A devotional series through the book of Galatians: Week 5
DSG | Daily Reflections
MONDAY
Skulkers
Reflection 21 of 70
But afterwards, when Kefa/Peter came to Antioch, it was a totally different story. I got in his face. Big
time. It wasn’t nice or pretty. He had totally screwed up, the egg of his error was all over his face. You
see, before certain individuals (who shall remain unnamed) came from Jacob/James’ pack of religious
zealots, Peter would always be found hanging out with the Gentile crowd, eating and yucking it up with
them at the same table like best buddies. But when Team Jacob shows up flexing their religious muscles –
what does he do? He goes skulking off, hemming and hawing and pretending like he never knew any of
his Gentile “buddies,” turning white as a sheet in fear of the knife wielding religious cutters (where have
we seen this play out before?). Galatians 2:11­12|MAV
Skulk. It appears to be a word of Scandavian origin, going back to the 13th century. According to
Merriam­Webster its synonyms include “lurk, mooch, mouse, pussyfoot, shirk, sneak, slide, slink, slip,
snake, steal.” Can’t think of a better word for what Peter (Kefa is the Aramaic version of the name) does
here. Peter owns these Gentile believers as they are, eating with them, hanging with them, singing,
laughing, praying, and weeping. Sharing life. And when the specter of religious disapproval darkened the
door, Peter stood up not to confront it, not to fight for his friends. No voice of protest here. No shout of,
“leave them alone!” No. Kefa, the Rock, crumbles. He beats a hasty retreat like Brave Sir Robin in The
Holy Grail. He skulked off. And this is Peter. The Apostle. THE Apostle. Thank you, Peter, for running,
for we do too. We are all skulkers, by nature, aren’t we? We crumble too, and we slip away into the
shadows, our voice silent for our friends, silent for the precious realities of Jesus we have tasted. God give
us just a bit of what Paul brought to that table as he stood up, not only for his Gentile brothers, but for his
skulking brother Kefa.
relate question
With whom do you identify most at this table: Peter the skulker or Paul the confronter? When have you
been tempted to skulk away from a person, situation, or conversation that was calling for you to stand and
engage? Where can we find the courage to stand up when we need to?
prayer
Jesus, deliver me from skulking! Make me bold, as you have always been, for the outsider, the sinner – the
human being standing right before me today who only reflects my own frailties. Empower me to find my
voice for each one. Amen.
Galatians: Week 5
A devotional series through the book of Galatians: Week 5
TUESDAY
Orthopedic Practice
Reflection 22 of 70
And as if that weren’t bad enough, the rest of the Jewish “friends” in the room starting skulking off too,
joining his act of disingenuous distancing from the “outsider” Gentiles – in fact, even Barnabas,
Barnabas!, was swept up in this appalling performance of betrayal. But, let me tell you, when I saw this
performance, when I saw how they were missing it ­ how they were totally gutting the reality of the Good
News of Jesus! ­ it was no “standing O” that brought me to my feet. No way! I gave Kefa/Peter the what
for – right there in front of everyone I laid into him: “You are thoroughly Jewish, yet you have been totally
living it up like a Gentile outsider rather than a Jewish insider. How can you now turn around and try to
force these religious outsiders into your insider mold?!? You poser!” Galatians 2:13­14 |MAV
Orthopodeo. It’s a word found in this text and nowhere else – Paul may have coined it himself. It has
two parts: orthos (straight) and pous (foot). Paul saw, literally, that Peter and the rest of the Jewish
company at the table who skulked away weren’t orthopedic in their walk with Jesus. They didn’t walk
straight. But then do skulkers ever walk straight? It wasn’t just that they were off here or there. After all,
nothing had changed in their doctrinal stance on anything at that point. But their behavior had the ultimate
effect of gutting the Good News. It’s a vivid illustration of how orthodoxy (what we believe and think) is
connected with othropraxy (what we do). Both are critical. But the fact remains that we can be quite
orthopedic in our orthodoxy but gut the Gospel of Jesus by what we do – particularly in how we treat
others, by the layers of conditions we lay down to accept others as brothers and sisters. “Receive one
another as Christ has received you, to the glory of God” (Romans 15:7). We can quote the verse
(orthodoxy). The question is just how orthopedic is our practice of it?
relate question
When it comes to your treatment and acceptance of others, just how orthopedic is your practice? How
might God be challenging you today to really “walk the line” of loving someone in a practical way as Christ
has loved you?
prayer
God, empower me to walk the line of your love and mercies today. Let my eyes be wide open to embrace
someone today as you have embraced me. Amen.
Galatians: Week 5
A devotional series through the book of Galatians: Week 5
WEDNESDAY
Finding Our Feet
Reflection 23 of 70
We were born Jewish insiders, you and I, meticulously avoiding any contagious contact with outsider
Gentile sinners – but now we have realized that no human being receives his whole, healed, and upright
standing before God in this world by our faithful keeping of religion’s rules. This only comes through the
faithful, perfect doing and dying of Jesus the Messiah. So that’s where we’ve put our trust: we’re banking
on the Messiah, Jesus, so that we can experience God’s vindication and find our feet before him because
of his faithful doing and dying and not because of any religious/moral performance we can claim. Seeking
God’s approval through religious performance and moral living is a dead end. No one finds their feet there.
No one. Galatians 2:15­16 |MAV
Righteousness is one of those big hairy religious words that perhaps alienates and intimidates us more
than it helps us. We can find ourselves dripping with inadequacy before it. At its heart, righteousness
speaks of God’s vindication. As N.T. Wright summarizes in his book Justification, the Bible is the
unfolding of God’s “single­plan­through­Israel­to­bless­the­world.” The problem is, Israel failed. That’s
really the whole point of the entire Old Testament narrative. But Christ didn’t fail. Israel proved faithless.
But Christ, the Israelite par excellence (you really can’t out­Jewish Jesus!), proved faithful. And because
of Jesus’ faithfulness in his perfect doing and dying, God has vindicated Jesus (which is why he raised him
from the dead), and thereby vindicated the plan, Israel, the world, you, and me. And so we finally have
found our feet in and before God. That’s the heart of righteousness: Our healed, whole, and upright stand
before God in the world. And it’s a done deal in Christ. It’s our dynamic launching pad into the wide­eyed
adventure of life. Any other path, particularly that of our adherence to a system of religious performance
and moral living, is a dead end. Perhaps righteousness isn’t such a scary word after all.
relate question
To what extent would you say you have “found your feet” before God? In what ways do you feel like you
are still stuck in the cul­de­sac of religion? Where in your life do you feel you are cruising down the path
of a full, realized acceptance by God? How can we experience more of the cruising and less of the
cul­de­sac?
prayer
Lord, help me to find my feet in you today. Help me to stay on my feet in you! Keep me out of the dead
end cul­de­sacs I encounter today. Amen.
Galatians: Week 5
A devotional series through the book of Galatians: Week 5
THURSDAY
Sin’s Deacon
Reflection 24 of 70
But if while seeking to so find our feet in Christ it becomes painfully evident that all our religiously held
distinctives, all our religious claims to fame, have collapsed into the dust leaving us in the same boat with
the rest of humanity – all of us are outsiders and sinners alike – what then? Does this mean it’s a moral
and religious free for all now that it matters not what we do, where we go, who we are – that moral and
religious anarchy is Christ’s promoted agenda now? Never. Not in a million years. No.
Galatians 2:17 |MAV
Christos harmartias diakonos? (Cree­stows ha­mar­tee­as dee­ah­koe­noes). It’s an excellent question.
Now if we only knew what it means. We could render it, “Is Christ the deacon of sin?” That’s one of the
ways we handle this Greek word diakonos in our traditional English translations. Unfortunately we
capitalize it and make it into a church office and title. Another exercise in missing the point. The diakonos
is the one who serves behind the scenes, doing those little things that are necessary to make the “big
event” happen. When Paul asks, “Is Christ sin’s deacon?” the question is simply, in light of the fact that
Jesus in his perfect doing and dying has made all religious systems driven by human performance
irrelevant (or even malignant), does this mean that it’s now a religious and moral free for all? Is Jesus a
promoter of religious and moral chaos, a peddler of anarchy? Former religious insiders might assume such.
Paul has a simple, direct, two word answer that he uses on several occasions in his letters: me genoito!
(may gen­oy­toe – practice saying this loudly; it’s catchy). May it never be. Not in a million years. God
forbid. In your dreams, pal! Any of these will work in getting the sense. Just because Jesus has breached
the dam that imprisoned us doesn’t mean his design is for the waters to rage over the banks below. The
Jesus agenda isn’t anarchy. It is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
relate question
When we break the barrier of confining religious systems, how do we keep from having a “religious and
moral free for all”? How would you define the “banks” that can contain and direct the waters flowing
from the breached dam of an oppressive religious system? How do we find balance?
prayer
Abba, if there is a free for all in my life, let it be one of love, of justice, of multiplied and multifaceted
mercies. Through Jesus. Thank you.
Galatians: Week 5
A devotional series through the book of Galatians: Week 5
FRIDAY
The Jesus Agenda
Reflection 25 of
70
But religious tyranny is not the answer either. In fact, if I rebuild the religious walls I once obliterated, I
show myself to be the greatest lawbreaker of all. For I through law and religion, died to law and religion,
so that I might come alive in, to, and with God! I have been crucified with Christ to law, to all religious
systems! And it’s no longer my ego dragging around its sorry religious or irreligious agenda. But he lives in
me. Christ! And this fleshly existence is now driven by something much higher, much deeper: I am totally
driven to and governed by deep, abiding trust in the Son of God. Who loved me. Who gave himself for me.
This is why I live now. In such an about face from all religious systems based on duty, rules and
performance, I don’t cancel out or invalidate God’s amazing grace. Oh contraire! For if such a system of
religious duty, rules and performance were in fact the path to a healed, whole, and upright standing before
God in the world, then Christ died for nothing – and it is his death that communicates everything. Galatians
2:18­21 |MAV
Christ is no deacon for sin. But he is also not a rebuilder of revised religious walls. Jesus didn’t bring us a
revised or updated religious system that finally gets it right. Years ago I remember being struck by the
opening line of Hebrews chapter 9: “The first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly
sanctuary.” It dawned on me: so do we! We have regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary too.
They had an altar for sacrifices of animals, we have altars for sacrifices of confession. They tithed to
support a temple and priesthood, we tithe to support a church and pastorate. They had the law on stone,
we have it on paper. So is that all we have here? An updated religious system that is easier (or harder,
depending on who you talk to)? “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant. It will not be like
the covenant I made with your ancestors. My laws will be internalized. You will know me. You will
experience genuine, real, honest­to­God forgiveness” (see Hebrews 8:8­13). A new and living way. This is
the Jesus agenda. It’s not about being religious, and it’s certainly not about being irreligious. It’s about our
ego being swallowed up in the reality of Jesus and launched into a lifelong adventure of devotion to him
and love for one another.
relate question
To what degree has your walk with Christ been defined by (or contained by) a religious system? How has
this worked for you? How would you summarize the difference between the Old and the New Covenants,
between the way of religion and the agenda of Jesus?
prayer
Lord, whenever I am stuck in a religious stupor or an irreligious rut, awaken me again with the aroma of
Galatians: Week 5
A devotional series through the book of Galatians: Week 5
your love for me. Give me the grace to die afresh today to my achievements, that I might truly find myself
in yours.
Galatians: Week 5