Scripture
13As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? Galatians 2:13-14
Observation
This chapter goes straight from mild to spicy when Paul describes his fierce conversations with Peter and Barnabas and the other “pillars of the church”. I love the these raw unedited accounts of the growing pains of the early church because it reminds me that it started out messy and relationships will continue to the primary vehicle God uses and the primary tensions we have to work through. Why was Paul so upset? This was Peter! The man who, in Acts 10, had literally been given the vision from God not to call anything unclean that God has called clean. Peter was the one given the privilege of seeing the first outpouring of The Holy Spirit at the Gentile home of Cornelius. Now, maybe five or so years later Peter is playing politics with his loyalties. When the Jews were around he only ate kosher with them. When the Jews left you’d find at the table of the Gentiles eating bacon and shrimp. This wasn’t just hypocritical, it was detrimental to the validity of the Gospel of Jesus. If keeping the law was enough to get in good with God why did Jesus die? This was the very argument Peter had made before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 13. What had happened to Peter between his clear call to reach the Gentiles and this sorry situation of hypocrisy we find him in at Galatians 2? Two words: mission drift.
Application
Mission drift is the slow and insidious shift away from the original mission, purpose, and identity of an organization. In thier book “Mission Drift”, Greer and Horst have done extensive research on organizations who have either remained “mission true” or have fallen sadly away from their mission. One story after another of organizations and churches reveal that mission drift doesn’t happen over night, but does happen over time unless confronted. One example that has stuck with me is where we are asked to consider the following mission statement of a well-known university: “To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.” Founded in 1636, this university employed exclusively Christian professors, emphasized character formation in its students above all else, and rooted all its policies and practices in a Christian worldview. This school served as a bastion of academic excellence and Christian distinction. This mission statement, however, is not from Dallas Theological Seminary. Neither is it from Wheaton College. It’s from Harvard University—this statement described their founding mission.” Harvard began as a school to equip ministers to share the Good News and is now one of the most liberal schools in the nation directly attacking the Christian faith in many cases. How did this happen? Slowly, over time, like a boat without an anchor the church begins to move with the tide of the culture around it. We need fierce conversations like Paul had with Peter to keep us Mission True! They go on to write, “Mission True leaders abide in Christ. But they don’t just practice this personally. They also know they are incapable of leading on their own. They are relentless in their pursuit of fellow Mission True leaders who model these qualities at all levels of the organization” Paul needed Peter and Peter needed Paul and I need you and you need me to stay Mission True!
Prayer
“20My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20). It’s amazing to me that this core verse that so clearly depicts our mission and our message comes straight from this confrontation between Paul and Peter! I’m so thankful for the men and women You’ve put in my life to reveal my blind spots and call me on my compromises. I’m so grateful that I don’t accomplish this mission on my own. I have people who love me enough to tell me what I need to not just what I want to hear.
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