|
How To React When Under Attack Galatians, Set Free, Part 3 Right now you are under fierce attack. Yes, as I speak there are little agents of doom attacking your gums! It is called “plaque” and it constantly bombards our gums in order to destroy our teeth! But do you know that your spiritual life is also under attack? In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul is also under attack. This attack does not come from atheists or infidels, but by professing brothers in Christ! The most difficult and dangerous attacks against the church come from those who say they are saved. Have you ever had to deal with a difficult matter very delicately? Here is Paul in a complex and perilous moment of his history. Enemies are seeking to overthrow what he has labored to build. A group of false believers name Judaizers are seeking to drive a wedge between Paul and the other Apostles. They were saying that Paul preached a different Gospel than Peter. They were challenging his apostleship and saying he was not a true apostle. They were trying to destroy the unity and the fellowship between the Apostles. Not only that, they are seeking to discredit and sabotage Paul’s church planting efforts and by saying that the Gospel he preached was a false Gospel. “All of Paul’s labor does not count because his converts are not really saved,” was the attack of the Judaizers. The churches he has established are not true churches! They were attacking Paul’s ministry (he is a false apostle), Paul’s message (he preaches a false gospel) and Paul’s fruit (he is establishing false churches). The attacks were serious and required tact and diplomacy. Now Paul is not alive today, but he is still under attack! Many say, Oh, Paul was a sexist and his writings are full of contradictions! I will defend every word that he wrote under inspiration of the Holy Spirit! How were they doing this? The Judaizers were teaching that before a person could come to Christ they first had to become Jewish. They were teaching that before a person could come to Christ they first had to be circumcised. The Judaizers taught that you had to become a follower of JUDAISM before you became a follower of Christ. This was creating havoc in the churches that he had established. The Judaizers were seeking to bring believers into bondage and it was leading to a split among professing Christians. The personal attack against Paul was really an attack against his doctrinal teaching. That is why Paul defended himself against these assaults. What do you do when people are trying to separate you from your friends? What do you do when people are saying your work is in vain? What do you do when people are questioning your call to salvation or service? This was a delicate and perilous moment for Paul. It was critical that he deal with this matter properly or else it could lead to an unnecessary split among the apostles. Furthermore, these Judaizers were pressuring the Jerusalem church and the apostles to have Paul compromise the Gospel and circumcise the Gentile converts. How do we resist the pressure to compromise the truth? Paul defends his ministry and message in chapter one. In chapter 2 he relates with the Galatians how he confronted those who were sabotaging his authority. Paul had distanced himself from the apostles in chapter 1 stating that he did not rely on the apostles for his message. He had made clear that his call and his message did not come to him through the apostles, but directly by Jesus Christ. In Chapter 2, however, he shows his equality with the apostles and the support of the apostles for his ministry. Our salvation is not based on keeping rules and regulations. The truth of the Gospel is at stake. Paul was fighting for the truth of the Gospel. His heart was that the truth of the Gospel would permanently remain with the believers. 1. ASSOCIATE with Close Friends, v.1: (Connect!) When the truth is under attack, associate with people who love the truth along with you who will stand with you in defending the Word of God. Do not isolate yourself and think you are all alone. When you are under attack, stand with your friends. Paul brings Barnabas and Titus with him in this confrontation. Why? To substantiate and validate his ministry and message. Barnabas was a highly respected Jewish Christian. The apostles and leaders in the Jerusalem church all had high regard for Barnabas. Barnabas is the man who had discipled Paul. It was Barnabas who introduced Paul the new convert to the Apostles in Jerusalem. It was Barnabas who went to Tarsus to seek for Saul and brought him to Antioch. It was from Antoich that Barnabas and Paul went out on that first missionary journey. Barnabas did not preach that a Gentile had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Barnabas accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey and could corroborate Paul’s authenticity as a servant of God. Titus was a Gentile Christian who had not been circumcised. Titus was a Gentile convert who was an example of fruit from Paul’s ministry. Titus would be a “test case” of a saved Gentile who was not circumcised. He was living proof that you could be born again and not be circumcised. Again, the Judaizers were pressuring the Jerusalem apostles to have Paul circumcise Titus. 2. OPERATE by the WORD OF GOD: (Conduct!) When you are under attack, obey the Word of God! Follow God, not your feelings. Paul confronted the issue by direct revelation. In other words, when you are seeking to confront a problem, do it according to the clear word of God. Go to the Word of God and ask God for guidance. Go to God in prayer and ask him, What would you have me to do? Proceed by the Word and Will of God. Live by the Word and will of God. When we respond according to the WORD of God then we are responding according to the WILL of God. God had revealed to Paul to go to the counsel in Jerusalem. We are not to defend ourselves just because of our own personal reputation, but because there is a greater issue at stake: the work and word of God. Paul realizes that if his ministry and message are damaged, then the churches of Jesus Christ that he established would be invalidated. His ministry would have been in vain. Not only that, but the Word of God he had spoken would not have been true. Half of our New Testament would be worthless! 3. DEMONSTRATE Wisdom with Key Players, v.2,6,9 When you are under attack, demonstrate wisdom with others. He put the Gospel privately before the leaders for their consideration that he preached among the Gentiles. This is a stroke of wisdom and genius of Paul. If there were going to be any differences between them, let them be behind closed doors! Paul shares the Gospel that he had preached to the Gentiles. They did not correct Paul’s message. Nor did they edit it, change it, trim it, or add to it. The Gospel Paul preached was the exact truth. The Gospel Paul preached was the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of the grace of God! Paul communicates privately and respectfully with the Apostles. Paul then goes on to say that they had a private meeting with James, Peter, and John, the pillars of the church. Paul unites with the KEY PLAYERS. Paul meets privately first with the key leaders in the church, Peter, James, and John. These were the “pillars.” He was not intimidated with their authority, but he respects it. He recognizes they have a great reputation, but he also realizes that his authority is not derived from the apostles but from God. Paul knows that “God accepteth no man’s person.” He is trying to unite the church behind the message of the Gospel of grace. Paul was concerned about the future of the Gospel among the GENTILES. The word GENTILE in Greek is “Ethnos.” We get our word “ethnic” from that word. Paul was greatly concerned about the “ethnics” of his day! Paul was seeking to unite the leaders of the church behind him so as to avoid a three way split. 4. Be PASSIONATE for the truth, v.4 “That the truth of the gospel might continue with you…” When you are under attack, maintain your passion for the truth! Paul was seeking to guarantee the continuance of the truth of the Gospel. The truth is always at stake, and we must stake ourselves to the truth and be willing to go to the stake for the truth! In a day when truth is fallen in the streets, we must labor for the truth so that it will continue and abide for the next generation to possess. Paul was so assured of the truth and so attached to the truth that he was not intimidated by false brothers or overawed by even the Apostles Peter or John. Here was Paul’s ultimate burden. He was committed to seeing the Gospel continue past his brief existence and continue to the next generation. Paul was convinced that his gospel was not after man but received by the revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11,12). To stand for the truth, you must be willing to stand against the error. This will not make everyone happy, but the ones who love the truth will be happy! You and I can never please everyone. Paul realized that there were “false brothers” in the Galatian church who were seeking to bring the believers into bondage. Certain people call themselves Christian but they are not Christian. They call themselves a “brother” but they are not a “brother.” They are spies or traitors, they are enemies of the Gospel who are introduced secretly into the church and then seek to turn away others from the truth. These infiltrators were seeking to destroy the truth of the Gospel. Paul does not accommodate their false teaching. He is not willing to compromise with them for a moment because he was so passionate for the truth. In 2 Cor. 11:20 Paul also uses the word “bondage” to refer to false apostles and deceitful workers who transform themselves into the apostles of Christ but they are not. They are false apostles and false brothers. American Christianity has compromised with many false gospels and is too naïve to confront false apostles. Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 11, “Let no man think me a fool, if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me.” In other words, do not think I am a fool for exposing this error, but if you think I am a fool for doing it, go ahead and receive me as a fool! In Acts 15 we can read the account of the Council of Jerusalem of which Galatians 2 most probably speaks. The main issue at stake in this council was this: “Is circumcision necessary to salvation for a believer in Jesus Christ?” (Read Acts 15:1, 5) Key preachers of the early church testified of the Gospel of the grace of God. Peter led it off and then Paul and then James followed. Peter clearly said, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15:11). Paul and Barnabas then declared the miracles and wonders that God had done among the Gentiles by them (Acts 15:12). Finally, James, the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pastor of the Jerusalem church spoke. He also agreed that circumcision was unnecessary for salvation. Furthermore, they wrote a letter to give credibility to the ministry of Paul and Barnabas, “men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26). Titus was important to bring along as an example of salvation apart from circumcision. If circumcision was necessary to salvation, then Titus was lost. Titus was saved, however, and this disproved the Judaizers message. Galatians 2:3 says that the church leaders did not force circumcision upon Titus. One of the reasons they did not was because of these false brothers who had come in to spy out their Christian liberty that they might bring them into bondage. Let me say a word about Timothy here, because in Acts 16, Paul agreed to circumcise Timothy. Why did Paul agree to circumcise Timothy but not Titus? There were different issues at stake. Titus was a full Gentile, Timothy was part Jew and part Gentile. The Judaizers were requiring Titus to be circumcised in order to be a Christian. Paul circumcised Timothy in order to not put an unnecessary stumbling block in the way of unbelieving Jews. Paul was willing to circumcise Timothy in order to become all things to all men and to WIN THE JEWS. Paul was unwilling to circumcise Titus in order to compromise the truth of the Gospel with a group of Jews who were claiming to be Christians. Paul did not circumcise Timothy in order that Timothy might be saved, but in order that Timothy might serve without creating unnecessary stumbling blocks in the way of those who had not believed in Jesus. It was hard for Jews in the first century to come to terms that there was “no difference” between Jew or Gentile in approaching God. A Jew did not have to come to Christ through Judaism. A Gentile did not have to come to Christ by submitting to Jewish rituals. Jesus Christ broke down the wall of difference between Jew and Gentile. The Lord Jesus Christ has removed all the barriers. The truth of the Gospel is firmly stated in Gal. 2:16. Since this conference, there have been a multitude of attacks against the Gospel of the grace of God in order to bring the people of God into bondage. The Devil is an adversary and an accuser and he constantly looks for ways to destroy our liberty that we have in Christ. One of the ways to destroy our Christian liberty is with RELIGION. Yes, add some religious observance to your faith in Jesus and make that observance necessary to your salvation and you have seen your liberty destroyed and you have been brought into bondage. Yes, the Devil loves it when he gets a church adding rituals, rules, and regulations to your faith. Many have tried to ADD to the grace of God by requiring BAPTISM for salvation. Others have added to the grace of God the LORD’S SUPPER. It is easy to attach some mystical, mysterious power to the communion service and say, this is the way to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Or, others add the SABBATH day. Some even go so far as to say that you must worship on Saturday or you will receive the mark of the beast. We must guard our freedom, however, and not use our freedom as an excuse to do what we want. We are not free to do what we want, actually, our freedom gives us the power to do what we ought. As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, 1 Peter 2:16. 5. APPRECIATE the Differences, v.7,8 In verse 7 and 8 we see that Paul’s ministry was specially directed to the Gentiles. Peter’s ministry was especially directed to the Jews. They did not preach different Gospels. Paul and Peter were both God-called and ordained, but they had different gifts and callings. They responded differently to situations. They thought differently. They had different abilities, different callings, gifts, strengths, and weaknesses. They were both good men. Who made them different? God did! Good men are very different in their gifts and calling. A body requires many gifted parts. Good people often will do the same thing a different way. Good people often think differently. Just get married! We have to compromise with one another over areas not essential to the TRUTH. Good people often respond differently to a particular situation. I will be honest. I have more of Paul’s burden than Peter’s burden. My vision is more directed to the nations than to just the Jewish people. However, in reaching the nations, I pray we will reach the Jewish people. As we reach the nations, may we also remember the poor! There were many poor in the Roman Empire. Half of the empire consisted of slaves who were considered no more than a piece of property. 6. RELATE the Results, v.9, 10 The Apostles encouraged and recognized Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles. They gave them the right hand of fellowship. They challenged Paul to remember and minister to the poor. Keep the poor in your mind. Paul relates the result of the meeting with the Galatian Christians so that they will know that Paul preached the truth to them. I read a little of two men who ministered to the mobs of England in the mid 1700’s. With amazing courage they endured almost constant attack. Their names were John and Charles Wesley. (p. 115, A Heart Set Free by Dallimore) Often while they preached, people would contradict and blaspheme, and throw stones at him while he was preaching! He writes, “The stones often struck me in the face.” One night a man forced his way through the crowd, drew his sword and presented it to his chest. “My breast was immediately steeled. I threw it open and fixing my eye on his, smiled in his face, and calmly said, I fear God and honour the King.” The man put his sword up and left the place! Another time, a mob attacked (p.133) by using a hand operated water pump to cover the Methodists with water. They they got a larger engine to shoot them with water and it broke the windows, flooded the rooms. They never quit, however, and the Wesley brothers left behind the Methodist Church. Let us be strong to stand up for the truth when we are under attack for the sake of truth! |