Members Only Series

Members Only

Acts 15:1-35

We’re just 11 days away from the first day of school in Hamilton County! I know our students are SO excited as they can’t wait to get back to waking up early every morning, completing summer reading assignments, homework, classwork, quizzes, tests, exams. Of course what that means is this time of year is when a lot of people go shopping for back to school clothes. Of course kids always want to have the latest fashions, right?

Now way back when I was in Junior High school, I started noticing a new fashion trend. A lot of my classmates were wearing this jacket with snapped tabs on the shoulder, ½ collar. There was a little label on the top of the front pocket. Members Only. These things were HUGE back in the 80’s. Everybody who was anybody wore a Members Only jacket. So Christmas was right around the corner and I begged my mom for a members only jacket. That’s the one thing I wanted. Christmas morning comes, I start opening my gifts, and as I open one of the boxes I see this gray jacket, with the signature shoulder tabs and half collar. When I look at the front pocket, instead of the tag saying, “Members Only” it said, “Club Member.”

She bought me a knock-off. My mom said, “Is that the one you wanted?” I said, “Well, the tag says Club Member, not Members Only.” Yeah, but I got the gray one, just like you asked for. “But the tag mom, it says ‘Club Member’ not ‘Members Only.’” “I know, but it’s the style of the jacket you wanted, right?” “But the tag…”

I don’t know that I ever wore that jacket because it didn’t have the right label. As I think back on that episode I realize how pathetic I was. Isn’t it sad how as kids we put so much emphasis & importance on a particular label? Of course there are a lot of adults who do that too.

The same thing can happen in the church. We can put so much emphasis and importance on the tag, on the label that people have. This is not a new phenomenon, this was the case in the early church as well.

As we come to chapter 15 in our ongoing series through the book of Acts we arrive at a very critical event in the life and theological formation of the early church. Chapter 15 is not just the center of the book structurally as there are 28 chapters, but it is the center of the book thematically and theologically. What happens in this chapter really serves as something like a pivot-point upon which the focus and outreach of the early church turns.

Turn in your Bible to Acts 15. You'll notice the heading over chapter 15 is probably, “The Jerusalem Council.” This is a watershed moment in the history of the church. And it's not an exaggeration to say that the church, indeed the world, was never the same after this council took place.

The reason this council is so significant is because this council answers two of the most important questions regarding the kingdom of God. Today we're going to attempt to cover 35 verses and in so doing we'll discover the answer to these vitally important questions. The first question answered by the Jerusalem council is this...

I. How Do I GAIN ACCESS To Grace?

We try to gain access to many things. Perhaps it's trying to gain access to a locked vehicle and the keys are dangling from the steering column. Some of you attempted to gain access to a particular school or college and there were hurdles you had to cross in order to gain admittance such as GPA or ACT scores. Some of us have tried to gain access into particular jobs or careers only to learn that the field we were pursuing is very competitive. Some of you who are single are attempting to gain access to married life. Some who are married may be thinking about gaining access to the single life - let's talk later. Some students when you go back to school will attempt to get into the right crowd, get into the right circle of people.

Well how do you get into the most important, longest lasting organization that has ever existed. How do you get into the kingdom of God? Or the way I've posed the question here, how do I gain access to grace?

If you spend your whole life trying to gain access to the right crowd, gain access to the right school; get into the right career, gain access to the right company, get into the right relationship and that's all you think about, you will have missed the only thing that really matters for all eternity. How do I gain access to grace?