Dealing with Issues Part 1
Text: Acts 15:1-12
Introduction
1. Over the past 27 years of ministry, I’ve learned a lot of lessons, and some of them were hard lessons. One of the most important lessons has to do with problems within the church. I’ve tried the just ignore it and it will go away and trust me that never ends well. What I’ve found is the best way to deal with problems is to deal with them head on.
2. Now, I’m not saying this because I think we have problems in our church right now. I mean you guys are awesome! But we need to understand that at some point they will rear their ugly head, and we need to know how to deal with them when they happen.
3. Even the early church had issues, and we can learn a lot from how they dealt with those problems.
4. Read Acts 15:1-12
Transition: First, let’s look at the…
I. Problem (1-3).
A. Unless You Are Circumcised
1. One of the most important things that we must protect against in the church is false teaching.
2. This was the point of contention in the early church. In v. 1 Luke writes, “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. While Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea came in and began to tell the Gentiles that they could not be saved unless they were circumcised according to the law of Moses.
b. Some people refer to these men as “Judaizers.” God had made the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, and it was sign of obedience between Abraham and his descendants with God. It signified that they were God’s covenant people.
c. These Judaizers were not saying that Gentiles couldn’t be saved, but they were insisting that the Gentiles had to keep the laws of Moses, including the physical rite of circumcision.
d. In essence, they were saying they had to become Jews to become Christians.
e. They were afraid that eventually they would be more Gentile than Jewish Christians.
3. Well, this did not sit well with Paul and Barnabas. In 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, and certainly not something Paul and Barnabas could live with.
b. The Greek words for “disagreed with,” and “argued vehemently” conveyed the idea of great strife, discord, and disunion” (Barton, 525).
c. In other words, they threw down!
d. This was a major problem within the early church, and area of great concern theologically and within the church.
e. If it was not handled in the right way it could cause a major split within the early church.
f. So, Paul and Barnabas, along with some local believers went to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders there to try and come up with a solution to this problem.
4. On their journey to Jerusalem, Luke tells us, “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. As was their custom, Paul and Barnabas and the folks with them stopped in Phoenicia and Samaria to encourage the believers there.
b. Well, apparently, not everyone was upset the Gentile’s were coming to faith in Jesus.
c. Rather than being upset about the Gentiles believing in Jesus, these believers rejoiced that they were coming to faith.
d. They knew that the only thing that matters is faith!
B. Good Works
1. Illustration: Methodist Bishop Reuben Job writes, "If we are just good enough, do enough, deny ourselves enough, we will be forgiven, redeemed, and reconciled to God. Following this path brings no peace, assurance, or sense of companionship with God. Rather than asking why we are miserable and have no deep peace and joy in our relationship with God, we just try harder to earn our way to companionship with God. We do this through busyness in the church, prayer, or acts of compassion in the world. We are led to believe that if we work hard enough, salvation will be ours. But the biblical view of life is quite different and John Wesley, grounded as he was in the Bible, was certain that salvation was not for sale. He was convinced that no one could ever earn a place at God’s table…We can never justify ourselves, be reconciled to God or earn our way to heaven on our own. But the marvelous, good news is that God offers it all to us as a gift. We are saved, in this world and the next, by grace through faith."
2. One of the greatest heresies in the history of the Christian church is that we can earn our way to heaven. But Scripture is clear we are only saved by grace through faith.
a. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Eph. 2:8-9).
b. Too many people function under the false idea that they can be good enough to earn heaven. They think that if I do enough God will let me in.
c. This couldn’t be further from the truth! You can’t be good enough, do enough, or give enough to earn heaven.
d. We are saved by grace through faith, and only by grace through faith!
e. Salvation is a gift, and the last time I checked you can’t earn a gift…that’s what makes it a gift!
f. It was a problem in the early church, and it is still a problem.
g. When we see bad teaching in the church, we need to correct it and teach correct doctrine based on the Word of God.
Transition: A part of the problem at this point in the early church had to do with…
II. Priorities (4-5).
A. Must Be Circumcised
1. Once they got to Jerusalem, you see that priorities can get out of whack. In vv. 4 it says, “When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them.”
a. The language of this verse suggests that this was a public meeting.
b. The group welcomed Paul and Barnabas, and they told them about all the things that God had been doing through them in their ministry.
c. This should have affirmed that God was pleased with what they were doing because his was blessing their efforts.
d. The Lord would not have been drawing the Gentile’s in if he didn’t want them in his church, and the certainly wouldn’t have had to fulfill other requirements before they could be saved.
e. Obviously, these people had their priorities in the right place!
2. Now, let’s look at the other side of the equation. In v. 5 we see, “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. This group of people had been Pharisees before their conversion just like Paul.
b. There were things that resonated with them like the resurrection and the Messiah, but they had an issue with anyone that wanted to be a Christian without first becoming a Jew.
c. In other words, they are majoring in the minors. They were more concerned with people keeping the law of Moses than coming to faith in Christ by grace.
d. According to them, you could work your way into heaven by your works, and for them faith was secondary.
e. They should have been excited that the Gentile’s were coming to faith in Christ, but their priorities were out of whack.
f. People coming to a saving relationship with Jesus should always be our top priority.
B. People Being Saved
1. Illustration: This makes me think back to the movie The Jesus Revolution. It’s the story of a small church in California where the Pastor was welcoming hippies into the church. They were coming to faith in Christ in large numbers, and their church was growing in leaps and bounds. This should have made everyone happy, however, some people were more concerned about the carpet getting dirty than seeing these young people getting saved.
2. If people coming to faith in Christ is not our highest priority, then we need to rethink what’s important.
a. “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15).
b. This is our priority as a church. To share Jesus with people and see them come to faith and become disciples.
c. Our goal is not to be comfortable. In other words, we don’t get to pick and choose with whom we share Jesus. Whether they are doctors and lawyers or hippies and bikers.
d. Our goal is not even for the church to grow. Now, that may shock some of you. But our goal is to share Jesus and make disciples. However, if we do those things the church will grow!
e. We need to keep the main thing the main thing…preach the gospel and make disciples.
Transition: One of the things that helps us see this is a right…
III. Perspective (6-12).
A. God Knows People’s Hearts
1. Now that they have been presented with the problem, the leadership in the Jerusalem church came up with a solution.
2. What helped them to come up with the solution was the proper perspective. In vv. 6-7 Luke tells us, “So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “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.”
a. After hearing both sides of the issue, the leaders met together to resolve the issue.
b. In this we see the major key in resolving issues in the church.
c. We need to deal with them head on and not let them fester. The longer we wait to deal with the problem, the worse it gets.
d. The leadership in the early church understood this, so, they decided to deal with it immediately.
e. While they were discussing the solution to the problem, Peter stood up to address the meeting.
f. Now, at this time Peter had left Jerusalem and was serving in the capacity of a missionary.
g. He was going around ministering to Gentiles and telling them about the Gospel of Christ. However, when he heard about the council and the problem they were presented with, he left what he was doing to try and be a part of the solution.
h. You see, Peter had a unique perspective on this issue, because it was, he that led the first Gentile’s to the Lord at the house of Cornelius.
i. He knew it was God’s will for the Gentile’s to come to faith in Christ because he had seen it firsthand.
3. Peter now continues sharing his perspective with the group. He says, “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. He knew that God accepts Gentile’s by because while he was at the house of Cornelius God showed him that he accepted them because the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on the believers on the Day of Pentecost.
b. This showed Peter that the Lord shows no distinction between Jews and Gentile’s.
c. He then hits on the major point, the priority, he cleansed their hearts through faith and not by works.
4. Then Peter comes to his conclusion. He says in vv. 10-11, “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. His point is, if God didn’t put any restrictions on the Gentile’s why are they putting restrictions on them?
b. God had accepted them by faith, not because of something they did, but simply because they believed.
c. Furthermore, Peter states that the Jews had not been able to handle this yoke.
d. Yoke was a common word for a figurative term meaning “religious obligations.” It was a heavy wooden harness used by oxen to pull carts or plows.
e. Peter uses it as needless burden placed on the Gentiles.
f. Peter them lays it out for them, “we believe that we are all saved the same way, by the underserved grace of the Lord.”
g. Jesus had paid the price for our salvation on the cross, and there was no other requirement necessary for salvation whether you were Jew or Gentile.
h. Jesus paid it all!
B. Open Doors
1. "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
2. God wants to give us a new perspective and open new doors for us.
a. “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” (Is. 43:18-19).
b. The problem that faced the early church was some of them were stuck in the past. They were clinging to the old covenant of circumcision, but Jesus wanted them to embrace a new covenant of grace.
c. History is a good thing to know and even celebrate, but we can’t live in the past. We need to go where God is leading us now.
d. God wants to do a new thing and bring new people into a saving relationship with Jesus.
e. We need to get a new perspective about the new thing that God wants to do, and not get stuck in the past.
Conclusion
1. From the early church we learn how to deal with problems. We need to…
a. See the problem.
b. Check our priorities.
c. See a new perspective.
2. What’s the point preacher? We must be sure that we are in God’s will and not our own.
