Galatians 2: The Ego, Enemy of Being Rooted in Love

Introduction

"The quality of your exposure will always determine the quality of your transformation." Tonny Tshibangu preaches on the third and final day of the prayer camp at Impact Centre Chrétien Montréal, "The Battle of the Image." He presents himself as a son coming home, walking in the path of the message heard the previous Sunday: being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17).

The Lord wants to bring the Church back to love. But there is a formidable adversary. "You must triumph," the pastor says. His title: triumph over the enemy of your rooting in love. This enemy has a name: the self, the ego.

To fight it, he opens Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." He shows how the ego keeps you from loving God with your whole being, from forgiving, giving and serving, then he calls you to cry out to God for the grace to love him.

Message outline

1. A new season calls for a new version of you

• Many make the same mistake: they come on Sunday, say "amen," then leave without ever listening to the message again. The pastor shares that he listened more than five times to the previous Sunday's message.
• "Expose yourself." Listen again and let the word work in you, because the Lord is bringing the Church into a new season. A new season must come with a new version of you: you do not put new wine into old wineskins (Matthew 9:17).
• A wind is blowing that comes to sweep away and cool down many. "You can earn millions and still be swept away. You can buy houses and still be swept away." If you do not build on the foundation of love, everything can be swept away.
• In Ephesians 3, Paul does not pray first for marriage, money or riches. He intercedes that Christ would be fully formed and that the Church would be rooted in love.
• Because when you have everything without being grounded in love, that is when the blessings carry you away. How many have cried out for a marriage or for a baby, then grew cold once the answer came: they are no longer seen at church, and their prayer life has gone out.

2. The formidable adversary: the self that wants to be in command

• The enemy is "the self that wants to stay, the self that wants to command." "How can he lead you if he does not have the controls? How can he direct you if you do not give him the steering wheel?"
• What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).
• God wants to bring the Church into exponential growth, with one major key: love. The goal is not first of all you. There is a great multitude in your neighborhood and across North America, and God wants to reach them through you.
• "A person who is not filled with love is a person who blocks the manifestation of the works of God in his time and in his generation."
• God says of David: "I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will do all my will" (Acts 13:22). Before the will, before the destiny, there is the heart. "Is your heart wholly mine?"

3. "I have been crucified with Christ"

• The context: in the churches of Galatia, some taught that faith in Jesus Christ had to be completed by the law of Moses, especially circumcision. Later, Paul rebukes Peter, who had withdrawn from the Gentiles and whose conduct was not upright (Galatians 2:11-14).
• That is where he sets down this verse. "It is not something to become, it is a truth." The old version has been crucified; the self is no longer meant to take the controls.
• At the cross there was a divine exchange: shame went away and glory was given to us.
• Still, there is a struggle between the self and Christ. The self says: "I will take the place." Christ says: "I will be fully formed." Paul concludes: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
• When Christ governs, you become a person led by the Spirit. And the first thing you see in someone who walks by the Spirit is love: the love of God, but also love for others.

4. The ego keeps you from loving God with your whole being

• The church's verse of the year is Luke 10:27: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." God wants all of you. The self resists that "all."
• The ego says: "Love yourself more than God, love yourself more than others. Live for yourself, build for yourself." But whoever wants to save his life will lose it (Matthew 16:25). The pastor prays that you can say with Paul: I would rather lose everything in order to gain Christ (Philippians 3:8).
• He also prays that your life would not be "rare," like a steak that is not cooked enough: Christ not yet fully formed or visible. A dish that is undercooked attracts no one. Yet creation waits with eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19), while Christians fight each other, slander one another and criticize their pastors.
• "Love is the fuel of life." One Sunday morning, in the shower, the pastor received an image: before hitting the road to Montreal, he fills up the tank so he does not break down on Highway 50. Many want to reach their destiny without letting God's love fill their heart. Without love, everything starts to seize up: you run dry in the middle of the highway of your destiny.
• First love sometimes fades, as in a couple: not one text all day, not one "I love you," not one "what time are you coming home?" Some do the same with God: they go all day without speaking to him, then say "give me" when a problem arrives. "God does not want bossy Christians. He wants Christians in love."
• If it is problems that bring you back into God's presence, cry out that from now on it would be thirst that brings you back.

5. The "crash tests" of love

• "When we start talking about love, you need to get ready. You are going to have crash tests." God will place a difficult person in front of you. You ask him when he will rid you of that person, and he answers: "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is in contact with our neighbor that God works his love in us.
• When someone steps on your foot, the ego answers: "Do you know who I am?" The pastor answers: I know who you are, you are a child of God, saved by Jesus, who paid for you with his blood.
• The Bible says that if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other (Colossians 3:13). It is not only about waiting for forgiveness, but also about asking for it. And bitterness remains when you do not pray for those who offend you. Jesus said: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).
• The pastor tells the story of a married woman betrayed by her husband. She held on to bitterness, then thoughts of revenge, and drew close to a former friend, under the pretext of simply going out to eat together. Little by little, she fell into a relationship she could no longer get out of. "That is where the ego can take you."
• A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:24). Love is not envious, does not think evil, is not puffed up with pride (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). In the last days people will be selfish (2 Timothy 3:2), but love is not.

6. The ego in giving and in prayer

• Jonah is called to go, and he stays. God says "give," the ego answers: "It's my money. Is the tithe even biblical?" In reality, "it is not a question about the tithe, it is about what you want to keep."
• When you give to God, you are not throwing your money in the trash: you are building for your destiny and for your children's future. In Malachi, after the passage on tithes, God promises to make a distinction between the one who serves him and the one who does not (Malachi 3:18).
• "How many times do we even turn the Lord into a servant of the ego?" "You ask, and don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend it for your pleasures" (James 4:3).
• The first purpose of prayer is to meet God, to live him and to reveal him. We begin the Lord's Prayer and jump straight to the daily bread. Before the daily bread, there is "our Father."
• Whoever wants to follow Jesus must first deny himself (Matthew 16:24). Paul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). Had he stayed attached to himself, he would not be the apostle who bore so much fruit.

7. Giving your life for others

• The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life (Mark 10:45). When the ego is there, you want to be served instead of serving. You cannot enter the dimension of a wide love if you are not first rooted.
• Most facets of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) concern your relationship with others: patience, gentleness and kindness are exercised toward someone. The Lord is bringing the Church back to bearing with one another.
• "Pillars have never spoken to you." A pillar does not complain about carrying the building. Did you stop serving because someone offended you? "If Jesus had resigned on you, I do not know where you would be." Taking "a time of prayer" in bitterness and offense will get you nowhere.
• The pastor mentions apostle Yvan Castanou, who goes to bed around two in the morning and gets up around four to lead the prayer "Command the Morning": someone pays a price for others. The ego keeps you from paying that price.
• Recently, tired after a program, the pastor wanted to rest. Around half past midnight, a young couple who had waited a long time for a child called him from the hospital. One voice told him to pray over the phone, another to go to them. He went. The child was stillborn. Seeing him, the young father broke down in sobs, and through his tears he blessed God and refused to complain. "There are people waiting for you to pay with your life."
• "Everyone is busy." But busy with what? Often scrolling Netflix or TikTok for an hour while God is looking for you in his presence. Look at your screen time. "Your screen has become your friend," while others are waiting for a little support.
• "By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers" (1 John 3:16). You cannot get there without crying out to God for the grace to love.

The message ends in prayer: "My heart cries out to love you. Come and deliver us from ourselves, rid us of the ego." The pastor then invites those who have not yet done so to give their lives to Jesus, the first step toward loving God and others.

Key takeaways

• The great enemy of your rooting in love is the self that wants to keep the controls. God cannot lead you if you do not give him the steering wheel.
• "I have been crucified with Christ" is not a goal to reach, it is a truth: the old version has been crucified and Christ wants to be fully formed in you.
• Love is the fuel of life. Without it, you run dry in the middle of the highway of your destiny.
• The "crash tests" of love come through the difficult neighbor: forgiving, asking for forgiveness, praying for those who offend you.
• Being rooted in love leads you to serve, to pay a price and to give your life for others, as Jesus did for you.

Personal application

1. In which area of your life does the self still keep the controls, and what are you refusing to hand over to God?
2. Is it thirst for God or your problems that bring you back into his presence right now?
3. Who is the difficult person God has placed in front of you, and when did you last pray for them?
4. Have you stopped serving because of an offense? What would change for you if you thought that Jesus, for his part, did not resign?
5. What does your screen time this week show, and who could you give part of that time to?

Verses cited

• Galatians 2:20
• Galatians 2:11-14
• Ephesians 3:14-19
• Matthew 9:17
• 1 Corinthians 2:9
• Acts 13:22
• Luke 10:27
• Matthew 16:24-25
• Philippians 3:8
• Romans 8:19
• 2 Corinthians 12:9
• Colossians 3:13
• Luke 23:34
• Mark 3:24
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
• 2 Timothy 3:2
• Malachi 3:18
• James 4:3
• Acts 26:19
• Mark 10:45
• Galatians 5:22
• 1 John 3:16

Frequently asked questions

What is the enemy of your rooting in love?

For Tonny Tshibangu, it is the self, the ego. It wants to keep the controls, to be in command and to live for itself. Yet God cannot lead you if you do not give him the steering wheel. The ego keeps you from loving God with your whole being, from forgiving, from serving and from giving your life for others.

What does "I have been crucified with Christ" mean in Galatians 2:20?

The preacher explains that it is not something to become, but a truth already accomplished: the old version was crucified with Christ. The self is no longer meant to rule. It gives way to Christ, and when Christ governs, you walk by the Spirit and God's love becomes visible in your life.

Why is love compared to the fuel of life?

Tonny Tshibangu tells how, before a long drive, you fill up the tank so you do not break down. In the same way, many want to reach their destiny without letting God's love fill their heart. Without love, everything starts to seize up and you run dry in the middle of the highway of your destiny.