Have you ever had someone confront you about an area of your life where you were in the wrong?  I remember early in my ministry I would hide away from people before I would preach.  The morning of and even the days before I would avoid people.  There wasn’t a real reason for this it had just become a habit.  I told myself that I was focusing but I’m not really sure what my purpose was.  I think it was just more comfortable for me.  I’ll never forget when an elder of the church approached me about it.  He was gentle yet bold in his approach.  He told me that I was hurting my ministry by avoiding folks.  He said, “you aren’t that great of a preacher but you are great with people, so do what you’re good at and they will appreciate your sermon more.”  It stung a little but it was a valuable and important lesson to learn.  It truly showed me that this man cared for me enough to give me a hard message.  The Bible encourages us as followers of Jesus to do that for one another.  A great example is found in Galatians 2.  Let’s look at it together today.

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? 15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Paul comes in being nervous about whether this group will affirm and accept his work with the Gentiles.  He then immediately confronts Cephas, who we know better as Peter about his fault.  It truly is a bold move but one that was important and necessary.  Paul cares enough about Peter and the church to correct him in his behavior.  Often when we see a brother or sister struggling we think that it isn’t our business.  The Bible directly contradicts this thought and tells us that it is our business.  We are called to help each other in this journey of faith and love each other enough to give a hard message when we need to.  That is truly loving each other well.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave