Freedom in Unity

Intro

- Opening illustration- fishing on the boat

- Paul just spent the first chapter trying to establish his legitimacy as an apostle and the source of his message- he did not receive the gospel second-hand

o But now he moves the focus from the source of his message, to the content of his message

o He wants to show that the Gospel he has been preaching, the Gospel he received from God himself, is the very same Gospel that the other apostles have been preaching

o He wants to establish unity without undermining his authority

- Read Gal. 2:1-10

- As we look at this passage, it should give us confidence in the gospel that we have been given, but it should also challenge us as we seek to fulfill our commission in spreading this same gospel to the world around us. This passage shows us what is most important

- God has given each of us a unique call or mission in life, but we are all called to be unified around the one true gospel and to preserve the integrity of that gospel as we share it with the world around us.

Unity in the Gospel (1-2)

A. Paul’s purpose in confirming the Gospel was unity

1. Not because he was unsure of its validity

a. Some might think that Judaizers got to him and caused him to wonder if he really did have the truth

2. Not because he needed confirmation that it was right

3. He realized that his mission could not be fulfilled if there was division between his mission to the Gentiles and the Jerusalem church.

a. He was there to confirm their support of what God had called him to do

b. “Not running in vain”- if the Judaizers were right and the other apostles required circumcision, then there could be no unity and the church would not survive

4. Paul wanted to show that there was only one gospel and that the apostles were unified in it

B. Unity in the church

1. Body of Christ- Eph. 4:1-7; 11-16

Ephesians 4:11–16 NLT

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

2. We must realize how important unity is in the church

3. Striving after doctrinal unity- the most important

a. We can disagree about somethings, but not the gospel

b. We must be quick to confront error

c. One of my primary roles as a pastor is to protect- to be on guard against false teachers

this leads Paul into the next section- if we are unified around this gospel, we must protect it!

Preserving the True Gospel (3-5)

A. The presence of false brothers

1. They infiltrated the ranks to spy and enslave

2. Translated "sham-Christians"

a. Illus. enemies sneaking into the camp to sabotage

3. Matthew 13:24-30 Wherever God's truth is, we can be certain that Satan will be there to spread seeds of discord

a. We should expect it- not be taken off guard

b. There will always be people like this in the church

c. Jesus + something= true Christianity

(1) Paul’s point is that Jesus + Nothing = the only way

4. They wanted to corrupt the freedom the believers had in Christ and subject them to the bondage of the law

a. “If this is the path you want to go, then you must keep the whole law”

5. Their lives centered on what I can do for God rather than what God has done for me

6. We are under a new law- Rom. 8:1-2 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

B. The importance of Titus

1. Living proof of the gospel

2. If Titus could be in the presence of the other apostles as an uncircumcised gentile Christian, then it would be a powerful illustration of his point

3. Paul was unyielding when it came to Titus's circumcision because he knew that giving in would be to deny that salvation is by faith alone- there was something more important at stake

C. Paul does not submit to them for a moment in order to preserve the truth of the Gospel for future generations

1. Key- v. 5- But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

a. We must work to preserve the message of the Gospel

b. When it came to things like ministry methods and other less important issues Paul called us to show deference to the weaker Christian, but he makes it clear that there is no room for compromise with false Christians

(1) Wouldn’t it have been easier for Titus to just get circumcised? To just conform?

(2) What about Paul’s Philosophy of “all things to all men”?

(3) What about Timothy?

(a) Acts 16:3- “Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places”

(b) This was out of deference- he was going to minister in the synagogues, and he was Jewish- he was circumcised because he was a Jew, not as a part of his salvation

(c) Circumcision was not a sin issue for Paul- his main point was that it is not necessary for salvation

2. Compromise in Titus’s case would have destroyed the message of the Gospel

3. Illustration- preserving historical artifacts- Museum is meant to keep it how it was- what if they thought they would improve it? It would lose is value

4. So really, when Paul says he preserved the truth of the gospel for us, he meant us!

a. Without Paul standing for truth, there would be no mission to the gentiles

b. But like Paul, we are simply messengers of God’s great mercy and grace

c. We have a responsibility to preserve the gospel, a responsibility to fulfill the mission God has given to us

(1) We have been entrusted with the gospel- are we passing on the same gospel?

Unity Through Diversity (6-10)

- It seems as if Paul is putting down the other Apostles

o But he is making a point- the false teachers in Galatia seemed to idolize the Apostles in Jerusalem and used that to attack Paul’s authority

o When we put too much stack in spiritual leaders, it often ends up drawing us away from the truth

o With God, there is no favoritism- it’s not about the messenger, it’s about the message

A. There is only one gospel

1. The apostles confirmed his message

2. “They added nothing to me”

a. 1:12- For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

3. The other apostles acknowledged Paul’s gospel as complete, lacking nothing

B. Diversity in Mission- Calling

1. Who has God called you to reach?

a. We each have been given a specific calling

b. Illustration- Difference between a missionary here in the US and a missionary in a closed country

(1) One may say, you need to be more direct- you need to be bold!

(2) Mission teams have severely compromised evangelistic efforts and the ministry of the local church because they did not understand this principle

2. Unity does not mean uniformity

a. Peter to the Jews, Paul to the gentiles

(1) Not two different gospels, but two different missions

b. Missions and methods may vary and change from person to person, from culture to culture, but one thing that never changes is the message of the gospel

(1) Back to Titus and Timothy

C. It is God who empowers (8)

Conclusion

- The apostles were united in their desire to care for the poor- specifically the poor believers in Jerusalem

o Why does this section end with this?

o The gospel is of primary importance, but we cannot forget to care for those in need- what better picture of Jesus has done for us?

o Over 2 billion people in our world live and die in severe poverty, surviving on less than $2 a day

o We are to be passionate about the gospel, but we are also to be passionate about ministering to the poor and needy around us

§ 1 John 3:17-18 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

- Our mission as Christians, as a church, cannot be done alone. It requires unity, and we are unified behind the one true Gospel. Our methods or our calling may be different than others, but our message is the same. We have been given the great task not only to share that message with those around us, but to preserve the integrity of the one true gospel, adding or subtracting nothing.

So What

- Are we striving after unity?

o In our church

o With the greater body of Christ

- Like Paul, are we passionate about preserving the truth of the Gospel?

o Is the gospel that we pass on to others the same Gospel that was given to us?

- Are we pursuing God’s specific calling in our lives?