15
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.” 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question....
12 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. 13When they finished, James spoke up.
“Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how
God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. … 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the
Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 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.
Inevitably, there will be division
as a result of ministry. But there does not need to be needless division, and
today we will see the necessity of unity within the ministry.
When I led mission trips with
the youth, I would tell them that we need to remember two truths:
Truth #1 There is a God!
Truth #2 I am not Him!
By that, I meant that there
is an order to everything, and God is not a God of disorder. 1 Corinthians
14:33 (NIV) says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” The Greek
word for disorder is confusion, tumult, unquietness. In order to avoid disorder,
we must submit to God and His plan so that things will work harmoniously and in
unity. Part of submitting to God means that we must graciously submit to one
another in love (“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” --Ephesians
5:21).
What does that have to do
with today’s passage? A lot. Read in verse 2 that Paul and Barnabas “had no
small dissension and dispute” with some other Christians. Verse 7 says there
was “much dispute” on the issue of whether Gentile converts to Christianity had
to follow the Jewish custom of circumcision.
Undergoing circumcision in
order to become a part of the church was, to put it mildly, no small commitment.
Give me a baptistry of water any day!
An interesting point to
observe is that both sides of the issue were fervently presented. Yet when the
ruling came, there was great unity within the church. There is obviously a lot
of discussion which was left out here. It appears that those in disagreement
felt it was more important to be united than to be defiant! The spirit of unity
and submission is obvious.
The key word for today is
unity, but the key word behind unity can be found in verse 11: grace. Grace is
normally defined as “unmerited favor” or “an undeserved gift” (I like to
remember it as God’s Riches At Christ’s
Expense). We are saved by God’s
grace. Therefore, why should we fight and have disunity within the body? We are
saved by grace, but the letter from the “Jerusalem Council” added other
stipulations for new believers, especially Gentiles.
The first and second things
listed (Idolatry, sexual immorality) would affect the believers’ witness with
the pagan world. The last two things listed (eating strangled animals and consuming
blood, NLT) would affect the believers’ witness with non-Christian Jews. The
four prohibitions are NOT requirements for salvation; there is nothing other
than or in addition to the grace of God which saves us. These prohibitions at
the time were given because there are things we do and should not do after
our salvation that will help us serve as good witnesses.
Pray now that we all be of one accord
and of one mind in following the leadership of God through our authorities.
