Unity and Disunity

Introduction:

During ww2, it is estimated that 70 countries were involved in the war at one point or another

-All of this came about because of the rise of Hitler and his desire to create a global German Empire

-Hitler’s violent quest for power became such a pressing and important issue, that 70 countries, many separated by large physical, cultural, and ideological gaps, soon found themselves either as allies or as enemies of each other

-Only an issue that serious could cause the 70 nations and millions of people unify with each other or to fight against each other like that

-Today in our text, Paul shows us something that is so important

-so pressing

-so significant

-That it ought to cause both unity and division simultaneously

And that pressing, significant subject is the Gospel

Our text today is Galatians 2:6-14.

While you’re turning there, let me catch you up to speed

Background

-Paul is writing to the Galatian church that has been overrun with false teachers.

-These false teachers, known as Judaizers, are teaching that you must be saved by believing in Jesus Christ AND being circumcised and keeping the Law

-Paul is alarmed, and writes to these believers that they are leaving the true Gospel

-Paul first must defend his Apostleship and Gospel

-He writes in 1:11-12 that he didn’t receive his gospel from any man, but received it directly from Jesus Christ

-He backs that claim up with a number of evidences

-First, Paul was an enemy of Christianity

-He was actually a persecutor of the church!

-Second, Paul didn’t go meet with any of the Apostles after his conversion

-Instead, he immediately began preaching in Damascus and Arabia

-Furthermore, he wasn’t even known by face in the Jerusalem churches for years after his conversion

-Next, Paul shows that although he wasn’t dependent on any of the Apostles for his Gospel, he did go up and meet with them to explain his Gospel to them, a Gospel which, as we find out today, they wholeheartedly approved of

-But after that, Paul is going to show that he was willing to confront even Peter when he began to deviate from the truths of the Gospel

**Read Galatians 2:1-14, then pray.

I. Because of the centrality of the Gospel, you must be willing to unify around it (2:6-10).

Why must we be willing to unify around the Gospel?

Let me give you two reasons from our text:

1. Because God entrusts the Gospel to other Christians (vs. 6-8).

-Notice how Paul frames his discussion of the Apostles in Jerusalem in vs. 6

-These were men who “seemed to be something”

How does that strike you?

-To some, it may seem like Paul is talking down on the Apostles in Jerusalem, trying to bring them down a notch

-However, I don’t think Paul is being demeaning

-The key is in the middle of the verse.

-Paul states: God shows no favoritism

God once told the prophet Samuel:

1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)

the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

-Paul is acknowledging that these men do have a reputation

-They were the most influential leaders in the early church

-However, that doesn’t make them more righteous or more pleasing to God

**illustration about Papa and Christian “big wigs”

-I think this is all that Paul is trying to say here:

-There are no Christian “big wigs”

-Since Paul is already preaching the right Gospel, and since he has been commissioned by Jesus Himself, these Jerusalem Apostles didn’t add anything to him

Instead, according to verse 7, the Jerusalem Apostles recognized that Paul had been entrusted with Gospel ministry to the Gentiles in the same way that Peter had been entrusted with Gospel ministry to the Jews

-both men preached the same Gospel!

-Because of this, there was unity among the Apostles!

They recognized that both Peter and Paul were entrusted with the same kind of Gospel ministry

That ministry certainly looked different!

-Paul’s ministry was largely to the Gentiles

-This would mean that Paul would face different cultural challenges than Peter would

-Paul would face different kinds of objections than Peter would

-Paul would travel to different places and eat different kinds of food than Peter would

But both were entrusted with ministries that centered on the same Gospel

I want to pause here and think about this before we move on:

-I know that none of us here are Apostles like Peter and Paul

-They both played a very unique, one of a kind role in the early church

-However, I do think we can see here one of the reasons that we must uphold some level of unity centered around the Gospel

-God has entrusted the proclamation of the Gospel to all Christians, and when other Christians are faithfully ministering the pure Gospel, we can have (and should) have a certain level of unity with them

Now, let’s be real about this:

-There are other Christians who differ with us on issues of faith and practice

-There are churches and ministries out there who may differ with us on issues such as eschatology, music styles, modes of baptism, bible translations, and other kinds of issues

-And none of these issues are unimportant!

-However, even if these kinds of issues keep us from being in the same denomination or the same church, we can still rejoice and be encouraged when the Gospel is being preached!

**Obviously, I’m a baptist

-I truly do not understand how anyone who reads the NT (or OT) comes to the conclusion that you are supposed to baptize babies

-I really have no clue where that comes from

-However, a few of my favorite preachers that I listen to are Presbyterians!

-And while I may disagree with them strongly on this issue, and while this issue will keep me from ever being in the same church or denomination as them, I can rejoice in their gospel ministry!

-I can be thankful and be loving and gracious towards them in my words and in my prayers if they are preaching a pure Gospel!

-One day, we’ll get to heaven, and we’ll all be baptists!

-But until then, when others are preaching the Gospel, you can rejoice in that, even if you strongly disagree with them on different issues

-When Paul was in prison, he wrote to the Philippians and told them that many were encouraged by his imprisonment to preach the Gospel more boldly

-However, he said that there were some who were preaching the Gospel out of rivalry, seeking to somehow make things harder for him in his imprisonment

-These people were not preaching the Gospel out of right motives

-However, this is what Paul says about them:

Philippians 1:18 NKJV

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.

Let me encourage you: be on guard against any kind of ungracious attitude towards other Christians who are genuinely preaching a pure Gospel

-You can disagree with them, but please be on guard against a spirit of rivalry or envy

-Learn to rejoice when the Gospel is being preached, even by those you may strongly disagree with

But notice the second reason that we should be willing to unify around that Gospel:

2. Because God gives grace to people to minister the Gospel (vs. 8-9).

-We see that God not only entrusts Gospel ministry to believers, but that He also gives them grace to and power to accomplish this ministry

-We see in verses 8-9 what seem to be very closely related ideas

-God was at work in Paul’s life to enable him to minister the Gospel effectively

In verse 8 says that it was obvious that the God who was working effectively in Peter for his ministry to the Jews was also working in Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles

-And verse 9 says that it was obvious to James, Cephas, and John that grace had been given to Paul

-You see, God is the one who gives His grace, His empowerment, His enablement, His strength to help His people in Gospel ministry

-Brothers and sisters, we need to be careful that we don’t get the idea that we’re the only true and faithful church out there

-Sometimes churches can get the idea that they are the only good and faithful church out there, and that everyone else is full of compromise

-While it is true that there are many bad and false churches out there, there are also many other churches that are doing their best to proclaim that true Gospel

-And they are empowered by God Himself for this kind of ministry

-We are not the only ones who have God’s grace enabling us!

-There are other Christians, even Christians we disagree with on theological or practical issues, who are genuinely preaching the Gospel and are being enabled by God to minister effectively for Him

**Dr. Talbert’s illustration about his pastor friend who prays for other ministries at his church

Because Paul was entrusted with preaching the same Gospel

-And because God was enabling him through grace to minister effectively, the other Apostles gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship

-Despite different ministries, there was unity centered around the Gospel

-This didn’t mean that nothing else mattered!

-In verse 10, the Jerusalem Apostles encouraged Paul and Barnabas to remember the poor, something which Paul made a frequent effort at in his ministry

-But there was unity around the Gospel!

-And that’s the thing about unity: it requires a cause so important that people are willing to set aside their differences to unite around that cause

-in a similar way to how ww2 united 49 nations into what became known as the Allied Powers (fighting against Germany), the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the same effect

-The good news of His perfect life, His death, and His Resurrection is so important, that it can and should give a measure of unity to all those who hold to the genuine Gospel, despite our differences

-We should strive to be gracious towards those who are genuinely preaching the Gospel!

-Though we may disagree with them on certain issues, we should work to be humble and supportive towards other Christians and ministries

However, there is another side of this coin to consider

the Gospel is not only so important that it unites, it is also so important that it divides

II. Because of the centrality of the Gospel, you must be willing to contend for it (2:11-14).

Now, up front, I need to acknowledge that some of the details of this confrontation are a little fuzzy, mainly because Paul only gives us 4 verses that cover the confrontation and the reasons leading up to it

-Because of that, there are some differences of opinion on some of the details of this confrontation

-I’m going to lay it out as I understand it, but there are other ways to interpret some of the minor details

Now, why am I claiming this is a Gospel issue? How do I know that?

Look at vs 14.

-Paul shapes this as a Gospel issue

-So whatever is going on here, Paul understands this to be a Gospel issue

Vs. 11

-So we see here that this is a public confrontation, and it came because Peter was in the wrong

-Now, why didn’t Paul confront Peter privately, like Matthew 18 instructs Christians to do?

-I think the reason that we’ll see is that on this particular occasion, Peter was sinning in a public way that was leading other Christians astray as well

-This was a rare occasion when there was a need for a firm, public confrontation

-I think these occasions are rare, but they do happen

-What was Peter’s fault? What did he do that was so serious?

Vs. 12

-Paul was eating with Gentiles

-Now, this was a big deal, because Jews had strict dietary laws

-Because of that, they were often not eating with Gentiles!

-It’s hard to eat with someone when you were not able to eat what they were eating

-It’s not like today where you can go to McDonald’s and order something entirely different than your friend

Remember, Peter had a vision from the Lord in Acts 10 where he was encouraged to eat food that was considered unclean for Jews

-And even when the Lord tells him that, he’s still very hesitant!

“no Lord, I’ve never eaten something unclean!”

-This was a hard thing for Jewish believers to move past

-So, Peter goes to this Gentile Church in Antioch, and he is eating with the Gentiles, fellowshipping with them, and eating their food

-And all the other Jewish believers are doing the same!

But some men come from Jerusalem from James

-Remember, James is the half-brother of Jesus and seems to be the lead Pastor/Apostle at the Jerusalem church

-These men from James were probably devout Jews who had converted to Christianity, but were probably still very Jewish culturally

-And so when they come, Peter gets afraid of what they might think when they see him eating non-kosher food with these Gentiles

-So what does Peter do?

-He slowly begins to separate from the Gentile believers

-He’s eating with his Gentile friends in the church less and less, and going over to sit with his Jewish friends from Jerusalem more and more

Why? Is this out of some conviction? Is this out of some biblical belief?

-No, it’s because of fear

-There are many Christians, many preachers, many churches, that are willing to distort the Gospel out of fear of what people may think

-They don’t want to be looked down on as homophobic, so they say that you don’t need to repent of homosexuality

-They don’t want to be looked down on as too offensive, so they distort the Gospel by not preaching about sin, or repentance, or hell

-They don’t want to be seen as too holy, so they preach the Gospel, but they live promiscuous lifestyles

Brothers and sisters, there is an immense pressure right now to cave into the culture and distort the Gospel out of fear, even in our time and culture

Look at how harmful and destructive Peter’s example is

-Vs. 13

-The other Jewish believers see that Peter is eating with his Jewish friends now and not eating Gentile food

-They probably begin to think, “you know what, Peter’s probably onto something here. We should probably be more careful about what we eat and who we’re eating with. We don’t want to offend these Jewish Christians.”

-And before long, even Barnabas, the son of encouragement, is no longer eating with the Gentiles

-And so before long, during church fellowships, there’s all the Jewish believers over on this side, and all the Gentile believers on this side

And what’s Paul’s assessment of it?

“they were not being straightforward about the truth of the Gospel”

the HCSB reads, “they were deviating from the truth of the Gospel.”

Now how is that?

-How is this a Gospel issue?

We’ll get into more of what Paul says next week (Lord willing), but look at what Paul says to Peter:

Galatians 2:14 (NKJV)

“If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?

What’s Paul saying?

“you know what all those Gentiles are thinking when they see you going and eating with the Jews instead of them? ‘We must be second-rate Christians.’”

“we must need to become more Jewish in order to be as fully Christian as they are”

“we must need to get circumcised and keep the Law if we want Peter and the other Jewish believers to accept us as true Christians instead of the half-bloods that we are.”

that’s why Paul twice calls it hypocrisy

“you say that people are justified by grace through faith in Christ!”

-You say we’re all equal in Christ!

-You say that Christ has created one new man out of Jews and Gentiles!

But your actions show you don’t really mean it

Your actions show that in order to really be a full-on Christian with all the privileges, you really need to be circumcised and keep the Law

And Paul wasn’t going to have it

-He wasn’t going to stand for it

Why? Because he wanted to get into a power trip with Peter

-Because he was just a confrontational, heavy-handed person?

-Because he liked making a show?

No, because the Gospel is worth contending for

Brothers and sisters, there will be times when you have to be confrontational and contend for the Gospel

“Well, I don’t like confrontation.”

-Most of us don’t!

It doesn’t matter though

-The Gospel is worth uniting over, and it is worth dividing over

-Paul was willing to confront someone as prominent as Peter to protect the Gospel

You see brothers and sisters, unity is not the end-all-be-all of the Christian life

-It’s certainly important!

But unity has to be centered on truth

-And when the truth is distorted, there cannot be unity

That’s why we won’t throw our arms around Catholics as brothers in Christ

-or Mormons,

-or Jehovah’s Witnesses

-That’s why we call out prosperity preachers like Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, and Benny Hinn

-That’s why we won’t have fellowship with Elevation Church or Bethel Church in Redding

-Because where there is a distortion of the Gospel, we are called to contend against it

Perhaps you’ve got a coworker or a friend who is a Catholic

-And they want to you to embrace them as a fellow Christian

-You can’t do that

Or perhaps you have a friend who holds to the Prosperity Gospel, and she wants you to downplay the differences between you two, since she goes to church and holds similar values as you do

-Brothers and sisters, we cannot muddy the Gospel by our words or our actions, and we must confront those who do

-The only hope for our lost and dying friends, coworkers and relatives is the Gospel of Jesus Christ

-And if that gets confused or muddied, they have no hope

So brothers and sisters, we see that there will be unity at times among professing Christians, as well as disunity

-How do we know when to pursue unity, and how do we know when to contend?

-It’s about the Gospel

-The Gospel is worth unifying around, and it is worth contending over