Enjoying and Pursuing Reconciliation (Gal. 2:11-14, Part Two)
Here’s the sermon I delivered in our Galatians series on March 21st, 2021. You can also catch the audio and video here.
Thirty years from now, what do you think will come to mind when we think about the year 2020? No doubt, we’ll talk about the pandemic. Anthony Fauci will go down in the history books. That’s pretty certain.
And there’s another name we’ll no doubt remember, for sure. It’s George Floyd. We’ll never forget the protests that came after officer Derek Chauvin slowly pressed the life out of Floyd over eight iPhone recorded minutes. The story still continues. The civil suit has happened. The criminal trial awaits. But so many are saying - yet again - that something has got to change.
But here’s one thing I think many Americans also say. Christianity, at least the kind talked about in the media is, if anything, standing in the way of that change. Don’t white people claiming to follow Jesus often seem to be the most vocal against racial justice in America today? Many would say so. They’d say Christianity is part of the problem. And that it’s been that way throughout American history.
Now while I can understand that and weep over that and beg forgiveness from brothers and sisters of color for that, I have to say: that evil doesn’t come from Jesus. It’s not found in the story of Scripture. And we see that so clearly here in Galatians chapter two today.
Now this is the second week that we’ve looked at this passage. Go back and listen to Jeff’s message if you didn’t catch it last week. This week, I want us to look at it from this angle - how it shows us the pathway to racial - really ethnic - reconciliation.
Paul’s World Meets Ours
The apostle Paul is writing here to Christians in Galatia - modern-day Turkey - back in the late 40s A.D. And he’s trying to give them a wake-up call. And it’s a message that we very much still need to hear today.
Christians there are turning from the good news of Jesus that Paul had preached. They’re once again leaning on their own works - instead of Christ’s finished work. And Paul’s unloading on them, giving them a spiritual tongue-lashing. He’s concerned about false prophets that have tried to turn them away from Jesus, and he says this, in verse 8:
Gal. 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Let him be accursed. Let him go to hell - that’s what Paul’s really saying. And then he keeps on railing - in love.
Soon-thereafter, Paul gets to this story. He’s among the Christians in Antioch - his sending church for his mission to the Gentiles. And Cephas - that’s another name for the apostle Peter - leads a bunch of people astray. And Paul calls him out in front of everyone.
Why’s that? Well, there was a massive divide in those days between Jews and non-Jews, what were called Gentiles. John Stott explains it this way:
“It is difficult for us to grasp the impassable gulf which yawned in those days between the Jews on the one hand and the Gentiles on the other. Not that the Old Testament countenanced such a divide….it affirmed that God had a purpose for [the Gentiles]. By choosing and blessing [the Jews] he intended to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-4)…The tragedy was that Israel twisted this doctrine of election into one of favoritism, became filled with racial pride and hatred, despised the Gentiles as ‘dogs’, and developed traditions that kept them apart. No orthodox Jew would ever enter the home of a Gentile…all familiar intercourse with Gentiles was forbidden…”
It’s kinda like today with the church. The divide is deep and wide. And the people of Israel are supposed to be leading the way, but they’ve gotten off track. Jesus comes along and tears down that barrier once for all. He goes about creating a new people of God that includes Jew and Gentile. And Peter learns that from Him. He is living that out. Enjoying it. Pursuing it. That is, until some legalistic Jews show up.
He’s eating with the Gentile believers - again a symbol of friendship and community - until some men come up who think along these lines. Those Gentiles have not been circumcised. They don’t follow the food laws like we do. They don’t keep our Jewish holidays. And therefore, Peter shouldn’t be eating with them.
Now Peter knows that isn’t true. And none of that stuff matters anymore. But Peter ends up switching tables. And Paul lovingly lights him up. Here in this book, he’s saying, “Don’t even let an apostle lead you astray, friends in Galatia! The gospel is at stake.” And therein he instructs them - and us - about gospel reconciliation.
Gospel Reconciliation
Here’s my big idea for this morning. Only Jesus frees us to enjoy and pursue the reconciliation He brings. It’s His intention that gospel ethnic reconciliation would be enjoyed and pursued by us. But before we get to that, there a couple of core concepts we have to understand.
We Can Easily Get Off Beat
Back in the day I played some saxophone, and I was briefly part of a marching band. The snare drum would set the cadence, and we would march in step in parades across Missouri. But sometimes, you’d lose concentration - or maybe your footing - and you’d find yourself off beat. Or they’d be marching left, left, left, right, left. And you’d be doing, right, right, right, left, right. And you’d have to do this kick of your feet to get back on step.
What is Paul saying here? He sees Peter’s conduct, as he joins in with those others, and he says, in verse 14, that “their conduct was not in step with the gospel.” Hear me: there are some ways that we can live that not only make Jesus look bad. They just don’t flow from who He is or what He came to do. That’s Paul’s point.
And realize this: the gospel is a message. It’s meant to be proclaimed. But it’s also meant to be lived. There is gospel conduct that’s meant to flow from gospel belief. Gospel culture that comes out of gospel doctrine. But it’s so easy to get off track from that - even for people like Peter. First, it’s possible to live in such a way that we’re out of step with the gospel.
Some Things Are Very Much In Sync
But second, some things are very much in sync with the gospel, and racial reconciliation is one of them. Some people today say, “Kevin, come on, just preach the gospel. That’s a social issue - not a gospel one.” But they’re wrong. And it’s not just a conduct problem. It’s also a belief one.
John Piper puts it this way: “One of the central cadences of the gospel walk is the breaking down of ethnic hostilities and suspicions, and the impulses of unity and harmony.”
Think about the story of Scripture with me. Four acts. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. Creation. The Lord creates man and woman - in His image. There’s only one race. That’s why I prefer to say ethnic reconciliation. But as Paul preaches in Acts 17, “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.” That’s God’s good creation.
Fast-forward to the end. Restoration. Revelation 7:9 speaks of a great multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” That’s where things are going. All hostility gone. Unity forever.
But that’s obviously not where we are now. Fall. Sin entered the world. One of Adam and Eve’s sons killed the other one. And there has been hostility ever since - and especially between ethnic groups.
Jesus came along, dying for our sins, so that we could be made right with God. Redemption. But also so that we could be made right with one another. There is a vertical component of salvation but also a horizontal one. And as Revelation 5:9 puts it, Christ came to purchase a people for His Father “from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Jesus died to bring us together. With His Father. But also with each other. He doesn’t just want diversity - lots of different types of people together. He wants reconciliation - again, us being one in Him. In a fallen world, this is difficult. We’ll fall short of what we’ll see in the new world. But through the Spirit’s power, it’s something still to be enjoyed, but also pursued.
Reconciliation Enjoyed
That’s where I want to turn now. This ethnic reconciliation - between black and white, Asian, African, and Latino, Middle Eastern and European - all nations - this is something to be both enjoyed and pursued by us.
First, it’s to be enjoyed. Some would say, “Kevin, shouldn’t we try to be color-blind? Why keep pointing out our differences?” But moving that direction leads away from our joy. Imagine if our world didn’t have all the diversity of topography and vegetation. Or if our food all looked and tasted the same. It only served to give us energy. No texture. No color. Nothing sweet or savory. It wouldn’t be good. What joy we would miss out on! Thankfully, our creative and kind God didn’t choose to do things that way. And he didn’t make us colorless. And he doesn’t want us to be blind. That disrespects and diminishes people. It robs us.
Speaking of food, remember what Peter is doing here - before he’s interrupted by the uptight rule-keepers. Verse 12 says he is “eating with the Gentiles.” And he isn’t just ingesting food. He is enjoying fellowship around the table.
You may not have thought about this, but meals are an important part of God’s purpose for us. We see this in Israel. And the early church. A Passover feast. The Lord’s Supper. We see Jesus drawing near to the last, the least, the lost - around a table. What do we look forward to at the end? A big wedding feast. The food is no doubt gonna be awesome! But the fellowship is really the point. We were made for community. And for diverse, reconciled community. Eternal relationships with people that aren’t just like us - that’s God’s goodness to us.
And don’t forget: it also reflects His glory. It showcases the beauty of His purposes in creation. It also puts the eternal spotlight on the wisdom of His work of redemption. It makes His gospel look even more marvelous. It makes His Son appear even more powerful - as men and women who would never sit at table together - if not for the work of Jesus - break bread with grateful hearts.
It’s so good to be back with our Missional Communities. It’s been a blessing to sit around a campfire or table with someone from Nigeria and Taiwan and India and Tanzania. What a gift from Jesus for our joy! Let’s not miss that.
Reconciliation Pursued
But let’s also run after it. Second, this is to be pursued. Now some out there would say, “Kevin, we don’t need to be talking about this. Just preach the gospel. Just let God change hearts. It’ll fix itself.” Now I’ve tried to say this reconciliation is part of the gospel. But I’d also say preaching a “gospel” that lacks this hasn’t caused this to magically happen. We have to pursue it, as we see here.
We also have to think about the background of this story. First of all, this is Peter, the head of the apostles. He’s obviously a Christian, and he’s having trouble grasping it. And second, if you read Acts 10, Peter literally has to hear a voice from heaven three times, and then he’s still clueless. Finally, after a Gentile man who’s visited by an angel helps him put the pieces together, he gets it. But does he really? Because here in Galatians 2:11-14, he loses the cadence and walks away from the table and leads even a solid guy like Barnabas astray.
You see, as sinners in a fallen world, this isn’t easy for us - any of us. Not just in America, but everywhere. It has to be fought for. It has to be pursued. We have to make the effort to draw near to people who aren’t like us.
And we also must at times call out those who work against it. Risk friendships. Question authorities. That what Paul does here. He has to tell Peter, “Hey, you’re out of step here. You’re being a hypocrite here.” That’s not easy.
We have to sit at the table - and again this is for our joy. But we also need to make room for others there. We share what we have, but we also listen and learn. We let others have the floor, and even take the lead. And that doesn’t come naturally to us.
Jemar Tisby, in his latest book, How to Fight Racism lays out three pursuits if we really want to get somewhere in the American church. ARC - awareness, relationships, commitment. Awareness. We have to understand what’s going on. And where we’ve been. And what God wants. Relationships. We have to build friendships with people unlike us. And create spaces where even more can be formed. Commitment. We can’t just try as hard as we can to not be racists. We need to work against racism - not only in the church but also in society. Racism isn’t just an individual thing. It’s a systemic thing. Therefore, we don’t just want to see reconciliation. We also want to pursue justice.
In his book Center Church, Tim Keller gives three aspects of the gospel that help us live it out. First, upside-down. Jesus came as a Servant, dying for us. He turned power on its head. He preached a kingdom with opposite values from our world. That has to transform how we see people unlike us, without the privileges we have, and move us to do something about it. Second, inside-out. Christ offers a gospel that goes deeper than the superficiality of the legalists we see here. It changes our hearts and then our actions flow from there. We should be the most willing people to go deep and check our hearts and work out things that don’t pulse with the heartbeat of the gospel. Third, future-back. If one day, we’l be resurrected, and everything around us will be made whole, we should be those who work to bring that future reconciliation, that future justice, into today. We shouldn’t buck against it.
So, I’ll move on. But we don’t just enjoy this reconciliation. We also pursue it. No matter how difficult or scary it is. And that leads to my next point.
In the Face of Fear
We have to pursue this reconciled community, this future kingdom, in the face of fear. Working for this, sitting at the table, bringing others with you - it’s hard. It’s scary. We learn things about ourselves we don’t want to learn. We have to humble ourselves. We’ll get things wrong.
Fighting for this, teaching others about this, even confronting others - those things are intense and difficult. It’s led to a lot of hard conversations. We’ve lost people over this.
I heard professor Esau McCauley recently say this: “You get heat from everybody when you love the Bible and care for justice.” You get called a fundamentalist. You get called a liberal. But we can’t give up. It’s too close to the heart of God.
Why did Peter get up from the table? Out of fear. The cultural pressure was so strong. Verse 12 says that. What did Paul no doubt feel when he called Peter out? Fear. Remember, he’s the new guy. But God doesn’t want us to sit in that. He gives us His Spirit. He promises His presence. And His gospel is powerful.
Through the Work of the Gospel
And that leads to the last point I want to make. We work through that fear and toward this vision through the power of the gospel. Now some would say: “Kevin, Paul’s not talking about race and ethnicity here. He’s talking about something else. How we’re made right with God by faith, and not by works.”
Now that’s correct in part. We’ll hit on that in a future message. But as I’ve said, the Lord doesn’t just make us right with Him but with one another. And that’s really what Peter’s walking away from here.
But that response doesn’t go deep enough. What’s the root of racism? What’s sin? Aren’t we so prone to find our identity in the wrong things? Our work? Our possessions? Our status? And yes, our people, our tribe? Tim Keller puts it this way:
“For most people, then, race and culture are a kind of self-righteousness. We think of ourselves as the good ones, not like “those people” over there. That means we tend to make our cultural preferences—which are no more than that, preferences—into moral absolutes and badges of honor.” (Tim Keller)
Friends, the message of Jesus frees us from that. We get our identity in Him - and in His family. We have nothing to prove or defend. We can no longer view our neighbor as the “other.” Because we remember the welcome we’ve received in Christ.
The gospel gives us the vision for this community. It also gives us the resources to get there.
The Right Way to Build A House
So to go back to where I started, Christianity isn’t the problem - no matter what you’ve heard. It’s the solution. If I have a pile of materials in my yard, and you steal them and build what looks like a house, you owe me. People do that with the Christian worldview all the time - and definitely with the subject at hand. But that house won’t keep standing without a foundation. We need the gospel’s heart. We need the gospel’s power. That way it will last. The Bible gives us those kinds of resources.
I can’t recommend Rebecca McLaughlin’s book Confronting Christianity highly enough. She destroys the idea that “Christianity is a white, Western religion intrinsically tied to cultural imperialism.” No, she says the “Christian movement was multicultural and multiethnic from the outset.”
From those first reached by Jesus and his followers to the explosion of the church next in Acts, the church started out diverse. Christianity traveled and exploded in Africa long before any white missionaries went there. And today, the church is growing exponentially in South America, the Middle East, and Asia. Soon China will be the largest Christian nation in the world. She writes, “Most of the world’s Christians are neither white nor Western, and Christianity is getting less white and Western by the day.”
She then quotes Yale professor Stephen Carter who speaks of “a difficulty endemic to today’s secular left: an all-too-frequent weird refusal to acknowledge the demographics of Christianity.” He then warns, “When you mock Christians, you’re not mocking who you think you are.”
True Christianity - and not the kind you hear shouted on TV - it gives us the resources to pursue and achieve true unity and reconciliation. Professor Esau McCauley talks about being raised in the black church where he was taught that the Bible gives the pathway out of racism. And that it was the slaveholder that abused Scripture to justify oppression. He then got around university professors that said, if we want to make progress on racism, we have to get away from the Bible. Scripture is the problem, they said.
McCauley had to make a choice, he said, to believe his pastor, or believe his professor. Now it’s not my desire that you trust me. But trust the book his pastor also pointed to. Don’t believe, as we heard this week, that the white dude killing Asian women was a “good Christian boy.” Don’t believe that the dude with horns praying in the capital has a clue about the message of Christianity. That’s a lie. It’s out of step.
The Middle-Eastern, Aramaic-speaking Savior sits on His throne. He’ll one day make all things right. And He’s also with us, His people, right now. Let’s build a house together on the one true foundation - one in which everyone can live and flourish.