Paul's Disagreement with Peter
Week 22 Memory Verse:
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20
Introduction:
"Rebuke in love." Somehow those words don't seem to go together. Kind of like some other oxymorons, such as "jumbo shrimp" or "civil war". How can you rebuke someone and love them at the same time? But this is what God asks us to do when we face problems with other believers.
As Christians we're all still wrestling with our sin nature even though we've been set free from sin. That being the case, there will be times when have to confront Christian friends-when they gossip to us about others, when they make dating decisions that are scripturally wrong, when act out of anger instead of love or forgiveness. But do have to confront them? And if we do, then how do we confront them? Can't we just pray for them? Actually, no.
Paul illustrates this point well, since he personally dealt with this issue on many occasions. On a return trip to Jerusalem, Peter began backing off from his convictions about Gentiles being allowed equal access in the church. So Paul boldly confronted him about it and the matter was resolved. Paul then wrote to the Galatians about the incident-not to gloat, but because they were committing the same sin.
Two things are certain: There will be conflict, and we have to be involved in resolving it. We do have a choice, though, in how we handle these situations. This week we're going to look how to handle conflicts among friends.
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