WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF LEADERS
GALATIANS 2:1-21
INTRODUCTION
Today is Ordination Sunday in our church when we install new leaders and reaffirm our trust in those that lead our congregation. It is an important day. I wanted us to look at a passage this morning that would encourage, inform, and help us as we think about our leaders. I chose Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 is an interesting passage in the Bible. Galatians 2 is written from the perspective of the Apostle Paul. The event that took place is also recorded for us in Acts 15 by Luke. So, we get two perspectives of this council in Jerusalem. I like this passage because it shows the leaders of the early church in action and interacting with one another. I believe that this passage also shows us what God expects of His leaders.
READ GALATIANS 2:1-21
I. GOD EXPECTS LEADERS TO REPEL FALSEHOOD FROM THE CHURCH (verses 1-5, 11-14)
The Apostle Paul dealt with one prevailing lie in the church constantly wherever he went. The idea was that Jesus came to offer salvation only to the Jews and not to the Gentiles. This message was taught over and over and it was completely false. Another related lie was that to become a Christian, one had to be circumcised in following the Law. Paul, in verse 2, states that he was going to Jerusalem to communicate what he teaches about Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to talk about circumcision. This was a touchy issue. Titus goes with Paul who is an active leader and preacher and he is not circumcised. Would the other Christians accept him as a brother in Christ?
Paul says in verse 4 that ‘false brothers’ were teaching incorrect things and it was causing problems. Paul tells the Galatians that he went so that the truth would be communicated and that the truth of the Gospel would be affirmed for these gentile Galatian Christians. Gentiles were often seen as different as shown in the example pointed out by Paul in verses 11-14. Peter ate with the Gentiles until other more judgmental Jews came and he drew back. Peter knew from God that Gentiles were equal as believers (Acts 10). Yet he acted in a way that looked down on the Gentile Christians.
This false belief needed to be dealt with. Gentile Christians are hearing on one hand that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, but on the other that they have to be circumcised to be acceptable to God. There are two contradictory messages going out and Paul sees the need for it to stop.
I believe that God expect the leaders of the church to repel falsehood from the church. Exodus 20:16 recording the Ten Commandments clearly states that falsehood is a sin and it is to be avoided. Jesus tells His disciples and others to "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Matthew 7:15). Falsehood in the church compromises the message of God and should be gotten rid of. Leaders should do this. 1 Timothy 1:3 shows us that Paul instructs Timothy, certainly a leader in the church, to command "certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer." It was and is the job of the leaders to lead the way in making sure the life of the church was true and pure. It was and is the job of the leaders to lead the way in making sure the message of the church is true and pure.
ILLUSTRATION... The Brothers Grimm (2005)
I rented a movie recently that spoke volumes when it came to dealing with falsehood. The movie is called Brothers Grimm and came out this past year. The fictional story centers around two brothers who are in the witch and ghost busting business. They ride into towns that have old folk tales of ghosts and goblins and offer to rid their town for a price. The price is of course way too high, until a villager comes and reports that the ghost or beast has returned. Sounds like a coincidence doesn’t it. The Brothers Grimm step in and save the day. The movie reveals that the Brothers Grimm also have two other partners that set up the false ghosts and witches and put on a production for some villagers to watch. The villagers see the evil foe vanquished and the brothers make their money. It is all a false production. It is a con-job. Early in the movie, these two Brothers are arrested by government leaders because of their treachery. It was all fake. They had to admit that their business was a false one. The truth was revealed.
I see in Galatians 2 that Paul, Barnabas, Titus, and the other Apostles gathering in Jerusalem to confront
falsehood that had "infiltrated" (2:4) the church. I imagine the "false brothers" needing to explain themselves and their teachings. The truth was revealed. Acts 15 records the letter that was sent from Jerusalem to the gentile Christians affirming their freedom in Christ and the truth about the false ideas they had heard. All of this happened because the leaders repelled falsehood from the church.
II. GOD EXPECTS LEADERS TO FOLLOW GOD’S WILL (verses 2-3, 6-10)
In the very beginning of the passage, we see that this trip to Jerusalem is not Paul’s idea. How do we know that? In verse 2, Paul says that he was going in response to a revelation. The word used here is meant for us to get a picture that God told Paul to go and was guiding him there. This trip was not Paul’s idea, but God’s. Paul was following God’s will. We also find Titus following God’s will in the area of circumcision, even though it was not popular. Titus followed God’s will.
The leaders of the church also followed God’s will once they got together. Verse 6 tells us that the Apostles got together and talked about the message that was being preached. They agreed that they were preaching the same message. They agreed that it was God’s will that Peter preach to the Jews and that Paul preach to the Gentiles. They did not insert their own agendas or their own opinions in the matter, they followed the will of God. They all agreed that the poor was certainly a passion of God’s and so it should be a passion of theirs as well.
ILLUSTRATION... God’s Will in the Bible
I began to think of passages in the Bible where others have done the same thing these early church leaders did. Are there examples in the Bible where men and women bowed humbly to the will of God and put their own desires to the side?
Abraham: Abraham finally had the son of promise from God. What then did God ask him to do? God asked him to travel to a mountain and sacrifice his one and only son. Abraham followed God’s will and traveled to the mountain, built the altar, tied his son to it, and even raised his hand to slay him... and God stopped him. Abraham had followed the will of God and set his own desires aside.
Moses: Moses did not want to go back to Egypt to speak for God and to rescue the people of Israel. He had many excuses, but in the end did the will of God and led the people of Israel for forty years. He led them through the Red Sea, eating manna in the desert, and to drink water from rocks... all because he followed the will of God.
Joseph: Joseph was unsure how to deal with Mary who was pregnant. He certainly had done nothing to cause her pregnancy. Yet, he hears the will of God in a dream and sets aside thoughts of divorce and follows what God had planned.
Jesus: I cannot help but think of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus wanted to do as God planned, but was afraid of being separated from His Heavenly Father. He sweat drops of blood because He was under such pressure. Yet in the end, not His will, but God’s be done.
In all of these things, I see these early leaders humbling themselves and their opinions and allowing God’s will to be made known and to rule the way the church was run.
III. GOD EXPECTS LEADERS TO ACT IN LINE WITH THE GOSPEL AND LIVE BY FAITH (verses 9-21)
There is a word that Paul uses several times in this passage that I think needs to be mentioned. It is a word that means you say one thing and do another. It is a word that means you profess one thing on Sundays and live another way Monday thru Saturday. It is a word that turns more people off of church than any other word in the English language.
ILLUSTRATION... Outward Appearance, C. S. Lewis (http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=764)
"Anyone who has ever taught or attempted to lead others knows the tendency in all of us toward exaggerating our depth of character while treating leniently our flaws. The Bible calls this tendency hypocrisy. We consciously or subconsciously put forward a better image of ourselves than really exists. The outward appearance of our character and the inner reality (that only God, we, and perhaps our family members know) do not match."
ILLUSTRATION... RMS Queen Mary (http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=764)
Commissioned in 1936, the RMS Queen Mary was the most awe-inspiring ocean-going vessel in the world.
She was 1,019 feet long, at 81,237 tons displaced twice the tonnage of the Titanic, had 12 decks (the promenade deck was 724 feet long), and carried 1,957 passengers attended by a crew of 1,174. Transformed from a luxury liner to a troop transport in World War II she carried 765,429 members of the military to and from the European war zones. The Queen Mary was retired from regular passenger service in 1967 after making 1,001 Atlantic Ocean crossings, and is presently harbored in the port of Long Beach, California. Even today, her magnificent and gleaming exterior cuts a beautiful profile against the blue waters of the Long Beach harbor. But when the Queen Mary was retired from active passenger service, it was discovered that part of her gleaming exterior was hiding something far less attractive and substantial.
The Queen Mary’s three elliptical smoke stacks 36 feel long, 23 feet wide, and ranging from 70 down to 62 feet in height were made of sheets of steel over an inch thick. During her decades of service, at least 30 coats of paint had been applied to the massive smokestacks, forming a shell around the steel interior. But when the smokestacks were removed for maintenance after her decommissioning, it was discovered that they were nothing but shells. When lifted off the liner and placed on the docks, they crumbled! Over the years, the thick steel of which they had been made had turned to rust from long exposure to heat and moisture. The beautiful exteriors of the smokestacks revealed a rusty, crumbly interior that spoke not of beauty and elegance but of deterioration and decay. The external appearance was hiding the internal reality. . . .
Jesus encountered a situation in Jerusalem where the same inconsistency seemed [was present]. The Pharisees lives had apparently become like the Queen Mary’s smokestacks... gleaming on the outside, rusty on the inside. Hypocrites, Jesus called them (Matt. 23:25-28). They were like dishes that were polished until they shone on the outside, but inside had the grease and crumbs from yesterday’s feast festering and attracting flies. They were like the tombs outside the city wall that camouflaged the resting places of dead people’s bones with coats of bright whitewash. Gleaming on the outside, gruesome on the inside. . . . Paul said the Jews, the most privileged people spiritually on earth, had become spiritually hypocritical. And he said that God’s name was being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of it (Rom. 2:24). . . ." If the multiple coats of Sunday-go-to-meeting paint were stripped from us, would there be steel or rust underneath??
Paul describes a situation in which I believe both he and Peter acted hypocritically. Peter certainly did in verses 12 and 13 when he backed off of fellowshipping with the Gentiles because other Jews arrived. Paul said even Barnabas did the same thing. Certainly hypocrisy was present. I also think the Apostle Paul acted hypocritically by bringing this up in front of all the people. Jesus taught how do deal with such things and I think Paul’s arrogance and pride got in the way in this situation. What is God’s expectation for the leaders of the church? He expects them to live out the Gospel that they profess and to walk the walk as they talk the talk. No one is perfect, we all know that, but hypocrisy is something that can be identified and corrected. It certainly is not what God expects of chruch leaders.
CONCLUSION... Position of Leadership (http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=883) Don’t take a position of leadership in church unless you are prepared to be honest, pure, and loving in your lifestyle. Leadership is a privilege, and with privilege comes responsibility. God holds teachers of His truth doubly responsible because we who lead are in a position where we can either draw people toward Christ or drive them away from Him.
This is illustrated in the life of the famous author Mark Twain. Church leaders were largely to blame for his becoming hostile to the Bible and the Christian faith. As he grew up, he knew elders and deacons who owned slaves and abused them. He heard men using foul language and saw them practice dishonesty during the week after speaking piously in church on Sunday. He listened to ministers use the Bible to justify slavery. Although he saw genuine love for the Lord Jesus in some people, including his mother and his wife, he was so disturbed by the bad teaching and poor example of church leaders that he became bitter toward the things of God. Indeed, it is a privilege to be an elder, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, or a Bible club leader. But it is also an awesome responsibility. Let’s make sure we attract people to the Savior rather than turn them away.
