Law and Order Acts 15
If someone who named the name of Christ and smoked cigarettes, would you say they were a Christian? What about if they swore occasionally – only when they got angry; or what about if they had a little problem with gossip or telling half-truths in order to protect someone – Christian or not? What about if they struggled with a bit of online immorality? What about pre-marital sex? What about if they didn’t live together, is that ok? Let’s get more extreme; they just got jailed for murder, yet they name the name of Christ, before and after the murder.
As we said last week, you know them by their fruit; good tree, good fruit. But we all sin, so is there a cut off line? This sin is minor - still in; this one not – you’re out?
We’ll get into that soon, but this is exactly what the New Testament church was dealing with and the devil loves splitting theological hairs. Why? Because it takes the focus away from the real power of the Gospel.
Antioch was seeing lots of people coming to Christ. They were becoming the new hub for Christianity; things were moving away from Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas were ministering there. Paul, in fact, was asked by Barnabas to come from his hometown of Tarsus to Antioch. He did, they taught together and the Holy Spirit saved lots and lots of Gentiles. Gentiles did stuff, they ate stuff and believed stuff that, quite frankly, wasn’t Kosher. It didn’t align with the Old Testament Law of Moses. So, what do you do?
The most powerful thing against a spirit of pride or hypocrisy is the undeniable display of God’s power. When Jesus taught in the synagogues, on the Sabbath when what was considered work was not to be done, the power of God was undeniable: a man’s arm regrew when Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, ‘stretch out your hand;’ or an old woman, bent and crippled over for 18 years because of a demonic spirit, was freed and walked uprightly; people were raised back to life. These were undeniable displays of God’s power and grace. Paul and Barnabas shared these similar stories. So, you might, as a Jewish believer, be confronted by this.
But observed truth would surely convince you of the error of your ways. They came to Jerusalem and told the Apostles and the gathered church all that the Lord had done. But “some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses." (verse 5) Well, where do you start and stop once you begin applying the law? It’s a never-ending legal minefield. What does God actually require? This is a really important question; the early church wrestled with it…and we still do. E.g. who’s in and who’s out? Where is the line? Without holiness, no one will see the Lord, the writer to the Hebrews said. But Paul elsewhere said, “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbour.” (1 Corinthians 10:23, 24)
Paul had been preaching to the Gentiles for many years and was very aware of the challenges that Jewish customs posed to their faith. Paul saw the danger in adding Jewish customs to the Gospel of grace, as it could cause confusion and undermine the truth of salvation by faith alone. Paul, writing to the Galatians, forcefully defended the Gospel of grace, arguing that justification comes through faith in Christ alone, not by following the law of Moses or performing Jewish customs. So, at this Council, Paul spoke in support of the decision not to burden the Gentiles with circumcision and other Jewish customs.
Peter then piped up and shared his story: “you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.” (verses 7-9) Peter declared that it is the Holy Spirit who makes us converted and therefore right before God. Peter said, “we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." Grace alone saves, regardless of whether we are Jews or Gentiles.
Peter could speak from experience. Remember, Peter was the one who had the vision of the sheet falling down from heaven filled with unclean animals and Peter was told to rise up, kill and eat. He, being a Jew, found this obnoxious, but God assured him they were now clean. As such, the message was that the Gentiles were clean before the Lord. The first example was Cornelius the Centurion and the Holy Spirit fell on this group of Gentiles, just as it did at Pentecost.
The grace of God and the power of God was undeniable. Clearly, God had approved of the Gentiles by His supernatural presence.
1. The Gospel is for all people, regardless of their background or culture
2. Our unity is based on the Gospel of grace, not on external practices or cultural norms
3. We must be careful not to burden others with our cultural or personal preferences in matters of faith
4. We should prioritize the preaching of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit over our own opinions and traditions
5. We should be discerning in our choices and avoid practices that are clearly grieving to God’s Spirit.
But how does any of this apply? Because surely God requires some law and order. I mean, after all, He is called the Holy Spirit, so surely there needs to be some holiness exhibited. The reason I ask is that there is always a little Pharisee in us ready to find the line of what is allowed and what isn’t: who is entering heaven and who is not. How do we tell, and what do we allow? If we say all things are possible even all things aren’t profitable, how do we know what’s permissible in our lives?
Paul asked in Romans should we sin that grace may abound? I.E grace has got us anyway, so sin like there’s no tomorrow. Paul explained it this way in Romans 6:15-18, “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” We are free to honour God. Why? Because we are slaves, bought by God’s gracious calling and election. You are free to find the full expression of God’s will for you, not your own.
Blood-bought grace changes people and there should be evidence of that. This is the Spirit’s power on display in you and me. We supernaturally don’t follow the flesh. This is part of our testimony to a lost world that has no power. We have a Spirit of Power, love and sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:17) Well, the reverse is also true. Religious laws don’t save; that’s what the Jerusalem Council confirmed and we must do the same today. The law is death to the Spirit of the Gospel. Holiness is expressed through grace.