A Different Gospel – 08/03/2025

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today.
It is enough that you know our name
It is enough that you call us
Each of us
To you

It is enough that you hold us close
Walk us along
That you meet us in our loneliness
Our disappointment
Our fading hopes
Our burning anxieties
That you restore us
Make us whole
Bring us to life

It is enough that you invite us to
Work with you
Alongside
Together
In the little things
On the margins
In the world as it is

Protect us from our desires to be big
Great
Important.
From our desires to dominate
Control
Impress
From our need to be the center
The people of power
People of wealth
People of influence

It is enough to be great
As you have described greatness
To serve
To give
To sacrifice
To love
All who come into our lives

Lord it is enough that you know our name
It is enough that you call us
Each of us
To you
Because then,
we are yours.
It is enough
It is more than enough
It is everything
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

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 Galatians 2:11-16

Intro: If you remember from last week, Paul is telling his story

Now, at the end of his autobiography he mentions Peter (Cephas)
– this is the only record of them ever having a personal encounter
• as Paul approaches the primary purpose of his letter
• he uses this story to illustrate his central point
– the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem recognized
the difference between his ministry and Peter’s
“they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted to the circumcised” (v. 7)
• he used those “circumcision” terms to distinguish between Gentiles and Jews, because he wanted to make a point
• they all belonged to Jesus, but Jewish believers had an obligation that did not apply to Gentiles
◦ circumcision is shorthand for all the laws of Moses

There’s a chapter from life Peter that is relevant to Paul’s theology

It’s a tale of two visions, both received in seaside cities
– the Romans had a garrison posted in Caesarea
• Cornelius was the centurion in charge of the troops there
◦ after being exposed to Judaism, he became a God-fearer (though not a proselyte)
• he was devout, generous with charity to needy people, and prayed continuously
– one afternoon an angel appeared to him in a vision
• he told Cornelius to send messengers to Joppa (a few miles south of Caesarea)
◦ they were to inquire for a man, Simon-Peter
◦ and bring him to Caesarea – that was the angel’s message, nothing more

The next day, Peter, who was staying in a home in Joppa,
– went up on the roof to pray, while a meal was being prepared in the house
• he fell into a trance, and saw a vision in which the sky opened
◦ a landscape appeared as if spread across an enormous sheet
◦ a voice told him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat”
• but instead, Peter argued that he did not anything unkosher (unclean or common)
◦ the voice answered,
“What God has made clean, do not call common”
◦ this was repeated two more times
(significant things happened for Peter in threes: his denial of Jesus, his reconciliation with Jesus, and now this)
– while Peter was trying decipher the meaning of his vision, Cornelius’ messengers came to the home,
• they asked if a man named Simon-Peter was there
◦ at that moment, the Spirit told him to go with them
“without discrimination”

Cornelius had invited all of his relatives to be there,
– and we’re given a vivid sense of what Peter felt entering his home.
• as he stepped into a room crowded with Gentiles
◦ immediately Peter began to explain and justify his presence there
“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation”
◦ that wasn’t in the law of Moses, but for the devout believer, Jewish tradition had become law
◦ what Peter says next solves the puzzle of his vision
“but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:28)
• Peter then told them the story of Jesus
◦ and while he was still talking, the Spirit fell on all of them
“And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45)
– afterward, Peter returned to Jerusalem and we’re told,
“the circumcision part criticized him, saying, ‘You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them’”
• so Peter had to tell them the whole story
“When they heard these things the fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life’” (Acts 11:18)|
• Peter witnessed with his own eyes God’s merciful acceptance of Gentile followers

Now we can catch up on what Paul tells us about Peter

First he says Peter had come to Antioch
– we’ve seen that this was the first Gentile mega-church
• in fact, we learn something important about this church
“And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26)
◦ what is the significance of that statement?
• a new spiritual movement was collecting many people
◦ but what were they?
◦ they were none of the Roman religions and not the Jewish religion either
• so the people in Antioch labeled them by what they heard from them
◦ and what they heard from them was Jesus the Christ
◦ “Christian” became the name for members of the new Gentile church
• this was the formation of a new identity
◦ now Jesus’ church consisted of two distinct cultures

When Peter first arrived in Antioch, he mingled with Gentiles

This is what he had learned from his vision
– but visitors came from Jerusalem,
• and they happened to belong to “the circumcision party”
◦ that means they imposed the law of Moses on Gentile Christians
• if the believers in Antioch weren’t circumcised,
◦ then “religious” Jews could not have close association with them
◦ last week I read to you from Acts 15
“But some men came down [to Antioch] from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’” (Acts 15:1)
– what happened to Peter? Paul says,
“he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party”
• perhaps afraid of their criticism or judgmental nature
◦ perhaps he assigned them too much respect
• so he separated himself from the Gentile believers
◦ an interesting side note is that the word Pharisee means “separate” (one)
◦ and, sadly, Peter’s actions influenced others

Peter had to be corrected, and it had to be in front of the community
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?”

Justified by Faith

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 Galatians 2:14-16

Paul put a label to Peter’s actions: hypocrisy
– he was acting like one kind of person around Gentiles,
• and another kind of person around the ultra-rigid believers from Jerusalem
• it was alright for the ultra-rigid to maintain their Jewish identity,
◦ but there were two problems:
they were not to force Gentiles into a Jewish identity
their strict behavior was not their salvation
– Peter’s actions are an illustration of what salvation is not

Which brings Paul to what was for him the central message of gospel
“yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus”
– in his letter to the Romans, he explains this in detail
• to be justified means to be made righteous
◦ this is the central requirement for finding acceptance with God
◦ we’ve seen that righteousness is not ethical, but relational
• in two verses, Paul uses word “justified” three times
◦ and his emphasis is on how it replaces “the works of the law”
◦ for both Jew and Gentile, this meant freedom!
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1)
– Paul said that Peter “drew back and separated himself”
• in other words, he knew better – he had that awesome vision
• sometimes we feel like returning a rigid religious regimen because we thought it was “safe”
◦ if we become afraid and have doubts about God’s acceptance of us,
◦ we might be tempted to draw back to a do-it-yourself salvation
◦ the benefit: it creates for us the illusion of certainty
• sometimes old people panic over all the changes in the world
◦ then they’re tempted to return to a previous rigidity that made them feel more secure
– I saw this happen in the ministry of two men I greatly respect
• during the period of Calvary Chapel’s greatest growth, the theme of my Dad’s ministry was grace
◦ but in the last period of his ministry, drew back to fundamentalism
• in John Wimber’s early ministry, mercy was his key theme
◦ that brought me much needed healing from my damaged past
◦ but later on what I heard was a persistent emphasis on repentance
and exactly the condemnation that was rife in my Pentecostal upbringing

Conclusion: There is much about Judaism that is attractive

Some people assume that Messianic Christianity is the authentic brand
But referring to Jesus as Yeshuah Messhiach doesn’t bring anyone closer to God

I can tell you from my childhood in a legalistic religious subculture,
trying to make ourselves holy, only makes us weird
Don’t go backwards – don’t doubt God’s love for you
Trust his grace and mercy – and continue to be a good person