A Crisis In The Church

Jesus is unique....This is highlighted in the ministry of a well-known missionary in India, Dr. E. Stanley Jones. Jones often lectured to Hindu audiences having Hindus as chairmen of the meetings. On one such occasion the chairman was a chief minister of state. During his introduction he said, "I shall reserve my remarks for the close of the address, for no matter what the speaker says, I will find parallel things in our own sacred books." At the close of the meeting he was at a loss for words. Dr. Jones had not presented "things"; he had presented a person, Jesus Christ; and that person was not found in their sacred books. As someone has put it, "Christ is the crisis of all religion." (R. A. Robinson).

Paul and Barnabas had just returned from their first missionary journey that led them to establish churches in the Galatian region of Asia minor. Congregations of believers were established in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. They were thrilled to report to the congregation of the church that sent them out from Antioch in Syria that the Holy Spirit had reached into the hearts of the Gentiles with the message of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus as Savior and Lord. Therefore the accomplishment of the first missionary journey was the conversion of Gentiles and the establishment of their churches.
This good news threw the church into a theological crisis. Let’s look at it.

I. THE ISSUE – DOES A GENTILE HAVE TO BECOME A JEW IN ORDER TO BE SAVED? (vv.1-4)

The church at Antioch where believers were first called “Christians” was basically a Gentile church. They had heard and believed the proclamation of the Gospel that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected to give us life abundant and eternal. They were happy in their new found faith in God and were about the work of the Kingdom. Then some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them.

You can imagine Paul confronting them in the middle of the teaching and saying, “Brothers, you are not correct in that assumption. I preached the sinless life of Jesus, his atoning death, his glorious resurrection, his ascension, and his powerful return to the earth to gather up those who know him to be with him forever in heaven. The Gentiles heard the Gospel and responded in faith, received the Holy Spirit, and began to live holy lives. You are talking about the Old Covenant that God made with man, but Jesus has given us a New Covenant in his blood and he has now done everything necessary for a person, Jew or Gentile, to be saved. That is how I was saved when I met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He appeared to me and I saw him. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and a Pharisee of the Pharisees and I through the grace of God and the faith that was given to me was accepted into the covenant of grace and forgiven of all my sin. I have now seen hundreds and hundreds of Gentiles come to God by the way of grace through faith and they are thoroughly accepted by God and need nothing else to make them acceptable.”

Both sides stood their theological ground and nothing was resolved. The Pharisees said, “There is no salvation apart from belonging to the Covenant community of Israel. This requires a Gentile to take on the physical sign of the Covenant, the rite of circumcision. Furthermore, he must live by the law of Moses in all of its implications; ritually, dietary, and morally.”

Paul likely responded somewhat like this: “I have no quarrel with you about the need to keep the Ten Commandments for Jesus said that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Of course, we are all called to a morally pure life and the Holy Spirit empowers believers to do this. But the ritual sacrifices for sin offered in the Temple Courts are no longer necessary for the sacrifice has been offered once and for all in the death of Jesus on the cross. But what I want you to understand that the entrance into acceptance by God is no longer signified by the physical rite of circumcision, but by the spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit who comes to indwell all believers. These new believers do not have to be a part of covenant community of Israel for they are now are part of that which is far greater than Israel which is the Kingdom of God.”

But the threat remained. It was that there would be a schism in the church. In other words a Jewish church and a Christian church. That was not acceptable to Paul. There had to be one church for all.

II. THE COUNCIL IN JERUSALEM (vv.5-21)

Paul writes of this experience in Galatians chapter 2: “Fourteen years later, I went up to Jerusalem this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.”

Paul took with him Titus, a convert from the first missionary journey, to the Council in Jerusalem. He said to them, “Look at him. Question him. See Christ in him. Determine for yourself if he is a true believer. Do you sense the Holy Spirit active in his life?”

Then some of the Pharisees arose and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” (15:5) These were the legalist who saw more of the outward requirements of submission to visible rituals rather than the inward transformation that take place when a person is truly converted.

We have the legalists with us today. If you were to ask a Catholic theologian, “Do you believe that Protestants are saved?” He would answer as I heard one say just a week ago, “There is no salvation outside the church” – meaning the Catholic church with the seven sacraments. Of course, not all Catholics feel that way. There are Protestant churches that say, “We are the true church. You cannot be saved unless you are baptized by us.” There are Baptist churches that give the impression that everyone else is going to hell except them.

Now, listen to the Apostles that spoke to the council.

Peter said, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Paul and Barnabas told of the miraculous signs and wonders that God had done among the Gentiles through them.

James, our Lord’s brother, who had become pastor of the church in Jerusalem spoke up and said, “Brothers, listen to me, Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things that have been known for ages" (Amos 9:11-12).

James continues, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

The danger of schism was averted. There would be no Jewish church and a Gentile church. There would be one church for all. But after 2000 years it is not so. As error and corruption entered the church it has splintered in a thousand different ways. History is replete with church councils that dealt with this theological error or that corruption. But one thing that has been preserved for the modern church of our heritage is that a person is saved by grace through faith in Christ plus nothing. After being saved we are under the authority of God and his righteous demands for his people. We are to live as witnesses of the faith we profess in accordance with the teachings of Holy Scripture. We are bound to observe all of the teachings of Jesus which is not legalism but transformation.

III. THE RESOLUTION OF THE ISSUE (vv.22-35)

The Council agreed with Peter and James. They chose Judas and Silas who were leaders and sent them to the church in Antioch with a letter which said,

“The apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia; Greetings:
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul – men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.”

The church at Antioch received the letter and were glad for its encouraging message of grace.
Of course it is by grace through faith that we are saved. But does that indicate that the Old Testament and its regulations are not binding upon us? Surely not. Much of the Old Testament is forward looking to the time when Messiah would come. Jesus said that he did not do away with the Law but in his teachings amplified the meanings of the Commandments. We are surely to keep and be obedient to God’s laws that grace equips us to observe. The issue before the Jerusalem Council was “How is a person saved?” That had to do with entrance into the Kingdom of God. Then after becoming a Christian the whole revelation of scripture is to teach us how to live the godly life and every part of it is applicable to us. We must read the Old Testament as well as the New and put its teachings into practice. Pastor Kent Tucker tells the following story of the conversion of a bank worker named Alicia.

“I was trying to open a new account at Wells Fargo and the bank officer needed some additional information. When I returned, I had to start the process over with a new banker, named Alicia. I was grumpy. When Alicia asked me about the booklet I was carrying I said, "It is to train Christians how to lead people to Christ" with very little enthusiasm. I was still grumpy. She wanted to know more. That's when God kind of thumped me. So I said, "It is to help people know how to experience forgiveness, eternal life and a personally relationship with God." She was interested and told me that she had not been to church in years. I explained there was a big difference between Churchianity and Christianity, between religious activities and rituals and a personal relationship with Christ. She wanted to know more so I asked for a piece of paper in order to draw the Bridge Diagram for her. She gave me a post-it. I drew out the infinite separation between God and man on a post-it! When I finished she said she wanted to cross over into a relationship with God. I explained the prayer. She wanted me to lead her in a prayer but she couldn't leave her desk. In the midst of eight other busy desks in the banking section. So I said, "let's just keep talking the way we are and I'll give you the words to say, and you say them silently in your heart to God." I did and she did holding back the tears in her eyes. After I went over the acrostic, there was much joy in her heart. That night she shared the Bridge Diagram with her husband and the next day she told me that they would be coming to our church that weekend. Amazing! God replaced one bank officer for another so I could tell her about Christ, but then he had to thump a grumpy me to get my attention.”

You might be able to lead someone to Christ this week!

Praise to His Name!