Crunch Time

17 November 2019

It’s Crunch Time

Acts 15

Who wants to live for God?  I mean really live for God?  Who wants to be close to God?  Experience a real relationship with God?  Do you want to know what to do to bump it up to the ‘now we’re being serious’ level?

Do you want to be a true-blue, fair-dinkum believer who takes what he believes seriously?  Do you want to know what to do to really boost your faith?

If you ever hear anybody talking like that then sound the alarm bells in your head and say to yourself, ‘hang on a minute here, what’s this guy really on about?’

Ever since the NT, people have been saying, ‘I’ll tell you what you really need to do to take your walk with God to the next level.’

In Acts 15 there were these so-called teachers who’d come to these young Christian churches.  And they’ve said, “It’s terrific that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s King but don’t overdo the Jesus stuff.

Remember, if you really want to be part of God’s people, if you really want to be part of the Israel of God, the people who belong to God and are heading for heaven, then you must become Jewish.  The men must be circumcised, you must keep the Sabbath, the food laws, Jewish morality and ritual.  If you come into all of that, then you’ll be proper believers.”

So in v1, these men who had come down from Judea to Antioch were teaching, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

And then in v5, some who belonged to the party of the Pharisees said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

So it’s more than just circumcision we’re talking about here.

Really, what they are saying is, “Jesus is not enough.”

It must have sounded at least a bit plausible otherwise people wouldn’t have started falling for it but Paul  knows it’s disastrous . Paul, together with Barnabas, get stuck into them.

We’re not told a lot, but in v2 we read, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them.  “No small debate” means “much debate”.

I wonder what they said.

Well, perhaps we don’t need to wonder because we can read what Paul thinks about all this in places like Philippians 3.

Pauls says, Look out for the dogs.  Not nice, well trained, domestic, Queen’s corgi dogs.

He’s talking about mangy, wild, disease ridden, mongrels.  It was almost as good as a swear word.

Look out for the dogs, look out for those doers of evil, look out for those who mutilate the flesh, that’s all they’re doing when they say you need to be circumcised.  Watch out for them.

Or in Galatians 5, I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Paul sees it for what it is – ugly and deadly.

And I think Luke wants to give us an insight into the ugliness of it too, by way of contrast.

Paul and Barnabas, and some others, are sent off, v2b, to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.

However, they don’t go straight there.

So, being sent on their way by the church, v3, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles.

What was the response?

It brought great joy to all the brothers.

The journey was like a triumphal march.  All the way the triumphs of the gospel were proclaimed, and the report was the cause of much joy – as it should be!

Here’s the contrast, when they come to Jerusalem, v4, and rehearse the same stories, what’s the response?

Obviously, not the same as it was in Phoenicia and Samaria, because, v5, some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “Hmm, have they been circumcised?  Well then, we need to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

What a bunch of sad-sacks!

Remind you of anything?  How many times did Jesus wonderfully, miraculously restore someone’s health, giving that person, perhaps for the first time ever, independence, freedom, life and the response from the Pharisees was, “Ah, you shouldn’t do that on the Sabbath.”

What a bunch of sad-sacks!  Wonderful news of the mercy of God … but no, they’re too preoccupied with their own rules and regulations to rejoice and it’s ugly.

It’s also deadly because it takes people right away from the main goal – that is, Jesus.

These Judaisers have not been alone in church history, in dragging people away from the main goal.

In the early centuries there were those who said if you really want to get close to God you’ve got to get rid of anything that might be pleasurable and live the ascetic life, in a cave or up a tree or in a monastery.  They were the ones who were super-godly.

Roman Catholicism says if you want to win God’s approval then you’ve got to perform certain sacraments and rites, confession, penance, indulgences and so on.

Some groups of Pentecostals will say you need to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit or a second blessing, perhaps accompanied with experiencing certain gifts of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, miracles and so on, to know you’re really on the right track with God.  If you haven’t had those experiences then you’re a bit of a sub-Christian.

What about for evangelicals?  What might we say you need to do to really live for God?  Memorise the creeds, be able to give your testimony, recite two ways to live, tick off that you’ve got certain doctrines under your belt, use a certain version of the Bible, know all the answers to the first 50 questions of the Shorter Catechism, know what the Shorter Catechism is, do your church service a certain way.

Now some of those things can be quite good but if they’re raised to a level where if you don’t do it/haven’t got it then you’re a second-rate Christian, then it’s disastrous, deadly, ugly.

So now it’s crunch time.  Is Jesus alone really enough?  This needs to be sorted out.

Is it salvation by doing certain things, at least in part?  Or are we saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone?

Which one is it?

So here they are, Paul and Barnabas, in Jerusalem.

They’re not there because they were unsure about it.  They’re dead sure.  They’re there because these people who gave the impression they were from the church in Jerusalem (although it turns out they weren’t sent from there at all, v24) were causing serious trouble.

In v6, The apostles and the elders gathered together to consider this matter.

Let me just pause here for a second because there’s been some misunderstanding, I believe, about Acts 15.  Some people take it to be a precedent for something it isn’t.  Let me make clear what it wasn’t:

• It was not the church at Jerusalem exercising or claiming jurisdiction over other churches, with Peter or James acting as some sort of pope or archbishop.
• It was not a council made up of representatives from many churches who had come together to hammer out decisions that would be binding on all churches.
• It was not a meeting of a presbytery composed of representative elders from the churches of a specific area.
• It was not the beginnings of a denomination or even an association.
• It was not even a special meeting arranged to settle a dispute between two churches.

What was it then?

It was essentially an elders’ meeting of a single church.  Sure, quite an important one, that contained apostles, and had implications for others.  But an elders’ meeting nonetheless.

Those who are looking for a biblical precedent for a church council, or a presbytery, or even an association meeting, need to look elsewhere.

What’s the conclusion?

V7, and after there had been much debate (much debate means no small debate), Peter stood up and said to them (), “Brothers, remember how God choose me to go to Cornelius’ household in chapter 10, that Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

What happened when all they did was heard and believed?

V8, God saved them, just as he did to us.

V9, he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by circumcision?  No, by faith.

Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test?  That’s the same word Peter said to Sapphira in ch5 when he asked her why she and her husband had put God to the test.  The result then was not good.

You’re placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.  Nobody in history has been able to keep the law perfectly, except Jesus of course so why are you laying that on them?

(It’s what Paul says in Gal 6 doesn’t he, when he said ¹³ For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law).

V11, “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”  And all the assembly fell silent.

Then James follows up and affirms that what Peter has said is not a new teaching but simply what the prophets said would happen.  He quotes from Amos 9, but really he could have quoted from dozens of verses that talk about God’s kingdom extending to the Gentiles.

And then he concludes, v19, “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God”.

It would have been really nice if he had just finished there but he goes on to mention some things that seem to us a bit strange.

V20-21.

It sounds a bit odd to us, but really what he’s referring to is pagan idolatry, which was rife in Antioch.  He’s essentially saying two things:

1. There are still some moral evils to avoid.  Just because you’re saved by grace, doesn’t mean sin it up.
2. Just be mindful of Jewish sensibilities, and offending Jewish consciences with what you eat.

By denying the need to be circumcised, the main message is what Peter said, “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus”

While we might be thinking, “Yes, preach it Peter.  Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone.” We should be cheering at that point…

There’s still a burning question:

Why did it take so long?  Why was there a debate in the first place?  Why were they so slow?

Don’t they know, we’re in chapter 15 for goodness sake?  It’s been years since Peter went to Cornelius.  It’s been years since they’d first heard about the work in Antioch.

Why are these fellows from the Pharisaic party even allowed a hearing?

How did someone convince these early Christians that they needed to start keeping rules in order to be “really saved”?

Perhaps the answer to that is similar to the answer to this question:

Why is it that you are fooled into believing that when you sin it might make God love you less?  Or when you are obedient it will make him love you more?

Who conned you into thinking that your salvation is more secure now than the day you turned to Jesus?  Who has tricked you into believing that because of your goodness, you are more worthy of his grace today than last week? 

It’s not only these Christians who ask “Can’t I do something to help me stay forgiven?”  Isn’t that question close to you?  If not in the good times, perhaps in the bad?  Or if not in bad times, perhaps when you’re cruising?

This is a deadly and ugly way to think.

Two questions:

1. Do you believe it?

Listen to the testimony of Charles Spurgeon: “One weeknight, when I was sitting in church, I wasn’t thinking much about the preacher’s sermon, for I didn’t believe it.  The thought struck me, ‘How did you come to be a Christian?’  I sought the Lord.  ‘But how did you come to seek the Lord?’  The truth flashed across my mind in a moment – I shouldn’t have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him.  ‘I prayed,’ I thought, but then I asked myself, ‘How come I prayed?’  I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures.  ‘How come I read the Scriptures?’  I did read them, but what led me to do so?  Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that he was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make my constant confession, ‘I ascribe my change wholly to God’”.

Do you ascribe your change wholly to God? From the beginning … all the way through … right to the end … the sovereign work of the God who is rich in mercy?

1. Are you willing to battle for it?

It was a battle here and it’s a battle that Martin Luther said every generation is going to have to fight.  It doesn’t come naturally.  Our sinful natures want, desperately, to go away from these things.

Are you willing to fight for it?

If you do, if we do as a church, then at least two things will happen.

1. JESUS GETS ALL THE PRAISE

Maybe this vision of Jesus as sovereign Saviour is not as fresh for us as it ought to be, or once was.  Maybe it is not as important for us as it used to be.  If these things are not at the heart of Trinity it will show.  Maybe in these ways:

• We will prefer songs in church that are about us, rather than about who Jesus is and what he has done.  Songs about our decision, our commitment, our work for him.  What we celebrate is more about what we do, than what God has done.
• We won’t be an outward-looking church when it comes to using our resources for evangelism or cross cultural ministries or helping others.  Why would we honour Jesus that way when second-rate service will do?  I mean just look around, look at who we are – surely he should be thankful to us that we have done him a favour by believing in Jesus.  Surely he owes us, rather than us owing him.
• You will become careless about sin in your life … why shouldn’t you get what you want, and enjoy what you like … you have already done so much by coming to him.  Now it’s time for you to look after yourself.
• Or you are an arrogant, proud person.  You want your voice to be heard in a group; you like to boast about what you know, or the sacrifices you have made; in small groups we learn more about you, than we learn about Jesus; your reputation matters more to you than what it means to be a completely saved person by the sovereign grace of God; you wait to be served by others rather than being the first to serve others.
• Or you’re just a sad-sack and a grump who can’t rejoice when other people receive grace.

TURN IT AROUND POSITIVELY.  If we are rejoicing in the free and sovereign salvation of the Living God, it will show:

• We won’t enjoy singing man-centred, human-glorifying songs.  The theme of the songs that we sing will be about the wonderful grace of Jesus from beginning to the end.
• We know that this God is so wonderful, a life of passionate obedience to him and thankful love for him is the only proper response. 
• What he wants matters, not what you might want … serving a God like this is your pleasure and not a pain.
• Not arrogant, but humble.  Not a lord, but a servant.  Not talking about yourself, but talking about Jesus.  Not worried about whether people notice your charitable activities … because what matters to you is knowing that you are a sovereignly saved child of the Living God.

What if people will never remember you?  Why would you want them to?

At the end of the game, it’s Jesus who stands on the winner’s podium, not us.  Not even Jesus and us.  But Jesus alone, in all his sovereign glory and grace, as full and complete Saviour.

A God like this gets all the praise.

1. WE GET TO RELAX

V30-31.

Being told you don’t need to be circumcised would have been no small encouragement, but there was obviously more to it than that.

V32.

What did they say?

Rest and relax because Jesus has done it.  Rest in the sovereign grace of the Lord Jesus.

Maybe they were reminded of the words of Jesus himself.

Peter had argued at the meeting, “Why are you putting a yoke on their necks, that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

That’s not how Jesus operates is it.  What dies Jesus say?

In Matthew 11 Jesus says, ²⁸ Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Why is Jesus’ yoke easy?  It is because he does it all.  Come to me and I will give you rest.

No one even comes close to Jesus.

The Bible makes that so clear.  Why would we go anywhere else?  Why wouldn’t we be willing to fight for it?

We thank you for your grace.  Give us a clearer view of sin so we will get a bigger view of you and your son Jesus and your grace.  May it cause us to be people characterised by humility and thankfulness.  May we have resolve to fight for it.  May it motivate us to pursue godliness whilst enabling us to rest and relax in your sovereign grace, that all the glory and honour might go to you.