November 2:
Call: Acts 15: 1-2
Read: Romans 14: 7-10
Text: Acts 15: 3-21; Galatians 2: 1-2, 6-10
Close: Acts 15: 22-29
Resolution
**[Not using Galatians scripture] [Prayer]
Words intrigue me. For example, our message is a one word title:
RESOLUTION
However, if we change just one letter in the word
By deleting the "S" and replacing it with a "V"
we get a very different word: REVOLUTION.
Then if we take our new word
And change just two letters
By deleting the first "O" and the "U"
and replacing them with an "E" and an "A"
We get a word very different from
both of its predecessors in our exercise
this time we get: REVELATION
Intriguingly, (after all, I told you that words intrigue me)
These three seemingly very different words
all have a part to play
in our look at this morning's scriptures.
For in essence there was - as is the case throughout Acts -
A revolution going on in Palestine
A spiritual and theological revolution;
A structural and interpersonal revolution
** [pause] **
What do you think of when you hear the word "revolution?"
I think of words that normally precede "Revolution."
Words like "American," "French," and "Russian."
Also words like "Industrial" or "Digital"
In the case of the former
we think of guns, bloodshed and guillotines
In the case of the latter
We think of radical changes in the way we live
Particularly through the economic and labor aspects of our lives.
The revolution in our scriptures
as we have seen over the past nine weeks,
has been coming in wave after wave of radical change
However, this radical change
Was not primarily in the economic or labor aspects of our lives - but rather in spiritual, theological, and interpersonal aspects
And while it did result in strongly different opinions
- A necessity in revolutions -
And it did involve some acts of violence
It did not reach the point of guns, military type bloodshed, or guillotines - or their first century counterparts
And it didn't result in them
Because by prayerful talking and listening
A resolution was reached.
And that resolution resulted in part because of revelations
To Peter and Paul and
To the church at Antioch and the Apostles in Jerusalem
And in turn that resolution was itself a revelation
to those of us in the church today
Who could save a lot of grumbling, complaining, self pity,
And wasted energy
If we would simply look at the early church
And see how the Christian revolution was conducted
And differences resolved
The revolution began with the life, death, and resurrection
Of Jesus of Nazareth.
But it became more widespread after his ascension.
When he charged us to do his work in this world
And after Pentecost
When in dramatic fashion,
The Holy Spirit came upon and empowered his followers.
On that day his followers multiplied
Going from 120 to over 3,000
On that day in Jerusalem, the church was born.
The disciples who had known him before his ascension
Were transformed into apostles.
going from being his students
to being his representatives and envoys.
And being expected to be witnesses to and make disciples of
Other people.
Christ's followers continued to think of themselves as Jews
But the Jewish leadership and elements within that faith
Thought they were blasphemous
And persecuted them.
First by arresting their leaders
Whipping them and demanding that they stop doing things in the name of Jesus.
Then by stoning Stephen to death
And beginning a radical and widespread persecution
Which in turn caused most of the followers to scatter through areas outside the city
In other parts of Judea and in Samaria.
Then in an event nearly as dramatic as Pentecost,
Their chief persecutor was struck blind as he hurried to Damascus to arrest those in the church
And astonishingly he was called by Christ
to be the one to take the good news even farther away
to places miles away
from where Christ lived, died, and was resurrected.
Things were changing fast.
The change continued
as he and Barnabas took a 1000 mile round trip journey
Fulfilling that call
They had begun by preaching in the synagogues
Trying to get across to the Jewish worshippers the news
that Jesus was the messiah or deliverer and son of God
And that he was the embodiment of God's promises
fulfilling both the prophets and the law.
This was revolutionary theology
But when rejected by the Jewish leadership
they turned their focus to taking the good news to the Gentiles
This was even more revolutionary.
Change is complicated and challenging.
In this case, the church itself began to divide over whether
The gentiles who had clearly received the Holy Spirit
Needed to be circumcised in order to be saved
And whether they needed to obey Jewish dietary laws
Paul and Barnabas were convinced that neither was necessary
Believing that the Holy Spirit was sufficient in and of itself?
The church at Antioch, inspired by the HS, sent Paul and Barnabas
To discuss this with the apostles in Jerusalem.
Luke tells us about this discussion and about what happened on the way to it. [chapter 15, verses 3-21.]
Picture the Pharisees
They are people determined to obey every jot and tittle of the law
They believe that they are doing this on behalf of the entire community.
With this background
They can only shake their heads in amazement
"How in the world" they wonder, "can anyone think that you can be saved when you do not meet the requirements of the law?"
Not only does their understanding rest on the law given to Moses
But they also know that circumcision is a practice
Since before the law
Since Abraham.
They cannot get it through their heads
That circumcision was simply a sign of the covenant
And not the covenant itself.
Just as the wedding ring is a sign of the marriage
But not the marriage itself.
Peter spoke out, sharing from his experience and concluding with,
"... we believe that we and they are saved in the same way
by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ."
"We believe" that all of us - whether Jew or Gentile -
are all saved in the same way
not by circumcision or by dietary laws and practices
BUT by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A grace given - not earned
And James, who had become the leader in Jerusalem declared
"Therefore, I conclude that we shouldn't create problems for Gentiles who turn to God."
He had to be thinking, "God knows what God's doing."
(Something you and I sometimes forget)
While I suspect that there were still some Pharisees who went to their graves mumbling and grumbling
About the idiocy of the decision.
And while I know there were others who
Still tried to teach and impose the law on Gentile believers
The issue had been resolved
by a conversation where each listened to the other.
The resolution stuck and so the revolution continued
The resolution stuck and so remains a revelation to us even today.
A revelation that God knows what God is doing
A revelation that you and I need to talk and we need to listen
To God and to each other.
A revelation with a history of producing resolutions
A revelation that our salvation comes through the grace of JC.