The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:11-21 (day five)  “When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel”

With the presence of the SA Phil at our church, this truth Paul is proclaiming becomes tangible. Every practice or performance, what is the first thing the orchestra does? They tune their instruments. Even the most expensive and well made instruments need to be constantly tuned. Same truth with the human heart. Paul is telling Peter and  others they have gotten literally “offline”. They were not “straight-walking”. They were out of tune with the perfect pitch (truth) of the gospel.

God help us hear the perfect pitch (truth) of the gospel!  Your Holy Spirit. Your Word. Accountability. Wisdom from other believers. Then give us courage to adjust and tune our hearts.

Christian living is therefore a continual realignment process – one of bringing everything in line with the truth of the gospel. – Tim Keller

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart…

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:11-21 (day four)

There are times in life when we experience a profound grief that makes everything feel different. We go through our day and find ourselves confused when everyone else isn’t feeling the same way we are. The world carries on like normal, but our inner world has completely changed, and we don’t quite know how to proceed. This can happen with joyous moments as well – an exciting life event consumes our attention, and we can’t make sense of the person walking around frowning. Our inner world has changed, yet the outer world stays the same.

The same phenomenon occurs with salvation, too. When we accept Jesus and are saved by grace, we become a new creation and our whole inner world changes. The outer world, though, stays eerily the same. The world carries on with its difficulties, sin, and biases, and we have to figure out how to proceed now that our inner and outer worlds aren’t in sync anymore.

This seems to be what Peter was experiencing here. His inner world had been changed by Christ and he was continuously learning what this profound gospel freedom looked like, when he was suddenly confronted by characters in the outer world with their laws and expectations. He didn’t know what to do, and ended up bending to their way. We’ve all experienced that pang of regret that comes when we bend to the ways of the world.

There will always be such friction on this side of heaven, but when we make Christ our greatest pursuit, the things of the world will continue to grow dim, and we’ll be able to say with growing confidence, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:11-21 (day three)

“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.”

The account Paul relates here foreshadows his statement later in this epistle that life with Christ transcends the categorical divisions that have defined civilizations and societies and groups and families. Peter [Cephas] made the politically expedient decision to distance himself from the gentiles while Jews were present. But Peter’s maneuvering amounted to a denial of Christ’s way every bit as vehement as his denial of his friend on the night before the cross. Paul confronted a man who was heading right back into yet another denial of Christ. If ethnic group still separates from ethnic group, if men still lord it over women, if the powerful still enslave the weak — if these distinctions still define the way one person regards another — the church has nothing left to say.

(Credit to Aaron Hufty for pointing out to me the consistent pattern in Peter’s behavior)

 

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:11-21 (day two)  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” vs. 21

This verse provides a stark contrast to how we live out our faith. There can be no equivocating with regards to the power of the cross. Our identity in Christ is complete, lacking in nothing, with no need for further requirement of qualification. Why then do we always feel the need to add to the cross? Sure, it’s easy to point to other denominations who view grace differently than we do, but strip away the dogma of doctrinal differences and look at our lives. What are the things we needlessly attach to the cross? Righteousness, virtue, piety are all wonderful characteristics of a believer, but they follow the cross. They are not in addition to the cross. It will forever be a mystery to us while we struggle on this mortal coil. We feel we must ‘do’ something for this gift. Our daily reminder is a stark reality. Anything we add to the cross, diminishes the cross. Christ doesn’t need our help, he is our help. He doesn’t need our actions, he acted on our behalf. Christ is our requirement and he, and he alone, is sufficient.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:1-10 (day seven)

They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do. Galatians 2:10

Even in the midst of dissension, we can usually see that we are on the same page. The end goal and purpose are usually the same and that is enough to keep us together. However, our culture would tell us that the dissension is irreparable. We have become so consumed with being right, that we can’t look through theological differences to join together for the greater good and the furtherment of the kingdom. I am right, you are wrong, so we can’t be friends. This is what the world is telling us.

This is not to say that we should compromise on our beliefs, but time is too short for us to waste time drawing lines in the sand when we could be drawing up battle plans. If there is opportunity to find unity in the midst of dissension, that is where our focus should be.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:1-10 (day six)

The Gospel is a revolutionary message with surprising results. No one could have imagined the depth of its redemptive power. No one imagined that Jesus could redeem a passionate persecutor of the earliest Christians, and yet he did. Or that non-Jewish pagans would embrace its truth.

Not everyone responded to this news with joy but with suspicion and jealousy. They questioned the man, his Gospel message, and these pagans’ “new freedom.”

Here’s the rub, they began to think the only true way to become children of God is to become like us. So they began to whisper and accuse, who is Paul not to demand that they become like a Jew!

But the Gospel revolted, busting through that twisting of the truth, demonstrating with surprising results that Jesus is enough!

Christian, let’s pray for the revolution; let’s be joyful revolutionaries of the redemptive power of the Gospel in San Antonio!

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:1-10 (day five)  What do you see and sense first/most in other church members?  What draws you to people in the church. Is it their personality?  Is it their sense of humor?  Is it their likes and dislikes? Is it the presence of Christ? It is something inward our outward about them?

In our Re:Verse text this week, it is worth noting how these believers saw and regarded one another. Paul, Peter, James, and John all sensed and saw the Lord at work in and thru each other. The affection and respect they have for each other is influenced by their “recognition” and regard for the Lord’s presence and activity. Oh to sense and see the Lord’s presence and activity in other believers in the Body of Christ. Makes me want to walk closely with the Lord so that others could see and sense that in me. Makes me want to recognize and affirm the presence of Christ in them.  Only the Holy Spirit can help and guide us in those ways. When we can’t or don’t, does that say more about them, or more about me?  “Lord, help us see your presence in all your saints as we worship, study, serve, and fellowship together”.

We should never leave our church meetings, having spent time surrounded by beloved, distinctive people of faith, without feeling encouraged! – John Piper

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:1-10 (day four)

This account of church life isn’t as rose-colored as Acts 2 is it? I’d be willing to bet that everyone in that room had an ego to lay down and personality differences to work through. They had to grapple with big, weighty questions, all while defending the gospel, which was still fairly new to them, from those trying to destroy it.

Life in the church is beautiful, but it is also hard. We’re all working out our salvation together, and that can get messy. In particularly hard moments, we might be tempted to think that it’s easier to go it alone. But there can be no lone wolf in gospel ministry. But what Paul knew, and what we must remember, is that the church is essential. Paul probably had his opinions about this group he met with, but he knew that unity among the body of Christ was the only way forward.

Participating in the gathered church is part of how we keep hold of this freedom the gospel provides us. When we’re called to a life with Christ, we’re called to his church. And when Christ, the good shepherd, is leading his church, we can have every confidence in it. Even when things get messy.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:1-10 (day three)

“Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem…”

What happened to Paul in that interval of fourteen years? Scholarship is of several opinions. Timelines are sometimes notoriously thorny in biblical studies. But overall, one can see that a substantial amount of time elapsed between Paul’s cataclysmic life-rearrangement and his full engagement with the church. Why? Because change happens in one’s life at the speed of trust. What appear as instantaneous existential shifts have in fact been long in the making. Moses fearlessly faced Pharoah only after he had spent 40 years in desert exile contemplating his life (which prepared him for the burning bush encounter). Abraham ascended Moriah only after he had known God for the better part of a century. Whether 100 years, 40 years, or 14 years, change takes time in you. That doesn’t bother God.