merge over

I know I’ve talked about this before. One of the things that perplexes me most about Michigan drivers is the way they handle lane merges. Other states I have lived in go by the rule that when a driver approaches a place where the lanes merge together—like in a construction zone—you use all available lanes right up to the merge, and then you use the zipper method of every other car to merge over. It makes sense and it lessens the impact of traffic backup. Michigan is different. In Michigan, when you see the sign that says lane closed two miles ahead, somehow that means everybody get over into one lane right now. And the rules seem to be this: fight to get into a spot in the merge lane because hardly anybody seems to letting others in; and then once I am over it now becomes my job to make sure nobody can merge ahead of me. I know we got two more miles of perfectly good road here, buddy, but you got another thing coming if you think you can cut in front of me; it’s back of the line for you. Many Michigan drivers are bad at knowing how to do traffic merges well.

It is instructive though. Perhaps there is something for us to learn here. Maybe, just like traffic, we are living by a set of unwritten rules about the ways in which we let other people merge over into our lives. And maybe, like traffic, there is a way to do that well and there is a way to do that poorly. This seems to be exactly what an early ecumenical gathering of church leaders was about. It is known by biblical scholars as the Jerusalem Council, and it takes place in Acts 15.

Acts 15:1–19 NIV

1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. 5 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. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 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. 13 When 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. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 16 “ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’— 18 things known from long ago. 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

First, let’s spend a little time looking at the background of this passage. Then we will consider how these early church leaders approached the issue of merging over to let new people in. And lastly, we will make some applications for what that may look like for us in the church today.

The Jerusalem Council

Biblical scholars do not all agree on when the Jerusalem Council is thought take place. Some line it up with the events Paul describes in Galatians 2. I tend to agree with scholars who think that the meeting Paul describes in Galatians 2 is a separate event that takes place later, which places this event of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 at about the year 49AD.

four are named: Paul, Barnabas, Peter, and James

While there is an unknown number is church leaders present at this event, only four are named: Paul, Barnabas, Peter, and James. Paul and Barnabas travel to the meeting from Antioch in the north. It is a journey of about 250 miles and probably takes them several weeks to get to Jerusalem. They use the many stops along the journey to share with the other churches all that God has been doing in the witness of the gospel to the non-Jewish pagans. We should note that Peter goes by several names. Remember his original name was Simon. He appears to be addressed by both of those names in this passage.

There is more than one man named James in the early church. The James in this passage is thought to be James the brother of Jesus. It is known that James the brother of Jesus was a prominent leader in Jerusalem. And since this assembly takes place in Jerusalem, it seems likely that he was presiding. And while James had some notoriety because he and Jesus had a family connection, it is also known that James was highly regarded in the early church for his admirable character and upstanding leadership. He was well respected and people in the church listened to his instruction carefully.

new Gentile Christians are not conforming at all to the rituals and customs of Jewish people

Here is the situation. Some of the early Jewish converts to Christianity are noticing that these new pagan Christians among them who do not come from a Jewish background are not conforming at all to the rituals and customs of Jewish people. The passage particularly names the practice of circumcision—which for Jewish people is the first and most important sign of God’s covenant promise because it was the first sign that Abraham was instructed to keep as a lasting sign of God’s promise to the generations which followed. But if you read on in Acts 15 past where I left off, you quickly get the picture that details of table fellowship were also prominent features of Jewish custom which were becoming divisive issues among the believers.

Having some particularly meaningful habits or rituals as a part of your faith is not at all a bad thing. The issue here seems to be that there was an expectation that everyone else who wanted to join the church had to conform to these same patterns and habits and rituals. Paul and Barnabas push back. That’s saying it lightly. The English NIV Bible says Paul and Barnabas are in sharp dispute. The Greek word here translated as sharp means severe. And the Greek word translated as dispute can also mean riot or rebellion. For Paul and Barnabas, this is past the point of being a cordial discussion. They see something happening in the church which is so very toxic among the fellowship of believers that they are willing to push it all the way to rebellion.

Paul: following a set of guidelines and expectations is not a prerequisite for coming to faith in Jesus and being included as part of the fellowship of the church

Their argument is quite simple, following a set of guidelines and expectations is not a prerequisite for coming to faith in Jesus and being included as part of the fellowship of the church. So, Paul and Barnabas spend several weeks traveling to Jerusalem so that they can make their argument. Stop pushing people away from Jesus and the church just because they do not conform to your pattern of expected behaviors.

Three Appeals

Let’s move on. In the verses of Acts 15 which we see today there are three separate appeals which are helpful for us to see. The question is there before the assembly of what to do about this issue of disagreement between people of the church. look at how this passage guides us through three directions.

Peter makes his appeal by direct prompting of the Holy Spirit

The first one to speak is Peter. And Peter makes his appeal by direct prompting of the Holy Spirit. Peter wants the leaders of the church to remember that Jesus has sent his promised gift of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide the believers in the church. And so Peter makes his appeal directly to what he has received as a prompting of the Holy Spirit. This likely is a reference back to the vision that Peter experienced in chapter ten. Peter sees this vision which challenges and reverses his pattern of kosher eating habits. God tells Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Peter uses this experience as confirmation of the Spirit’s prompting. All those standards and rules about purity codes are not barriers for people coming to Jesus. The lesson which Peter learns in the vision is this: all that had been considered impure and unclean is able to be made pure and clean by God through Jesus. Peter sees the prompting and moving of the Holy Spirit at work in this.

Paul and Barnabas make an appeal to experience

The next to speak up are Paul and Barnabas. They make an appeal to experience. They tell the stories and the testimonies of what the Holy Spirit is actively doing at the present moment in the lives of people. For those who resisted and doubted if God could ever accept and bring into fellowship those Gentiles who were branded and labeled as filthy impure sinners, Paul simply says, but look at the testimony of their faith. Their story and their lives produce evidence of God’s Holy Spirit moving and working among them.

James appeals to the confirmation of scripture

So, there is an inner prompting of the Holy Spirit displayed by Peter; there is an outward expression of the work of the Holy Spirit displayed in the experience that is shared by Paul and Barnabas. And then the third to speak is James. His appeal is to the confirmation of scripture. James makes reference to the Old Testament prophet Amos as a way of showing that what both Peter and Paul are describing is in line with what God has revealed in scripture. This can be tricky. How is it that James happens to pick out these few verses from Amos 9? I think we all know the danger of what is called proof-texting. After all, I can rip words of scripture out of context to make the Bible say pretty much anything I want it to say. People have done that for about as long as the Bible has been around. There is a careful understanding here that we are intended to be student of scripture who spend time reading and learning and studying the message of scripture as a whole.

Where is the Holy Spirit leading us? What evidence do we see of the Spirit already at work? Does the message of scripture confirm what we ought to do?

Do you see the process here in this passage that the church in Jerusalem followed and embraced to resolve an extremely bitter and divisive dispute? They looked to God’s leading by examining three appeals. Where is the Holy Spirit leading us? What evidence do we see of the Spirit already at work? Does the message of scripture confirm what we ought to do?

Merge Over

The early church faced a moment when they were threatened by division. They had to address the question of letting in people who did not hold the same set of customs and expectations that they had. James settles the matter and speaks on behalf of the church when he concludes, “we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” In other words, we need to make some space to let others merge over into our lane. Here’s the thing, it seems like everybody in that early church was perfectly willing to do that as long as the ones coming in looked like them, acted like them, and followed all their rules. But once it became obvious that God was planting faith and moving and working outside of their tightly confined little circles, they faced a moment of rerouting so that others could merge in with them.

“we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

What does this rerouting moment look like for you today?

What does this rerouting moment look like for you today? We are in a moment when so many of us are restlessly disconnected from the patterns and habits of Christian church that have been so meaningful and important to our own lives and our own spiritual formation. We are in a moment when so many of us just want the traffic of our own faith journey to break out of this gridlock and start moving again. And sometimes maybe I am not even aware then of who else I am pushing off the road of faith or blocking out of the way just so that I can get back to going where I want to be. People today are finding an awful lot to be divided about. Perhaps it is a good reminder today for us to consider the steps of rerouting our journey in ways that merge us more together in the Spirit than drive us apart in division.

rerouting with direction and purpose is what all those very first followers of Jesus had to do in order to keep in step with the Holy Spirit

I cannot help but wondering, then, if there is a moment in front of the church right now which is preparing us to make room for others to merge into our lives as the church. I cannot help but dream about all the possibilities we have to take this time and consider rerouting the way we do church. I dream about the opportunities to redirect our focus and our attention on the mission we have developed here to love, grow, and serve. I dream about new opportunities that are not just about getting back to somewhere we were before, but about leaping ahead to where we could be. I dream about these things and admit, some things might look very different. And I’m right there with you—change for the sake of change does not usually accomplish much of anything. But rerouting with direction and purpose is what all those very first followers of Jesus had to do in order to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.

And so, that leads me back to this story from Acts. I am reminded that any vision of what the future of God’s people looks like begins by prayerful listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I am reminded that any vision of what the future of God’s people looks like takes a serious look to examine what the Holy Spirit is already doing in the community around us. I am reminded that any vision of what the future of God’s people looks like confirms that our direction aligns with message of scripture. I take direction from the conclusion which James offers, that we should not make it difficult for the people in our communities who God is turning toward his family.