In the midst of big discussions in the early church about what actually qualifies as The Gospel, the Apostle Paul visited the Biggies of the Faith - James, Peter, and John - in Jerusalem. He sought them out to double-check his own understanding of Christian teaching "for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain". (Gal. 2:2)
Fortunately for Paul, the Big Three gave him the thumbs up and "the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me." (2:9) They could see that Paul was called and equipped by God to reach the Gentiles just as they were to reach the Jews. And their message was the same message.
It is interesting to note that after all of them agreed on the core of the Gospel - our need to put our faith in Christ Jesus and thereby to be justified in a way not ever possible by observing the law - they went on to agree on one more thing:
"All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (2:10)
Of all the things they could ask of Paul as they sent him on his way, they chose "remember the poor".
And Paul responded by saying he was "eager" to do it.
How about you?
What does remembering the poor look like in your own life?
Are you eager to do it?
No comments:
Post a Comment