“As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of
faith.” Gal 6:10
The Church is filled with lots of
dangerously different people (and you and
I be one).
There are rich and poor, old and
young, male and female. We have families with multiple children and
fifty-year-old unmarried’s. There are
Republicans and Democrats, executives and janitors, athletes, artists, teachers
and all of different races. Not to
mention our personalities – outgoing and shy, bold and meek, patient and
ambitious, emotional and unaffected, rational and relational. There’s no mystery why the Bible has so much
to say about stress, conflict and reconciliation between believers. How could there not be friction in such a family. Remember when Paul called out
Peter in front of everyone? When the
apostles – a very small group of very like-minded men who alone mediate the
very words of Christ - didn’t always get along, it could easily discourage the
rest of us, right? Paul said, “I
withstood him to the face…” (Gal 2:11).
So what was Paul so worked up about?
Peter had stopped eating with the Gentiles believers to preserve his
image among the Jews, and many had followed his example (Gal 2:12-13). But is that really that big of a deal? It may seem like Paul blew an empty seat in
the lunchroom way out of proportion, but he didn’t. Paul saw that Peter’s decision denied the
unifying work of Christ. Through the
Gospel, God was doing something uniquely beautiful and glorious by not only
reconciling people to Himself, but also bringing them together in love. It’s a love that restores the broken (Gal
6:1) and bears heavy, inconvenient, painful burdens (Gal 6:2). It’s a life that loves to do good to
everyone, especially to those with whom we’re one in Christ. The Gospel turns haters into brothers,
enemies in sisters. One of the most
powerful and winsome things that Jesus purchased with His death was an unlikely
love that we too, are to have for one another.
HSAY…Todd
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