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I’m going to invite you to Acts chapter 15, where we’re going to be together today. Acts chapter 15. For a a significant passage, some say that this is the most critical passage in the entirety of the Book of Acts, and one of the most critical chapters in all of the New Testament. I think the most important event is certainly death and resurrection of Jesus. I would say not far behind of it is what transpires in the book of Acts and the unity of the church, and the purity of the message that we walk in. So let me lead us in a word of prayer, and we’ll jump into this chapter together. God, we are thankful as a people, thankful for your grace, thankful for the privilege that it is to know you, to have a hope for tomorrow. Lord, to know that our past is forgiven. And right now, in these moments, you walk with us as your people. And so God, more than anything, may you be glorified in us as we seek your face. May the truth of your word continue to a challenge us, Lord, may it enrich our souls. May it transform us for your glory. May we be a blessing to each other. May you be glorified in Christ’s name. Amen. Acts chapter 15 is is a critical chapter because of the significance of of how the church is engaging in a critical discussion that they’re having.
And if you if you remember as we’ve looked at this, this book of the Bible together, we’ve recently just got through the apostle Paul’s first missionary journey. And we we talked about what that looked like as he traveled with Barnabas from, from the area of Antioch to Seleucia. And from there he went to the island of Cyprus before they headed north into what is a modern day Turkey. And they ministered from town to town. And in Acts chapter 13, it ends with him getting to the region of Iconium, the town of Iconium, and then in chapter 14, they move on from Iconium to to Lystra and Derby, and then they travel back through the towns they had visited before. They ultimately get back to Antioch, and when they get back to the the town of Antioch, they report to all the incredible things that the Lord is doing. And Antioch was an incredible place in the first century. This was likely the third largest city in the Roman Empire, so it had potential to be very influential in the spreading of the gospel around the world. And it certainly was. And so Paul gets back and he reports not only was the gospel proclaimed in the synagogues among the Jewish people, but also among the Gentiles, and they’re coming to know the Lord. And and this is where for a moment there is a, a panic that sets in among the Jewish believers, because suddenly they’re starting to see much of their cultural identity and practices feeling like they’re slipping away.
And this is where they start grasping at at some critical dialog for God’s people to understand what makes us who we are, right? Even as as believers today, if if we’re not careful in the way that we worship, we’ll start to look at our methodology, our style as our theology, and we’ll start to determine, well, you’re not a true Christian unless you do it exactly this way in this measure. And in fact, in order to know Jesus, you have to do it like this. If you do it different, I don’t know if you can even call yourself a Christian like we can get we can get that worked up over our practice. Now it speaks to the power of culture and tradition and what that represents. And and I don’t want to take away from, from maybe some of the experiences and, and maybe your Christian culture and and dialog. I will tell you some of it probably isn’t healthy. Right. So, so it’s good to, to talk about it and get to, to, to the root of why we do it. But but some of it could have had good intentions. But the danger is when we fail to see the purpose that drove it. And the danger becomes when we start to marry our methodology like it’s our theology.
Now, it may be the case that maybe you grew up in a really rich Christian heritage that had certain practices, and it was a very biblical upbringing. And now you find yourself here at ABC, and we don’t maybe necessarily do all of the traditions that you’re familiar with. But when you go back to where you originally from and you might visit that church and sometime in your life, they still practice certain things the same way. And and for you, there’s this sense of coming home in that sense, because you you’ve had this familiarity and you’ve made some commitments to Jesus at that particular time in your life. And and so for you, it’s, it’s refreshing for the soul to experience. And that’s wonderful. Like if you have that as a believer, that’s great. I’m glad you have that. I don’t want to take away from that. That’s that’s a beautiful thing. But, but but at the same time, we’ve got to remember as God’s people there is something deeper that identifies who we are and solidifying it and then how we carry out in this world. And one of the beautiful things about God’s people, when you read scripture, you discover there’s there’s a truth to who we are, and we don’t compromise on that. But there’s a lot of beauty in the spectrum of the body of Christ and how they engage in their worship. You know, sometimes I like to compare what we experienced as a church when we take mission trips to different parts of the world, like, you know, in Utah.
Utah is known to be more of a reserved church. Even in the United States, like the way we worship Jesus is a little bit more to ourselves, right? But if you if you were to go to, say, Africa, you know, we take trips there as a church and enjoy their worship. Their worship feels like if you were to go to an aerobics class in an America, that’s just the warm up for what it’s like to worship in Africa, right? It’s like I have I have seen more sweat dripping off people from our church. It is it can get intense. And their style is it is it right or wrong? Neither. But it’s a way in which they, as a community has learned to connect to the Lord. So there are things that we do that are just it’s just methanol methodology employed through our theology, which God gives us liberty and freedom in. But then there are times in our lives where we’re tempted to take certain practices and confuse it with the gospel. And that’s where it gets dangerous, because it’s redefining the significance of what Christ has done for us. And we all have that temptation of looking at Jesus and starting to believe that he’s not enough, that there’s got to be something more.
I’ve got to add to this, and then it’s sufficient. And this is what’s happening in terms of the early church in the book of Acts. All of a sudden the Jewish people are seeing this, this mass number of Gentiles coming to know the Lord. And anytime you grow rapidly, you have this risk of losing your identity. And it becomes this moment of needing to refine all of us and saying, what is it that makes us who we are? And then why do we do what we do? And in Acts chapter 15, it begins to lay that foundation and it’s over. The roots of Judaism. And the Jews really approached after Paul and Barnabas get back from the first missionary journey, hearing of all the Gentiles that have come to know the Lord, they start to ask the question, well, does does that mean that these people are, of course, embracing what we do as Jews in our practice? Because, well, God delivered his message through the Jewish people, and Jesus himself was a Jew and God gave us the law. And so therefore we’ve got to they should be embracing this. And they saw what Jesus did as more of a reforming of their practices, but their practices were to remain. In fact, it was central to what the gospel was. And so they would argue that Christ didn’t come to, to replace the Old Covenant, but rather he completed it.
And and Jesus, we would say as believers, he certainly fulfilled it. But there’s there’s there needs to be an understanding of, of the difference between what what it is to just simply say Jesus completed it. And ultimately, Jesus fulfilled the old covenant. And I think this is a critical for us as believers to understand and especially for you as guys. And the reason I say that is when you read Acts chapter 15, it says it like this. But some men came down from Judea, were teaching the brothers. So. So here they are in Jerusalem, Judea, and they’re going down to Antioch. Even though Antioch’s north of Jerusalem, they’re going down in elevation. That’s why it’s described this way. So they’re descending down people from Judea coming and teaching the brothers in Antioch. And they’re saying this unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. So here it is. It’s Jesus, plus something else. It’s Jesus. And adding to some sort of religious work. And in verse two, and after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with him, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and the elders about this question. So here it is creating contention, and they’re looking for their identity as they’re growing. What what makes us who we are. And of course, since we’re Jewish and the message, it came from the Jewish people through a Jewish messiah, you’ve got to become like us.
And being like us is understanding our culture and customs. And a part of this is you have to be circumcised to be saved. Now this becomes critical for us to understand in terms of religion as it affects our relationship with the Lord, but also especially for you guys, specifically the men. This is a reason why an Alpine Bible Church, we don’t have a surgical room where we call it the snip snip the tip location, right? This is this becomes a significant like your ears should be perking up, guys as why do I need to know this? Right? But but more than that, this speaks to the significance of who Jesus is. It helps us understand our identity as God’s people, because the world’s going to try to press you. And even as Christians, if we’re not careful and just living our Christian life, sometimes we get in the rhythm of doing and we fail to understand the foundation that we’re resting on. But but the early church, in going through this begins to shape for them an understanding of what the Old Covenant and New Covenant represent. Jesus didn’t just come to complete, he fulfilled. Right. And when you look at the Old Testament, you discover this. This is why we, we as Christians don’t call ourselves a religion, but we focus on the idea of relationship.
Because even in the Old Testament, in Jeremiah 31 verse 31, you discover God saying to Israel, after years and years of disobedience, God finally says to him, I’m going to write my covenant on your heart with a new covenant. But in order to have a new covenant, this means they’ve got to fulfill the old covenant and and move away from the Old Covenant. God is not just transposing additional things to the Old covenant. He’s giving us something altogether different because of what Jesus has done. In fact, if I if I’m going to throw out a bunch of Bible verses to you because this is just peppered throughout Scripture, so as they come to mind, I’ll just throw some to you if you want to look them up later, you can. But but when it when it comes to understanding this, this Jewish practice and then how it relates to us in the New Covenant, that’s that’s why the book of Hebrews is written and the book of Hebrews walks through the, the practices of the Jewish people and then helping us understand how Jesus is the fulfillment of all of it. That’s why Hebrews starts off and tells us today, if you if you want to follow a prophet, Jesus is that final prophet. If you’re looking for a priest, Jesus is your high priest. If you’re thinking about sacrifice, Jesus is your ultimate sacrifice in terms of of temple.
God’s presence dwelled in Jesus because of Jesus. God’s presence dwells with you, right? So when you get to if I gave you two specific verses, if you get to Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13, the very last verse of Hebrews chapter eight, it tells you Jesus obliterates the old covenant as he brings in the new covenant. And then when you get to the very beginning of chapter ten, verse one, he starts off this way. The old covenant was a shadow of the substance. Everything Jesus is for us. So to try to resurrect the practices of the old covenant Jesus fulfilled is is to say we don’t understand what Christ really accomplished for us. But as the church walks through this chapter, they begin to understand the significance of what’s taking place here and in laying this foundation, how to move forward as God’s people. And so looking at this chapter, this is what we’re going to talk about. Three anchors for a powerful church, three anchors for a powerful church. And and number one is this grace saves us Grace saves us. There there is nothing more significant that will set Christianity apart in comparison to every other religion in the world than to understand that idea. Grace saves us. Now, there are religions in this world that talk about grace, but then when they go on to explain their system of religious practices, it’s always grace plus something else. And I want you to know that in no way is grace.
In fact, if you want a Bible verse that will tell you this. Let me give you two. Romans 11 verse six tells you, if you had if you had works to grace, it is no longer grace. That’s Romans 11 six. The other one paramount to understanding grace is Ephesians 289 for by grace are you saved through faith? Not of yourselves. It’s a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So the the idea of Christianity is certainly rooted in the significance of understanding grace, which deals with the sufficiency of what Jesus accomplished on the cross for you and for me. Because every religion in the world, in its system, it always comes down to this place of your life, is based on what you merited for you, your performance, your behavior, your actions that merited God’s love. But Christianity is the opposite of that. And saying, and while you were sinful. Jesus didn’t give up on you. Jesus pursued you. Jesus gave everything for you so that you can find freedom in him. That’s why Romans five eight is so important. God demonstrates his love towards us. And while we are sinners, Christ died for us. So? So the the focus isn’t on yourself. But the focus is on the greatness of who God is. And so as they’re they’re dealing with this contention, that’s Arised. I want you to see in this chapter as a as a longer debate, but in verse 11 it starts to give you the conclusion of how this debate is is working itself out.
And then it goes on in verse 19 as well. So verse 11 is the Apostle Peter sharing, and then verse 19 is James who leads the Jerusalem church hearing. And both of them say this, but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will. So Peter is saying, The Jews believe grace is saving us. And that’s the same for the Gentiles. That’s what saving not not religious works, not circumcision, not becoming Jewish, but Jesus. And in verse 19 James says it like this. Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God. James is saying, we don’t need to throw the law on them. We don’t need to throw the thought of circumcision on them. Jesus is enough. Now, the reason I want you to see these two verses, because this is a longer dialog that’s taking place. But these two verses encapsulate what what the summation is. As the church is answering the question, what are we about? What? What makes us who we are? What defines Christians? It’s the grace of God in Christ. In fact, if I were to give it to you as an equation for those that appreciate math maybe more than literature, it would look like this.
The cross plus nothing equals everything. We can’t add to what Christ has done, and in fact, to do that is an insult to Jesus. Jesus is is more than enough for us. And understanding the significance of grace is the foundation of our message. And to lose that is to lose who we are. Now, I know the rebuttal to this, and people readily come at this and will say things like, well, what stops you from living like hell, right? You could just say, well, you could just live how you want and just say, well, Jesus is enough. I can keep doing this because Jesus is enough. And I want you to know the book of Romans. As the apostle Paul writes, the book of Romans, he lays out for us exactly what I’m saying to you. And and when he gets to chapter six, he anticipates believers or those reading the book of Romans asking that question. What stops you from just living like hell? If Jesus is more than enough and twice in the book of Romans chapter six, he does this in verse one and verse 15 he says, May we go on sinning, that grace may abound. And his answer is, May it never be so. And the reason he explains, he says, because you’ve been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. And what he’s saying is, when you really understand who you are without the Lord.
But then you look at a God who didn’t stop loving you, who pursued you to the point that he suffered tremendously on the cross, who gave his throne in heaven that you could be free. Why would you turn to anything else? Why would your life not want to to belong to the one that was created? To belong to? No one has loved you like that. No one can give you purpose like Christ can give you purpose. No one can give you hope. And a future like Jesus can give you hope and a future. No one wants to know you like Jesus wants to know you. Why would you live for any other reason than to be to be made known by Christ? When you really understand grace, it’s humbling. It’s inviting, it’s uplifting. It’s powerful because it transforms who you are and the presence of a God who cares for you and calls you to so much more in him. So the the significance of the message of grace is, is critical for us. In fact, if I gave us an illustration, I think the easiest one to look at in the power of grace in Scripture is certainly the thief on the cross. And one of the things I think is always important to highlight when people talk about the thief on the cross is to recognize, like for us in the 21st century, when we talk about a thief, we simply mean someone that stole something.
They probably went to your house when you weren’t there, or got in your car when it was unlocked. And now they have something that used to be yours. They’re a thief. First century. When they talked about thief, it was a much broader term, and it could have meant something as, as, as broad as not only did they steal something, but what they actually stole was the life of another person. They murdered them. Whatever this thief did, it was it warranted to the point of being crucified under Roman law? So it wasn’t a light breaking of the law. It was significant. But in the midst of this, this thief turns to Jesus. And in verse 42 he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. Here’s a man never baptized, certainly not in a position to be circumcised, never can can even lift his hand off a cross to do a good deed. And Jesus is saying, you’ll be with me in Paradise. For some people, they get so uncomfortable with the extent of God’s grace that they’ll even start to look at the word Paradise and be like, well, you know, that’s a that’s a type of eternity, but that’s not the best of heaven, right? This is just kind of like a a place for those that barely get in.
Right? They just get in the Paradise, but not heaven. Notice he says Paradise, but not heaven. But then when you read in second Corinthians chapter 12, verse two, Paul says it like this I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body. I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise. Here Paul is using the idea of third heaven with the word Paradise. And the reason Paul’s doing this is he’s talking to two different audiences. The word third heaven is a Jewish term. The word Paradise is a Persian word. It comes from the idea of a menagerie. It was seen as a place for the wealthy. It’s this place of Paradise. And Paul is saying, I know someone that was caught up to that heaven, that Paradise. It’s the same thing. And it refers to it as a third heaven. Now, when Jesus is talking to this man on the cross, what he’s telling him is he’s going to be in this third heaven, which we refer to as the celestial kingdom. And even even with that phrase, third heaven, people get confused by it and they try to extrapolate, well, what does it mean? There could be three layers to heaven, right? And there’s this, this misunderstanding of the Jewish idea of heaven.
Meaning when we say heaven in our culture today, we we, we mean the place where God dwells, right? That that golden city we want to belong to. One day. I don’t know how, however you think about it, but. But it’s this afterworld where everyone hopes they’re going, right? Like I want to get to heaven. But but in the Jewish mentality, when they referred to the third heaven, it’s to say to us that there is this this way in which they thought of heaven’s not that there’s three heavens as you and I think about it. But when the Jews referred to the heavens, they referred to this layered way of thinking, meaning in Genesis chapter one verse one, it tells us in the beginning God created the what? Heavens. Plural. When the Jews would think about heavens the way that they would conceive, it is they would look up and beyond them. And the place where the birds flew and the and the clouds dwelled, that was the first heaven, and then the place where the stars and the sun and the moon hung. That was the second heaven, but the place where God’s presence was that that was the third heaven that was different other from this world. And so when the Jews would talk about going to heaven, as we would talk about it, in their mind they only mean the third heaven.
But they would consider the glory of God and all that he created that’s beyond them. They would refer to this as the heavens. Not that there’s three heavens as we think about it. But there was this layer as they thought about the glory of God, and ultimately that they would be in his presence one day in this third heaven. So what Jesus is saying to to the thief on the cross is that he he is welcomed into that celestial presence which we as Christians, that is really the only heaven we believe in. And the reason for that is God. God didn’t create us to to escalate our way into heavens. God created you to be with him. God created you for relationship. And so the whole focus of what Luke 23 is saying, we tend to gravitate to the idea of Paradise, right? Location. But can I tell you the most important thing that he’s saying to this thief on the cross isn’t about a location. It’s about his presence. When Jesus says it like this, you will be with me. The goal of Christianity is not about proving your worth. The goal of Christianity is about embracing who proved it for us on the cross, so that we can be reconciled to him in relationship for which we were designed to know God and be known by him for all of eternity, that we would walk in his presence.
The picture of heaven as a Christian is, is this this place where all of us together in him worshiping the Lord, and to know him for eternity in this place of utter joy and shalom, peace and the presence of God. And it’s not because of us, but because of his grace. I need to give you this quickly, but out of Galatians or excuse me, Acts chapter 15 is really what birthed the book of Galatians. Galatians is known as a mini Romans. And so you see this idea of peppered in Paul’s writings. As he’s writing this out of Acts 15, I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Or in Galatians five, for you are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. Can I just tell you one thing? No one in this room wants to fall away from. It’s what Jesus has done for you his grace. Galatians chapter three, Paul says, is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if the law had been given that could give life, the righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under the sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. And then he says this very important there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you’re all one in Christ Jesus.
And it’s telling you God doesn’t care about your pedigree. God cares about where your heart is in him. And then he says, verse 29, and if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. Abraham’s life wasn’t primarily about being Jewish. Abraham’s life was primarily about being a man of faith. And he’s saying, it’s not about you becoming a Jew. You’re belonging to the Lord, or even Abraham is about a walk of faith embracing what Christ has done for you. Grace is foundational for us. But in addition to that, what makes this church powerful is not only not only the grace that saves us, but also, number two, truth that unites us. The truth that unites us. And and I love what Acts chapter 15 is about. There’s this this chapter is this debate. And debate. I know when sometimes when we read Christian debates or we we watch people work out this theology as they’re processing through that, there’s a part of us sometimes that might check out, we might watch our eyes roll in the back of their head. We’re like, oh my gosh, you know, why is this chapter so long? Why couldn’t they just tell us the conclusion? That’s why I gave you the conclusion in verse 11 and 19 for UI rollers out there.
Right. But, but one of the things I want you to see in this, in this debate is as the church is dialoging through this, it’s the way they’re choosing to do that that’s important. The grace of Christ is our foundation as God’s people. And then we understand when people come through our doors, we’re all coming from different walks of life. But but hopefully we’re coming humbly to Jesus to let him shape his truth in us so that rather than coming to people with the Bible and being like, you better take this and you better accept it all right, now, exactly the way I want you to think, when I want you to think it, and how I want you to think. Like if you ever enter into a church like that. Yeah, don’t stick around now. It doesn’t mean truth isn’t important. There is a foundation to who we are. And to lose that is to lose us. And really, we become. We obliterate ourselves in nothingness. And the truth is what sets you free. But we also need to give liberty for people to walk and grow in that truth. And so having opportunity to learn and grow in God’s Word, that’s what Acts 15 is, as the church is saying, okay, this is a critical moment that can really separate the church between just Gentile church and Jewish church. And God called us to be one.
And so how do we walk in the discovery of who the Lord is together as a community? How how do we nurture what we have in the Lord? And and if we’re not careful, we can become one of those polarizing types of people where we can take truth and just say, accept it. I’m right. You know, the apostles could have done this. It’s my way or the highway. And then there’s just carnage of bodies. Because people are. People aren’t quite there with them and wanting to learn and grow, but they they just got run over and run past. But then there’s others. It’s like, you know, can’t we all just get along? Let’s just love for the sake of love. Okay. I don’t even want to. Let’s not even worry about this. You just. I love you, and you love me and whatever, right? But but here’s here’s the point is that truth is what helps us be be understanding of the foundation of why we love. Right. So you can’t just love for the sake of love, but you have to understand what drives the foundation of who you are and why you do it. And so truth becomes that, that basis that then propels us and compels us to to love as God’s people, understanding who Christ is. And so when you look at it, when you look at the the church, they they begin to work this out.
And, and one of the things that’s critical for us, these these things aren’t competing with one another. Truth and love. They’re intended to complement one another and how we live as God’s people. But there is something we need as a community in order to walk in that. And that is humility. In fact, there are warnings in scriptures over and over as you approach people to, to understand like, what kind of person are you talking about? In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus says it like this don’t cast your pearls before swine. And Proverbs chapter nine, it says, verse seven, whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man will incur injury. Do not reprove a scoffer or he will hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. So here’s what we look for. I mean, there’s multiple passages. Another one on the screen I’ll have time to read. But a place of humility, of saying, Jesus, I know you’re the way. Your grace has freed me. And now I want to grow in that. And so, as believers, we want to give space to one another as as we get into God’s word to then say, don’t just believe this because I tell you to believe this, but read this verse.
And how is this verse teaching you to find your life shaped in the Lord? I mean, you’re on a journey with Jesus where you’re not going to be perfected until eternity, but it is important to learn the rhythm of a humble heart coming before God and growing in him. That’s why we encourage us constantly as Christians. Get in God’s Word. Understand who he is because God desires to be made known. That’s why he gave you His Word and let His Word shape you in community as we walk in humility together. And what this gives the church the opportunity to do is, rather than splinter here over a disagreement in this place of humility as they’re dialoging over this, it helps everyone get on the same page that they can move together in Jesus, and what they can do together as a community is far more powerful than what they do as individuals to themselves. So the power of the church is being made known in this, the foundation of grace and the truth that that unites and even even James in verse 13, he kind of gives the summary of this dialog. He says, James replied, brothers, listen to me. Simeon, who is Peter, has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. So so Peter shared first, then Paul, and then James gets up and he says, okay, listen, you’ve heard them anecdotally share the experience of how God has transformed the hearts of the Gentiles.
So we’ve seen it done that way. And so we know that that’s take place. But then verse 15, he does something else. He’s saying not only not only is this what we’ve experienced, but then he comes back to something more important. He says, verse 15, and with the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, he goes to God’s Word. He’s saying, at the end of the day, look, people can be wrong, But God gave us something better as a metric to measure ourselves. And it’s his word. And so in verse 16 it says, after this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant 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 old. And James is saying, look, even back in the book of Amos, for example, God had already told us that the Gentiles would come to know Christ. And this is repeated multiple times in in the Bible. But but what James is saying and this, this is where we root ourselves, not in our customs, not in our traditions, though they can have some importance. At the end of the day, what defines who we are is the truthfulness of God’s Word, and then it helps us understand how we move forward as his people.
So the truth unites us. And you see in verse 22 and 23 how they execute. I’ll come back and tell you what that is. 22 then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, and the whole and the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter. The brothers, both the apostles and the elders to the brothers who were the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Greetings. So here’s what they do. The church in Antioch came down to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church then takes some people from their church, united with the Church of Antioch, and they start to share as a community. This is what makes who we are. One of the things that I think is, is makes this easy to embrace and to walk in is this picture, which is gross. I’m kind of interested if I even pulled you guys to say. Can anyone even guess what this is? This is actually. I didn’t even know what. I didn’t know how gross this was till I looked it up, because I’ve never observed this. This is an animal, obviously. But this is the knee. The knee of a camel, which I now believe is the ugliest thing God has ever invented.
Right. The knee of a camel. But the reason I bring this up is James, who was the Lord’s brother, who leads the church in Jerusalem. His nickname actually was camel knees. Now, this is not a nickname I want you to give me, but but for for for James, it was recognizing that he was a humble man. In fact, it said he spent so much time on his knees in prayers. He started to develop calluses. And so that’s the way they referred to him as camel knee. But it’s telling you what kind of leader he is, right? Not there to just drive people and force people, but to see them growing in the truth of who Christ is as God nurtures that in them through his grace as they turn to his truth. And then the last is this in a powerful church is that freedom sends us. Freedom sends us. What’s really interesting about this particular chapter and what is written to the church is the instructions James gives to the believers in light of the gospel of grace. He says this verse verse 28. He says, for it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements, that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.
If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. Now, this is interesting because I just read the Gospels by grace, but now all of a sudden they’re giving a list of rules. And which is it? Do we have to obey rules in order to be saved? Or is it by grace? Now, I would say it’s it’s absolutely by grace. But I want you to see what God’s doing here, because grace is liberating for us as God’s people. We have freedom in Christ to live our lives. But then there are some things, when we’re in certain cultures and their practices that we can embrace that might create such a contentious moment among that culture that they can’t hear the ultimate message that we’re we’re there for meaning. In the first century, because of the New Covenant, people were allowed to eat what they wanted. There was not the dietary restrictions like the Jewish people experienced, and so they had the freedom to eat what they wanted. But this has become such a practice among the Jewish people that when the when the Gentiles would walk into the food courts, the cheapest meat to buy was meat sacrificed to idols and Gentiles that were now believers knew those idols weren’t real, and they held nothing over them and so they could just partake of it, knowing this idol has no advantage over me. But then they could flaunt it among the Jewish people who were particular in their dietary restrictions.
And because of that, they couldn’t hear the message of what was more important, which was the freedom of Jesus. And so they said to the church, yes, you’re free, but sometimes in your freedom there is an opportunity to understand what it means to be a servant for Christ so that others may know Jesus too. What is it for you as a believer that you would be willing to lay down for the sake of someone else to know Jesus? How much of a servant are you willing to become for the sake of Christ? Knowing how Jesus has served you in this chapter is significant for the life of the church and understanding. There is always this temptation to try to add to the beauty of what Jesus has accomplished. But when you just follow the purity of Christ, the grace of God, the truth of God, the freedom of God, it is not only a rich, enriching to your soul, but it’s transforming in history and the way it impacts people around you. So much so, I’ll just end with this. In the early 1900s, there was a revival in Wales, the Welsh revival, and within one year over 10% of the population gave their life to the Lord. And it was incredible the way that the gospel was sweeping among the people. But one of the things that I think makes this revival remarkable is actually what made it unremarkable.
And the thing that made it unremarkable is that there was really no leader of the Welsh revival. There was no dynamic speaker. There was no direct individual. They would say he’s responsible, but rather what birthed this revival was a coal miner who started to have a sensitivity to the holiness of the Lord and got on his knees and repented and asked God to forgive him and give him a new life. And seeing that others started to follow suit, crying out to the Lord for forgiveness. And before you know it, the crowds are turning to the Lord. And it made such an impact that it says during this time that the police had no more calls to respond to. So to entertain themselves, they started to create choirs and that judges had no cases to rule on. So the people seeing that judges were really not working, they decided to just buy white gloves for judges to recognize the purity of society as it was moving forward and even within, in the in the minds, as miners would, would go into to labor. It was said sometimes miners didn’t understand the instructions given to them anymore because it wasn’t laced with profanity in the minds, but lives were being transformed. And guys, the thing that spurred this was simply the grace of God made known. Jesus is more than enough. And in knowing that coming before him humbly and saying, God, your word, continue to shape me not just as an individual, but as a community for your glory.
This message has been brought to you by Alpine Bible Church in Lehi, Utah. If you’d like more information, please visit us online at alpine Bible.com.