fellowship
Avoid The Misstep of Hypocrisy
Step Four – Know who you are. You are Jesus.
The nurse down the hall occasionally needs to remind us who we are. We all have amnesia, every now and then. We all forget we are Jesus and get wrapped up in being us. But just like Paul gently reminded Peter who he was, let’s be the nurse to each other and remind each other that we are ultimately Jesus People!
Los Alamos Church of Christ
February 15, 2009
