Be A Conduit Not A Detour
Text: Acts 15:1-21
Introduction
1. Illustration: Recently, I was having a phone conversation with my brother, and he was telling me about a detour to get to his house. He told me that when I come to his house, rather than turning where I normally turn and cross a bridge over the river, that I needed to go another five mile down the road, turn there, and come back several miles in order to get to his house. The reason for this is the bridge is currently closed off, and as a result, I have to go five miles out of the way.
2. Unfortunately, this is what too many Christians do to unbelievers. We insist that they look like us, think like us, and act like us. All the time we forget that we didn't always look like we look, think like we do now, and we certainly didn't always act the same.
3. In doing this we make roadblocks to Christ that make it difficult for people to come to faith in Jesus.
4. We can sometimes become...
A. Detours To Faith
B. Conduits Of Faith
C. Transmitters Of Faith
5. Let's stand together as we read Acts 15:1-21.
Proposition: We should do our best to lead others to Christ and not around him.
Transition: What we should try not to be is...
I. Detours To Faith (1-5).
A. Unless You Are Circumcised
1. One of the greatest movements in the church of the 20th Century was known as the "Jesus Movement." Many young people were come to faith in Christ, and many of those young people are now Pastors and leaders in the church today. What was unique about this movement was that the majority of these young people were hippies. They began walking into church with long hair, beards, and wearing blue jeans, t-shirts and sandals. The church's that were in tune to the Holy Spirit accepted and embraced these young people right where they were at. However, other church's rejected them because of the way they looked and dressed.
2. This is very much like what happened in the early church. As you recall, Paul and Barnabas had gone to the Gentiles and the Holy Spirit had done a great work causing these Gentile's to come to Jesus in droves.
3. Then, however, there came those who tried to cause detours for these new believers. In v. 1 we read, "While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
A. These unnamed Jewish believers began teaching the Gentile brothers that their salvation was conditioned on circumcision "according to the custom taught by Moses."
B. What these people were really saying was that the Gentile believers must be circumcised and come under the old covenant of Moses' law; otherwise, they could not be real Christians.
C. By this they also implied that Gentile believers would lose the salvation they had already received if they did not become Jews and undergo circumcision.
D. This has often been the cry of false teachers: You will lose your salvation if you do not accept our special teaching.
E. Some still say that a person is not really or fully saved unless they go through certain prescribed rites or ceremonies. All these fail to recognize that salvation is by grace through faith alone, as is clearly taught in the NT (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary, 261).
4. Now this didn't set well with Paul and Barnabas. Look at v. 2, it says, "Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question."
A. This was no small difference of opinion. The Greek words for disagreeing and argued forcefully convey the idea of great strife, discord, disunion.
B. This debate over circumcision and keeping the law was a major dispute, a serious theological and ecclesiastical crisis.
C. If not handled wisely, the debate could have split the church. So Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers.
D. They would meet with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this question (Barton, 525).
E. Since Paul and Barnabas couldn't persuade these Jewish believers they took it to the Church.
5. Now notice something amazing about Paul and Barnabas. In v. 3 it says, "The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted."
A. They stopped along the way to encourage the believers and share testimonies!
B. The whole church turned out to escort Paul and Barnabas. in doing so the believers showed they still loved them, respected them, and had confidence in them in spite of the questions these Judaizing teachers had raised.
C. Paul took the road south through Phoenicia and the province of Samaria, stopping to visit churches all along the way.
D. In each place he gave a complete account of the Gentiles turning to the Lord. Though made up of circumcised Jewish believers in Phoenicia and circumcised Samaritan believers in Samaria who still followed the customs prescribed by the law of Moses, the churches all accepted the spread and effectiveness of the Word of God among the Gentiles without question.
E. More than that, the "news made all the believers very glad"(Horton, 262).
6. However, when they got to Jerusalem, not everyone was happy about what was going on. It says in v. 5, "But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”
A. These Christians had been Pharisees before their conversion (like Paul). Since only God knows the human heart, it is impossible to make a blanket statement regarding the eternal “destination” of this group.
B. Probably some were sincere believers in the resurrection of Christ and his claim to be the Messiah (though obviously confused about the relationship between law and grace).
C. Others likely were blindly trusting in their own efforts to make them acceptable to God. Still others may have been infiltrators with evil motives.
D. Whatever these believers’ individual status before God, the common concern of all in this camp was that all Gentile converts be required to follow the law of Moses, especially regarding circumcision. (Barton, 525).
E. They were causing detours of faith!
B. Roadblocks
1. Illustration: When I was a young in the faith, I used to love and sit on our front porch and read my Bible. One day the paper lady came to deliver our daily news paper. She saw me reading my Bible and asked if I was a Christian, to which I responded that I was a believer. She then asked me how I was baptized, to which I said, "in water by immersion." Then she asked what they said when they baptized me, "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Then in a condescending tone she said, "Well then you're going to Hell, and your minister is going with you!" My response was, "Lady my Jesus isn't that picky!"
2. We should cause people to turn to Jesus and not away from him!
A. Mark 9:42 (NLT)
“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck."
B. We can cause people to turn away from Jesus by the way we act.
C. We can cause people to turn away from Jesus by what we say.
D. We can cause people to turn away from Jesus by what we expect of them.
E. But we must remember that Jesus did for us...and them...while we were still sinner!
F. Jesus called us to be fishers of people, but we expect to catch clean fish!
G. Just cast out your net and let Jesus clean the fish!!!
Transition: Instead of being detours, we should strive to be...
II. Conduits Of Faith (6-18).
A. Undeserved Grace
1. What is a conduit? Well one definition is a pipe or channel that let's water, or in some cases electricity to flow from one place to another. Another definition, according to Webster's Dictionary is, "someone or something that is used in a way of sending something from one person or place to another."
2. That is what we want to be, that channel through which the Holy Spirit uses to send the message of the Gospel to someone who needs it.
3. That was Peter's point when he stood up to speak at what has become known as "The Council of Jerusalem." He said, in vv. 7-9, "Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith."
A. The Gentile question prompted a long discussion. After lengthy interaction, Peter shared his experience of how God had used him to preach to the Gentiles.
B. Specifically, he was referring to the incident described in chapter 10, where God had sovereignly led him to share the Good News with the Gentile Cornelius.
C. If the Jerusalem council took place in about A.D. 50, then Peter was referring to an event that had occurred about ten years earlier (Barton, 525).
D. He reminded them that at that time God, who saw the faith in their hearts, bore witness to the fact they were believers by giving them the Holy Spirit (with the evidence of speaking in tongues, 10:46), just as He had to all the Jewish believers.
E. God thus "made no distinction," no separation, between the Gentile and Jewish believers in any way, "for He purified [cleansed] their hearts by faith."
F. That is, God had already cleansed their hearts by faith when He showed there was no distinction by baptizing them in the Holy Spirit.
G. In other words, not circumcision, not keeping the Law of Moses, but a heart cleansed by faith was all that was necessary for God to bear witness to that faith by pouring out His Spirit.
H. Therefore, the acceptance of uncircumcised Gentiles was God's doing (Horton, 264).
4. Peter then goes on to say, "So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
A. Peter warned that by making strict adherence to the law a prerequisite for salvation, the church would be guilty of questioning God’s way.
B. Furthermore, the Jewish believers would be putting an unbearable yoke on the Gentiles. The word “yoke” was a common figurative term for religious “obligations.” It was the heavy wooden harness used by oxen to pull carts or plows.
C. Here it suggests less of a religious duty and more of an onerous burden. If the law was a yoke that neither the Jews of that day nor their ancestors had been able to bear, however, how did having the law help them throughout their history?
D. Paul wrote that the law had been a guide that had pointed out their sins so they could repent and return to God and right living. It was, and still is, impossible to obey the law completely. That would be a burden too hard for any human being.
E. In effect, Peter urged the council not to advocate a double standard. Salvation—whether for Jew or Gentile—is by the special favor of the Lord Jesus.
F. What the law could never do, God did through Jesus Christ. No one deserves to be saved, and no religious, intellectual, or moral effort can earn salvation because it comes only from God’s mercy and love.
G. To receive God’s salvation, people must acknowledge that they cannot save themselves and that only God can save them. Then they must trust in Christ (Barton , 525).
5. After Peter was done, Paul and Barnabas reported what God had done through them among the Gentiles. Then James stood up and said, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself."
A. James was Jesus’ half brother and the writer of the Epistle of James (perhaps already written and distributed prior to this council).
B. James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. We don’t know how James attained that important position (Clement of Alexandria wrote that he was chosen for the office by Peter and John), but clearly he was the leader.
C. When this controversy over Gentile believers threatened to divide the church, Barnabas and Paul met with the elders and apostles in Jerusalem and submitted their authority to James as the moderator, spokesman, and announcer of the final decision.
D. The phrase, God first visited, is important because it underlines the truth that God had already made clear his plan to include Gentiles in the church before Paul and Barnabas ever went on the first missionary venture.
E. The phrase, to take from them a people for himself (previously used only of the Jews as the people of God), here describes the Gentiles. This would have been heard as a remarkable statement by James(Barton , 526).
6. The point of this whole section about the Jerusalem council is that when it comes to bringing people to Jesus we should be following God's lead instead of standing in his way!
B. Let The Spirit Do The Work
1. Illustration: As my professor from Bible college used to say, "The Holy Spirit is like a a 9,000 lbs. gorilla; he does whatever he wants!"
2. As we minister to other we need to flow with the Holy Spirit and not against him.
A. Acts 11:17 (NLT)
And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
B. Who are we to say who can come and who cannot?
C. If the Holy Spirit brings a drug addict, who are we to question it?
D. If the Holy Spirit brings a biker, who are we to question it?
E. If the Holy Spirit brings a prostitute, who are we to question it?
F. If the Holy Spirit brings them, we need to accept them...just like they are!
Transition: In addition to be conduits, we should also strive to be...
III. Transmitters Of Faith (19-21).
A. We Should Not Make It Difficult
1. Now that we know what a conduit is, what is a transmitter? "An electronic device that generates and amplifies a carrier wave, modulates it with a meaningful signal derived from speech or other or other sources, and radiates the resulting signal from an antenna."
2. To put it into simple, spiritual terms, taking the Gospel and delivering it in a way others can comprehend and respond to.
3. That's what the leadership in the Jerusalem church did with the Gentiles. “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”
A. Without explicitly mentioning circumcision, James echoed Peter’s argument by ruling that we (referring to the leaders in the church who were Jewish) should stop troubling the Gentiles.
B. This was, in effect, a rejection of the circumcision requirement. But this judgment did include the stipulation that the Gentile converts should abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols.
C. This was a problem in the New Testament churches whereby meat was first sacrificed to idols and then sold in butcher shops.
D. They were also to abstain from sexual immorality, which was often a part of idol worship, although this probably referred to the common Gentile violation of Levitical matrimonial laws against marrying close relatives.
E. The prohibition here was probably meant regarding prohibited marriage relationships like incest and homosexuality.
F. Finally, they were to abstain from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals.
G. This reflected the biblical teaching that life is in the blood. Strangling an animal would keep the blood in the circulatory system and not drained away, thus causing blood to be eaten with the meat.
H. If Gentile Christians would abstain from these practices, they would please God and get along better with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ.
I. Of course, there were other actions inappropriate for believers, but the Jews were especially concerned about these.
J. This ruling reflected the law of love. There was a sense in which the Jews needed to be patient with these new Gentile believers who were not familiar with all the Old Testament laws and rituals.
K. And there was a sense in which the Gentiles needed to be sensitive to the Jews who were there first—being careful not to offend(Barton, 526).
L. But I think the key here is "we should not make it difficult for the Gentile believers who are turning to God..."
B. Clear Channel
1. Illustration: Earlier this week I was listening to my favorite sports talk show out of Cleveland. Now I can listen to it on the radio which is an AM station, or I can listen to it on an app on my phone. This particular day they had to do some work on the transmitter, and because the transmitter was down for maintenance it made it impossible to listen to it on the radio, because the signal wasn't loud and clear!
2. We want to be transmitters of the Gospel that give a signal that is loud and clear!
A. 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (ESV)
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
B. It is important that we find a way to remove as many obstacles as possible so that people can come to Christ.
C. This does not mean compromise, or condoning sin!
D. However, it does mean accepting people where they are at.
E. It does mean loving people even if we disagree with what they do.
F. It does mean being patient with people as the Holy Spirit works with them and they grow into Christian maturity.
G. It does mean allowing the Holy Spirit to do what he does best without getting in the way.
H. Look down at v. 28, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you..."
Conclusion
1. We can sometimes become...
A. Detours To Faith
B. Conduits Of Faith
C. Transmitters Of Faith
2. What are you being?
