Galatians 2:1-10 Free At Last

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

But from those who seemed to be something — whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man — for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.

The Apostle Paul was very gentle with weak brethren whose conscience was over-scrupulous. He readily made policy concessions, as in the case when he circumcised Timothy. But on a matter of principle, when the truth of the gospel was at stake, he stood firm and would not budge. This combination of softness and strength is well expressed by Marin Luther:

 

“Let this be then the conclusion of all together, that we will suffer our goods to be taken away, our name, our life, and all that we have, but the gospel, our faith Jesus Christ, we will never suffer to be wrested from us. And cursed be that humility which here abaseth and submitteth itself. Nay rather, let every Christian man here be proud and spare not, except he will deny Christ. Wherefore, God assisting me, my forehead shall be more hard than all men’s foreheads. Here I take upon me this title, according to the proverb: cedo nulli, I give place to none. Yea, I am glad even with all my heart, in this point to seem rebellious and obstinate. And here I confess that I am and ever will be stout and stern, and will not one inch give place to any creature. Love giveth place, for it beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things (1 Cor. 13:7), but faith giveth no place. Now, as concerning faith we ought to be invincible, and more hard, if it might be, than the adamant stone; but as touching love, we ought to be soft, and more flexible that the reed or leaf that is shaken with the wind, and ready to yield to everything.”

 

In what areas have you yielded to false brethren and been brought into bondage? In what areas have you tried to rob the freedom true believers have in Christ? Maybe this week you need to go to someone and tell them of the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. Go and tell your brothers and sisters that we are free at last, free at last!

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Amos 3:9-15 If God Be Against Us

“Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say:

‘Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; see great tumults in her midst, and the oppressed within her. For they do not know to do right,’ Says the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.’”

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

“An adversary shall be all around the land; he shall sap your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered.”

Thus says the LORD

“As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria — In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch! Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”

Says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end,”

Says the LORD.

 

Lutheran scholar John Warwick Montgomery wrote in his 1970 publication, Damned Through the Church:

 

“I’ve heard people say very often, ‘It’s better to go to church than not to go; it can’t hurt you.’ Well, my friend, it can hurt you! The church can be a place of accelerated salvation; but it can also be a place of accelerated damnation.”

 

In the days of Amos, Israel took comfort from the fact that she was God’s elect. They felt that, having been chosen by God as His special people (Amos 3:2a), Israel must therefore be the recipient of His favor. She was counting on the fact that she was the church and that she went to church and maintained a religious life, while at the same time, she was violating conscience, disregarding love, and falling into spiritual complacency and unbelief.

 

As the prophet Amos will remind us, the congregation that was delivered from bondage in Egypt, the company that Stephen calls in Acts 7:38, “the church in the wilderness,” died in the wilderness under God’s hand of judgment because of their unbelief and disobedience; they failed to and even refused to enter the rest of God (Heb. 4:1-6). God had in every way been their enemy and not their friend, their election as a nation, notwithstanding. They were in the church but not of the church.

 

In reality, Amos is describing the church throughout its history, as it has always been in part. To this very day, we find a church filled with unbelievers who think God must be their friend when in fact He is their enemy. There are multitudes today which go to church, supposing, at least in the deeper recesses of their mind, that being a part of a church will keep them from the judgment of God. Surely, they think, “being in church must put God on my side. God must be pleased with my going to church.” They might not state it quite that way, but they will freely talk about how church-going makes them better people, how it reminds them of higher things and makes them feel more connected with God. The truth is that many go to church for, what are in the end, selfish reasons. They do not belong to a church because it is the family of God, whose Father is God, or because they desire to hear from and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, or to bow their knee to the Savior in worship, or even because they consider salvation and living for Christ to be among the highest concerns of their existence. Church is a part of many people’s lives because it makes them feel better about themselves, appeases their conscience, and gives them a place to display their good works before other men.

 

To ignore or deny the certainty that many will say, “Lord, Lord,” while damned through the church, or the fact that large numbers of people through the ages have perished in the church having left this world only to encounter the Lord as an enemy and not a friend, is to show contempt for the message of Holy Scripture. When Jesus says that it will be better in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the Jews of his day he is surely saying that Sodom and Gomorrah will be punished in the judgment for their sins; but he is also very clearly saying that the church who heave much of Christ, but in the end refuse to follow Him, will be judged even more severely.

 

Read Christ’s indictment to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. What are some attitudes and behaviors that this church has in common with Amos’ Israel of the eighth century B.C.? Identify similar attitudes in your own life and be zealous and repent.

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Amos 3:3-8 The Lion’s Catechism

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?

Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?

Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it?

Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?

If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?

If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing,

Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

A lion has roared!

Who will not fear?

The Lord GOD has spoken!

Who can but prophesy?

In our text the Lord asks a series of nine pointed rhetorical questions, one can say it is like a catechism, which as defined by Webster’s dictionary, is a set of formal questions put as a test.

A rhetorical question is a question posed for the listener to reflect upon, rather than to literally answer. In fact the literal answer to a rhetorical question is usually known by the questioner. Such questions encourage the listener to reflect on what the implied answer to the question must be. The practice of asking pointed rhetorical questions is imbedded in mankind as a rational creature as one of the major means he is led to searching self-reflection. We find this principle very early in the Scripture, after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the first thing they hear from the voice of God is the question, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9). After Adam responds, God continues to shower him with more questions, “Who told you that you were naked?” Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that you should not eat?” (Gen 3:11). In verse 13 God asks the woman, “What is this you have done?” So we find from early in the Bible that God comes as the great Inquisitor to fallen man. Obviously God is not asking these pointed questions to Adam and Eve to get information out of them that He does not know. But He asks them these questions with a view to force Adam and Eve to self-reflection and an accurate self-assessment. In Genesis chapter 4 God asks Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen?” And then later after Cain killed Abel, He asks, “Where is your brother Abel?” God knows exactly why Cain was angry, and where Abel was, but He wants Cain to reflect on what he has done, so God probes him with pointed questions. At the end of time, the saints of God sing the song of the Lamb, which includes the rhetorical question, “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?” (Rev 15:4). The implied answer is obvious – all men must glorify God, but at the same time the question forces us to ask ourselves, am I fearing and glorifying the name of the Lord?

Our Lord Jesus Christ often asked questions as well. When blind Bartimaeus cried out to Christ for mercy, Christ was arrested in his steps; He turned to the blind man, and asked him in Mark 10:51, “What do you want me to do for you?” Remember in John 21 in that beautiful scene by the Sea of Galilee as Jesus restored Peter, he did so with probing question, “Peter do you love me?” And when the Lord apprehended Saul on the road to Damascus, as reported in Acts chapters 9, 22, and 26 – in all three accounts Saul is first confronted with the initial question, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Paul often used rhetorical questions: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? … how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom 8:31-35). Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos? (1 Cor 3:5). “Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?” (1 Cor 9:7). “Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?” (Gal 3:1). Again in all these cases, the literal answers are not sought, but rather they are asked in order for the listener to assess what is the obvious answer and whether he himself truly believes that answer to be true.

Amos uses this very tool to bring into sharp focus what God is doing among the people of the nation of Israel. This week, ask yourself the nine questions of the Lion’s catechism (Amos 3:3-8), personalizing each one – for example: Am I walking in agreement with God? Is there anything in my life that the lion seeks to pounce upon? What traps do I find myself constantly falling into? Am I heeding the warning calls of God? Do I fear the Lord? Am I a faithful herald of His Word?

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Galatians 1:10-24 A Change of Life

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God in me.

 

Listen to the testimony of one man as relayed by Philip Ryken:

 

One man was searching for the meaning of his existence. His life was full of emptiness and despair. He knew there had to be something more, but he had no idea what it was. Then one day he found what he was looking for. While he was working as a pathologist in a hospital, he went down to the morgue. Another hospital worker there looked straight at him and asked, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” Something in the man’s heart cried out and he said, “That’s it! That’s the answer. I’ve been looking for Jesus Christ.”

 

Every Christian’s story is different, but the story line is always the same. God chose you and called you to faith; He revealed His Son to your heart. Then he gave you a particular place of service. Do you know what God has called you to do? Do you realize that you do not live for yourself anymore? You belong to God, you cannot go and seek some great position for yourself; you must receive your place in life as a gift from Him. Are you living for God? Have you been set apart for His service? God is calling you, by His grace, to a change of life. What changes do you need to make in your life to fulfill God’s calling upon you?

 

This week study the life of a Biblical character such as Joseph, Moses, Elijah, or Paul (in Acts chapter 9) and see if you cannot learn to apply some of the lessons from the change in their lives to your life.

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