“But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”” (Galatians 2:14, ESV)
One of the difficult things for me to do is to confront someone when I see that their actions are off. I guess it is a problem of pride in that I do not want to offend people and always want people to like me. But I have discovered that it is essential to confront when people are doing things that are wrong.
I had no problem doing this when I served as an officer in the United States Army. When one of my troops would do something that could hinder the mission, harm others, or damage equipment, I would not hesitate to take corrective action.
It was the same when I was in manufacturing management. If some one would do something that was creating defective product, I would step in right away to critique and have the problem corrected.
In the ministry of the gospel, it should be no different. In fact, the ramifications of letting errors go uncorrected in the ministry are significantly more severe. Errors in the ministry of the gospel have an eternal impact. For this reason, preachers need to preach the whole truth of God’s word, realizing that sometimes the preacher will step on the toes of a parishioner and that some may reject the message.
It also means that when we observe people’s actions that conflict with the truth of the gospel, we must do something. It may be a sin of commission or omission that we observe, but in either case, confrontation is necessary.
As mentioned in the previous devotion, this is especially true when it comes to the preaching and demonstrating of the truth of God’s word. Remember that Peter’s response to the Judaizers, by removing from the table of the Gentiles, began a chain reaction. Something needed to be done about the problem and urgently, before things got totally out of hand. The man of the hour was Paul.
Paul confronted Peter with the problem. Peter (Cephas) being a Jew understood the gospel perfectly. He had preached it. Faith in Christ alone was essential for salvation. He understood that both Jew and Gentile were free from the restrictions of the Mosaic Law. Peter not only knew the truth, but also held to this truth for his salvation. Yet he caved to the legalists.
Paul confronted Peter with this issue. Since Peter, as a Jew was living by faith in Christ, why through his actions was he demonstrating that Gentiles should need to observe the Mosaic law? While it does not specifically state so in this letter, with this rebuke the issue was resolved. Peter and Barnabas, who pulled into the problem, turned from their error.
This is the way things must work in the local congregations. When we see error, sins of commission or omission, or anything in between, action must be taken immediately. Unfortunately, we often delay in taking the appropriate action, which allows the problem to fester and a chain reaction to influence more and more people. Timely and correct response is essential. There are many passages of Scripture that come to mind in this. The Lord gave instruction in Matthew 18:15, ff. Later in this letter we see Paul’s words on how to confront.
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1, ESV)
What we will see in every case is that true believers who are sincerely trying to serve the Lord will respond positively to gentle confrontation. Doing this in a timely manner is essential and it will stop a chain reaction of problems.
Renewing the Heart 