“One in the Gospel, pt.1 (Galatians 2:1-10)", Will DuVal | 8/31/25
Galatians 2:1-10 | 8/31/25 | Will DuVal
Every community we’re a part of has a price of admission. If I showed up at your work place tomorrow morning (or Tuesday), and tried to get in the building, depending on where you WORK - some of y’all at BOEING in the highest security clearance branches, building the top secret UFOs or whatever y’all do - how FORCEFULLY would I be escorted OUT of there… cuz I don’t BELONG; I don’t have the CREDENTIALS, the BADGE.
If YOU showed up tomorrow night at Kirk of the Hill’s gymnasium for our 4th grade girls volleyball practice, and you don’t have a 4th grade girl who plays VOLLEYBALL on our SCHOOL team, the other parents would I’m sure be “Christian nice” to you, and smile, and then turn to each other and be like, “Who IS that? And why are they HERE?”
Even INFORMAL “communities” - try going out to lunch today, and sitting down at a table beside a group of total strangers, some FAMILY you’ve never met… just pull a chair up, and see how they react.
Because with any group, there’s always something we’ve got to DO, or PAY or BE in order to truly BELONG.
And the question before us this morning in Galatians ch2 is: “What is that thing - that COST, that REQUIREMENT, that COMMONALITY - the unifying GLUE that holds together the community that IS… the CHURCH. The CHRISTIAN community. “What do I have to say, do, be, believe in order to BELONG?”
Now, if you’re just joining us - Welcome - this is week THREE in our sermon series in the book of Galatians; let me quickly catch you UP on some of the important CONTEXT here: Galatians was written by the apostle PAUL to the churches in Galatia that he had established there just a couple years prior during his first missionary journey. And SINCE then, this group of what he’s gonna call “FALSE brothers” in v4 (“FAKE Christians”) - he identifies them elsewhere as “Judaizers”; they were trying to convert all the Gentile Christians to JUDAISM - they’ve moved in and begun preaching “a different gospel” which is REALLY “no gospel AT ALL” according to Paul. And their NON-gospel is this: to TRULY belong in the CHURCH community, you’ve gotta accept Jesus as the Messiah… the Son of GOD, who died for our SINS, we’re GOOD with all that… but then you ALSO need to obey the OT Law of MOSES. And SPECIFICALLY if we’re talking “price of ADMISSION”, on the FRONT end, if you’re a GUY, that means CIRCUMCISION - that was THE defining mark of one’s JEWISHNESS in the 1st c.; “No foreskins ALLOWED!”
And Paul is gonna RESPOND to them this morning and say essentially, “Not only are you WRONG to tell these Gentile believers that they must be circumcised in order to be saved and belong in the CHURCH, but the very fact that you’re TELLING them that, that you JUDAIZERS actually BELIEVE that means that y’all are most likely NOT saved and do NOT actually belong here among us - so GET OUT! There’s no PLACE here, no WELCOME here for your false gospel. Paul’s gonna say in v5, “I won’t YIELD in SUBMISSION” to them “even for a MOMENT”; we mustn't even ENTERTAIN their HERESIES.
Because the GOSPEL is JESUS plus NOTHING means EVERYTHING. Christ is ENOUGH; he is totally SUFFICIENT - all we NEED - for salvation; you add anything TO him - circumcision, baptism, church membership, speaking in tongues, your “good deeds”... ANYTHING - and you completely UNDERMINE the all-sufficiency of Christ, and you’re really calling him a LIAR, because JESUS declared on the cross: “It is FINISHED”; not “It’s ALMOST finished; now go say 5 “Hail Mary’s” and you’re good to go.” Not “It’s ALMOST finished; if you could just make sure you keep a daily QUIET time, stay on top of your Bible reading and prayers…”
Paul says, “NO!!” That’s NOT the gospel! Jesus plus NOTHING. “We are saved by GRACE alone through FAITH alone in CHRIST alone”. PERIOD.
And it is this gospel - this “good news” OF Christ’s all-sufficiency - that UNITES us now in one BODY, one FELLOWSHIP, one PEOPLE, centered around one PERSON (Jesus) and one TRUTH, one GOSPEL: “Christ CRUCIFIED and RESURRECTED for the FORGIVENESS of sins.”
We are ONE in the GOSPEL. And Paul’s gonna BEGIN to tell us this morning - we’ll get part two NEXT week, in the SECOND half of chapter 2 - but he’s gonna BEGIN laying out for us what it MEANS to be “one in the gospel”: the IMPLICATIONS of our unity, the practical OUTWORKING, the RESULT of our unity in the gospel; what else flows DOWNSTREAM of that?
FOUR ADDITIONAL “one-ness”es - commonalities - according to Paul, this week, and he’s gonna add ANOTHER four NEXT week.
But let’s READ it now TOGETHER: invite you to turn with me in your Bibles (if you HAVE one; if you DON’T… Info Bar…)
One more quick reminder on the CONTEXT here: Paul BEGAN reminding the Galatians of his TESTIMONY - his spiritual autobiography - LAST week in chapter ONE, and his main point there was that “I did not receive this gospel from any MAN, but through a direct, personal “revelation of Jesus CHRIST” on the Damascus Road. Because the Judaizers were questioning Paul’s AUTHORITY, and his CREDIBILITY - “Paul: who are YOU to try and define the gospel for us; you can’t even trace YOUR gospel back to one of the original 12 disciples!” And Paul replies: “You’re absolutely RIGHT; I DON’T appeal to them. Because I got the gospel straight from JESUS HIMSELF!” “And THEREFORE,” Paul said last week, “I was so CONFIDENT in the VERACITY of the gospel I preached, that I didn’t even bother CONSULTING with any of the other apostles for a good THREE YEARS.”
But now in chapter TWO, Paul’s gonna say, “But fine; if you REALLY wanna know what the other APOSTLES think about my gospel, let me TELL ya…” - Paul’s gonna say, “The truth ain’t democratic… but even if it WAS, I’d STILL have y’all beat, because THEY sided with ME; Y’ALL are the ones (Judaizers) in the minority here, on the OUTSIDE of the gospel UNITY that the rest of us share, in Christ.”
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Would you STAND with me as you’re able… (SCRIPTURE:)
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
This is the word of God… Seated…
Paul outlines for us here FOUR COMMONALITIES that we share in the gospel. Remember, he’s writing this TO the Galatians, but FOR every one of US as well, if we are in Christ.
#1- And FIRSTLY and most IMPORTANTLY, Paul reminds us that We share one MESSAGE (vv1-2).
Paul says, “after FOURTEEN YEARS I went up to Jerusalem” to “set before them [the apostles]… the gospel that I proclaim amongst the GENTILES” to make absolutely SURE that we’re sharing the same message, the same gospel. There can’t be ONE gospel for the JEWS that PETER’s preaching to and ANOTHER to the GENTILES that I’M preaching to! Either the law of Moses plays a PART in our salvation… or it DOESN’T. But it can’t be BOTH. That would be contradictory.
And speaking of contradictions; let me ask you: Does PAUL contradict himself here, when he says in ch1: “I didn’t NEED to check with anyone to make sure MY gospel was true,” but NOW he says in chapter TWO: “I went up… and set before them the gospel I proclaim… to make sure I was not RUNNING in VAIN”; is Paul “flip-flopping” here?
No. Paul’s not making sure that HE’S got the gospel right; he is CONFIDENT of what God revealed to him on that Damascus road, through his personal encounter with the risen Jesus.
No; Paul wanted to make sure that the other APOSTLES still had the gospel right! He kept hearing about these Judaizers, who were CLAIMING that they had gotten THEIR gospel of “Jesus plus the LAW” from the apostles, so eventually, Paul says, “I can’t IMAGINE that Peter and James and John would be PERVERTING the gospel like that… but just to be SAFE, I better CHECK.” Because if they ARE twisting it, and telling Gentiles they gotta become JEWS in order to be Christians and be SAVED by JESUS, then, Paul says, “I’ve been running in VAIN.”
His imagery - metaphor - there is that of a RELAY race. Paul says, “I’m confident that I’ve been KILLING it these past 14 years, when it comes to running MY leg of the race… but I ALSO know that our faith is a TEAM SPORT. And specifically, the Great Commission that Jesus left us with - to “go and make disciples of ALL the nations” - Paul says, “I know that THAT calling and mission is a COLLECTIVE one; it is FAR too big for any one person; it takes a TEAM EFFORT.” Paul’s saying, “I’m doing MY part; I went up to Jerusalem to make sure that THEY were doing THEIRS.” I had to make sure I had TEAMMATES I could TRUST to pass the BATON on to.
And sure enough, if we skip down to v9 for a second, Paul assures us that “when they perceived the GRACE that was given me, they gave the right hand of FELLOWSHIP” - “YES,” Paul, “we’re WITH you. You are NOT running in vain, and you’re not ALONE in this race; we run TOGETHER”. That’s what that word “fellowship” - koinonia in the Greek - means: a “joint participation”, “COMMUNION”, a deep “SHARING” with one another.
We share one “fellowship”, one tight-knit community, because we share one MESSAGE: the GOSPEL.
Let me ask you this: think of the person who DOESN’T belong to Christ who you consider yourself to be CLOSEST with, of any unbeliever in your life. Maybe a close friend, a sibling, a SPOUSE, for some of you…
Now picture someone - a stranger - who on PAPER, you share the absolute LEAST in common with: if you’re like ME - a white, middle-aged, educated, upper-middle class, suburban Western MAN - imagine an old, black, poor, illiterate, tribal African WOMAN, who belongs to JESUS… And ASK yourself: Who do I share a deeper FELLOWSHIP with, a deeper COMMUNION and UNITY with?”
And Paul’s RADICAL, counter-cultural ANSWER for us here is: “the STRANGER. That total STRANGER, who is totally OPPOSITE from you in nearly EVERY other way is nevertheless your SISTER, your BROTHER in the Lord; you are spiritual FAMILY, in a way that you simply CAN’T be, with even your BIOLOGICAL family members, if they haven’t been born again, into GOD’S family.”
A few WEEKS from now, at the end of chapter THREE, Paul will put it THIS way: “in Christ Jesus you are all [children] of God, through faith… There is [now] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26-28).
And to PROVE it to ‘em, Paul says, “I brought TITUS along with me” (v1).
Now, Titus was a Gentile CONVERT to Christianity, whom Paul had evangelized during his first missionary trip not long before. And Paul LOVED him; he called Titus “my true SON in our common faith” (Ts 1:4); Paul even wrote Titus a LETTER that eventually found its way into our BIBLES (I bet you can guess which letter!). Titus would go on to become a prominent leader in the early church, and serve as pastor of the church in Crete. But at THIS critical juncture, when Paul was making his SECOND trip to Jerusalem, and comparing gospels with the apostles, the only thing many of these Jewish believers in the Jerusalem CHURCH knew about Titus, the only thing they seemed to CARE about; INDEED - the only detail that PAUL HIMSELF highlights for us here about Titus, in v3, is that he was still UNCIRCUMCISED.
But that’s exactly the POINT, isn’t it; that is PRECISELY WHY Paul brought him along.
We said LAST week that Paul’s OWN changed life was “Evidence A” of the truth (and the POWER!) of his gospel. But just in case the Judaizers try and argue, “Well, SURE, Paul, but YOU were already a JEW when you came to Christ”; Paul now says, “I present to you: Evidence B” - TITUS. A man as CLEARLY filled with the Holy Spirit as you will ever find… yet with foreskin still intact.”
What do you DO with him? Can anyone DENY his faith, his salvation?
If I can make this PERSONAL for just a minute: I don’t know about YOU, Church, but I find this pretty CONVICTING, when I consider how much I often wanna SHRINK the scope of the Spirit’s work in others’ lives, to make it FIT within my theological constructs… and I try and put GOD in a BOX… when I FORGET just how relatively TINY my little section of the sandbox is, over here in the “evangelical, Reformed” camp of the Church. And we’re tempted to try and ADD TO the gospel: “Jesus plus CALVINISM.” “Jesus plus BIBLICAL INERRANCY.” Until God sends a TITUS along, to set us STRAIGHT.
The last “Titus” for me was Revered HEIDI. Reverend Heidi is a female Episcopal priest I met while on vacation last spring break, staying with Polly’s GRANDparents down in Florida. I know I’ve mentioned in recent sermons Polly’s now deceased grandmother, who was always so HOSTILE to the gospel; well, last March we were visiting and she said, “I know you’re not gonna BELIEVE it, but I’ve started attending a weekly BIBLE study down here that one of my friends at the CLUB hosts; she hires the priest from Jupiter Island to drive up once a week for this ladies Bible study.” And while Gran wasn’t interested at ALL in the gospel, she was VERY interested in female empowerment; “So,” she said, “I started attending just to check it out; do you wanna COME with me this Tuesday, before y’all fly out?”
And I said, “ABSOLUTELY I do!”
So it was ME, and about 30 multi-millionaire 80 or 90-year old women, and Revered Heidi. And she opens the Bible study by asking, “Before we dive in to Amos and Hosea for today, any QUESTIONS anyone wants to ask?”
And this woman raises her hand and asks, “Yeah, last week you mentioned that the Old Testament depicts HELL as a kind of “watery grave”; Sheol, I think you called it… But then JESUS talks about Hell as a “fiery pit” in the New Testament… So which one IS it?”
So right outta the GATE, I’m on the edge of my SEAT - forget Amos and Hosea; we’re talking about HELL! But Reverend Heidi begins with a pretty DRY, historical, scholarly answer: “Some scholars say THIS… others think THAT…”. And I’ll be honest: I got super JUDGY: “Yup, leave it to the Episcopal Church to turn even the topic of HELL into a boring, dusty lecture… the Holy Spirit left THAT denomination AGES ago…”
But just as I was ready to right her off completely, Reverend Heidi said, “Whether Hell is a ‘watery grave’ or a ‘fiery pit’, or whether BOTH those descriptions are just metaphors for something more terrible than we can even put into WORDS, one thing if for certain: Hell is a very REAL PLACE that you DON’T wanna end UP.”
I perked back UP again! She said, “But the gospel - the GOOD news - is that God LOVED us so much He sent his Son JESUS down to DIE for us, to forgive our sins. And all we have to do to ESCAPE Hell, and to live forever with God in Heaven instead, is say “YES!” to Jesus.”
Now listen: I could’ve probably sat there for HOURS and found COUNTLESS things that Reverend Heidi and I disagreed on, to debate - the role of women in ministry… what CONSTITUTES a “sin” that NECESSITATES forgiveness from Jesus… the nature of the inerrancy of Scripture… - but I know we’re united on at least ONE thing, the most IMPORTANT thing: the GOSPEL! And if we share that one MESSAGE in common, according to PAUL, the gospel that UNITES us is stronger than every other secondary issue and identity marker that would otherwise DIVIDE us. “in Christ [we] are [BOTH] children of God, through faith… There is neither [Episcopal] nor [Baptist], neither [egalitarian] nor [complementarian]... for [we] are [both] one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26-28)
That was TITUS, for the JUDAIZERS Paul is confronting here. But interestingly, Titus wasn’t the ONLY one Paul brought with him; who ELSE did he bring along?
BARNABAS. His REAL name was “Joseph” (Ac 4:36); but he got the nickname “Barnabas” - which literally means “son of ENCOURAGEMENT” - because he was just so… (you guessed it).
In Acts 9, Paul’s FIRST visit to Jerusalem, the one he alluded to LAST week in Galatians ONE, where he briefly met up with Peter and James, Luke tells us in Acts 9 that Paul attempted to join the disciples. But they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he was [truly] a disciple. 27 Until Barnabas took him and brought [Paul] to the apostles”, and VOUCHED for him.
Barnabas was a PEACE-maker. And Paul was WISE to bring HIM along as WELL, because he KNEW that bringing TITUS was gonna create quite a STIR. And Paul didn’t mind ruffling some feathers; he was never one to back down from a good fight. And sometimes you NEED that; the Church NEEDS folks who won’t BUDGE, won’t COMPROMISE one INCH on the purity of the gospel. …And we ALSO need Barnabases, peacemakers, encouragers, those who look for the BEST in others, even their OPPONENTS.
Two more QUICK points to make here in Paul’s opening two verses before we move on:
The first is his subtle mention of his REASON for making this second trip to Jerusalem in the first place: he says, “I went up because of a revelation”; WHAT revelation? Well, if we flip over to Acts ch11, Luke tells us that a prophet from Jerusalem named AGABUS visited Paul in Antioch and “foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine”. So the church in Antioch “sen[t financial] relief to the brothers in Judea… by the hand of Barnabas and [P]aul.” (11:29-30)
THAT was the revelation - it was AGABUS’s revelation concerning the FAMINE that prompted Paul’s trip. Why does that matter?
Paul wants us to know he wasn’t even PRIMARILY there to confirm the gospel ANYWAY; he says, “I was THERE to keep y’all from STARVING to death.” But WHILE I was there, I thought, “You know, I keep hearing these RUMORS about people preaching another GOSPEL; I better pull Peter & James & John aside, and just check…”
And that’s the SECOND thing I wanted to make sure we caught: HOW Paul went about checking for gospel unity- he did it, v2, “PRIVATELY”. So if I a QUESTION about whether or not Reverend Heidi and I preached the same gospel, I’m not gonna stand up in front of the whole BIBLE study and try and EMBARRASS her; I’m gonna pull her aside. If one of YOU has a question now about the gospel that I preach, because you ARE convinced God has forsaken the entire Episcopal Church and how DARE I suggest OTHERWISE, you’re not gonna stand up NOW and try and embarrass me publicly; you’re gonna “privately” send me an EMAIL tomorrow that I get to ignore, cuz it’s a HOLIDAY. 🙂
Now Paul ALSO subtly slips in here, parenthetically, almost seemingly passive-aggressively, that he pulled aside “those who SEEMED influential”. But I’m gonna LEAVE that one for now, cuz we’re coming back to it in point #3, eventually.
But the big picture question we need to ask ourselves here with Paul’s first and most IMPORTANT point is simply: “Do I believe this MESSAGE, this GOSPEL, that has UNIFIED the Church for the past 2,000 YEARS now?”
NOT “Try your best to be a good person and surely God will accept you”
NOT “Jesus plus evangelical, Reformed theology”.
JUST JESUS. Christ CRUCIFIED and RESURRECTED.
Do I BELIEVE it? Is he ENOUGH for me?
Now, if you DO - and I hope and PRAY you do, cuz according to God’s word that is the ONLY way we can be saved: “the gospel… is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16)” - but if you DO believe it, you should be warned that…
#2 - We share one MENACE (vv3-5).
I know it seems like a silly word, but I’m doing an “M” thing. And by the way, the actual definition of “menace” is pretty perfect: “something that threatens to cause evil, harm, or injury; a threat.”
That’s what these Judaizers were posing within the churches in Galatia: a serious THREAT. Paul knew that if they HAD managed to get to the APOSTLES - those who were “INFLUENTIAL” in the wider Church - if these Judaizers managed to convince THEM that the Gentiles needed Jesus plus circumcision, then Paul says, “HUGE problem.”
Now praise GOD that didn’t happen. “Even Titus… wasn’t forced to be circumcised”; Peter, James, John did NOT INSIST on it.
But SADLY, this wouldn’t be the last time Paul would have to present his CASE. As we’ve noted already, the whole reason Paul is even writing this LETTER, years LATER, is that the Judaizers and their HERESIES just won’t GO AWAY. But even after he wrote Galatians, not long afterward, we hear of yet ANOTHER gospel showdown in Acts ch15, the so-called “Jerusalem Council”. It HAD to have taken place AFTER Paul wrote Galatians, or else he would have REFERENCED it here. But Luke informs us that some time later, “some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be SAVED”” (Ac 15:1). So “Paul and Barnabas… were appointed to go up to Jerusalem [yet AGAIN to finally SETTLE] this question” once and for all. And at long last, they DID; we don’t HEAR about the Judaizers any more after Acts 15, around the year 50 AD.
But if you think that was the last we’d see of “false brothers” - “FAKE CHRISTIANS” - threatening the Church AT LARGE, by “sneaking in” to try and “bring us back into slavery”... think again.
-A century or two AFTER this, the Gnostics slipped in preaching salvation thru Jesus PLUS “secret knowledge”.
-A century after THAT, Arianism slipped into the Church preaching salvation thru Jesus PLUS our IMITATION of Jesus, who showed us the path to save ourselves.
-A century after THAT (so, early FIFTH century now), Pelagianism slipped into the Church preaching salvation thru Jesus PLUS a life of “sinless perfection”
And we could go on and on and on, down through EVERY century, because the Church has NEVER been free of “false brothers” who “slip in” to try and “bring us back into SLAVERY”... The CATHOLIC Church ITSELF, 500 years ago, was preaching salvation thru Jesus PLUS indulgences, penance, our “good works”... That’s why the Church in EVERY generation has needed its “PAUL”s… its “Irenaeus”s… its “Athanasius”s… its “Augustine”s… its “Martin LUTHER”s, who would stand UP and declare “we will not YIELD in submission” to these false brothers “even for a MOMENT, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”
That’s called “holy STUBBORNNESS”. The GOSPEL is WORTH being STUBBORN over - Luther said in his Commentary on the Book of Galatians: “God assisting me, my forehead shall be more hard than ALL men’s foreheads!” (Guzik). And praise GOD for Luther’s hard headed-ness, cuz otherwise you and I might STILL be taking out second mortgages on our homes to try and BUY our deceased loved ones’ SOULS a little time out of PURGATORY.
But we’d be remiss not to recognize that behind ALL of those “false brothers” - behind the Judaizers and the Gnostics and Arius and Pelagius and Pope Leo X and all the ones still “slipping into” the Church TODAY!
-Joel Osteen: Jesus plus health, wealth & happiness
-Benny Hinn: Jesus plus miracles
-Christian Fundamentalism: Jesus plus THE LAW all OVER again!
But behind ALL of them, Church, there is ONE unifying menace who seeks to “spy out” and DESTROY our “freedom in Christ” so he can bring us back again into SLAVERY: I’m talking about SATAN. The Great Deceiver, who whispers in EVERY generation, “Jesus is not ENOUGH!”
And if the truth of the gospel is to be preserved in OUR generation, for OUR children and grandchildren, it will be because God’s people harden our foreheads and declare, “We will not YIELD in SUBMISSION even for a MOMENT”, to Satan’s LIES.
You know what I think his GREATEST lie - most EFFECTIVE lie - is in the 21st c. evangelical church in America? I was thinking about it this week - “What’s the application here for US?” - cuz in general, the kind of religious Pharisaism, the LEGALISM, that we see in these 1st c. Judaizers is pretty UNPOPULAR these days. But you know what you DO see a lot of in the Church today?
Jesus plus “THE WORLD”
The great LIE that the Enemy has slipped into our churches today is that “you can have salvation in Christ… AND STILL have everything that this world has to offer you as WELL!” Being a Christian doesn’t HAVE to cost you - it SHOULDN’T cost you - worldly riches, worldly popularity, worldly pleasures… it shouldn’t cost you ANYTHING! Not even an hour on Sundays anymore; you can just listen later online; it’s all the same. You can have it ALL - Jesus AND the World!
But JESUS said, “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and money” (Matt 6:24). God’s word says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ” (1 Jn 2:15) Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Jn 15:19)
Satan - the “GOD of this world” as Paul calls him (2 Cor 4:4) - whispers to us: “Jesus PLUS the World”. But you can’t have it both ways. “No one can serve two masters”; you gotta PICK: Love JESUS, or love the WORLD. You can have freedom in Christ, or go on in slavery to SIN.
Isn’t the choice OBVIOUS?
Turn from your sin, trust in Jesus, and be SAVED.
All who DO, #3- share one MERIT (v6).
Merit here refers to one’s “claim to respect and praise; excellence; worth”. What is the CHRISTIAN’S “claim to respect”, where do we find OUR “worth”?
“For our sake [God] made [CHRIST] to become sin [though he] knew no sin, so that in him WE might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)
So “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. [Oh, to] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil 3:9)
“All sufficient merit…
A fortune I inherit by no work I have done
My righteousness I forfeit at my Savior’s cross
Where all sufficient merit DID what I could not
…No more fear of judgment His righteousness is mine…
It is done it is finished
No more debt I owe
Paid in full all sufficient
Merit now my own” (“All Sufficient Merit”, Shane & Shane).
Now, if that is TRUE - and it IS; it’s the GREATEST truth! The GOSPEL! That we are saved NOT by our works, lest we should BOAST and get the GLORY for OURSELVES; No, we are saved by CHRIST and Christ ALONE! HIS righteousness - “the righteousness from God that depends on faith”; simply trusting in what Jesus has done FOR us - if that is the BASIS for our STANDING before God the Father, not OUR merit but CHRIST’S that matters, that SAVES us (praise God!) then one significant COROLLARY truth of the gospel is that, as the great Billy Graham put it: “The ground is LEVEL at the foot of the cross”. We share an EQUAL standing before the Lord, because we’re standing on CHRIST.
That’s why Paul can say so casually, almost flippantly, in v6: “from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality”. God doesn’t play FAVORITES. “The ground is LEVEL.” There’s no HIERARCHY when it comes to SALVATION. It’s not like the apostles and missionaries and pastors are REALLY saved and the rest of y’all are just KINDA saved; you’re either SAVED or you’re NOT! And that’s REALLY all that MATTERS.
Paul’s making another DIG here at the “false brothers” who sneak into the church and cozy up to the “important” people, the “influencers” - they need to be at a church where they can be best friends with the pastor - because it makes THEM feel important, and gives THEM influence.
Paul’s saying: “I don’t KNOW if they were influential, and frankly, I don’t CARE. They SEEMED influential… but they added NOTHING to me. They didn’t ADD anything to my apostolic authority - I already RECEIVED it from the LORD - and they didn’t add anything to my GOSPEL either - cuz I already received IT from the Lord as well.” So "influential" or NOT, we are ALL just un-deserving BROTHERS in CHRIST.
The ground is LEVEL. So PAUL says in Romans 3: “what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.” (v27)
I promise that I LOVE my son, BO; he just makes it into a lot of sermons, because he’s the worst person I know. But one of the MOST annoying things he does - even worse than when he gets jealous of his siblings, when they get something he wants; he didn’t CARE about the scooter until THEY started riding on it - but even worse than THAT, to me, is when he tries to make THEM jealous of what HE has. I gave all three of them popsicles the other day; what’s the FIRST thing Bo does when I hand him his popsicle? He turns to his brother and sister and says, “Look at ME! Look at MY popsicle! It’s not YOURS…”.
I’m like, “Do you not SEE, what is in THEIR HANDS?! You’ve ALL got popsicles, and I can ASSURE you it’s not cuz you equally DESERVE them.” (“You know what, actually, your popsicle is REVOKED; GIMME that…” - just kidding; I didn’t take it back. 🙂)
But that’s what Paul means when he says our BOASTING is EXCLUDED. How RIDICULOUS would it be for a Christian to BOAST about their salvation - “Look at MY popsicle” - you did absolutely NOTHING to earn that popsicle; it is a free gift - the pure GRACE - of your Good Father, who gave it to you in SPITE of you. And on TOP of that, how much MORE ridiculous is it to imagine a Christian boasting about THEIR standing before the Lord vis-a-vis any OTHER Christian - “It’s the SAME POPSICLE!” “The GROUND is LEVEL”.
Even Paul HIMSELF - who was objectively the GOAT; the most important and impressive Christian of all TIME; the guy wrote half the NT and STILL found time to evangelize more people than probably anyone else in history - even PAUL said, “If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: …a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee… as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. ” (Phil 3:4-7)
“So,” Paul declares, “far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14).
Because THAT is the source, brothers and sisters, of our one shared MERIT: “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
And BECAUSE of it, we have now been left with…
LASTLY, #4- one shared MISSION (vv7-10).
Paul says, “When James and Peter and John… saw that I had been entrusted with the [SAME] gospel to the uncircumcised, that Peter had been entrusted with… to the circumcised” - Peter was sent primarily to the JEWS, and PAUL to the GENTILES - moreover, when they saw, v8, that “he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry… worked also through me for mine” - we share the same apostleship, and the same Holy SPIRIT empowering us both… when they “perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave us the right hand of fellowship… that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
Different callings; same MISSION. Different GIFTINGS, for the same unifying PURPOSE: to make Christ KNOWN in all the earth.
And that is STILL our shared mission TODAY, Church. But we have different CALLINGS: I’m called to disciple you, to “equip you saints” for the work of ministry (Eph 4:12); YOU’RE called to go DO it, in your homes, and neighborhoods, and workplaces. And we have different GIFTINGS: God called me to PREACH, He’s called others of you to SERVE, or to ADMINISTRATE, or to HEAL, or to GIVE FINANCIALLY to help alleviate burdens; that’s where Paul ENDS the passage, by the way, in v10: “Only, [the other apostles] asked [me and Barnabas] to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
I’m guessing the Judaizers tried to argue, “Well if we don’t have to DO anything to be made right with God, what about the POOR?! Where’s the motivation to help THEM?”
And Peter turned to Paul and he was like, “YOU still wanna help the poor, don’t you?”
And Paul’s like, “DUH! Jesus said “It’s more blessed to GIVE than to RECEIVE”! HE helped the poor; how could we NOT help?!”
Every true Christian WILL care for the poor, especially, the SPIRITUALLY impoverished; those in desperate need of the GOSPEL. Church: we have one shared Mission: “to go and make disciples of ALL nations”. Let’s go.
And let’s pray…