Called to Preach to Gentiles
Galatians 2:1-10 and Acts 15
No one person is called to do everything that God wants done in this world. God calls certain people to certain places for specific tasks in every generation. Those who try to do everything seldom accomplish anything. God’s most productive servants have been those who responded to His call with focus and resolve to one primary task for which they were uniquely gifted and qualified. You don’t have to be omni-competent to be greatly used by God. None of us are. We need each other as members of the Body, and we need to rely on Jesus, the Head of the Body.
Iain Murray said, “A man called to preach is a man whose mind is constantly turning to this one thing.” I’ve found that to be true in my own life. It’s a preoccupation that doesn’t drain my strength, but renews my strength and reminds me that Christ alone is my strength. Great ministry comes not from great preaching, but from great faith in a great Savior.
The apostle Paul would place himself in this category of preachers called by God. Knowing with assurance the call of God for your life is the greatest feeling in the world. And the second greatest feeling is being able to bypass the many necessary things He hasn’t called you to do (so that you are never made to feel guilty for not being involved in every good and necessary activity under the sun!). A wise person reminded me years ago that “a need doesn’t constitute a call.”
Having a clear focus from God, based on the way He created you and equipped you is key to making great progress in the Christian life. Both your strengths and your weaknesses, your likes and dislikes all point toward a goal that God can use for His glory. Consider the apostle Paul.
In Galatians 2, Paul is assured that God has called Him by divine revelation. His call was to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. But he has some hurdles to overcome. His only training has been steeped in Jewish traditions and the Jewish way of life. So he has to learn to relate to Gentiles apart from the law. Another hurdle was that there were false brethren who said Paul was just repeating what he heard from other Christians. There were other opponents in Galatia and Judea who were teaching that a Christian had to keep parts of the ceremonial Law of Moses, so it was grace plus law. Acts 15:1 contains their theology in a nutshell: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
If they were correct, then Paul was wrong; but if Paul was correct, then they were wrong. There is only one gospel. There is one gospel for all humanity regardless of race, or language, or culture, or origin. Jesus Christ is the only Savior for the world… and He always saves by grace through faith.
So Galatians 2 explains how Paul was grounded in the faith after his conversion on the Damascus highway. It happened over the course of many years, in the presence of known Christian leaders, and in the face of heated opposition. The end result was a gospel tested by fire and found genuine by all true believers.
Let’s look at the first ten verses of Galatians 2 this morning. In honor of God and His Word, I invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word.
Fourteen years later [Paul was not a recent convert] I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
6 As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. 8 For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. [NIV]
[Prayer] No one person is called to do everything that God wants done in this world. At least three times, Paul says he was called to be an “apostle to the Gentiles.” While broad, that’s a direct and focused calling. I wish every believer could learn this lesson.
I think one of the lies that Satan has sown among believers is that it’s not sufficient to serve God in one specific area with a single heart and mind. The enemy knows that it’s harmless to his interests if Christians are busy and distracted with many competing obligations. This is no doubt one of the reasons why so many Christian leaders experience burnout. They try to do everything. They try to please everybody. For lion trainers, it’s called the Law of the Stool.
The Law of the Stool is the way lion trainers subdue a powerful lion in a controlled environment. Have you ever seen a lion trainer hold a stool by the seat with the four legs facing the lion? He does this to subdue the lion or tiger. The reason it works is because the lion tries to focus on each of the four legs of the stool at the same time. He becomes paralyzed by the distraction and therefore easily subdued. The same thing happens to us when we try to concentrate on too many things at one time. I think the enemy loves to distract us with many “good” things as long as nothing of eternal significance is accomplished. One of the great perils for Christian leaders is to confuse busyness with effectiveness. But Jesus wants all of us to focus on the main things, and that wonderfully narrows the focus.
In Luke 10:41, Jesus said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” In a sense He’s saying that Mary won’t ever need to be asham-ed because she focused on “one thing” to the neglect of many other worthwhile things.
This was Paul’s commission as he turned his focus to the Gentiles. It’s a lesson that makes the Christian life more joyful and fulfilling. If I had to state it as a principle, it is this: The Body of Christ is not one person doing the work of many, but many persons working for the glory of One.
This passage in Galatians 2 emphasizes three truths about the gospel that are still as real for us as they were for Paul in his day. The first truth is found in verses 1-2, it teaches us that…
I. The authenticity of the gospel is recognized and defended by those who know it best (1-2).
In the first two verses, we find Paul explaining the gospel he received to those who knew Jesus in the flesh and were most familiar with the gospel. They were Peter, James, and John—the three pillars of the Jerusalem church. Paul says “they seemed to be leaders.” The reason for this private meeting was not to see if his gospel was genuine, but to prove that it was genuine.
Paul was convinced from the moment he heard from Jesus. But Paul was about to face a public hearing, with a mixed audience of true believers and Pharisees; so he wanted to make sure he had the support of the church leaders before he made his case in public. Otherwise he would have made the trip in vain. So this private meeting was like a ‘trial balloon” and it worked. In fact he later says they added nothing to what he taught. So the authenticity of Paul’s gospel was recognized and defended by those who knew it best. That’s the first principle. Next…
II. The adulteration of the gospel is prevented and exposed by those who refuse to compromise with culture or tradition (3-5).
Judaizers and Pharisees put tradition over revelation. They want to have their private desires and preferences treated as if they were equal to the Word of God. The traditions of men give them power and a false sense of security, but doctrine puts men in their place. They like traditions, they don’t like doctrine.
This past Wednesday, David Brooks wrote an editorial on the state of religion in America. He said: “Millions of Americans feel free to try on different denominations at different points in their lives, and many Americans have had trouble taking religious doctrines altogether seriously. As the historian Henry Steel Commager once wrote: ‘During the 19th Century and well into the 20th, religion prospered while theology slowly went bankrupt.’” [The Commercial Appeal, 12-31-03]
When the traditions of men are exposed as an empty husk, religionists raise a fuss. Paul asks, “Why glory in the husk of man-made religion when we have the true kernel of the gospel?” We must have doctrine and theology to have true Christianity! This is where Paul calls their hand on it. He exposes their duplicity.
Titus, who was a Greek (or Gentile) Christian, was uncircumcised. This angered the Judaizers who insisted that you couldn’t become a Christian unless you kept the Law of Moses, which externally meant circumcision. Paul says Christ has set us free from this external conformity. The whole law is fulfilled internally through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s your heart that must be circumcised! Paul and Titus didn’t give into these false brethren for even a moment.
You and I must never give in to those who want to mix Christianity with other religions—especially man-made traditions. When it comes to divine truth, might does not make right! The majority has seldom been moral, and even less frequently been right. Just because a nation has a bigger army or a more powerful arsenal doesn’t mean they can write their own version of truth.
That same article by David Brooks also made reference to President Bush’s recent statements while in London. President Bush said that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Brooks wrote: “That was theologically controversial, but it was faithful to the national creed.” The “national creed” is the product of ignorance plus opinion. It’s what people say they believe to be political and to avoid as much rancor as possible.
While I have great respect for the President of the United States, as a pastor and as a Christian who loves theology, I must say that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. To suggest otherwise is offensive to both Christians and to Muslims. Christians worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; Muslims do not. They worship the false god revealed in the middle ages by Mohammed, which the Koran calls “Allah”, who bears no resemblance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob revealed in Scripture. Allah hates Israel; God loves Israel.
We need doctrine and theology, especially when it isn’t popular to have either. Some traditions within the Christian church are wonderful, but when they begin to take a standing equal to doctrine, or divine revelation, that’s too far. As Barney Fife would say, “You’ve got to nip it in the bud!” Those Spirit-filled Christians who refuse to compromise with culture or tradition will prevent the adulteration of the gospel. And third…
III. The authority of the gospel is preached and promoted by those uniquely called by God to specific groups and places (6-10).
In verses 6-10, Paul says no less than three times that his specific calling is “to the Gentiles”. This was his calling at a time when the church to that date had been almost entirely Jewish. They could have made him feel guilty about forsaking his Jewish brethren, or for abandoning the Law of Moses his forefathers had handed down to him. Those would be false charges. But there’s nothing to cancel false guilt and manipulation like a good dose of divine revelation! Paul had heard from Jesus and that changes everything. His calling is clear. His heart is free. His course is set. Paul is now the founding president of “Operation Gentile”. And he isn’t looking back.
By the way, if you’ve ever felt guilty (or been made to feel guilty) about being where God has called you, and you’ve prayed it through and you’ve argued all sides in the private judgment halls of your own heart—rest your case with God. He knows where you are and for how long. He is sovereign. If you are to move, then He is capable of making that happen. If you are to change jobs, He has a purpose in your present situation. Where you are right now is only one step in the process of where He is taking you. Be patient in your waiting. Hold everything loosely so the move won’t have to be a painful “uprooting” as much as a pleasant transplanting. In the mean time, focus on bearing as much fruit as you can where you are… bloom where you’re planted.
When we sense that God has called us to a specific place and purpose, it frees us from all of the second guessing that goes on when we try to manipulate our way through life. More importantly, if safeguards us from being manipulated into doing things God has not designed for us. Paul was free to focus his time and energy on reaching Gentiles with the gospel. Of course, he could witness to Jews, but his focus was on Gentiles. It is focus in our calling that maximizes our effectiveness. If you can do only one thing—then do it well—for the glory of God. And in doing that one thing well, feel no shame, or guilt, or manipulation from those who don’t understand.
Galatians is a book about freedom in Jesus Christ. We are free from the bondage of sin. We are free from the bondage of man-made traditions and customs. And we are free from the narrow expectations of joyless Pharisees whose tribe still walks the earth… and stalks the church.
To know your calling in this life is one of the greatest truths you can know. When you know it with certainty, it sets you free to serve with focus, passion, and delight. How does your calling fit into God’s master plan? It takes some people more than half their lives to answer that question. But once they answer it, like Paul did, the pieces start fitting together and the once-awkward sentences of their life finally begin to rhyme and make sense.
When the called and the calling finally meet, it is a glorious thing to behold.
Back in the 1980s, some of you may have seen the movie, “Chariots of Fire”. It’s one of my favorites. It’s the story of Scottish athlete Eric Liddell, who won the gold metal in the 1924 Olympics for the 400-yard dash. Eric Liddell was a deeply committed Christian. His family thought he might become a preacher. There were many friends and associates who questioned Eric’s calling to be an Olympic runner, but not Eric. He ran to honor God. To his own sister who questioned his calling, he said, “God made me fast and when I run, I feel His pleasure. To give up running is to hold Him in contempt. To win is to honor Him.” Eric later gave up his life on the Chinese mission field, but he never quit running so as to win the prize. By pursuing our gifts—to the highest degree of excellence—we can see God's will fulfilled in our lives.
What is your calling? What do you do well that allows you to feel God’s pleasure? There are as many different answers as there are callings from God. Run like Paul. Leave the naysayers and the legalists in the dust. You fulfill your calling so as to honor Him. And when you do, God will be glorified and you will be satisfied. Let’s pray…
(c) Charles Kevin Grant
2003