“You have to up your game.” Has anyone ever told you that? That’s what I was told this week. I was talking with some kids who were about to go spend the weekend with their grandmother. I’m not going to say which kids they were, but it was the first time they would go spend the weekend with grandma. All the other kids have done it, but not these two. (Have you ever “hung on” to any of your kids a little longer?) Anyway, they have this impression that this grandma is the most fun person on the planet. When she walks in its like a combination of Christmas, New Years, a parade, a circus, birthdays, confetti, fireworks all happening at the same time. I was telling them that it was not going to be much fun at all. And maybe I was motivated by not wanting them to have too high of expectations, and maybe I was just bummed they were going to be gone and I wanted to toss some dirt on their happiness. So while I was telling them that grandma was not going to be as fun as they think, they weren’t buying it. Then one of them said “She’s way more fun than you.” And I said, “That’s parenting.” And then some older brother (who I will not name, but he’s not the oldest) said, “Yeah, you’re not that fun. You have to up your game.”
You know who else needed to up their game? The Galatians. Their problem, however, wasn’t that they needed to be more fun. They needed to be more faithful to Christ. Verse 6 says, “they were quickly turning away from the one who called them….”
We move into Galatians chapter 2 today and the title of our sermon is “Gospel Unity.” Paul’s purpose for Galatians is to protect the Galatians from the false teachers who are confusing them, and anchor them firmly in the true Gospel. These false teachers were undermining not only the Gospel Paul preached, but also his apostleship – which would weaken the Galatian believer’s faith in Paul and commitment to him. Therefore, Paul was not only defending the true Gospel, he was at the same time defending his true apostleship. The Galatians needed this – they needed to know he was truly and Apostle sent by Jesus Christ, and they needed to know his Gospel was the true Gospel.
Chapter 2 is a continuation of Paul’s defense of these two things – his gospel and his apostleship. In chapter 2 he shows the unity between himself and the 12 main Apostles in Jerusalem. While traveling to Jerusalem he meets with them, explains the Gospel he preaches, receives affirmation from them of his ministry, and is recognized as an equal apostle. There was also an episode where he had to fight off some Judaizers who wanted to make Gentile believers get circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law – which was directly relevant to the issue facing the Galatian believers he was writing to. The point of all of this is to show the Galatians that he – Paul – was directly called and sent by Jesus, received the Gospel directly from Jesus that he preached to them, and now not only is Jesus “on his side,” but so too are the 12 Main Apostles that Jesus originally chose. If I’m a Galatian Christian reading this and I had been giving attention to these false teachers in my church telling me to get circumcised and follow Moses, then I would have immediately cut them off and not listened to them anymore. Paul would have forcefully made it clear to me that he is the guy God has sent and his message is the one God has for me.
Now that is the thematic flow of Galatians. There is also the historical flow from chapter 1 into chapter 2. In chapter 2 Paul continues to describe his early history. Combining Galatians 1 with the book of Acts, we can put Paul’s journey together like this: he began to preach Jesus in Damascus alongside the Christians he originally went there to arrest. A plot to kill him forced him to leave, and he went into Arabia for a time (Acts 9; Gal 1:17). We don’t know how long he was in Arabia, but afterwards he returned to Damascus (Gal 1:17). Then, after three years he went to Jerusalem and had a private introduction with some apostles (Acts 9; Gal 1:18-19). Then, because of another plot to kill him he left Jerusalem and ended up back in his home town of Tarsus, in Cilicia (Acts 9; Gal 1:21). And that is where Paul is at the end of Galatians chapter 1. As he opens up chapter 2 he says 14 years later he goes back up to Jerusalem and has a private meeting with leaders, the Apostles.
We will go through verses 1-10 under these four headings: 1) The Gospel Presentation, 2) The Gospel Preservation, 3) The Gospel Partnership, and 4) The Poor. Today we are only getting through the first point: The Gospel Presentation
PRESENTATION (1-2)
Paul goes up to Jerusalem and while there he presents his Gospel message to the Apostles. Read verses 1-2. So we have Paul, Barnabus and Titus. Because of some revelation they went to Jerusalem. Its been 14 years – probably since his last visit (1:18-19). While there he meets privately with the leaders – the Apostles, at least James, Peter and John (2:2, 9). In this meeting he lays out the Gospel he has been preaching (2:2).
First, Paul presents his gospel. It really appears like the Apostles were not familiar with Paul’s message and were finding out for the first time. Or they had been hearing through the grapevine and this was a meeting where they could hear it from Paul’s own lips. What is the gospel that he explained? What is the gospel that he got from Jesus directly and had been preaching? Lets let Paul tell us in verse 16, “…..” READ. This was the gospel was he protecting from people who wanted to add the Law to it?
Second, who are Barnabus and Titus? Barnabas was a Levite, his name means “son of encouragement.” He’s sold out for Christ – he sold a field and gave the money to the Apostles to be distributed to the needy believers (Acts 4). He facilitated Paul’s introduction to the Apostles, then he retrieved Paul from Tarsus to help with the exploding church in Antioch Syria. Then the Spirit sent him along with Paul on the first missionary trip. He was with Paul at the big Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, and then he and Paul had a big split. Barnabas is the model for mentoring and building up men and bringing unity – he did it with Paul, with John-Mark, and with others no doubt. Barnabas was compassionate in this way, optimistic, and yet also fearless as his life has been in danger numerous times for the Gospel.
If he went with Paul to Jerusalem then this was before their split-up – probably either the “Famine Relief” visit of Acts 11 or the “Jerusalem Council” of Acts 15. We won’t spend time trying to prove which one of those it was as it isn’t pastorally important. We can explore that off the field in the dugout after the game. What is important is the bigger picture of Gospel Unity. Barnabas was a powerful advocate for unity and strengthening trust and cooperation among believers – which was an important aspect of this meeting Paul is describing.
We can also ask, “Who is Titus?” He is the young Titus whom Paul wrote a letter to and is included in the NT as the book we know as “Titus.” Remember we preached through that 10 years ago? Like Timothy, Titus was considered by Paul to be a son in the faith, and he was dispatched by Paul many times to churches for important tasks. Unlike Timothy, however, Titus was fully Greek – not Jewish at all. And this was important for this meeting in Jerusalem because Titus was not circumcised. And he didn’t need to be, and he wasn’t going to be. We’ll explore all this in the next point – “Preserving the Gospel.”
Third, which Jerusalem visit is this? There are 2 options: the Famine Relief visit of Acts 11, or the big Jerusalem Council meeting of Acts 15. Both have their strengths and both have their weaknesses. I prefer the Acts 11 Famine Relief visit for several reasons:
- Verse 1 says he went because of a revelation, and Acts 11 also describes a revelation
- Paul makes no mention of the Acts 15 meeting decision – which is astonishing since the topic is directly related to what the Galatians are dealing with and the decision would add enormous weight to Paul’s letter.
- Also, the visit in Acts 11 was mainly to deliver money raised to help the poor Church in Jerusalem, and that accords with Peter urging Paul in verse 10 to keep on remembering the poor.
But as I said, its not important for preaching today. More important is the next subpoint:
Fourth, was Paul uncertain about his Gospel message? Look at the last half of verse 2, “….” Paul very strangely seems to talk here as though he was having some doubts about the Gospel he preached and that he was waiting for validation from the 12 Jerusalem Apostles. How could Paul everywhere else speak with such absolute confidence about his message only to here come off as though he were stepping back and having some questions about whether he was right or not? Was he like John the Baptist who while in jail asked Jesus, “Are you really the Christ?” Was Paul having a John the Baptist moment of doubt and in need of some affirmation from the other 12 Apostles that he was on the right track?
I was ready to accept that this week. I was ready to come up here and explain it as a moment of human weakness. I was ready to stand in front of you and tell you we all need to be humble because all of us at times can doubt the things we are most certain of and fail in the areas we are most strong. Besides John the Baptist there is Peter – the most loyal person, yet denied Jesus 3 times. I was ready to come at it like that.
But I wasn’t comfortable with it – how could this rock solid confident Paul be doubting? It didn’t make sense. Then some studying and thinking it through and I came to realize what Paul was getting at: Paul was not worried about whether he was preaching the true Gospel – he was worried that all the fruit of his preaching was going to be ruined by a potential division between him and the Jerusalem Apostles if they disagreed with the Gospel he preached. Would they require new Gentiles believers to be circumcised? Would they accept Gentile believers into fellowship as equals with Jewish believers? If not it was going to be disastrous for the Church and all the work Paul had done in leading Gentiles and Jews to faith and unity in Christ. One thing was for sure: he wasn’t going to stop preaching it even if they disagreed. But if they disagreed, their disagreement would radiate out into the whole Church and become the basis for division in all the churches along racial lines – Jews separating from Gentiles. Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles would be preaching one thing and the 12 Jerusalem Apostles would be preaching another – and sides would fall along racial lines. This is the issue – and isn’t that the very next thing Paul actually brings up in verses 11-14? Paul immediately recounts the story when Peter was separating from Gentile believers and causing division – along racial lines?
This is not speculation – this is biblically grounded in good principles of interpretation. Along with the context here in chapter 2 we see that the actual phrase Paul uses in verse 2, “running my race in vain” is a common phrase for Paul. He uses it in other letters like Philippians and 1 Thessalonians. EVERY TIME he says it, it does NOT refer to any uncertainty he has over the Gospel message he was preaching. Instead, it is always an expression of his concern over the faithfulness of believers he led to Christ and whether they would stay on track. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 3:5….then Philippians 2:16….
APPLICATION: Don’t let the work done in your life be in vain. Don’t let the work done in your life by me, Pastor Ray or any other faithful pastor be in vain. Take what you’re given and be established, be grounded, be fruitful, be faithful, hold on, be watchful, be ready, and stand firm!
Here’s the key as it relates to Galatians 2: Paul’s work up to this point as the Apostle to the Gentiles, was to preach to the Jews and Gentiles, and bring believing Jews and Gentiles together in unity through their shared faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what he had been doing. NOW, all of that was potentially jeopardized. If the 12 Apostles didn’t affirm Paul’s gospel and his ministry, then there would be division between them because Paul would not stop preaching the Gospel that Christ personally gave him. The result would be that that division at the top would extend out into all the churches everywhere and reinforce division between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. That is so disastrous because the very reason Christ died was to bring into unity Jews and Gentiles through the Gospel. Paul’s concern here then has nothing to do with any uncertainty about his message. It has everything to do with his uncertainty about whether the Apostles will do the right thing and affirm him and the Gospel he preaches as being one and the same that they preach.
If we put ourselves in Paul’s sandals, we would see that he had much reason to be worried like this. In Jerusalem it is all Jewish believers. In Jerusalem there are strong Judaizers to contend with, as Paul even points out in verse 3-5. The Jewish habit of segregating from Gentiles is so powerful that Peter and Barnabus and other Jewish believers even sinned by segregating from Gentile believers, as we see in the very next verses 11-14. Why would Paul bring that up if racial division was not threatening the Gospel Unity being achieved through shared faith in Jesus? So Paul was arriving in Jerusalem very aware of the battle going on in the Jerusalem Church over whether Gentiles believers should be accepted, fellowshipped with, and whether they should be circumcised and required to follow the Mosaic Law. So Paul had every reason to be concerned: what would be the attitude of the 12 Jewish Apostles on this matter? It needed to be that they agreed with Paul, affirmed him, and acknowledged that his Gospel was their Gospel, and his apostleship was equal with theirs, because the very same Christ was the authority for all of them.
APPLICATION: Let the Gospel be the basis of your unity with others. The Gospel transcends every other basis for unity. While the Judaizers were trying to separate Jews and Gentiles along racial lines, and trying to divide believers along those who are circumcised and those who are not, reject all these false rules and stand firm in unity with those who also believe the Gospel with you.
CONCLUSION:
The Gospel Paul presented was affirmed by the Apostles. It is the Gospel from Jesus Christ, about Jesus Christ. Believe it today.