Galatians: Starting Over {Yet Again} The "Professionals"

Jelly Beans…

Jelly Beans - Temple

Jelly Beans - Temple - The Weaker Brother

Jelly Beans - Temple - The Weaker Brother - Lives ruined and cut short

It makes sense I've got Scripture on it Love for the Weaker Brother Maybe I'm right

Prove I'm not…

2 Diamantes and a Bookshelf

Do I sell?

You have to get baptized In order to be saved "Repent and baptized…"

You have to get baptized In order to be saved "Repent and baptized…" Even if…weaker brother

Legalism You must do this In order to really follow Jesus (Even if Scriptures don't say it)

Weaker Brother- untaught …not all possess this knowledge - 1 Cor. 8 Whatever is not from faith is sin - Romans 14:23

Professional Weaker Brother- Legalist, False or Religious Bro. …false brothers secretly brought in…to make us slaves Export convictions/misuse Bible

The Knowing Brother- Well-Grounded and Mature …the mature…by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil - Hebrews 5:14

Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… You have a Call on your life

…that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation

With the Call comes evidence Of God's great love To show a watching world

With the Call comes Well-intentioned Dragons And Hypocrites To neuter the message

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation

To the heart of Judaism…

To the heart of Judaism… With a (Fully) Gentile Christian

To the heart of Judaism… With a (Fully) Gentile Christian And Jesus told him to do it!

I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential)… Issue of due respect & wisdom

…the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain

God said "Go!" check in Because although it's right To refuse to change truth To win man's favor It's not OK to be divided On major issues

They don't pull my strings But we are Family

They don't pull my strings But we are Family This is the line we're walking Legalism is wrong and… They're still Family

When we're divided And undermining each other On major issues We do violence to the gospel Of our King

So God said, "Go, Paul!"

But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek

There was some "conversation"

Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in- who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery- Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in- who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery-

Jesus set us free One of the attacks of the enemy Will always be to undo What Jesus has done And steal our joy and our faith

Professional Weaker Brother: Titus needs to convert to Judaism! Well, what about others who see his example?

Church Leaders (untaught): Maybe that's best. We don't want to cause problems and division and hurt the faith of less mature believers. We should serve one another

Mature Brother: …to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you

The moment we give in To something besides Jesus As our basis for righteousness We lose the gospel

…we did not yield in submission even for a moment…

The Professionally-Offended Can humble themselves And repent Or find somewhere else To cause problems

To Titus can stay a Full Gentile And everything is OK, right?

To Titus can stay a Full Gentile And everything is OK, right? Problem: What about Timothy?

Paul wanted to take Timothy along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek- Acts 16:3

Hypocrite…

Titus= Full Gentile Among Jewish believers And PWB's Timothy= Half-Jewish Among unbelieving Jews

I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some - Paul, 1 Cor. 9 I carry a cross. Here what it Looks like with unbelievers

Love gives people What they need Not always what they want Even if it costs to do so And they don't deserve it

Unbelievers need to know Jesus Bullying legalists need To hear "not for a moment" Because Jesus is enough

We don't give in to Professional Weaker Brothers We teach true Weaker Brothers We carry a cross in all of this

…to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you

And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)- those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)- those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me

Fear of Man Being Intimidated Showing Favoritism Never glorifies God And sets us up for compromise

God shows no partiality - Who God is- Supplies/Frees me - How God treats us - Who we all are in light of God's Holiness and our great need

God shows no partiality - Who God is - How God treats us - Who we all are in light of God's Holiness and our need

…those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me

On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised

…(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles)…

…and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me

…that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do

Unity, not Unanimity Or Clone-making How do you know God's in this? Can we celebrate Our differences to his Glory?

The Weaker brother means God will call me to: Sacrifice Teach Truth to Set Free = Great Unity and Freedom

The PWB: Manipulation Scripture-twisting Forced loss of freedom Division in the body over minors

The Mature Believer Gives no room to PWB's Esp. when it becomes a Measure of one's righteousness

But he will carry a cross For the sake of the Call

What's the answer To Jellybeans? "Follow your convictions, Brian And we'll follow ours…"

Cars and books? Let's deal with your heart Not my possessions

Baptism or you're not saved? …he saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy - Titus 3:5

Jesus set you free to follow him By faith Develop convictions, know truth But resolve to never export Convictions to others

Questions, Comments Disagreements

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