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Excerpts from a Bite & Devour Sermon – Truth and Unity

·       Paul’s life provides a model of Christian peacemaking. He recognized the gospel as both “the word of truth” and “the gospel of peace” in Ephesians. When compromise was an acceptable course of action to help believers live together in harmony, he was ready and willing to compromise.  But when the truths of the gospel and God’s Word were at stake, Paul would not compromise the truth or appease anyone, even friends.  He would not yield an inch of ground to the enemies of the gospel.
·       Paul understood that peace and unity cannot exist apart from the truth of the gospel. To compromise the gospel of truth would be to lose what creates our unity and peace: When a decision must be made between unity and truth, unity must yield to truth; for it is better to be divided by truth than to be united by error. We test the church by truth, not truth by the church. The apostles judged the Christian community by the norm of divine revelation.
·       Paul’s life provides a model of Christian peacemaking. He recognized the gospel as both “the word of truth” and “the gospel of peace” in Ephesians. When compromise was an acceptable course of action to help believers live together in harmony, he was ready and willing to compromise.  But when the truths of the gospel and God’s Word were at stake, Paul would not compromise the truth or appease anyone, even friends.  He would not yield an inch of ground to the enemies of the gospel.
·       Paul understood that peace and unity cannot exist apart from the truth of the gospel. To compromise the gospel of truth would be to lose what creates our unity and peace: When a decision must be made between unity and truth, unity must yield to truth; for it is better to be divided by truth than to be united by error. We test the church by truth, not truth by the church. The apostles judged the Christian community by the norm of divine revelation.
·       Like his Lord, Paul faced sin squarely. He didn’t sweep problems and sins under the rug and declare peace when there was no peace. He took peace-breaking sins seriously. When Jesus cleansed the temple and drove out the moneychangers, he brought peace to the temple worship. He reestablished spiritual well-being and wholeness to the covenant people of God (John 2:13-17).
·       In a similar way, Paul often engaged in conflict with false teachers who were sowing discord and division among God’s people. When Paul and Barnabas resisted false teachers who began teaching a law-centered gospel in the new church in Antioch, for example, they and the apostles and elders of Jerusalem made a united, written declaration of Gentile freedom from Jewish law keeping (Acts 15:1-2, 6-35). Their efforts to stop false teaching brought peace and well-being to the churches (Acts 15:31).
·       As one who labored sacrificially for truth and peace, Paul knew well the personal, painful cost of establishing and maintaining true peace in a hostile world. Paul Rees describes Paul’s attitude toward peacemaking this way: “When unity was broken, his heart broke with it. When unity was strengthened his soul sang.”
·       Like his Lord, Paul faced sin squarely. He didn’t sweep problems and sins under the rug and declare peace when there was no peace. He took peace-breaking sins seriously. When Jesus cleansed the temple and drove out the moneychangers, he brought peace to the temple worship. He reestablished spiritual well-being and wholeness to the covenant people of God (John 2:13-17).
·       In a similar way, Paul often engaged in conflict with false teachers who were sowing discord and division among God’s people. When Paul and Barnabas resisted false teachers who began teaching a law-centered gospel in the new church in Antioch, for example, they and the apostles and elders of Jerusalem made a united, written declaration of Gentile freedom from Jewish law keeping (Acts 15:1-2, 6-35). Their efforts to stop false teaching brought peace and well-being to the churches (Acts 15:31).
·       As one who labored sacrificially for truth and peace, Paul knew well the personal, painful cost of establishing and maintaining true peace in a hostile world. Paul Rees describes Paul’s attitude toward peacemaking this way: “When unity was broken, his heart broke with it. When unity was strengthened his soul sang.”