The Harmful Influence of Careless Hypocrisy

In the November issue of Our Daily Bread was an article for the 24th entitled, Careless Preachers. Its substance was summarized in the final statement, "It's a mistake to think that we can impress the world by compromising with it." The great Apostle Peter did just that and was called to task for it by another great apostle, Paul (Galatians 2:11-13). His hypocrisy influenced a great many of the saints in the Syrian church in Antioch. Even the great Barnabas began to compromise because of Peter's actions. This is serious. Unsaved people may not be so much against Jesus as they are against hypocrisy. We repeatedly hear scoffers say, "The church is full of hypocrites!" Of course, it seems to be a good ploy to get out of their own responsibility to face up to the gospel. But let's not ignore that statement and dismiss it without taking heed lest they be true. We tend to think that it's not true of us. But let's think again. How many times have we been like the woman who glanced through her window, only to see a nosy, noisy neighbor approaching her door! Her young, impressionable children heard her as she grumbled, "Oh, no—not her again!" Whereupon she opened the door and gushed insincerely, "How very nice to see you!" Our lips and our lives often preach a mixed message. Let us be careful lest some of our friends are influenced by our careless hypocrisy.

Contending? or Contentious?

A collision happened in the early church in Antioch of Syria. It's a collision that has happened time and time again between people who disagree. In that case (Gal. 2:11) two of the most outstanding apostles, Peter and Paul, did battle. Paul states, "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." In doing so Paul was entering on dangerous territory because many others in history had tried to do battle with their fellows, only to fail. Proverbs 26:21 reminds us that "as charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife." Those “who stir up dissension among brothers” (Proverbs 6:19) are on the same list of things the Lord hates. Contentious hearts look for things to criticize and for opportunities to tear down a person, program, or idea. They destroy the essential commodities of happy and productive relationships, i.e. trust, thinking the best of others, and loving attitudes. It’s no wonder that Paul warned the Christians in Galatia about the danger of this kind of talk. He wrote, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15). We need to watch our attitudes with others. But Paul was doing just that and he entered into battle in order to restore Peter. Peter's compromise needed rebuke and Paul gave it. God is at work, even in the most trying circumstances; what could have been a tragedy, He used for His glory and for the strengthening of His church. By this Paul was our example of his exhortation in Galatians 6:1, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering theyself, lest thou also be tempted."

That the Truth of the Gospel Might Continue

None of us can doubt the Apostle Paul's sincerity when he declared about the false teachers who were stirring up trouble among the saints, "To whom we gve place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you" (Galatians 2:5). He was dead serious! He was willing to die for "the truth of the gospel." The gospel of grace was critical to him then and it should be critical to us today. Let me illustrate. A friend of mine was overwhelmed with guilt when he committed a sin. He confessed that sin to the Lord whose promise in 1 John 1:9 is "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He does that in grace but my friend felt that he needed to do more. So the following Wednesday he stood before the church to announce that he and his wife were going to the mission field. I knew his motive; others did not. He missed the idea that Paul fought for - the concept of God's free grace for getting saved and maintaining a Christian life. I had the opportunity later to deal with and help solve his problem. My ideas were Paul's and went along the same lines that I recently discovered in the April 2008 issue of DJ Online News. The article was entitled Guilt and Grace. I use their outline as a young lady helped her own brother who had sinned.

(1) She, like the Lord Jesus, came alongside him. She dispelled his fears by assuring him of her prayers and her struggles with similar sins.
(2) She, like the Lord Jesus, reminded him of God's grace. He was holy and blameless in God’s sight, not because he had obeyed God perfectly, but because Christ paid the penalty for his sin on the cross. More than that, God had clothed him with the perfect righteousness of Christ. He no longer held his sin—including the one he currently faced—against him.
(3) She, like the Lord Jesus, didn't discount his sin. She encouraged him to identify and accept responsibility for his sin. Knowing what God has already done for him and how He viewed Him in Christ, he was able to deal with his sin appropriately.
(4) She, like the Lord Jesus, pointed him to the Holy Spirit. She encouraged him to ask God to give him the strength and will to trust and obey Him, which He has promised to do through His Spirit.

We can be thankful for the gospel of grace that Paul fought for and helped to make available today.

Defending the Faith, A Risky Business

Life is full of risks. We take risks from the moment we step out of our bed. We take a risk when we decide on a marriage partner. We take a risk when we grow children. We take risks when we get in our car and hit the roads. Without risks we would never make progress. An old Chinese saying states, "He who stands all day on one leg never goes anywhere." Buffalo Bill said, "I had many enemies among the Sioux; I would be running considerable risk in meeting them." But meet them he must. The same was true with Paul who preached a pure gospel of grace. He would not allow for any legal rule to be added to the gospel. As such, the gospel became available to both Jew and Gentile alike. The old faithful Jews did not readily accept that new gospel. They claimed that God's people must keep the ceremonial law. Except for a two-week period when he became acquainted with the apostles Peter and James in Jerusalem, Paul did not go to that city for 14 years aftter his conversion. It took special instructions from the Lord by revelation (Gal. 2:2) for him to go as a representative to the Jerusalem Council. But when he went Paul took a risk by choosing Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile who was now a Christian, to accompany him But notice Paul's actions. He was so very-well balanced. A Christian who is willing to take risks does not mean that he is care-free. He should be directed by the Lord and act in a well-balanced way. Paul was fair with the apostles by laying out the gospel as he understood it and preached it (Gal. 2:2); he was also wise in that he asked for a private meeting with the apostles (Gal. 2:2). A public meeting with such a sensitive issue would have been a needless offense. Brothers and sisters, we need to be willing to take risks under God's leadership, but in doing so to be fair and wise in all we do.

Questions to Ponder:
1. How do you feel when your beliefs are contrary to popular opinion? What would you have done in Paul's place?
2. Would it matter to you if Paul's argument had failed? Why or why not?

One Truth, One Church

Unity is of crucial importance to God. It exists in the Godhead; it exists in the church universal; it exists in the gospel. But the unity of the apostolic gospel in Paul's day was under attack. Judaizers, false teachers who stirred up trouble in the Gentile churches, taught that besides the gospel that the apostles in Jerusalem preached, there was another that Paul should be preaching to the Gentiles. They claimed that the Gentiles needed to go beyond mere faith in Christ crucified. They needed also to observe the Law of Moses just like faithful Jews would. In Galatians 2:1-10 Paul recounts an incident that was critical over this issue. It took place in a council in Jerusalem about 14 years after Paul was saved. The gospel of grace that he and the apostles preached was carefully examined. Both Paul and the apostles in Jerusalem had already had tremendous and effectual ministries among the Gentiles and Jews. There was a happy ending to that council because it was determined that two gospels did not exist - only one. How important that is! Again, in another passage, Paul emphasized unity when he encouraged the Ephesian saints to practice it in their assembly. The basis for their unity is the same basis for ours, i.e. the unity found in God, the church and the gospel. He said, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:4-6) It is fashionable today to speak of the theologies of the New Testament - the Pauline, the Lukan, the Johannine, the Petrine. The implication is that there are fundamental differences between them. This passage from Galatians teaches us that the only difference was in the audiences. The Jews may have been circumcised already but that did not give them an edge on salvation. The apostles in Jerusalem preached the gospel to Jews and they who believed were set free from the bondage of the Law. Paul preahced to the Gentiles and they who believed, though not circumcised, were promised heaven simply on the basis of grace. They were not obligated to live after the Law that could not save any one. How thankful we can be!

Questions to Ponder:
1. Do you think Paul would find modern Christian rules more justifiable than the Jewish ones he opposed? Why or why not?
2. Suppose God called you to share the gospel with people of a different culture. How would you decide which American Christian practices could be abandoned and which could not?

Story-Telling and a Hostile Crowd

I forget who said it but someone was referring to controversy when he stated, "No matter what you say or write, there is no controversy until someone does not agree with you.” It is to our benefit that Judaizers did not agree with Paul for now we can learn from the controversy over salvation by grace or by human works. Paul deals with his antagonists in three different way, each one being a way we should use when people disagree with us. In Galatians 1-2 he answers them personally, with stories from his own experiences; in chapters 3-4, doctrinally; and in chapters 5-6, practically. Since our thoughts have brought us to Gal. 1:10-24 we should note his story-telling practice. Personal stories have a particular charm because they cannot be refuted by a hostile crowd. We might call the stories our personal testimony. Every believer has a unique testimony that he should use over and over as he witnesses to people. This is particularly useful with those who may otherwise disagree with our message. Jesus used story-telling amny times to his hostile audiences. See Luke 15, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, where Jesus thus exposed the hypocrisy of those who criticized his association with the lost. Peter used story-telling in Acts 11 to defend his action in speaking the gospel to Gentiles (Acts 10). Paul uses it here in Gal. 1:13-24. He speaks of his pre-conversion days (1:13-14)and states the obvious, i.e. that he did not learn salvation by grace alone through his commitment to legalistic Judaism. At the time of his conversion (1:15-16a) God revealed the risen Jesus to him (v. 12; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8; Phil. 3:12) and he learned that salvation was by grace alone. His story continues because after his conversion (Gal. 1:16-24) he "conferred not with flesh and blood." Rather, Jesus Christ was his sole teacher during a period of three years in both Arabia and Damascus and he learned that salvation was by grace alone. When people disagree with your message, try story-telling, your own personal testimony.

Questions to Ponder:
1. If you had to argue for the reality of the gospel by giving one example of how faith in Christ has changed you, what would you share?
2. In what way is your experience of Christ an important part of your witness to others?

Fight the Good Fight but Watch Your Attitude

Paul is an apologist - a defender of the faith. In fact, he is probably the apologist par excellence of all church history. The book of Galatians is one apologetic document that came from his pen. Every serious Christian should focus on this wonderful work. We can learn much about how to defend the faith just by studying it. For example, it becomes obvious that Paul's defence of the faith was never meant to do what only the Holy Spirit can do, namely bring people under conviction of "sin, righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8-11). It is basically meant to strengthen believers. For sure, it is never meant to win an argument against an unbeliever. Josh McDowell stated, "Apologetics is not for proving the Word of God but simply for providing a basis for faith." (Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. iii). McDowell makes the amazing observation that though the majority of those to whom he has spoken did not deny his evidence, they did not accept Christ as Savior and Lord. "This is not because they were unable to believe - they were simply unwilling to believe." (op.cit.p. i) In Galatians 1:10 Paul showed a right attitude in approaching people with the evidence concerning the truth of Christianity. We need to watch our attitude. Then in verses 11-12 he spoke to the Galatian saints who had been troubled by the Judaizers who claimed to be the true Christians. They had been influenced by suggestions that he made up his own gospel. In another article we shall see where this all went.

Questions to Ponder:
1. Why do you think Paul focused on helping the saints in the Galatian churches rather than on the unbelieving Judaizers? Was this a departure from his normal evangelistic outreach?
2. How has evidence for the truth of Christianity affected you?