Now when Peter had
come to Antioch,
I withstood him to
his face,
because he was to be
blamed;
for before certain
men came from James,
he would eat with the
Gentiles;
but when they came,
he withdrew
and separated
himself, fearing those
who were of the circumcision.
And the rest of the
Jews also played
hypocrite with him,
so that even Barnabas
was carried away with
their hypocrisy.
Galatians 2: 11 -- 13
Some
scriptures are very interesting to me because when I examined the early church
with the present church I don't find much has changed for the battle goes on as
to who is right and who is wrong theologically. In fact how often have you heard, and I have heard, that we are
not to judge. I do not find Paul afraid
to judge others when he finds that what they are practicing or teaching is not
according to the will of God. Albeit,
but those practices that are unscriptural are being practiced and taught there
is a way to overcome unscriptural practices and teaching. It is simple, examine all things, and hold fast
to that which is fine and this requires a person to judge. Peter had a special relationship with Jesus
Christ while He was on earth as an apostle chosen directly by Him. The Catholic Church holds Peter and high
regard and in some sense even has a form of worship for him. Paul did not! Paul looked at what was occurring with Peter between the Gentiles
and Jews and found Peter to be a hypocrite.
This hypocrisy even had an effect upon Barnabas and associate, a close
associate, with Paul. Error breeds
error! Truth breeds truth! And we all have a responsibility to ensure
that the Christian congregations are purer in their theological position
according to Scripture and not according to some man's supposition or
theology. What is a hypocrite? The Greek word: ύποκρίσει; that which we
translate as hypocrite is far too familiar in as much as we know that it means,
that is if you've heard a preacher preach on this word, that it refers to a
stage actor. Yes it does; but more than
that, it means the disassembling or a pretense, therefore, it is play acting
and in this case this was harmful for denied the truth of what Jesus Christ
taught, that we were to take the gospel to the outermost parts of the
world. And this was told to be hundred
and 20 or so people in the upper room when Jesus appeared to them before his
ascension. Fear! Let me say this again: fear! How often does fear play a part in our
witnessing, rather, our not witnessing?
How often it is our fear of others that allows us to say and do things
when we are around non-Christians so that they will not in some way bully as
for our faith? How often do the kids in
school hide your Christianity because they are afraid of what their peers might
think or say to them? Fear! And this requires for more tour Christians
to a grass this problem as did Paul.
You've heard this old saying: "one bad apple spoils the whole
barrel!" Sometimes you must also
address the pillars of the church for they too are subject to sin and doing
things that are in contradiction to Scripture.
We have an outline in Scripture: Matthew Chapter 18, is one to follow in
all cases except in an emergency case where you must address it directly with
the leaders of the church. Be careful
though that you don't call something that is not so bad that it needs is kind
of address so that you do not follow scriptural unction. What is the principle that Paul was
following? The principal argument by
Paul is that man is not by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ
and Him alone. Not like some churches
who are running around saying that they are doing this in love when in fact it
is simply a work to show that they are Christians or have some sort of
faith. They may be, and they may have
faith, but they are not doing what Christ told us to do and that was to go into
the world and make disciples and to baptize them when they have converted to
Him. To make a disciple is to teach
them the truth of God's Word and that truth is very simple: Jesus Christ is the
promised Messiah, promised in the Hebrew nation that it would be Him by whom
salvation would come. Furthermore, to
make a disciple is to teach that Jesus Christ is God, not some angel, not some
other person, not some mystical ghost type person as the Apostolic church
teaches. Not to teach that God is a
man, as the Mormons teach, no, that Jesus Christ is God and that he came to die
a death to pay a debt owed to Himself.
And by His death and ascension into heaven is making intercession who
and for whomever God has given the faith to believe. By teaching this, we are
then coming to love Him and to follow His commandments. We change in this by conversion so that our
lives become fully, and completely committed to Jesus Christ and this is shown
not by hypocrisy as what Peter had done and was doing affecting others because
of his wrong theological thinking.
Rather, it is to be sold out, to Jesus, and not allow fear to keep us
from demonstrating Him in our lives and in our speech. It is not just going to church that makes
you a witness for Jesus Christ even though this is important. No, in all we do to meet daily circumstances
whether or not we meet those circumstances by the teachings of Scripture. Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Brethren, I do not count myself to
have apprehended; but one thing I do, for getting those things which are behind
in reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal
for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:
13 -- 14). May this be true of you
also!
Assemble yourselves and come;
drawn near
together,
you who have escaped from the nations,
they have
no knowledge,
who carry the wood of their carved image,
and pray to
a god that cannot save.
Isaiah 45:20
By means of the death and resurrection: you are righteous
No comments:
Post a Comment