https://youtu.be/g2Ulnsozcrg
A Letter of Encouragement (Acts 15:22-35)
In the Book of Acts, chapter 15, we’ve seen that some of the Jewish Christian believers have gone out to the Gentile churches teaching them that they have to be circumcised to really be saved.
This distressed and confused the new believers who were taught that salvation is thru Jesus alone.
Paul and Barnabas disputed this new claim, and took it to the Apostles in Jerusalem for a ruling.
Peter and the rest of the Apostles agree that the gentile believers have been saved as evident through receiving the Holy Spirit, and Paul and Barnabas testified to this.
God, having saved them by grace through faith, the Apostles saw no reason to add to the gentile’s burden, and only required them to:
Acts 15:20, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
The Apostles wrote a letter to the churches to straighten out this issue for the Gentile believers.
- Read Acts 15:22-35
1. Who is your truth source?
I had a boss who used to say, when people began getting upset about a rumor, go talk to your “truth source”, the person you know can be trusted to tell you the accurate story. (It wasn’t him!)
Verse 24, “Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying (that) you must be circumcised…”
These Jewish believers, at minimum, misled the gentiles into thinking they spoke a message with the authority of the elders/apostles, which they did not. Every good lie has a measure of truth!
Example: 10 years ago, Rush and NPR reporting same story with different “facts” and conclusions. The conclusions they drew were to influence my opinions and actions.
So much CLICK BAIT, and seemingly credible articles on social media, that are designed to get you to freak out, and fear that if you don’t listen, bad things will happen to you.
How do you know who is really telling the truth?
With the gentile’s salvation seemingly on the line, no wonder they were unsettled.
The truth: circumcision WAS the symbol given through Moses for God’s chosen people. So, if the gentiles were now grafted into God’s people, then they should have this symbol too, right? WRONG!
Gal. 6:11-15, 11 See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! 12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by [b]whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
The Jews tried to elevate their own customs and beliefs above the cross of Christ, to make themselves more holy, more important, more valuable to God. (like Star-bellied Sneetches)
Legalism rules their lives. The sacrifice of Jesus was not enough for them, they needed to earn it.
Titus 1:10-11, For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.
If your good behavior and self-control was enough to save you, the Jesus died for nothing.
The Apostles send their most trusted men so that the gentile believers can trust the “source”.
Read verses 22 and verses 25-27
Hebrews 13:7-8, Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,