We went to Houston last weekend for Carrie-Anne’s annual follow-up at M.D. Anderson and she got another perfect report. She’s great. No signs of cancer anywhere. Perfect picture of health. The doctors and oncologists refer to Carrie-Anne’s breast cancer as “history,” something in her past. Just walking the halls of M.D. Anderson, you’re reminded that not everyone gets that outcome. And we are eternally grateful. Two more years, two more of these annual appointments, and they don’t ever want to see us again. As wonderful as they are at that place and as beautifully as we’ve been treated, we’re good with that.
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“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong… he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” ~Galatians 3:11-12
Peter is refusing to share meals with Christians who have not been circumcised. He’s drawing back and separating himself from the Gentile Christians because some of the other Jewish Christians have started to talk.
Evidently, the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Antioch were all eating together. They were all experiencing and expressing their Christian unity together at these communion meals, these fellowship feasts. They weren’t worried about the Law of Moses because they’re all one in Christ. They ate together all the time. And when Peter came to Antioch, he joined in. He’s good. He’s participating in these church meals, these symbols of Christian unity. But then these Jewish Christians from Jerusalem show up and Peter excuses himself from the table. Either the presence of these men or their message–something–shook Peter up. The text says he was afraid. And he stopped eating with the Gentile Christians. His actions were so public and so influential that even Barnabas and some others also stopped attending the meals.
What Peter is saying by his actions is that Gentile Christians are only second-class Christians. Peter and these Jews are claiming to be better Christians. They are more saved, more correct, closer to God’s will, because of their Jewish culture.
If they want to eat with Peter and the other Jewish Christians, if they want the full benefits of God’s salvation, then they have to belong to a certain group: MY group. You have to conform to OUR rules. You have to adopt OUR customs. You have to embrace OUR traditions. Peter is saying, in essence, that salvation and the unity of God’s people is based on both grace and faith and circumcision and the law.
It’s got to be one or the other; it can’t be both.
This is not just a minor disagreement over a technical theological point; this is the very heart of the Gospel. It’s not a little squabble over a biblical interpretation; this is about our identity in Christ. Peter is “not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel” (Galatians 3:14).
When I was young–3rd, 4th, 5th grade, probably–I remember having conversations with Terry Brence, a friend of mine who lived around the corner. We played together nearly every day and I remember talking to him several times about “church.” I told him on many occasions he was not going to heaven because he didn’t go to church. I also remember telling Sherry Taylor, the girl who lived across the street, that she was not going to heaven because she was not going to the right church. She didn’t go to my church.
This is the way I was raised. I could invite my friends to VBS at our church, but I couldn’t attend VBS at their churches when they invited me. It’s not the right kind of church. They don’t do things the way we do things. My parents would invite my dad’s friends from work to attend our Gospel meetings, but we wouldn’t go to their churches when they invited us to their revivals. We were withdrawing and separating. And it wasn’t just our practice; it was our vision and mission!
We were so focused on our Church of Christ distinctives. We were obsessed with what makes Churches of Christ different from everybody else. We took pride in it.
We call it a “Gospel meeting,” not a “revival.” Because “revival” is not a biblical word. Although, it is.
It’s “preacher,” not “pastor.” Because “pastors” are really “elders.” But we don’t call our elders “pastors,” either, because that’s what the denominations say.
And we are NOT a denomination! Denomination is not a biblical word! We are different from everybody else!
We baptize by immersion, we do it the right way. And, yeah, we know some denominations baptize the right way, but they do it for the wrong reasons.
We call it an “offering,” not a “tithe.” It’s an “invitation song,” not an “altar call.”
I heard Ian Fair say one time that if we were so bent on being different from everybody else, why don’t we just put bars on all the church doors and go in and out through the windows.
Well, no, that would be silly. Just make sure you call it an “auditorium,” not a “sanctuary.”
Our focus on our distinctives, our obsession with what separates us from the rest of the Christian world, has resulted in several generations of us referring to the Churches of Christ as “The Church.”
She was raised in The Church. Are they members of The Church?
We say “The Church” and we’re only talking about us!
We’ll admit that folks in other churches are Christians, we’ll acknowledge that they’re saved. But some of us are reluctant to call them brothers and sisters in Christ. We hesitate to fellowship with them.
That kind of thinking and talking and acting is the very definition of drawing lines, drawing back and separating. We’re claiming to be better Christians, more saved, more correct, closer to God’s will, because of our Church of Christ culture.
If you want me to call you a brother or sister in Christ, then you have to belong to MY group. You have to conform to OUR rules, you have to adopt OUR customs, you have to embrace OUR traditions. What we’re saying is that salvation and the unity of God’s people is based both on grace and faith and interpretations and methods.
It’s got to be one or the other; it can’t be both.
Peace,
Allan
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