Grace not Works
Notes
Transcript
No Rules Just Jesus
No Rules Just Jesus
The church is young. Paul has been on one missionary journey. The New Testament scriptures have not taken form yet, most of the books had probably not even been begun let alone completed. The Apostles and the elders in Jerusalem were the leaders and the authority on earth. Remember, the apostles had to be witnesses of Jesus on earth from the beginning and seen him resurrected. They had an authority given to them by Jesus himself and the early church based most of its understanding on the scriptures and the apostles teaching under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. So, problems had to arise the more the gospel spread from Jerusalem.
Interestingly enough the first major problem in the church was over the relationship of Jewish law and custom to salvation through Jesus Christ.
Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
A group of Jewish believers left Jerusalem and started adding to the gospel of faith in Christ alone. They said you had to be circumcised to be saved. There is a lot more to this than just being circumcised. We know from the history of the church, and later in this passage that this group was trying to make Gentiles obey the whole law of Moses. That basically, they believed and were teaching, that if you wanted to be saved you had to believe in Jesus AND become a practicing Jew.
Now this is direct opposition to the gospel Peter, Paul, Barnabas and others were preaching to the Gentiles. They had proclaimed the message that Faith in Jesus was all you needed. Obviously, Paul and Barnabas were upset and the new gentile believers were confused. So, they went to the authority to figure out what was going on. More than likely they had no idea if these teachers came from the apostles or if they were on their own. They wanted answers.
Guess what! To this day, people have been adding to the gospel. Adding works, adding requirements, adding rules. This has been since the beginning of the church. And they dealt with it and what became known as the Council of Jerusalem.
The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
I love this little part. The group of believers led by Paul and Barnabas headed to Jerusalem, but as they traveled they told of God’s work in the Gentiles. Check out where. Phoenicia and Samaria. These were two places that had huge problems with traditional Judaism. They had been ostracized because of difference in worship and race. But they celebrated to hear how God was at work in the Gentiles. This was great news for them.
Paul, Barnabas and crew make it to Jerusalem and give an update of all God had been doing in the Gentiles and on their missionary journey. How the church had expanded, how the Holy Spirit was being poured out on Jewish and Gentile believers. And everyone was excited.
But then the opposition rose and got back to “CHURCH BUSINESS”.
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
Before we start booing the pharisees. Let’s realize these men had spent their lives completely dedicated to law of Moses. But when Jesus came they trusted him. But like so many others in history, they fell back into what made them comfortable. They fell back into the comfort they had in the law. They liked the do’s and don’ts. It was not confusing to them. They always knew what to do. This is what many people have done in the church over the years. They have fallen back into what makes them comfortable.
Don’t we do the same thing to some extent. We find a rut that is comfortable and we stick in it. We come to church on Sunday, small group during the week. Perhaps we make sure we read our devotional in the morning and go through our prayer list. All of these things are good, but they are not what saves us. In fact, they are not even required to be saved. Faith in Jesus is all that is required.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
But these Pharisees took acts of devotion and made them requirements for relationships.
The elders and the apostles knew something had to be done.
The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.
God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.
He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?
No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.
Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.
The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—
things known from long ago.
“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
So much here! This was a real debate. It was a real discussion. We don’t know how long it lasted, but we know it lasted for a while.
After a lot of discussion Peter gets up and reminds everyone of his experience with the Gentiles. Let’s look at it again.
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.
God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.
He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?
No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
This would have been so cool to see. In the middle of debate, Peter, gets up and just throws it down. He lays down what he knew. What the Holy Spirit had shown him.
God knows the heart. God accepted the gentiles because of their faith. He proved it by pouring the Holy Spirit out. God did not wait until they followed some custom. He did not tell Peter to add a list of rules. God looked only at their heart.
Then Peter reminds all gathered of why Jesus came. He came because man could not live up to the law. So Peter asks why were they trying to make the Gentiles do something they could not do.
Then he closes with the gospel with no additions. The true and authentic gospel.
No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
It is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. Just as we are!
Now tell me something. Is that not what we need to be proclaiming today to the world just like they needed to proclaim it to the world then.
Isn’t that what the world needs to hear today. Not a list of rules. Not a political platform! Not all the things Christians are against! But the lost need to hear it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as you are!
Now I am not saying we need to stop standing up for injustice or immorality. Neither was Peter. But we need to make sure the true gospel is the message nonbelievers are hearing and not a gospel with strings added on. That is definitely the message of Acts 15.
I love the next verse:
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
The debate was over. The story of God’s work in the Gentiles was all the proof they needed. The direction of the discussion went somewhere else. It went to what God was doing!
But they still needed to have a final word on the situation. James, most likely the brother of Jesus, who had become the leader of the church in Jerusalem stands up and lays it all out.
When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.
Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.
The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—
things known from long ago.
“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
Check this out. He Checked it against scripture. He did not let experience outrank scripture. That is something we must always do.
Then he lays out the plan. The discussion is over. It is time for action. He did not wait for a church vote. He did not send it to committee. He spoke.
“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Keep it simple.
Keep the gospel simple, because it is.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Salvation comes from faith in Jesus.
Salvation comes from faith in Jesus.
Salvation comes from faith in Jesus alone. Nothing else. God sees your heart. He knows what you believe. That is where salvation comes from. not what we do, but whose we are. Who we put our trust in.
But James encouraged the Gentiles that they should avoid some things. Some might think these are requirements for salvation, but James says at the close of his letter to the Gentiles, that they would “do well to avoid such things.” Acts 15:29
Let’s quickly look at the 4 things James says they should avoid.
Abstain from food polluted by idols
Sexual immorality
Eating Strangled meat
Eating Blood
Aren’t those interesting. There are so many other things I would have said you should avoid. Wouldn’t you? Don’t murder, Don’t hate, Pretty much any of the ten commandments, but those were not the ones James listed. Instead he listed 3 things about food and 1 about immorality.
Why do you think he said these would be good things to avoid. Could it be that many of the Jewish believers still practiced cleanliness part of the law. They could not be in fellowship in with those who were ceremonially unclean. And meals were such an important part of the early church. So, maybe James was instructing Gentiles to help out their Jewish believing brothers who had not come to realize the full scope of God’s grace. Maybe James was instructing the Gentiles not to cause their Jewish brothers and sisters to stumble.
These were not rules about salvation. They were most likely guidelines to maintain fellowship. Much like if you were going to have a recovering alcoholic over for dinner you would not serve wine.
And avoiding sexual immorality fits into the same thing. They needed to avoid sexual immorality because of the damage it caused in fellowship between human relationships and their relationship with God. Remember in those days much like today sexual immorality was common place. It was Rampant. The Holy spirit was guiding James to help his people remain in fellowship with each other.
But let’s get back to the main point here.
We cannot add to the Gospel!
We cannot add to the Gospel!
WE CANNOT ADD TO THE GOSPEL. Isn’t that the essence of our giant sign? but more than that isn’t the essence of the cross. People are saved by faith in the gracious act of Jesus PERIOD. When we look for anything else to save us we are adding to the gospel. So don’t do that!
The elders and the apostles send a letter to the church universal summarizing the discussion. and the Gentile church responds Joy Acts 15:33.
The church had a problem, and they dealt with it. They knew how important it was to keep the purity of the gospel.
We should do that in our own lives as well. Examine ourselves to make sure we as the church are not hindering the gospel by adding to it.