Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

Chapter 15

Adding to the Gospel - this is pretty much the crux issue (no pun intended) of the chapter. Some really Jewish guys were kickin' it old school and could not comprehend how they could just throw off hundreds of years of traditions (i.e. circumcision) and act like it meant nothing. Very understandable. I think this is a battle we all struggle with - setting up hoops for people to jump through to become a Christ-follower (or the more subtle and prevalent: setting up rules and standards people have to live by to continue to live as Christ-followers once they make their decision). This chapter is about the big grace vs. law debate that will probably never go away until Christ returns and sets things straight. If there's any doubt that this still takes place, ask yourself if a person can be (or become) a Christ-follower AND:

• be addicted to nicotine (smoke), alcohol, prescription drugs
• believe in evolution
• not believe the Bible is true cover to cover
• be living a homosexual lifestyle

Now that your blood pressure is up, let it come back down to normal by reading Galatians. Galatians is this debate expanded.

v.7 - Peter got up and addressed them - isn't that great?! Peter is now going to argue passionately that Gentiles should be allowed in and that they don't need to first become Jews to enter. This is the same guy who, in chapter 10, couldn't even bear the thought of eating non Kosher food and told God "no."

v.8 - God, who knows the heart... - this is, at the same time, terrifying and amazing. It's terrifying to know that we cannot keep anything hidden from God. Our darkest, dirtiest, meanest thoughts are known by Him. But here's the part that should blow us away: knowing our hearts, He still unconditionally loves us. I think we've all experienced the disappointment of really getting to know someone. By that, I mean we've all known people from afar and respected or were attracted to them. Then, we have a chance to see them up close on a bad day (or sometimes not - maybe just getting to see the true "them") and left disappointed and disillusioned. God is the opposite - He knows our hearts (our hearts, according to Jeremiah 17:9 are "deceitful above all things and beyond cure") and this fails to affect His love for us. Pretty unbelievable.

v.10 - a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear - I find this an interesting admission from Peter that nobody can really follow the Law - it is a hopeless pursuit and the reason many people trying to be "religious," just give up on religion.

vv.19-21 - this is a bit confusing on the surface - this council in Jerusalem just were convinced by Peter's great speech to not make Gentiles live under Jewish law to be Christ-followers. Then, they come back and put 4 restrictions on them (i.e. don't eat meat sacrificed to idols). What gives? The answer is that these requests the Jerusalem council are making of Gentiles is to preserve unity in this new thing called church. If a Jewish Christ-follower sits down to a meal with a Gentile Christ-follower (a big deal by itself) and the Gentile throws out some hot dogs, this would be highly offensive and really disrupt any chance for unity. So the answer here is that these requests/instructions were kept in primarily for unity between Jewish and Gentile believers. The application for us is: do I need to curtail anything that is creating disunity in our fellowship (not because there's anything legally wrong with it, but just for the sake of unity in the Body)?

vv.36-40 - here's another episode of "how to resolve conflict in the first century church" - Paul and Barnabas are going to go back and encourage the churches they planted. Barnabas wants to bring John Mark with them again (John Mark was Barnabas's cousin), but Paul says, "NO WAY!" John had left them (in Paul's opinion, "deserted" them) in Acts 13:13. They end up agreeing to disagree - Paul hooks up with Silas and heads one way, while Barnabas takes John Mark and heads another way. 2 things here: (A) it's okay to disagree with other Christ followers, it's just how it's done; and (B) a good thing that comes from this is that 2 missionary teams are sent out instead of one - that's not bad. It does, however, bring up a very tough question for us today: how many shots do we give someone? It's kinda ironic that Paul opposes Barnabas (whose name means encourager and who was instrumental in getting Paul established in ministry) and doesn't want to give John Mark another chance. In other words, you want to tap Paul on the shoulder and say, "hey, don't you remember when Barnabas went out on limb for you and asked the Jerusalem church to give you a shot?" God doesn't seem to condemn Paul for this and Paul actually gives Barnabas and John Mark props in other books (see 1 Cor. 9:6, Col. 4:10; Philemon 24; 2 Tim. 4:11). Nevertheless, this passage doesn't really help us answer the question.