Sermon Tone Analysis

Public Reading of Scripture

Pray

Introduction to Theme

When the apostle Paul returned to Antioch, the city where he was sent out from in Acts 13, he gathered the church together and gave a missionary report.

Acts 14:27 says they “declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

This is not a Paul-centric testimony.

Paul’s message to the church was not about what Paul had done, or the doors Paul had opened.

Paul’s testimony praised “all that God had done.”

How God “had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

God is the initiator.

God is the actor in this book of Acts.

God — the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.

And if we as a church make our mission about continuing in what God initiated, joining the work that God is continuing to do, then we will see God working and opening doors of faith, and we will be able to give God the praise for the great things He has done as well!

Paul and his co-laborers have encountered resistance in various forms as they have worked as witnesses for Jesus — preaching, teaching, making disciples — but now in Acts 15 they must work hard for the sake of attaining unity and agreement among the church, in response to questionable teaching and disagreement.

How should the church handle disagreements?

What does the church do when questions arise and not everyone agrees on the answer?

What about questions of doctrine, about practice, about which questions are worth debating and which are not?

In the letter you’ve heard read, Acts 15:25, they write: “having come to one accord.”

Lit., “having become of one mind.”

This unity, this agreement, was not something that “just happened.”

They had to work at it!

They labored for it!

But notice — they attained it!

God gave them peace and guided them into one accord.

Acts 15 does not give us a prescription or process for resolving disagreement within the church, but it does describe for us how the early church found resolution and unity, especially to an important theological question, and we can learn from their example and their willingness to become like minded in the Lord.

I. Acts 15:1 | Questionable Teaching

These men from Judea came down.

They were not sent, but came on their own accord.

And they were teaching.

Many are eager to teach, but God cautions:

Not all teachers teach truth, no matter how well-intentioned or sincere they may be in what they believe!

These men were from Judea — they were known as Judaizers— Christians who believed that in order to be saved a person had to keep the custom of Moses.

They did not have a problem with welcoming Gentiles into the church, so long as the Gentiles “look like us, act like us, worship like us” who follow the custom of Moses.

Who live according to our history and tradition.

And to them, it made sense!

They didn’t see a problem with that.

The custom of Moses instructed God’s people how to live! Moses taught what God had given to him.

Why shouldn’t Christians conform to the tradition and continue to live by Moses’ customs?

God hasn’t changed!

So they taught:

“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Circumcision was a physical sign that a person was part of God’s covenant people.

It is how a man was identified as being a descendant of Abraham and thus a descendant of God’s promises.

John the Baptist was circumcised (Luke 1:59) and even Jesus was circumcised (Luke 2:21) all according to the custom of Moses.

The problem here is not whether Gentiles can be saved, but HOW Gentiles are saved.

This is an important theological question, and it caused disagreement.

II.

Acts 15:2 | Disagreement

That word “dissension” involves “intense emotions” — things got “heated” (LN).

The word “debate” involves “forceful differences” (LN).

This became a big disagreement.

The things we are most convinced of we are most passionate about.

Both sides are convinced they are correct, and their debate does not sway either side, so they take the question to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, to a group that represents authority.

They start their journey to resolution.

III.

Acts 15:3-5 | Journey to Resolution

Paul, Barnabas and others argue their case on the way.

They “describe in detail the conversion of the Gentile.”

They lay out their case systematically.

And God says “Amen” to their word, because their report brought about great “joy.”

Joy is a fruit of God’s Spirit (Gal 5:22).

And being a fruit of God’s Spirit — joy does not come from any other source!

The truth produces fruit, and the fruit of God’s Spirit and blessings is enjoyed at their word.

One way we know if our belief is correct or not, is whether or not our position leads to fruit.

Does our conviction bring fruit of God’s Spirit to others?

Does our conviction bring joy to others?

As they had in Antioch, they now declare in Jerusalem what the Lord has done.

Their experience of God working contributes to their understanding of the truth.

Their evidence is God’s work!

They have witnessed not only the Lord bringing about salvation to the Gentiles, but also the Lord confirming that salvation with His Spirit and fruit of joy.

The question that began chapter 15 now comes back in view, but this time it is voiced through the Pharisees.

“It is necessary --- (a strong term) — they must keep the law of Moses.”

They are convinced!

Their adherence to their customs and tradition has blinded them to the new work God is doing among them!

IV.

Acts 15:6-21 | Deliberation

It is okay that there are disagreements in the church!

But what is done with those disagreements will reveal the spirit of that church.

The church debates, and then Peter, an apostle who walked with Jesus, stands up to speak.

A. Peter’s Speech (Acts 15:7-11)

Peter begins to ground his argument in what God had done in his own experience — an experience the assembly knew well.

How Peter had a vision of clean and unclean animals descending from heaven on a sheet and God telling him not to call unclean what God has already made clean.

How God saved Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort and his family and how Peter came to know that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34).

Not only did God act first toward the Gentiles, but God acted knowingly — “God knows their heart.”

God knows their true self.

God did not look at their outward appearance.

God didn’t wait to save them under the condition that they would be circumcised first.

God saved them by faith alone — cleansing their hearts by faith — and bore witness to them that they were saved by giving them the Holy Spirit.

God does not require you to clean up your life in order to save you!

God knows everything about you.

And yet while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

God knew everything about the Gentiles — but he saw all he needed to see in the heart to save — Faith.

He’s speaking about the law of Moses.

The “custom of Moses.”

He calls out the obvious — no one can keep the law!

No one can obey Moses enough to be saved!

And by adding burdens to salvation, they are putting God to the test.

By adding burdens to salvation, they are doing the work of the devil, who likewise took Jesus to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

(Luke 4:9-11).

The devil tried to get Jesus to prove who he was by mis-using the word of God.