Accomplishing the Mission of Jesus
Galatians 2:1-10
Introduction
Several years ago a phenomenon took place. It is called Starbucks Coffee. Most everyone has probably heard of Starbucks. If you are like me then you have contributed greatly to its success. Starbucks Coffee has become well known name. It is not unusual to see Starbucks in TV shows and movies.
Starbucks started as a single store in Seattle’s waterfront. Today it has grown into a business with over 1600 stores nationally and a new store opens every single business day. It employs over 25,000 people.
The success of Starbucks can be summed up with three things. It offers a good product. They meet people where they are. They care about both their customers and their employees. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, shares the success story in his book, Pour Your Heart Into It.
The success of Starbucks reminds me of the amazing success of the early church recorded in the book of Acts. The early church started with a small band of misfits that would eventually turn the world upside down. How did they do it? How did they turn the world upside down? They understood that they, the church, were called to accomplish the mission of Jesus.
Even though the early church had great success, they were not without their challenges. One of those challenges we have been noticing in our study of the book of Galatians. The challenge that the early church was facing, a challenge that is still with us today, was and is the nature of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
From the very beginning the church had to fight the onslaughts against true doctrine. One of the ways that the devil attacks the church is through doctrine. For the Galatian controversy, it was an attack against the gospel. The false teachers that were affecting the Galatian believers were teaching that Jesus was not enough for salvation. For a person to be saved one must also be circumcised and follow Jewish Law to be saved. That, beloved, is a false gospel.
Paul has been defending the gospel from the very start of chapter one. He has declared that salvation is through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. In defense of the gospel Paul has declared that his gospel finds its source in God, not man. Paul didn’t receive the message of the gospel from man, but from God.
In the second chapter of Galatians Paul continues to defend the fundamental truth of the gospel. In verses one through ten Paul shows how the apostles in Jerusalem gave him the right hand of fellowship concerning the message that he preached.
In these ten verses, there are some principles that are essential for the church to accomplish the mission of Jesus. If a church is going to accomplish the mission of Jesus then a church must be theologically sound.
I. Theologically Sound
We read in verse one, “Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.” Once again we see how the Lord led Paul in the past. In the previous chapter Paul spoke about going to Arabia, and then returning to Damascus. Three years after conversion he then went up to Jerusalem. Most likely, the visit to Jerusalem that he speaks of in chapter one is the one recorded in Acts 9:26-30.
In chapter two Paul talks about fourteen years later returning to Jerusalem. There is debate over what visit that Paul is speaking of in chapter two. We have record of a visit to Jerusalem in Acts chapter eleven where Paul and Barnabas went with money to help the poor who were suffering on account of a famine. Some believe that Paul is speaking of that visit here. Others believe that Paul is speaking of the visit to Jerusalem that is recorded in Acts chapter fifteen. I tend to lean towards the latter because it fits the context better.
In verse two Paul makes it very clear that his going to Jerusalem was a direct order from the Lord, “It was because of a revelation that I went up.” God was the one leading Paul’s life. Man didn’t tell him to go to Jerusalem, God did. Just as Paul received the message of the gospel from a revelation of Jesus Christ, his going to Jerusalem came from Jesus Christ also.
Paul gives the basis for the scheduled visit to Jerusalem in verse two, “It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach to among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run, in vain.”
The matter at hand is the nature of the gospel. That is what Paul has been defending sense chapter one. Paul says he first met with the leadership in Jerusalem to submit his message of grace to them. His concern, he says is, “fear that I might be running or had run in vain.” One might read those words and suppose that Paul is concerned that he had been preaching the wrong gospel all these years. That is far from the case.
Paul received his message from Jesus Christ. There was no concern that he had the wrong message. His concern was that the apostles in Jerusalem had wondered from the truth and by doing so, render his ministry and message fruitless.
Paul’s companions helped him in this visit. Barnabas was a Jew, but Titus, we are told, was a Gentile. What Paul wanted to do with Titus was give evidence that a person can be uncircumcised and be saved.
Notice what he says in verse three, “But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.”
Paul says that those who were teaching the false doctrine were false brothers. That is, the were pseudo-Christians. They professed to be Christians, but they weren’t. These false brethren taught that Titus couldn’t be saved because he had not been circumcised. Even so, all one had to do was look at the life of Titus to see a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit.
The response that Paul and Titus had was crucial. We see that response in verse five, “But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.” At issue here was the nature of the gospel. There was no way that Paul would subject Titus to their demands because then the message of the gospel would be compromised, and to accomplish the mission of Jesus, the church can’t compromise the message of Jesus. The church must be theologically sound.
The false brethren were trying to show that Paul and the apostles in Jerusalem were preaching two different gospels. They were trying to divide the apostles. Nevertheless, notice the response of the Jerusalem leadership to Paul’s message in verse six, “But from those who were of high reputation, what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.” This means that they didn’t see Paul preaching a defective message. His message was the true message. His message was theologically sound. Not only did they confirm his message by not contributing to it, but the also did by extending him the right hand of fellowship. Notice verse nine, “and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship…”
Here is the whole point that Paul wants to make to the Galatians and to us: there is only one gospel and that one gospel is an unchanging gospel. The true gospel is salvation through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. That is the gospel, and it will never ever change.
The only way a person can experience salvation is through the death of Christ. Christ’s provision through his death is a free gift from God that we don’t deserve. All we have to do is accept God’s free gift by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a Catholic Priest when I served in Purcell, Oklahoma. A group of ministers were sitting around a table at a ministerial alliance meeting, and I encouraged them to let their churches know that our church was hosting a free medical clinic. The Catholic priest said that he hesitated telling his people because they always come to him confused. I said, “confused about what?” They are confused because we teach them that salvation comes through baptism and church membership, and you tell them that all they have to do is trust Jesus.
I said, “We will never change that because we believe that a person can only be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.” There is no saving value in baptism. There is no saving value in church membership. There is no saving value in being a good person. The only saving value is found in Christ alone, and for one to have that saving value applied to his or her life, they must place their faith in Jesus.
Being a theologically sound church means that we maintain the fundamentals of the faith. That Christ was born a virgin, thus he’s both God and man. He lived a sinless life. His death on the cross appeases the wrath of God and provided forgiveness for sins. That he was resurrected on the third day and is alive today. That he is seated at the right hand of God now. That Jesus is coming back soon. I also believe that we, the church, to be theologically sound, must uphold the Bible as God’s revelation that is without error.
Think of how many churches and denominations who are failing in fulfilling the mission of Jesus because they don’t believe the Bible. To accomplish the mission of Jesus, we must be theologically sound. We must maintain the unchanging message of Jesus Christ. Another principle that enables us to accomplish the mission of Jesus is cultural relevance. The church must be culturally relevant to accomplish the mission of Jesus.
II. Culturally Relevant
In verse seven we read, “But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised (for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
There were two target groups that the church was reaching, the same two today: Gentiles and Jews, or uncircumcised and circumcised. For Paul to reach the Gentiles and Peter to reach the Jews, both would have to be relevant to those two cultures. You don’t try to reach a Jew the same way you reach a Gentile because the cultures are different.
This isn’t to say that Paul didn’t do anything to reach his own people. He was constantly reaching out to the Jewish people. As a matter of fact, Paul spoke about this and illustrated this reality in 1 Corinthians 9 when he said he became all things to all people. Paul didn’t try to reach Jews in the same way he reached Gentiles.
It is interesting that when Paul went to Jerusalem he didn’t allow Titus to be circumcised. However, in Acts chapter sixteen, when Paul took young Timothy to be his ministry companion, he allowed him to be circumcised. At stake with Titus was the message of the Gospel. At stake with Timothy was the method for reaching people with the gospel. To be relevant in reaching the Jews, Timothy needed to be circumcised so that he could effectively reach them for Christ.
When we send missionaries overseas we teach them about the cultures that they will be living in so that they can be culturally relevant.
One of the first books that I read about missions was Peace Child by Don Richardson. Don was called to take the gospel to the Sawi people of the Netherlands New Guinea. The Sawi’s were headhunting cannibals and savages. Before he took his family to New Guinea, he was told that he “will encounter customs and beliefs that will baffle him, but he must understand them if he is going to succeed.”
One of the practices that he met amongst the Sawi’s was the law of a “peace child.” When a group of people needed to make peace with each other, each group would sacrifice a baby boy so that peace could be achieved. Richardson used this barbaric act to share the story about the true peace child, Jesus Christ. By becoming culturally relevant to the Sawi’s, Richards was able to transform cannibals into followers of Jesus Christ.
If we are going to accomplish the mission of Jesus, we must understand that the message never changes, but our ways must become relevant to the culture that we are trying to reach.
The church must continue to become relevant to the children’s culture, the youth culture, the college culture, the young adult culture, the median adult culture, the senior adult culture if we are going to accomplish the mission of Jesus. The third principle for accomplishing the mission of Jesus is social responsibility.
III. Socially Responsible
After the meeting in Jerusalem notice what the leadership in Jerusalem asked of other churches in verses ten, “They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.”
There is some history behind this request. Many Jewish believers were going hungry for two reason. First, there was a famine that had taken place. In chapter eleven of the book of Acts at the church Antioch, a prophet named Agubus stood up in the congregation and clearly spoke by the Spirit of God and indicated that there would be a great famine all over the world. They then started taking contributions for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.
Another reason that there was many Jewish believers struggling with poverty was persecution. Those Jewish believers who gave their lives to Christ suffered for it, and many suffered financially.
Throughout the letters of Paul you find him taking up offerings for the Jewish churches amongst the Gentile churches. The point that we get from verse ten is clear. The church has a social responsibility not only to those who are a part of the church, but also to those outside the church.
One cannot study the life of Jesus without realizing that Jesus was socially responsible. When Jesus was fulfilling his mission here on earth you see him meeting the needs of those with physical poverty. Look at how many people he healed. You see him meeting the needs of financial poverty. Look at how many people he fed. You see him meeting the needs of spiritual poverty. Look at what he did on the cross. Likewise, if the church in the 21st century is going to accomplish the mission of Jesus we must be socially responsible. We must address the needs of those in physical poverty.
a. Physical Poverty
One only has to begin to name some of the hospitals in Dallas to realize that many were started by the church. You have Methodist Hospital. You have Presbyterian Hospital. You have Baylor Hospital. George W. Truett, the late pastor of First Baptist, Dallas was instrumental in getting Baylor started.
At First Baptist church in Purcell they have a free medical clinic once a month to meet the needs of the underprivileged in the community. That is social responsibility to those in physical poverty. We must also address the needs of those in financial poverty.
b. Financial Poverty
Fairview’s Downtown Chapel and Share Ministries does this very well. May we never let that ministry fall to the side. The motivating force behind meeting people’s physical and financial poverty is their spiritual poverty.
c. Spiritual Poverty
Not everyone experiences physical poverty or financial poverty, but everyone experiences spiritual poverty. Everyone needs Jesus.
May 1, 2003 is a day that President Bush is having a hard time with. It was the day that he spoke from the deck USS Abraham Lincoln with a sign behind him that said, “Mission Accomplished.” He said that major combat operations in Iraq were completed. Over three years have passed and the hard reality is that the mission is far from truly being accomplished.
Over two thousands years have passed since Jesus gave his church the duty of accomplishing his mission. The mission is not accomplished and won’t be until he returns. So let’s continue to accomplish the mission of Jesus until we all stand before Jesus and here those wonderful words, “Mission Accomplished my faithful soldiers.”
In Galatians 2:1-10 there are some principles that are essential for the church to accomplish the mission of Jesus.
Accomplishing the Mission of Jesus
Galatians 2:1-10
IF THE CHURCH IS GOING TO IMPACT THE CULTURE…
1. The Church must be theologically sound
2. The church must be culturally relevant
3. The church must be socially responsible
a. Physical poverty
b. Financial poverty
c. Spiritual poverty
