MInistry

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

MINISTRY  

Gal 2:6-10

6 As for those who seemed to be important — whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance — those men added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.   8 For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

NIV

We are not sure as to who Paul is referring to when he mentions those who seem to be important in appearance. Our scholars make an attempt to rewrite this phrase using the Greek, but it seems they are not using the Greek as it is written. They want to say the phrase should say, “As for those who are of the high reputation it does not make any difference to my ministry”. The problem is they leave out the part that a person’s continence or appearance does not matter to God. What the truth about this whole idea that it did not matter to Paul how others appeared as far as they high position, reputation, or how they thought about their own importance as the original Apostles. It did not affect his calling God had placed upon his life or the effectiveness of his ministry.  Paul goes on to say that it was on the contrary that when they saw God had entrusted him with the task of preaching to the Gentiles they extended the right hand of fellowship to him. The point Paul was making is that God was at work in the ministry of Peter as well as in his ministry. It is not the work of men, but the work of God in men. What we glean from this truth should certainly have an effect on how we approach our ministry and that of others. It would appear it does not matter how someone appears to be Godly or have a ministry, or appear important in the church. That is not to say they are not Godly or have a ministry or are important in the church. What we should consider it does not matter how God works in them as much as how God works in us and our calling and ministry. We should not focus on how God works in them as much as how God works in us. This is not a competition to see how great we are in the church or how much we do or how busy we are doing ministry stuff. As Peter and Paul came to the agreement that Peter was to preach the Gospel to the Jews and Paul was to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, we should come to that same kind of agreement. We each have a calling that is different than others. God works in each of us, just maybe not in the same way, as he calls each of us to a different task. He gifts each of us according to the task he has purposed for us to fulfill. However, there are also some general tasks to which we all have been called, such as they agreed both of them should remember the poor. Maybe that is the only general theme we all should remember, the poor. But it would seem throughout scripture they are many other general themes, such as loving each other which covers all of the other themes. So then let us agree, each of us will have God working in us to accomplish that which he has called us to, and we will focus on our calling and his working in us, while at the same time praising God for how he is working in the lives of others, and remember all that we can do together in those general themes.