Passage: Galatians 2:20-21

The Big Idea

The ultimate victory in the war on legalism is found in Galatians 2:20, and it’s love: the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. God just wants to bless us, and we frustrate His grace when we try to earn what He freely gives. Like Mephibosheth, we’re invited to hobble to the King’s table in our lame condition and eat bread there every day. Keep coming to the cross.

The Verse

Paul says he has been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer he who lives, but Christ lives in him. And the life he now lives in the flesh, he lives by faith in the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him. He refuses to set aside the grace of God, because if righteousness could come through the Law, then Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:20-21).

Don’t Frustrate Grace

Grace is God’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor.

God just wants to bless. I don’t want to frustrate that.

Have you ever tried to pay someone’s bill, and they wouldn’t let you? It’s frustrating!

God wants to bless you by paying the bill. But we can refuse, out of pride.
Let God bless you! Without giving Him a reason why He should.
Then we worship and give thanks in response. If you say, “I’m going to worship the Lord to get His grace,” you’re frustrating the grace of God.

“But aren’t there examples of people praying and worshiping, and then something great happens?”

Think of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, singing hymns at midnight (Acts 16:25-26). God did shake the prison open. But they worshiped simply because they loved God, not as a technique to get out.

Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9)

In the ancient world, a new king often killed all the relatives of the previous king, to eliminate rivals.
But King David wanted to show kindness to someone from Saul’s family, for the sake of a son: his beloved friend Jonathan.
Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth was living in Lo-debar, a name that means something like “no pasture” or “nothing.”
Mephibosheth was lame in both feet. He’d been injured as a child when his nurse fled in panic after news of Saul’s death (2 Samuel 4:4). In a sense, he was lame from running from the king.
He was afraid of the king.
But David restored his family’s land and gave him a permanent place to eat bread at the king’s table, like one of the king’s own sons.
And he kept eating at the king’s table, even though he was still lame.

Just hobble to the table in your lame condition, instead of trying to earn God’s blessing by your performance.

The Bread of Life (John 6:30-40)

Jesus said He is the bread of life.

Relating to Jesus as Bread works!
Jesus claims to be worthy of our trust, someone we can have full confidence in.
He “gives life to the world.” Life is the result of being crucified with Christ. Life is the result of relating to God through the Bread of Life.
We think we’ll somehow lose out if we give everything up for Jesus. But we get life.
And we give it all up to Jesus by faith. The life we now live in the flesh, we live by faith in the Son of God.

Here Jesus gives us five reasons to trust Him, and by trusting Him, to receive all the life we could ever dream of:

He perfectly satisfies our spiritual hunger. Whoever comes to Him will never hunger.
He receives everyone who comes to Him. Whoever comes to Him, He will never cast out.
He isn’t pursuing His own agenda, but His Father’s. He came not to do His own will, but the will of the One who sent Him.
He keeps safe everyone who comes to Him. He will lose none of those the Father has given Him.
Those who believe in Him have eternal life. Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him will have everlasting life.

And above all: He loves us.

Come and Have Breakfast

After His resurrection, Jesus met Peter on the shore and said, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12). It was as if He were saying, “I just want to bless you, Peter.”

Yet we’ve seen in Galatians that Peter forgot this for a while, and slipped back into fear and legalism (Galatians 2:11-14). So what do we do when we forget?

Repent of trying to earn God’s blessing.
Request. Ask for God’s blessings. Go to Him. It’s about relationship. You don’t have because you don’t ask (James 4:2).
Relax in whatever He decides to do. Maybe you need a diet! Trust Him. Live by faith in what God will give you at His table. His bread.

The Bread Is the Cross

The bread points to the crucifixion. Jesus said, “This is My body, broken for you” (1 Corinthians 11:24).

Always keep coming to the cross.
The love shown and proven on the cross is the victory over legalism, and over all sin whatsoever.

Love for God

A hymn attributed to Francis Xavier in the 1500s, and translated by Edward Caswall, captures the heart of loving God not to get something, but because He first loved us:

My God, I love Thee; not because
I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not
Are lost eternally.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
Should I not love Thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven,
Nor of escaping hell;

Not from the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord.

And William McDonald’s 1870 hymn invites us to keep coming to the cross:

I am coming to the cross;
I am poor and weak and blind;
I am counting all but dross;
I shall full salvation find.

I am trusting, Lord, in Thee,
Blessed Lamb of Calvary;
Humbly at Thy cross I bow,
Save me, Jesus, save me now.

Grace Takeaway

Legalism loses its grip when you see how much you’re loved. The Son of God loved you and gave Himself for you. You don’t have to pay the bill or earn your seat. Just hobble to the King’s table, as you are, and eat. Keep coming to the cross, and let His love live His life through you.

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Love Destroys Legalism