Through The Bible - Acts 15 - Part 2

Brett Meador: Is grace given to you freely? Yes. But did it come cheaply? No. Grace was one of the most costly things in the universe.
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador with the true cost of salvation paid on our behalf.
Brett Meador: Grace came freely, but it did not come cheaply. It cost God's only begotten Son to die on the cross for the sins of the whole world. And that's why Jesus said, "It is finished," when He died on the cross, because He finished the work of salvation. You can't add to the work of salvation. The completed work is through the grace of Jesus Christ. Grace did not come cheap. It came at a radical price.
Guest (Male): Immediately after teaching that sinners are saved by grace alone, Paul told the Ephesians believers are created for good works. Simply stated, good works can't earn salvation. Rather, they're the result of salvation. Yet in Acts 15, Jewish believers confronted Paul, Peter, and James about grace and a salvation through Christ. Here's Pastor Brett Meador with more in today's word.
Brett Meador: Acts chapter 15, as we continue verse by verse through the Bible, we have the early church dealing with a dispute of a theological question. It's a big one. It centers around what constitutes salvation. The Jewish believers are struggling with this idea of these Gentiles coming to Christ and believing and now they're being called saved and part of the Christian church. The Gentiles are happy as clams, and the Jews are going, "But wait a minute, they've got to be circumcised, right? I mean, they've got to be following Judaism and the law of Moses, right?" Well, some Jews assumed that that must be true, and it comes out here in their teaching. So the question is going to be asked and dealt with in chapter 15 and answered. Yet we're going to find out this debate, by the way, still rages today, even though the Bible already answers the question. We're going to see how this Acts chapter 15 is sorted divided up. In fact, there are several sections of this I'd like to draw your attention to. The first one is the dispute. Verses 1-5 define the dispute that we're going to have here. Let's read in verse 1. "And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, 'Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.'" From Abraham all the way to the time of Jesus, the Jews had practiced circumcision. Now these teachers in verse 1 are teaching that they must be circumcised after the manner of Moses or else you cannot be saved. That's the dispute in verse 2. It says, "When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." In verse 3, the Gentiles are being saved. It says in verse 3, "Being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren." People are rejoicing. Even Gentiles are being saved, and they're being saved by grace. Because of that, there's great joy. In verse 4, it goes on and says, "And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders." That's Paul and Barnabas. "And they declared all things that God had done with them." That's on the first missionary journey that we've already covered. "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses." These guys are saying the same thing the guys in verse 1 were teaching. Verse 1, these guys were teaching you've got to be circumcised. Now Paul and Barnabas come back to Jerusalem. Yeah, this is what's happening. These Christians are being saved. The Pharisees stood up. Can you get the Pharisee out of the Pharisee? These guys were legalists to the nth degree. Now they're saved by grace, but the problem is it's hard to get that Phariseeism out of them. That's to be legalistic. They better be circumcised. These guys jump right into the argument, but they also add to command them to keep the law of Moses, 613 laws written by Moses himself. So that's verses 1 through 5, the dispute. Do the Gentiles have to be circumcised? Do they have to keep the law of Moses? Number two on the list here is the discussion. We have the discussion between the apostles and the brethren there at the Council of Acts chapter 15. Let's pick it up in verse 6. "And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, 'Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.'" How were their hearts purified? By faith, not by works. That's his point. Verse 10: "Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." Peter is amazing here. He's unveiling something that they sort of knew, they should have known to a degree. Peter's just saying it really clear, what Paul is going to argue in much of his epistles: we're saved by grace through faith, not of our works. That's what Peter is saying. This is kind of a new thing. This is hard for some of these Jews to even imagine that someone could be saved without keeping the wall of laws. Peter's asking why in the world do you guys want to lay these heavy burdens on these new believers? What started in joy only to bring about grief to be circumcised and try to lay this burden of the law, the 613 laws, on these poor Gentile people. Peter's saying, "Why would you want to do that?" That's a good question. Why would people want to lay a burden? What is it with you and me that wants to be legalistic to other Christians and say, "You better stop doing this, you better start doing that, you're not as pure as I am, you have sinful tendencies." The truth is we all have sin. The question is where are we at in our development? It's funny that some of the people that are most self-righteous are way less far along on their development, but they want to be judgmental. Why is it that people want to lay a burden of being legalistic? I think there's a few reasons. Number one, I think we do it because we want to control people. We like to be able to say, and we quote scripture and verse, "Thou shalt not," and we're trying to control them and sort of overlord them. That's a tendency within human nature. If you can find a sin, why are people sin sniffers and fault finders? Are you one of those people? You're probably the last person to know that. Think about it deeply. Ask your wife if you're a sin sniffer or ask your husband if you're a sin sniffer, fault finder, iniquity inquisitor. Watch out for that. That's just a sinful human nature to be trying to sniff out sin in people's lives. It's often because you want to control them. Second Corinthians 1:24, Paul says, "Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we want to be helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand." When Paul talked about like Corinthian sins, he wasn't wanting to have control over them. He was wanting them to be joyful, knowing that sin does not produce joy. Holiness leads to happiness. Sinfulness leads to sadness. And that's why Paul said, "We're not trying to have control over you by talking about your sinful tendencies. It's we want to have you have joy." That's Second Corinthians 1:24. Why do we like to lay burdens on others? We like to control them. Number two, we think we know what's best for them. They'll be better off if they do what I tell them. I know, and suddenly it's more about here's what you need to do, do, do. But don't forget, how do we walk and how do we stand in faith? It's the same way we're saved. We stand in our faith in Christ. That's how we stand, but that's also how we walk. We should walk by faith. Don't try to add to the do-do-do thing. We think we know what's best for everybody. There's a time and a place to teach what the Bible says to an eager listener, but it's tempting to put burdens on people because we think we know what's best for them. Again, holiness does lead to happiness. Some people say, "Brett, you're preaching a cheap grace right now if you're saved by grace through faith." Can I just say people that come up with this whole oxymoron of cheap grace, that is one of the most wacko things you've ever heard. They sound scholarly. "Pastor Brett at Athey Creek teaches a cheap grace," they'll say. First of all, I call that an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp. That's an oxymoron. Things that shouldn't really go together. Cheap grace is one of those words. Is grace given to you freely? Yes. But did it come cheaply? No. Grace was one of the most costly things in the universe. It's a misnomer for a person to say that we at Athey Creek teach cheap grace. It is to say you can't just be saved by grace through faith. You've got to have the works or else you're not really saved. It's not faith and works. It's not faith or works. It's faith that works. They get that part mixed up. So they try to add works to what saves you. Watch out for that. Grace came freely, but it did not come cheaply. It cost God's only begotten Son to die on the cross for the sins of the whole world. And that's why Jesus said, "It is finished," when He died on the cross, because He finished the work of salvation. You can't add to the work of salvation. The completed work is through the grace of Jesus Christ. Grace did not come cheap. It came at a radical price. People that say that, they're one of those people they're going to try to lay unnecessary burdens on a person in order for them to be saved. Watch out for that. Kind of important to know. Well, number three, the reason why people like to lay burdens on others is misery loves company. I think that's probably a lot of what's going on here in Acts chapter 15. These Jews having to keep the laws and circumcised and all that. They're saying, "Well, if I had to be circumcised, you have to be circumcised. If I have to do this, then you have to do that." Boy, that's a tendency today. I've seen this happen where the Lord, once you're saved, the Lord convicts your heart and tells you, "Man, you need to give up cigarettes." So you struggle. "Cigarettes. I've got to not smoke the devil's sticks." You give up smoking cigarettes, and then you see someone else smoking cigarettes. "You've got to quit smoking. If you're a Christian, you've got to do it." Well, who are you to tell them that? Do you realize that there's nowhere the Bible says thou shalt not smoke cigarettes? Brett, are you condoning cigarettes? Not necessarily. If you want lungs that look like ashtrays, smoke cigarettes. If you want to die early, smoke cigarettes. Remember all things are lawful, but is everything profitable or expedient? The Lord convicted you about quitting cigarettes, and that's great. I'm glad for you because you're going to be happier if you can break the habit. At the same time, I've noticed that people like me who's addicted to hamburgers, I could walk up to that guy, "You should stop smoking those devil sticks." Well, they could come right back at me, "You should stop eating those devil burgers. They'll both kill you. They're both unhealthy for you." See, we all have our issues and we should not go around sin sniffing. But when I have to quit eating hamburgers, then I want everybody else to quit eating hamburgers. Some of you can eat hamburgers like my dad. He can eat 25 hamburgers every day and not gain one pound. I didn't get that gene from my dad. He could eat ice cream, hamburgers, unhealthy food, just in great shape his whole life. But for me, the Lord might convict you differently than me. So be careful. Don't lay trips on people. These are three reasons why. There's probably more, I just gave you a few just to think about. Back to our other list here of Acts 15. So first we have the dispute, and now we're kind of still in the middle of the discussion. Verse 12. It says, "Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." So this council, they're all disputing. It tells us that in verse 7. Then Peter stands up, and everybody's listening to Peter. Peter gives his sort of pitch. Then the multitude silence. They listen to Paul and Barnabas say, "This was our first missionary journey." This shows, by the way, that even though there had been much dispute, it seemed like these people were honorable. They really wanted to hear. They were willing to listen and perhaps even be persuaded that they were wrong. These are the people that were disputing. They were saying, "We're Pharisees and you've got to be circumcised." But they were the wrong ones, but they're listening now. You've got to give them credit for that, declaring how many miracles Paul and Barnabas are saying how they were worked among the Gentiles, which was part of Peter's previous point. The Holy Spirit's obviously working in these people. This is evidence that God has saved them. Essentially, they're saying God has to have accepted the Gentiles. Should we not as well? That's what Paul and Barnabas are basically arguing with this argument of all the healing and what have you. Verse 13: "And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, 'Men and brethren, hearken unto me.'" Okay, now we're getting another opinion. You've got Peter. You've got Paul and Barnabas. Now you've got James. Now, who was this James? Was it James the Apostle? It's not. There's four Jameses in the Bible, FYI. But two big ones: there was James the Apostle, of James and John, the sons of thunder. But this is not that James. Remember he was martyred in Acts chapter 12, if you remember, verse 2. This is James. He's got a couple different titles that differentiate him. He's called James the Just by tradition, the traditional church, James the Just. He's also called the half-brother of Jesus, which he was. Half-brother because Jesus was born of a virgin, Joseph was not his father. But James was born of Joseph and Mary. That's Matthew 13:55. He's also the brother of Jude. Jude chapter 1 tells us that. He's also the author of the book of James. The book of James was not written by James the Apostle, but James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus. To me, when you read the book of James, it makes it even more powerful when you realize this was sort of the half-brother of Jesus. This kid grew up with Jesus. What a testimony that is, having a testimony of someone who grew up watching Jesus his whole life and said, "Yep, this is the Son of God." There's a couple things you might want to know about James that we're talking about here. Church tradition, history, not in the Bible, but church tradition said Jesus and James looked strikingly similar, which is kind of interesting. Some people even confused him as Jesus, but he had to say, "I'm not Jesus, I'm his half-brother." Another fun thing about old James when he got really old, he had a nickname. This is according to church history: he's called Old Camel Knees. If you've been to the Middle East and if you look at a camel's knees, they bend backwards, first of all, which is really interesting. But they also when these camels kind of get down on the ground and lie down, they sit on their knees. Because of that, their knees are heavily calloused and sort of cracked, just there's like a pad on their knee that's kind of strange. Well, they called James Camel Knees, and the reason why, he had been known for being on his knees in prayer so much. The fervent prayer of a righteous man, if you would. James was so prayerful that he had permanent knots on his knees from where he knelt on the ground praying, which is kind of cool. So this is the James now that stood up and there's some things you need to know about James that I think are important. We'll see as we go. So he says, "Listen to me," verse 14. "Simeon," which is another name for Peter, some of your newer translations probably say that, "hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written..." Now he's quoted from Amos chapter 9, verse 11. Your margin probably tells you that. He's quoting from Amos now. He says, "'After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.' Verse 18: 'Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.'" I've marked that verse: "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Can I just say God knew the Gentiles were going to be saved. James is saying, "Hey, what Peter is saying is right." James is saying, "You shouldn't be surprised because in Amos chapter 9, verse 11, the prophets said that the temple would be rebuilt and after the temple would be rebuilt, then eventually the Gentiles are going to be called God's chosen people too." The Jews just kind of blew that verse off until right about now they're going, "Wow, our Old Testament Hebrew Bible said the Gentiles will be saved." And then James saying, "And God knew this all along. This is part of his plan." Verse 18. I love this. This is James confirming what's happening with the word. Do you see what he did there? That's always a wise church leader. That's always a wise counselor to a friend, to say, "Thus saith the Lord in his word," not just "I really think it's a good idea. I think Peter said some pretty nice things there." No, he didn't say that. What Peter said it matches the scriptures. That's what you and I are required to do, is search the scriptures. Remember Acts 17:11, Paul said, "Be like the Bereans to search the scriptures daily to see if what is being said is true or false." James is saying the Gentiles are part of the faith, the end. That's kind of what he's saying. But then he goes on in verse 19. He says, "Wherefore my sentence is," the ESV says "therefore I judge," right? Now, I've marked that as well because that's a flag you should note. Scholars, Greek scholars, they raise the flag. This phrasing of James implies that James had a high position of authority in the church. He was probably as respected as a leader as any of these guys, and he was also the senior pastor of the church in Jerusalem. So when James says this, he already has authority. You and I kind of miss that because the biblical narrative hasn't really told us that as much yet. But most scholars that know the original language believe Paul was a big deal, Peter was a big deal, but James is the one who's going to say the settling word here. James, the way he talks here saying, "Wherefore I judge," or he's almost like the judge sitting here, "therefore I judge that this is the way it is. Case dismissed," or "case closed," I should say. Note that authority that James has. So verse 19: "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble them not, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they," number one, "abstain from pollutions of idols," number two, "from fornication," number three, "and from things strangled," and number four, "from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." Why does James pick these four things that the Gentiles need to do? This is an important question because some of you are like, "Uh-oh, do we need to watch out for these things?" Well, I'd say yes, but a couple of them might make you a little nervous, like not eating things strangled. That was one of the 613 laws. So you're like, "Uh-oh, did James just say well, there's one they've got to do?" I'm convinced as most, it's not just me, it's the scholars that have been reading the word for years, they say there's two main reasons James picks these four things. Because you might say, "Well, what about the Sabbath? Or what about keeping the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles? Or what about not having cheese with your milk and pizza and stuff like that? Like what about all those?" Why does James pick these four things? Well, there's two issues: an issue of morality, but then also the second issue is that which would be offensive to the Jewish brothers. The Gentiles, this is James saying, "Here's what we need to do. I want the Gentiles to be sensitive to the Jews and not be high and mighty and arrogant against the Jews." It has to do with the offensiveness to the Jews. But the first two are more about morality: that the church should not be into idolatry and fornication. Those are the first two. But then the second two are don't be offensive to the Jews. Tell the Gentiles keep yourself morally pure, but also don't flaunt your freedom and your offense to the Jewish people. We're going to see this answered by Paul later because you might say, "Well, Brett, that means that we Christians can't eat meat that's been sacrificed unto idols." Good news, Paul's going to come to the rescue on this later. The reason I know that this is not something that like if you say, "Brett, I think I ate something that was strangled, am I going to hell?" You were going to hell for a lot of other reasons than that, but you're saved by grace through faith. That's how you're saved. So doing this doesn't save you from hell. James is not disagreeing with that. James is saying what he's going to say in his book, the book of James, when he says, "Faith without works is dead." So you Gentiles don't flaunt your liberty in front of the face of the Jews. That's what he's saying. And be sensitive to them. Later, Paul would say, "You can eat meat sacrificed idols, just don't do it in front of Jews." We'll get into that more later on.
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador clarifying that when it comes to eternal salvation, it's God's grace through faith in Christ that matters most. In our verse-by-verse look into Acts chapter 15 will continue next time with more important truths in today's word. Also, I want to invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in a moment to share some final words from this message. But first, today's word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Well, Pastor Brett is with me here. We're about two-thirds of the way through the book of Acts, which really shows us the inside scoop of the early church. At this point, we continue to see some disputes among the Gentile followers of Christ. Brett, I know it was obviously very important for the Apostle Peter to help clarify to these believers that we're saved by grace through faith. But it kind of hit me that even though this took place at the beginning of the church some 2,000 years ago, we still have similar disputes inside the church today, don't we?
Brett Meador: Yeah, incredibly we do. And the good news is we can use the book of Acts as sort of a template even in Acts chapter 15 we're going to see that early church disagreeing, but we see how they worked through that and it was a plurality of leaders praying and working through it. It's encouraging to me how they handled it and they came back to the truth of God's word and the grace of Jesus Christ. So the issue was whether Gentile believers had to follow Jewish laws in order to be saved. Peter made it clear that salvation comes by grace through faith, not by this religious performance. So really Paul's word about being saved by grace through faith, Ephesians 2:8, that all came out of this big council and these leaders just wrestling through those issues. The church still argue about preferences, traditions, secondary issues. But I would just say we have to keep the main thing the main thing, and that is that Jesus Christ is the main thing. He saves us sinners by his grace. I think humility matters. Sometimes Christians can be right doctrinally, but wrong relationally. And we still need the fruit of the Spirit accompanying the church behavior. So the early church didn't ignore the conflict, but they sought unity around the scriptures. That's why I love going through the Bible with everybody here on our radio program.
Guest (Male): Yeah, I agree. And the example of the early church believers really is important for how we in the church should handle our behavior. Thank you, Pastor Brett. Well, if you'd like more information about Pastor Brett Meador or to hear this study in the book of Acts, just go to todayswordradio.com. Well, next time, Pastor Brett brings us to an important moment in the early church, answering a question having eternal consequences. Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.