Confronting Public Error

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

Galatians chapter 2 and the title of this morning's message is Paul's rebuke of Peter.

Last week we covered verses 11 through 14 where I tried to look at the the big picture and how the gospel isn't just something that we believe it should be lived out and Peter the way that he was living or the way that he was acting at that moment was not in line with the good news of Christ.

So this week kind of looking at the same passage, but I want to take a closer examination of these verses because when one apostle rebukes another that's that's kind of a big deal.

So let's begin with this question. Was Paul correct?

Yes. Okay. Yes. But how he handled it because he did it publicly was

Paul correct in the way he went about it? Well, I think I think the answer is yes again, and here's why here's the basic principle.

All right, if something is done publicly it can be addressed publicly.

If something is done out in the open and it's public. I think it's okay to talk about it publicly.

If something is a private matter between you and someone else then handle it privately.

Now if something's a criminal matter, you got to contact the the proper civil authorities, obviously.

But private matters should be handled privately. Public error can be addressed publicly and that's what the

Apostle Paul does because he knows what's at stake. What is at stake? Really the gospel is at stake.

So this is not a personal dispute between Peter and Paul. I'm sure they got along just fine.

But this is something that Peter is doing. It's out in the open and it is potentially threatening to do great harm to the faith of the

Gentiles and it could have led to a church split in Antioch. So Paul understands what's at stake and that Peter, what's he doing?

He he's potentially doing harm to the Gentiles so that he can curry favor with the

Jews and in doing so he's lending credibility to the Judaizing false teachers.

So this is a bad situation. We cannot underestimate or downplay how serious this was.

So let's pick up in verse 11 Galatians 2 verse 11 the

Apostle Paul writes, 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, Peter, 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 as the

Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live like Jews? So last week we talked about how

Peter as a first century Jew he was not alone in having a severe prejudice towards all non -Jewish people.

Okay, the Jews looked down upon everyone who was not Jewish. That was very common and it was common to Peter.

I think of another example of this that we read in the New Testament. Remember when James and John they wanted to torch the

Samaritans, right? Because the Samaritans would not allow Jesus to go through that region.

Well, James and John didn't want to call fire down from heaven on the Samaritans just because of that.

They hated the Samaritans. I mean they didn't like them to begin with. So this attitude was prevalent in Judea and it was prevalent among the early disciples of Christ.

Jesus knows he has to deal with this. The Holy Spirit has to deal with this first century racism essentially.

And we should remember this lesson today, you know, whether a person is white or black, male or female,

American, Russian, Chinese, whatever it is, we should not look down on people because they are different than we are.

Now at the same time if somebody is doing harmful or unlawful things, we can dislike what people do.

So here's another principle. Don't look down on someone for who they are, but we can take issue with what people do.

Peter was wrong to look down upon them because they were Gentiles. Paul was right to look down on Peter's behavior.

So there's there's clearly a difference. Right. Again, this is something that God has to deal with with Peter.

This severe prejudice and mistreating the Gentile believers. And you remember last week we looked at Acts chapter 10.

If you didn't catch that message, go back and listen to it from Acts chapter 10. We saw that that vision of the sheep that came down from heaven and Peter saw a sheet full of animals and God tells him, rise, slay, and eat.

And Peter said, not so, Lord. That was really about people. God was teaching him a lesson about people.

So what's the lesson? That God shows no partiality. God doesn't show any partiality.

Rather, God accepts everybody who works righteousness and believes in him.

Okay, so now where is Peter? What church is he at that we're talking about? Right, the church at Antioch.

And Antioch was predominantly a Gentile church. So everything was fine.

Peter was having fellowship with the Gentile believers because now in the New Testament there is neither Jew nor Gentile.

We're all one in Christ Jesus. But when the Jews showed up from Jerusalem, all of a sudden Peter starts reverting back to his old behavior because he wants to get in good with his fellow countrymen, the

Jews. So basically he was sitting down and eating with the Gentiles, having a great time.

And then the next day when the Jews showed up, he kind of, you can imagine, if the Gentiles came down and sat at the table, he picked up his food and just walked off.

Like, I don't want anything to do with these people. Can you imagine how that must have made them feel?

It's like, well, wait a minute, yesterday you didn't have a problem with it. Why do you have a problem with it today? So Paul sees this hypocrisy from the great

Apostle Peter, and he knows he has to do something about it because he knows

Peter's great influence in the church. You know when, when anybody, this could happen with anybody, but especially when a

Christian leader starts doing something openly and everyone else kind of, okay, and they don't say anything or maybe they go along with it.

What does it do? It sends a clear message to everybody else. This is fine. This is fine.

Well, it wasn't fine. So Peter's hypocrisy could have threatened, it did threaten the unity of the church, and it would have caused confusion about where Peter stood.

Because now all of a sudden Paul's been teaching against the Judaizers through Peter's actions.

Maybe Peter is starting to side with them. Well, that would have been the confusion.

And then to make it worse, even Barnabas jumps on board. Barnabas was Paul's companion.

He was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, and now even he's getting sucked into this behavior.

So what does it say? That Peter was not being straightforward. What does that mean? His actions were confusing, right?

He was sending mixed signals. So we know what the gospel is. We don't want to do that.

We don't want to send any mixed signals. We know what the gospel is. Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Jesus is the only Savior. Nothing you do adds to your salvation.

You are saved by faith in him. That's it. Amen? All right, so that that's clear.

However, our behavior does matter, right? Works are the evidence of salvation.

They don't contribute to salvation, but the gospel should affect how we live.

Okay, so we always want to be clear about the gospel. And what

Paul is doing here, he's pointing out Peter's hypocrisy. Why?

Because Peter is expecting the Gentiles to act like Jews. That I'm not gonna have any fellowship with them unless they get circumcised, and they probably had to obey some dietary laws.

You need to act like Jews or else I'm not gonna have any fellowship with you. What's the problem? Peter wasn't even behaving like a

Jew most of the time. It's like, hey Peter, you're not even doing it. Now you're pretending like you are, enforcing these people to obey these rules.

They're not even Jewish. This isn't part of their custom. So what does

Paul do? He rebukes Peter to his face. That would have caught some people's attention.

Right? When one apostle rebukes another out in the open to his face, you can bet this was kind of the talk of the town around Galatia, around that region for a while.

And what does that tell us? It shows us a few things. Number one, nobody is beyond correction. I don't care who you are.

You could be a pastor, deacon, elder, an apostle even. Nobody is beyond correction.

I said it last week, don't ever put anyone on a pedestal. You put them up there, you know, their balance is only so good.

They're gonna fall off, right? Don't put anyone on a pedestal. Nobody is beyond correction. That's number one. Number two, we learn the apostles are all on the same level.

Paul had just as much authority as Peter. Number three, as I already said, if an error is preached or something is practiced publicly, it's fair game.

You can address it publicly. And then number four, the gospel isn't just something we believe it should affect every area of our life.

Our profession of faith, our deeds should be in line with that profession.

You can preach the gospel with words. Do you realize you can also preach the gospel through your behavior?

So I've heard this phrase before, you've probably heard this, preach the gospel every day.

If necessary, use words. You've heard that, I don't know who that was attributed to, but go something like that.

That's fair enough. Well, I think this is one of the big problems. If you're listening, say amen.

This is one of the big problems within evangelical Christianity. It's one of the reasons why unbelievers don't take the message seriously, because when they look at Christians, in their mind, there's no real discernible difference between Christians and everybody else.

Now that's not always true, but that is often how it is perceived. So that's where that statement comes from, preach the gospel daily.

If necessary, use words. Well, I think we should use words, but the point is well taken.

You are sending a message every day through your actions. Yeah, well, I didn't say that. Well, it doesn't matter what you say, because actions do speak louder than words, don't they?

Anybody can say anything. The question is, how are you living? What are you saying with your behavior?

So look at verse 15. All of this that Peter's doing, it's casting doubt on the profession of faith, that salvation's by faith alone.

We know that because Paul goes on to say this in verse 16, but look at verse 15 first. Paul says, we who are

Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles. I think there might have been a little hint of sarcasm in that statement, but either way, that's true that the

Jews did have a great advantage. They were God's people. In the Old Testament, they were God's chosen nation.

They had an advantage. They had the Word of God. They had a covenant with God.

The Gentiles, or the nations, the heathen, they really were godless, generally speaking.

There's exceptions. There were godless Jews, and there's some, you know, Gentiles who believe, but generally speaking, that's how it was.

Jews, God's chosen people. The heathen were godless. Here's the thing. Either way, both were hopelessly lost without faith in the

Lord God of Israel. Both, Jew, Gentile, both are hopelessly lost without faith in Jesus Christ.

Someone can be born and raised in a New Testament church like Moore's Corner, and that's great.

That's a great advantage, but if you don't actually place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, it doesn't do you any good.

You're just as lost as the most lost heathen wherever in the world. It's a great advantage, but if you don't actually believe it, you're in the same positions.

Galatians 2 16, Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.

Even we who 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.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moore's Corner Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website moorescornerchurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.