Every morning when I wake up, I start my day with prayer and then the reading of God’s Word, the Bible. I had purchased a One Year Chronological Bible to read every morning and that is how I start my day. The Bible REALLY is the living Word of God and I am always astonished when Holy Spirit points me towards a Word I haven’t seen before! It’s like picking up a book and seeing something new I hadn’t been aware of EVERY time I faithfully and prayerfully turn to the Word of God.
This morning I picked up where I had left off in Galatians 2:11-21 and I was fascinated by what I read and what was taking place, I want to share it with you.
Peter has always been the Apostle that I can relate to, Peter felt things passionately and often spoke from his heart without first using his head. I love Peter, his strengths, his passions and his faults. I can truly relate to him.
Paul had an “on his face” kind of experience in coming to Christ. I highly recommend reading your Bible and learning about these two very passionate, strong followers of Jesus, the Bible shows us BOTH their strengths and their weaknesses as an example for us in how very human they were. We all have faults and strengths, the Bible is full of examples of real life people, we forget that sometimes, the fact of the matter is the people written about in the Bible were JUST like you and I.
Paul’s salvation experience was VERY different than Peter’s, Paul’s calling was to minister to the Gentiles and bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. In order to understand fully what I am writing about today, you need to read the book of Galatians to see what was happening at that time. (I always refer to my own Bible when I am reading what someone else has written, to make sure what I am reading is in line with the Word of God).
Growing in Christ is just that – a growth process, once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you begin a spiritual self-growth journey that will last ALL the days of the rest of your life. There are some things that God desires to change within you, and some will be instantaneous (depending how submissive and accepting you are to the changes Holy Spirit guides you to make). Others will occur over a period of time, but throughout your walk with Him, you will experience periods of refinement. Spiritual growth is an individual thing and it is TOTALLY between YOU and God and sometimes God will use people (as he did for Peter with Paul) to bring front and center what it is that needs to be refined.
The passages in Galatians 2:11-21 are an example of that – Paul called Peter out on the way Peter was acting, God had just made Peter aware that although the Jewish people ARE the chosen people of God, God showed Peter that He came for the Gentiles as well. Gentiles have been “grafted in” to the body of Christ, because God came for ALL nations.
Peter had just had a vision in Acts 10:9-17:
“…Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”
“No Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”
But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean?”
Peter ended up realizing later on in Acts 10:34-36 the following:
“I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right. This is the message of the Good News for the people of Israel – there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, WHO IS LORD OF ALL” (emphasis is mine). And later on in Acts 10:42-43 Peter says: “And He ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the One appointed by God to be the judge of all – the living and the dead. He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in Him will have their sins forgiven through His name.”
If you read about Paul, you will read how Paul had previously been called “Saul” who was Jewish, had strongly persecuted Christians because of their faith. You can read about Saul in Acts Chapter 8. Until He literally came face to face with Jesus while traveling on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:3-6:
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from Heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute Me?”
“Who are You Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus who you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”
Saul became Paul and began preaching to all the Gentiles the message of salvation.
Two VERY different men who shared one thing in common, their love and commitment to the Lord. As you journey in Him you will meet all kinds of people along the way, some will come from the same walk in life as you, others will come from different, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12 “We are MANY members but we are one in the body of Christ.” God has various callings on various people, the important thing is to find out WHAT calling God has on your life and then walk in it.
It is important that we recognize that God came to save ALL the nations. The Jewish people are STILL the chosen people of God, but God SO loved the world that He gave His ONLY begotten Son that WHOSOEVER believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. (Emphasis again is mine). WHOSOEVER believes in Him.
Peter was rebuked by Paul for resorting back to his old way of thinking, God had specifically given him a vision in the above quoted scripture, Acts 10:9-39 and Paul, as his brother in Christ had to call him out on it when Peter went back to what he had previously known. (See below Galatians 2:11-21):
“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he use to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Paul in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Paul was right in reminding Peter of what it was God had said to him. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 27:17:
“Iron Sharpens Iron.”
God brings other people into our lives who will help us grow. We need to be open to it, even when it is painful. Paul would have been doing Peter a disservice (as well as the Lord) if he had remained closed mouth and hadn’t corrected Peter on his actions. We cannot be quiet when we know that something someone is doing is hurting rather than helping the body of Christ. But when we rebuke a brother or sister in Christ it has to be done with the right motive, in line with the Word of God and IN LOVE and we BEST double check our own selves FIRST.
We are not “following other Christians” we are following CHRIST. This is why it is so important for us to read the Word of God for ourselves and know what it says so that when something doesn’t line up with the Word of God, we TRULY know it. When I attend church service, I bring my Bible with me and I follow along in my Bible with whatever scriptures are being referred to. We need to walk in wisdom so we are not misled. We need to make sure that we are following what it is that God IS telling us to do and what God tells us to do ALWAYS lines up with His Word, the Bible. God works through people and throughout our walk with Him there will be people that He brings into our lives, some will only be there for a season, others with us our entire lives. Thank God that we are not in this walk alone and also thank God for wisdom, guidance and discernment as we determine to seek after HIM.
“Father, we thank You so much for Your Word that instructs us. We thank You for giving us various examples in Your Word of people in the Bible, which shows us that people and situations are no different today than they were back then. Help us to glean from their experiences and apply what Holy Spirit shows us from reading all they went through in the Bible to our own individual walks today with You. Help us to walk in obedience in whatever You reveal to us in the reading of Your Living Word.
Father, please give us wisdom, guidance and knowledge so that throughout our walk with You, we are walking in obedience to what it is that You are telling us to do. Help us to be MORE concerned with what YOU want than with what others “expect” of us.
Help us to have discernment and also strengthen us (as you strengthened Paul) to make sure if we see a brother or sister in Christ that is swaying off to the side, to correct or build them up IN LOVE and to diligently pray for them and them for us.
We have decided to follow YOU. We thank You Father for helping us to keep our eyes focused on YOU. Father, if there ever comes a time where we have to correct one of our own (as Paul had to correct Peter), that You have us first take a look long and hard at ourselves and at Your Word and to do so IN LOVE so that satan will not gain a foothold in our relationship. Thank You for those mentors that You have placed in our lives to help us grow as a body and also to mature in You. In the center of YOUR will is where we long to be. Wherever You take us, whatever You call us to do be glorified and help us to follow YOUR lead. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.”
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