People Pleasers or Wall Breakers?
Our final podcast for Season Four of Church on the Edge aired yesterday. I hope you take the time to listen to it.
Paul concludes his letter to the Galatians with the assertion that “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts,” he says, “is the new creation.” And then he offers this blessing to those who recognize and embrace this truth when he says - “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule — to the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:15-16)
By now, I hope it is clear that the issue at stake in Galatia was not so much salvation by works rather than by grace through faith, as it was the pressure placed on Gentile Christians to reject their culture and become Jews. I’ll address this fully when my book comes out, but for now, I want to clarify what I believe has been some misdirection in a great deal of preaching and teaching on this pivotal New Testament letter by the Apostle Paul.
Is it important that we distinguish between a works-based salvation and one based solely on God’s grace through faith in Jesus? Absolutely, and we see flashes of this in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. But the fact is, it is the book of Romans that seals the deal on the truth that we are saved by grace and not works.
Galatians focuses more on the rite of circumcision and Torah observance for recent Messiah-believing Gentiles. The phrase “the works of the law” found in Galatians is best understood in this light.
The Jewish teachers in Galatia were seeking to do with these new Gentile Christians what Jews had been doing to Gentiles and continue to do to this day - convert them to Jewish culture. It was possible to worship the God of the Jews without full immersion in Judaism (circumcision being the primary mark of becoming fully Jewish). Like Cornelius, the Roman Centurion who sought an audience with Peter, it was possible to simply be what was known as a “God Fearer.”
HOWEVER, God Fearers were not considered full members of Abraham’s family. There were some limits placed upon them. They could attend synagogue, but they were only allowed into the Court of the Gentiles in the temple in Jerusalem.
What Paul confronts in this fiery letter are the demands made by Jewish Christians (and if you’ve followed the podcasts, you know that I do not believe these trouble-making Jews were unbelievers, just very misguided ones) on new Gentile converts. They were still living as if the Old Covenant, entered into by Israel at Mount Sinai, was still in effect. But Paul understood that Jesus inaugurated a new covenant, a new age, if you will, through his death and resurrection.
TO DEMAND THAT GENTILES BECOME JEWS AND LIVE ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT ESTABLISHED AT MOUNT SINAI IN EFFECT DENIED THE NEW CREATION THAT CAME THROUGH THE PERSON OF CHRIST JESUS.
Look once again at these concluding words of Paul in Galatians 6:15-16 -
“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule — to the Israel of God.”
Through His Son, Jesus the Christ, God began a new work. He has, in the words of Ephesians, “made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” (Eph. 2:14)
These words refer to the wall between the Court of the Gentiles and the section of the temple reserved for Jews only. Now, through Christ, all can enter into every section of the temple, including the Most Holy Place.
We see a beautiful picture of this in Revelation 7:9 -
“After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”
The Israel of God today, those who have become members of Abraham’s family by faith, consists of anyone and everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord.
I want you to take time and consider a few verses of Scripture that describe what the church, the body of Christ, is meant to look like.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you all are one in Christ.” (Galatians 3:28)
“Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all.” (Colossians 3:11)
As the great walls of Jericho came crashing down at the shout from God’s people, the dividing walls of this world came crashing down when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit, so that we read, “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51)
You and I can bring down the dividing walls of our world if only we would recognize that in Christ, we are all one. Like those misguided Jewish teachers in Galatia, we divide the body of Christ when we make cultural, economic, social, and, yes, religious/doctrinal differences the focus of our faith.
Sadly, this is often done in the name of doctrinal purity, pinning labels on those who seek to engage in genuine incarnational ministry.
“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this for the sake of the gospel,” Paul tells us. (I Corinthians 9:22-23, Italics mine.)
But the heretic hunters, whose aim was to discredit and disqualify the apostle’s ministry seized on his passionate Christ-like love for others - all others - and called Paul a people pleaser.
Can you hear them?
Paul is allowing culture to shape his ministry. Paul is on a slippery slope; he’s going off the deep end; he’s becoming a liberal. He’s not doing this for Jesus, he’s out for himself, and he is clearly compromising Scripture. Just look at his converts. Have you heard about the problems in the Corinthian church? This is the kind of thing that happens when we start placing conformity to culture above devotion to God’s holy Word.
In stark contrast to his critics and their willingness to strain out gnats while swallowing camels, we hear the heart of the apostle when he says -
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:15-18, Italics mine.)
This gracious attitude, anchored in faith, is what God is calling you and me to embrace in the church today. It’s not easy. You can be sure there will be those who, like Paul’s critics, will accuse us of watering down the gospel and compromising the call of Christ. In short, of being people pleasers rather than God pleasers.
But like Paul, we will humbly rejoice and work together with all who preach the gospel, rarely, if ever, apologizing for or defending our ministries, while in our heart repeating the words of the great apostle found in Galatians 1:10 -
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.