August 31, 2025 | Entrusted

Entrusted | Galatians Part 4

Galatians 2:1–10

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. (ESV)

In “Entrusted” on Galatians 2:1–10, Jed Gillis traces Paul’s trip to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus to confirm that the one gospel of grace welcomes Gentiles without adding law-keeping. Titus was not forced to be circumcised, showing that salvation is through Christ alone. Paul resisted “false brothers” who tried to trade gospel freedom for rules that lead to slavery. Truth comes before a shallow version of unity, yet real unity grows wherever the true gospel is kept. James, Peter, and John recognized the grace at work in Paul and gave fellowship, affirming one message preached in different contexts. The fruit of that grace is generosity, seen in the call to “remember the poor,” which Paul was eager to do. The sermon urges you to rest in Christ, refuse any “Jesus plus” message, and let grace shape both your confidence before God and your love for others.

Transcript of Entrusted | Galatians Part 4

The Foundation of Rest in the Gospel

Chapter two, beginning in verse one. This book of Galatians was written to people who are troubled because the gospel has been distorted. They're troubled, they're they're agitated, they're shaken, if you will. They're feeling the angst of life around them because they're people who are addicted to their own performance and they're people who are weary because of sin.

That's why we have the book of Galatians, and Paul knows if the gospel is distorted, if it's changed, if it's added to if any of this happens, Paul knows that then rest for our souls is lost. And fear replaces freedom.

So here at this beginning of the book, he is laying a foundation. He knows the rest of the book is coming, but he's starting with a couple chapters here to lay the foundation that says the gospel of Jesus Christ is solely, completely through grace and it's not open for revision.

Will the Gentiles be Embraced as Brothers?

So in Galatians two, we have a crucial story in the early church, a story where the truth of the gospel hung in the balance. And sitting here in a room of predominantly, at least, if not exclusively, gentile believers. What happened in stories like this in the early church could have so radically changed the direction of the gospel that we might not sit here today.

This is the kind of thing that happened over and over. We have several of these accounts. This is one of our more detailed accounts where the gospel is going forward to the Gentiles and people have to wrestle with how does that relate to the church in Jerusalem? And Paul, in defending the fact that the gospel is not open for revision.

Reading Galatians 2:1-10

He recounts this story at the beginning of Galatians chapter two. Then after 14 years. I, that's Paul went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately, before those who seemed influential. The gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

But even Titus, who was with me was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek, yet because of false brothers, secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery. To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

And from those who seem to be influential, what they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality. Those I say who seemed influential, added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised, worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles.

And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me. That we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Will the Church in Jerusalem Embrace the Gentile Converts?

So Paul accounts this story and we'll, we'll walk through it in, in narrative sections.

We'll start with, we'll call it scene one or Group one. This is Paul is going to Jerusalem after a time period. He describes here after 14 years, after a time period, he's going to Jerusalem with a party of people. It included Barnabas, who you may recognize from the book of Acts and other places. It included Titus.

It may well have included others, and we don't know who all those were, but he takes a group of people, Titus at least, and Barnabas at times were people that he ministered with, where he was, he brought them to Jerusalem. And he did so in order to communicate this is what I have been teaching. This is what I have been telling people like Titus. And by the way, meet him, he's right here. That's what he's doing.

He wants to come to the apostles in Jerusalem and he wants to know, will the Jewish, predominantly Jewish church in Jerusalem will they embrace these gentile converts?

What Does "Running in Vain" Mean?

We might have a question that comes up in verse two where Paul says he proclaims this to them in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

Say, wait a minute. Paul, are you, are you doubting yourself? Are you saying you're not sure the gospel's true? I don't think that's what Paul's saying at all. If we go back to chapter one, we see what he communicated about the gospel. In chapter one, he said, if an angel from heaven tells you anything else, let them be accursed. Let them go to hell, literally.

Right. Paul is not now getting to chapter two saying, yeah, at this point I really wasn't sure if the gospel was real. Maybe I'm in the wrong place. No, that's not what he's asking if he's run in vain, he knows he's taking the gospel of Jesus to them.

If we turn over to chapter four, we'll see a similar way that he used this Chapter four verse 11. Paul's talking about the way the Galatians have been tempted to turn from the gospel to pursuing righteousness by the law. And he says here in verse 11, I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. He says, I've given you the gospel. You had turned to the gospel. And now if you say, no, I actually don't think the gospel's true. I'm going a completely different direction. He's like, my work will have been pointless. Not that the gospel wasn't true, but these people are not accepting it.

Paul's Concern that the Gentiles be Grafted In

And if we back up then into chapter two, it's a slightly different concern, but the same sense. Paul is concerned that the, the Gentiles that he talks to, the Galatians that they are grafted in, they're brought into the true church of God.

He doesn't want a bunch of Gentiles who say they follow Jesus and then they meet somebody from Jerusalem and the people from Jerusalem go, oh no, you're not, you're not part of us. Paul's like that would defeat the point I'm preaching the gospel that says these are the people of God, everyone who trusts in Jesus. These are the people who are united in the church.

So he wants to go to Jerusalem and say to them, if Titus, if I could put it in modern language. Okay. If Titus comes to you saying, I'm a member of the church in Galatia. I've just moved to Jerusalem. I want to meet with your church. And they sit there and go, wait a minute, you don't keep the Jewish law like some of us do you eat different things? Are they going to accept him? That's Paul's question.

He's not coming with insecurity about the truth of the gospel. He's coming saying, I want to make sure that when people I've taught the gospel to when they interact with others who are believers that there's unity. I wanna make sure they're connected.

Paul Handles Disagreements Directly

So that's the first group, and we could pause there for just a second. And notice Paul doesn't handle disagreements the way we're often tempted to. He's not sure. He says, I don't know if they're going to receive them well or not. Paul doesn't say, well, I'm just gonna hide in the back woods somewhere and hope it's not an issue. I'm gonna hope they never interact. He doesn't do that.

He doesn't say, uh, when he faces disagreement or potential disagreement, he doesn't then say, well, I'm just going to avoid the hard conversation.

And that's not because Paul doesn't care about unity. It's actually because Paul does care about unity.

So instead of avoiding it, he goes to them and says, let's talk about the foundation of our unity. And he brings, Titus says, look, Titus doesn't do everything the way you do or the way people in your church do. There's some differences here. But Paul loves unity enough that he goes and says, I'm going to have that conversation.

It's a good lesson for us when we think, I don't know if that other person will agree with me. I don't know if we'll be able to talk about it. We might have some opposition. We might have disagreement. We could hide from those things. Or we could go say, let's have a conversation about the real foundation of our unity, the gospel. That's what Paul drives them to.

Who Are the False Brothers?

So we have the the Pauline Group, Paul and Barnabas and Titus, and whoever else he might have brought. We have a second group that are brought up here in verse four. Paul says, because of false brothers secretly brought in false brothers who threaten freedom. They're, these are the, the agitators, the troubles, the people who have been giving a hard time, they've been messing up stuff in Galatia. It's the same kind of people in Jerusalem. They're the agitators who come teaching the necessity of a certain kind of law-keeping, a certain kind of performance in order to get favor with God.

They come teaching things like if you want to really belong to the same group that the church in Jerusalem does, you wanna really experience this favor of God, you've gotta perform in this way. Keep the checklist. And specifically circumcision here as a representative of of the Mosaic law. They come teaching, things like that.

Notice the way Paul does this also. I just said, Paul cares about unity, but Paul doesn't say, well, these brothers who might have had something a little bit wrong, but we're united to them. No, he calls them false brothers secretly slipped in. They're infiltrators. They're spies like there. There's not a whole lot of stronger words he can use for what they are.

He doesn't give them the benefit of the doubt because the gospel's wrong. Not because they look different culturally. No, no, no. That's unity around that. But he goes and says, they are changing, they're distorting, they're perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're not brothers. They're false brothers. They're spies sneaking in.

Truth is Greater than Unity

We as believers, we cannot be about unity above everything. We can be about unity over personal preference. Great. We can be about unity over cultural expression of certain things. Sure. Great. We cannot be about unity over the gospel. The gospel is the only way we have unity.

Unity cannot be more important than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In our modern world of tolerance and niceness, we have to remember the gospel actually divides. It also unites better than anything else can unite. But the gospel divides those who trust in the gospel, in the grace of God through Jesus Christ alone, and those who either deny it or just add to it so that it's perverted and distorted.

Paul doesn't come saying, we'll just figure it all out in the end. He said, there are true brothers who have faith in Jesus Christ in the gospel, and then there are false brothers who are perverting the gospel who will harm you.

The Risk of Slavery in the Church

So the tension when we see them, the question is, will slavery sneak in to the Galatian church? See initially that the tension when we think about Paul coming is will the Gentiles be embraced in unity? When we think about the false brothers, the question is, will slavery sneak in.

Notice Verse four, in case you think, where did slavery come from? Verse four. Paul says, these false brothers slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that, this was their purpose, they might bring us into slavery.

So I don't want it to sound like I'm overexaggerating to say this. I think it's what Paul does. He says, when someone perverts, distorts, adds to, replaces the gospel. The threat to you as a believer in Jesus Christ is that slavery will come in and capture you.

Now, they don't present it that way. In fact, I think these teachers probably didn't openly deny Jesus at all. They probably said, sure, in fact, Elijah didn't know exactly what I was gonna do, but it fit really well. Here's what's a first importance. They say, sure. That was the beginning thing. Of course, yes. The gospel, Jesus died for our sins. Yeah. We know it's of first importance, but then they would say, they'd come along and say, in order to be really sure of your salvation, or to really have the true favor of God in the deepest way, or something like that, in order to really belong to God's church, you need something else.

Anything that Adds to the Gospel is Slavery

If somebody says, or maybe they don't say it in these words, but this is the idea. In order to be a real Christian, you have to fill in the blank. If whatever's in that blank is not the gospel of Jesus, that's slavery trying to sneak in. That's adding something to the gospel as the reason, the way you know you're saved.

They're adding something. In their case, it's circumcision, it's the mosaic law. In our case, it can look like all kinds of things. A Christian can't look like that, dress like that, act like that. Well, there's questions. There's things we can talk a about. But if you say, in order to truly be a Christian, you need to perform in a certain way. If it's not the gospel that comes after that, it's slavery.

At root, what can be told us is Jesus is not enough. You need cultural similarity.

The gospel cuts at the heart of that. You don't belong to the Church of Jesus Christ because you look like other people who belong to it in cultural ways. You belong to the church of Jesus Christ because your faith is in Him alone and in his grace. It's the gospel.

Or these agitators might have said something like, the gospel is a good start, but if you want the fullness of God's favor, you wanna really know true favor with God. You need this second spiritual experience of some kind.

We can look back in history, we can see different ways. People have said, you need to have a certain kind of complete surrender. You need to speak in tongues. You need to have a dramatic conversion story. And if you don't have that, you're not really a believer. No, none of those is true at root. It's saying, yeah, sure, the gospel, but you need this kind of spiritual merit badge of some sense added to the gospel. That's what these false brothers were sneaking in and trying to tell the Galatians, and they were trying to draw them in slavery.

Or they might have said the gospel's good, but to really fight sin in your life, you need some kind of extra rules. Some kind of extra religious celebration or a certain kind of fasting or something like that. And this sounds so good 'cause you can dress it up in Bible language, but it's a lot like a, a scam email that sounds really good until you click, and then it steals everything. That's exactly what they were doing.

Colossians two says these kinds of things, these kinds of extra religious rules, these kinds of extra religious celebrations that you say, this is what you have to have. Those kinds of things, Colossians two says, appear wise in that they promote religion and asceticism and severity to the body. Your hard on yourself. But they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

The same guy who wrote Galatians, wrote Colossians, and the same God inspired both of them to say, when the false brothers come in saying you need these things in your life to really fight sin, he says, no, you need the gospel in your life.

How Do You Wrestle with All the Different Voices?

So how do you work through the chorus of voices, like all the things that you can hear, and you say, I've heard stuff that sounds sort of like that. It seems okay. This seems bad, but I don't know why. How do you work through all those things? How do you know what's true to the gospel? I wanna come back to that, hold that question.

It's Not Always the Most Careful Position

We'll come back to it in just a minute. But do notice in this case, in this story, Galatians two, it's not merely accepting the careful or conservative position. If you were in the Jerusalem church. And somebody came to you and said, oh, the gospel, it's what means you don't have to follow the mosaic law, you have the gospel now. And somebody else came and said, well, I think the gospel's is good, but I mean, we've kept this mosaic law for a long time. It's been really good. Maybe it'd be safest if they just kept the mosaic law too. See, it would sound like the safe option, the careful option, or to them it would sound like the conservative option.

Paul doesn't just say, take the safest, supposedly, the most careful option you can find. He says, no, you need to preserve the truth of the gospel. And anytime you add performance to the gospel, it is slavery disguised as safety.

There's a lot in that sentence. I'm gonna say it again. Anytime you add your performance to the gospel, to relying on Jesus Christ alone for grace, you add your performance to the gospel, it's really slavery. We've already said that, but hear this last part, many times that slavery is disguised as safety. I can control God's favor for me by doing these things. That sounds safe. It's actually slavery that distorts the gospel.

What Was Paul's Response to the False Brothers?

So puts Paul's response if we have first Paul's party and then there's false brothers, Paul's response, he tells us in verse five. To them, we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Paul's saying, I didn't dance around in a committee meeting for three weeks trying to figure out if this was the right thing. He came saying the gospel is the truth and I need to preserve the truth of the gospel for, notice, he's writing to Galatians, so to the people in Galatia, for the Gentiles, for the people who are being agitated and troubled, he says, I need to preserve this truth of the gospel and so I didn't yield in submission. I didn't say, oh yes, we need to follow these rules. That'll be safe. No. He says, I'm gonna stand on the truth of the gospel alone.

And that's great for us because as I said earlier, as a group of Gentile believers, our lives would look very differently if the early church had not landed where they did on this issue.

Why Are We Drawn to Distorted Gospels?

So why are we drawn to distorted gospels if it's really slavery? I think there's a couple reasons I've touched on, one, it's safety. Our fear, we want an element of control, so we think if I just perform well enough, I'll have some control. Feel safe. We seek relief for our souls, and if I can stay in control, it feels like I get that.

Or maybe it's our pride. We don't want to owe anyone anything, especially God. We want something we can boast in about ourselves.

And so we think we're striving for safety and maybe our pride when actually we're giving into slavery. We're bound, we're stuck because the gospel is not what is empowering us. It's not what's freeing us. And it's not surprising. If you look to chains for freedom, you don't find it.

Paul's Meeting with Peter, James, and John

So we get the meeting, or the third group. Paul meets with Peter, James, and John. You see here it says James and Cephas. That's another name for Peter.

Uh, Peter, James and John, which he says several times this interesting phrase, verse six. Those who seem to be influential. He says, well, what they were makes no difference to me. God shows no partiality. Those who seem to be influential. And then down in verse nine, those who seem to be pillars.

What is Paul doing and why does he say three times in three verses? They seem to be like, this is Paul just playing favorites. Like, oh, I need to go make sure James tells me the right thing to think.

No. In fact, he makes the point of saying God doesn't play favorites like that. Paul's being realistic. He's saying, I can't go talk to every predominantly Jewish church and talk through the whole gospel with them and answer all their questions, and then find out, well, if you meet a Gentile, how's that gonna go? He's like, I can't do that. There's too many of them.

So he's just strategic. He's wise. He says, if James and Peter and John are on board with this, then these other churches, they will hear what they have to say and we'll be okay. So he's just being wise. He's being smart, but he doesn't want to communicate to the agitators that somehow Paul had the gospel wrong and James and John and Peter had to correct him.

He says, no. I went to those who seemed to be influential and it said that they didn't add anything to Paul.

Was Paul's Teaching Legitimate?

So the question here, like we had, the first question was, will Gentiles be accepted? The second question was, will slavery sneak in? A third question we get here is Paul's teaching legitimate, which is really at the root of the first question.

And so we find this description in verse seven, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised. He says, look, it's the same gospel.

He doesn't say, here's one message to Jews and here's one to Gentiles. That's not his point. He doesn't say when they saw I had been entrusted with a gospel, the one to the circumcised, and Peter had been entrusted with a gospel, the one to the circumcised. He doesn't say that. Instead, he says, when they saw I had been entrusted with the gospel for this context, and Peter had been entrusted with the same gospel for this context.

It can't be Paul saying, well, there's two separate gospels. He already made a big deal of that in chapter one. So instead he's saying, when they saw the grace given to me, when they saw that both of us were entrusted with the same gospel to different audiences, then they did not add anything to Paul.

The Same Gospel in Different Contexts

We should recognize this too in our lives, and this is true when you go, we live in a world, you can go online and you can listen to preachers in all kinds of places. The context in New York City, and in California, and in Washington, DC, and Minnesota are all different contexts. There's similarities, but they're different contexts.

If you want to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's good to preach it to an audience that primarily you might say, they're urban rich, they have a certain view of life. Well, you present the gospel in a certain way. You don't change the gospel. It's the same gospel. But you might land at different ways of talking about it.

You might say, the people that I engage with, they worship their jobs. So you talk in terms of idolatry a lot. And you try to convince them and show them, look idolatry towards your job is just really the same thing as idolatry towards this statue. And here's how the gospel, the good news of God's favor, undeserved favor to you through Jesus Christ. You rely on that. Here's how that applies to your idolatry, whether it's statues or the next promotion.

And in another context, you may teach the gospel that says everybody you've listened to, everybody who, who you've preached to, they've gone to church forever. They know all the Bible words. Well then you might preach the same gospel in a way that drives them to the reality behind that.

In another context, you may have people who are desperate to make it to their next paycheck and whose lives humanly speaking are just more miserable. And there your gospel might sound a lot more like sin is, is addictive. But let me tell you how the grace of Jesus Christ breaks, that.

The gospel's the same. The gospel's always the same. It's good news that God's undeserved favor is towards you. All you have to do is rely on him. It's good news that that comes only through Jesus, but the way we talk about it can sound differently. Just like Peter and Paul could preach the same gospel. In fact, not only they could preach it, they were entrusted with it. They were given the gospel and said, here's the context you're in. Your job is to take that treasure and communicate it in your context.

What is the Result of a Pure Gospel?

And so as we get to the end of this section, we see the result. The result is that when the truth of the gospel is preserved. Gospel people have unity. The kind of unity that accepts everyone who comes in Jesus Christ. It's not motivated by cultural opinions. It's not motivated by external imp appearance. We're not impressed by this person seeming to be smarter or richer or anything like that. It's a unity that's built on the truth of the gospel.

And so verse 10 ends with this statement only. They asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Now this could be taken and it's good to say there's a, a broad statement of generosity to the poor and as a whole, that's true.

I think, and you could work through the timeline on this. Maybe we'll do a podcast on it too. I think this visit is probably Paul and Barnabas and Titus bringing famine relief from other count, other, you know, countries and cities to the poor in Jerusalem. I think that's probably why they came. Now Paul said I, while I'm here, I'm also gonna talk about the gospel and we're gonna get this cleared up.

But I think both of those were going on. So you can imagine if the Jewish Church says yes, we'll accept and embrace Gentile believers. But they're also saying it's really wonderful that these gentile believers have been showing kindness to the poor in Jerusalem. The poor Christians, especially in Jerusalem, they're saying, look, unity needs to go both ways.

In other words, Jewish Christians don't reject Gentiles because they don't keep the law. Gentile Christians don't forget to show kindness and generosity towards the Jewish Christians, even though they do keep the law. He's drawing him to the end and saying, yes, unity, every direction, full of generous hearts to show love and kindness for one another.

The Gospel is a Treasure

So why does Paul write this? He's not just writing this for the history lesson. He's telling the Galatians something about the nature of the gospel. He's telling them about the treasure of the gospel. That's why he uses words like entrusted. They've been given something valuable, and the treasure is not unity.

That's a result of the treasure. The treasure is the gospel that creates the true unity, and it is a treasure. It's a treasure to think that the God of the universe. Doesn't look at his people with unconcerned forgiveness. Whatever you do, oh, it's okay. No, that's not the message of the gospel.

The God of the universe doesn't look at his people with undeserved tolerance. I know you don't deserve this, but I'll at least tolerate you. No, that's not the way God approaches his people.

The God of the universe doesn't even look at his people like, well, if you do all the right stuff, then I'll show you a favor. It's a treasure that Paul's been talking about all the way since chapter one, verse three, when he says, grace to you. When he says, the one who called me by his grace, and here in chapter two, when he says, what? What did James and Cephas and John, what did they see?

Look at verse nine. They perceived the grace that was given to me. They saw the grace of God in Paul. They looked at Paul and said, Paul, you know the unmerited favor of God in a way that we say, yes, you have seen the gospel. They perceived grace. That message is a treasure and it's more valuable than any of us realize.

Those of you who've been believers for a long time, how much does the message that God has undeserved favor towards you, how much does it change your life, and how much more do you want it to? More, and it's a treasure and it's been entrusted to everyone who believes it. Why? Why has it been entrusted so that grace can be seen.

May the Grace of God Be Seen in Us

One of my prayers as I've started looking at Galatians was that the grace of God would be seen in us and the grace of God is not primarily seen. Well, let me reword that. The grace of God is not foundationally seen in the way you treat others. That's not the foundational way they will see the grace of God. They will see the grace of God in the way you relate to God.

When someone sees a believer in Jesus, go through horrific difficulty and they say, I rejoice in the grace of God through Jesus Christ. What do they see? Grace. They see that the grace of God has so given them emotional safety and confidence and security that they say there's something different about that person. How did they do that? Grace. They see grace.

My prayer is that the gospel of Jesus Christ would so change us, transform the way we relate to God, that anybody who comes in this room and talks to anybody who's connected to Berean Bible church, they'll go away saying the grace of God is doing something in that person.

They'll see peace. Why? Not because we're stoic, but because we know the favor of God.

They'll see love, but why will they see love? Not just because we try to do good things. There's a lot of people in the world who do good things. They'll see love because our souls are so at rest with the grace of God that we say, I can love them and I can risk being hurt because I'm safe.

When Paul went to Jerusalem, they perceived, notice carefully the way he words this, in verse nine, they did not perceive the grace that was given through Paul.

Now that's true. They could look at Titus and say, well, that came through Paul. Sure. They could, I think, look at the bag of gifts for famine relief and say, oh, this is wonderful. This is Grace through Paul. But that's not what it says when they perceive the grace given to me.

You have been entrusted with the gospel. Yes. So we can love others. Yes. So we can have generosity, but so the gospel so transforms us and the grace of God, so changes us that people look at you and say, grace has happened to them. And they perceive the grace of God.

Earlier I asked, how do you find your way when there's so many voices and so many questions and people subtly add to the gospel and their slavery tries to sneak in, how do you do that?

Any teaching, any thought that says you must perform in a certain way to gain God's posture of approval or love or favor toward you. Anything that doesn't recognize that kind of grace through Jesus Christ alone is slavery. It's not from him. That kind of gospel, the kind that adds to the true gospel, it won't allow you to see grace because it doesn't have any grace.

So my prayer is that our lives will encounter God's unmerited favor again and again and again. And when a life encounters God's unmerited favor, it's transformed like Titus. It's transformed like Paul, who was a religious rule keeper who could never find rest anywhere, and finally found it in Jesus 'cause he saw grace.

When a life is transformed by God's unmerited favor, you don't have to hide your flaws. You're open, you're transparent. Here's why God had to show grace to me because this is what I was. But by the grace of God, that's not where I'm staying.

When a life is transformed by God's grace, it results in sacrificial obedience, like remembering the poor, like he says here in generosity in a million ways.

When a life is transformed by God's unmerited favor, it results in unity despite our differences.

Notice I didn't say the grace of God is seen by all your circumstances being easy. In fact, I would say your difficult circumstances are a much more obvious way to display the grace of God than your easy ones. I didn't say, when a life is transformed by God's unmerited favor, it will not have struggles with sin or deep struggles with sin.

So when people look at your life, do they see the grace given to you? Not perfection, but rest in God's favor? Not fear, but freedom. Not tight-fisted self-protection, but generosity.

Galatians two reminds us the gospel is only about grace. It's never Jesus plus anything else. It's Jesus alone, it reminds us the gospel is not open to revision. God's not still working on his final draft of the gospel, and the gospel is entrusted to you and to us. We must preserve the truth of the gospel so that others see it. We must live in its freedom and we must display grace to the people around us.

So brothers and sisters clinging to grace. That's a battle in every one of our minds, every day, clinging to the grace of God through Jesus Christ, and let the world and everyone around you see the beauty of the gospel and the grace of Jesus Christ.

I invite you to close your eyes and respond. Respond to God. Thank him for his grace, and ask him to display it more in you.