Problem Solving in the Savior’s Church
Acts 15:1-12
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - June 6, 2007
*George Mallone told about a well-known psychologist who spoke at a pastor’s conference, and he decided to try a little experiment. Every time he introduced himself to a preacher, he said, "I’m sorry to hear about the problem in your church."
-Nearly half of the pastors responded, "It was there before I came."
-The other half said, "It’s getting better.”
*One and only one pastor responded, "What problem?"
-The speaker later played golf with that pastor, and after that the speaker said, “He lied about his golf score too.” (1)
*Every church will face problems. How can we overcome them? Let’s look into the Word of God and see.
1. First, we must beware of misguided convictions. This was the big problem in vs. 1-5. Some of the Pharisees had trusted in the Lord, but they were tenaciously hanging on to Old Testament rituals. They were zealous for the Lord, but they were zealous in a misguided way.
*The Lord knows that we all need more passion for God. But the problem is that some of the most passionate people are passionately wrong. Some of the most passionate people are also some of the most misguided people. Muslim fanatics are proving that every day.
*We must beware of misguided convictions, like the legalism we see in vs. 5, when the believing Pharisees said: “It is necessary to circumcise [the Gentiles], and command them to keep the law of Moses." They did not understand that we live in a new day, the day of grace, and that we are under the New Testament, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is no longer necessary for us to keep ritualistic Old Testament laws.
*Of course this does not mean that anything goes. Anyone who takes a look at the teachings of Jesus Christ will quickly see that He calls us to a much higher standard of living than under the Old Testament. For example, in Matt 5:43-45, Jesus said:
43. You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
45. that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
*The Lord calls us to the highest standards of love and holiness, but we are free from the law, so we must beware of misguided convictions. For them it was circumcision. Man is always looking for something to do to be saved, some kind of action to take, some kind of ritual to perform. It’s a kind of idolatry that takes something symbolic and turns it into a literal requirement for salvation.
*We have seen this happen with the two ordinances that the Lord gave to the church: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both ordinances have been falsely identified as requirements for salvation. Our Church of Christ, Pentecostal and Catholic friends teach that you cannot be saved unless you are baptized, baptized by them, according to the formula they have adopted.
-And Catholics teach transubstantiation of the Lord’s Supper: The belief that the bread and wine are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And that the Lord is literally sacrificed over and over again literally thousands of times every day around the world.
*We must beware of legalism. Maybe this is one reason why the Lord only gave us two ordinances. But the biggest problem in the American church today is not legalism. It’s liberalism, the mind-set that likes to pick and choose when it comes to Biblical doctrine. It’s the view that puts man as judge over the Word of God, rather than letting the Word of God shape our morals and values.
*Well in our church we don’t have a problem with legalism or liberalism. For us the problem is more likely to be traditionalism. Tradition is generally good. But traditionalism can be a big problem.
*Jaroslav Pelikan was one of the world’s leading scholars in the history of Christianity. He authored more than 30 books, and wrote these words explaining the difference between tradition and traditionalism:
-“Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.
-Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering we are where and when we are and that it is we who have to decide.
-Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition.” (2)
*Traditionalism. Let’s do it the old way! Well how far back do you want to go?
*Singing wasn’t introduced into Baptist churches until 1673, by a preacher named Benjamin Keach. The Baptist churches of that day would be horrified to hear kind of singing we had tonight. They would never think of having a hymnbook or an order of service, because they thought that hindered the Holy Spirit. They certainly wouldn’t have had an organ or piano. And congregational singing was out of the question.
*Thomas Grantham was a leader of the day and here’s a summary of his feelings: “There were of course no musical instruments; any singing had to be done by a man (women were to keep silent); any singing had to be strictly solo, with no mixed voices or “promiscuous singing” by a multitude; only biblical texts, preferably psalms, could be sung; no songs of “human composure” could be allowed; any singing had to be done in a loud, clear voice, with “no warbling. . .”
-Grantham said, “that a multitude of Christians, or a whole Congregation ought to sing together at the same time, is not at all warranted” from the Scripture. (3)
*That seems silly to us, but they believed that with all their heart. And listen to the trouble that arose when Pastor Keach tried to lead his church to sing hymns:
-A “grueling controversy” arose when Pastor Keach sought to introduce congregational singing to his church in Horsley Down. With biblical evidence, he first got them to agree in 1673 to a hymn after the Lord’s Supper. However, he allowed those who objected to leave before the hymn. Six years later the church agreed to sing a hymn on “public thanksgiving days.” Another fourteen years passed before the church could agree that singing was appropriate in worship. A full twenty years passed before one church could agree that singing was good, appropriate, and worshipful.
-This incident was costly, however, for twenty-two members of Keach’s church withdrew to join a nonsinging church. However, singing had caught on, and this nonsinging church soon called a pastor who made hymn singing a condition of his coming. (3)
*Let’s do it the old way! Well how far back do you want to go? Elizabeth Elliot wrote about this correspondence from the 2nd century:
-"I am in earnest about forsaking ’the world’ and following Christ. But I am puzzled about worldly things. What is it I must forsake?" a young man asks.
-"Colored clothes, for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that is not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow. Sell your musical instruments and don’t eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against Him who created us, to attempt to improve on His Work." (4)
*Did any of that come from Jesus? Of course not, but it is easy to get wrong ideas about what matters to God. We must beware of misguided convictions, because traditionalism and legalism get in the way of grace. As Rodney Buchanan once said:
-“This was the problem of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They put before the people a God who was mainly interested in rules. When Christ came and grace broke through, with undeserving people experiencing God, they were offended. When Jesus performed miracles on the Sabbath they were outraged.
-They missed the miracle. They missed the human compassion. They missed the work of God because they were absorbed in their rules.
-The average person of the day saw this God as unapproachable. It seemed impossible to keep all the rules, so they gave up even trying to please him. These ordinary people wanted to come to God, but they were prevented by a false concept of God which the religious elite kept before them. (5)
2. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must beware of misguided convictions. But also seek wise counsel. This is what the early church did starting in vs. 2:
-“Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.”
*They were seeking wise counsel, and we get a good look at the process in vs. 5-9:
5. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.’’
6. So the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
7. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us,
9. and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
*Proverbs 11:14 tells us that, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Over the years I have been blessed by wise counsel from strong Christians like Bro. Savoie and Wray Ivey, plus many other Godly men and women.
*We need to seek wise counsel. And the flip side of this truth is that we need to seek wisdom, so that we can help guide other people. Peter turned out to be an unlikely helper in this case, because he tended to side with the Pharisees, at least for a while, on circumcision. We know from Acts 10 that Peter didn’t want to have anything to do with the Gentiles, but the Lord got his attention and led him to Cornelius. And I am sure that the Lord was looking ahead to this situation too. He had prepared Peter for this moment when his wisdom was greatly needed by the church.
*God will give you wisdom too! All we have to do is ask, and trust Him to hear our prayers. James 1: 5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
*Commit to be a wise counsel for other people. Pray for wisdom and put Christ first in everything you do.
*I like what Richard Fairchild said about helping others:
-“A few years ago as I sat thinking about how James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asked Jesus if they could rule with him in heaven, one on his right hand, the other on the left, I wrote a prayer. The prayer was this:
-‘Lord, when I dream of power,
-Let me dream of the power to help others.’” (6)
*That’s a good prayer, because others will need help. Someday your church will need your wise counsel.
3. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must seek wise counsel, and consider the right question. Peter found just the right question in vs. 10:
-“Why do you test [or tempt] God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”
*It is so easy to get off-track in life, easy to get consumed by our own agenda, but what matters to God? That’s what should matter to us!
*When the devil tried to get Jesus to throw Himself off the temple in Matt 4, Jesus said, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” basically the same word we see here. Am I doing anything to offend the Lord or try His patience? That’s one of the main questions we need to ask when the church has problems, because we may be part of the problem.
4. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must consider the right question, and reaffirm our core beliefs. This is what Peter did in vs. 7-11, when he said:
7 . . . Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us,
9. and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.
*How are we saved? There is only one way: By grace through faith! This is one of our most important core beliefs.
*Bruce Emmert explained it this way:
-“There’s a major-league problem with trying to earn your way into heaven by keeping God’s Law and doing good: quite simply, it is impossible! The problem with works is that it demands 100% compliance 100% of the time. . .
*If you’re going to try to get into heaven by doing good then you’ve got to be good all the time. Being good enough requires that we are good all the time—all the time. Did you catch that? All the time! And that impossible.
*Let’s be honest: How good have you been? Let me ask you to be honest with yourself for a moment: How good can you be … for the rest of your life?
-Are you never going to get angry and say things that you later regret?
-Are you never going to think evil thoughts about people you don’t like?
-Are you never going to lust for someone other than your spouse?
-Any one of those things—and anyone of a thousand other moral or ethical lapses is all it takes to be not good enough.
*Trusting in good work is 100% or it’s nothing. Mark Twain said if getting into heaven was a matter of doing good then “you would stay out, and your dog would go in!” Why? Because being good enough is out of your reach just like it is out of mine. (7)
*But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
-Thank God that Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins! Thank God that Jesus rose from the dead to save anyone who puts their faith in Him! The more we focus on our core beliefs, the more we will be focused on what unites us. “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.’’
5. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must reaffirm our core beliefs, and start concentrating on God’s work in our world. This is what the church did in vs. 3, “So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren.”
-They did the same thing at Jerusalem in vs. 12, “Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.”
*That word “listened” means that they were paying intensely close attention to the words of Barnabas and Paul. They wanted to hear, they needed to hear what God was doing in His world.
-Sunday night the Missions Ministry Team heard a miraculous report from Gary and Nancy Green’s mission trip to Peru. We will schedule a time for them to give a detailed report to the church, but the best estimate from evangelist Gary Bowlin is that 220 people got saved on this trip! 220 people! That’s a miracle!
*And we can look forward to more great reports this summer from VBS, the summer camps, World Changers, the trip to Romania and servant evangelism here. Saturday, Elaine Gardner has a group going out to Kiroli Park to give away balloons to the children out there, and with every balloon they will give an invitation to our VBS. Just trying every way possible to help more children come and hear the Good News about Jesus.
Conclusion:
*Whenever there are problems in the church, the devil is trying to distract us from what the Lord wants us to do. That’s when to turn your attention back to how God is working in His world, because He is at work every day.
*Will McClendon ever face problems? Certainly we will, because every church will face problems. But we can certainly overcome them, especially if we keep concentrating on God’s work in our world.
1. George Mallone, FURNACE OF RENEWAL (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1981). Found in christianglobe.com sermon “Playing Church or Playing Jesus” by King Duncan Lev 19:1-37
2. Jaroslav Pelikan in an interview in U.S. News & World Report (June 26, 1989). Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 13. (Found on Bible Illustrator for windows - Topic: Change / Subtopic: / Index: Date: 12/1997.1291 / Title: As It Was in the Beginning) (Further biographical information found at www.meta-library.net/bio/jp-body.html)
3. Adapted from “The Baptist Heritage” by H. Leon McBeth, Broadman Press, Nashville, TN, 1987, pp. 92-95
4. Elizabeth Elliot, The Liberty of Obedience, Nashville, Abingdon, 1968, pp. 45-46. (Found in SermonCentral sermon “Judging Those Who Judge” by James May - Rom 2:1-11)
5. “The Gift of Faith” - Sermon by Rodney Buchanan - Heb 11:1-6 - Mulberry St UMC - May 18, 2003
6. “The Caring Servant” - Sermon by Richard Fairchild - Isaiah 53:4-12; Mark 10:35-45 - Oct. 9, 1997
7. SermonCentral sermon “A Believing Heart” by Bruce Emmert Rom 10:1-13
