Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus + What = Saved

This is the question we come to this morning in Acts chapter 15.

Basically the early church has entered crisis mode.

They are at a turning point, a crossroads in their journey.

They have had new people join the church who are different in so many ways.

They talk different they dress different they eat different they sing different they are just different.

So the church has to answer the question of what does a Christian really look like?

how does someone go from being a non Christian to a Christian Christian?

Or Jesus plus what equals saved?

What do you have to add to Jesus to become a Christian like all the way?

Let’s look at these verses starting in Acts 15:1

So to just explain a little about what is going down here i need to fill in the gaps a little bit.

God had shown Peter in a dream that he was letting Gentiles into the church.

That what used to be unclean was now made clean.

Rehash the work of Paul and Barnabus...

Like Pork is back on the menu guys.

get you slab of ribs like now!.

So Peter had went and shared the gospel with a guy named Cornelius who was a jew who became a Christian along with a bunch of other non jews.

and God filled them with the Holy spirit the same way he had filled the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

So the church started reaching out to Gentiles a little bit.

but then Barnabas went and got Saul who is going to start being called Paul because well Saul is a Jewish name but Paul is a greek name and they are going to be ministering to the greeks and he wants to put as few walls between himself and them.

So they go down to Antioch and start preaching and then they start traveling around preaching and seeing people come to Christ left and right it is an amazing work of God!

But then just like now any time God is at work in the church Satan stirs people up to try and stop it.

They’re all excited they are loving watch God work and boom

These Pharisees show up and are like hey.

Ya’ll having a good time?

Yeah I thought so…well stop it.

You are doing it all wrong!

You can’t just let anyone into the church.

they have to obey our rules.

They have to go by our standards.

If they are going to be Christians then they have to be circumcised.

So what is at stake here?

Basically they force the issue of what does it take to be a Christian.

Jesus + What = Saved

So just so we can get where they’re coming from...

Jesus + What = Saved

Pretend for a minute you don’t know that answer yet.

Remember who these people are.

they aren’t the pharisees who reject Jesus they are the Jewish people who have believed on Jesus.

They have accepted Jesus as Messiah as King and Lord and Savior.

But…they were raised differently.

they were raised to keep the law.

Like the rules God gave to them through Moses.

I mean circumcision goes all the way back to Abraham.

It was the sign of the covenant of God with his people.

Why?

I don’t know honestly it just was.

They had been told don’t eat certain animals

they had been told certain rituals for washing.

they had over 600 different laws that God had commanded them for how they were supposed to live and how they were to be different than the world around them.

everything they did revolved around the law.

Their traditions and culture had been the same for 1000’s of years.

We don’t need to look past this guys.

I mean think about how hard it is for us to change our traditions and most of them really really new.

Like just a little over a hundred years ago churches were fighting over this new instrument that is of the devil.

Their traditions and culture had been the same for 1000’s of years.

We don’t need to look past this guys.

I mean think about how hard it is for us to change our traditions and most of them really really new.

Like just a little over a hundred years ago churches were fighting over this new instrument that is of the devil.

You know the Piano, theres pastors sermons about how Fannie Crosby is the devil cause she writes songs for that evil Piano.

Why did we start using it in church?

Because that was the type of music people listened to.

Then before that was the Organ and before that well they had huge debates over whether or not there should be any accompaniment at all.

and before that they debated over whether or not they should sing any songs that were not found in the book of Psalms because it’s a sin to sing anything in church that is not Scripture.

and before that they debated whether or not they should sing at all because you don’t want people coming too church just to be entertained.

And that’s all within the last 3 or 4 hundred years.

And that’s just music I mean what about clothing and food and tv and electronics on and on we go.

I mean i have opinions on all of these things.

Like I do not understand why people where gym clothes everywhere now when it is obvious they are not going to work out....

I mean our traditions are man created and less than a 100 years old like pre 1900 almost nothing we do was done the way we do it.

And we still have a hard time letting it go.

So if you think it’s hard to let go of your traditions and culture imagine if they came from the Bible and you and your people had followed those traditions for 1000’s of years.

It would be hard right?

Sure, change is hard for anyone old and young.

It doesn’t matter who you are we as people just don’t like change.

Like I’m still upset at Kroger…I used to do alot of grocery shopping and the kids eat alot of pop tarts cause i mean we want them to have a healthy breakfast...

but Kroger went in and moved all their stuff around and put the pop tarts on a different aisle than cereal what’s up with that?

it’s a breakfast food people!

Change is hard, Change is Painful, Change is Necessary

Change is hard, Change is Painful.

Change happens whether we want it to or not.

Take Peter for example when God told him back in chapter 10 to eat those unclean animals Peter told him no.

Peter said no to God.

God had to be like now listen son…

So yeah change is hard for all of us.

And that’s what these Jewish Christians are experiencing.

And these Jewish people are learning this first hand.

All of sudden they have all these people who look different than them.

who eat different food than them

who dress different

who talk different

who have all kinds of weird things they do.

And to top it all off they aren’t even Circumcised.

The sign of God’s people.

The seal of God’s Promise to Abraham to make them a special people.

To set them apart.

I had someone tell me a while back that i should wear a suit to preach in because that is what would set me apart.

Not much different than what these people’s response was...

So their response is if you aren’t circumcised you are not a Christian you are not saved you are lost.