Passage: Acts 15:22-35
Intro: There he stood, leaning against the lockers.
1. it was “Shorts day” at Wheaton North H.S., and this young man, part of a group we called “greasers” or “hoods” must not have gotten the memo to ignore it.
2. black shoes and socks, white boxers, white t-shirt, but from his look of discomfort he might as well have been wearing nothing at all!
3. the loneliest man on earth, separated from his friends, but not part of the other group either, because no one else was wearing what he had on.
4. we are looking at a situation in this passage that was very similar.
5. Gentiles had come to Christ, left life of darkness to pursue the light.
6. but they weren’t quite ready for Jerusalem, (or Wheaton)
7. so they stood alone, having been told that if they cleaned up their act, obeyed the Law, they could be a part of the group.
8. saw last week the theological debate that raged, was settled in favor of grace.
9. but the communication of that inclusive decision was an outstanding miracle of God’s love.
10. and it serves as a wonderful model of love that we can practice every day.
11. let’s look at the parts of that model
I. Love Ministers in Person
1. as we saw back in Acts 10, it was against Jewish tradition for a Jew to enter the home of a Gentile, and especially to eat with them.
2. so the safest route would have been to send a letter with B and P, and be done with it.
3. V22, “whole church decided to choose their own men…” leaders
4. 3 times they say “we are sending”, vv22, 25. 27. 300 mile trip!
5. v27, “to confirm”
6. we have a hierarchy of value in communication, don’t we?
Il) email, form letter, phone call, hand-written note or card, personal visit over lunch.
7. guys, when you asked her to marry you, did you do it by email?
Il) several months ago, we got word that one of our former members was dying back east. Several wanted to send me there, but he died quickly. When our loved ones are sick or hurt, we tend to go.
8. personal involvement communicates a strong message of love
9. and to those Gentile believers wondering where they stood up in Antioch and Cilicia, it meant the world to have these personal emissaries, these Jews willing to travel 300 miles to eat with them, speak with them.
Il) we can never forget that God, who revealed Himself in creation and wrote us a very long letter, ultimately spoke to us by sending His own Son to become one of us.
10. love gets dirty, love isn’t afraid of contact, love isn’t afraid of what others might think.
11. there are a lot of ways to do ministry in our hi-tech age.
12. but from personal experience, nothing exhibits love like our physical presence in a person’s life.
13. and no ministry is as powerful as the one done face to face, hand to hand, person to person.
Il) “a person with skin on”
II. Love Takes the Side of Truth
1. there were plenty of forces that would push the church toward compromise.
2. people teaching adherence to the law were powerful
3. as we saw last week, the very gospel was at stake, whether we need to add to the sacrifice of Christ.
4. this passage is full of love, but sometimes love has to be very forceful.
5. v24, 3 very strong words to describe what some had been doing.
6. remember, this group had gone to Antioch and taught law was required.
7. here are the words used to describe their “ministry”
8. “without authorization/ permission”
Il) “We knew nothing about that.” (Sergeant Shultz, "Hogan’s Heroes")
9. “disturbed”=“to throw into confusion”
10. finally, “troubling your minds”=”to destroy”
11. 14 words for “destroy:, this one means “to reverse what has been done, to tear down what has been built.”
12. military used it to describe the plundering of a city.
Il) on my 2nd trip to Russia, class gave me this wonderful cup and saucer. But 3 different people “plundered” my suitcase during inspection, and it ended up getting broken.
13. in addition, they took the side of Paul and Barnabas very clearly, v25-26 “beloved”
14. they spoke of P and B in glowing terms, and clearly rejected the teaching of the Law-promoting Jews.
15. sometimes love has to be very tough, and even take sides!
Il) there are still those in America who would like to see the church white only, rich only, employed only, “like me” only
16. and sometimes the side we take costs us friends, church members.
Il) the church has “taken the side” of the unborn, and that is righteous and true.
17. make sure it is the truth, and then defend and apply the truth.
III. Love Encourages
1. the word “encourage” is found twice, vv31 and 32
2. but encouragement, welcome, love permeates this passage.
3. v23, “adelphois” used twice, we are “your brothers”, and you are the Gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.
4. this was radical! No Jew called a gentile a “brother”, but here they are.
Il) this would be like meeting a former enemy on the street and he greets you by calling you “my brother”, and he doesn’t just want money.
5. and then the content of the letter itself, freeing them from the impossible task of keeping the Law, but setting out a path that would lead them away from their former debauchery and more deeply into the life “set apart” to God.
PP 2 Corinthians 6:16
6. love sees a person being transformed, and recognizes and encourages that process.
7. were there differences between these Jewish and Gentile believers? Absolutely!
8. but love finds what is praiseworthy, the evidence of God’s work, and encourages.
Il) when many of us were young, it was long hair. There was a church in Indiana that checked hair length (too long) and skirt length (too short) for admittance. Today it is tattoos and body piercing.
9. if the elders and apostles had looked long and hard, they could have found plenty of things to criticize.
10. but they focused on encouraging them to break free from idolatrous entanglements and the stuff that went with idolatry; immorality, unhealthy practices
11. but notice the response in v31..”its encouraging message”
12. they were accepted! They were loved! They were no longer people without a group to belong to.
13. and then the personal emissaries continued in that same light, teaching not the discouraging message of Law, but the encouraging and strengthening message of full acceptance by the Father, and by the church.
Conc. The Father loved us, and sent His Son to us in our need to die in our place.
1. we are now to be continual funnels for that love to flow to others.
2. we do it by sending missionaries, and we do it in our own circle.
3. we take the side of the truth, even it is means rejection by those who persist in the lie.
4. we encourage the evident work of God, embrace and accept the believer in whom God is at work.
5. and continue to love the person who is so different than us, and yet so much like we used to be before Jesus got ahold of us.
6. love should flow out of us like it flowed out of this wonderful group of former racists being transformed by the love of
God
