Acts | Chapter 15

 

Acts Ch 15:1-21

“There goes the neighborhood Pt. a”

Vs. 1-6 That’s trouble with a capital “T”

Intro.

Have you ever gone to the ocean and watched children fully clothed who have been warned not to go swimming with their clothes on? They start out rolling up their pant legs and only getting their feet wet. Soon, usually intentionally, they miss judge a wave only to find their pants are now damp up to the knee. From there they figure I’m already in trouble. I might as well go all the way. Christian Judaism had for the last ten years been wading in the ocean of gentile conversion, only getting its feet wet. Cornelius’ conversion had happened 10 years earlier than here in chapter 15 and only a handful of gentiles had gotten saved and most of them had been “God fearers”. 

But Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journey changed all of that. Paul’s words of 13:46 declared to the Jewish folks, who refused to turn to Jesus, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” Prior to this, Christianity was seen as a reform movement within Judaism but now that the Gospel was being openly preached and received by the Gentiles it was something more. This council that was convened in Jerusalem was the greatest one ever assembled. At stake was, “How a person is saved? Is Jesus’ work enough for that salvation? Is salvation by faith alone? Are Gentiles to be seen as true believers apart from first accepting Judaism?” All of these questions will be raised and answered by the leadership in Jerusalem.

Vs. 1-6 That’s trouble with a capital T

Vs. 1 To get a better perspective on this chapter you will really need to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In it we see what was going on as these  “certain men came from James,” ( Gal. 2:12). Prior to them coming down, Paul again tells us that Peter had come to Antioch and would eat with the Gentile believers, but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy, so Paul withstood Peter to his face.

         Peter came to Antioch and was enjoying a ham sandwich with the brothers and sisters when the Jewish believers from Jerusalem showed up. Then he would not eat with the Gentiles any more; it got so bad that even old Barnabas wouldn’t eat with them. If all this sounds strangely familiar then it’s probably because you have experienced it when you were in school, as CLICKS! These certain men evidently said that James, the Lord’s half brother, backed them. However, James assures them as well as in verse 24 that he had, “heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”; to whom we gave no such commandment.”

         Now notice what these Judaizers have to say to these gentiles in the church, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Simply put, these guys refused to accept the conversion of the Gentiles apart from circumcision or if you will, apart from first becoming Jews. They were not opposed to reaching Gentiles, instead they wanted to make sure that these Gentiles came under the umbrella of Judaism first. The problem was they were attempting to put a restriction upon the Gentiles that God had not. You see the Judaizers were saying that they “couldn’t be saved” but the problem was they were ALREADY saved!

         Now we hear the same thing today from certain groups don’t we?

• Unless you are baptized in “Jesus” name only you can not be saved!

• Unless you speak in “tongues” you can not be saved!

• Unless you read the “authorized 1611 King James Bible” you can not be saved!

• Unless you take “communion in our manner” you can not be saved!

I have no doubt that these Judaizers, both then and now, are sincere in trying to insist we maintain their outside form of religion as a basis of our righteousness before God, but the fact remains they are WRONG! You see their problem is not with me it is with God as It’s not that I can’t be saved it’s rather that I already am apart from their formula that bothers them! “It’s just too simple man! I mean we had to do all of this stuff to be right with God.” “And now you come in and just by trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross you’re saved?” “I don’t think so!”

Vs. 2 Paul and Barnabas, once he came to his right mind, stood up and argued with them over this issue. No doubt Paul used the same words he had used in Antioch of Pisidian where he said, “by Him (Jesus) everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” There was a great theological debate going on as they tried to persuade the Judaizers of the truth. Notice that they could not just agree to disagree agreeably as this was a matter of salvation.

Several years ago I had a lady write me a question regarding Jesus’ words on the cross in John 19:30 “It is finished.” Based upon her letter I could tell that she wanted to know on what basis I base salvation. So I wrote to her that I believed that all of our salvation is based solely upon Jesus and that nothing we could do or ever would do could add to this. She wrote me back a very sharp letter in disagreement with my theological position. 

I wrote her a two-sentence reply:

• Then why did God send His only Son to die if it was not enough?

• Lady, your problem is not with me it is with God!   

I’m convinced that the reason why people reject this truth is that it offends their pride. They just can’t accept that they can not do something to help out their case. Furthermore, if they have spent some time in a religious system trying to work out their salvation and then along comes you and I that have simply trusted in Jesus’ finished work, well that means that what they did and spent all their time and energy on was worthless! So surely all their effort counts for something, at least it makes them “super saints”! Nope it makes them goofy forever thinking that they could add anything to what God alone can do!     

Vs. 3 However Paul and Barnabas were chosen to argue this case before the Church in Jerusalem we are not told, but they took the opportunity along the way to share with all the Churches along the way what God had been doing in saving the Gentiles. The response was great joy. Man that must have been interesting as the Judaizers were with them as they traveled.

Have you ever noticed how those that are into religion have no joy and they seem to want to make sure that they drag everyone down with them. “Hey, if we have to be miserable, so do you!” Paul and Barnabas share how God saved the Gentiles apart from the law and the church rejoices. Folks, there are only two possibilities as we live our lives in Jesus and share:

We are either going to cause,

• Joy wherever we go!

• Or joy whenever we go!

Put people in some sort of work based relationship and they will be happy to see you leave. Let me just ask you, how many laughing Muslims do you see? How about Buddhists? J.W’s? Hindu’s? Ever hear laughter in the Roman Catholic Church? The only smiles you see on the faces of the people is when it’s getting close to the time to leave!

Vs. 4-6 Now we are not told as much here but there were probably several meetings.

Acts 15:4 Here Luke mentions a “missionary moment” meeting where the Church, elders and apostles received them. The two Guys stand up before the congregation and share “all things that God had done with them.” Is that not great? They shared from the perspective of God’s work in and then through their lives. They shared to the Church of God’s faithfulness in spite of circumstances and personal failures, how He had directed them to the right places and people.

Gal. 2:1-10 Paul records that Barnabas, Titus and himself had met “privately with those who were of reputation.” In Gal. 2:9 Paul tells us that those he met with privately were none other than, “James, Cephas (Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars.” The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Paul’s theology concerning gentile salvation. The outcome of the meeting was that, “those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles).” In other words there was no difference in the gospel preached by Peter and the one preached by Paul, they were just called to different people. Paul continues, “So they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”

Acts 15:5-21 The last meeting took place the next day they had the general meeting which is recorded here. It appears that the Greek believer Titus became the flash point of debate concerning conversion and circumcision. It appears that the Judaizers tried to compel Titus to be circumcised and he wanted no part of it.

The Judaizers here are called Pharisees who believed. It seems that some of Paul’s old buddies came against his new understanding of grace and the law. And they state their case towards Titus and all Gentile believers by saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” The word “necessary” means required by the will of God. Simply put they said that circumcision and keeping the law with its 613 commandments and over 7 volumes of interpretations of those 613 commandments was absolutely essential for Gentile salvation. “Don’t do these things and you can’t be saved!” No wonder Paul says in Gal. 2:16, in his rebuking words to Peter. “That a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

Acts 15:22-41

“Unity in a disjointed world”

Vs. 7-18 Sign’s of life, reason’s for grace

Vs. 19-21 Can’t we all just get along

Vs. 22-29 Rules to live by

Vs. 31-41 Agreeing to disagree agreeably

Intro.

Now last week we looked at the challenge of Gentile inclusion into the Church and whether that was to be by grace or the law. So going back over it we see that there were Three speakers that offered their testimony as to why grace and not the law is the sole basis for salvation.

Vs. 7b-11 First up is Peter, James will refer to him by his Jewish name Simon. But it was, as Peter will testify, him who God chose 10 years earlier to reach the first Gentile.

Vs. 12 Next up will be Paul and Barnabas although here they are listed in reverse order as to not offend the Jewish folks. They will testify of God’s work in reaching the gentiles.

Vs. 13-21 Lastly James the half  brother of Jesus will testify to the validity of Peter and Paul’s experiences as supported by the Word of God.

So Peter takes the stand and offers:

“THREE SIGNS OF LIFE”

Vs. 7b GOD CHOOSE NOT MAN:  Peter brings them all back to what happened 10 years ago with Cornelius. Peter says in effect that they had no right to lay this trip on the Gentiles when God did not do so with the first Gentile believer 10 years earlier. Look at his words, “God choose”, Peter says, “Hey, guys remember that it was God’s decision to grant salvation to Cornelius apart from circumcision and keeping the law.” The Judaizers were blaming Paul’s message and Peter says that God is the one that started it long before Paul! Simply put, the “new birth” is God’s sovereign act not man’s. The choice was God’s, the privilege his.

Vs. 8-9a HOLY SPIRIT PROOF OF LIFE: The proof of salvation was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit not the outward circumcision. Later Paul would say in Romans “he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Then in Philip. 3:3 Paul says, “We are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Lastly in Col. Paul would say, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” Notice Peter’s words, “God made no distinction between us and them.” They, (Gentiles), received Jesus the same way, the way of faith!

Vs. 9b CHANGED LIFE OUTWARD SIGN: The outward visible sign of salvation, Peter declares, is a “purified heart” not a circumcised private part. Since God had already cleansed their hearts of sins, seen in the way they were now living, what possibly could the law or circumcision add? They were purified “because” of their faith, not “before” their faith! Far too much of Christianity is trying to reform the sinner instead of seeing the sinner regenerated. One author put it this way, “We are called to be fishers of men but far too many Christians today are trying to clean the fish before they are caught.”      

Again the point of the Judaizers was that the Gentiles could not be saved apart from circumcision and keeping the law but that Peter said held no water because Cornelius was already saved apart from these things! 

         Next we saw the remainder of Peter’s words, then Paul’s and lastly James as they present three reasons for grace.

“THREE REASONS FOR GRACE”

• PRACTICAL, 

• PERSONAL, 

• PROPHETIC

Vs. 10-11 LAW and CIRCUMCISION DIDN’T WORK: The first reason for grace instead of the law is a PRACTICAL one! After Peter’s argument that God had saved apart from the law. Follow me on this one; “Why would God send His Son to save us if the law worked as far as saving us is concerned?” Peter is echoing the words of Paul in Gal 2:21 where Paul says, “do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” In other words as Paul said in Romans, “For if there had been a law which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.” And then in Gal. Paul says, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The description Peter uses here of putting a “yoke” on the neck is of a heavy ruff wood choke chain put on to steer an ox in a way that he would not choose to go.

Look at Peter’s words in verse 11, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” Peter does not say that the Gentiles ought to be saved as the Jews but rather the Jews as were the Gentiles. “Hey brothers,  we all need to be saved just as they were, by faith in Jesus!”  

Vs. 12 IT’S A TOTAL WORK OF GOD: Now Paul and Barnabas share how, “God had worked through them”. This second reason why God worked through grace instead of the law is from a PERSONAL perspective.  As Paul and Barnabas shared, every one kept quiet and listened to all the miracles that God had worked through them towards the Gentiles. In other words salvation is by grace because it keeps man from boasting about it. This is exactly what Paul says in Eph. 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Simply put the work of God confirmed the word of grace so that man can not boast of anything that he did! 

Vs. 13-18 IT’S THE FULFILLMENT OF SCRIPTURE: Here is the last reason for God using grace instead of the law, it was PROPHETIC. That is what James has to say. The words in verse 14 “people for His name”, had always been used only for the Jews now James uses it for all people who come to God through faith in His Son.  Amos the Prophet had spoken about how God would restore the nation and that even the Gentiles would seek God’s name. 

It didn’t say that they would become Jews first. So James starts out by summarizing Peter’s words; “God”, James said, “has been saving Gentiles the way in which He wanted to and didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission.” His second point was that this was in perfect fulfillment of scripture. Folks, the activity of God will always correspond to the Word of God. In verse 18 James says, though this may have been a surprise to all the Jews who tried to obtain the righteousness of God by the work of the law it was no surprise to God who had it planned all along. So here we see the opposite of the work of God confirmed by the word of grace. James shows that God confirmed the work of God by the prophetic word, so that what God was doing in saving man through faith was seen in the Word of God. James’ argument is simple, “You can know for certain that God was at work because the work of God agreed with the Word of God!”  

Vs. 19-21 Can’t we all just get along

Vs. 19-21 James having dispensed with the most important issue of “How a Gentile is to be saved” concludes with four suggestions for the gentiles who have the freedom and liberty in grace not to keep the law but also the responsibility not to stumble the Jewish believers. In 1 Cor. 8:13 Paul speaks of these things as he says, “if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

• “but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols”

• “from sexual immorality”

• “from things strangled”

• “and from blood.”

Now both of these things had to do with how the Gentiles used to worship. Stay away from idolatry and sexual immorality. Though this dealt in the moral realm it was a direct reference to how the Gentiles used to practice their religion. Simply put, do not mix your former way of worship into your new way of worship.

These both had to do with dietary Jewish laws. The Gentiles did not have strict eating habits the Jews did. So James says, “Hey don’t eat meat from the temple butcher when you’re with your Jewish brother in Christ.” “Then make sure the meat has been prepared properly, draining the blood out of the meat.” James had come down on the side of grace but as Paul would say do not to use grace as liberty to sin or as a license to make your brother stumble! James concludes in verse 21 by saying that Jewish culture is to be respected by the Gentiles by attempting not to offend them while they did not have to practice such things. 

         Now this statement of conclusion by James and the leaders must be remembered in context. The Church of that time was a mixed lot made up of both saved Jews as well as Gentiles. So the Judaizers laid down their insistence upon Gentiles becoming Jews first in order to be saved and in turn the Gentile believers were asked to change the way they worshiped and ate so as to not offend the Jewish believers. The third party to this was the unsaved Jews who they were trying to win to Christ. If the Gentile believers insisted upon their liberty in grace it would come at the price of Jewish souls. A heavy price for a ham sandwich!

Folks how we deal with disagreements amongst ourselves will have a powerful impact upon those we desire to lead to Jesus. Jesus prayed in John 17:20-21 “that they all may be one”, but unity does not mean uniformity because it is based upon love for Jesus and each other above ourselves and not some law. So we see diversity in Christ’s Church yet we should also see maturity in our liberty. 

Paul said it this way:

1 Cor. 9:19-22; “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Vs. 22-29 Rules to live by

Vs. 22 You can not underestimate the importance of this decision as far as Church history is concerned. The early Church could have ended had not this bold decision been made. The Church wanted to still minister to the Jews first but refused to slow the progress of reaching the world even if it caused great difficulties from their own nation.

         It appears that it was a unanimous decision and all were in agreement, but how is that possible seeing that the two sides were polarized? Verse 28 holds the answer, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” It was the Holy Spirit that was directing the matter and His wisdom that over rode a heated issue. Since this was such an important issue it was decided that two men were to accompany the letter to explain specifically its meaning and authority.

• Judas who was also named Barsabas: Judas’ surname “Barsabas” means Son of rest. How cool is that? The one chosen to go tell the Gentiles that they were at rest in the finished work of Jesus was named “at rest”!

• Silas: This guy was a Greek influenced Jew who was also a Roman citizen. Now Paul is going to head out on his 2nd missionary journey with this fellow.

Now sending these two guys with a letter no doubt was to reinforce what was written and agreed upon. In so doing it this way the early Church made sure that the truth was presented two ways:

In a letter or written form: The folks could read over the letter and read for themselves the conclusion that was made concerning grace. Now today we are very fortunate in that we have the “letter” before us in the form of the Bible so we all can check it out and see for ourselves the truths about the decision for grace. 

Teachers to explain the truth: Vs 32 tells us that this was the reason behind sending Judas and Silas. These guys were prophets who “spoke forth” the truth contained in the letter. So you have the most effective way to convey truth, the written word and the gifted teacher! The outcome was that those in the Church were “strengthened”.

         The letter itself starts off with an introduction, which is directed towards Antioch specifically, which was the capital of Syria, which was in the region of Cilicia. The introduction is awesome for its attempt at unity as it literally says, “To the brothers from the nations”. From there it has three purposes:

Vs. 24 First, the Jewish believers in Jerusalem wanted to distance themselves from those who falsely claimed that Gentiles need to become Jews first. An attempt at an apology is made in the words, “have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls.” It literally means to “agitate, to make the heart palpitate” and “to plunder, or ravage”. Simply put, what these Judaizers did to the Gentile believers was to cause a spiritual heart attack that threatened to rip off their souls!

Vs. 25-27 Secondly, they wanted them to know that all the folks in Jerusalem were in total agreement with their salvation by grace. That is why the letter states as it does Barnabas and Paul, as well as that Judas and Silas were going to bear witness of this.

Vs. 28-29 Lastley, They wanted them to know that this was a unanimous decision made in agreement with the Holy Spirit. In other words the Church agreed with God. No further burden was going to be laid upon the Gentile believers beyond the four things, which is worded in a way more of a recommendation than a command.     

Vs. 31-41 Agreeing to disagree agreeably

Vs. 31-32 So what was the outcome of such a letter? We are told of four things in these verses, all of which show personally what grace produces in the heart that salvation can not.

Vs. 31a Rejoiced: Once they heard that their salvation was secure by God’s grace and not man’s works they celebrated. One can only imagine how these Gentile believers were feeling as they waited to find out if what the decision was going to be concerning their faith in Jesus’ work alone.

Vs. 31b Encouraged: They no longer need to fear that their simple trust in Jesus’ work was going to be enough. Instead of fear they could now be calm, as Paul said in Heb. 4:10 “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” 

Vs. 32 Exhorted and strengthened: The words of Judas and Silas built up the body, confirming them in the faith. Once they found out that nothing needed to be added to their faith they were free to grow in God’s grace. The argument from those who preach a works based religion is that people will become weak in Christ if they realize that Jesus has done it all. “So we better tell them that they need to do something in order to be right with God!” Folks, a true understanding of grace will always cause you to serve. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:10 “by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Vs. 33-35 Stayed and remain: Three times we are told that those who served teaching grace stayed or remained. Simply put grace produces a consistency in a believer that the law could not ever bring about. So there you have what grace produces in the hearts of those that understand it and grow in it: They celebrate, are calmed, confirmed, and consistent. Those that live by the law will never have those fruits of grace in their lives!

         The effects of this letter and the teaching of the leaders produced several outcomes:

Vs. 36 It freed up the work of the gospel and the desire to spread it all over. The gospel to the Jews and the gospel to the gentiles were not competing missions; they were one and the same but two different groups with neither being compromised. 

Vs. 40 It brought about a united effort between those who were opposed. Silas joins Paul when prior to this he would not have. In other words Gentile evangelism was not a by-word.

Vs. 39-41 It put missions front and center: Yes there were now two teams instead of one and reaching the world for Jesus was what both wanted even though they went about it from a different perspective. One author put it this way, “In the world 9 out of 10  people are lost. 3 out of every 4 have never heard the way out. 1 out of every 2 can not hear and the Church sleeps on. Could it be that we think there must be some other way? Or perhaps we don’t really care all that much!”  

As to the question about the argument over John Mark and who was right. I think you can look at this several ways.

• Paul looked at it from a missionary perspective and said that they could not afford to take the risk of taking one as immature as John Mark had proven to be. Simply put Paul asked and answered the question as to whom he would travel with by the question, “What can they do for God’s work?”

• Barnabas looked at it from the perspective of discipleship and he was always concerned with bringing along a young believer to further draw them in greater dependence to the Lord. Barnabas always started with an equally important question, “What can God’s work do for them?”     

Now with that said the disagreement was not settled by either side compromising instead distance and time settled it. This is the last mention of Barnabas in the book of Acts as he heads back to the country of his birth with his cousin John Mark. Paul and Silas head back to Asia Minor with the glorious news of Salvation by grace. Prov. 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Everyone knows what happens when Iron sharpens Iron? Sparks Fly! What was not the will of God was the contention but I have no doubt that God used that as well.