Challenge accepted... Stand Firm!

Scripture: Galatians 2:1-2a; Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. 2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. 

Observations: Paul was listening to the Holy Spirit now for guidance and direction in his day to day. He took gentile converts with him to Jerusalem for companionship, but also to see how the Jewish converts would respond to gentile followers. Would they try to demand that they be circumcised? This would be going backwards to legalism, and Paul would stand firm on this conflict. This trip is considered by some to be the “famine trip”, where Paul also consulted with the Jerusalem church about whether they needed relief. Perhaps the Jerusalem leadership wasn’t demanding about circumcision because they needed help. Oh yes, remember they were human too. While there, Paul met with the leadership and compared their messages of the gospel to be sure they were aligned; and they were. What Paul had received in revelation from God aligned with what Peter and the other leaders had heard from Jesus.

Application: We need the Holy Spirit to guide us today. Remember, when listening to the Holy Spirit, that God’s ways are not man’s ways. The Holy Spirit guides us in ways that express His fruit, and His character and biblical truth. Often this conflicts with culture and what culture practices. The Holy Spirit’s guidance may also conflict with popular church doctrine and worldviews. As Paul took a stand about an important doctrinal issue, circumcision, we too have to stand firm today. For example, denominations are splitting over whether there can be homosexuals in church leadership. As pastors. And Paul would have left the fellowship with the Jerusalem church if they had tried to force circumcision upon gentile converts, because he believed it was nullifying the gospel to add a “works” requirement to it. There are so many other issues we navigate as churches, like immigration, gender identity and what it looks like to love while speaking truth. We need the Holy Spirit desperately to help us stand firm and stay obedient to His Word, while still loving the lost to Christ.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, lead us and guide us today as we are desperate for Your voice and influence.