Acts 15 tells about the Jerusalem council where the church leaders struggled to deal with an issue that was splitting the early church.
If we study carefully this account we see several principles for facing and dealing with issues that can help us today.
First let’s read some background, then we will look at this passage and see the story. Finally, we will attempt to pick out the particulars and find the principles God gave them to get through this.
I. Background passages:
There are several texts that we need to tie together for this so bear with me and see if we can put together the big picture in this before we draw our conclusions. We will be looking at Galatians 1 & 2; Acts 9:26-31, 11:27-30 & 12:25 and Genesis 17:9f. Write all these down and look at them together again later if you miss my point today.
1. Gal. 1:13-2:10
Two times Paul talks about going up to Jerusalem, on one of those he visited with Peter. This is recorded in Acts 9:26-31. This was soon after he was converted. Barnabus met him there and helped him gain acceptance with the church. He got to know Peter on this visit.
His second visit was when he came with Barnabus and Titus with a gift to the needy because of a famine. This is recorded in Acts 11:27-30, and 12:25. On this visit Paul describes his gospel message to the Gentiles and no one among the apostles or leaders of the Jerusalem church adds anything to it. They see Paul as God’s missionary to the Gentiles.
2. Gal. 2:11-16
This event probably occurred shortly before the Jerusalem council. Peter seems to be in full agreement with Paul in Acts 15 where the council is held.
Did you get all that? Paul has faced opposition to his work in teaching the gospel of Jesus all along. But specifically, he gets into trouble with Jewish Christian teachers who try to make the Gentiles accept the Laws of Moses and customs of Judaism. Even Peter and Barnabus are confused. Peter later says that Paul writes some things that are hard to understand and that some people twist them to their own destruction.
Paul twice says in Gal. 2 that he defends "the truth of the gospel..." verses 5 and 14. That truth that he is referring to is the gospel truth that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ and not by observing the Law. Verse 16.
So... what have we learned in our background study? We see that Paul’s preaching ministry and the message to the Gentiles is causing a confusion among the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. Several of them are going out to correct the churches where Paul has preached and get those Gentiles in line with the Bible!!!
Look at what the Bible says in Genesis 17: 9 God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10 "This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 "And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.
13 "A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 "But any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."
That’s what the Bible says. This is one of the first major issues that the early church faces. Many among the Jewish Christians couldn’t understand how Paul could get around this. Didn’t he know that God’s covenant with Abraham was an everlasting covenant? Didn’t he know that opening the doors to the Gentiles without requiring this covenant was unbiblical? In order for us to understand how this felt to those who oppose Paul let me use an illustration.
Suppose a preacher stood up here today and said that baptism is no longer necessary to be a Christian. What if he said that God has decided to make salvation available to everyone in spite of whether they are baptized or not. In fact everyone who simply wants to be saved is saved simply by believing, without doing anything that the Bible tells us we must do to be right with God.
How would that kind of teaching make you feel? How long do you suppose the elders here would let anyone preach that kind of message in this church? I know if I were an elder I wouldn’t put up with that! I would go straight to the gospels and Acts and the letters of Paul and show how baptism is connected to the commands and commission of Jesus Christ and to his death, burial and resurrection for our salvation. Jesus commission and the teaching and examples of the Apostles make it clear that baptism is not optional.
Well, this is about how it felt for some of the Jewish members of the church when Paul and Barnabus and others began accepting gentiles into fellowship as members of the chosen people by simply recognizing Jesus as the Son of God in faith and baptism in his name without requiring that their men be circumcised.
We need to understand the huge impact of what James says in Acts 15 verse 19, we should not make it difficult for the gentiles who are turning to God... How were some making it difficult for the gentiles? By requiring the gentiles to go by the only Bible that they had. Remember, Matthew - Revelation had not been written yet. What these of the circumcision party were saying is that Jesus is the Messiah, and if you want to be saved you must do what the Bible says and be obedient to God’s laws. Remember, it was Paul that wrote that the Law was nailed to the cross. A lot of the Jews who were Christians in Jerusalem disagreed with Paul here.
These Jews were not foolish men who had not read the Bible, no! These were men of faith in Christ and the Bible. Their Bibles didn’t have a section called the Old Testament and another called the New Testament. All they had was the books of Moses the writings and the Prophets. Genesis through Malachi. So when they read about the will of God and what he required of men, they naturally assumed that to become Abraham’s children and to inherit the promises of God to Abraham meant to keep the covenant as God gave it in the scriptures.
Paul understood things differently. He taught that Jesus’ death on the cross had not only paid for our sins it had radically changed the covenant. He showed that Abraham actually received God’s promise and blessing of righteousness BEFORE he was circumcised. Jesus had brought us a new way to God. But this was a way, in fact, that all the words of the scriptures from Genesis to Malachi had foretold. God had worked salvation for all men. Men never did earn it the old fashioned way. That way never worked anyway! (verse 10) Jesus earned our salvation for us and now He extends it to all who will receive it.
This is a radically different concept than was commonly held by the Jews of this day. Their thinking was like this: A messiah that died on a cross was a tough enough message, and now you’re telling me my Bible is wrong!
But the Bible never was wrong. It was their concept of truth and righteousness that was wrong. Their focus even as they read the scriptures was not on Jesus and what God had done, it was on themselves and what they must do. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-11. Especially pay attention to what Paul says about righteousness.
There are 2 concepts of righteousness in the Bible. The first one comes from Gen. 15:6 and the second is stated in Deut. 6:25.
The first concept is the basis of our faith today: we believe and God gives us His righteousness. The second concept was the basis of the legalistic tradition of righteousness. This concept of righteousness always leads into self righteousness. It builds pride instead of humility. It builds bondage instead of freedom. It distorts truth even while it appeals to scripture for proof. It appeals to the flesh and not the Spirit. It says you are the one with the controls. It is called legalistic righteousness. But it is righteousness that Jesus came to fulfill and he opened up access to eternal life for all who follow him by dying for us on the cross. We are saved by the work of Jesus, not ours.
If you ask someone to tell you how they were saved. Their answer will reveal where their security lies. It shows how much weight that person puts on God’s work of grace and how much weight they put on their own work of obedience. How you deal with these 2 aspects of salvation determines how you understand the gospel.
The truth of the gospel is at stake in the answer to this question: How are we saved?
Paul’s answer to that question kept him in trouble with Jewish opponents all the way through his life.
The issue of Acts 15 is more than a mere problem with the Law. The issue centers on how we are saved. It is a deeper look at the focus of the faith.
Let’s look at this chapter now and pay attention to how they deal with this issue.
II. Acts 15: the council of Jerusalem
1. 1-5 Introduction: The meeting is held and all the cards are placed on the table.
2. 6-18 Focus: God in action and in his Word showed what his will is.
3. 19-35 Conclusion: agreement is reached and a letter is written.
III. Particulars and principles
Issues are a result of differing beliefs. I believe God requires a certain thing and someone else does not believe it. We have an issue.
The closer an issue comes to being a matter of salvation, the greater the conflict in it’s wake.
Principle # 1. If we differ in the basis of our belief in salvation, we are in a crisis of fellowship.
The issue of the Jerusalem council struck at the means and method of salvation. If no resolution were reached on this there would be a major division in the Church. There would be a Church for the circumcised and a Church for the uncircumcised, or at least those that don’t think it matters.
Principle #2. Resolution begins with recognition of the seriousness of the situation. There was practically nothing more important in Jerusalem at that time than this.
It is interesting to me how things usually have to come to a head before they can be worked out. Over the years I’ve seen this again and again. If something is only seen as an irritant, we put up with it. If something is growing into a problem, we pray about it and hope it will go away and maybe discuss it with friends that agree with us. But when something finally forces its way into our face as a crisis and will not go away, we recognize it as serious.
I remember one winter in New Hampshire having one car. It had been giving me a little trouble, but ahh... The trouble got worse and I looked at it and made a few adjustments to it but I hoped it will just get better on its own. Then one day it simply wouldn’t start. Period. It started once, quit, and played dead all day in spite of AAA, several mechanical friends working on it, and my own best efforts. It was time for a funeral service for it and a replacement.
Seeing the seriousness of the problem is the first step toward resolving it.
Principle # 3, The wisest leadership available must be gathered.
In this case the leaders of the church from Antioch and Jerusalem met for council.
Principle # 4, The focus is finding and coming to agreement on God’s will.
The key information in this council included how God had led them in experience and in his Word.
Principle # 5, The resolution must take into account its impact on the faith of those who hear it.
The church resolved that the law was not the means of righteousness and salvation, but that immoral and some offensive behaviors among the Gentiles must be addressed.
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