Racial Reconciliation & Walking in Step with the Gospel
Galatians 2:11-16
“There is no institution more equipped and capable of bringing transformation to the cause of reconciliation than the church. But we have some hard work to do.” ~ John Perkins
Main Idea: The church must walk in step with the truth of the gospel that powerfully brings reconciliation to racial division.
I. God’s Heart for Diversity & The Church at Antioch
The church in Antioch is a significant church in an important city in the Greco-Roman world.
The gospel is shared with Gentiles in Antioch & many of them turn in faith to Jesus
This church becomes home-base for Paul’s missionary journeys & had a multi-ethnic, diverse congregation & leadership (cf. Acts 13:1-3)
It is the first place the disciples are called “Chritians” as the gospel cut through deep ethnic divides in the city & brought racial harmony
Antioch is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is also a foreshadowing of Revelation 7:9, where God’s people from “every nation, from all tribes, and peoples, and languages” are gathered before the throne of Jesus, worshipping together.
“We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies.” ~ Justin Martyr
II. Walking Out of Step with the Gospel
Peter “eating” with the Gentiles in Antioch showed how the gospel had the power to break through all the reasons for division between Jews & Gentiles. Peter knew this power-first hand from Acts 10.
Acts 10:28: “And [Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.”
The “men from James” or the “circumcision party” were contending that Gentile believers needed to be circumcised & become Jewish in order to be saved (cf. Acts 15:1). Peter hypocritically acts out of “fear” of this group & separates himself from the Gentiles.
“Racial pride must have entered into [Peter’s mind]. It had been drilled into Peter, and all the Jews, since their youth that Gentiles were “unclean”. While hiding beneath the façade of religious observance, Peter & other Jewish Christians were probably still feeling disdain for Christians from “inferior” national & racial backgrounds. Peter was allowing culture differences to become more important than gospel unity.” Tim Keller
“For Jesus and for his Spirit-anointed apostles, there is no gospel apart from the exposure of sin, and the repentance demanded in its wake. And one of the oldest manifestations of flesh-worshipping devil-worship is racial superiority. To confront such sin is no distraction from the gospel. To the contrary, to not confront it, silently allowing it to sit in the psyches and consciences of the people, is not just a distraction from the gospel but a contradiction of it.” ~ Russell Moore
We must be on guard against the danger of having proper doctrine or theology but failing to live out the gospel. Peter was preaching the gospel but his conduct was “out of step with the truth of the gospel.”
III. Walking In Step with the Gospel
A proposal for what this practically looks like:
1. Embracing
Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:11: Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
2. Lamenting
3. Befriending
“The Bible calls us to weep with those who weep; it doesn’t tell us to judge whether they should be weeping.” ~ H.B. Charles Jr.
4. Speaking
5. Acting
