Jerusalem Council

Sermon Text: Acts 15:1-35

Intro

Hook: My family (my parents and siblings). How many of you have siblings? Who has the most siblings? Significant others have joined the family over the years. They all have their quirks that they bring into the family, especially as we grew up. I’ll tell you about two: Mike. Give the background as to how one should conduct themself on a first time meeting the family. Getting to know the family. Well, Mike decided to… Hence the name by which we remember him: Mike the ape. Another man whose name I do not know, but thought he would make his way into our family, impressing my sister with this wooden instrument. Now we are a weird family, but these things were next level. As a family, we had certain rules by which we conducted ourselves. Being raised in a Christian home, we had the rules of no cussing, we had a curfew by which we needed to be home by every night, we had a system in place by my parents called BCH. We had to do BCH before we could do what we really wanted to do - which was play games. But first, we would always have these traditions by which we conducted ourselves. So whenever someone would join our family, would we make them assimilate to our way of doing things? Are they going to become like one of us?

Thesis: Tonight we will ask and answer the question: What is the family of God?

Specifically, how should the Gentiles join the family of God?

Context: For the longest time, the family of God was the Jewish people, plus a few outsiders, but mainly Jewish people. But in the time after Jesus, the Gentiles officially joined in the family of God. But the Jews had a tradition! They had a certain way of doing things, they had customs and rituals and rules, just like any other people group. And the Gentiles had their own cultural norms, too, but they had one major difference: they were without God (Ephesians 2). For the most part, they did not follow Yahweh. But now, after Jesus came, they are being brought into the family of God. So, how is all this going to work out?

Read Acts 15:1-11, summarize 12-21 (Paul, Barnabas, and James join the debate and reach a conclusion together, which is found in: Acts 15:22-29, summarize 30-35 (Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Judas give this letter to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles rejoice)

Pray

Body

MP#1 : Liberty

Assertion: Coming back to our earlier question: How should the Gentiles join the family of God? They join with liberty (freedom).

Evidence: vv. 9, 11, 19

Commentary: If God saved the Gentiles through the preaching of the Gospel, then that is enough. If the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised before God saved them, why would they need to be circumcised afterward? Also, the Gentiles were saved without obeying the law of Moses. So, now that they are already saved, why burden them with the law of Moses as if it were necessary for their salvation? This gets back to the way someone is saved. If I were an atheist and I asked you, “How I can be saved?” What would you say? What do I need to do?

Salvation is by faith. If you have confidence that Jesus actually loved you by dying for your sins, then you will be saved. It’s not about whether or not you have said a cussword in your life. It’s not about getting home before a curfew. It’s not about how many times you have read the Bible or how good you act around your siblings and parents. These things are important, but they don’t save you. Only faith in Jesus saves you. Cussing and lying and stealing are examples of what make you wrong before God. But faith makes you right before God. Returning to the discussion the Jews had about the Gentiles, it’s not about circumcision, though that was important. It’s not about keeping the law of Moses, which they failed to do. Nothing except faith saves you! And salvation is the most important thing you can ever receive in your life!

As a benefit of your salvation, you are free! Nothing can condemn you anymore. The consequences for your sins are paid! But what kind of freedom is this? Are you free from everything? Are you free from obeying the speed limit? Are you free from every law?

MP#2 : Love

Assertion: The Gentiles join with love. Gentiles, ourselves included, are free to love. And love looks like obedience. Love leads to obedience. Specifically, obedience to God and therefore to his word. And his word tells us we must obey certain laws of the land, including stopping at traffic signals. And we obey out of love. We obey because we love. This is what it means to be a part of the God’s family: In God’s family, his children love one another. And love considers the needs of others. So how does this relate to our text, to the Gentiles? The Gentiles are going to join the family of God, who for the last two thousand years have lived a certain way and kept laws and customs and traditions. Should the Gentiles be forced to keep the same customs?

Evidence: vv. 28-29

Commentary: The Gentiles had lived a certain way in their culture that was strictly forbidden in Jewish culture. Now that the two cultures are joining together as one family, the Gentiles have the responsibility to love. And this responsibility to love means that they will act in such a way as to not offend their Jewish brothers and sisters. Part of how they will now act includes these four things: Abstaining from what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. These four practices were all associated with pagan idolatry, which the Gentiles had formerly practiced. Now, it was time for them to love God and give those up. But also, for the sake of their Jewish brothers and sisters, they would give them up in order to not offend their consciences. And to abstain from these practices was an act of love for God and their Jewish neighbors.

Conclusion

Restate

Review

Reflect / Apply