Conflict in the Early Churches - The teaching of Christ vs the Law of Moses - Sunday notes- 2-28-21

 

 

ACTS 15

Sunday 

Part #1 of 2

People disagree. Do you agree? OK, good, didn't know if you were going to disagree with that. People disagree, all people disagree on something, somewhere. Give them enough time, and they'll think differently than the person next to them.

Walter Martin used to frequently say-- the founder of the Bible Answer Man, if you can find two people that think exactly alike on everything, one of them is not thinking. And I suppose he's right. Wherever there's a will, there's a won't.

You know, somebody wants one thing. The other person wants something else. Well, I set that up because we are entering a chapter where there is conflict and resolution of the conflict, only followed by more conflict. And that conflict that we closed the chapter with, if by God's grace, we actually do close the chapter at some point, it's a conflict that will not be resolved here between two mature men of God. So we will see conflict, and we will see unity in the same chapter.

Now when I say, all people disagree, I would also add that all spiritual people disagree. You can be spiritual and yet not agree. And sometimes the disagreement is over carnal things. It's all about carnal reasons for it.

Remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and he said, one of you says, I am of Paul and another says, I'm of Apollos, and another says, I'm of Cephas, another tries to trump everyone and be more spiritual and says, I am of Christ. Paul said, you're all carnal. So there can be division over carnal reasons. But not always. Sometimes there is a division not because of carnality but because of caring, you care deeply.

To be unified with another believer, again, does not mean to agree on everything that that believer stands for or believes in or does. And sometimes we are called to divide. Jude, in chapter 1 of his little epistle, there is only one chapter and in verse three, he says, "Contend earnestly for the faith, once for all delivered to the Saints." Contend, be contentious over it. Contend means put up a good fight for the faith.

So if someone blatantly denies one of the pillars of the historic Christian gospel, we're not supposed to say, well, it doesn't matter. Who cares, let's not be divisive. Let's just sing, all you need is love and we'll sway back and forth and carry on. That would not be loving at all.

The loving thing to do is to speak the truth in love. So sometimes division is for carnal reasons, and sometimes it's for caring reasons. But even spiritual people disagree.

For example, way back in the Old Testament, Abraham's herdsmen had a contention with Lot's herdsman over the land that was before them because there wasn't enough land for what their cattle and their family needed. So there was a dispute, a disagreement, an argument. Later on in the same book, Jacob has a disagreement with Uncle Laban over many things. Finally, he has to part company.

When we get to the New Testament, the disciples disagreed with other disciples. They are all following Jesus in the flesh. They are hearing him and seeing him every day and yet among these revered apostles of the faith, they disagreed on who would be the greatest in the kingdom.

There is a disagreement in the Book of Acts, we've already read it I’m sure , in Acts Chapter 6, where the Hebrews and the non-Hebrews, the Hellenistic Jews have a dispute over the widows daily distribution. Some thought the other group was getting preferential treatment. So a disagreement broke out.

And here in this chapter, we see a disagreement over the most important thing in the world, how do you get saved? What constitutes a believer versus a nonbeliever? How does a person get to heaven? That is a dispute in this chapter, and unfortunately, it's still a dispute in the church.

Because people have a hard time with a free gift of grace. Surely, there's something I must do to gain God's favor, or if not gain it, to boost it so that God will love me more. He will shine his countenance down on me more, lavish more blessing on me because I have earned it.

We have a difficulty with the finished work and free gift. They did to. So in chapter 15, that's where we begin, verse 1, "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Therefore, when Paul and "Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia."

Phoenicia is what is mostly modern day Lebanon, north of Israel, the Phoenician-Lebanese seacoast, Tyre and Sidon, and Samaria, what would be today the central portion of the West Bank. "Describing the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy to all the brethren." Now they caused joy to all the brethren because Phoenicia is Gentile territory and Sumeria is sort of half Jewish, half Gentile, they were considered more half breeds, not fully Jewish. So you can understand there would be a rejoicing in these areas because Gentiles are saved by faith.

"And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, rose up saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses." The first missionary journey was over with. Paul and Barnabas left the area of modern day southern Turkey, the Province of Galatia, after being in Cyprus and Galatia they returned now to Syria, Antioch of Syria. That was the first real missionary church.

Jerusalem was the home base, the mother church, the mother ship, so to speak. But Antioch is the place where the Holy Spirit said, "Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So they left on their first missionary journey.

And when they went out to all of these places, and they shared the message of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, beginning in the synagogue first, they made an astounding discovery that non-Jewish people were attracted to this Jewish Messiah because of the gospel as Paul presented it, of free salvation to anyone who believes. So already, a few Gentiles had been saved. Samaritans have been saved. Cornelius has been saved.

But keep in mind, the Gentiles, like Cornelius and his family and the Ethiopian Eunuch, these were people who had a Jewish background. They were God-fearers. Though they didn't keep all of the rituals of Judaism, they worshipped the Jewish God. They got up close enough to the Jewish form of worship as is possible without a full conversion into Judaism and keeping circumcision, et cetera.

So it was accepted reluctantly, but it was accepted. Peter reluctantly accepted it. The Jerusalem church reluctantly accepted it. But now they're getting used to the idea that those who are akin to going through Judaism can be saved.

But just the idea that a Gentile without a Jewish background, without Law-keeping, without any ritual of circumcision, without doing anything in the old covenant, can just believe in Jesus and be admitted into the church and be guaranteed heaven, well, it was an affront to the Jews. They didn't understand it.

And it's hard for us to get that, but you have to just think of what it was like to them. God had given his covenants in the Old Testament, and they believed in the covenant of Moses. They believed in the covenant of Abraham. And they, these Jewish people who were believers, man, they kept so many rigid rules and regulations their whole lives. They have gone through all the necessary channels to be acquainted with the one true God of Israel.

Now somebody comes in and just says, oh, I believe in Jesus, I'm like you. It was hard for them to accept it, sort of like expecting somebody to understand a movie who comes in at the end scene. They didn't sit through the whole play or the whole movie.

Suddenly they just come in and they go, I get it. And you're-- no, you don't get it. You don't understand the setup for this. You don't understand the early character development.

For you to just come in and see the ending or the trailer and think you've seen the movie, well, you haven't. And so they felt like, I've gone through these channels, you haven't. I've been religious my whole life, you haven't. You've been a pagan. So there is some resistance.

Now notice the resistance comes from Pharisees who are believers. This is why it's important that Saul of Tarsus is on the scene, Paul the Apostle, Saul of Tarsus. He once was a Pharisee himself. He understood their thinking completely.

Were it not for the Damascus road experience, he would have completely said, yeah, first of all, I don't believe in this Messiah called Jesus. Second, if there is one, and he is the Messiah, you can't just, as a Gentile, believe in him and expect to go to heaven.

But he thinks differently now. He's seen it with his own eyes. He's had his own experience. He's been out on the road preaching, and so he comes with a different story. Now what starts as a trickle, that is, just a Gentile here and a Gentile there. And then a few more here, is becoming a torrent. Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle and Barnabas coming back to Antioch are so amped, man, they're so pumped to tell the story of how non-Jewish people from the wildest places and weirdest backgrounds believe.

The gospel was the gospel of faith. Now I want you to see it so go back to Acts chapter 13 for just a moment, just turn the page and look at verse 38. Paul and Barnabas say, "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man--" man is capitalized referring to Christ-- "is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him, everyone who believes is justified from all the things which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses."

Verse 42, "So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them again the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, whose speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God." Now think about keeping the Laws.

Go to verse 46, "Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary--" he speaks to the Jewish audience-- "that the word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have sent you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be salvation for the ends of the earth. Now, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed."

Chapter 14 verse 1, "Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude of both Jews and of the Greeks believed." Down to verse 23, "So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed."

It was all just faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone. And what was the basis of their faith? The basis of their faith was the Jewish Messiah predicted in Jewish scripture. They understood that. Paul made that clear, that we have a book, we have a Bible, the Old Testament at that time. He was quoting from the Tanakh, what we call the Old Testament.

And he mentioned, he told them that the Messiah was predicted by our prophets, our Scriptures, and his name is Jesus. He has come. If you believe in him without keeping the Law of Moses, you can be saved. They got all jazzed about that, excited. We'll do it.



I can be forgiven? I'll do it. So place after place, that was the message they brought, and that's what the people responded to. And it was on that basis.

Enter the Pharisees. They're saved. OK, they're saved. They're from Jerusalem, but they're Pharisees. Now, I don't doubt their sincerity when they say, you have to keep the Law of Moses.

You have to be circumcised or you can't be saved. I totally do not dispute their sincerity. They were sincere. But they are sincerely wrong. And sincerity is not enough when you match sincerity up to the truth.

You might sincerely not believe the truth, you are sincerely wrong. And so the people from Jerusalem, Judea, go up to Antioch. It says, down to Antioch because the elevation of Jerusalem was higher than Antioch. So you're going down hill, effectively, lowered elevation. But they're going from south to north, they go to Antioch and they bring this message.

Hey, if you want to be a saved person, you first have to be a Jewish person and then believe in the Jewish Messiah. But you can't just willy-nilly not keep the Laws of Moses. You have to keep them and be circumcised to be saved.

Now the region Paul has been in-- what region did I tell you he was in? Galatia, he was in the region of Galatia. He writes a letter to the Galatians later on. And by now, Paul's gospel that he preached in Galatia, the Judaizers, the Pharisees who were saved, who are saying you have to keep the Laws of Moses to be saved, have gone from Jerusalem to Antioch and to all the places where Paul started churches. Remember “Judaizers” are Christians, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who teach that it is necessary for Christians to adopt Jewish laws and customs, especially those Jewish laws and customs which are prescribed in the Law of Moses (see also Torah).

Interesting how heresy develops. A lot of people, they won't start their own church. They'll just find churches that are already started and try to just sort of work their way through. So they made it all the way over to these places in Galatia, and when Paul writes his letter to the Galatians, he calls these people troublemakers.

So let me just read it to you. If you've got a Bible handy, you can turn to Galatians 1. I'm in verse 6, "I marvel," he says to the Galatians, "that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another" they're not preaching a whole different gospel, I mean, they're saying they believe. They are believers.

"But there are some who trouble you." These are the troublemakers. "Who want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." Now that's pretty hefty language. That's pretty strong stuff that he's dishing out here. Let him be accursed.

Why is it so dangerous? It's dangerous because they're trying to mix two mediums, like oil and water. They're trying to mix Law and grace, they're trying to add to the finished work of Christ. They're trying to stitch up the torn veil. You remember in Luke 23, the veil of the temple was torn in two.

A signification that God was opening the way freely for those in the future to come to a relationship with him through what Jesus did on the cross. The Judaizers, the Pharisees who are now saved, who have a Jewish background and think you have to go through the Laws. What they're effectively doing is saying, hey, let's stitch that veil back up. Let's make it harder for people, not easier.

God made it easier, we'll fix that. We'll help God out. We'll add rules and regulations that God never intended. They're trying to stitch up the veil.

Now, why is this so ludicrous. Well, if it's a finished work that God did, you coming along and trying to add to that is as stupid as me being in the Rembrandt museum, looking at one of Rembrandt's pictures, taking out a pencil and saying, I'm going to fix that. I'm going to add to that masterpiece.

Standing in front of a van Gogh, or a Rembrandt, or a Picasso and thinking, you know, he wasn't really on it that day. I can see some of the flaws. I'm going to fix what he did. It would be even more ludicrous for a child with crayons to have that mentality. That's what it's like to approach the finished work of God on the cross and say, I'm going to add my works to that.

So he says, be careful of these troublemakers because they are perverting the gospel. And he says, let them be accursed. Part of me thinks, poor Paul and Barnabas, man, they're flying so high. It's been so awesome, in Iconium, and Lystra and Derby and Pamphylia, Perga, Cyprus.

People are getting saved. Now they come back to the church that sent them and they find it's divided. Not everybody is so happy about it. There's the legalist who scowl.

The gospel has often been hindered by closed minds who stand in front of open doors and keep people from getting in. The door had been flung open, the veil had been wide open. But these are the gatekeepers, we're not going to let you in unless you're circumcised and keep the Law of Moses.

Remember that The great deceiver is awaiting us at every turn to capitalize on our weaknesses. He uses or gifts against us like logic and iintellengence… He seeks to change repentance of sin into acceptance of worldly desires.. Humility into pridefulness .. He seeks to dispel our Faith and lead us to denial and treachery even within our own church . As he tempted Jesus so shall he also be relentless to steal our very souls. We all know this is true..

” If thou wilt fall down and worship me I will give you the whole world” , Satin said to Jesus.. right after his baptism.. He sure wanted to nullify that precedent ! for 40 days and 40 nights Jesus was in the wilderness and at his weakest moments, hungry and weak from fasting Satan tempted Jesus not once, not twice but 3 times.. He asked a starving Jesus to turn the stone into bread.. and Jesus said “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” … We understand from this one phrase what Satan really wants from us..To worship him and all he represents… This is his quest for all of us..Putting it simply to reject God and embrace the dark path of Satan.. He is crafty as he is a predator.. He will turn our disagreements into hatred, he will divide us in spirit and make mockery of our faith. Paul understood these things which is why he nurtured the churches like a mother hen over a brood of chicks.. This is why even in his misery, even in chains, reaching through the pits of deprivation, in the face of Rome itself, did he continue to write to the churches with words of encouragement for them..

Lord we should have such faith as Paul demonstrated in his life. We do our best Lord but we know that it is only through your grace that we can battle the evil one. It’s a battle for us every day lord but we seek to be steadfast in our love and commitment to you..

Help keep us on the righteous path so that each day in every way our light will shine in an increasingly dreary world… Help us overcome our fears and give us peace as we rest our sorrows in your hands. We ask that you bless our bible study ministry this morning and all of its members and loved ones.. We are thankful this morning for the glimmer of hope in our lives given to us by Jesus Christ. The hopes and dreams that we have for ourselves and families both naturally and spiritually are in your hands. Remember all those who are thirsty for your word may their spirit be fulfilled with thee…

We ask these things in Jesus’ name..

Amen

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