WEBVTT 00:00:05.389 --> 00:00:08.550 Well, here we are, another week, another episode 00:00:08.550 --> 00:00:11.470 of the Semi -Seminary, and we're now in part 00:00:11.470 --> 00:00:15.830 seven of our study of Acts and what we're calling 00:00:15.830 --> 00:00:20.170 the Bible for Grownups. In this episode, we're 00:00:20.170 --> 00:00:25.109 just going to focus on one chapter of the Acts 00:00:25.109 --> 00:00:27.750 of the Apostles and one concept, the Council 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:32.130 of Jerusalem. It's the first church fight that 00:00:32.130 --> 00:00:35.729 we find in the early church, and its implications 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:39.070 were as important or are as important today as 00:00:39.070 --> 00:00:42.570 they were then. I will see you on the other side. 00:00:47.030 --> 00:00:52.030 Acts 15. We're actually going to be starting, 00:00:52.130 --> 00:00:54.630 when we get around to it, we're actually going 00:00:54.630 --> 00:00:57.700 to be starting in Galatians chapter 2. But you 00:00:57.700 --> 00:00:59.280 don't have to turn there if you don't want. You 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.060 can turn to Acts 15 if you want. Acts 15 and 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:03.899 Galatians 2 are actually going to be the same 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:07.400 story told from two different people's perspectives. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.299 But actually, before we get into the discussion 00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:12.719 tonight, this is how important I think, this 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.799 is also why I just wanted to focus on one chapter 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:18.659 tonight rather than trying to rush through several 00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:20.500 different stories through several different chapters. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.140 Tonight, I wanted to just focus on one chapter 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:28.599 because what happens in chapter 15, of Acts not 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:32.180 only helped define what Christianity meant to 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:34.739 these early Christians, but it actually, as Gentile 00:01:34.739 --> 00:01:38.719 believers, we, it defines our relationship with 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.180 God and Holy Scripture as well. That's why this 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:45.019 is so incredibly important. So just starting 00:01:45.019 --> 00:01:48.180 and talking about the Bible, we all recognize 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:52.939 that the Bible is a key to successful spiritual 00:01:52.939 --> 00:01:57.299 life. But the problem is it doesn't come with 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:01.239 a set of instructions. And often its power becomes 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:04.780 diminished because the words, the truth, and 00:02:04.780 --> 00:02:07.659 the wisdom contained within the Bible are often 00:02:07.659 --> 00:02:11.719 taught to us as children with a child's understanding 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:15.419 or it's taught to us by adults who were taught 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:19.960 the Bible as children. As a result, the Bible 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:24.020 is often not understood at all or it's misunderstood 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:27.639 because we have this Childlike understanding. 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:31.860 Often our childlike understanding of scripture 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:35.819 doesn't seem to match up well against our adult 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:39.699 world style problems. What's often not taught 00:02:39.699 --> 00:02:42.219 or maybe misunderstood is that the stories within 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:45.460 the Bible are a sequential story of God's people. 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:49.340 And it's actually very simple. The Bible boils 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:54.840 down to three promises that God makes with individuals. 00:02:55.689 --> 00:02:58.189 He makes a covenant or a promise with a man. 00:02:58.389 --> 00:03:02.409 That's Abraham. Then he makes a promise or a 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:06.030 covenant with a group of people, the Israelites. 00:03:06.909 --> 00:03:11.169 And then eventually God will make a promise with 00:03:11.169 --> 00:03:15.110 the whole world through Jesus Christ. So tonight's 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:19.930 lesson is not just about the Bible. It's actually 00:03:19.930 --> 00:03:26.219 about our relationship with God. To begin tonight, 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.960 let me recap where we've been. And I'll just 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:30.900 do this very briefly because I can't catch us 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:33.120 up on everything, but I can at least catch us 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.900 up to where we are tonight. Remember that the 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:39.659 person that we know as Saul or the Apostle Paul 00:03:39.659 --> 00:03:42.780 initially was a Pharisee that was charged with 00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:46.860 hunting down and breaking up Christian churches. 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:51.180 Paul becomes converted through his experience 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:54.319 with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.379 And so now we have a man who hated the church 00:03:57.379 --> 00:04:02.099 now building churches. And Paul and his friend 00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:07.159 and other apostle Barnabas, they leave Jerusalem. 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:12.939 I'm sorry. They leave Antioch and they go throughout 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:16.399 Asia Minor and they begin preaching the good 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.860 news of Jesus. And all of this is happening about 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:27.300 200 miles. to the north of Jerusalem in Antioch. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:33.459 And so Paul and Barnabas are going around into 00:04:33.459 --> 00:04:38.220 these... Skyla's up there. So Paul and Barnabas 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:39.740 are going around to these synagogues in these 00:04:39.740 --> 00:04:42.240 Greek -speaking cities. We're in Acts chapter 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:48.339 15. And preaching the good news about Jesus, 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:53.910 telling these Gentile believers, That God has 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:58.029 done something special in the world through Jesus 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:02.050 Christ. And that their belief, their faith in 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:05.589 the resurrection of Jesus can provide for them 00:05:05.589 --> 00:05:08.769 a path of salvation. And these Gentiles thought, 00:05:08.910 --> 00:05:13.149 this is great. Sign me up. This is a lot better 00:05:13.149 --> 00:05:17.230 than pagan religion, which really has no type 00:05:17.230 --> 00:05:22.819 of moral code to it whatsoever. And so 200 miles 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:26.959 north of Jerusalem, churches are beginning to 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:32.680 pop up and explode everywhere. Christianity begins 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:38.759 to truly take off. Now, back in Jerusalem, the 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:42.019 Jewish leaders are hearing about what's happening 00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:46.519 up in Antioch. They're hearing that Moses, the 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:53.750 law of Moses is out. Jesus is in. And so, they 00:05:53.750 --> 00:05:56.550 send their own missionaries from Jerusalem up 00:05:56.550 --> 00:06:01.810 to Antioch to see exactly what's going on and 00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:06.269 to correct this horrible theology that Paul is 00:06:06.269 --> 00:06:10.529 preaching. Essentially, that faith in Jesus provides 00:06:10.529 --> 00:06:15.209 salvation. It's no longer about the law of Moses. 00:06:16.269 --> 00:06:19.889 And so these missionaries, they're called Judaizers. 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:23.250 They come in and they say, no, that's not how 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:25.990 it works. If you want to be a follower of Jesus, 00:06:26.089 --> 00:06:31.490 you also have to follow the laws of Moses. And 00:06:31.490 --> 00:06:35.410 namely, particularly in this instance in Galatia, 00:06:35.430 --> 00:06:40.689 we're talking about circumcision. So there is 00:06:40.689 --> 00:06:45.100 this great challenge going on. In the early church, 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:48.120 essentially what we have is one of the first 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:52.120 church fights. Because we have these Gentiles 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:56.139 who believe that faith in Jesus is enough. And 00:06:56.139 --> 00:06:59.920 then we have these Judaizers who say that just 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:02.779 because we have chosen to follow Jesus Christ, 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:05.779 does that mean that we're supposed to throw out... 00:07:06.089 --> 00:07:09.910 Our Bible, and there was no Bible at that time. 00:07:09.949 --> 00:07:11.850 They didn't call it the Bible. They called it 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:13.629 the Law and the Prophets. Are we to completely 00:07:13.629 --> 00:07:18.750 abandon the Law of Moses just because we've accepted 00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:22.889 Jesus as the Messiah? And so these two positions, 00:07:23.029 --> 00:07:27.509 which is the path to a right relationship with 00:07:27.509 --> 00:07:31.029 God? Is it through faith in Christ? Or is it 00:07:31.029 --> 00:07:36.100 faith in Christ plus the laws of Moses? What 00:07:36.100 --> 00:07:40.879 is at stake? So, I'd like to begin in the second 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:44.680 chapter of Galatians. And I'd like to read here 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:48.339 what Paul says about this council at Jerusalem, 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.180 which we're going to study in greater detail 00:07:50.180 --> 00:07:53.040 in Acts chapter 15. Just to kind of show you 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:56.300 these two stories kind of happening simultaneously 00:07:56.300 --> 00:07:59.459 in two different books of the Bible. I love it. 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:02.300 I think this kind of stuff is fascinating. Where 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:06.560 we can have a letter of Paul. that is describing 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.920 the same events, kind of at the same time that 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.879 the Acts are describing those same events. So 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:17.279 we're looking, this is about 20 or 30 years past 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:21.240 the resurrection. So we're just a few decades 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.759 removed from the resurrection, and we've got 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.379 to a point where we've got this discussion about 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.899 what is most important. So let me begin by reading 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:34.299 Paul in the letter to the Galatian church. Remember, 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:37.759 Pisidia, Antioch, and all of those cities in 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:41.600 Asia Minor, that whenever they left the major 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:45.019 city of Antioch and they went on the missionary 00:08:45.019 --> 00:08:50.220 journey, they went to Galatia. So the growth 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:52.240 of the church there that we talked about last 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:55.399 time, that's the churches that those are the 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:58.620 people that we refer to as the Galatians, as 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:02.200 in the letter to the Galatians. So Paul says, 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:04.899 beginning with verse 1 of chapter 2, Then after 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:07.320 fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem, 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:10.379 this time with Barnabas, and I took Titus also. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:14.960 I went in response to a revelation in meeting 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.279 privately with those esteemed as leaders, the 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:21.320 council of Jerusalem. I presented to them the 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:25.220 gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:28.419 to be sure that I was not running and had... 00:09:28.730 --> 00:09:32.750 had not been running my race in vain. Yet not 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:35.730 even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to 00:09:35.730 --> 00:09:40.250 be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This 00:09:40.250 --> 00:09:43.549 matter arose because some false believers had 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:47.769 infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom that 00:09:47.769 --> 00:09:51.409 we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 00:09:52.149 --> 00:09:56.809 We did not give in to them for a moment. So that 00:09:56.809 --> 00:10:00.750 the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:05.629 you. Right? So he's saying, look, we told you, 00:10:05.669 --> 00:10:08.350 I'm telling you exactly what I was presented 00:10:08.350 --> 00:10:12.190 by Jesus. That belief in Jesus is all that matters. 00:10:12.409 --> 00:10:17.789 That if salvation is the result of circumcision, 00:10:17.909 --> 00:10:22.549 then Christ died on the cross for nothing. And 00:10:22.549 --> 00:10:24.649 Paul is saying we're not going to move an inch 00:10:24.649 --> 00:10:28.100 from that We don't believe that that's the case. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.639 Now moving down here to verse 11, Paul says, 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:40.419 when Cephas, Cephas is Greek for rock. I'm sorry, 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:45.940 yes. And that's Petros in Latin, which is Peter, 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.639 right? So that's Peter we're talking about here. 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:51.419 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:55.879 his face because he stood condemned. For before 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:58.799 certain men came from James, he used to eat with 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:02.120 the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.639 to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.419 because he was afraid of those who belonged to 00:11:07.419 --> 00:11:10.559 the circumcision group. The other Jews joined 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:13.840 him in this hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy, 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:17.759 even my friend and partner Barnabas was led astray. 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:20.820 When I saw that they were not acting in line 00:11:20.820 --> 00:11:23.419 with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas 00:11:23.419 --> 00:11:27.059 in front of them all, You are a Jew, yet you 00:11:27.059 --> 00:11:29.460 live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:33.659 it then that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish 00:11:33.659 --> 00:11:37.940 customs? You can't follow Jewish law yourself. 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.960 Why are you trying to force the law on Gentiles? 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:47.340 You can't even follow this yourself. And that's 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:51.600 a big question at stake here. So now let's go 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:55.159 to Acts chapter 15. Read, this is just the one 00:11:55.159 --> 00:12:00.500 chapter we're going to study tonight. Acts chapter 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:02.779 15, and we're going to learn more about this. 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:08.820 What are the elders of the church going to say 00:12:08.820 --> 00:12:12.720 about how salvation is, how right relationship 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:17.320 with God is achieved? So it starts off with these 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:20.139 words. Certain people came down from Judea to 00:12:20.139 --> 00:12:23.799 Antioch. Okay, those are the Judaizers. So certain 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:26.700 people are the missionaries that were sent from 00:12:26.700 --> 00:12:29.340 Judea up to Antioch to figure out what in the 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:33.220 world was Paul preaching up there in Galatia. 00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:37.100 And they were teaching believers, these Christian 00:12:37.100 --> 00:12:40.820 converts, unless you're circumcised according 00:12:40.820 --> 00:12:44.340 to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be 00:12:44.340 --> 00:12:49.940 saved. So right here it is. Do we have to give 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:52.399 up Moses or are we supposed to hang on to Moses? 00:12:52.830 --> 00:12:55.529 as well as Jesus to be saved. And they're saying 00:12:55.529 --> 00:12:59.490 Moses plus Jesus, right? So you're going to have 00:12:59.490 --> 00:13:02.570 to be circumcised. They're saying if you want 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:05.649 to follow Jesus, you've got to have surgery, 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:10.169 right? Paul didn't tell us that part. Where is 00:13:10.169 --> 00:13:14.490 Paul? Wait, before we... Where's Paul? We need 00:13:14.490 --> 00:13:17.299 to talk to Paul, right? It's almost like... You 00:13:17.299 --> 00:13:19.659 know, they'd pull the minivan up at church and 00:13:19.659 --> 00:13:21.940 these guys might say, honey, why don't you and 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:24.759 the kids go on? I need to sit out here and think 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.080 about this for a little bit. And these Judaizers, 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:33.379 they're saying that just because we follow Jesus, 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.179 does that mean we throw out the law of Moses 00:13:36.179 --> 00:13:42.460 too? What do we do? So Luke continues, verse 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:47.240 2. This brought Paul and Barnabas in sharp dispute 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:49.639 and debate with them, which we just heard from 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.019 Paul's own mouth in his letter to the Galatians. 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.840 So Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:59.279 some other believers to go to Jerusalem to see 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:02.100 the apostles and elders about this question. 00:14:02.179 --> 00:14:04.899 Now, why do we suppose that they felt like they 00:14:04.899 --> 00:14:07.100 needed to call a council in Jerusalem? We need 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:09.580 to remember that at this time, there's no Bible, 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:16.299 right? There's no New Testament scriptures. They're 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:19.860 making this up as they go along. So they figure 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:22.620 we need to get together with those that have 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:26.639 been with Jesus, his apostles, so they go back 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:29.700 down to Jerusalem to have this meeting. The church 00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:32.360 sent them on the way, and they traveled through 00:14:32.360 --> 00:14:35.299 Phoenicia and Samaria. They told how the Gentiles 00:14:35.299 --> 00:14:38.539 had been converted, and the news made all of 00:14:38.539 --> 00:14:41.320 the believers glad. So everybody at the Council 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:44.500 of Jerusalem is listening to Paul and Barnabas 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:48.360 talk about not only did we make the Jesus followers 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.519 on our way up, but on our way down here. We stopped 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:53.759 in Samaria and Phoenicia. We made Christians 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.779 down there. Everybody's going, hey, this is really 00:14:56.779 --> 00:15:00.480 great. When they came to Jerusalem, they were 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.480 welcomed by the church and the apostles and the 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:06.580 elders to whom they reported everything God had 00:15:06.580 --> 00:15:09.730 done through them. then some of the believers 00:15:09.730 --> 00:15:15.350 who belong to the party of the Pharisees, it 00:15:15.350 --> 00:15:18.309 seems like the last time we talked about Pharisees, 00:15:18.309 --> 00:15:22.269 they were trying Jesus and putting Him on a cross. 00:15:22.769 --> 00:15:25.529 What's happening here? Well, 20 years after the 00:15:25.529 --> 00:15:28.789 resurrection of Jesus, there are some of those 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:33.350 same Pharisees that now believe that Jesus is 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:36.250 the Messiah. Now, what would have converted them? 00:15:36.309 --> 00:15:39.919 Was it the Sermon on the Mount? Nope. Was it 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:44.120 the story of the prodigal son? Nope. No. They 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:48.460 had become believers in Jesus because they had 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:53.000 been witnesses to his resurrection. They had 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.799 been witnesses to his resurrection and they realized 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:59.399 that a God and a human body who could lay the 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:04.940 life down and pick that life back up again. is 00:16:04.940 --> 00:16:07.679 the messiah if you're able to predict your death 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.039 and follow through with it we're going to follow 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:15.559 that guy right but remember remember these are 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.620 still pharisees are steeped in religious tradition 00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:23.139 and when i say religious tradition i mean the 00:16:23.139 --> 00:16:27.000 law of moses right still a big deal of who they 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:30.679 are and so the pharisees although they have become 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:34.460 christian followers They stand up in the council 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:37.580 of Jerusalem and weigh in by saying that the 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:41.340 Gentiles must be circumcised and required to 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:45.279 keep the law of Moses. The apostles and elders 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:48.700 met to consider the question. And after much 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:53.320 discussion, Peter, Simon Peter, gets up and says, 00:16:53.539 --> 00:16:57.460 Brothers, you know that some time ago God made 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:01.379 a choice among you that Gentiles might hear from 00:17:01.870 --> 00:17:05.650 My lips, the message of the Gospel, and believe. 00:17:05.849 --> 00:17:09.970 Now remember, Peter just before, that's a revelation 00:17:09.970 --> 00:17:14.150 that God basically says what I have desired to 00:17:14.150 --> 00:17:17.329 make clean, it's not your job to call unclean. 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:23.210 And Peter takes that to mean that what God has 00:17:23.210 --> 00:17:25.410 done in the world is not just for His people, 00:17:25.529 --> 00:17:29.450 but for the whole world. In fact, this next verse 00:17:29.450 --> 00:17:32.289 is really, really beautiful. Because he says, 00:17:32.390 --> 00:17:37.589 for God, who knows the heart, showed that he 00:17:37.589 --> 00:17:41.910 accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them. 00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:48.630 And these next few words, I can't overscore the 00:17:48.630 --> 00:17:52.509 importance of these next few words, the seismic 00:17:52.509 --> 00:17:56.009 shift that these next few words actually reflect 00:17:56.009 --> 00:18:00.900 about Judaism from its beginning. to this very 00:18:00.900 --> 00:18:04.339 moment, 20 or 30 years after the resurrection. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:11.059 Because Peter says, just as He did to us. And 00:18:11.059 --> 00:18:14.099 Peter is saying something about God's relationship 00:18:14.099 --> 00:18:17.799 with the people of the world that have been rejected 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:21.619 by the Israelite people from their inception. 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:26.400 From their very beginning. The Israelite people 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:29.140 saw their relationship with God, their covenant 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:33.480 with God, as unique to them. That everything 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:36.559 that they did and everything that they thought 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:40.380 about God and every way that they served God 00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:45.720 was in some way designed to separate them from 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:48.880 all of the other people of the world. To show 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:51.920 that they were God's people, His chosen ones. 00:18:52.569 --> 00:18:56.150 and that they were different than every other 00:18:56.150 --> 00:18:59.750 people in the world. And Peter now is saying 00:18:59.750 --> 00:19:05.369 that's no longer the case. Because God has shown 00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:10.029 us through the power of the Holy Spirit, He's 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:14.690 given them that same power, just as He has done 00:19:14.690 --> 00:19:20.289 to us. He did not discriminate between us and 00:19:20.289 --> 00:19:24.930 them. for he purified their hearts by faith. 00:19:25.490 --> 00:19:28.250 And then he goes on to say, and he kind of probably 00:19:28.250 --> 00:19:32.109 looks at his brothers in the room and says, why 00:19:32.109 --> 00:19:36.009 do you try to test God by putting on the necks 00:19:36.009 --> 00:19:39.730 of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors 00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:41.930 have been able to bear? Peter's saying, come 00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:47.069 on, guys. We're not even all that good at living 00:19:47.069 --> 00:19:50.920 the law of Moses. Why would we be asking them 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:53.059 to do it when we can't even do it ourselves? 00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:57.920 No, Peter says, it's not about the law of Moses 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.519 anymore. No, we believe now that it's through 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.960 the grace of our Lord Jesus that we're saved 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:13.180 just as they are. So Peter, the apostle, has 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:17.460 gotten up and said the relationship between God 00:20:17.950 --> 00:20:20.630 And the people of the world is no longer with 00:20:20.630 --> 00:20:26.049 just one ethnicity. It is with every man, woman, 00:20:26.190 --> 00:20:31.789 and child in the world. This is a major, major 00:20:31.789 --> 00:20:36.109 difference of theology amongst the Jewish people. 00:20:36.710 --> 00:20:40.950 And as you can imagine, the whole assembly became 00:20:40.950 --> 00:20:44.970 silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul. 00:20:45.740 --> 00:20:48.640 Telling about the signs and the wonders that 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.019 God had done among the Gentiles through them. 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:55.900 And when they finished, James. Now let's remember 00:20:55.900 --> 00:20:59.859 who James is. James is the brother of Jesus. 00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:06.539 He's the leader of this group. And I can't help 00:21:06.539 --> 00:21:08.720 but resist every time I bring him up to say, 00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:11.700 what would it take you to do to believe that 00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:14.920 your brother was actually the Messiah? And to 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:18.500 recall each and every time that James didn't 00:21:18.500 --> 00:21:22.720 follow Jesus around as a disciple. James became 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.440 a believer in his brother Jesus as the Messiah 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:29.779 after the resurrection because of what he had 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:32.299 seen and because of what he had experienced. 00:21:33.019 --> 00:21:37.799 So James is not following Jesus around because 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:41.960 they're related. James is following Jesus because 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:45.180 of what he had seen. because of the resurrection. 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:49.819 And so James speaks up, and there's a hush, I'm 00:21:49.819 --> 00:21:53.900 sure, over the crowd. And he says, brothers, 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:58.440 listen to me. Simon, Peter, has described to 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:02.519 us how God first intervened to choose a people 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:06.160 for his name from the Gentiles. The words of 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:09.660 the prophets are in agreement with this, right? 00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:13.799 And he quotes prophecy there. And then he says 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:16.920 this, he says, It is my judgment, therefore, 00:22:17.099 --> 00:22:20.599 that we should not make it difficult for the 00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:25.240 Gentiles returning to God. Now, that probably 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.299 wouldn't look great on a bracelet or a t -shirt 00:22:29.299 --> 00:22:35.119 or a wall painting with some inspirational scripture 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:39.500 on it, but this piece of scripture should be... 00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:42.759 as motivating to us as individual Christians, 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:47.240 as any other scripture out there. It is my judgment, 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:50.740 therefore, that we, not just the guys at the 00:22:50.740 --> 00:22:55.000 Council of Jerusalem, but you and me, everybody 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.079 we encounter, we should not make it difficult 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:06.480 for those who are trying to find God. Sharing 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.359 the good news is not about an initiation process. 00:23:11.539 --> 00:23:15.000 Sharing the good news, witnessing Christ to other 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.440 people, is not about telling people how they 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:21.319 need to become different, then they can become 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:26.440 Christians. It is about removing all stumbling 00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:30.579 blocks to bring Jesus to them. To be able to 00:23:30.579 --> 00:23:34.259 say, because you know Jesus, you become different. 00:23:35.950 --> 00:23:38.930 And then he goes on to say, instead, so we're 00:23:38.930 --> 00:23:41.250 not going to do that, right? We're not going 00:23:41.250 --> 00:23:45.029 to do a whole bunch of stumbling blocks. Instead, 00:23:45.250 --> 00:23:46.910 what we're going to do is we're going to write 00:23:46.910 --> 00:23:50.390 him a letter. We're not going to just trust that 00:23:50.390 --> 00:23:53.029 this will get back to him because whenever stuff 00:23:53.029 --> 00:23:55.250 like this happens, by the time it gets back there, 00:23:55.369 --> 00:23:57.349 it will be completely different. So we're going 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:01.390 to write this down on papyrus and we're going 00:24:01.390 --> 00:24:04.829 to put our names to it. And here's what we should 00:24:04.829 --> 00:24:07.390 tell them. We're going to give it to somebody 00:24:07.390 --> 00:24:10.089 who we trust to go up and read this letter to 00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:13.509 them because they are waiting to know what are 00:24:13.509 --> 00:24:18.710 we going to do about the rules. So here's what 00:24:18.710 --> 00:24:21.750 we're going to tell them. That they should abstain 00:24:21.750 --> 00:24:25.829 from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, 00:24:25.930 --> 00:24:29.170 from the meat of strangled animals, and from 00:24:29.170 --> 00:24:33.430 blood. For the law of Moses has been preached 00:24:33.430 --> 00:24:35.730 in every city from the earliest times and is 00:24:35.730 --> 00:24:38.069 read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. Now, 00:24:38.089 --> 00:24:42.069 at first blanch, what this appears is that James 00:24:42.069 --> 00:24:44.470 is kind of cherry -picking from Levitical law. 00:24:44.690 --> 00:24:46.910 Kind of like, listen, we need to tell them something. 00:24:47.210 --> 00:24:51.730 What should we do? Okay, don't eat strangled 00:24:51.730 --> 00:24:56.049 animals that stay away from blood. Throw sexual 00:24:56.049 --> 00:24:59.539 immorality in there. That should be good. But 00:24:59.539 --> 00:25:03.200 that's actually not what he's doing. He's not 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.240 just cherry -picking a few things here. As a 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:10.160 matter of fact, I think if we take this just 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:13.259 below the surface, I think you'll see something 00:25:13.259 --> 00:25:17.420 that's pretty remarkable. Now, why do you suppose 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:20.299 that those are the things that James picked? 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:26.059 Mainly, it's because we have two groups of people. 00:25:26.829 --> 00:25:29.069 We have a group of people that hold to dietary 00:25:29.069 --> 00:25:31.509 law, these Jews that have become Christians, 00:25:31.730 --> 00:25:35.089 and we have these Gentiles. Now here's the thing. 00:25:35.230 --> 00:25:39.650 The Jews that have become Christians, it's generational. 00:25:39.829 --> 00:25:42.650 These dietary laws are generational for them. 00:25:43.210 --> 00:25:47.369 They just can't sit down and eat shrimp with 00:25:47.369 --> 00:25:51.549 somebody. It's just never been done. And what 00:25:51.549 --> 00:25:54.670 James is kind of doing with these... with staying 00:25:54.670 --> 00:25:57.289 away from blood and staying away from food polluted 00:25:57.289 --> 00:25:59.910 by idols, what he's basically doing is saying, 00:26:00.029 --> 00:26:03.930 look, Gentile Christians, we need you to take 00:26:03.930 --> 00:26:07.450 a few steps towards us because we're going to 00:26:07.450 --> 00:26:11.250 take steps towards you. Whenever James gave these 00:26:11.250 --> 00:26:14.589 laws to these Antiochian Christians, what he's 00:26:14.589 --> 00:26:17.230 not doing is giving them a new law of Moses. 00:26:17.490 --> 00:26:20.130 He's giving them rules by which they could live 00:26:20.130 --> 00:26:24.579 together and eat together in harmony. It's about 00:26:24.579 --> 00:26:30.160 unity, not about law giving or law following. 00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:34.619 Now, where do these particular laws come from? 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:39.619 We do know of some of them we find in Genesis 00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:45.119 chapter 9. That is the story of Noah as he builds 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:50.259 an altar after leaving the ark. We also find 00:26:50.259 --> 00:26:54.240 something called the Noahide covenant laws. in 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:57.519 the book of Jubilees, which is a book that's 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:00.799 not found in our particular Protestant Christian 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:03.720 Bible, but is a part of Hebrew Scripture. And 00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:07.460 let me just read to you these laws that were 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:11.339 given to Noah as a result of the Noahide covenant. 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:17.160 Noah's covenant with God. Not to curse God, to 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:20.759 establish courts of justice, not to commit murder, 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.119 not to commit adultery, bestiality, or sexual 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:29.779 immorality, not to steal, and not to eat flesh 00:27:29.779 --> 00:27:34.579 torn from a living animal. Now, what's interesting 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:38.640 about these Noahide laws, these laws that are 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:42.180 part of the covenant with Noah, is how do they 00:27:42.180 --> 00:27:45.680 play into what type of relationship do they have 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:50.390 with Levitical law? What do they have to do with 00:27:50.390 --> 00:27:54.769 the law of Moses? They actually precede it, right? 00:27:54.869 --> 00:28:00.589 Because Noah exists a long time before Moses. 00:28:01.849 --> 00:28:06.210 So James here isn't even cherry picking for the 00:28:06.210 --> 00:28:10.210 sake of unity and harmony. He's not even cherry 00:28:10.210 --> 00:28:13.009 picking from the law of Moses. He's actually 00:28:13.009 --> 00:28:16.869 saying, let's put all of those laws aside. And 00:28:16.869 --> 00:28:20.730 I'm going to go to an earlier set of laws that 00:28:20.730 --> 00:28:24.910 come from God. I'm going to go back to the Noahide 00:28:24.910 --> 00:28:29.109 laws. I find it, I personally find it very interesting 00:28:29.109 --> 00:28:32.609 that the particular laws that James asked these 00:28:32.609 --> 00:28:36.890 Christians to believe in, none of them are specifically 00:28:36.890 --> 00:28:39.349 from the law of Moses. Now that doesn't mean 00:28:39.349 --> 00:28:42.109 to say that the laws of Moses don't deal with 00:28:42.109 --> 00:28:45.779 sexual immorality or don't. deal with how meat 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:47.519 should be slaughtered and the blood should be 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:51.059 removed. They do, but that's not where James 00:28:51.059 --> 00:28:54.000 and the elders are getting these laws from. They're 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:56.819 actually getting them from a covenant with Noah. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:00.960 Now, if God made a covenant with Noah and the 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:06.000 Israelite people didn't exist then, and we all 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:10.000 are descendants of Noah, then essentially the 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:13.589 covenant that God made With Noah and his descendants 00:29:13.589 --> 00:29:16.349 is a covenant, not just with one particular group 00:29:16.349 --> 00:29:20.269 of people, but actually with the world. It's 00:29:20.269 --> 00:29:23.829 actually a worldwide covenant. So not only are 00:29:23.829 --> 00:29:27.349 they leaving the laws of Moses to one side, they're 00:29:27.349 --> 00:29:30.150 actually going back to a time where there were 00:29:30.150 --> 00:29:33.470 laws that were a part of a covenant with the 00:29:33.470 --> 00:29:38.130 world, just like we are facing in this particular 00:29:38.130 --> 00:29:42.529 time. as the message of Jesus brings salvation 00:29:42.529 --> 00:29:48.109 to the whole of the earth. And so they write 00:29:48.109 --> 00:29:51.049 a letter. The apostles and the elders and the 00:29:51.049 --> 00:29:53.650 whole church decide to choose some of their own 00:29:53.650 --> 00:29:57.730 men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. 00:29:57.930 --> 00:30:04.329 And they choose Judas or Barsabbas, Silas, men 00:30:04.329 --> 00:30:06.049 who were leaders among the believers, and they 00:30:06.049 --> 00:30:08.670 sent them the following letter. the apostles 00:30:08.670 --> 00:30:10.529 and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile believers 00:30:10.529 --> 00:30:15.450 in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings. We 00:30:15.450 --> 00:30:18.529 have heard that some of you, some went out from 00:30:18.529 --> 00:30:22.089 us without authorization and disturbed you, troubling 00:30:22.089 --> 00:30:26.509 your minds by what they said. The Jews, the guys 00:30:26.509 --> 00:30:29.089 that came in after Paul, right? Forget them. 00:30:30.259 --> 00:30:32.599 So we all agreed to choose some men and send 00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:35.339 them to you with our dear friend Barnabas and 00:30:35.339 --> 00:30:38.980 Paul, men who have risked their lives for the 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:42.099 name of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, we're sending 00:30:42.099 --> 00:30:45.319 Judas and Silas to confirm by word and mouth 00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:47.299 of what we're writing. I think this is really 00:30:47.299 --> 00:30:49.900 brilliant. Because if they would have just sent 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:53.099 Paul and Barnabas back with the message, what 00:30:53.099 --> 00:30:57.099 could they be accused of? Just making up back 00:30:57.099 --> 00:31:00.619 their own story. And so what the council has 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:02.720 done here is say, we're going to send Paul and 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:05.140 Barnabas back to you guys because they're your 00:31:05.140 --> 00:31:07.740 preachers. But we're going to send some of our 00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:11.240 guys too to confirm that what Paul and Barnabas 00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:16.299 are telling you is legit. It seems good to the 00:31:16.299 --> 00:31:19.019 Holy Spirit and to us to not burden you with 00:31:19.019 --> 00:31:22.079 anything beyond the following requirements. Abstain 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:26.700 from food sacrifice to idols, from blood, from 00:31:26.700 --> 00:31:29.920 the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:32.660 immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. 00:31:33.099 --> 00:31:37.319 Farewell. That's it. And essentially, the Council 00:31:37.319 --> 00:31:42.900 of Jerusalem has said that we believe it is more 00:31:42.900 --> 00:31:48.180 important if we are all focusing on a belief 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:51.559 in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, if we are all 00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:54.400 placing the power of God within the resurrection, 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.779 It is more important for us to live together 00:32:00.779 --> 00:32:05.720 in harmony as the body of Christ than it is to 00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:11.700 follow any particular set of rules or laws. And 00:32:11.700 --> 00:32:15.599 that's the point of the Council of Jerusalem. 00:32:15.980 --> 00:32:18.299 Now what does that have to do with us today? 00:32:19.259 --> 00:32:22.920 I think it has a lot to do with us. Because there 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:26.960 are so many people who fall out of faith or they 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:30.299 walk away from faith or maybe they're about to 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:33.000 walk away from faith because they feel like they 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.880 can just never measure up to all of the things 00:32:35.880 --> 00:32:39.259 that they're supposed to do as a Christian. And 00:32:39.259 --> 00:32:42.539 what's very interesting to me is this is a problem 00:32:42.539 --> 00:32:45.640 with being a Christian from the very, very first 00:32:45.640 --> 00:32:50.519 days and from the very, very, very first church 00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:55.059 fight. The leaders of the church moved through 00:32:55.059 --> 00:32:57.859 the power of the Holy Spirit and struck these 00:32:57.859 --> 00:33:02.660 early believers that it is not about doing. It's 00:33:02.660 --> 00:33:07.039 about believing. And you don't just have to believe 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:13.339 in belief. We have seen it. What does it take 00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:16.720 to have a right relationship with God under this 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:20.700 new covenant that He's made with the world? To 00:33:20.700 --> 00:33:22.720 believe that He loves you so much that He would 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:26.740 allow His Son to die on a cross, He can lay His 00:33:26.740 --> 00:33:29.059 life down and through the power of resurrection 00:33:29.059 --> 00:33:34.039 take His life back up again. And He did that 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:37.920 to express to us His desire to have a relationship 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:41.900 with us out of His love for us. And if we can 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:45.519 focus on that, we don't have to worry about all 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:49.700 of these other laws and all of these other things. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:54.960 They're just stumbling blocks. The law of Moses 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:00.460 was merely a meaning to an end to something much 00:34:00.460 --> 00:34:04.099 greater that God did in the world through Jesus 00:34:04.099 --> 00:34:08.019 Christ. And that is the same story that we find 00:34:08.019 --> 00:34:12.880 in the year 50 that we do today. And so for those 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:15.659 people that might be walking away from faith, 00:34:15.739 --> 00:34:18.219 who have walked away from faith because they 00:34:18.219 --> 00:34:20.659 feel like they can't measure up, And they can't 00:34:20.659 --> 00:34:23.619 keep track of all of the do's and don'ts. I just 00:34:23.619 --> 00:34:25.980 want to argue that perhaps you've walked away 00:34:25.980 --> 00:34:32.019 unnecessarily. And to just to reconsider your 00:34:32.019 --> 00:34:35.480 relationship through just a simple belief in 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:39.900 Jesus. So next week, armed with the, or next 00:34:39.900 --> 00:34:43.730 time, armed with this. new understanding of what 00:34:43.730 --> 00:34:46.449 it means to be a Christian. We're going to venture 00:34:46.449 --> 00:34:49.010 again on the next set of missionary journeys. 00:34:49.250 --> 00:34:58.840 So does anybody have any questions? Well, there 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:01.579 you have it. I hope that that episode was as 00:35:01.579 --> 00:35:04.500 enlightening for you as it was for me. Listen, 00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:07.659 if you like what we're doing here at the Semi 00:35:07.659 --> 00:35:10.800 -Seminarian, I'd ask that you make sure to follow 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:14.099 us on whatever platform you get podcasts from. 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:17.619 And on that platform, if you could rate the Semi 00:35:17.619 --> 00:35:20.000 -Seminarian and give us a five -star review, 00:35:20.179 --> 00:35:22.739 we'd certainly appreciate it. It helps get the 00:35:22.739 --> 00:35:26.869 word to more people. Well, we'll see you next 00:35:26.869 --> 00:35:30.469 time. And until then, be blessed and be a blessing.