Consistent With the Gospel

Text

"When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel..." —Galatians 2:14

Bible Reading

GALATIANS 2:11-16

Devotional

The truth of the gospel is that we are all sinners and we must all be saved by grace. Otherwise we cannot be saved. As soon as we say or think that we are better than someone else, we are not "acting in line with the truth of the gospel."

The apostle Peter ("Cephas," as Paul always calls him) was having dinner with his friends from Jerusalem. They were sitting at their own little table, eating their own kosher foods. That made them feel very much at home. Eating with non-Jewish people was still difficult for the Jewish Christians. It went against everything their fathers and mothers had taught them for two thousand years. Eating the foods that the Gentiles themselves ate was even more difficult. So these Jewish friends huddled together—for old times' sake and because they did not want to rock the boat.

Peter "stood condemned," and Paul told him so. Either you believe the gospel of grace, or you try to be justified before God by foods and works and Old Testament rites. You cannot accept the Christian gospel, which puts all people on the same level, and then act as if you belong to God's elite.

With one stroke the gospel removed all distinctions we make between good and bad people; we are all under sin. And salvation is only by grace. There just isn't any other way.

In our relationships to fellow believers, we must make allowances for differences in behavior, and we must tolerate different opinions about certain matters. But if we know what it means to be saved by grace, we will raise our voices loudly against any practice or teaching that would undercut the gospel.

All pride and prejudice is gone. We must look at people and live with people in terms of the gospel of grace. If we bring back even the least bit of the old distinctions, we are not "acting in line with the truth of the gospel."

REFLECTIONS

What "distinctions" between people do we sometimes introduce in our relationships with other Christians?

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I find it a great comfort to know and understand that each of us are the same. We are all filthy wretched sinners who would be on our way to hell in a hand basket had God not drawn us to Himself and saved us by giving us that saving faith. What a blessing it is to know that when in the fellowship of other believers, we're all the same. Don't misunderstand, we all may be in different areas of our walk with the Lord, but the general rule is, we are all sinners and sin is sin. The same putrid black hole that once held us at bay, but now we've been rescued and brought into His protection through the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ! Amen!

Unfortunately, as imperfect people, we still bring distinctions in our relationships with other believers. Sometimes there is almost an unseen competition among believers. Many times I've seen (and have done so myself in the past) people look at their strong points and be quick to point those out at the same time as pointing out the flaws in a brother and sister. We're so quick to judge, even among our family, sometimes even more so among the brethren.

For example: while I was at Calvary Chapel Bible College, word got around that Bud and I did not believe in a literal 7 day/24 hour period creation of the world. We were in the student union (lunchroom) and when a discussion we were having was overheard, a student not only jumped into our conversation, but belittled what we believed and scoffed at us. He was completely, 100% set in his ways to the point that he didn't care if he offended his fellow member of the body of Christ. Thankfully, Bud and I have tough skin and knew that we were among a small group of people who thought like we thought about this topic - so no real damage was done. But sadly, this student was not acting in line with the Gospel. He was quick to call us heretics when the topic at hand, in the long run, is a NON-essential when it comes to salvation.

As the devotional above said, we must "make allowances for differences in behavior, and we must tolerate different opinions about certain matters." Thats what Paul meant when he urged us to live as peaceably as possible with one another. The only things that should bring us to disagreements are things that are pertaining to Sin and that means that its not consistent with the Gospel. The Gospel is serious business and should not be taken lightly. Grace&Peace.