“One Lord, One Lord’s Table”
(Galatians 2:11-16)
Series: Set Free To Be Free (Galatians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
Amen! Be seated if you can. I love you all so much and I always enjoy worshiping with you and preaching the Word. I am grateful, too, for your response to our church vision for the coming weeks and months: 40ByFall—40 new believers led to Christ and baptized here in our baptistry by Fall of this year. 40ByFall. Several of you shared with me after last Sunday morning’s message that you are “on board” with this vision, many of you indicating your prayerful support and desire to reach out and share Jesus and invite folks to be with us. If you missed last Sunday morning, you can listen to the sermon or read it on our website—all Sunday morning sermons available for free each week in both audio and written form at our church website.
We heard from one fella who was listening last week on the radio. We’re blessed to have our Sunday morning message go out on WSON radio and this young man was listening in last week. He wrote us a letter. I’ll read just an excerpt:
Dear Church,
Greetings in Jesus’ wonderful name! Today is April 2nd, 2017, and I’m able to listen to the AM service on WSON radio, for my very first time ever…I look forward to catching it every Sunday from now on. Thank you! I also enjoyed the song, “Because He Lives,” it just hit the spot in this place of spiritual turmoil. [He is an inmate in the Henderson County Detention Center].
He mentions the video clip we showed last week about inviting people—goulash! That it sounded funny and he appreciated the sermon text from Galatians 2, mentioning our sermon series, “Set free to be Free.”
He shares a bit about his family, asking for prayers for his wife of 14 years and their 4 children. He says: “This has posed a hardship on my family visits, but it’s not the end of the world, just an inconvenience for us in life. Anyway, I shall add you all, and the vision of 40ByFall to be baptized in my prayers. That sounds awesome.”
He mentions he himself has yet to be baptized, not having the opportunity, though he believes in it. He closes the letter mentioning a few other things and closes with, “Thank you once again, for any prayers for us. May God richly bless,” and signs his name.”
Amen and praise God!
Take your Bibles and join me this morning in Galatians, chapter 2 (p.784; YV).
In a few moments we’re going to observe the Lord’s Supper together, remembering the work of Christ by eating bread and drinking the cup, symbols of His body and blood; His body crucified on the cross, the cup of the vine symbolizing HIs blood shed for forgiveness of our sin. The Lord’s Supper is for Christians. If you are not a Christian, we invite you to turn to Christ as Savior. Trust Him as Lord.
It is providential that our passage of Scripture in Galatians 2 addresses the behavior of Christians during a mealtime, specifically talking about eating together. We are in a series of messages, verse-by-verse, through the Book of Galatians, and we pick up at verse 11 of chapter 2 and we’ll read this morning through verse 16.
Verse 11 introduces a problem. It’s kind of jarring to read it. Paul has just written on how there was harmony and unity among the apostles as to the message of the gospel. We studied that truth last week in the opening verses of chapter 2—but then we read of a clash now between Paul and Peter. Paul says in verse 11, “Now when Peter (or Cephas) had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed,” or, “he was in the wrong.”
So we’re going to be reading about something Peter was doing wrong here. It wasn’t Peter’s belief that was the problem, it was his behavior. He believed rightly, he behaved wrongly. He distanced himself from those who were not Jewish—and Paul calls him out on his behavior. Listen for that as I read the passage.
Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
11 Now when Peter (or Cephas) had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Pray.
The title of our message is, “One Lord, One Lord’s Table.” This title is owing to what Paul does here in this confrontation with Peter. We’ll see this morning as we go back through these verses that—had Paul not called Peter out for his hypocrisy, the church would have likely split into two factions—Jewish followers of Jesus and non-Jewish (or Gentile) followers of Jesus. These two groups would have separated from one another, especially at mealtimes, including the Lord’s Supper, resulting in a belief in one Lord, but two Lord’s tables, whereas Christianity is about “One Lord, One Lord’s Table.” Let’s make our way through the passage, making sure we understand it’s meaning—and then we’ll apply the passage in timers of it’s meaningfulness. Okay? Verse 11:
11 Now when Peter (or Cephas) had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
Paul mentions something that happened in Antioch, this was the old capital of Syria, Antioch, the place where we are told believers were first called Christians. Peter is there and he and Paul have words. Paul says, “I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed.” Another translation has, “I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong.” What was wrong? Verse 12:
12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
Paul explains that there were these men who came from Jerusalem, they came, verse 12 says, “from James” and we may well put that phrase in scare quotes, “from James” because we learn later in the Book of Acts that there were apparently these guys who claimed to have the backing of the Apostle James. They came “from James” and they brought this message that in order for a non-Jew, a Gentile, to be really accepted by God he needed to believe in Jesus and also become a Jew. It was not enough to believe in Christ, one also had to keep the Mosaic Law, the ceremonial law including the Jewish rite (or ritual) of circumcision.
One had to keep the dietary laws, as well. There were certain foods you could eat (Kosher!) and certain foods you could not eat. Now, by the way, church family, what is the name of these false teachers, these teachers who said you had to become Jewish in order to be saved? Judaizers. Right. The Judaizers were all about making people Jewish. They wanted to “Judaize” them.
So these Judaizers came from the Jewish HQ, Jewish Headquarters, in Jerusalem—this is where the half-brother of Jesus, James, was regarded as head of the church. So these Judaizers claimed to have come “from James” and they showed up in Antioch with their twisted message: “Unless you become Jewish you can’t be accepted by God.” And Peter, a Jewish believer who, in verse 12, previously had no problem eating with the Gentiles, was now under pressure by these guys. How many of you have heard of peer pressure?
And Peter felt so pressured by these fellas that verse 12 says, “he withdrew and separated himself, fearing” these guys, fearing “those who were of the circumcision,” a way of labeling these Judaizers. Peter was like, “Man, I don’t want to get into it with these Judaizers. I’m afraid of what they’ll think of me or say of me.” Get the picture? Verse 13:
13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
In other words, Peter’s actions, where he caved under peer pressure from the Judaizers, Peter’s actions negatively influenced others, even good old Barnabas! Paul labels Peter’s behavior in verse 13 as “hypocrisy.”
It’s like, “Peter, how can you say that you believe everyone is accepted by God through faith in Christ alone, and then go on acting like there is some kind of hierarchy in Christianity, like the Jewish believers are somehow more spiritual or more accepted by God than non-Jews? So you separate yourself from the others as though God had two tables for two types of Christians?! Everyone is equally accepted by God not on the basis of what they do, but on the basis of who they know—Jesus.”
So Paul calls Peter out. He says in verse 14:
14 But when I saw that they (Peter and the other Jewish believers with him) were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel (that their behavior was not in step with the gospel), I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you (or, how can you) compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Here is the hypocrisy. Paul says, “Look, Peter, you are a Jew by birth and, because of the gospel, you now know that you have been set free from the works of the law, set free from the Mosaic system of dietary laws so that, in many ways, you live like a non-Jew, like a Gentile—and for good reason! You have been liberated from the Jewish laws—so—if that is true, Peter, if you have discarded your Jewishness and have, in a manner of speaking, become a Gentile—then why, oh why, are you now acting as though Gentiles must become Jewish?!” Verse 15:
15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners (scare quotes; “sinners”) of the Gentiles,
That is, “We Jews know that, when it comes to our being accepted by God, we have no advantage over non-Jews, over the Gentiles, over ‘sinners!’” We are all sinners and all accepted the same way, set right with God not by rule-keeping, but by faith in Christ. Verse 16:
16 knowing that a man is not justified (set right with God) by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Here is for the first time now in Galatians this great word, “justification.” It occurs in one form or other three times in verse 16. It means to be set right with God or, as I often say, to be declared “not guilty” of all sin. It is the opposite of the word “condemnation.” Condemnation is guilt. Condemned; guilty. Justification is non-guilt. Not guilty. Set right with God. Accepted by God. Declared righteous by God.
So Paul teaches that all persons are accepted by God not on the basis of their works, like keeping the Old Testament Law, but on the basis of the righteousness of Christ—justified or declared righteous by Jesus Christ.
And Paul is emphatic here at the end of verse 16: “for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” That is, “No person will be saved by what they do. No person can be saved by being good. No person gets to heaven by doing good deeds or giving money to the poor, or working our way into heaven.” By the works of the law no person can be justified, declared not-guilty, or set right with God. The only way to be justified, declared not-guilty, and set right with God is by believing in Jesus Christ, justified by faith and not by the works of the law.
This truth—justification by faith in Christ alone—is a truth we will come back to again and again in the coming weeks; and especially next week on Easter Sunday we will stress this truth because the most popular belief in America is that we are saved by what we do.
I mean, think of it: When you ask someone about their belief in God or how they hope to enter heaven, how often do they answer this way:
Well, I’ll tell you what—I know my only hope of being forgiven is in Christ alone! I mean, I’m a sinner separated by God because of my sin—He’s separated from me because of His holiness. It’s a dual separation! And I know I am a sinner to the core, a sinner by nature and a sinner by choice. I know I can’t be good enough to please God. I’m a sinner for crying out loud. The good I want to do, I don’t do—the bad stuff I hate, that’s what I end up doing! I know my only hope is in Christ, the one who loved me and lived a perfect life on my behalf and died, taking the punishment for my sin, rising from the dead that I may be justified, declared righteous, set right with God. So, if I am to be saved, it will be only through faith in Jesus Christ alone!!
How often do you get that kind of answer?! Rather, folks respond the same way you responded before you were saved, right?! Same kind of response. You usually get something like, “Well, I’m not perfect, but I hope I’ve done enough good to get into heaven. By the way, you need to talk to my neighbor. He’s the one who really needs you, that guy across the street, lawn always needs cutting, let’s his dogs roam the neighborhood. Go talk to him.”
So we’ll have a clear gospel message next Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection. You invite folks to come and they’ll always hear the gospel, every Sunday.
Now, I want to give two main points of application this morning. I’m not a math guy, but math was on my mind in my study this week. We have “One Lord, and not two Lord’s tables,” but, “One Lord, One Lord’s Table” and then these points of application:
**Gospel Application Equations:
I. Right Belief + Wrong Behavior = Hypocrisy
We can believe the right stuff about the gospel and fail to apply it. This was Peter’s problem. It wasn’t what he believed, but how he behaved. Right belief must be followed by right behavior. It it is not, it will lead to hypocrisy.
That’s what Paul calls it in verse 13, remember? Verse 13: “”And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”
The word hypocrisy is a Greek word that is used in the theater to describe the wearing of a mask. Like an actor who acts like somebody he isn’t. As Christians we are hypocrites when we say we believe the gospel, but we don’t live it out. Our behavior contradicts our belief. It’s like we put on a mask everywhere we go out among other Christians, but then we take that mask off when we really want to live our own lives.
And this is hypocrisy because we say we believe the gospel, but we don’t live it out in a way that glorifies Jesus and blesses others. Right belief plus wrong behavior equals hypocrisy.
Now, by the way, let me say that we are all hypocrites on some level. None of us consistently behaves the way we are suppose to behave. This is precisely why we need Jesus! That’s the point of the gospel. So we all battle hypocrisy. That’s why when people say to me, “Well, I’m not going to church. The church if full of hypocrites,” I respond: “No, the church isn’t full of hypocrites—we’ve got room for more!” The difference is that, if we love Jesus, we hate our hypocrisy and we confess it and repent of it again and again as we grow in Christlikeness.
A real danger here is that our hypocrisy affects others. Peter’s wrong behavior affected Barnabas’ behavior, didn’t it? Peter’s hypocrisy led to Barnabas’ hypocrisy.
That’s a chilling fact, isn’t it? My behavior will either lead others closer to Jesus or push them further away.
Some years ago I read a book by Steven Arterburn and Fred Stoeker called, Every Man’s Battle. I remember reading I think it was Fred, who was tracing his battles with lust to his earliest years. In the book he shares an experience about how when he was young, his father dropped him off at the barbershop to get his haircut. And while he was there waiting his turn, he recognized a man from his church, a deacon I believe. And he watched that deacon as he picked up some of those dirty magazines there at the barber shop, Playboy, something like that. And this deacon was looking at the pictures. And Fred said that he knew that the deacon didn’t recognize him and didn’t know who he was, that he went to the same church. But his point was, the actions of this man, his hypocrisy, was on full display and even unintentionally had a negative impact upon others, including young boys in the barbershop.
The word Paul uses to address Peter’s hypocrisy is found in verse 14 where Peter says, “they were not straightforward about the truth.” Another translation has, “their conduct was not in step with the truth.” That’s an even better translation because the words “not straightforward” are literally “not ortho-walking,” ortho as in orthodontist, a person who straightens our teeth.”
Peter was not “ortho-walking.” Not walking in step with the gospel. Are you?
Right Belief + Wrong Behavior = Hypocrisy. Number two:
II. Right Belief + Right Behavior = Unity
All Christians are equal in the sight of God. Regardless of culture, background, ethnicity, and so on, we are one in Christ Jesus. There is no hierarchy, no ladder of approval or acceptance.
When we know that we are accepted by God, not on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, it motivates us to live for Him and serve Him. It is this love that motivates us to reach out to others. Disciples making disciples.
One of our young ladies in the congregation emailed me last week about her growth in the Lord, about loving the Sunday school material on discipleship and growing in her own understanding of discipleship, also having read the chapter in the theology book we mentioned last Sunday morning, the chapter on baptism. She adds this:
I wanted to comment on…40 by Fall. Thank you so much for sharing that vision with us. I have a family of four that I have been reaching out to. They believe in God but don’t have that personal relationship with Jesus. I met this lady at a doctors office. She works in an office that I have to visit frequently. God laid her on my heart a while back and I keep on talking to her. This week I took an Easter invite card and gave her and talked to her about our services.
I thought back to the video that you showed us this past Sunday and I had to laugh because even as quiet as I am, it was no where near as awkward as the men in the video. Of course I have been building a relationship with her over several months but this is the first time that I have invited her to church.
If everyone in our church invests in just one person who is lost, think of how many seeds that would be planted for our LORD to work on the harvest…I am now refocused and determined to start obeying the great commission. I have started by talking to this woman at my doctors office and I want to be able to disciple her and her family so I am going to continue talking with her and praying for her and her family.
Praise God!
There is no hierarchy, no ladder of approval or acceptance before God. This truth is reflected in our partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
Tim Keller is helpful here:
We may feel uncomfortable around people whose cultural emphases are different to ours. And we may respond to all this as Peter did, in apparently well-mannered ways. We politely sit by “those other people” in church, but we won’t “eat” with them; we won’t really become friends with them. We won’t socialize with them, sharing our lives and homes and things with them. We will keep relationships formal and see them at official church meetings only. All this comes from not living in line with the gospel. Without the gospel, our hearts have to manufacture self-esteem by comparing our group with other groups. But the gospel tells us we are all unclean without Christ, and all clean in Him.
Isn’t that great?! Peter was seeking the approval of others. He was seeking a sense of validation and acceptance from others. But though the gospel we enjoy our approval and acceptance by God! And when we know we are accepted by Him through faith in Christ, we have a love for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, background, geographical location, and social status. Unity.
The Lord’s Supper is a picture of unity. We gather together as a community of faith, one family, to both remember and proclaim Christ’s work on our behalf. The Lord’s Supper is a family meal. We are reminded of our unity as the body of Christ.
The physical act of eating and drinking corresponds to the mental act of remembering the Lord’s work—remembering Jesus lived a life of righteousness, died a substitutionary death in payment for our sins, and conquered death by rising from the grave. We remember these things and we proclaim these things during the supper.
I’m going to pray in a moment and then we’re going to sing a song that encourages examination and remembrance. While our deacons serve you the bread and the cup, we’ll all sing, surveying the wondrous cross together, preparing to eat the bread—the symbol of Christ’s body, and preparing to drink of the cup—the symbol of Christ’s blood.
We’ll sing the first three verses of this great hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” and then I’ll lead you in taking the elements, eating the bread, drinking the cup. Let’s pray.
Pray: “Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, the one who died for us. The one who is coming back to us. We thank you that because of Jesus we can be forgiven of our sin and live in a way that draws people closer to You. Forgive us for our sins. We repent. We love you and we thank you for the hope we have in Christ. In His name we pray, amen.”
While the deacons serve you, remain seated, and sing this great hymn together:
1
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
2
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
3
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
“The Bible says that on the same night in which Jesus was betrayed, that He took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).
[Eat bread]
“Then the Bible says that in the same manner, Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:25-26).
[Drink cup]
Amen. Stand now and let’s sing the final verse, Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all! Let’s sing.
4
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Amen!
#40ByFall
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