Defending the Unifying Gospel

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Truth is now considered malleable, by opinion and by zero-sum endgames…. But the truth, the truth is sacred. Unalterable. Chiseled into the stone and the foundation of our republic.”

~Tom Hanks at Harvard’s Commencement (May 2023)

“Christianity began not as an institution, not even as a creed, but first as an event…. [T]he gospel arrived in history as a kind of convulsive disruption of history….”

~David Bentley Hart, philosopher and scholar

“The commands of God must outweigh all authority and example of men.”

~St. Jerome (d. 420 A.D.), scholar and theologian

“There are no men on earth so soon entangled, and so easily conquered by error, as proud souls. Oh, it is dangerous to love to be wise….”

~Thomas Brooks (1608-1680), English Puritan minister and author

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what’s behind him.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer and literary critic

“The same Bible that condemned me held in it the promises that could save me. I just had to believe it.”

~Jackie Hill Perry, writer and hip-hop artist

“God accepts my imperfect faith as perfect righteousness for Christ’s sake….”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in his Galatians Commentary

“Without the Gospel, I am only projecting behavioral modification. Changes of the heart must trump mere change of behavior. Therefore, the goodness of God through the gospel must trump all other philosophies….”

“The gospel is supposed to bring people together who wouldn’t naturally be together.”

~Eric Mason, Philadelphia-based pastor

SERMON PASSAGE

Galatians 2:1-10 (ESV)

Galatians 1

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.

Galatians 2

1 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.