The Gospel is for EVERYONE (Jew / Gentile Controversy) The Jerusalem Council

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website MorseCornerChurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

Look at verse 6. Paul writes, but from those who seem to be something, this is almost certainly a reference to Peter, James, and John.

Look what he says, but from those who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me because God shows personal favoritism to no man.

For those who seem to be something added nothing to me.

I bet you probably read over that and you're not really realizing what he's saying. It might sound a little ungracious on the surface.

Remember he's not saying this. He's not going to Peter, James, and John and saying this to them. So who is he saying this to?

Why is he saying it? He's saying it to the church members in Galatia because they had been deceived and they were thinking

Paul's a phony. Paul isn't really an apostle. Is he? I don't think he really is because the

Judaizers were saying, hey, we stand with the Apostles. We are sent by James.

James approves of us. Our message of works is really the message of James and the

Apostles. So Paul, basically what he's saying is, I'm not inferior to them.

And here's his argument, because sometimes you have to say things to kind of shake people to wake them up. I think that's what he's doing.

Basically Paul is saying, is James more important than I am? Does Peter have more authority than me?

Is John's message greater than my message? No. No. They added nothing to me.

They added nothing to Paul's apostleship. Verse 7, but on the contrary, and here's where he's saying something positive, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter.

For he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the

Gentiles. So they did not add anything to Paul's authority. What they did though is they recognized

Paul's calling. They recognized Paul's authority. They recognized that the

Apostle Paul was doing a mighty work for God amongst the Gentiles, which really was unexpected.

This is a new thing. We don't really appreciate what's happening here.

We don't understand it. We're always, you know, God so loves the world. God loves everybody, people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

This was a new deal. But they recognized that Paul was doing a mighty work among the

Gentiles, just as they had recognized that Peter had done a mighty work in Jerusalem among the

Jews. This could not be denied. God was doing something special with Peter first and then

Paul. So in this passage, we see something forming. For the

Jews, God was using Peter. For the Gentiles, God was using

Paul. So Peter and Paul are the two men making the biggest difference for the

Lord in the early church. I mean these two men were, all the

Apostles had equal authority, but these two men were being used mightily by God.

Now church tradition tells us that eventually all of the other Apostles went out all over the world and made a difference in all these other regions.

But as of this moment, Peter was the main man for the Jews. Paul is the main man for everybody else, for the

Greeks. So when you consider that Jew and Gentile, and all these people being saved, and all these people flooding into the churches, you know the more people you have in a church, the more problems you have in a church.

And of course this is a prayer because we want to see more people saved. We want to see people back in fellowship.

We'd love to see this church doubled, right? If by this time next year this church had tripled in size, praise

God. Wouldn't you praise God for that? But you also know we'd have three times the problems.

I mean I'll take it, we'll take it, right? But that's the way it goes, and that's okay.

That's just how it happened. So think about what's going on.

Christianity started out, when Christianity began, it was called the way, right? They weren't called

Christians, they were followers of the way. Christianity started out, it was seen as a

Jewish sect, a sect of Judaism. Jesus was

Jewish. His apostles were Jewish. Most of the early converts were

Jewish. So this whole idea of what about the Gentiles being saved, that really wasn't a thing at first.

But once Paul starts converting large numbers of Gentiles to the faith, all of a sudden churches are now full of this ethnic mixture of Jew and Greek.

They had different backgrounds. They ate different food. They had different traditions.

They had different ideas of how things should be done. So now all of a sudden problems start popping up right and left.

I mean there were growing pains in the church. So this Jew -Gentile issue was one of the biggest problems or the biggest issues the early church had to face.

That's why the apostles stressed so very much about God, especially the apostle

John, that God so loves the world, right? Christ is the savior of all men.

And that is emphasized all throughout the New Testament. Why? Because the biggest issue was, well, what about them?

What about the Gentiles? No, God loves everybody. Christ is the savior of all men, people of every nation, tribe, and tongue.

All right, turn to Acts chapter 15. I hate to use this word because, you know, it's used in other ways.

But really the gospel that Paul was preaching was very inclusive, right?

It involves everybody. It's a very inclusive message. The gospel of the

Judaizers was very exclusive. Hey, you can believe in Christ. You can be saved.

But basically you need to become Jewish first. And you need to be circumcised.

And, you know, not to be crude, but hey, it's reality. There's a lot of adult men that weren't going to do that for obvious reasons.

So, on the other hand, with this problem there's a lot of people being converted.

It was amazing. Churches popping up everywhere. This is a reason to praise God. But the problems that came of it threatened the unity of the

Christian church. So the question now, why the Jerusalem Council met? The question was, whose message is going to prevail?

The inclusive message or the exclusive message? Well, we see.

Acts 15, starting in verse 1, says, "'And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren that unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.'"

So, you see that Paul is being called to Jerusalem. Can you imagine how the

Judaizers must have twisted this story? Hey, did you hear? Paul got summoned to Jerusalem.

They're going to rebuke him because he's wrong. Almost certainly that's what they were saying.

Of course, was that true? No. But the false teachers are liars, so whatever fits their narrative.

Look at verse 4, "'And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.

But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed.'" Notice that, some of the

Pharisees, what did they do? They believed. There were Pharisees who believed in Jesus, but they still hadn't quite let go of their

Pharisaical ways. "'But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

Now, the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute.'"

And don't get the idea the apostles were disputing among themselves. That wasn't happening.

"'So, when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, "'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago,

God chose among us that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them.'" What? The Holy Spirit.

Yeah. "'God gave the Gentiles the Holy Spirit just as he did to us.

And God made no distinction between us and them purifying their hearts by faith.'"

Then in verse 13, the apostle James stands up. Remember the Judaizers were saying,

James is on our side. No, he wasn't. So James stands up.

"'Men and brethren, listen to me.'" This is most likely the pastor of the Jerusalem Church.

"'Simon has declared.'" Peter. "'Simon has declared how God at the first visited the

Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.'" So we know

Paul's position. We know Peter's position. And now we know James' position.

And we don't have time to look at it. But do you remember in Acts chapter 10, where Peter had that vision?

Remember that sheet coming down from heaven filled with all the unclean animals. And God says, you know, "'Rise,

Peter. Slay and eat.'" Well, it really didn't have a whole lot to do about food.

Peter realized what God was trying to tell him. Don't call the Gentiles unclean.

You know, there was an issue. I hate to use this term, but yeah, basically there was an issue of first century racism, for lack of a better term.

You know, the Jews, we're not going to accept these Gentiles. These Gentiles are dogs.

We don't want them in the church. That was kind of the attitude. And that was Peter's attitude, at least a little bit.

And God had to show him, Peter, you're wrong. We need to accept them as full members of the body of Christ.

Peter said in Acts 10, 34 and 35, "'In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him.'"

So Peter and Paul are on the same page. And now the Jerusalem church, they're on the same page too.

Now this official decree is given out a decision that utterly refuted the position of the

Judaizers. So here's the Jerusalem decree, Acts 15, look at verse 22. The church decided once for all, then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely

Judas, who is also named Barsabbas and Silas, leading men among the brethren.

And they wrote this letter by them, the apostles, the elders, and the brethren to the brethren who are of the

Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. "'Greetings, since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words unsettling your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law.'"

And what does he say? "'To whom we gave no such commandment.'

We never said that. But it seemed good to us being assembled with one accord to send chosen men to you with our beloved

Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas who will also report the same things by word of mouth.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood and from things strangled.'"

And this was to keep the peace with the Jews, not to offend the Jewish believers.

So abstain from those things. And notice, abstain from sexual immorality.

That's strange because that was already forbidden. This is nothing new. This is most likely a reference to the practice of androgyny, which was part of idolatrous pagan religion.

So the church declared, if you keep these, because that's not the way God's people behave, if you keep yourself from these, you will do well.

You will do well. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

MorrisCoronetChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.