Problem Solving in the Savior's Church
The Book of Acts - Part 49
Acts 15:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - July 20, 2014
INTRODUCTION:
*George Mallone told about a psychologist who spoke at a pastor's conference, and he decided to do 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 replied, "It was there before I came." The other half said, "It's getting better." Only one pastor responded by asking, "What problem?" But maybe he was dealing with a whole boatload of problems. (1)
*Every church will face problems. How can we overcome them? God's Word shows us in today's Scripture because the early church had problems too.
1. First, we must beware of misguided convictions.
*Misguided convictions were the big problem in vs. 1-5, so please listen to these verses again:
1. And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.''
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.
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.
4. And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
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.''
*As believers, we must beware of misguided convictions. 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.
*Most Christians need more passion for God, and that's a big problem. But another 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 prove that every day.
*We must beware of misguided convictions, like the legalism we see in vs. 5. There some of the Christian Pharisees said this about the saved Gentiles: "It is necessary to circumcise them, and command them to keep the Law of Moses.'' Those Pharisees did not understand that we are living in a new day. On the resurrection side of the cross, we are living in the age of grace. And those Pharisees did not understand that all true Christians are under the New Testament or New Covenant which was sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
*Therefore, it is no longer necessary for us to keep Old Testament ritual law. Of course, that doesn't mean anything goes. Anyone who looks at the teachings of Jesus Christ will quickly see that He calls us to a much higher standard in the Old Testament law.
*For example, in Matthew 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, goodness and holiness, but we are free from Old Testament ceremonial law. And the Pharisees in this Scripture remind us that 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. This has happened 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.
*Many of our Church of Christ, Pentecostal and Catholic friends teach that you cannot be saved unless you are baptized. And by that, they mean you must be baptized by them, according to the formula they have adopted.
*Catholics also teach transubstantiation of the Lord's Supper. This is 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 literally thousands of times every day around the world.
*These are types of legalism, and we must beware of legalism, because legalism gets 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."
*And Church, God does care about His rules. But most of the religious rules the Pharisees lived by weren't God's rules at all. They were man-made rules that often contradicted God's rules, and put a burden on people impossible to carry. The Bible explains it this way in Matthew 15:1-9
1. Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying,
2. "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.''
3. But He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
4. For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'
5. But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me has been dedicated to the temple''
6. is released from honoring his father or mother."' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
7. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8. 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
9. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' ''
*Then in Matthew 23:4, Jesus said this about the Pharisees, "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."
*Rodney Buchanan said: "When Christ came, and grace broke through, undeserving people experienced God. But the Pharisees 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. And it seemed impossible to keep all the rules, so many people gave up even trying to please God. 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." (2)
*And we must beware of legalism. But the biggest problem in the American church today is not legalism. It's liberalism. Liberals like to pick and choose when it comes to Biblical doctrine. They put man as judge over the Word of God, rather than letting the Word of God guide our morals and values.
*Well, in our church we don't have a problem with legalism or liberalism. Praise the Lord! But still, we must beware of misguided convictions. And down through the years, sincere Christians have had misguided convictions about all kinds of things.
*Take music for example. 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 hear every Sunday. 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. 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)
*Bible-believing Christians have been misguided about all kinds of things. Elizabeth Elliot wrote about a conversation that would have taken place in the second century. A newer Christian might have said, "I am in earnest about forsaking 'the world' and following Christ. But I am puzzled about worldly things. What is it I must forsake?"
*The answer was, "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)
*Church: Those teachings came from some of the most famous Christian schools of the second century! Did any of that come from Jesus? -- Of course not. And we must beware of misguided convictions today.
2. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must beware of misguided convictions. We also must 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. 4-9:
4. And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
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 my mentor, Herman Savoie and our Macon pastor, Wray Ivey, plus many other Godly men and women.
*We need to seek wise counsel. But we also 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 also know from Acts 10 that Peter didn't want 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 would be greatly needed by the church.
*God will give us 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 counselor for other people. And pray for wisdom, because someday your church will need your wise counsel.
3. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must seek wise counsel. And we must consider the right questions.
*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. It's 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 Matthew 4:7, Jesus said: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." That's basically the same word we see here in Peter's question here in vs. 10: "Why do you test God?"
*"Am I doing anything to offend the Lord or try His patience?" That's one of the main questions we need to ask ourselves when the church has problems, because we can avoid a lot of trouble that way.
4. How can we overcome problems in the church? We must consider the right questions. And we must 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 in the Lord Jesus Christ! This is one of our most important core beliefs.
*Bruce Emmert explained, "There's a major-league problem 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! And that impossible.
*How good have you been? And 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? Any one of those things, and any one-of-a-thousand other moral or ethical lapses is all it takes to be not good enough. Trusting in good works is 100% or it's nothing." (5)
*That's why Mark Twain said if getting into heaven was a matter of doing good, then "you would stay out, and your dog would go in!" 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!
*These are some of our core beliefs. And the more we focus on our core beliefs, the more we will be focused on what unites us. Again in vs. 11: "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.''
CONCLUSION:
*Church: I want you to know that this is the most trouble-free church I have ever pastored. Praise the Lord! But our church will face problems, because all churches face problems. How can we overcome them?
-Beware of misguided convictions.
-Seek wise counsel.
-Consider the right questions.
-And reaffirm our core beliefs.
*Please think about these things as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) George Mallone, FURNACE OF RENEWAL - Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1981 - Source: Sermons.com sermon "Playing Church or Playing Jesus" by King Duncan - Leviticus 19:1-37
(2) "The Gift of Faith" - Sermon by Rodney Buchanan - Heb 11:1-6 - Mulberry St UMC - May 18, 2003
(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 - Source: SermonCentral sermon "Judging Those Who Judge" by James May - Romans 2:1-11
(5) SermonCentral sermon "A Believing Heart" by Bruce Emmert - Romans 10:1-13
