Unity In The Gospel Series

INTRO: Being a part of something

Nothing brings people together like being united in a common goal

When you are part of something that is bigger than any one person, something where everyone has a part to play and we all rely on each other.

I was in the marching band in High School.

In the marching band, you have different groups of people playing different instruments.

I played the clarinet, first chair, so I led our little group of clarinet players.

Each group had its leader and they each had their own role, their own task.

The clarinets might be in a straight line , swinging around like the arm on a clock, playing harmony while the trumpets were in a cirlcle, shoulder to shoulder, rotating like a merry-go-round, playing the melody, while the drums were in a block, marching in place, pounding out the beat, setting the pace.

All of us are doing our own part, leading our own little group, playing our part of the music, and the whole time we are all watching the Drum Major, and he is directing us, we watch his hands for our rythym, he gives signals for where we go and what we do.

The Drum Major is the center of attention. This is HIS Show. He has the fanciest uniform, everyone can see that He is the One in Charge, the Big Leader.

Any personal differences we might have had, we left them behind when we stepped on that field. Out there we were all the same, all part of the band.

When it work like it is supposed to, the whole band moves on the field like one body, one living and breathing body, under the direction of the Drum Major.

The church is kind of like that.

Jesus is our Drum Major

Our music is the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus directs us, each of us doing our part.

Working together, the church is the body of Christ

We are unified by our common goal and our common focus on Christ as the head of the church

Unity in the Gospel (Gal 2: 1-10)

Last week – (v11-24) Paul is describing his relationship with other apostles

Making it clear that he did not receive the gospel from them, but directly from Jesus Christ

It was 3 years after his conversion when he first met with Peter, and then only for 15 days.

It was after 14 years that Paul met with them again. Now Paul is describing that meeting, that conference.

Gal 2:1-10 (NIV) 1 Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. 6 As for those who seemed to be important--whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance--those men added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. 8 For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

PRAY

Though Paul did not receive the gospel from the other apostles, he wants the Galatians to know that he had the full support of the church in Jerusalem.

This conference is an excellent example for us to follow in how to maintain unity within the church as a whole, while never compromising on the basic gospel.

I think it is important to see why Paul went to this conference and whom he took with him. (v1-2)

V2 tells us that Paul went to Jerusalem in response to a revelation.