SERIES: Galatians: The Gospel for Everyday Life

TEXT: Galatians 2:1-16

MESSAGE: Gospel Culture: Living In Alignment

“It’s estimated that the average adult living in the United States will spend 90,000 hours — or one-third of their lives — at work. That’s a lot of time, so it’s important for people to choose jobs that they enjoy. But during the job search process, it’s easy to focus only on the duties of the role. What is often overlooked is the workplace culture, which is more important when it comes to long-term job satisfaction. A poor workplace culture can negatively impact a person’s wellbeing…In contrast, people working in companies that have a positive corporate culture are healthier, happier, more productive, and less likely to leave.” — Harvard

What do they mean by culture?

“If the Lord’s bearing our sin for us is not the gospel, I have no gospel to preach.” — Charles H. Spurgeon

“The gospel must impact how we view everything and there are issues that will be extremely important, but those issues cannot handle the weight of being the single thing or the main thing in a church…Nothing but the gospel can handle the weight and pressure of being a church’s main thing.”— Eric Geiger

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…” — Romans 1:16

“What is a gospel-centered church? One that explicitly and intentionally connects its teaching, programs, ministry philosophy, and mission to the content of the gospel…” — Jared Wilson

TEXT: Galatians 2:1-16

Q: How does Paul show us what a gospel-centered culture looks like?

“Paul’s visit to Jerusalem established the great, uniting truth that we are saved by faith in Christ; nothing else, and nothing more. Now he switches his focus from standing alongside Peter in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, to standing against him in Antioch, a Gentile city. Both times, what matters to Paul more than anything is the gospel—the gospel which, in this passage, he summarizes for the first time in the letter as “justification by faith.” — Timothy Keller

To have a healthy “gospel culture” is to see the gospel…(1. Example 2. Examination 3. Expectation)

1. The Gospel Example (v. 11-13)

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.“

“With our mouths we say, ‘Christ alone is what makes me acceptable,’ but in our hearts we add Christ and financial freedom, Christ and approval of my parents, Christ and the respect of or the happiness of my children, Christ and the acceptance of a peer group, Christ or something. But anything you add to Jesus Christ as a requirement for being happy will become a slave master that will strangle you, will drive you into the ground, and will hang you by the neck until dead.” — Sue Lutz

2. The Gospel Examination (v. 14)

“But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

“The conflict in Antioch did not reveal a fundamental difference in theology. It revealed a temporary lapse of faith in the hearts of Peter and Barnabas, which Paul said was out of step with the gospel and, indeed, with their own convictions (hence the term “hypocrisy”).” — John Piper

“Paul’s approach makes all the difference. Paul did not simply say: You’re breaking the rules (even though Peter was), but: You’ve forgotten the gospel: your own gracious welcome in Christ. Paul did not focus so much on the sinful behavior as on the sinful attitude of self-righteousness that lay beneath it. This is the Christian way of “opposing” someone. When you are trying to motivate people by urging them to see their riches and love in Christ, then you personally are pointing to their value and dignity as you appeal. But when you try to motivate people by threatening them, you will probably feel little respect for them as you do so, and they will (rightly) sense that you are not on their side. When we use God’s grace as a motivator, we can criticize sharply and directly, but the other person will generally be able to perceive we are nonetheless for them.” — Timothy Keller

3. The Gospel Expectation (v. 15-16)

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

“At once I know that…they are still thinking in terms of themselves; their idea still is that they have to make themselves good enough to be a Christian…it sounds very modest but it is the lie of the devil, it is a denial of the faith…you will never be good enough; nobody has ever been good enough. The essence of the Christian salvation is to say that He is good enough and that I am in Him!” — Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

TAKEAWAYS: Two diagnostic questions to align us with the gospel

1. Do you see the difference? 

2. Have you received the gift?

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” — Galatians 2:20