6/16/24 Gal. 2:11-21 “You Can’t Fly!”

12 Jun 6/16/24 Gal. 2:11-21 “You Can’t Fly!”

6/16/24    Gal. 2:11-21         “You Can’t Fly!”

I think that one of the major problems in this country, in this world is conflict.  There seems to be one thing for sure.  We sure know how to get into conflict.  On the other hand, we don’t seem to quite have the hang of how to avoid conflict or how to get out of it once we are in conflict.  I want you to think about yourself and how you handle conflict.  On one side we have the sulkers, the pouters, or any such passive behavior.  Then we have the shouters, the hitters, the aggressive ones at the other end.  Of course we have others in the middle.  I think I have to classify myself as one who will try to avoid conflict at almost all costs.  I don’t like it.  When I get involved in serious conflict, I have a tendency to get almost physically ill.  I have seen enough conflict in my lifetime to last me forever.  And still, I would guess that conflict will find me many more times before I die.  The really radical thing about this is that I think we are all pretty much in the same boat.  Conflict is one of the givens in life.  What we need is a sure fire way to deal with conflict.  I think I know a way.  Paul also knows how to do this as he speaks to the Galatians.  Let’s see if we can rediscover a way to handle conflict.

Paul Decker tells of how a man purchased movie tickets for his girlfriend and himself.  He got the popcorn and treats as she went in to get the seats.  He was in a long line and it took a while to be served.  He finally entered the theater as the previews were being shown.  He stumbled in the dark, sat down and gave his girlfriend a kiss.  Then he heard a familiar voice say, “John, I’m back here.”  Oops!  That was a major mistake.

Another man and his wife were doing errands and discussing current events.  It wasn’t long before they got in an argument over the issues.  When the man restated his position rather forcefully, it was his wife who got the last word.  “When I knew I’d found Mr. Right,” she snapped, “I had no idea that his first name was Always!”  We might chuckle about situations like this but they are a part of life.

They were a part of Paul’s life and the life of the Galatians also.  It is hard for us to remember that this is not a story about how Paul and Peter were in conflict.  It is an example for the people of Galatia as to how to behave.  So the first thing Paul tells them and us is that if we have something to say to someone in a conflict, say it to their face.  This is how Paul and Peter settled their differences and this is how Paul came to the Galatians.  He comes to them point blank with frankness.

If we look back on the ministry of Jesus, we will find that this is also what He did.  Jesus told you if you were doing something wrong.  You can look at just about any of the stories in the Gospels and you will see this.  The key to doing this is to do it in such a way that the love of God for His children is still front and center.  This is hard for us humans to do but Jesus did it very well.

I think the question for us might go something like this.  How do I face conflict when I do my best to avoid conflict because I hate it?  Or maybe you get angry by it or withdraw from it.  Fill in your own behavior here.  How can I get past conflict?  First of all, do like Jesus did and go at it face to face.  Second, do like Paul did and go at it face to face.  What Paul is trying to tell us is that this is the only way.  Anything else you do will not solve the problem. So I guess that basically, we need to trust Jesus.  If you think you have a better way than the way of Jesus, then I feel bad for you because you are wrong.  Jesus is the way through any and all problems.

Sometimes there are people who come here to worship who are defeated.  There are people who have had serious down turns in their lives.  There are those who have problems that I cannot even imagine.  I salute you.  I think that you are worthy of noting because you have come here to find a solution.  You haven’t gone to a bar or turned to your friends of the world; you have come here.  I will tell you once again that if you take your problems to Jesus, then He will help.  Develop your prayer time and He will help.  You can also go to your Christian friends or me and He will help.  All Jesus has ever wanted to do was to help you.  Bring your problems or whatever straight to Jesus.  He will help and that is a promise.

So by meeting the situation head on, Paul at the same time is getting right to the core of the conflict.  Notice that when Paul does this, he knows that he is right and Peter is wrong.  The problem was that these new Christians, who were disciples, had slid back into the Jewish customs, their roots.  They used to eat with the Gentiles and now they didn’t because it might look bad.  There were other things happening also.

Paul is telling them not to be hypocritical.  The other disciples have decided that all followers of Jesus must also follow the Jewish customs.  This includes the Gentiles.  They have to do this or they cannot be Christian.  At the same time they are trying to be faithful to Jesus.

Paul is trying to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.  We come to Jesus Christ by faith and faith alone.  We do not need the Law in order to be saved.  He also reminds us that that no one who has followed the Law is saved nor will they ever be saved.  So basically, living by the Law is a fatal disease.  They would either have to be Christian and saved or they would have to be Jewish or something else and not be saved.

Do you begin to see the problem here?  The Jewish faith had been around for centuries and old habits are hard to die.  It was not that the disciples didn’t have faith in Jesus.  They did and they worked for Jesus every day.  The problem was that they were also still Jewish at heart.  They still kind of followed the Law so that they would be accepted in the synagogue.  One of the reasons Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday instead of Saturday is found here.  The early followers of Jesus didn’t want to upset the Jews by worshipping on the same day as Sabbath so they worshiped on Sunday after worshipping with the Jews on Saturday.  There were a lot of little tradeoffs to help to make early Christianity work.  Paul is trying to tell them ‘no’ to anything except to faith in Jesus Christ.

If you remember the Galatians had been doing the same thing as the disciples started to do.  They had heard the message and had followed Jesus.  But somewhere along the way they had gotten off track.  What they were now following was not the way of Jesus and Paul is telling them so with this true story of Peter and him.

Paul is trying to tell us the same thing.  Are we doing things by tradition or are we living by faith?  Someone once said that Christianity has to make modifications every generation.  What they meant by this is that we no longer need a barn at church to house our horses.  We now need parking spaces.  The nuts and bolts of worship are always changing but the message must never change.

However, what is happening in our modern society is that when we have to change worship or whatever and we also think we have to change the message.  Our society is getting so that it is no better than these early Christians who were trying to replace Jesus once again with the Law.  The huge difference is that in modern times, we are not trying to go back to the Law.  We are trying to have everything our way.  We have become very selfish.  All things point to the great ‘me.’  Jesus gets no credit because I can do it better.  I am truly fearful of all the people in this country who do not know Jesus but think they know Jesus because they think that they can do whatever they feel like and there are no consequences.  We have become more modernized over the centuries but we still hang on to the same old human problems. We can praise the Lord the He hasn’t changed at all over the centuries and He never will.

Then of course we should have some sort of solution.  The people Paul is talking to are not ignorant of the ways of Jesus.  However, they had been taken off track.  They were beginning to think that they could be justified through the Law which is another way of saying that the Law would save them.  They were looking for a tangible justice and not faith.

Many today are looking for tangible justice we can see, something other than faith.  Most people don’t realize it but one of the most popular sayings in our world is, ‘it’s not fair.’  I will just about guarantee that most things we do are not fair to someone and yet we want fairness.  This reminds me of a story about a college professor who was notoriously late for class.  The class found out that if they hit the clock just right with an erasure, it would jump ahead a minute.  One day he was late again and the class began to hit the clock with erasures until it was 10 minutes ahead.  There is an old rule in college that if the professor doesn’t show up in the first 10 minutes, the class is cancelled.  So everyone left.  The professor never said a word about this.  One day he gave them an exceedingly hard test.  It was terrible and time was beginning to run out for the students.  The professor was getting his own justice because he began throwing erasures at the clock so it would jump ahead and give the students that much less time.  They were getting some sort of justice and they wouldn’t like it.

This is the same thing that we have as we are running all over the world doing this and doing that in the name of peace or anything else but never in the name of Jesus.  We refuse to give ourselves up to Jesus.  We refuse to surrender.  We have been told in some of our churches, in our Bibles and by Jesus himself that the only way to heaven is through Jesus.  You must confess your sin to Him and ask Him to be Lord of your life.  If you don’t then you shouldn’t be too surprised when you don’t make it to heaven.  That is justice from the King of Justice.  It is all your decision as to where you go.  Jesus does not hold a gun to your heads telling you that you must confess.  He just tells you the way and so the decision is yours.  You have freedom in Christ.

That is the most important part of this message or any message that I give.  You need to know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, period.  There are no substitutions.  But Paul is also telling us something else that I have tried to explain in previous sermons.  It is not enough just to be doing the things that Jesus tells us to do.  Don’t get me wrong.  We are supposed to do these things but you have to be very wary of your motive.

Whenever you are doing God’s work, ask yourself why you do it.  Are you doing this so your friends or even the church notice?  Are you doing so you may get some sort of reward?  Are you doing it so that you get a better place in heaven?  Any of these reasons or just about any reason at all is the wrong reason for doing things.  Even if you are trying to help someone so that you will be in good or look good to God is the wrong reason.  You have been saved by faith and faith alone.  You no longer need the Law.  You no longer need to look good to anyone including God.

Our motives under the new law of Jesus Christ should not be one where we expect rewards but rather one where we just do what we are supposed to do and trust Jesus for everything else.  Paul is saying that we have already been saved, or justified as he put it, and there is no need for anything else.  You need to be in the position of trusting Jesus for all you do, all you need and for all things.  Therefore, you don’t have to expect rewards anymore because just knowing Jesus should be your reward.  And if you know Him, then He will take care of you in all ways including when you are in conflict.

So the next time you are in a conflict situation just face it head on knowing that you are right.  Then get to the core of the situation and let Jesus handle it His way and not your way.  Ronnie Miller tells of when he was a boy of about 10, he had Superman as his hero.  He just loved Superman.  One day he decided that he could do the things that Superman could do.  So he went to the barn and got things ready on the ground.  Then he put on one of his mother’s big towels so it looked like a cape.  If you are going to be Superman, you have to look the part.  This is just common sense.  Anyway, he went to the loft on the barn and got ready to fly.  He jumped out of the door where they put hay into the loft.  Of course, instead of flying, he just fell to the ground and luckily he didn’t hurt himself too badly.  But he did learn a valuable lesson.  He could not fly.

You are a lot like this young boy.  You think you can fly.  You think you can solve this problem or that.  You think you can solve conflict.  The problem is that you can’t.  You cannot solve anything.  You can’t fly!  You need Jesus.  Many of your friends are like this young boy only they will continue to jump out of the barn.  They just don’t seem to be able to learn.  It is your job to help them to come to Jesus.  You are to help them out of the vicious cycle where they just return to jump out of the barn again and again.  Jesus came to you with love.  He showed you the way to a better life through Him.  On this Father’s Day, let us honor our fathers, but also let’s honor the greatest father of them all, our God.  God, we thank you for everything we have and we love you with all our hearts, soul and mind.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.