Nothing is more counter cultural to the Gospel than segregation

 

Experiencing another culture involves experiencing their food. Mixing culture and food can be a beautiful thing but not always. In this passage it created a problem between the Jewish and the non-Jewish believers, Gentiles, because of separation while eating. This was a contradiction of the unifying Gospel message which places every Christian on the same level.  Jesus’ death on the cross should not just reconcile believers to God but also to one another.

The apostle Paul opposed the apostle Peter to his face in Antioch because of this matter. Peter had withdrawn from the Gentile believers to eat with the Jewish believers. This was seriously wrong and especially so because they were ‘pillars’ of the church. God had already given Peter a vision to show that the Gospel salvation was for all people not just the Jews but he succumbed to showing partiality to the Jewish believers because of fear. Paul called Peter’s behavior as hypocrisy and said that Peter was not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel.

The root of the problem is a misunderstanding of the basis of salvation. He explains that no-one can be justified, made right with God, by what they do. The only way anyone can be made right with God, justified, is by faith … trusting in what Jesus has done in dying for our sins on the cross. We are not saved by our works but by the wondrous work that He did on the cross in our place.

 

 

 

 

The coming of Jesus Christ will cast out fear for all those who trust in Him

Fear can put us under pressure to escape from a situation. It can lead to a wrong course of action which is out of character. Fear can be used to obtain control over others but it is faith which must have the upper hand.

King David did not always respond correctly to fear ….. on one occasion he even pretended to be ill in order to obtain deliverance. In this passage, which was written by king David, we also see that He called upon God in his distress. He trusted in God and knew that God was for him and so he says ‘what can man do to me’.

The coming of Jesus Christ will cast out fear for all those who trust in Him. Death will then never be the last word in our life. God’s grace in Christ, through His dying for our sins, secures an everlasting pardon for all who trust in Him. This is what David was pointing forward to. Faith wins over fear.

 

 

 

 

 

Christians are not perfect, just forgiven

There are many misconceptions people have about the Church. Some forget or don’t realize that Christians are sinners like everyone else. The difference is that all those who are trusting in what Jesus has done for them, through His death and resurrection, are forgiven by God. There is a bumper sticker which is sometimes seen on cars and puts it well ……..’Christians are not perfect, just forgiven’.

 

With this background it becomes clear that Christians, who make up the church, should be growing in their faith which, in turn, will have an effect on their lives. In this passage we can see that the church’s greatest need is to know God better in their relationship with Jesus Christ. There are 2 parts to this. In the first part of the passage it’s that God’s people need to know Him better through prayer. In the second part it’s that God’s people need to know that Jesus Christ rules for His church.

 

 

 

 

God’s grace changes everyone and everything. The message in this passage can be looked at in two related ways. Grace changes our relationship with God and, therefore, grace also changes the meaning and purpose of our lives.

Through receiving something which was undeserved, forgiveness, people are changed. Once not physically dead but dead to God …. not wanting a relationship with God …. they come from this darkness into the light of life in Christ.

In Christ ….. united to Him by faith ….. people find that their lives have new meaning and purpose. They have been ‘purchased’ by the death of Christ as a substitute and are now willingly dependent on Him. There is no room for boasting or thinking of being better than others. Grace leads to humility.

 

 

 

  The Gospel brings God’s light into the lives of people.

The Gospel is serious business. In this passage we are told by the apostle Paul ‘we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.’

Some seem to have complained that Paul’s Gospel was ‘veiled’. But the message is really very simple. It is about Jesus dying for our sins on the cross. Paul also says that Jesus was raised on the third day. He goes on to say here that the Gospel ‘is veiled to those who are perishing’. Those who reject Jesus cannot see the ‘light of the Gospel’. This is because they cannot see their need. To others, who acknowledge their need, however, the Gospel brings God’s light into their lives.

 

 

 

The Gospel message is about grace and peace but be wary of distortions

The letter to the churches in Galatia (now Turkey) was written by the apostle Paul. He had been commissioned by Jesus through an encounter on the road to Damascus … the last of the 12 apostles. This letter, along with another written to the church in Rome, played a pivotal role in the Reformation of the church. Martin Luther even described himself as being ‘married’ to the letter to the Galatian churches because of the vital importance of its teaching.

The letter is a warning about tampering with the Gospel … the wonderful message of what Jesus has accomplished through the cross to save people from their sins.  Galatians has been described as the letter dedicated to explaining what the Gospel is NOT. Subtle additions of human works were being made to the message of grace alone. These additions were wrongly teaching that faith in Christ alone is insufficient for our salvation. Paul had been given authority from Jesus Christ, with the office of an apostle, to preach and teach the truth of the Gospel in the early church.

 

 

  An important question with a simple answer

This is a very valid question to ask for someone who has been thinking about the Gospel (‘good news’) but not understanding the Christian life. Most Christians can identify with a person who may be considering this question, ‘how do I get faith’, because there was a time in their life when they didn’t believe either. There was a time when they had some knowledge of God and the Gospel but it didn’t seem to make sense to them.

The simple answer to the question is that ‘faith comes by hearing’ …… i.e. reading the Scriptures (the gospels are a good place to start) and especially listening to the preaching of the Gospel. One of the Links from this site goes to a church website for listening to sermons on line.

It should also be said that believing in Jesus is connected to having a sense of need. The prodigal son in the well-known parable returned to the father out of a sense of need. Jesus name means ‘Saviour’. He came to save people from their sins. Here is another reason to read the Scriptures or listen to sermons because in them we begin to see that we are all very needy people.

 

 

 

Where we focus has a direct relationship with our appreciation of life

During the American Civil War two opposing leaders met because they realized that conflict would be horrific. One of the leaders deceived the other as to the size and capability of his army. In doing this he tricked the other side into surrender. Deceptions these days are all around us so we need to understand they are part of the world we face.

In this passage we find that Asaph was deceived by the world when he saw that those people seemed to have very few troubles. He didn’t see clearly, however, that it was all a deception. Those who were only focusing on this world would one day be brought to account for their lives and the result would be devastating.

Asaph had forgotten that he was in a priceless relationship with his creator God by faith and that this meant he need have no fear of future accountability to God. We are told that ‘when he came into the sanctuary of God then he perceived their end.’ For believers today Jesus Christ is the sanctuary (Vs17). In him, by faith, past, present and future sin is all forgiven and we are set free. We need never be envious of those who seem to be at ease in this world.

 

 

The perfect assurances for the future are freely received by faith

In this passage God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, assures his people that their future will be certain in the Servant of the Lord. We find that God will make a new way that people can come to him. Jesus and what he has accomplished on the cross is this new way.

Isaiah further shows us that God doesn’t treat his people as their sins deserve. The people in Isaiah’s time were, however, not convinced because their city was in ruins and they were still in exile. God’s response to this, through the prophet, is ‘can a woman forget her nursing child?’ The surprising way God will bring about future blessings for his people will be through their enemies.

This sounds quite strange to us until we realise that before a person comes to faith in Christ, before they are converted, they are God’s enemies. This was until Jesus was made ‘a covenant’ for them. Therefore all those who have come to believe in Jesus and what he has done for them in his death and resurrection can know that their future is certain because their sins are forgiven.

 

A special meal with a wonderful meaning as both signpost and shadow

 

The Passover, which is celebrated by Jewish people, is a signpost to, and shadow of, the cross. It was no accident that the momentous event in human history, Jesus death on the cross, occurred at the same time as the annual Passover feast of remembrance.

As a ‘signpost’, the Passover pointed forward to the true freedom which was to be experienced by Christian believers. Jesus is referred to in Scripture as the ‘Lamb of God’. In this passage we see that he was crucified. This is the reality which was symbolized in the Passover where the angel of death ‘passed over’ the Israelite homes and no-one died. This also resulted in their release from slavery to the Egyptians.

As a ‘shadow’ the Passover illustrates the forgiveness we must have in order to be sheltered from God’s punishment for the wrong things we have done. Jesus died on the cross as a substitute and a sacrifice. The Passover Lamb was a shadow of that which later occurred at the cross. Eating of the Passover Lamb symbolized the need to trust in what Jesus has accomplished for us.