Swerving from Grace
Galatians 2:11-24

When I drive I don't often fall asleep at the wheel, but I sometimes go into autopilot. OK, let me be honest, I often go into autopilot. Some of you know what I'm talking about. I'll be driving down the highway, but my mind isn't on the highway. Don't ask me who is driving at times like these. But when I find myself back in the car, I might or might not be on the same road I was on when I started.

This happened to me on Friday. Now to be fair, I was given a task that was beyond my normal level of competence. My mission was to pick up 8 children from three different locations and deliver them to two different destinations without every having more than six in the car at one time and without losing any of them. Carol does this without apparent effort every Friday, but for me it was a major challenge. I started off happily enough -- maybe that was the problem? -- and before I got out of South Hadley I had twice swerved off course.

It wasn't that I didn't know the road, or where I was supposed to be going. I had all the head knowledge I needed to get to my destination. But my mind checked out, my unconscious took over, and my unconscious apparently wanted to go to New Hampshire rather than Amherst. Without really thinking about it, I swerved off course.

Now if Carol had been with me this would never have happened. She has a sort of built in early warning system and would have sensed that I was present in body but absent in spirit. And she would have urgently recalled me to reality. I might not have taken it well, but I would have been brought back on course.

This experience helps me to sympathize with Peter when I read Galatians chapter 2. In this chapter Paul describes an incident in which the apostle Peter swerves off course from the Gospel and Paul has to urgently and forcefully say: "Wake up, Peter! You're off course. You've swerved off the highway of Grace and you're leading others off with you."

Galatians 2:11-24

This is an amazing incident. Publicly, in front of the whole church at Antioch, Paul, a young upstart, stands up and rebukes Peter, the elder statesman of the church, a member of the inner circle of Jesus disciples. It was as if a young Roman Catholic Bishop marched into an audience with John Paul II and said "You are in the wrong. You have swerved off course, and you are leading the whole church with you." Or as if one of you former members of College Church went back and stood up in front of the whole congregation of 500 people and said, "Pastor McDowell, you are off track. You are not being straight with the Gospel."

What could possibly justify that kind of confrontation. Surely only some terrible heresy? Or some terrible moral failing?

But what Paul is accusing Peter of here is nothing so dramatic. His charge against Peter is found in vs. 14 (read) Paul's complaint is simply that Peter is not ACTING in line with the truth of the Gospel. Another way of translating it: He has swerved from the truth of the Gospel. And swerving from the Gospel may begin quite subtly. When I'm driving down the highway, it doesn't take a very dramatic turn to get me off course. Just a small nudge of the wheel -- sometimes just staying in the same lane. Those of you who have driven in Toronto will have experienced this. You are travelling down the 401 -- Toronto's 16 lane expressway -- at a stately 75 miles per hour, and suddenly you'll find that your lane has exited and taken you with it.
It doesn't take much, but the result is that I'm off the highway, often with miles to go to get back on in the right direction.

And so with Peter's swerving off the highway of grace. It begins with a rather small, innocuous thing. A matter of cultural sensitivity really. Peter had come to Antioch to check out the first cross-cultural church planting project. And he was having a great time. Getting used to some diversity in worship, enjoying that wild Syrian music, getting to know the new gentile Christians, going to pot luck dinners every day. Why he was eating things that he didn't dare to ask for the recipes to.

But then a group of Jewish Christians arrived from Jerusalem. And Peter knew these folks. He knew how strongly about Jewish dietary laws. It was just a matter of sensitivity. He didn't want to offend them. He knew that if he -- a Jew -- continued to eat with the gentile Christians they would be upset. So it just seemed the wisest course to make separate eating arrangements for the Jewish believers. It was just the culturally sensitive thing to do. What was the use of stirring up trouble.

Swerving from Grace will often not seem like such a big deal at the beginning. Just a matter of prudence and good judgment. In Peter's case it was just fear of offending his Jewish brothers. And what could be wrong with that? Even Paul, well after this incident, would give specific instructions warning against offending a sensitive Christian brother or sister.

But no matter how small and seemingly insignificant the turn, once you're off the road you're off the road. Pardon me for stating the obvious, but you can't drive on two roads at the same time. Either you are on the highway of Grace, or you are not. That is Paul's main point throughout this book and his main point in confronting Peter. Being on the highway of Grace means relying fully and completely on Jesus for forgiveness, for righteousness and for your identity. As soon as you try to take any of these into your own hands you're in the exit lane.

When Peter pulled back from the gentile Christians his actions telegraphed this message: To be a real Christian, you need more than Christ. You need Christ AND Jewish dietary laws. He was adding to the Gospel. And as soon as you add to the Gospel, it is no longer the Gospel. Grace must be taken alone. Mix it with anything else and it's neutralized. You can't mix it with a little bit of works, a little bit of self-reliance, a little bit of law. If you do, it ceases to be Grace.

If you want to test this, try a little experiment. Choose a favorite gift that you were given by someone who cares about you. And write a thank-you note something like this: "Dearest so & so. Thank you so much for your gift. It is really beautiful. I would so much like to keep it. I will try my best to keep up with the payments. Enclosed is the first one. Thanks so much." Or, I suppose you could try the same thing in reverse. Give someone a gift, and the following month, begin billing them.

Peter's withdrawal from fellowship sent a bill to the gentile Christians. God's free gift to them turned out not to be free after all. It had become a credit card purchase and the first payment had come due. If they didn't want to have it repossessed, they would need to start obeying the Old Testament law. His action threatened the heart of the Gospel by putting a price tag on God's Grace. What started as an innocent and innocuous turn ends up leading a whole convoy off the highway of Grace.

When we realize what's at stake we can better appreciate why Paul confronts Peter publicly, saying "Wake up Peter! You're headed off the highway and you're leading others off with you!" The very heart of the Gospel was at stake. When someone is about to swerve off the highway, and you are in the passenger's seat, you don't hesitate or mince words.

But it's important to understand what Paul is and is not saying here. He is NOT saying to Peter, "You are not a Christian," and he is not saying "You are off track doctrinally." This is not a theological argument between Peter and Paul. In the first 10 verses of Chapter 2 Paul has been very careful to document that the Gospel that he preaches is the same Gospel that Peter preaches. Peter has all the right doctrine, and he and Paul agree on it. He knows all the right things and believes all the right things. He knows that Grace is a free gift. He knows that the law cannot save. He knows that the gentiles are included in God's grace. The problem is not doctrine -- the problem is application. Peter is a believer. Peter has experienced God's grace, and he knows the truth that God's grace is freely extended to the gentiles. He is just not living out the implications of grace. Paul's charge against Peter is not heresy but hypocrisy. Peter knows God's grace, but he denies it with his actions.

And this is where Paul's rebuke of Peter starts to strike home for me. I too know in my head that by God's Grace alone I am made righteous. I know that nothing can add to or subtract from God's Grace. I know that Jesus alone saves, and that my identity is in him so that when God looks at me he does not see a guilty sinner but he sees Jesus in me. I know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I know that his Grace is sufficient for me -- it is all that I need. I know that I need not fear anything because his goodness will never fail. I know that ALL things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. I know that sin and death have been defeated at the Cross.

My problem is not knowing those things with my head. My problem is getting them from my head to my heart, and applying them in my life every day.

What keeps us from actually applying God's Grace? For Peter it was fear. He was afraid of offending the Jewish Christians. The church was new and fragile, and it was mostly Jewish. Former Pharisees were a vocal force in the Jerusalem church. He couldn't afford to have a church split. He was afraid for the church. He was afraid for his reputation. He was afraid for his leadership.

As soon as he began to act in fear, he swerved from Grace. Fear and Grace are incompatible. They can't live together. Bring fear in, and you drive Grace out. Bring Grace in and fear has to leave. Why?

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear.

If you are loved perfectly by a God who is good and all powerful, then what do you possibly have to fear? Perfect love is just another expression for Grace. Grace does not give rise to fear, but to boldness and confidence. If God is for us, who can be against us? The LORD is my light and my salvation -- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life -- of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1)

When I act out of fear, I have forgotten the Grace of God. Fear leads me to take things into my own hands. How does a child who feels insecure in his or her parents' love act? Often he or she will work feverishly to try to win the love they are terrified of losing. And so at the spiritual level fear leads straight to into legalism . If I don't fully trust God to save me, then I had better work pretty hard at saving myself.

So we are faced with two very different highways. The highway of grace which is characterized by security, joy, hope and freedom, and the highway of works which leads to fear, legalism, guilt and bondage. How do I keep from swerving off the highway of Grace?

I suggest two practical applications:

1. Preach the Gospel to yourself every day. When you wake up and that first wave of anxiety or guilt or dread or pride or self-confidence washes over you, say to yourself: "Self, there is nothing you can do today to add or to take away Say to yourself each morning, very first thing "self, there is nothing you can do today to add to or take away from the grace of God. Nothing you will do today will make God love you more or less. His love for you will not be changed by circumstances -- it will be just as perfect when you come to the end of the day as when you started. God loves you perfectly, and if this is so, then what is there to fear? What is there to feel guilty about? What reason is there for caution or timidity? There is every reason for hope, and joy and boldness. God is for us! Who can be against us?!


2. Preach the Gospel to each other at every opportunity. Confront each other with the Gospel. This is what Paul did for Peter, and it is what we must do for each other. If you see a brother or sister is overcome by guilt, or by fear, or in danger of legalism -- wake them up before they swerve off the highway.