Not a Tough Decision
Galatians 5:2-6

What kind of choice would there be between being enslaved and being free? Between turmoil and peace? The apostle heads into the home stretch of the book of Galatians by laying before us two options, and the choice should be easy, since it’s between:

1. Great disappointment (5:2-4)
2. Great reward (5:5-6)

As I think about these verses, I realize keenly that this information is not first century, early church, ancient Near East stuff. The principles that the apostle is giving us are utterly critical for us today.

Galatians 5
²   Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
³   And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
⁴   You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
⁵   For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
⁶   For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

We’re talking this morning about decisions, choices.  Sometimes there are choices in our lives between good options. It’s interesting how we stress about choosing between two good things, but we do. For instance, perhaps we have a choice of jobs. Or maybe we’re headed to college and we’re accepted by two or more good colleges that we want to attend. Now what do we do? We have a choice between two good things. Or, where should we go on our vacation? Where should we hunt?

What do we do? We have a windfall from some place and now we have these good things and do we do this or that? Two good choices. That’s ok.

These verses I just read are not one of those times. We’re not dealing here with two good choices. We’re dealing here with choices that are, in a word, no-brainer choices. It seems so difficult that even people who would consider themselves Christians miss the obvious as these verses lay them out. The text makes this very clear.

Remember when Jesus said you cannot serve God and money? That was not a “you may not” serve God and money. That was a “you cannot” serve God and money. It’s impossible. You can’t trust both God and money because trust requires full commitment to be trust.

Here, we’re at one of those places. The verses are telling us a person cannot trust both grace from God and works by people. This is not like a choice of desserts – you may have one or the other. This is not a “may not” thing; this is a “cannot” thing. If nothing else comes through from these verses, that needs to. It’s one or the other. Many cults are particularly good at this. You must have faith, but you must also join our church or do this or do that. There’s a combination there that’s encouraged and practiced. But according to Scripture, it is not an option in the economy of the God who wrote the Book. We can’t combine them.

Paul is encouraging his Galatian friends and us as well to choose. If I’m trusting  in myself or in my parents or church or country or anything I’m not fully trusting God. He’s saying God must have your complete trust.  There’s no room for a combination here. Those who profess Christ must choose between grace and work as a fundamental foundation of faith.

Great disappointment (5:2-4)

Here’s the first choice as Paul lays it down for us. Choice number one leads here. If ever there’s an understatement I would say it could be here -- disappointment, great loss, great dismay, painful defeat, ultimately condemnation. That’s where this goes.  Look what he says to these people. Let’s be reminded, what he knows about the Galatians is they are professing believers. They have made a claim to faith. He’s saying, “OK, in whom or in what are you actually trusting?” They’re wanting to combine some Jewish rites with their faith. Paul says that’s not an option. You cannot do that..

First of all, he says if you want to opt that way in these verses, there are three results in verse 2, verse 3 and verse 4. First, count on no profit, secondly, count on no success, third, count on no help. That’s door number one.

Look at verse 2. “Behold,” and he emphasizes this point, “I myself, Paul, say to you.” He’s saying, “Remember who I am. Remember that I am an apostle of Jesus. I am a linchpin of the faith between Him and all who will hear. I have the truth; I know I have the truth. I know He’s brought me out of a form of religion that had to do with all my works plus a little faith. I know where I’m from; I know what I’m talking about and I’m telling you this dog won’t hunt.”

He says, “I’m telling you this. If in fact you are trusting in this business of circumcision to contribute to your salvation, Christ profits you nothing.” He’s saying if you trust it, if you add it, then you just removed yourself from whatever profit Christ might have been to you. That is serious, serious stuff. I know that I for one in this life but particularly in the next, when I stand before God in judgment, if I don’t have the profit of Christ, I have nothing.

He’s the One we have to have. If we surrender that, we are in serious, serious trouble. You have no profit, you have no benefit from Him. All He did does you no good. What did He do? Think of the implications of that. It means Jesus, existing eternally, in loving face to face relationship with the Father for all time humbled Himself and emptied Himself, confined Himself to human flesh, beginning, may I suggest at the cellular level, taking on the form of human flesh at the incarnation and going through all that He went through to identify Himself with the human race completely and perfectly so that we may be saved. No profit to you or me if we’re not going to trust Him. It means nothing

All that He went through then in incarnation means nothing. All that He taught, the tremendous miracles He performed, the truth that He established regarding the kingdom of God, the way to heaven, the integrity of the Scriptures, the value of the atonement, the working of the Spirit, all that He laid out, all that glorious heavenly truth that He brought with Him to share with people on this earth so that we might join Him in heaven – means nothing.

It doesn’t mean a thing if we want to trust in works. Jesus profits us nothing. His crucifixion, the spikes through His feet and wrists, the cruel treatment by the Jews and by the Romans, the scourging and the spitting and the mocking and the slapping and the disbelief and the darkness and the earthquake and the tombs opening and all that goes with the crucifixion and the atoning work of Jesus as His very blood literally dripped from His flesh as payment for your sins and mine means nothing. You trust in what you do or what you think you must do and Christ profits you nothing. His resurrection from the dead, the glorious scene at the tomb where the angels, who were surprised by earthly things but not by heavenly things, take a look at Peter and John and Mary as they come to the tomb. “What are you doing here? Why do you seek the living among the dead? He’s not here. He is risen.”

 The fact that He is the first fruit from the dead, leading many sons to glory, the fact that He  lives forever and offers to live in you and me so that we can live forever in His resurrection means nothing, if in fact we want to work. If in fact we want to add something to faith, His resurrection means nothing. The fact that he now is at the right hand of the Father, pleading our case with the Father as our high priest and advocate before the Father means nothing. He’s not pleading for you if you’re trusting in some work of the flesh. He’s not pleading for you, He didn’t die for you, He didn’t teach you anything. He didn’t incarnate for you. You want to leave that out? That’s what Paul says is at stake and that’s huge.

When He comes back, if you’re trusting in the work of the flesh, He’s not coming back for you. This is weighty material. Paul is saying, “Do you see what is at stake? If you take Jesus, you take Him all and He takes all of you. That’s the transaction and there’s a tremendous amount at stake.

So there’s no profit.

Secondly, no success. You want to trust in the flesh? You’ll fail because everyone who trusts in the flesh fails. Why? Look at verse 3: If you want to receive circumcision you have to keep the whole law. Why stop there? Why is it just the one rule? How about which day of the week to worship? How about sacrificing sheep and goats? Let’s reinstitute this legalistic rule and that legalistic rule. Do you realize the New Testament was broken down into 613 laws. Keep them all. Why just keep that one? Paul says the Law itself says if you commit yourself to this, do it all.

It can’t happen. There will be no success. Where do you draw the line? I sometimes wonder when I come across Christians who say, “You need to trust in Jesus, but you also have to keep this rule. You also have to be baptized. You also have to go to church on Saturday. Where do you draw the line? If you’re going to add rules, I have a whole Old Testament full. We have to add them all.

How successful will we be? The issue isn’t can we keep them all. We can’t.  But what we like to do because we’re people is to say, “I can keep that one real well. So that’s the one I choose.” And at least for a while I can look pretty good. But I’ll have no success, ultimately.

I can say I’m going to keep the Law and just concede failure. Fall far short and just learn to live with it. “I guess I’m no good,” I would say, “because I can’t keep the rules.” Or I can be real neurotic about it. Did I miss this one? I didn’t measure up. I can go through life as a professing Christian with neurosis, living in continual state of uncertainty, never knowing if I’m good enough. Did I do it right? Wondering all the time, always being unsure. Or – I can look good for a while, keep the ones people see. Like the rich young ruler, “all these things I have kept from my youth up.” I could become pretty proud and I can become slavish to my legalism but deep down inside I know I’m not doing it all and I ultimately will be frustrated because I can’t keep perfect rules. It isn’t going to happen.

We convince ourselves that we’re going to give it a try because we want a little bit of credit for our own salvation. We always do. “I just want a little bit of credit. Nothing between me and God that the two of us can’t accomplish.” Is that right? When it comes to being right with God, when it comes to salvation, “No.” It doesn’t work that way. It isn’t me and God, it’s God, because if it isn’t God, I’m going to fail. I’m going to have no success.

Look at verse 4. If in fact I want to trust in works of the flesh, I’m on my own. I’m not going to get any help, I’m not going to get any grace. In verse 4 it says you have effectively removed yourself from Christ. In the New American Standard, it says you have been severed from Christ, you have nothing further to do with him. You have effectively decided that His work, His finished work isn’t enough. So now it’s up to you. You have separated yourself then from Him and have placed yourself on your own. At that point, the Bible says, you have fallen from grace. You have let go of the grace God has extended to you. You have placed yourself beyond His help and He’s going to let you swim alone.

The whole idea of God’s grace introduces a vast subject that we can’t deal with this morning. But here’s the point of grace. The point of grace is not that God saw us struggling and trying to get to him. We can please God, we can like God, we can make it with God, and God reaches down and says, “You’re doing pretty well. Let me help you.” That’s not grace. The Bible says we were ungodly, we were sinners, we were condemned, we were the enemy (Romans 5) and while we were yet in that state, Christ died for us.

He didn’t pull us thrashing from a pool where we’re in water over our heads. He dove into the water where we were floating lifeless on the bottom, pulled us out and gave us life. That’s grace. We decide we don’t want that. We’ve rejected grace. We’re rather go it alone, God will let us and we fail. And the end of that road is eternal condemnation if we’re trusting in ourselves to any measure whatsoever. We’ll stand condemned before Him. We’ll get no help.

What’s the point of the Law? Are all those rules designed for us to keep them so that we’re perfect people? No, the Law is a mirror. It tells us the truth about ourselves. When we look in a mirror we’re not looking for what’s right. We’re looking for what’s wrong so we can fix it. The Law shows us what’s wrong and points us to the fix, who is God.

We look in the mirror and if everything’s fine, no problem. If we look in the mirror and something is not right, we fix it.

In Galatians 2, Paul says the Law is our pedagogue. The Law takes us by the hand and watches over us and brings us to the One who can save us, that is Christ. The purpose of the Law isn’t to give us a code by which we might live to be perfect. The purpose of the Law, very clearly stated in the book of Galatians, is to show us how far short we fall that we might trust the only one who is adequate, Jesus. Not in ourselves; but only in Him.

So when you say, “I don’t want that; I’d rather not have grace,” you’re on your own. You get no help. To reject grace is unspeakable foolishness. To think that “Between me and God, we’ll get it done.” No. It’s not an option. There are only two options, according to the Bible, and neither involves a combination. Door number one, don’t go there, it’s great disappointment.

I can’t read anyone’s heart; I only know about my own. We must look at our own hearts and go before God and say, “Lord, in whom or in what am I trusting? Am I trusting in my church.? Am I trusting in my parents? Am I trusting in my heritage? Am I trusting in walking an aisle?” That isn’t precisely the point. Who am I trusting with all that I am? The formula, foolproof, airtight -- all my trust in Jesus only.

If all my trust is in Jesus only I’m in grace. If it’s 98 percent trust in Jesus, two percent in “I’m a pretty good guy.” Two percent in, “I’m in church most every Sunday,” that is not an option, according to the Bible. All my trust in Jesus only. That’s a heart issue only you and God can settle. So please don’t sidestep that decision.

Great reward (5:5-6)

Door number two. If we don’t get great disappointment, what about great reward? The contrast is remarkable. Between verses 4 and 5, the apostle suddenly put a big point of emphasis and says, “But we.” Who is we? That means Paul and those who are in league with him, the apostles. Those who know who they are and what God has done in their lives. The apostle knows who he is and where he stands and he has had enough of door number one. I can prove that from the book of Philippians.

The operational word here is “we,” and it’s a word of emphasis in verse 5. It says we know who we are and we know where we’re going. We know in what we’re trusting, we being Paul.

Philippians 3
⁴   although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:

If anybody had the pedigree to be right with God, it would be me, Paul says. I’ve got it. You want to be impressed, here goes:

⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;

Not a Greek-speaking Hebrew, but a Hebrew-speaking Hebrew. That’s a point of status in his religious culture. He’s from a Hebrew family, not a Hellenistic one.

As to the Law, a Pharisee, and according to the first chapter of Galatians, among his peers as a Pharisee, excelling ahead of the rest. Number one in his class by a long, long, way. “I’ve got it all.  I have the stature, the prestige, the pedigree, the heritage, the capability, the intellect, the influence. I have it all.” If anybody could impress God, it would be Paul.

⁶ As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
⁷ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

They didn’t mean a thing.

Paul is saying, “I’ve been through door number one. I’ve tried keeping the rules. I’ve tried being perfect. I’ve tried making an illegitimate combination of faith and works. What did it get me? A lightning bolt on the road to Damascus and a two by four to the head from God. I woke up seeing straight and realized that all I had meant nothing.” He said, “I count it as dung in order that I might gain Christ and be found in Him.”

It doesn’t add up to anything. So when he says “we,” he’s saying, “If you know where I am you know what I’m talking about.” The apostle knows. He is introducing now a new and interesting twist to the book of Galatians. “We, through the Spirit.” He’s saying it’s not me now, doing things my way, keeping my rules, impressing my peers, looking good in my circle of influence.

Now we’re introducing the Holy Spirit and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God, (who is God) is our true link with heaven by God Himself. God comes and lives in us by the Holy Spirit. You rule-keepers, you’ve set yourselves outside of God’s help. God has set Himself inside of me. I’m trusting the Spirit. Through the Spirit, Paul says, not through my own energy. Now we’re dealing with God’s energy because I’ve decided I’ve had enough of mine and I’ve yielded to Him. All my trust is in Jesus only. So the Spirit is true deity, linking us to heaven.

Think of it. If you’re a Christian -- the Bible uses the expression “born again” or “regenerate” -- that means the Holy Spirit of God lives in you, literally lives in you. The Holy Spirit lives forever. That is revolutionary to think that God lives in me and God lives forever; therefore, so do I. We can sing the song about “As eternity unfolds, the joy of knowing Him will grow,” and know that our sister Norma is there because the Holy Spirit lives in her and because He lives forever, so does she. It’s our link to heaven and not just for eternity to live there, but heaven now lives in us by the Spirit and changes our lives, and empowers us to be different.

If we go through door number one we don’t get any of that. We’ve put all our trust in Jesus only, we are in the Spirit now and now we have a Resource (capital R) that cannot be substituted. He is the One who convicts us of sin. He is the One who quickens us to newness of life. He is the One who helps us and gives us wisdom when we need it. He is the One who gives us comfort when we need it. He is the One who is God’s seal upon our hearts holding us for all eternity. We need Him. And Paul says, we have Him if we put all our trust in Jesus and none in ourselves.

I think that’s a pretty simple formula. “In the Spirit,” he says. “Through the Spirit” in this Bible. By faith. I like that little expression. Walking by faith means making choices, not rules. Making decisions in accordance with God’s revealed will, not rules so that I can keep them and try to look good in front of God. Faith means we make choices, not rules. We make choices by His grace in accordance with what He has given us.

Ephesians 2:8 says

By grace you have been saved through faith.

Paul says “we, through the Spirit, have faith.” Same language.

By grace you have been saved through faith and that faith is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. God has entered in; God has intervened. God is invading by His grace and He changes everything. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works that no man should boast. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we might walk in them.

Good works, not rules; choices, not regulations and rigid structures. Not that they don’t have their place but certainly to get us right with God they have no place whatsoever. We, through the Spirit, by faith, he says, are waiting for the hope. Waiting needs to be said a little differently. We have a great longing and positive certainty. It’s not like we’re waiting for the bus or we’re sitting on a bench twiddling our thumbs or reading the paper. We are just kind of waiting, waiting for company we hold dear that we haven’t seen in a while. We’re running to the window every three seconds, jumping up and down, knowing they’re on their way. We are eagerly expecting; not just sort of sitting around.

We understand that God keeps His promises; He’s going to do what He says and we anticipate Him doing that and life takes on a whole new complexion. We are confidently longing for the hope of righteousness. We’re confidently waiting, eagerly anticipating His arrival, His changing work, His person, His righteousness, not ours. Don’t you long for the day when faith shall be sight, long for the day when the wrongs are made right, when injustice is dealt with and righteousness reigns? He says that is what it’s about. Not about me struggling and striving and wondering and worrying and trying. No, it’s about me eagerly waiting and anticipating and trusting. It’s an entirely different perspective.

Verse 6, in a way, is part of this reward business. In a way it previews the rest of the book of Galatians because he’s going to tell what is in the rest of this book and what it looks like when faith works through love.

He says in Christ Jesus it doesn’t matter if you’re circumcised or not. In Christ Jesus the ruling principle, he says, is faith working through love. What doesn’t matter is circumcision, uncircumcision, where you come from, who you are, your heritage, your background, your track record. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is Christ. What does matter is faith working through love.

James 2 paints a scenario for us that we’ve all experienced. Speaking about faith working through love, the apostle James, Jesus half brother, wonders if faith that doesn’t come through love means anything at all. He says what if you see a brother or sister without clothing and need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled.” Is that faith truly working through love?

“We don’t have time for you today,” “We don’t have resources for you today,” or, “I’m busy today and I have my own agenda to take care of today, so go in peace, be warmed, and be filled.” Is that faith working through love? Paul would say and James would say,   absolutely not.

If the Holy Spirit of God lives in me, by the Spirit, through faith (he uses that expression in verse 5) that means we have an increasing sensitivity to putting God and others first.  Could that have anything at all to do with the two greatest commandments, love God and love your neighbor? I’ll bet it does because the Holy Spirit is God. We’re going to start thinking a little more like God as the Holy Spirit lives inside us and as He takes over more and more of our lives and as we grow in our understanding and in our obedience. We’re going to be more sensitive to putting God and others first.

That means we’re going to get up in the morning and make choices throughout our day, choices that have to do with opportunities to express love for God and to God. That means if we see a brother or sister hungry or in need of clothes, we say, “Look what God has done. God has brought to me an opportunity that my faith might work through love, putting others first.” That’s all love is, putting others first. And so I have a choice to make. I make choices by faith.

It kind of goes like this. What would God want me to do? What does the Bible say about this? That’s where the Bible weighs in.  What would God want me to do? I make choices and I act accordingly. This happens day after day, all day. This is like Ephesians 2:10. God has prepared beforehand that we might walk in them. That means if we are Christian, we are embarked on a great adventure. That means every day is God’s day. This is the day the Lord has made. No matter what we will have opportunities that He has put before us as our sovereign God to allow Him to live through us. What an adventure!

That’s a day lived choice to choice, not rule to rule. Do you see the difference? God will work and give us joy and opportunities and successes and God will correct us and change us as we go. It won’t always feel good, but we’ll know who our Father is and we’ll know He’s alive and working through us and we’ll know that all the rule-keeping in the world won’t make us right with Him.

On the other hand, this business of the Holy Spirit living in me by faith, it’s all about God and others. Do you realize if instead I major on keeping religious rules it’s not all about God and others, it really is all about me. It’s just an expression of my own self-centered bent that never really went away as I try to figure out how I can be sensitive to myself and to my righteousness and to my appearance and to my performance and to my influence. It’s now all about me.

I’ll look for opportunities not to love and to serve but opportunities to appear and to perform, to notice someone else who doesn’t appear or perform up to my standards or to be noticed by them and that takes me back to point one. I’m headed for great disappointment.