Zach’s Theological Musings

  Galatians is a book about the gospel – the true gospel versus a false gospel. Paul was an apostle, a herald sent to proclaim the gospel. Galatians 2 tells about a meeting between Peter, God’s chosen apostle to the Jews in particular, and Paul — set apart as apostle to the Gentiles. The meeting was about the core of the gospel that each was proclaiming. As they extended the right hand of fellowship to each other and bless each other on their way, something seems to almost come up “out of the blue” in this context:

They only asked us to remember the poor– the very thing I also was eager to do. - Galatians 2:20

  “Go Paul, preach justification by faith, preach the sufficiency of Christ and the cross, establish churches,… and as you go, be sure to remember the poor.”

  “But of course!”, he replies.

  This scene is so much more pleasant than some of the Christian infighting that frequently goes on regarding what form of ministry is most important. “Evangelism is more important than social action.” “No! Social action is more important than evangelism.” Whoa, brothers, hold on! It’s not a bad thing to be passionate about evangelism and church-planting missions. It is not a bad thing to be passionate about social action and domestic ministry. We’re not each other’s enemy.

  I really like this quote found on a particular page of the Desiring God website:

We do not want to compete for funding with churches, mission agencies, and organizations focusing on the poor and persecuted. We’d rather compete with McDonalds, Microsoft, and Miramax.

  Do you have a zeal to see the gospel reach the remote tribes of the world and you get frustrated to hear about a church “throwing away” their money on some domestic ministry project that seems not nearly so desperate? Or is it the opposite, do you have a zeal to help the poor in your community and you get frustrated when church members want to send money to some far off place while there are so many needs back here at home? Hey, don’t bite and devour each other. I dare say Christians will probably never be guilty of too much evangelism, too much social action, too much foreign missions effort, or too much domestic ministry. Too much time and money spent on videos games, vacations, and vehicles is entirely likely, but we can never love God too much, and we can never do too much to love fellow man for His sake.

  Oh sure, imbalances do exist. And they do need to be addressed at times. But in general, if you are passionate about something (anything!) that brings glory to God and is for the genuine well-being of man, then great! I want to be one who encourages you. Even if the area of service on your heart is not the same direction that I want to invest my limited time, talent, and treasure, if you are doing something more valuable that watching TV, then I salute you! (And if someone out there is truly watching TV for the glory of God, well then, um, please explain that one to me for my future reference.)

  I pray that within the church of Jesus Christ missions would not be the enemy of domestic ministry, and social action would not be the enemy of evangelism, but rather that all things which are good and righteous and pure would triumph over the frivolous, the sinful, and the shallow pleasures of this world.