#27 - Kyle Thompson // Godly Companionship is CONFRONTATIONAL

Godly companionship is confrontational . We're going to do that by looking at an interaction between Peter and Paul as described in Galatians 2 . Now I love me some , peter . You know why ? Because I see a lot of myself in him .

Now , before you think that's me patting myself on the back and giving myself , you know , a great compliment , I mean that I see a lot of myself in the bad parts of Peter . The dude always has something to say , right , which I can appreciate , but you can tell that he rarely stops to consider . Should I say this ? Is this the right time to say this thing ?

So , peter the rock , the man that Jesus put in charge of the church , the man that spent three years at Jesus' side during his public ministry , he bought into the concept of Gospel Plus . Now , you may not have ever heard of Gospel Plus . Maybe you're thinking that this is a new service you might be interested in .

It's the gospel , but for $9.99 a month you can get access to Gospel Plus or something like that , and that's you know . Not exactly what I'm talking about . Okay , I'm talking about the fact that Peter that Peter lost the thread of the true gospel message , a message that is sweet enough on its own , a message that doesn't need any additions .

But Peter , as many of us are , was susceptible to influence from outside parties . In the case of Galatians 2 , we see that Peter had been influenced by the Judaizers , or , as they were commonly known , the Circumcision Party .

This group believed that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was not enough to provide propitiation for our sin debt , that we also had to keep the Jewish laws and traditions as well . This obviously caused issues for Gentile converts to Christianity , the same converts that Peter was now distancing himself from because of the influence of the Judaizers .

He was essentially ostracizing the exact people that he had previously been fellowshipping with . The apostle Paul caught wind of this , and so he decided to do something about it . So Galatians 2 , verses 11 through 14 .

But when Cephas that's , peter came to Antioch , I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned For before certain men came from James , he was eating with the Gentiles . But when they came , he drew back and separated himself , fearing the circumcision .

Party , and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him , so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy .

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel , I said to Cephas Peter , 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 ? So here's the thing , guys Paul doesn't convene a meeting of close friends to discuss how to approach Peter's actions .

He doesn't write a softly worded letter with a little bit of pointedness to discuss how to approach Peter's actions . He doesn't write a softly worded letter with a little bit of pointedness to leave in Peter's mailbox . He doesn't even grab Peter by the elbow and , you know , pull him aside to give him a slight correction .

No , paul tells us in the text I opposed him to his face and he did so publicly , in front of everyone . And we can see from the narrative of Acts 15 that Peter accepted this rebuke from Paul and changed his position by the time of the Jerusalem council .

But the main point I want us to consider today is that Paul , a man , confronted Peter , a man , to his face . Now this is going to sound like a hard left turn , but please follow me . I think one of the worst things about modern manhood is that there are too many men that have not experienced being punched in the face .

I'm serious , like you think I'm kidding . No , I am dead serious . There are too many men walking around in polite society right now having never felt the sting of a nice , straight right . They also haven't experienced the feeling of being punched in the face and then realizing well , that wasn't very fun , but I'm alive .

You know , I'm not made of glass , you know , it's all good . And it's because of things like that which lead me to believe that this is partially why many men refuse to rebuke other men to their faces . Now , I've had some pretty intense confrontations with men that I love and care deeply for .

But I surmised in those moments , even in my limited wisdom , that if I follow through with the rebuke , that the worst case scenario is that they're going to punch me in the face . And with that in mind , I rebuked them anyway , and in some cases I did so publicly .

Now I decided to put those relational chips in the center of the table , knowing that it might go poorly for me , but I did it anyway . Why ? Because that is what was best for them . In this situation , peter is sinning . Paul recognizes that . He sees that in his brother . Paul decided to do something about it .

Paul risked backlash and a potentially kinetic , negative reaction from Peter because he knew it was what God would want him to do , risk of punch to the face notwithstanding . So here's a couple of questions for you today . Do you have men that will oppose you to your face ?

And here's another one Are you willing to oppose someone to their face regardless of the consequences ? If not , you need to fix it . Don't miss tomorrow .