What Now Acts 15 continued
Notes
Transcript
Last week we continued with our preaching through Acts
We started in Acts 15 and we realized that some people had gone to Antioch and began preaching
We know from last week they were preaching false Gospel
And we learned as believers we know Truth
We know the true Gospel Message and His name is Jesus Christ
We know that we are saved only through the grace and mercy poured out by Jesus
That nothing saves you and I but Jesus and Jesus alone
Last week we were able to see how Paul was at he put it to the Romans
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Paul was not ashamed and understood they were preaching a false Gospel
He stood up and said something
Church we know this in our heads
And I know for me when I don’t stand up and say something when I look at the lostness of the world
I tend to get more frustrated and more cynical
So church we learned and talked about last week how you and I are stand up and say that is not right
That is not the truth
That is not the Gospel
That we can stand up and say that is not the truth and then we can say what the truth is
Normally we would have gone on to Acts 16
But there are some amazing things I think we would have missed
What happens after this great debate in the church
In the rest of Acts 15 we see the unification of the church
Which as I was preparing this reminded me
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
No one is going to be able to destroy Gods church
We are reading about Gods church in Acts 15 and we have seen a great debate
Today they would have left and gone down the street and “planted” another church
What we see in Acts 15 is they get their Gospel question hammered out
They send a letter to show consistency
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, 23 and they sent this letter by them, “The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.
After they had figured out that Paul was right
After they had agreed that Paul was right in their Gospel Message
They determine to send Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch
They know they need to send them some help
So they Judas and Silas with them along with a letter
24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”
They know that the church in Antioch is confused and possible hurt over the issue that caused a great debate
They explain we didn’t train or teach those guys
But we have come together to have one mind
They are explaining that they are in agreement with Paul and Barnabas
That even the church in Jerusalem and now in Antioch are now unified they have one mind
And because of that they need to send some of their people down to help them and Paul and Barnabas
If you will recall from last week they also agreed to send them some application in how they can grow in Christ
James didn’t want them to partake in as one commentary puts it
“Prohibiting them from engaging in a number of the practices that were associated with pagan temple rites such as animal sacrifice, sexual immorality, and idolatry.”
Church I know it seems small and insignificant but they were concerned about their brothers and sisters in Christ at Antioch that they sent a letter explaining everything and they even sent some people
Church that is the unifying power of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the church
This is what it is to put action to our faith
To be unified with our brothers and sisters in Christ
So you know what happens after the great debate of Acts 15 is the greater power of the Holy Spirit to unify the church
They communicated and went back to work of the Gospel
This is exactly how you and I are to live our lives
We are to be about the work of the Gospel
To passionately stand up for truth
And to communicate
I know it seems so simple and it is
In my Northwestern Class we have gone over an entire week about communication the 7 c’s of communication
Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, Courteous
A whole week talking about communication
What I know about communication is if you are willing to take the 15 to 30 seconds and tell someone the why you dodge a lot of trouble
But non the less they communicated
And then church they got back to work of the Gospel
The church in Jerusalem sent with Paul and Barnabas
Judas and Silas to confirm Paul and Barnabas’s ministry
And to encourage them
They don’t let the disagreement discourage them from being focuses on teh Gospel
32 Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message.
Judas and Silas are there to encourage the church and believers in Antioch
They are also there to serve a confirmation of sorts of Paul and Barnabas
The ministry that they are doing is good and they are right
The people needed to hear that Paul and Barnabas are right and doing the right thing
So they have stuck around and are preaching and teaching
Then once again it is time to get back to the mission field
And would you think they would have a problem
Of course not these are believers who love Jesus
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38 But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
They get around to go back to the mission field
Barnabas wants to take John Mark
Paul says yea no he left us high and dry on the mission field
Those two get into as scripture says a sharp disagreement
But notice the disagreement doesn’t stop them from going on to share the Gospel
Barnabas took John Mark back to his home county of Cyprus and church history tells us he became the first Bishop of Salamis
Paul takes Silas and continued on his purpose of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles
We don’t know exactly the extent of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas
You can go and read plenty of commentaries on the many different thoughts as to what happened
However this morning we can note that it happened
But it does not discourage either of them from continuing on their purpose of sharing the Gospel message
I think sometimes we can get so wrapped up into things and we get our feelings hurt
Yes your feelings will get hurt at church
However that is not a reason to not follow after Jesus
To not continue tot be bold in your faith
Church as we see in the church in Acts
They have to work through their differences
They are not immune from the difficulties of relationships just because they walk with Jesus but please hear me they have a commonality that allows them to work through those difficulties
It is Jesus
Church we are seeing first hand the growing pains of church and what it means to put action to your faith in church life
If you want a perfect church then you are in the wrong place
A perfect church is a church filled with absolutly no one
Because the first time you show up you make it not perfect
But by the grace of God poured out on a church we can work through those differences
We can communicate
We can come together to continue to serve the Lord and be bold in our sharing of the Gospel Message
We can continue to encourage one another
This morning church as we come to a close
Maybe you are here and you don’t know Jesus
Please listen
You can know Jesus personally this morning
We will have some people down front they want to talk with you and help you walk to that decision
Or maybe you are here and already have a personal relationship with Jesus
And you need to spend sometime in prayer at the alter
Or maybe there is another decision to be made this morning
The alter is open
