Grace – Everywhere!

Text: Galatians 2:1-10

Focus: Grace
Function: To help people see the wide availability of grace (in a metaphor to poverty).
Form: Bible Study
Intro:

J. Hudson Taylor, a missionary hero of mine has a chapter in his autobiography titled: “The Button in the Honorable Back.”

• He was trying to share the gospel with the Chinese, but he was also confusing it with the English culture.

• The English Gentry wore topcoats with a button in the middle of the back that served absolutely no purpose.

• The Chinese had a hard time listening to him because that button made no sense to them.

• They thought that he was more interested in his mission than them.

• So, the title of the chapter is the turning point of his ministry.

• At that point, he put on traditional Chinese dress, adapted the 5 note scale of Chinese music to his Christian message and people started trusting in Jesus.

• His faith was about Jesus, not his culture.

That has been a difficult problem for Christians to overcome as they have shared their faith. I think a good thing has happened in the celebration of Easter and Christmas. The Orthodox Church celebrates Easter based on the Jewish Calendar, which is a truer time compared to when it actually happened. But the Church in the West changed the date to coincide with the coming of Spring and the celebration of Esther, the goddess of fertility, symbolized originally by the egg and the rabbit. The actual season of the year of Jesus' birth is anybody's guess, but the Church in the West, again, decided to celebrate it near the time of the Druid celebration of the beginning of Winter.

Some, of what you might call the more fundamentalist branches of Christianity have spoken against this with the argument that it was mixing paganism with the Christianity.

In an effort to maintain “purity of the faith” some have abandoned Christmas, others have called Easter “Resurrection Sunday” and others forbid anything not specifically commanded in the New Testament like musical instruments, birthday parties and etc..

And all of that is a lengthy introduction to this passage of scripture.

For this entire month, we are focusing on Grace.

And maybe you are wondering about the history lesson about different practices among Christians as an introduction to this scripture.

Well, that was exactly what is happening in this passage.

Brother Paul had been out on a missionary journey sharing the good news with the Roman world. Wherever he went, he met some opposition to his doctrine both by traditional Jewish followers and Christian Jewish followers.

He decides to check himself.

The text says: “by revelation, he went back to Jerusalem.”

He was consulting with the apostles who actually walked with Jesus. He explained to them just exactly what he was preaching and he asks them for their approval.

They acknowledged a few things to him.

1. First, he was called specifically to preach to Gentiles while Peter, and the rest in Jerusalem were called to the Jewish believers.

   1. Understand that the first Christians, by the thousands were Jewish.

   2. The faith isn't about one creed being better than another.

   3. The faith is about the completeness of the plan God had when He first called the Jews to be a blessing to the entire world.

2. Second, the expressions of those faiths would look different, and that was okay.

J. Hudson Taylor learned this:

• THE GOOD NEWS IS NOT ABOUT BRINING PEOPLE UP TO OUR STANDARDS OF LIVING AND IMPOSING OUR CULTURE ON THEM. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD HAS PROVIDED SALVATION FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.

The Jewish Christians came from a rich and proud history. There is a lot of beauty in their symbolism and meaning in their liturgy.

They did not want to give that up. But most of it didn't make sense to Gentiles.

God had already showed Peter that the Jewish dietary restrictions, the Jewish ban on entering a Gentile house, the Jewish practice of offering a sacrifice for sin, the Jewish practice of polygamy and many other things were done away with in the New Covenant.

Paul says it clearly in Romans 13: 8-10. (read)

So, all the Jewish functions of the law are done away with, and we will look at that a little farther in our study of Galatians.

So here he is in Jerusalem checking himself, asking the people who actually walked with Jesus if it really was okay.

Why did he doubt it?

I'll tell you why.

He was raised under the Jewish system of laws. He knew the story of the Old Testament and the Jewish people ignoring the law of God and God permitting them to be destroyed because they took His word lightly.

He knew the diligence which his sect, the Pharisees, carried out in allegiance to the law of Moses.

He didn't want to make a mistake. He has Jesus teaching to understand in light of this when Jesus says that not one crossing of the “t” or dotting of the “i” will be removed... … and if we break even the least of these commands...

Those are powerful words, and they do not contradict his statement that every command is summed up in the command to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

No, Jesus says, He fulfills them. And He fulfills them by grace.

This is scary stuff.

God severely disciplined the Jews for not keeping the “least of these commands.”

Aaron, the High Priest, right at the beginning of the Old Covenant has two sons who offered incense to God in an inappropriate manner, either it was the wrong formula, or they weren't ceremoniously clean, or, as my OT professor told us, the Jewish words meant they were drunk at the time. But the upshot was, as soon as it happened, they were stricken dead.

Saul, the first king of Israel was commanded to destroy the animals of the Amalekites when God extracted revenge on them because they wouldn't open their borders to the Jews. It seemed to be a small transgression, but God took away the kingdom from him.

It seemed to the Jewish people that God was a very harsh judge and pretty particular about obeying the OT law.

And Paul is teaching people they don't have to anymore. He has his doctorate in the Law. He was one of the best educated men in the world about the Law of Moses. And he is telling people it doesn't matter.

Now, I am not talking about a license to sin.

But the 1300 commands in the law were translated into over 13,000 commands in the Talmud so that the Jewish people could codify just exactly what was right and what was wrong.

They missed it. Jesus said, the code to get it right is one new, overarching command: Love one another. He is just re-stating, in very clear terms that Jesus meant what He said.

But he has a doubt. Is it because he remembers too much the history of his people? Is it because God wants him to go to Jerusalem to settle the question, not only for him but for Peter and the rest of the apostles as well?

We already saw that He went there to ask the question because of a revelation, a vision, or a dream or a word from God.

He brought a Gentile, and God was clear to him that Titus, the gentile did not need to be circumcised.

I think the doubt that he faced is the same one that people face today when they doubt that it is okay to call Resurrection Sunday: “Easter” or celebrate Christmas.

The doubt is this. Grace is too good to be true.

It is. Grace makes no sense. It goes against our whole ethic of living.

Nothing is free. I raised my kids with a strong work ethic. I taught them to always give more to their employer that what was expected because in the prosperity of their employer, they in turn would prosper. We did not tolerate laziness or excuses. If you had a job to do, you must get it done. We taught them to enjoy the reward in accomplishing something they didn't think they could do.

So here is Grace, free. We cannot earn it. It is free. But we are trained that we must earn what we receive. To get something for free is to take advantage of the one who has given it.

We are afraid of grace, because it makes us think that we are not being responsible. I have met several people who reject the entire concept of Christianity because of grace. They are convinced that grace means that there is no personal responsibility for ones actions.

And people not taking responsibility is a big part of our national crisis. I remember a woman who, after wrecking her Porsche 911 while driving it under the influence of alcohol, sued the company for making a car that was too hard to control if you were drunk!

We need to take responsibility.

I remember counseling with a crack addict once. She would call me: “Pastor, I did drugs again today, what do I do?” And I would respond with, have you tried “not taking drugs.”

One day, she said: “I just cannot take care of myself. Someone else has to be responsible for me.”

I asked her how she ate her last meal. After a few minutes of wrangling over words, she realized that she was the one who lifted the fork to her mouth and chewed her food. Taking care of herself was just as simple as that.

We need responsibility.

Am I saying that grace means we don't have to take responsibility?

When the apostle was asked the same question he said: “May it never be!”

God is counting on us to respond in live, with grace, to the grace He has given us.

But it is true, it could be. Because salvation is a gift. It is free. We cannot earn it.

And, that flies in the face of responsibility. As I mentioned, half the problem is that people no longer take responsibility for their own actions.

But before you say amen too much, I want you to look with me at the last verse of this passage.

The apostles approved completely all of Paul's theology, but they wanted to make one thing completely clear, “take care of the poor.”

(READ verse 10)

The sermon is about grace. “Grace -Everywhere!” is the title.

I just got through a long statement about the need for personal responsibility.

But understand this, you cannot earn salvation. In the case of eternal salvation, there is no price we can pay to redeem ourselves.

Grace is free.

So why end with this verse?

Well the obvious thing is this, and this relates to our current national crisis. There was only one thing that all the apostles wanted to make sure Paul understood. That the Church existed, on behalf of Jesus, to take care of the poor. Remember, they walked with Jesus for 3 years. And since Paul had the rest of it right, the one thing they wanted to stress to Him was that Jesus was very concerned with the welfare of the poor. They told Paul, the poor are the responsibility of the Church.

Hmmm.

Paul didn't walk 3 years with Jesus, so they didn't know if He understood just how important it is to Christ. They didn't know if he understood how much of the purpose and ministry of the Church was revolved around taking care of the poor.

Has that changed?

You, in order to be biblical will probably say “it shouldn't have.”

But why did it?

Well, the Church became the State Church in the third Century. It was funded by the Roman government. And, through the state church, which was an extension of the government, social welfare became the responsibility of the government.

And you know what happened to the Church?

That is when the church stopped growing so rapidly.

What looked like a blessing because a curse.

Up until that time, 95-100% of the churches assets went to the poor. That meant the churches met in homes, and most of the pastors served while working to support themselves.

People in the world saw what Jesus said come true when Jesus said: “They will know that you are My disciples when you have love for one another.”

Christians lived for heaven instead of retirement. Pastors shared authority with very competent lay leaders. The church was an organism and every member really was a minister.

That, I believe is still God's ideal.

And that speaks to our commitment as Christians to the poor. It is a metaphor for grace.

I wasn't flippant when I mentioned how I trained my own children to care for the poor. Because last week, when we were sitting around talking they began to question some of the statements I have been making on Facebook.

They wonder if I am being way to gracious and generous to the poor. They wonder if when I say those things that I don't mean that they should work hard.

I keep telling people, everyone is our neighbor. The prisoners I worked with 3 weeks ago, the undocumented resident, the crack addict, the undeserving welfare bum.

They wonder that if I say love them, does that mean that I don't believe in the hard work ethic I taught them?

I hope many of you have wondered the same thing about me. It would show that you are really thinking about it all.

So, let us talk about grace to the poor.

Do they deserve it? I mean, the lazy poor, not those who simply have no opportunity.

We are taught that there is no such thing as free lunch. If there is a deal too good to be true then it is.

If someone gives us something for nothing, we are not to take it because it isn't right.

Except, that is what we believe about grace.

And right here, in this passage about grace, and Paul himself wondering if it is too good to be true, we have this problem.

I am not going to answer this question, because I don't know the answer. I agreed with my sons when they pointed out inconsistencies with my logic. I don't have all the answers.

I was inconsistent with the young woman who was a crack addict. I told her I could not help her until she was willing to help herself. I was not going to let her addiction be my responsibility. It would not have helped her. I am not Jesus. In a sense, I stopped giving her grace.

So, I am going to leave you hanging with unanswered questions. You are all smart enough to figure it out for yourselves and your answers will be as diverse as this crowd.

Here are the questions:

• “Just how far does grace go?

• Does grace extend to someone we think is lazy?

• Does grace extend to someone we think is truly evil, whose sin is completely unacceptable?

• Does grace extend to my own sin?

• And if grace does extend to my darkest sins, how far do I have to go to extend it to others?

When I think about what grace actually means, I have one response, I raise my hands in worship to a God who loves His creation so much.

God gave grace to bring people back into His family. Have you come to Him?