Put it in a letter

Good morning. After a snow day, and then last week, Nancy and I were over in Northern California, helping my mom celebrate her 90th birthday. And so at any rate, we're back, we think. And returning here to Acts chapter 15, it's a momentous and pivotal chapter, certainly this large issue of what do we do with the Gentiles and the law of Moses? Certainly that. It is the chapter where we see Peter's name for the last time in the book of Acts. It is a chapter where James is mentioned very purposefully, and we're not seeing the last of him. We will see him again.

But in fact, things turn a rather large corner. The Apostle Paul has finished his first missionary journey, and will then proceed after this on his second missionary journey, and as we'll find out next week's passage, without Barnabas. And we'll see there is a sharp disagreement between the two of them, and we'll see what that's about. I mean, how can such great guys have a sharp disagreement? And we'll find out what that's about and what that means. So here is the map of the key locations. They are in Jerusalem, as this is completing.

They're going to be headed north to Antioch. And then we'll have another map as Paul begins his second missionary journey. which we'll show you. And then chronology wise, Peter was in Antioch in autumn or the fall of 49 AD. Right after that, Galatians was written from Antioch to the churches in Galatia. And then right after that is the Jerusalem Council, Paul's third visit there to Jerusalem. And so all those things take place in autumn or fall of 49 AD. And then Paul will go from there to Antioch and then begin his second missionary journey.

So here we have Acts 15.22, and this is following discussions in the council, and we'll kind of backtrack to talk about what all those meant and what took place. This is, Then it seemed good to the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas leading men from among the brethren. So here we have verse 22. So they're going to be writing this letter. They're going to be sending this letter with these men. And so we'll take a look at who these men are here shortly. First of all, it mentions the apostles.

They've been present all during this conference in Jerusalem, most likely including the twelve original apostles, that is, the ones listed in the book of Acts, except for James, the older brother of the apostle John. He had been killed by the sword. We saw that is recorded in Acts chapter 12. And by the way, that's the only death of an apostle. that is listed in the New Testament is the death of James, John's older brother, in Acts chapter 12. So they serve, since John lived till much later, they serve as kind of bookends of the Apostles, James being the first one to go home, to be called home, and John to be the last.

Peter was one spokesman among them that's recorded. Very likely others of them spoke, but Peter's words are the ones that are recorded for us in Act 15. It's evident that all the apostles in one way or another expressed agreement with the conclusions. There was unanimity among them at this conference in Jerusalem that took place.

Paul appears to have been listed separately as an apostle, and that's A practice we'll deal with a little bit later here. You have on your handout these four lists of the twelve disciples turned apostles. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each have their lists in the Gospels. Acts chapter 1 lists these apostles with, of course, the change. We no longer have Judas Iscariot. who's listed in the earlier lists, but rather Matthias is the one chosen, and so he is included in the list among the twelve.

So we have apostles, and we have the elders of the church in Jerusalem, which is the founding church. They were gathered with the whole church, that is, the church that was the founding church there in Jerusalem, and probably some others, including others visiting from other churches. This would include Paul and Barnabas, who would be present there, among others. And so they would consider together in what way the Law of Moses applied to the Gentiles.

Very big issue. And matter of fact, that issue is not settled today among those in Christendom. There are a number of different opinions as to how and what applies. And I would say most of Christendom, that is what gets called Christianity, most of Christendom has not got this as a settled issue. And so it's important we understand it is the Bible that settles the issue, right?

And exactly here in chapter 15. So we have Peter and Paul and Barnabas shared what God has done among the Gentiles to save the Gentiles. Because remember, one of the issues that was being brought forward is, unless these Gentiles follow the law of Moses, starting with being circumcised, they cannot be saved. I mean, it was that big a deal. It wasn't, they don't have God's blessing. It wasn't, you know, we can't accept them. You will not be saved, they said, unless you follow the law of Moses, essentially saying you must be converted to be a Jew.

So Peter and Paul and Barnabas shared what God had done among these Gentiles, both in Peter's dealing with the house of Cornelius and sharing about that again in Acts chapter 11, and then Paul and Barnabas telling about this first missionary journey summarized in chapters 13 and 14, and what we see there consistently is that not only were these apparently saved, but God gave them the Holy Spirit and it wasn't on the basis of they were converted to Judaism. And the church in Jerusalem appeared to listen to all this. They didn't apparently just randomly participate, but did indeed listen and express themselves in some way.

So what they did is they chose men to send them. These men were each chosen to give this letter that they had from the apostles and the elders of the church in Jerusalem, to do it reliably. So it wasn't a matter of let's just send a messenger, but in fact these were men who would be well regarded by everyone in the church there in Jerusalem as well as the church in Antioch. And to present that letter with agreement as to its content and the message that they could all testify, yes, this is what we concluded and everyone was in agreement. And to confirm the contents of the letter so that this letter was not just something standalone and possibly bogus. So they could testify as to the veracity, the truthfulness of what was in the letter. So the question had arisen in Antioch, as you saw in the map there. This is Antioch of Syria. So the letter and these chosen men would respond back to the church which had originated the question. That's where the question had started from. The church in Antioch of Syria was predominantly Gentile, so this was very relevant to them because the question applying to most of them is, do all these people need to be converted to Judaism?

So we have Paul and Barnabas and Judas called Barsabbas and Silas. Paul was called Saul previously, prior to the beginning of this first missionary journey. He was the former Pharisee from Tarsus, trained under Gamaliel, and also having great worldly and well-respected worldly training on top of that. Tarsus was so renowned among the Gentiles the tutor of the first emperor, the tutor was from Tarsus.

Okay, so then we have Barnabas, son of Encouragement. Acts chapter 4, 36 gives Barnabas, son of Encouragement. He was formally named Joseph, that's the last time we hear him called Joseph. After that, he's always called Barnabas, son of encouragement. He was a Levite from the island of Cyprus. We're going to see that that's important when Barnabas and Paul have a sharp disagreement that where they are from and where they head after that ends up being important. Now, Judas. Isn't Judas a bad guy? Now, wait a minute. It's not that Judas, okay? So, not that one.

This is Judas called Barsabbas, and that name Barsabbas has shown up previously. Remember back when they were finding a replacement for Judas Iscariot, the bad one, right? They had two guys, and Matthias was the one chosen. The one who was not chosen was Joseph called Barsabbas. So it may have been, in fact, not certainly, but may have been, in fact, a brother. So as Judas called Barsabbas may have been a brother of Joseph called Barsabbas.

So anyway, that may be a biblical connection. Then we have Silas, a name we're going to hear about again, particularly on Paul's second missionary journey. Also called Silvanus. Silvanus would be his Roman name. He became Paul's companion in his second missionary journey, which is just about to begin here as we turn the page into the next chapter.

So this Silas, also known as Silvanus, he had this Roman name, Silvanus, as he's called in 2 Corinthians 1.19, so you see that name show up. We're going to see him right alongside Paul in some pretty astounding and amazing circumstances.

He was a Hellenistic Jew. What do we mean by Hellenistic Jew? He was a Jew of Greek background in terms of language and in terms of his own personal history, but nonetheless ethnically a Jew by his genetic heritage. He had been a leader of the Jerusalem Church here. I find him as a representative also of the church in Jerusalem. He was a prophet and a vocal minister in Antioch.

We're going to see his name show up again. And he was also a Roman citizen, as we're going to find out. And by the way, citizenship is something we're going to talk about more when we get to chapter 16, and it becomes very important later on in Acts after Paul's third missionary journey.

Silas was sometimes Paul's letter writer. You can imagine, at various times, Paul probably wrote lots and lots of letters. We have some of them, the ones the Lord wanted us to see and to keep, right? And Silas was the letter writer for 1st and 2nd Corinthians and may have, well, been along with Paul writing other letters in addition to the ones we know about. He was mentioned by Peter and may also have helped him in his letter writing.

That's 1 Peter 5.12. So here's a guy who certainly is willing to go alongside whatever apostle the Lord puts him with, but he also seems to have a role of, you know, kind of as a scribe for the apostles from time to time.

Here's Acts 15.22 and 23. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church. to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leading among the brethren, and they sent this letter by them." So here the letter starts, and by the way, this is not the only place where Dr. Luke is going to quote from some document.

We're going to see that later on. He gets hold of official documents and includes them in the Book of Acts. That is a part of his very careful historical writing. He doesn't just kind of, you know, ballpark it. He gets the actual document and writes what it is and quotes it verbatim. so the apostles and the brethren who are elders to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles greetings and that's so that's the way the letter begins here so this letter is most directly addressed to the Gentile brethren Important to others, sure, and in Syrian Antioch and in Syria and Cilicia, so that it is specifically Syrian Antioch and then in the surrounding regions of Syria and Cilicia.

Cilicia is where Tarsus is located, and you can see that on the map. Syrian Antioch was the Roman province of Syria and Tarsus was in the Roman province of Cilicia. So Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ in these provinces, Syria and Cilicia, all wanted to have the question answered definitively.

Are we under the law of Moses and will we need to convert to Judaism in order to be saved? That was a question that they had to get fixed in their minds. It is a question that among many people who call themselves Christians today is not answered. It's answered here. Here's Acts 15, 24 through 26. Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words unsettling your souls, it seemed good to us having become of one mind to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul men who have risked their lives in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the things that they wanted to do here is to send men who had something... these guys were serious. How do we know they were serious? They risked their lives for the sake of the gospel.

That was a demonstration that this was not just a casual matter for them. So the men who had initially presented that the Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses and be converted to Judaism in order to be saved were bringing a message not really from the apostles and elders. So that's one of the things that becomes clear here. This message that they had been teaching people wasn't one from the apostles and elders of the founding church in Jerusalem.

They were disturbing or agitating people with their words. It should be people with their words. Unsettling souls of the believers in these provinces. So let's ask this question. Is it good to have souls unsettled? No, that's not what God has in mind. Unsettled souls is not what God has in mind.

Very important for us to understand. Next, Acts 15.27, Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. So why were Judas and Silas sent? Why did the letter make special note of them within the letter and not just Paul and Barnabas alone? Why, you know, okay we got two, why four, right?

So Paul and Barnabas had opposed the ones who called for the Gentiles to be circumcised and had come from Antioch. Earlier in chapter 15 it's apparent that they'd already taken a position in opposition. So you didn't want to just have them be the ones representing it, but you also wanted someone else who had not been a part of the initial debate, right? So they wanted to get that in there. Judas and Silas were not part of the original debate and were from the church in Jerusalem. They would be able to confirm what Paul and Barnabas also said without accusation of bias, okay?

So these guys were here to come along without the accusation. Well, you guys already, you know, took a position in opposition. So these guys say nope we listen here's what happened and here's the conclusion we came to and so it's not just you know Paul and Barnabas speaking Here's act 15 28 and 29 where it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us to lay upon you No greater burden than these essentials that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication if you keep yourselves free from such things you will do well farewell and It's actually a fairly brief letter, right? It doesn't go into all sorts of long explanations.

We got about this part of the Law of Moses and that part and sorting it all out and analyzing it. And by the way, that's what a lot of people do, even Christians. It so happens that the Orthodox Jews, the Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, you know, by that I mean Greek, Serbian, Syrian, Orthodox, all those, And the Reformed people all have different versions of the Ten Commandments. This doesn't even deal with that.

So one of the things, this is about the leadership and the Holy Spirit by a united and unified conclusion from the leadership and from the Holy Spirit. This conclusion was not to put a greater burden upon the Gentile believers. Got that? don't want to increase the burden by putting them under the unbearable yoke of the Law of Moses. Peter used the word yoke of the Law of Moses. That is a word that was used by the rabbis for the Law of Moses was a yoke. Peter used that word. He says we don't want to put this yoke on them.

It's a burden. It's something to bear. So what we have here instead is basic expression of morality and rejection of idolatry Accomplish a couple of things here. Maintain the possibility of ministry to unbelieving Jews by the Gentiles who otherwise would not listen. And second, minimize the stumbling of fellow believing Jews. So you've got those things there.

This is similar to what you'll find in 1 Corinthians 8, 7 through 13, as to dealing with believers and keeping from stumbling your fellow believers. Now, so one of the things we see here, this is all about harmonious biblical leadership. Acts chapter 15, to this point, shows how Christian leadership ought to take place among us. Very key. The steps were taken to resolve what could have been an intense conflict.

Ever heard the words church split? Is this a church split? No. There were differences, yes, but they arrived at a unified conclusion. The apostles are not demanding an oppressive nor unwilling to listen, the evidence was that yes, they certainly did. They didn't decide without regard for what the Lord had shown or what the church as a whole thought.

So look at the process that they went through here. I think this is important as we look at not just this passage, but the previous parts of chapter 15. One is the problem was clearly stated and each side was presented in the debate. Everybody got to express their thoughts in it. And one thing is clarity. This is a key thing. You ever operate and you're having a discussion with somebody, you've got a different definition of the same word. That's a biggie. That's a biggie.

It's one reason why a lot of different, even Christian, religious groups will have all sorts of arguments that never resolve, and that's because they'll define something like grace differently among them. They'll define salvation differently among them.

So this is key, clearly stated what the problem was. Second, the facts were presented by those who are acquainted with them, right? So you have people presenting who understand what the facts are in each case. Thirdly, the message was given by people who were trusted for their objectivity and wisdom. And so you end up having, here's Peter and James giving kind of final recorded word in here, and so this would be critical.

Fourth, unanimity was sought in the decision. You didn't have some of the Apostles going this way, and some of the Apostles going that way, and some of the church leaders there in Jerusalem going one way, and then some going another. So unanimity was sought. Let's resolve this to unanimity.

The attitude of preserving the unity of the spirit remained utmost in the council's mind. And this unity of the spirit is a term that will come up in this book of Ephesians. I keep it both in the elective and as well as this lesson here, I keep bringing up how great Romans and Ephesians are. So great content there.

And then sixth, their conclusions were communicated clearly by reliable and gifted and qualified men. And by the way, when they wrote this letter, they didn't end up with lots and lots and lots of words, which end up losing the message, but kept it rather simple. So let's talk about the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was given to Israel. The Law of Moses was holy and righteous and good. This is straight out of Romans chapter 7, the Law of Moses was not intended to be lived out in parts and pieces. Oh, you do this part and that part, or this is my favorite part, or I like this, but this other stuff is a little hard, so I won't do that. Right? And so, no, not in parts and pieces.

The parts of the Law of Moses are quoted in the New Testament epistles to convey moral principles and to illustrate truths. A very important question was asked, what's a principle? In our elective right before here, right? And the answer to that is a principle is the way things work, or a fundamental truth, or both. So when we say that, that's what we mean. And to illustrate truths. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 and 10 spends two chapters talking about here are truths coming out of the law of Moses.

So that's why it is very purposeful. Life, however, is to be lived out not by our best attempts and efforts. And so to illustrate that, I have a power cord plugged into itself. This is a power bar. It's plugged into itself. Now, what's that going to get done? Nothing, right? Absolutely nothing. You can't plug your computers into it. You can't do anything, right? Nothing works to plug into that. It doesn't matter what you do with the switch. It still does nothing.

Life is not to be lived out by our best efforts and attempts. And if you start singing songs like, give of your best to the master, oh boy, probably not going to work. This is plugging back into yourself, right? So one of the questions we have, if we don't have the law of Moses to live by, does that mean that morality just doesn't matter anymore? Not at all.

We have some very critical and pivotal passages that we're going to make reference to. Here's John 15, 1 through 4. This is at the time of the Last Supper. Here is Jesus speaking to the disciples, and he puts it this way, I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." Now we will, you know, in other contexts explain that in more detail. We won't do that today. But number, verse number four here is critical.

Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in, and I cut it off of the picture, abide in me. Abide in me and I in you. This is at the core. It is our dependence and intimacy, dependence upon and intimacy with Christ that is key there and what he's pointing at. Abide in me and I in you.

This is the key, and so does Jesus, if we are depending upon him, and if we are having an intimate fellowship with him, does Jesus have a problem being moral? No. Morality comes from fellowship and relationship to Christ, not from us taking a look at, here's the rules, do your best to live by them. It's a radically different way to live, and so when we talk about we're not under law, it doesn't mean, oh, morality is out the window.

It means how things get done, and it's to be done by Christ, by His life. How things get done is the issue. How does life get lived? We have likewise Galatians 2, 19 and 21. For through the law I died to the law, so I might live to God. I died to the law? Yes. Died to the law. We actually have to have the law out of the way. Why? So that living as God intended can be done. So he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. Or we could expand that. It's no longer I who do the living. Right?

But Christ does the living in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, that is in this body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. One of the things that's really cool about this passage is it's very personal. Paul is not just writing about himself. He's writing this in such a way that every single one of us can look at this and say, I, this is true of me, right?

I died to the law, and put your name there, right? I have been crucified with Christ, and put your name there, right? I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. How does righteousness come? Not through the law, right? Through Christ. Him alone. That's how righteousness gets lived out.

Not by us looking at an external set of rules, no matter how short or how long, no matter how impressed people are with the rules. It gets lived out by His life. in and through us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this. You have in fact laid out how our lives are to be lived. You have not given us an impossible set of moral codes to live by, a burdensome and overwhelming set of codes for us to give our best effort, as the power cord says, to plug into ourselves. But in fact, our lives have been replaced. Thank you for these very clear truths and that it's our relationship and fellowship with you, dependence upon you, that counts every single moment of every day. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.