When Forgetting (The Gospel) Hurts
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal. 2:11-14)
Several years ago, my wife and I saw this movie entitled, The Vow, which stars Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. Like in every Romantic Drama, you have romance and drama.
The movie begins with Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) leaving a movie and getting into their car to drive home. At a stop sign, Paige takes advantage and unbuckles her seat belt to lean over and give Leo a kiss. Romance.
Then out of nowhere a truck slams into their car sending Paige through the windshield. Drama. As the couple is rushed to the emergency room, Leo narrates the following words:
“My theory is about moments. Moments of impact. My theory is that these moments of impact, these flashes of high intensity that completely turn our lives upside down, end up defining who we are.”
Galatians 2 shows us that Peter experienced a “moment of impact” that ended up defining who he was. But here’s the thing, we won’t understand how impactful Peter’s experience was in Galatians 2 without turning to his first “moment of impact” in Acts 10. I’m sure you’ve come across the story before. It begins with God giving a vision to Cornelius, a God-fearing centurion. In the vision, God tells Cornelius to send some of his men to Joppa to bring back Peter, so he does.
The next day, we’re told, Peter was hungry and while waiting for his lunch, he went up to the housetop and fell into a God given trance. He then has this vision of a big blanket coming down from heaven with various types of unclean animals. And then a voice tells to him get up, kill and eat. But Peter refuses because he’s a Jew and Jews have strict dietary laws.
Then the voice tells him not to call unclean what God has made clean. Peter is confused by the vision, and while he’s still scratching his head over it, Cornelius’ men show up to take Peter to Caesarea. A few days later, Peter and the men arrive in Caesarea, and Cornelius meets them and Peter says,
"You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection."
Moment of impact. Later in Acts 10, Peter opens his sermon to Cornelius and all his household by saying that God shows no partiality. That is, no racial or ethnic partiality. The gospel, now Peter understands, is for everyone—Jew and Greek. But does he really understand or did he just forget? It is, in all likelihood, the latter.
We all, without exception, exercise the tendency of forgetting the gospel. We all get, to use Paul Tripp's coined phrase, "gospel amnesia." And Galatians 2:11-14 reveals that Peter suffered from a massive case of it. Peter is eating with some Gentiles, and all is well until the Judaizers show up. Once they do, Peter separates himself from his Gentile friends as if he didn’t even know them. Sadly, all the Jews that were with Peter did the same.
Several things stand out to me about this situation: fear, hypocrisy, control, and the need for approval. Out of fear Peter separates himself, which Paul considers an act of hypocrisy, especially when recalling Peter’s “moment of impact” in Acts 10. By separating himself from the Gentiles and aligning with the Judaizers, Peter tries to control the situation, but the situation is really controlling him by exposing his desperate need for approval. All these things Peter is experiencing–fear, hypocrisy, control, and the need for approval–are the fruit of a deeply rooted problem: gospel amnesia.
We get gospel amnesia when we forget what God has done for us in the person and work of Christ. Gospel amnesia happens when we look to other things to give us what only the gospel can give. I’m guilty of this, and I know you are too. We all are. Gospel amnesia is a symptom of the truth that we have the tendency, not to believe too much, but to believe too little.
Being a gospel amnesiac will always cause us to search for security, significance, approval, affirmation, acceptance, hope and love somewhere else other than God.
And that is most unfortunate because, as Winnie the Pooh once said,
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
That’s what happened to Peter and it all manifested in fear, hypocrisy, control, and the need for approval. And you know what? The same things happen to us, we’re not exempt. We need, like Peter, some realigning.
Look for Part 2 later this week.
Several years ago, my wife and I saw this movie entitled, The Vow, which stars Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. Like in every Romantic Drama, you have romance and drama.
The movie begins with Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) leaving a movie and getting into their car to drive home. At a stop sign, Paige takes advantage and unbuckles her seat belt to lean over and give Leo a kiss. Romance.
Then out of nowhere a truck slams into their car sending Paige through the windshield. Drama. As the couple is rushed to the emergency room, Leo narrates the following words:
“My theory is about moments. Moments of impact. My theory is that these moments of impact, these flashes of high intensity that completely turn our lives upside down, end up defining who we are.”
Galatians 2 shows us that Peter experienced a “moment of impact” that ended up defining who he was. But here’s the thing, we won’t understand how impactful Peter’s experience was in Galatians 2 without turning to his first “moment of impact” in Acts 10. I’m sure you’ve come across the story before. It begins with God giving a vision to Cornelius, a God-fearing centurion. In the vision, God tells Cornelius to send some of his men to Joppa to bring back Peter, so he does.
The next day, we’re told, Peter was hungry and while waiting for his lunch, he went up to the housetop and fell into a God given trance. He then has this vision of a big blanket coming down from heaven with various types of unclean animals. And then a voice tells to him get up, kill and eat. But Peter refuses because he’s a Jew and Jews have strict dietary laws.
Then the voice tells him not to call unclean what God has made clean. Peter is confused by the vision, and while he’s still scratching his head over it, Cornelius’ men show up to take Peter to Caesarea. A few days later, Peter and the men arrive in Caesarea, and Cornelius meets them and Peter says,
"You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection."
Moment of impact. Later in Acts 10, Peter opens his sermon to Cornelius and all his household by saying that God shows no partiality. That is, no racial or ethnic partiality. The gospel, now Peter understands, is for everyone—Jew and Greek. But does he really understand or did he just forget? It is, in all likelihood, the latter.
We all, without exception, exercise the tendency of forgetting the gospel. We all get, to use Paul Tripp's coined phrase, "gospel amnesia." And Galatians 2:11-14 reveals that Peter suffered from a massive case of it. Peter is eating with some Gentiles, and all is well until the Judaizers show up. Once they do, Peter separates himself from his Gentile friends as if he didn’t even know them. Sadly, all the Jews that were with Peter did the same.
Several things stand out to me about this situation: fear, hypocrisy, control, and the need for approval. Out of fear Peter separates himself, which Paul considers an act of hypocrisy, especially when recalling Peter’s “moment of impact” in Acts 10. By separating himself from the Gentiles and aligning with the Judaizers, Peter tries to control the situation, but the situation is really controlling him by exposing his desperate need for approval. All these things Peter is experiencing–fear, hypocrisy, control, and the need for approval–are the fruit of a deeply rooted problem: gospel amnesia.
We get gospel amnesia when we forget what God has done for us in the person and work of Christ. Gospel amnesia happens when we look to other things to give us what only the gospel can give. I’m guilty of this, and I know you are too. We all are. Gospel amnesia is a symptom of the truth that we have the tendency, not to believe too much, but to believe too little.
Being a gospel amnesiac will always cause us to search for security, significance, approval, affirmation, acceptance, hope and love somewhere else other than God.
And that is most unfortunate because, as Winnie the Pooh once said,
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
That’s what happened to Peter and it all manifested in fear, hypocrisy, control, and the need for approval. And you know what? The same things happen to us, we’re not exempt. We need, like Peter, some realigning.
Look for Part 2 later this week.
Rev. Mike Hernandez serves as the senior pastor of Crossroads Presbyterian Church. He is a graduate of Trinity International University (B.A.), Knox Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) at Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando.
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Excellent Mike. Thanks for the nod to Paul Tripp too!