Grace in Galatians (Part 189) – Stop Performing For Religious People

https://youtu.be/Jv-5pe8Z814?si=ZbvC5YssbtyBFMTj

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture we will study today:

Galatians 6:12 NIV“Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.”

Galatians 6:12 AMPC“It is those who want to make a good impression and a fine show in the flesh who would compel you to receive circumcision, simply so that they may escape being persecuted for allegiance to the cross of Christ (the Messiah).”

Galatians 6:12 TPT“Those who insist that you be circumcised are trying to do it for the sake of reputation—to win the praise of men, not God. They want to escape the persecution that comes from preaching the liberating message of the cross of the Anointed One.”

Supporting scriptures:

John 12:42-43 ERV“But many people did believe in Jesus. There were even many of the Jewish leaders who believed in him. But they were afraid of the Pharisees, so they did not say openly that they believed… These men loved praise from people more than praise from God.”

Matthew 6:1 AMPC“Take care not to do your good deeds publicly or before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you will have no reward [reserved for and awaiting you] with and from your Father Who is in heaven.”

Proverbs 29:25 AMPC“The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever leans on, trusts in, and puts his confidence in the Lord is safe and set on high.”

1 Samuel 16:7 AMPC“For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Galatians 6:14 TPT“May I never boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, for through him I have died, and the world has died to me.”

2 Timothy 3:12 NLT“Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Setting the Stage:

Yesterday, we walked through Galatians 6:11 and learned that some things in life are too important to outsource. Paul picked up the pen himself because the closing of this letter mattered too much to dictate. Today, we cross over into verse 12. And once Paul has the pen in his own hand, the very first thing he writes is this:

Galatians 6:12 NIV says, “Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.” 

The AMPC says it even more sharply: “It is those who want to make a good impression and a fine show in the flesh who would compel you to receive circumcision, simply so that they may escape being persecuted for allegiance to the cross of Christ.”

Did you catch that? “A fine show.” Paul is calling the Judaizers what they are: performers. They were not pushing circumcision because they cared about the souls of these new believers. They were pushing it because they wanted to look good in front of the rest of the Jewish religious establishment. They wanted to avoid persecution. They wanted to keep their reputation intact. They were running a performance, not a ministry. And the audience they were performing for was NOT God. It was MEN.

I call this “religious reputation management.” Jesus called it hypocrisy. The Pharisees gave to be seen. They prayed to be heard. They fasted to be noticed. They turned faith into a show. And Paul is telling the Galatians that the Judaizers are doing the exact same thing. They are forcing rules on you so THEY can look spiritual. 

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. The Flesh Always Wants An Audience.

Paul says the Judaizers wanted to “make a fine show in the flesh.” That phrase is the key. It is performance language. It is theater language. The flesh always wants an audience. The flesh always wants to be seen, recognized, praised, and applauded. Whenever you find yourself doing something specifically because somebody is watching, that is the flesh. Whenever you find your obedience scaling up when people are looking and scaling down when nobody is, that is the flesh. 

Do you remember when I told you that greatness is developed in obscurity? Well, the flesh is allergic to obscurity. The flesh hates a private faith. The flesh wants a stage. And it does not matter if the stage is a sanctuary, a board room, a social media feed, or just the general public. The moment your faith goes from internal conviction to external performance, the flesh has taken over your spiritual life.

How this applies to you:

— John 12:42-43 ERV says many of the Jewish leaders actually believed in Jesus, but they would not admit it openly because “they loved praise from people more than praise from God.” Read that line again. They had REVELATION. They KNEW Jesus was the Messiah. But the love of human applause kept them quiet. That is the same trap the Judaizers fell into. And it is the same trap the modern church fights today; especially with social media.

— The flesh measures your spiritual life by how you LOOK, while the Spirit measures it by who you ARE in the secret place (in your heart).

— I want you to picture a man who only prays when somebody can hear him. A parent who only reads the Bible to the kids when company is over. A believer who only acts holy on Sundays. That is the flesh wearing a faith costume. That’s not real, Faith. That’s a show. That is the flesh playing a role when people are watching. Please don’t let this be you. 

— Here’s the thing: performance for men is exhausting, but genuinely living by faith is exciting, amazing, and refreshing.

— Matthew 6:1 AMPC says, “Take care not to do your good deeds publicly or before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you will have no reward [reserved for and awaiting you] with and from your Father Who is in heaven.” The reward goes to the hidden act. The applause kills the reward. That is heaven’s economy.

— The strongest believers I know are the ones who do God’s will when no one is watching. The ones who pray when nobody is in the room. The ones who give when no one will ever know. The ones who serve when nobody will applaud. They are simply doing the will of God without regard for an audience.

— I will tell you that I sometimes struggle with this, not because I want to be seen, but because the Holy Spirit often leads me to do something that seems opposite to this. Because we have a ministry that relies on the freewill offerings of people (thankfully, people give into our ministry every day in small amounts and large amounts), a lot of what we do is ministry to those who don’t have an abundance of resources. So, unlike ministering to people who can sow out of their abundance, we are often ministering to people who have little or, in some cases, nothing. In these cases, the Lord leads me to take pictures and to post those pictures. I know that the main reason he leads me to do it is so we can demonstrate our integrity by showing people what we do with the money they donate, but even then, I often think of these verses, and I check my own heart because I never want to do any of this to be seen. We would all do well by checking our hearts in this area from time to time.   

— The flesh always wants an audience. If you find yourself wanting an audience, you need to check your heart because you may be operating in the flesh. 

2. Religion Done For Reputation Is Not Pure Religion At All.

The Judaizers looked spiritual. They were quoting the Law. They were observing traditions. They were doing all the right religious things. But their motive was contaminated. And here is what every believer has to understand. God does not just see WHAT you do. He sees WHY you do it. He weighs the motive. He cares more about your heart than your social media highlight reel. 1 Samuel 16:7 AMPC says, “the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Two people can do the exact same act, and only one of them gets a reward, because man sees the show, while God sees the source. 

How this applies to you:

— Jesus did not save His harshest words for sinners. He saved them for religious performers. For people who knew the Law. Read Matthew 23. He called the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” beautiful on the outside and full of dead bones on the inside. The thing that broke Jesus’ heart most was not human sin. It was religious pride and pretense.

— Some of you are doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons.

— Proverbs 29:25 AMPC calls the fear of man “a snare,” and the moment you start living for the opinions of people, you have walked into the trap.

— A pure motive does not make you better than anyone else; it just makes you available to God because your heart is focused on HIM and not the applause of men.

— Pure motive is not automatic, and it is not permanent. It is something you protect every single day. Your heart can be pure today, but then full of pride tomorrow. This is something you have to check on a regular basis. 

— In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, the question is not “How do I look?” but “Why am I doing this?” When you do what you do for the Lord, your reward will come from Him. 

3. The Cross Eliminates Self-Effort, And Grace Fills The Void.

The Judaizers were performing because the cross gave them nothing to perform with. The cross was a one-man job, and that one Man was Jesus. He did not need a co-savior. He did not need your sweat, your circumcision, or your religious resume. The cross said, “It is finished,” and you cannot finish what is already finished. This is the heart of #TheGraceLife. Grace shows up when self-effort shuts down. As long as you are contributing, you are competing with grace, and grace will not compete. Religion keeps your hands busy. Grace keeps your hands open. The cross emptied your hands so grace could fill them.

How this applies to you:

— Galatians 6:14 TPT says, “May I never boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.” Paul boasted in the cross alone because the cross alone did the saving. God and His grace get all the glory when self-effort gets none.

— Some of you are still mixing the cross with your effort. You believe Jesus saved you, but you are secretly trying to save yourself a little on the side. Stop. Your effort cannot complete what the blood already finished.

— Picture a man at a debt collection office holding a bag of money, refusing to accept that someone else paid the bill. That is what religion does. Religious people have a hard time accepting that Jesus paid it all. They feel like they need to do something to go to heaven.  

— Religion lets you contribute, but the cross does not, and that is the best news you have ever heard. If salvation depended on you, you would always wonder if you did enough. But thankfully, it depends on Jesus, so you can finally rest.

— The cross saves you from sin AND from the exhausting religious treadmill.

— Living The Grace Life means living FROM a finished work, not FOR one. Your obedience is not payment for grace; it is the overflow of a heart that finally stopped stressing and striving.

— In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, discover that the cross was never asking for your help; it was asking for your faith. Stop adding. Just receive.

4. The Cross Offends The Flesh, And That Is Why People Fight Grace.

Now we understand why the Judaizers were performing. They were not just trying to look spiritual; they were trying to escape the offense of the cross. The reason the religious establishment hated the cross 2,000 years ago is the same reason the religious crowd still fights pure grace today. The cross strips every man of every reason to brag. Your bloodline does not save you. Your performance does not save you. Your religious resume does not save you. The flesh hates that. The flesh wants partial credit, and grace will not give it any. Grace says, “Jesus did it all, and you did none of it.” That is offensive to people who are still trying to earn what cannot be earned. This is why religious people fight grace.

How this applies to you:

— Pure grace makes religious people angry and works-based people angrier. Only the people who are tired of trying to earn what cannot be earned receive it gladly.

— The Judaizers were not denying Jesus; they were adding to Him. Anytime someone wants to add a rule, a ritual, or a requirement to the finished work, they are fighting the same fight the Judaizers fought.

— Your own flesh will fight grace, too, if you are not careful. Do not be shocked when you feel the urge to “earn” your salvation. But if you feel that urge, you need to quickly shut it down. 

— Religious people want to share the stage with Jesus, but grace gives Jesus the entire stage.

— I will close with good news: The same cross that offends the religious crowd is the cross that sets you free. What feels like a stumbling block to them is the solid ground you stand on every single day. It’s grace, and yes, it’s amazing!

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You for looking at my heart and weighing my motives.

I refuse to make a show in the flesh!

I love Your praise more than the praise of people, and I will not trade Your reward for human applause!

I do all the right things for the right reasons, because I seek to do all I do for You!

I refuse to fall into the snare of the fear of man. I yield my heart to You, daily, as You help deliver me from pride.

I boast in nothing except the cross of Jesus Christ, because the cross alone did the saving, and grace gets all the glory!

I have been delivered from performance-based religion! 

I rest in the finished work of the cross!

I refuse to add my effort to what the blood of Jesus already finished, because grace plus nothing equals everything!

I enter this day living THE GRACE LIFE, and I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!