Nothing but the Gospel! Pt.2

There is a group of men meeting… the leaders within the church, and they are meeting in Jerusalem. We have come to refer to this meeting as the Jerusalem Council.

As they come together to converse and even debate, some things are at stake:

Defining what is needed for salvation (for Jews and Gentiles alike)

The unity between Gentile and Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ

Last week we looked at the situations that brought about this need to meet… Let’s review

Acts 15:1–6 NASB95

Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.

Verse 7 indicates that there was “much debate”

As a side bar… I want to draw attention to what they did as they traveled… they shared what God was doing with the gentile believers (bringing great joy to the brothers and sisters in Christ)

Paul and Barnabas leave the conversation up for debate with the elders and apostles, and instead keep the unity of declaring God’s amazing work!

We are not exactly sure how long the debate went on for… but we do know who the two men are who spoke to this last.

Peter & James

Peter...

One of the chosen twelve disciples, an apostle

Leader among even the twelve

Bold for Christ!…

“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”

Stepped out of the boat

Inner circle with Christ

Earliest leader of the church in Jerusalem

The one God used to originally bring the gospel to the Gentiles… (remember Cornelius?)

Peter would end up dying for his faith

James...

Half-brother of Jesus, watched the Son of God grow up

He would write a powerful book to believers on Godly living

Barclay stated this of James...

The Acts of the Apostles The Leadership of James (Acts 15:13–21)

He was the leader of the Jerusalem church. His leadership was not a formal office; it was a moral leadership conceded to him because he was an outstanding individual. He was the brother of Jesus. He had had a special resurrection appearance all to himself (1 Corinthians 15:7). He was a pillar of the Church (Galatians 1:19). His knees were said to be as hard as a camel’s because he knelt in prayer so often and so long. He was so good a man that he was called James the Just. Further—and this was all-important—he himself was a rigorous observer of the law.

These two men, chosen by God to lead the early church would make their statements settling this dispute and rift in the church...

Peter Speaks First...

records his words he spoke for us…

Acts 15:7–11 NASB95

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Peter speaks to what they KNOW… referencing back to Cornelius

“God made a choice” this was NOT peter’s choice, the Jews choice who went with him, nor was it Cornelius or his friends and family’s… this was God’s Choice!

Peter reminds the leaders there that God knows the heart, this is a heart issue!

They recieved the sealing of the Holy Spirit by faith without circumcision… God’s Choice

They receive the Spirit the same way… faith!

No one can earn God’s favor it is recieved by faith. Casting ourselves on the sole grace of God!!!

Why make them carry a yoke not even the Jews could do?

The law is perfect… from God, but a burden no one but Christ could carry

Peter concludes… we who are circumcised depend on God’s grace for salvation… so do the Gentiles.

There is an interlude where Paul and Barnabas share all “GOD HAD DONE” with the gentiles and the audience is silent. The testimony of God’s Works are powerful!

James Speaks Last...

is what James states…

Acts 15:13–21 NASB95

After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, “Brethren, listen to me. “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. “With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, ‘After these things I will return, And I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, And I will rebuild its ruins, And I will restore it, So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ Says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago. “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

James affirms what Peter has spoken and addresses the Old Testament to those there…

He only sites Amos but refers in his position that multiple or many “prophets” speak to God visiting the gentiles and taking out a people for His name.

This comes about due to God’s inclusion of them, NOT them becoming Jewish or becoming a part of Israel!

The Moody Bible Commentary (3) James: Correlation with the Prophets (15:13–21)

James’s perspective drew less upon the practical experiences reported by Peter, Paul, and Barnabas and more upon the teaching of the OT prophets. If God’s redemptive purposes included Gentiles, then the Jewish believers should not have erected barriers to their inclusion among God’s covenant people.

The concept of God’s desire for the gentiles is not a new one… His redemption and salvation has come to all mankind Jew and Gentile alike!

The concept of God’s desire for the gentiles is not a new one… salvation has come to them!

James the just, a man noted for his rigorous observation of the law… comes to the stance that the gentiles should not be burdened or troubled! wow, if James could come to this them those who were there listening could see this as well.

(God’s choice expressed by Peter, Pal and Barnabas's testimony of God working, James’ referencing their Old Testament scriptures… Now James offers up his judgment or opinion…)

A Focus on Unity

James closing statement or view is one to do with UNITY…

James in his wisdom realizes that there would be Jewish believers fellowshiping with Gentile believers and offers a proposal to avoid any unnecessary offense.

The gentile believers are urged to abstain from idols, unchastity, what is strangled, and blood.

These practices were specifically offensive to the Jews and would allow for greater fellowship

The decision confirmed salvation by grace through faith and did not require for one to become a Jew

The request would not only keep pagan practices of worship out of the church, it would produce a unity among brothers and sisters in Christ!

Note the response to this...

Verse 22… it was an agreement with the leadership present

Verse 25… states the leaders had become one in mind on this issue!

Verse 31… shows the response of the church in Antioch when they read the letter…they rejoiced and were encouraged

Church, there are two things we should fight fiercely for:

Bock, D. L. (2012). A Theology of Luke and Acts: Biblical Theology of the New Testament. (A. J. Köstenberger, Ed.) (p. 88). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ (these leaders did so)

the extent we go to for unity of fellowship in the body

The unity of the body of Christ (setting aside your preference)

Problem is that usually we find the church just fighting

Looking to ones own interest, desires, wants

Consider the insight from a doctor as we close, what do you need to do, let go of, or change for the unity of the body of Christ…

Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes Unity

Sometimes a dreaded thing occurs in the body—a mutiny—resulting in a tumor.…

A tumor is called benign if its effect is fairly localized and it stays within membrane boundaries. But the most traumatizing condition in the body occurs when disloyal cells defy inhibition. They multiply without any checks on growth, spreading rapidly throughout the body, choking out normal cells. White cells, armed against foreign invaders, will not attack the body’s own mutinous cells. Physicians fear no other malfunction more deeply: it is called cancer. For still mysterious reasons, these cells—and they may be cells from the brain, liver, kidney, bone, blood, skin, or other tissues—grow wild, out of control. Each is a healthy, functioning cell, but disloyal, no longer acting in regard for the rest of the body.

Even the white cells, the dependable palace guard, can destroy the body through rebellion. Sometimes they recklessly reproduce, clogging the bloodstream, overloading the lymph system, strangling the body’s normal functions—such is leukemia.

Because I am a surgeon and not a prophet, I tremble to make the analogy between cancer in the physical body and mutiny in the spiritual body of Christ. But I must. In His warnings to the church, Jesus Christ showed no concern about the shocks and bruises His Body would meet from external forces. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against my church,” He said flatly (Matthew 16:18). He moved easily, unthreatened, among sinners and criminals. But He cried out against the kind of disloyalty that comes from within.

—Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made