Good morning and happy Labor Day! Did you know that Labor Day started in 1894? It was to honor working people following Chicago’s Haymarket riot in May 1886, in which a labor demonstration was bombed, killing 4 people. There ya go...that might be the only Labor Day trivia you get all day.
Marge and I had an unbelievable fellowship dinner with two very special people last night. We met in Roanoke for some tasty Italian and then some sumptuous pie at a local pie shop. (umm..coconut cream) After 4 hours of talking we could barely pry ourselves apart. God brought us together over 15 years ago and He is still the center of our friendship. I praise God for the special people He puts into our lives that can speak wisdom and light into our lives. Since we have been back from Maui, God has used so many of these people to guide our steps and help us to really seek and understand His path. God can and will use others to speak His wisdom into your life. Surround yourself with these people, make it a priority to spend much time with them and then simply listen.
This morning in Acts chapter 15 we find the first great crisis within the church. A questioning of doctrine. We as humans are very finicky. It’s just in our nature. The nature we inherited from the original sin back in the garden of Eden. It continues to rear its ugly head in our reading this morning and it continues to rear its ugly head all around us today.
It starts with a few guys coming down from Judea to Antioch to teach a ‘new gospel.’ This ‘new gospel’ they have created by mashing up the Mosaic law along with the true gospel. Now Antioch was the biggest church in the world at the time so I guess they thought they could ‘educate’ as many as possible here quickly and easily. Oh, the draw of big churches. Many can be deceived so quickly.
So what was the whole point of their altered gospel? Many Jews in the land just could not let go of the Mosaic law. They had been born and raised with it and they held onto it tightly. These men were teaching that one must be circumcised in order to be saved. Now the real matter here is not about circumcision, but the question of do you need to 'do' something to be saved. We know the answer to that is a resounding NO. Jesus did it all on the Cross, there is nothing we physically can do to earn or achieve salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. No person on this planet that has ever lived or that will ever live can ‘do anything’ that will achieve them salvation.
Paul and Barnabas were the pastors of the church at Antioch and they had “no small dissension and debate with them” (Acts 15:2) Paul and Barnabas know that this is an attack on Jesus and they repute it passionately. In order to quickly settle this matter Paul, Barnabas and few other elders head off to the church headquarters in Jerusalem to address the elders and apostles in person. (Acts 15:2)
Once in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the church and proceeded to tell them all that God had done on their first missionary journey. It didn’t take long however for some Pharisees to step up and claim that the Mosaic law was still in place and that indeed one needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. You see they didn’t want to fully alter what the disciples were saying about the gospel, they just wanted to change it a little bit. They just wanted to add a little bit to it to make it better. Isn’t this just like man. Somehow, we think we can always make things a little bit better with our amazing intellect, logic and understanding. My friend, when you add something to the gospel, it’s no longer the gospel but religion, its something man made, and religion is just that man made. We as humans inherited a sin nature so whatever we touch is tainted, imperfect before God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect just as He is perfect. When a man tries to apply logic to this it alters it with a sin nature and then it is no longer perfect. It becomes religion. It is not about religion and doing things, it’s about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and it's available to anyone who calls upon His name. That’s what the apostles are passionately defending here.
This argument was a huge deal and most of the apostles were there to help. We see that Peter spoke, Paul spoke, Barnabas spoke and James the half brother of Jesus spoke. The testimony of these men and what they had done and seen prevailed and a beautiful, comforting letter is written to the church in Antioch stating that there is no need to perform an act to be saved by God. The church in Jersulem knowing that the letter would need a local witness to present it and authorize it, sends Judas and Silas back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
When back in Antioch, they gather the congregation and read it aloud. Acts 15:31 “and when they read it they rejoiced because of its encouragement.” Now Judas and Silas plugged right into the church and Acts 15:32 tells us “And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.” Blessed fellowship. Note that Silas will rejoin our story here in a minute.
So there is harmony in the church and Judas and Silas are sent back to Jerusalem. After a while, Paul feels called to retrace his steps of the last missionary journey and check up on all the new churches they had started. After this recent appearance of false teachers and the challenge of the gospel, Paul wants to make sure these new vulnerable churches are standing firm in the faith. But when he tells Barnabas of where they’re going, Barnabas says he wants to take John Mark. Now remember back in Acts 13:13 that John Mark left Paul and Barnabas in the middle of their mission trip. Apparently, this left an impression on Paul and He tells Barnabas that he will not be taking along John Mark as he deserted them on the first trip and he wants no more of that. Acts 15:39-40 “and there arose between them a sharp disagreement, so they separated from each other. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.”
So Barnabas sails off to Cyprus and right out of scripture. This is the last time we hear of Barnabas and his ministry. Cyprus was his home town and he wanted the see the gospel brought to his people. Paul “went through Syria and Cilicia and strengthened the churches.” (Acts 15:41) Where there was one mission trip planned in the minds of men, God had two planned. As a result the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ goes out in two different directions. Two different teams, to two different peoples, to two different parts of the world. God always has a perfect plan.
I think there’s great importance here in this disagreement between two great men of God. Even men of God will have disagreements, they are human. There will be ‘sharp disagreements’ as we serve God along side of others. It’s important to see that you can disagree without being disagreeable. Big difference. As a result of this they did not break up anything, they did not cause division. They did not gather members on their sides and split the church down the middle. One did not get bitter and go a few blocks away and start another competing church. They just disagreed and continued to serve God. Very important lesson here, in fact so important that God put it into His Holy Word!
I wish you all a blessed day and I hope that your 5 minutes in God’s Word today will be rich, rewarding and bless your heart spiritually.
Praise be to God for His goodness.
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