Sermon Text: Galatians 2:11–16
Date: September 10, 2023
Event: Proper 18, Year A (The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost)
Galatians 2:11–16 (EHV)
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. 12For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group. 13And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not acting according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, “If you, a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?”
15“We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 16We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”
Love Confronts Sin
You can feel the knots in your stomach. You must have that uncomfortable conversation with that loved one. They’re probably going to be angry or ashamed; you’ll probably feel awkward and unsure of yourself. There are likely to be tears on both sides. So why go through that? Why force yourself into a conversation that you can predict is likely to produce difficult emotions and behavior?
Well, probably because whatever it is, it’s important. You wouldn’t go through that just to make someone upset. You wouldn’t address a problem just to feel superior. If you were doing that, you probably wouldn’t have knots in your stomach at all. You’d probably feel bold and maybe even a touch reckless. But what produces that sinking feeling? It’s probably because you care very much about that person and want the best for them—and this difficult conversation is a necessary step on that path.
This morning’s focus for our worship is about confronting sin, an immensely uncomfortable situation all around. Few people enjoy it—especially if they’re going about it for the right reasons—and even fewer people enjoy being the object of it. But today we’ll see God’s direction to us both a sin-confronters and those being confronted with our sins, and examining what the spirit and motivation should be on both sides of that equation.
In our Second Reading for this morning, we have Paul’s accounting of what was certainly a rather uncomfortable situation. Paul says that he had to confront “Cephas” in the city of Antioch. This is Peter, the disciple and apostle Jesus, one who had been following Jesus for far longer than Paul had and notably had never once persecuted Christians, something that Paul could not claim. So, this confrontation would undoubtedly been extremely uncomfortable for Paul.
To understand what the issue is here with what Peter was doing and Paul was addressing, we need to back up a bit. We know that in the Old Testament, God had given his people very strict religious laws to follow. There was a complex system of offerings and sacrifices; there was clean and unclean food and other items that they were to embrace or stay away from; there was circumcision as a sign and reminder of the covenant promises God had made to his people through Abraham.
Most of these laws had the purpose of either emphasizing the reality of sin and its need for death to bring out forgiveness (as would be the case in the sacrificial system) or as a broad reminder that God’s people were not to blend in and behave like the world around them. They were to be different, set apart, because God had called them to be different. They were to be the family line of the Savior of the world, so they had to be reserved for that purpose, to live as the chosen people of God.
But, when Jesus came and did his work, the need to preserve a special line of the Savior disappeared—he had already come! Likewise, the need for the sacrificial system vanished as well because the true sacrifice that all of those animals pointed towards had been offered when he gave his life on the cross. You don’t stare at someone’s shadow when they’re standing right in front of you; likewise, you don’t look to animal sacrifices to take care of sin when Jesus’ perfect and complete sacrifice is right here.
But then this was the rub—during these very early days of the Christian church, after Jesus completed his work and the gospel began to be spread by the apostles, we find believers in a time of transition. They need to change the way they think—less about rules to be kept while waiting for the promised Savior and more focus on the Savior who had come and kept all the rules in their place. God had to directly intervene for Peter early in the books of Acts to show him that there is no longer any distinction between clean and unclean animals; he could eat what he wanted. That all served as a reminder that they were no longer to stay separate from the rest of the world, but they were to embrace those who were not Jewish, the Gentiles, by clearly and directly sharing the good news about Jesus with them (Acts 10-11).
As you can imagine, it was difficult for people to transition from the way of life they had known from birth to something new—especially if some of this new system might have felt wrong. In this case, it would be necessary for the messengers of the gospel to make these shifts, but we can understand the friction they would feel, perhaps even some crises of conscience.
This led to a problem within the young Christian church. A group who came to be known as the Judaizers started warping the gospel message. Their message essentially boiled down to, “Yes, Jesus is good and necessary. But to benefit from Jesus’ work and forgiveness, you need to keep the law God gave to our ancestors.” This was most commonly brought up in regard to circumcision—that faith in Jesus as Savior was good, but in order for people to go to heaven, circumcision still had to be carried out. It was a teaching that made outward works done by people as important if not more important than what Jesus had done. This is a clear threat to people’s souls because if we depend on anything we do for any amount or portion of our forgiveness, we stand condemned.
These false and deluded messengers were traveling throughout the region of Galatia spreading this confusing and dangerous teaching. So, the letter to the Galatians, likely Paul’s earliest letter in the New Testament, addresses this head-on. As early as Chapter 1, verse 6, Paul calls out this false teaching for what it is: “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is really not another gospel at all. There are, however, some who are trying to disturb you by perverting the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven would preach any gospel other than the one we preached to you—a curse on him! As we have said before, so I now say again: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than the one you received—a curse on him!” (Galatians 1:6-9).
So, this brings us to our Second Reading from midway through this letter to the Galatians and the events that were going on in Antioch. Paul says, “Before some people came from James, [Peter] ate with the Gentiles. But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group.” The “circumcision group” are the Judaizers, those who demanded the people need to be circumcised to be saved. So, what happened? Peter was doing a good job being a messenger and missionary to the Gentiles, to the non-Jewish people, until some Jewish people came from Jerusalem to see him. After that, he withdrew from the Gentiles and spent time only with the Jewish visitors, and we’re even told his motivation: fear.
And you can see the confusion and damage Peter’s actions could have, right? If there is this false teaching that people still need to follow the Jewish laws to be saved floating around and then, once these Jewish folks show up, Peter withdraws to only be with them, does that not grant legitimacy to this false teaching? People could very likely think, “Well, if even Peter thinks this is the way to go, then we probably should follow his lead.” And Paul says that’s exactly what happened, that even a stalwart in the early Christian church like Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
Peter was wrong. He was leading people astray and at worst was endangering people’s faith with his sin. Someone had to do something, and that someone was Paul: But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. When Paul saw the sin face-to-face, he confronted Peter face-to-face. Why did he do that? Not because he wanted to gain notoriety among the Christians, not because he wanted to hurt Peter’s reputation or his feelings, but it was because of love. Paul didn’t want Peter led astray by his sin and threaten his faith, he didn’t want others led astray by this error and false teaching. Paul confronted the sin because he loved Peter and wanted to bring him back.
And that’s the same motivation we should have whenever we confront someone with their sin. We are not looking to “win” or prove how much better of a person we are than them (because we’re not!), nor are we trying to humble them and bring them down. No, Jesus is clear why you would go and show the fault to your brother who sins against you—to win him over, to win him back, to lead him to repentance.
When sin is out of control it divides us from God and can separate us from his forgiveness. We don’t want that to happen to anyone, so we talk to them about it. We don’t want that to happen to us, so we should look forward to someone speaking to us about our sins, as difficult as that conversation may be in the moment.
The end goal is not making someone feel bad but rejoicing together in the forgiveness of Jesus. That is repentance: not just sorrow over sin, but trust in the complete forgiveness that God freely gives and the desire to turn away from that sin in thanksgiving to God. No matter what the sin is, Jesus died for it. No matter how much control it may feel like it has over our lives, Jesus has forgiven it. And we can be there to support each other, not just in calling out and naming sin, but in helping each other fend it off, to avoid temptation, to support, care for, and encourage one another in this walk of faith through this world so thoroughly corrupted by sin.
So, it’s important to remember that all who are susceptible to sin may need this from us, even people we look up to or might assume should be beyond our ability to help. Parents and grandparents, spouse or sibling, friend or coworker, pastor or other church leader—all of us can fall into sin’s deceitful and destructive path, and all of us need our brothers and sisters looking out for us to call us to repentance and point us to Jesus as the assurance of our forgiveness. It is not disrespectful or rude to confront sin; when done in love it is perhaps the most loving thing a person can do for us, or we can do for someone else.
Nothing is going to make those conversations comfortable. I’m sure both Paul’s and Peter’s heart rates were high during and after that conversation. But when love motivates us, when the eternal well-being of all involved drives us, then we will see this as uncomfortable but important, difficult but necessary, stressful but overflowing with loving care and concern.
So, let’s work together to point out sin in love. Because when we point out sin in love, that means that we are also pointing each other to the Savior who loved us, died for us, and rose from the dead to assure us that our sins are gone. Thanks be to God! Amen.
