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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.
Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really—who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.
And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.) Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.
In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.
Galatians 2:1-10 NLT
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The Apostle Paul’s story is fascinating.
As we saw yesterday, he probably would have been the last person someone would have pegged to be the banner carrier for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is because Paul, by his own admission, had been a man obsessed with opposing anyone who placed their belief in God’s Son as Savior. In fact, he delighted in persecuting and even killing Christian believers, something he saw as his duty as a fervent Jew who carried out the wishes of the Sanhedrin, and we know what that body of Jewish religious leaders thought about Jesus.
Yes, before he was Paul, the great Apostle bore the name of Saul and was present at the stoning of Stephen, one of the seven men designated to take care of the social issues among widows in Jerusalem so the disciples could focus their attention on ministry work. He then was sanctioned by the Sanhedrin to go to Damascus and arrest anyone who was professing belief in Jesus there. As he traveled there, Jesus confronted him and changed the trajectory of Saul’s life forever.
For after regaining his sight thanks to the mercy and grace of God, Paul emerged and put Saul to bed for good. He immediately went into the Damascus synagogues and preached the Gospel, underscoring how God brought eternal life to anyone who placed their belief in His Son and, in turn, became Christians. This message of promise from God comprised what was a new covenant between mankind and the One who was their Maker and Master. The opportunity for salvation was now available to everyone and anyone who placed their belief in Jesus, Jew and Gentile (essentially, everyone who wasn’t a Jew).
In other words, Saul becoming Paul resulted in a new messenger appointed by God to pronounce a new covenant.
As we see in the first ten verses of the second chapter of Galatians, Paul was a busy man. He traveled across many nations, planting churches while teaching and spreading the Gospel. His journey also took him into Jerusalem, the Jewish capital of the world.
On one such interest, God sent Paul to visit the holy city with Barnabas and Titus, a Gentile, in tow. While in Jerusalem, we find Paul testifying that he held private meetings with “those considered to be leaders of the church”, sharing with them one of the main objectives of the new covenant, the bringing of the Gospel to the Gentiles, a message Paul also shared with the Jewish church leaders. Paul did this so he and the church leaders could be “in agreement” so he wouldn’t feel his “efforts had been wasted” and he had run “race for nothing”. Surprisingly, we read where the Jerusalem church leaders actually supported Paul even though they didn’t add any value to his preaching. They even didn’t demand that Titus be circumcised.
Unfortunately, there were some false “so-called believers” who infiltrated the church to spy on Paul and seek to remove the freedom that Paul and other Christians had in Jesus, enslaving Christ followers by making them “follow their Jewish regulations”. Paul refused to give into the demands because he was dedicated to preserving the integrity of the Gospel which would be shared with any churches he worked with, churches such as the ones in the region of Galatia.
Paul knew that there was too much at stake to compromise the good news of salvation through Jesus by buckling under to outside pressure. And so he stood his ground and the Jewish church leaders recognized that God had given Paul the “responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews”. In other words, the same God was at work expanding His kingdom on earth, whether working through Peter or Paul.
Speaking of Peter, he, James, and John, “who were known as pillars of the church”, acknowledged the gift God had granted Paul and accepted him and Barnabas “as their co-workers”, encouraging them to continue to work with the Gentiles while they handled the Jews. In Jerusalem, they, like Paul, were new messengers bringing a new covenant.
Today, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ still needs shared with others. There are a world of lost people that are destined for eternal suffering and torment unless they believe in Jesus. And they won’t know about Him unless all Christians, twenty first century new messengers following in the footsteps of first century apostles in sharing the new covenant, get to work sharing the Gospel truth. I pray you are counted in that number.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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