majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:6,
"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."
As Paul provides the account of when he visited Jerusalem to report to
the church there the gospel he preached among the Gentiles he makes
the above statement. He tells the Galatians that as he wanted to
insure he and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem were all on the
same page, he didn't really give a hoot as to who the other apostles
and leaders in Jerusalem were. His issue was that he wanted to insure
his efforts and those in Jerusalem were not at odds. The reason he
didn't care what importance these leaders might have had is simply
that he received his message and his authority to carry it from Jesus
Christ himself. Paul had all the greatest credentials anyone could
possibly have.
As I think of Paul's outlook in today's setting, it seems to me there
is always importance attached to anyone recognized as a leader.
Something of their message, their effectiveness, their results. Folks
tend to look up to those in leadership positions. Paul, however, was
in an arena where the authority of Jesus Christ was preeminent. Within
this arena, results, effectiveness, the ability to lead others, all
bow to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The very need for this letter of
Paul to the Galatian churches is testimony to the shortcoming of
traditional means of establishing authoritative leadership. These
Galatians had been swayed by the false teaching of "leaders" who had
led them astray.
Today we live in a time where there are many "leaders" who have
thousands and millions of followers. They fill the churches, the
coliseums, the stadiums, the arenas. They have massive attendance at
the seminars and conferences they hold and they bring in millions of
dollars to their ministries. We know they cannot all have the
authoritative endorsement of Jesus Christ because many of them are at
odds with one another.
This reminds me of God's perspective on those who seem to be
"leaders". "God does not judge by external appearance."
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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