#30 - The Way The Church Grows?
#30 - Acts 10–15
BIBLE TEXT SECTIONS:
Acts 10 - Peter and Cornelius - Peter’s Vision - Gentiles Hear The Good News - The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles
Acts 11 - Peter Reports to the Church - the Church in Antioch
Acts 12 - James Killed and Peter Imprisoned - Peter is Rescued - Death of Herod
Acts 13 - Barnabas and Paul Sent Off - Barnabas and Paul on Cyprus - Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisidia -
Acts 14 - Paul and Barnabas at Iconium - Paul and Barnabas at Lystra - Paul Stoned at Lystra - Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria
Acts 15 - The Jerusalem Council - Council’ Letter to Gentile Believers - Paul and Barnabas Separate
Read Acts yourself then…
watch the Bible Project video on Acts
Neil Evans COMMENTS:
The Jewish religious authorities were doing everything they could to stamp out what they believed to be the lies and myths surrounding the recently crucified Jesus of Nazareth. They imprisoned His followers. They killed them, spread lies about them, persecuted them in every way possible yet still they grew and multiplied. How could this happen?
The Jews, and most everyone of the day, were very familiar with religions filled with rules that required strict repetition to keep them in what they felt was favor with God. Then along came Jesus Who claimed to Himself be “The Way, The Truth, and The Life.” That would have been tolerable if His followers had not begun to claim that, after the authorities killed Him, Jesus rose from the dead and was alive, continuing to heal, forgive, and give His Life to all who believed in Him. The problem was not that Jesus made amazing claims about Himself or that people followed Him, but that the claims were being authenticated in every way possible. Jesus actually did things that only God could do; His prediction of coming back to life in three days actually happened. Hundreds of people actually saw Jesus alive after He was killed by the authorities. And now the followers of Jesus were claiming that God was continuing to do the things Jesus did in the lives of hundreds and thousands of new followers.
For over a thousand years the Jews had religiously attended the Temple, offered sacrifices, made offerings and kept rules seeking to obey God and win His favor. It never worked because their obedience was always inconsistent at best. The source of their inconsistency was their heart. God used His commandments to demonstrate the real character of people’s hearts and their inability to live truly righteous lives. The way to God’s heart has always been an appeal to His Grace and Mercy. Those who have approached God in this way have obeyed God with the clear understanding that their obedience was a thanksgiving for, not a working toward God’s forgiveness for their rebellious heart.
One such individual was Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. As a Roman soldier he was obviously not allowed in the Jerusalem Temple. Yet the Bible describes him as “a devout man who feared God, gave generously to needy people, prayed continually, and led all his household in this attitude and behavior.” In a vision God demonstrated to Peter that following the dietary rules of the Jews was not the real issue in a persons relationship with God. God led Peter to go to Cornelius’s home and explain the Gospel of Jesus to Cornelius and his household. Peter simply explained that Jesus was the One all the Prophets talked about and “that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.” (Acts 10:43) As Peter was talking God miraculously entered these non-Jewish people in the same way He had done with the Jewish disciples on the day of Pentecost. And as a demonstration of their trust in and identity with Jesus they were all baptized in water.
This event was naturally alarming to the Jewish disciples who were just beginning to learn that God loves us not because we follow rules but simply and profoundly because He is loving; so loving in fact, that He Himself paid the penalty of our sin that had been illustrated by the thousands of sacrifices and offerings made over the last thousand years. The book of Acts describes the difficult transition, that Jesus was leading by His Holy Spirit, from depending on Temple observances to depending on Jesus for their forgiveness and peace with God.
The followers of Jesus faced difficult challenges on two fronts. On the one side they struggled to understand the difference between their old Temple-focused life and their new Jesus-focused life. And on another side they struggled with the severe persecution they continued to experience as they spread this Good News of forgiven Life in Jesus in ever widening circles from Jerusalem outward. There were two things that gave them the strength to go on. First, the reality that Jesus was demonstrably with them, transforming them, in the Power and Person of the Holy Spirit. The second, they were continually taught, by the Apostles, that these seemingly new realities were in fact what the Old Testament Prophets had talked about in their familiar Scriptures. So their beloved Old Testament was confirmed by Jesus working through His Spirit in the lives of people who believed in all that Jesus had said and done.
It is entirely understandable that there were serious debates about what was going on in this fledgling church Jesus had started. Was it to be tied closely to the Jewish Temple and it’s traditions or was it to welcome all believers in Jesus. This was a challenging time. With news coming from various places that gentile lives were being radically transformed by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, some official decisions and positions needed to be declared. Should non-Jewish believers be expected to follow Jewish customs and laws in order to be genuine followers of Jesus? A counsel of the Apostles and elders was held in Jerusalem to decide the issue. After serious discussion, based on what the Old Testament Scriptures said, all that Jesus had taught and what the Holy Spirit had been doing with the Gentiles, “the Apostles and the elders, with the whole church,” came to a conclusion and wrote a letter the the non-Jewish believers. (Acts 15:22)
The letter they sent said: “28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28–29) There are other controversies the church faced which were addressed by the Apostles in the coming New Testament letters. But in this first instance where the rule keeping of the Jews conflicted with the freedom of the Gentiles the conclusion was stated with these brief comments. It is perhaps most significant in what it does not say. There is no mention of a Temple, of Temple sacrifices and ceremonies or Sabbath rules; there were no suggestions that non-Jews must become Jews. Clearly a new day had come. Peace with God was a matter of the heart that resulted in God-honoring behaviors rather than in behaviors that sought to win God’s blessing and peace.
Just as Jesus had said, He came to fulfill the Law, to pour new wine into new wineskins, to be a ransom for many and give new LIFE to all who believed. No wonder the Word of God grew and multiplied, it was rooted in their relationship with the Risen Jesus rather than the Temple that the spiritually blind Jewish people were loving more than they loved the God they claimed to serve.
BIBLE TEXT SECTIONS:
Acts 10 - Peter and Cornelius - Peter’s Vision - Gentiles Hear The Good News - The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles
Acts 11 - Peter Reports to the Church - the Church in Antioch
Acts 12 - James Killed and Peter Imprisoned - Peter is Rescued - Death of Herod
Acts 13 - Barnabas and Paul Sent Off - Barnabas and Paul on Cyprus - Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisidia -
Acts 14 - Paul and Barnabas at Iconium - Paul and Barnabas at Lystra - Paul Stoned at Lystra - Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria
Acts 15 - The Jerusalem Council - Council’ Letter to Gentile Believers - Paul and Barnabas Separate
Read Acts yourself then…
watch the Bible Project video on Acts
Neil Evans COMMENTS:
The Jewish religious authorities were doing everything they could to stamp out what they believed to be the lies and myths surrounding the recently crucified Jesus of Nazareth. They imprisoned His followers. They killed them, spread lies about them, persecuted them in every way possible yet still they grew and multiplied. How could this happen?
The Jews, and most everyone of the day, were very familiar with religions filled with rules that required strict repetition to keep them in what they felt was favor with God. Then along came Jesus Who claimed to Himself be “The Way, The Truth, and The Life.” That would have been tolerable if His followers had not begun to claim that, after the authorities killed Him, Jesus rose from the dead and was alive, continuing to heal, forgive, and give His Life to all who believed in Him. The problem was not that Jesus made amazing claims about Himself or that people followed Him, but that the claims were being authenticated in every way possible. Jesus actually did things that only God could do; His prediction of coming back to life in three days actually happened. Hundreds of people actually saw Jesus alive after He was killed by the authorities. And now the followers of Jesus were claiming that God was continuing to do the things Jesus did in the lives of hundreds and thousands of new followers.
For over a thousand years the Jews had religiously attended the Temple, offered sacrifices, made offerings and kept rules seeking to obey God and win His favor. It never worked because their obedience was always inconsistent at best. The source of their inconsistency was their heart. God used His commandments to demonstrate the real character of people’s hearts and their inability to live truly righteous lives. The way to God’s heart has always been an appeal to His Grace and Mercy. Those who have approached God in this way have obeyed God with the clear understanding that their obedience was a thanksgiving for, not a working toward God’s forgiveness for their rebellious heart.
One such individual was Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. As a Roman soldier he was obviously not allowed in the Jerusalem Temple. Yet the Bible describes him as “a devout man who feared God, gave generously to needy people, prayed continually, and led all his household in this attitude and behavior.” In a vision God demonstrated to Peter that following the dietary rules of the Jews was not the real issue in a persons relationship with God. God led Peter to go to Cornelius’s home and explain the Gospel of Jesus to Cornelius and his household. Peter simply explained that Jesus was the One all the Prophets talked about and “that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.” (Acts 10:43) As Peter was talking God miraculously entered these non-Jewish people in the same way He had done with the Jewish disciples on the day of Pentecost. And as a demonstration of their trust in and identity with Jesus they were all baptized in water.
This event was naturally alarming to the Jewish disciples who were just beginning to learn that God loves us not because we follow rules but simply and profoundly because He is loving; so loving in fact, that He Himself paid the penalty of our sin that had been illustrated by the thousands of sacrifices and offerings made over the last thousand years. The book of Acts describes the difficult transition, that Jesus was leading by His Holy Spirit, from depending on Temple observances to depending on Jesus for their forgiveness and peace with God.
The followers of Jesus faced difficult challenges on two fronts. On the one side they struggled to understand the difference between their old Temple-focused life and their new Jesus-focused life. And on another side they struggled with the severe persecution they continued to experience as they spread this Good News of forgiven Life in Jesus in ever widening circles from Jerusalem outward. There were two things that gave them the strength to go on. First, the reality that Jesus was demonstrably with them, transforming them, in the Power and Person of the Holy Spirit. The second, they were continually taught, by the Apostles, that these seemingly new realities were in fact what the Old Testament Prophets had talked about in their familiar Scriptures. So their beloved Old Testament was confirmed by Jesus working through His Spirit in the lives of people who believed in all that Jesus had said and done.
It is entirely understandable that there were serious debates about what was going on in this fledgling church Jesus had started. Was it to be tied closely to the Jewish Temple and it’s traditions or was it to welcome all believers in Jesus. This was a challenging time. With news coming from various places that gentile lives were being radically transformed by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, some official decisions and positions needed to be declared. Should non-Jewish believers be expected to follow Jewish customs and laws in order to be genuine followers of Jesus? A counsel of the Apostles and elders was held in Jerusalem to decide the issue. After serious discussion, based on what the Old Testament Scriptures said, all that Jesus had taught and what the Holy Spirit had been doing with the Gentiles, “the Apostles and the elders, with the whole church,” came to a conclusion and wrote a letter the the non-Jewish believers. (Acts 15:22)
The letter they sent said: “28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28–29) There are other controversies the church faced which were addressed by the Apostles in the coming New Testament letters. But in this first instance where the rule keeping of the Jews conflicted with the freedom of the Gentiles the conclusion was stated with these brief comments. It is perhaps most significant in what it does not say. There is no mention of a Temple, of Temple sacrifices and ceremonies or Sabbath rules; there were no suggestions that non-Jews must become Jews. Clearly a new day had come. Peace with God was a matter of the heart that resulted in God-honoring behaviors rather than in behaviors that sought to win God’s blessing and peace.
Just as Jesus had said, He came to fulfill the Law, to pour new wine into new wineskins, to be a ransom for many and give new LIFE to all who believed. No wonder the Word of God grew and multiplied, it was rooted in their relationship with the Risen Jesus rather than the Temple that the spiritually blind Jewish people were loving more than they loved the God they claimed to serve.
Check out these LINKS:
Watch Bible Project video about Acts
Read "Bible Words to Ponder" related to this week study
Read "The Gospel"