Hello everyone.
• We are going to read Acts 15 (the 2nd part) today. The title is, exercise freedom wisely. The Gentile believers were urged to exercise their freedom in Christ wisely.
• Acts 15:22-35. We will start at verse 19, the concluding remarks of James, the leader of the Council, at the end of their meeting in Jerusalem.
• Let us pray before we read.
We are blessed to be able to come before You again, Lord.
We praise You, and thank you for another week of your grace and blessings. Thank you for the hope we have in tough times, for the peace in times of trouble, and for the strength that we receive in our trials.
Remind us of all that you have given us. Help us to set our eyes and our hearts on you always.
And thank you for this moment when we can sit in your presence and listen to what you have to say to us from your Word.
Renew our minds with your Word. This we pray, in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
Let’s read the Word of God. Acts 15:19-35
19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul- 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
30 The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.
32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. 33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.
The decision of the Jerusalem Council was clear, salvation is a gift of God’s grace, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
• No one is justified by their works. Jesus bore our sin and judgment on the cross.
• Both the Jews and Gentiles believers are made righteous before God because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Peter, Barnabas and Paul, and James testified to the actions of God and the Word of God that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
• The Council came to that conviction. This is the will of God. And this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other.
Hence James said they would write to the churches in the region and make this clear, that Gentile believers would not need to be circumcised or follow the Mosaic Law.
• And to bear witness of this decision of the Council, some leaders from Jerusalem church would return with Barnabas and Paul to Antioch and share this news.
• This was particularly necessary because some men had earlier gone from among them (Jerusalem) and without their authorization and preached a false Gospel.
• So Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, both gifted prophets, were chosen to go.
With this doctrinal issue of justification by faith settled, James also saw the need for some practical instructions. There remain some social problems.
• He explained in 15:21 “For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
• For generations, the Jews have been following the Mosaic Law and its customs, while the Gentiles, the people of the nations, adopted different cultures, mainly Greek.
• There would be differences in customs and practices that the believers need to recognised, now that they were brought together as a church.
The Council recognised these potential causes of division and decided to lay down some essential guidelines.
• It seems necessary, especially so, in the area of the sharing of meals together.
• The Jews follow strict dietary laws. They call it Kosher, a term used to describe the food that complies with the dietary standards of Jewish Law.
• Similar to Peter’s concern when he saw the vision regarding clean and unclean food (Acts 10).
• Hence James said, 15:20 “… we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”
In the letter to the Gentile believers, the Council wrote:
• 15:28-29 “28It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”
• For the sake of not offending the Jews and not affecting the witness of the church before unbelieving Jews, it would be good to avoid these actions.
As the Council has feared, this turned out to be a challenging issue for the early church.
• We see Paul addressing it quite extensively in his letters, in 1 Corinthians and Romans.
What were the Gentile believers urged to abstain from?
• Firstly to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, referring to meat that has been offered to pagan gods but then sold in the marketplace.
• Even for some, eating the food sacrificed in the idol’s temple.
Paul dwelt with this beautifully in 1 Cor 8 and also in Romans 14.
1 Cor 8:4-13 REGARDING FOOD SACRIFICED TO IDOLS
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
Paul’s concern is that a weaker brother may join the stronger ones in eating food offered to idols even though it goes against his conscience.
• Their actions enticed (so to speak) the weaker brother to sin against his conscience.
Rom 14:13b-21 CARE FOR THE WEAKER BROTHER
13 … Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
When our liberty in Christ leads others to act against their consciences, we have become stumbling blocks.
Hence the Gentile believers were urged to abstain from food sacrificed to idols.
• And then to abstain from blood, from the meat of strangled animals which means not eating blood or the meat of strangled animals in which blood has not been drained.
• Lev 17:10-11 10“‘Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood - I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.”
• For what it typifies, the Lord does not want them to take blood. It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
• It is then the blood of the animal sacrificed (of course), but it points forward to the ultimate atoning sacrifice of Jesus and the shedding of His blood on the cross.
And finally, the Gentile believers were urged to abstain from sexual immorality or fornication.
• This would apply to every believer as a moral absolute, but it was likely stressed here because of the Gentiles’ previous associations with pagan practices and their lax behaviours in sexual relations.
• They came out of a background where temple prostitution was prevalent and the taking of mistresses was common.
• No further explanation was given. The Gentiles in those times reading this letter understood what it means.
Led by the Holy Spirit, the Council laid down these restraints for the Gentile believers.
• It is beautiful to see the efforts of the Council and the Jerusalem church in unifying the Body of Christ, around the essential truth of the Gospel and in bridging the two diverse racial groups together, for the sake of the Gospel.
• They took a stand for the Gospel and appealed for understanding among the believers for the non-essentials.
• Urging the legalistic Jews to embrace the believing Gentiles without the need for circumcision and their conversion to the Law, and the Gentiles believers to accept a change to their usual ways of life because of Christ.
When Paul took on the second missionary journey with Silas in Acts 16, he shared this letter with the churches.
• 16:4-5 “4As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.”
• No one complained about the restrictions. They understood the good intent.
• They were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
Our care for the weak and love for the lost guides and restrains our liberty in Christ.
• We exercise our freedom in Christ with wisdom and love.
• Not compromising on the truth of the Gospel and yet at the same time, protecting the unity of the community of faith and our witness before a lost world.
• In light of what happened in France, we can draw cartoons, but we don’t need to insult, we don’t need to offend.
As Paul said in Romans 14, we act in love and not become a stumbling block to the weak or the lost. He set us a good example.
• Paul was very determined to be a bridge for Christ towards the weak and lost.
• 1 Cor 9:19-23 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
• He was sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of those he was trying to reach with the Gospel, and he tried NOT to do anything that would become a barrier between them and their need for Christ.
Another example was when Paul was on his second missionary journey, he was at Lystra and he wanted to take Timothy along with him.
• Timothy was born of a Greek father and a Jewish mother, and he wasn’t circumcised.
• 16:3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
• Timothy’s background might become a stumbling block to the traditional Jews that they were reaching out to.
• In order not to let that become a hindrance, Paul circumcised him, because what was at stake was how unbelieving Jews in that area might best be won to Christ.
Like Paul, let us…
• Identify what is worth fighting for – disputing and debating vigorously over the essence of the Gospel, the essentials of our faith.
• But know what is not worth fighting over – like circumcision or eating food offered to idols.
• And pray for wisdom to know the difference.
D.L. Moody shared this interesting story:
A blind man in a great city was found sitting at a street corner with a lantern beside him. Someone went up to him and asked him why he had the lantern since he was blind and the light of it was the same to him as the darkness.
The blind man simply replied, “So that others can see and no one may stumble over me.”
We who know Christ, of course, are not blind. But like this man, we too must provide the light so that those who are lost can find their way to Christ.
• Without the light of Christ shining through us, others can stumble in their search for Him. Let us keep the light shining!
• The question to ask is: “Will our actions draw people nearer to Christ, or further away?
Let us pray.
As your people, may we so live and speak that others may see Christ and experience your love, Lord. May the fruit of the Spirit be seen in us. May our lives tell the story of your grace and redemption. May we be blessed with the wisdom to act in ways that will bring you delight and glory.
And now may the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us always, now and forevermore, AMEN.
