The Great Debate

Introduction

If you are new to our church we have been working our way through the book of Acts, we have called this the beginning of a movement which we now call the church.

As I have mentioned before, when people say to me wouldn’t it be great if the church today would just go back to the way the first century church ran, things would be wonderful.

Really,

Have you been reading through the book?

Have you been listening to the words the stories.

Quite frankly, the church ran through the same problems that we often find ourselves in, and sometimes even worse.

This morning’s text is no different and is known as the most pivotal point in the story.

I titled this message the Great debate.

I wonder how many of you were on your high school’s debate team.

I have heard that a good exercise in the bag of tools for an English teacher is to have their students work through a debate. To research, prepare, speak, respond, rebuttal and conclude to win an argument.

If you are now thinking back to your high school days and wondered why you had to go through the torture of those assignments?

Just think, didn’t they prepare you, for those of us who are, Married.

If you are planning on marriage, there will be debates....

research, prepare, think before you speak, responses, rebuttal but I hope that in each debate in marriage, a Biblicaly defined marriage that its result is not a winner or loser, rather that its a moment of love and respect and growth.

Debates.

If you have never seen a debate in the church, consider joining the leadership team, or maybe shadow those who have willingly stepped into the role.

Scripture tells us to aim towards unity, but sometimes to get there there needs to be a debate.

Turn with me if you will to the book of Acts chapter 15 and we will continue along in our study of the book.

Acts 15:1–5 ESV

1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

Key players

Last week we were challenged by Ron’s message that we are to be sent into the world and if you look at Chapter 14 there are stories of Paul and his good friend doing just that.

This gospel sharing duo were even stoned at one point by the crowd being egged on by key players of the Jewish faith.

Jewish people, the ones God called out to align himself with.

They took that alignment and somehow made it a issue of superiority.

Why do you need to know this, it gives us a background for the situation, culture and temperature of the workings of the early church as we enter into the event found in Chapter 15

Last Sunday, if you missed it, we had one of our missionaries that our church supports through prayer and finances speak to us. Our church right from the beginning of this gathering 50 yrs ago has continued in the tradition of supporting those called by God to to out as missionaries.

We feel this is an important part of our gathering and so we have been taking each month to focus upon our missionaries.

Paul and Barnabas had just finished their first missionary journey and returned home to report.

Look at the verses

Acts 14:26–27 ESV

26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

What a missionary report that must have been for the people. As you will see later, not all were impressed by the report.

Timelines

I want to take a moment if you will bear with me and let’s take a look at the timeline laid out in scripture as to what we have covered so far int the book of Acts. Take notice of the timelines because often when we read this we forget that this story happens in real time and often that time gap goes unnoticed.

30 AD The Ascension Acts 1

30 AD Matthias Chosen by Lot Acts 1:12

30 AD The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost Acts 2

30 ADPeter and John Arrested and Released Acts 4

30 AD Believers Share All Acts 4:32

30 AD Deaths of Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5

30 AD Apostles Preach and Heal Acts 5:11

31 AD Saul Persecutes the Church Acts 8 Death Acts 6, 7

31 AD Saul Persecutes the Church Acts 8

31 AD Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8:26

31 AD Simon the Sorcerer Acts 8:9

31 AD Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8:26

three years

34 AD Saul's Conversion Acts 9

three years

37 AD Peter Preaches to the Gentiles Acts 10, 11

42 AD Barnabas Sent to Antioch Acts 11:22

42 AD Peter Led from Prison by the Angel Acts 12

44 AD Herod Agrippa Dies Acts 12:20

11 years

48 AD Paul's First Missionary Journey Acts 13

48 AD Paul preaches in Pisidian Antioch Acts 13:14

48 AD Paul and Barnabas in Iconium Acts 14

48 AD Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe Acts 14:8

48 AD Paul and Barnabas Return to Syrian Antioch Acts 14:21

48 AD Return to Syrian Antioch Acts 14:24

1 year of the journey

48 AD The Council at Jerusalem Acts 15

Did you catch the timeline.

We are now going to look at a text describing a debate among the followers of Christ about a topic of “US vs Them”

“Us” The chosen ones

Jewish- Pick by God. We are better. We are blessed.

“Them”

Gentiles- inferior, lacking in knowledge Far from God

Pagan.

And if you follow the timeline God spoke to Peter 12 years ago that the Gospel can be accepted by the Gentiles.

12 years before when God Changed the mind and heart of a God fearing, God respecting Jew named Peter and he walked into a home of the outcast and shared with them the Gospel.

let me remind you of what he thought as he entered into the home

Acts 10:28 ESV

28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.

God has shown me, God has changed the way I respond.

12 years, yet the debate still moved on.

“us” vs “them”

This is often a debate in churches and the “Us” vs “them” has different faces. Shows up in various ways

Shows up in cultural, economical, Race, gender, leadership, and sometimes spiritual maturity

Folks I haven’t been at a single church that doesn’t have to come face to face with the reality that there will be and are differences in the church and sometimes those differences polarize the church.

We need to do all that we can to combat the “Us” vs “Them” in our church.

We must also recognize as we look into this story that even in the early church, change takes time.

It doesn’t mean we avoid issues, rather it means we look at issues and strive for unity in our conclusions.

Reading this text this morning, sometimes we can fall into the trap of over simplify the situation the farther we are from being involved.

Knowing all of this, let’s break down this event and apply it to our situation today.

The Issue

The great debate was over an issue of doctrine.

Many have believed that the Good News of Jesus was for all.

For years they had understood Peter’s Vision, had heard about the encounter with the gentile group. They had marveled at the Holy Spirit coming into the lives of the Gentile believers.

They knew in their hearts that God was for all, but they still had a mentality of what that should look like.

They were struggling with what the Gospel should look like coming from the “Us” point of view.

What about Us today?

Do we fall into the same trap that the first century Christians found themselves in?

If your quick to look down on them, If you think that their world was easier than ours.

If you look around and say, There is so much in our world today that we need to deal with why would they struggle with this issue.

Let’s look for a moment at a common issue.

Take racism today.

It’s one of those “Us” vs “Them”

You see the problem with “Us” vs “Them” is we often don’t recognize that we are in that and an event brings it to life.

The farther away we are from an issue the simpler it appears to have answers.

This past week was the anniversary of the finding of the 215 unidentified graves in the Kamloops residential school.

It brought to our attention the atrocities that were happening right in our back yard.

For some of us this marks the anniversary of the sorrow we felt as we began to have a little understanding of what our neighbors have been dealing with for years.

For us, it has been one year, for many it has been years of pain of wrongs that have been brought to light.

It is our prayer that as we move forward that we come together to hear their stories, listen to their pain, bring words of hope for a better future that can bring about forgiveness found in God’s Love.

You see,

The early church at the time of this discussion was dealing with 5 different “Us” vs “Them”

There were the Jews, Who believed they were superior in all matters of life because they were called by God, chosen by God to be the instruments of life.

After all, Jesus was born into a Jewish family, followed the Jewish faith, and so too must the followers of Christ be good Jewish people

Then the second group was the Gentiles.

From the Jewish perspective they were, well, unclean. Outcasts.

Avoid at all costs.

yes there were some worse than others, Romans, Greeks, etc. but they were not Jewish.

Then another group was the Slaves.

Then another was the Freemans. They were free but still despised by the slave owners. In fact to gain a better understanding of this complex relationship in the Bible, look no further than the book of Philemon and you will read about “Us” vs “Them”

The last group was that of women and how they were viewed during the first century church.

You see all of those groups Christ came to this world to redeem.

Christ has come to the world today for all people groups no matter how we or people define them.

We need to combat the thinking of “Us” vs “Them” and begin to rewire our thoughts for the Lost and the Found.

The Issue was Doctrine,

Acts 15:1 ESV

1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

What is our understanding of Salvation? What is our part in salvation?

Do we add other things on top of what it means to be saved.

You see for those people, some men, not identified, they accepted that the Gentiles were no longer unclean, that they could enter into the world of following Christ, but.....

The debate began.....

Look at verse 2

Acts 15:2 (ESV)

2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, .......

No small dissension.

If you every think of time travel, this might be one of those events to travel back to and watch the discussion.

I’m not sure if there was yelling, but the scrolls would have been rolled out.

The New Testament was about to be written the Doctrine we now know was being formed.

There at the heart of it was Paul and Barnabas.

Paul and Barnabas had just finished a mighty road trip, missionary journey seeing the work of God in the lives of all who believe.

Faith in Christ was believing in his work on the cross. Baptism was a visual sign, a public declaration of being a follower of Christ.

The old practice of relying upon the law to save you was gone.

God’s grace was through Christ.

The disagreement of how that played out was strong,

As one person puts it,

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 28: Acts (Chapter Fourteen: The Struggle for Faith)

If Peter’s experience was the beginning of the epicenter, Paul’s preaching to the Gentiles and disregard for insisting that they become obedient to all the requirements of the Mosaic Law widened the cleavage between two distinct groups within the church. There were Paul and his followers who believed that it was by faith alone that a person was justified; and the Pharisee party made up of converted Pharisees who asserted that Gentiles must become full participants in Hebraic legalism and customs in addition to faith in Christ as the fulfillment of the promise for Israel’s Messiah. Their disciples, even more intractable, were the Judaizers.

For years the discussion was growing and the division was deepening.

The Response

Let’s look at the response to the debated question.

We read that a group of people along with Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jeruselum.

And if you notice in verse five, The leaders of the group were there.

Acts 15:5 ESV

5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

Folks if you didn’t catch it earlier, let me remind you.

This debate was with believers.

It wasn’t the debate about whether Christ was the messiah,

It wasn’t about His message of redemption through the work on the cross.

It was all about “Us” vs “Them”.

If they truly want to become “us” said the Judiazers they must do what Moses commanded.

One person put it this way.

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 28: Acts (When Good People Disagree)

The Jerusalem Council was not made up of the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” They were all good people, all converted to Christ, and all sure they were right. Have you ever been in a situation like that? The Scripture we have just read shows us that conflict between believers is not the exclusive problem of your church board … or of your church members … or of your family and friends. That kind of honesty helps us to learn from how the early church leaders worked through to the most important decision ever made for the future of the Christian movement.

Let’s look at the response

Acts 15:6–11 ESV

6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

Notice scripture reminds us of a couple of things.

There can be positive debates.

Debates about direction and decisions can and are good for the growth of any congregation or group of believers.

The debate must be rooted in scripture and not of personal preferences.

You see the Judeizers were believing that they were following the law as they have always done, doing what God had called them to do, but were not seeing the whole picture.

For a greater story and Paul’s explanation of their direction, look no further than the book of Galatians.

The debate also showed that there can be differences in each other’s beliefs and understanding of Scripture, but we know see that reading other passages of scripture that the true message of Faith in Christ alone is the saving way and not following the law.

The Result

There were several results in this debate at the council.

The First was Peter’s response to outline the working of the Holy Spirit in the context of the church.

There was the recognition that the Spirit was and continues to be a driving force in the movement of the church.

There was the recognition and we read the result by reading through the NT that God’s message was changing. The NT began to write out God’s direction for the church.

Peter’s statement brought home the result

Acts 15:11–12 ESV

11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” 12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

God was working among them and they began to listen.

There are so many times in my ministry throughout the years, to be honest, have looked at other ways of ministry as “us” vs “Them”

To my shame, I have even felt that they were doing it the wrong way.

Do we take the time to listen to the powerful working of God in the lives of others?

This past week, I had a visitor in my office, who simply asked me, so what are you teaching the congregation? What are you walking them through.

As we continued in the conversation, I began to listen to his culture and their understanding of God’s truth and how they practice it.

I realized that I have over the years believed those practices were wrong, and as I sat and listened I heard about trinitiarian language, I heard about God’s saving Grace, and I walked away with a greater understanding of God working in the lives of people.

I began to see We

At the council meeting, in the end, James, often referred as James the Just, who was leading the council wrapped things up with a declaration that moved the people forward.

The issue of adding the Law to the work of Christ has been settled.

Faith alone in Christ alone.

You see Paul wasn’t defending his viewpoint, rather he was defending the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people.

All people.

Our response

How do you approach debate?

Are you a listener to people who may hold to a different way of looking at a discussion point.

Do you hold to a position because of practice or by doctrine.

Do you fall into the trap of “Us” vs “Them”

Paul reminds us in Romans

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All have sinned. The US and them are we

This morning we are going to walk through the most We

part of our faith.

Celebrating Communion together.

We are all on equal ground, brought together by the work on the Christ.

This communion table is not Ours it’s Christ.

We have unity for those who have accepted God free Gift of Salvation.

We come together to remember the work on the Cross for all of us.

To be forgiven and reconciled to God.

If you have not yet given your life over to God. Do it today.

He doesn’t require you to get better before you come. He only asks you to come. To accept his free Gift, To believe that He died for your sins, and to confess his as your saviour.

For those of us who have accepted this gift, let us draw together in a moment of fellowship around the Lord’s Table.

Communion

Benediction