Galatians 2:11-16 In This Corner

Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

 

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

 

James Boice has written:

 

Paul has already shown that he opposed Peter to his face because he was wrong (vs. 11), but we are not to think that he did this because he loved exposing error or, even less, because he loved an argument or wanted to enhance his own prestige. Paul’s real concern was for the truth of the gospel. It was not a matter of personalities. To the Corinthians he wrote, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul?” (1 Cor. 3-5)  It is not a matter of trivial forms or ceremonies. What was at stake was the gospel itself. Hence, Paul acted out of the very concern that Peter lacked.

 

This is the second time that Paul has spoken of “the truth of the gospel” (vs. 5, 14)—the Good News that men and women do not become accepted by God because of anything they have done or can do, but solely on the basis of God’s grace shown in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Moreover, on the basis of this death all who believe become fully accepted by God and are accepted equally. Peter’s conduct compromised this principle, for it implied that there could be a superiority in some Christians based on race or traditions. It is not enough merely to understand and accept the gospel, as Peter did, or even to defend it, as he did at Jerusalem. A Christian must also practice the gospel consistently, allowing it to regulate all areas of his conduct.

 

This week pray and seriously meditate on these questions: Do you love exposing error? Do you love and argument “over the things of God?” Are you trying to portray yourself as something you are not? This week study Acts. 10:9-11:10.

Amos 4:6-13 Prepare to Meet Your God

Gordon J. Keddie in his commentary on Amos (“The LORD is His Name” © 1986 Evangelical Press) writes:

 

‘There are none so blind as those that do not want to see,’ This proverbial wisdom is surely descriptive of sinners in general and, in the context of this passage, Israel in particular. Israel had been reminded of her sins – moral, social, political, and religious. She had been informed, in no uncertain terms, of God’s future visitation of judgment. The writing was on the wall. Israel had been weighed in the balance and been found wanting.

 

As you read the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, from its inception in 931 B.C. under the reign of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:16-33) until 760 B.C. when Amos prophesied, you will find a 170 year-long pattern of rebellion, warning, chastening and no repentance. Certainly God’s patience had borne long with Israel as they heard the warnings of great prophets the likes of Elijah, Elisha, and Micaiah. Their warnings came not only in word, but in acts of Providence as during this time period God sent famine, withheld rain, struck vineyards and gardens, and sent plagues. There were internal divisions and civil wars and wicked leadership; five of Israel’s thirteen kings lasted less than 2 years; and in addition they found themselves at war with Syria and Moab. These were God’s episodic warnings against a backdrop of spiritual and moral decline. In our text, five times, with increasing intensity, God through His prophet, announces judgments which Israel had experienced; and all five times He could only lament: “Yet you have not returned to Me.”

God would not be mocked, what Israel had sown that shall she also reap. Or, as Amos put, “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” One can imagine that, ‘Prepare to meet your God,’ has been a slogan perhaps used by a cartoonist who wishes to ridicule the Christian message, but in reality there are few words which are graver. All men must meet God (Rom 10:14, 2 Cor 5:10), how such could be the matter of jesting is a mystery. Jesus warned, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). The New Testament records, “vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:30-31). Moses prayed in Psalm 90:11-12, who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 

 

Though given much time and opportunity to repent, we know how well Israel used that time as they failed to number their days. You too have been given time, but how will you use it? On the last day, will you be found to have followed Christ, resting in His full atonement and pleading His mercy and merit as the sole basis of your righteousness and salvation; or will you carelessly go into eternity relying on the merits of your own filthy rags and self-invented righteousness? Are you prepared to meet your God?
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Amos 3:13-4:5 Ivory Houses & Fat Cows

“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.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!” The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days shall come upon you when He will take you away with fishhooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast into Harmon,” Says the LORD.

“Come to Bethel and transgress, at Gilgal multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; for this you love, you children of Israel!” says the Lord GOD.

 

Israel was self-satisfied; her churches were full; her people were religious; there was a great deal of good singing and giving of tithes in her midst; and she presented her material prosperity as evidence of God’s favor upon her people. But in fact, God and His Word had been forgotten, His law forsaken, and His loving grace taken for granted. Instead of the name of the Lord, Israel had two towers to which they ran – their homes and their temples – prosperity and religion – and God promised to destroy both (1 Kings 13:2-5, Isaiah 5:8-9, Amos 5:22-24). They went merrily on their way, climbing the heights of prosperity, never imagining that the end of all that they had attained was just around the corner, as they would be hopelessly dragged off through the unrelenting desert sun to serve as slaves of the Assyrian empire. God was not mocked, what Israel sowed they would reap.

Once any people begin to amass expensive homes, power over other people, and large incomes, it is easy for them to find their identity in these things. There is a natural tendency for people to consider their security to be in their stuff. They will go to great extremes to protect that which they imagine themselves to have gained by right – and anything that would threaten their power or their status or their revenue – they will act even in immoral ways to maintain what they presume to be rightfully their own. Examples of this in Scripture abound – from Cain to Lot, Balaam and Aichan, to Judas, Ananias and Sapphira and Demas. Certainly the love of money, Scripture warns, is the root of all evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim 6:10, cf Jude 11, Prov 1:19)

The obvious dilemma in Israel 28 centuries ago was the sin of materialism. Do we not face this same problem today? The Israelites compromised God’s Word in order to achieve what they deemed to be success. Are we not falling into the same trap? In addition to living the “high life,” the Israelites abused people in need. How concerned are we for the poor? What are we doing for them? Are we ignoring them or ministering to them? We’re often quick to criticize big government, but do we depend on them to do what the church ought to be doing? Israel’s theology taught that prosperity was a sign of spirituality. Is the church of our day’s theology such that we assume the poor to be ungodly?

We must face reality. Why should God not sweep away our western materialistic culture with our western materialistic churches? Why should our pseudo-Christian culture with its mindless worship at the altar of materialism and endless obsession with sensuality, be any more durable that ancient Israel was?

The prophet Hosea has been called “the death bed prophet” of Israel, as he was the last to prophesy before they fell to Assyria in 722 B.C. Read the oracles of Hosea from 2:7-13, 4:4-10 and 10:5-15 and identify what sins of the nation of Israel have been repeated in our nation and the churches in our own nation.

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