Lent: Self-justified or Christ-justified?
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Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.
5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.6 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favouritism—they added nothing to my message.
7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised
8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.
9 James, Cephas[c] and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.
10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[d] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! -
Justified by Christ or Justified by self?
In the film Chariots of Fire, athlete Harold Abrahams said, just before his 100 metres Olympic race “I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor, 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my existence.” Ten seconds to prove his worth. To know he is rated and valued as a sprinter. How sad but how familiar.
After I retired as a Hospital Chaplain I felt challenged that in some ways the job, the role and the title justified my existence. I want to be honest with you today, I have been a Christian for over 50 years and I am not really sure that I fully grasp how fundamental, wonderful and how powerful it is to be a Christian and justified by faith in all Jesus has done for me. Nothing I am or have done has gained me one slither of salvation even though I often slip into that mentality that I have gained some merit from the life I have lived and the things I have done. I hope that this short talk will cause you to examine yourself and embrace again the reality of what it means to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
Fundamental, Wonderful and Powerful
Fundamental
Paul writes we are ‘not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.’ — Galatians 2:16
This is fundamental to what it means to be a Christian. Here, Paul is challenging Peter (no less) saying he is out of line with the good news. Why? Because he had been swayed by the ‘Circumcision group’ who were a group of Jewish Christians who had turned to Christianity but added that you had also to observe the law in order to gain salvation.
In other words, Peter’s Christianity had become :
Believe
Keep the Law and you are saved.
Paul said they were out of line, it should be, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and you are saved and you will then obey in response to your salvation.
This is Fundamental today to what it means to be a Christian. There are still many believers who are legalistic about their belief. If you are legalistic there is no joy in your salvation. You are anxious – have I done enough, have I given enough, have I worked enough, served enough – it is a burden rather than a joy to be that type of Christian and central to it is this idea that you can justify yourself. If I am a hard-working chaplain surely I will be okay when it comes to it. If I tithe, if I read, pray, if I come to church surely I will be okay, God will be pleased with me. That is Justifying yourself. And Paul says it is not in line with being a Christian.
When you go for a job interview and you present your CV with your exam passes and your experience you are saying by this CV I am justified in getting this job, pick me – I deserve it. Yes, that is the world’s way of finding acceptance but it’s not the Christian way. People justify themselves in all manner of ways. Does my family (my wife and my three girls and my dog justify my existence?) Harold Abrahams said he had 100 meters and 10 seconds to justify his existence. Are you trying to justify yourself so that you matter, have value, are needed, are known? These are the dangers of self-justification.
Fundamental to being a Christian is faith in Jesus and nothing else.
When you put your faith in Jesus Galatians 2:20 says:
‘I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me….. by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.’
It is Fundamental
Justified by faith is fundamental to what it means to be a Christian and it is ‘Wonderful.’
Wonderful
When you become a Christian ‘it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me’ but what does that mean? It means you are justified by what Christ has done not what you have done (no amount of goodness or badness) by believing in Jesus you receive everything he has done (his righteousness) and on the cross, he received all you have done (your sin). This is truly wonderful: when you trust in the finished work of the Cross and the resurrection of Jesus then God does not see your sin, he sees Jesus – because you are in him – united with him. Paul says to Peter, stop trying to justify yourself, your worth, your value your importance is in Jesus. God cannot love you more by one bit of goodness you do and cannot love you less by one bit of badness you do. That is the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit – you are family, a child of God. It is wonderful. How can this be true – God sees Jesus’ righteousness and not my sinfulness. Let me illustrate it this way:
Few of years ago when we were on Black alert for an ISIS strike on our airlines. I tried to smuggle a knife, a saw, a spike, a corkscrew, and a screwdriver onto an airplane! I was pulled aside by security and held while Jennie and the girls went on through. At that point I was as guilty as a terrorist and I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. The head of security came to interview me. Lastly he asked me did I require the tool for wheelchair maintenance. ‘Yes’ I blurted. ‘Then I am going to pardon you this time and let you on to the plane.’
So what had changed? The officer was right in holding me, an offence has been committed. But what changed was the officer’s view of me and my offence. To justify something is not to change the behaviour but how it is regarded, how it is treated or regarded. That’s why the textbook says of justification is ‘just as if I’d never sinned.’
So when you become a Christian it doesn’t mean you stop being bad (you don’t stop sinning) but you are not viewed as being bad. Isn’t that good news. You are viewed as being righteous and sin can no longer condemn you. I was viewed as being a disabled passenger with a tool kit rather than a terrorist on that flight even though I was guilty. The officer’s view of me changed. Just as God’s view of me changed when I trusted in Jesus as my saviour.
Martin Luther put it this way “Christ’s Righteous is imputed to us apart from our works… we have sinned but God has suffered, God has made himself the sin of man that men are now the righteousness of God.” Luther goes on to coin the phrase in Latin phrase, "Simul Justus et Peccator” - simultaneously just and sinners.
Even as a Christian I am an absolute sinner but absolutely loved as if I had never sinned. When I am not in LINE I think of myself as a sinner and forget I am loved or I think of myself as lovely and forget I am a sinner – out of line. Take suffering, people often think they must be sinning to deserve such suffering. What did I do to deserve a broken back, could it not have been reduced to a broken leg? That thinking is Out of Line with the Good news – we are simultaneously a sinner and justified by our wonderful saviour (wonderful counsellor mighty God).
Being Justified by faith in Christ is fundamental, it’s wonderful and it is ‘powerful.’
Powerful
The power of Christianity comes by knowing you are justified, a righteous sinner a loved looser who God thinks the world of. This creates an attitude of gratitude. If you don’t see yourself as a sinner – you justify yourself and there is no attitude of gratitude towards the Lord Jesus. There is no joy of salvation, everything seems such a burden of needing to justify your existence. But there is a power knowing your goodness is all the good that Jesus has done for you.
The power is, of course, the work of the Holy Spirit in you but how does that power work out in your life? Understanding it changes everything –
Changes your attitude towards your finances, towards the poor, towards your job, towards your relationships.
It changes your understanding of spiritual gifts.
The power of being justified by faith in Jesus changes everything.
John Wesley was a very religious man but when he studied Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians Chapter Two his understanding moved from his head to his heart – his heart was ‘strangely warmed’ and that religious man trusted in Christ as his saviour, Lord, and friend. He got up and wrote these words
