Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Dear brothers and sisters and friends, today we’re continuing our sermon series on Acts and encounter a meeting.

You know, when I think about meeting I immediately think, oh no, boring.

We not only have physical meeting, we have what virtual meeting.

To be honest some of the time, because of the frequency of the meeting, I sometimes just want to switch off the camera and have a nap.

But I know this is part of my calling, for pastors and especially Baptist pastor means constantly meeting with people, collobrating on things of the kingdom of God.

But once and a while, you know the meeting is so important that you pay 100%.

You know you are witnessing history.

I think it was last year, Baptist have a special meeting, to discuss the future of the association and how it will deal with the topic of same-sex marriage.

The meeting and debate went from 10am to around 3:00pm.

It was an important moment of the association.

People prepared whole speeches, som eof their hands are shaking a bit.

Everybody lean in.

It was bathed with prayers.

Even lunch time the debate is going and nobody wants to get lunch, I guess except me.

There were back and forth passionate arguments.

But I thank God the whole process was very kind to each other and everyone has a heart to discern God’s will together.

Don’t know you, maybe you have those meetings in your life as well.

But here, Acts 15, is definitely one of those meetings that defines the world’s largest religion, and after that day, Christinality would forever be different from Judaism .

Christians would have a hard time in Jerusalem forever.

It is a a momeutual time, a historical time.

And it gives us one of the most important truth about our religion, only grace.

Only grace do we stand before God today.

How God was at that meeting, how much courage the leaders need to take a bold step and not worry people get angry.

That’s such much to learn from this passage: Let’s pray.

Background

Last week Rical has been talking about how we need to answer to Holy Spirit’s sending, and God’s hands in the expansion of their work.

After Paul’s and Barnaba’s first missionary journey, they gave the church at Antioch a missionary report.

Acts 14:27 “And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

The river of God’s saving grace had overflowed its bank.

One of the early root ideas behind grace was that of charm, and there was a graciousness among the early believers th at attracted others to Christ.

It is a high point in Acts.

Everything is going well.

THe gospel is spreading, the outpouring of Holy Spirit is sweet.

But maybe things wee going to well - too well for the enemy’s taste, and the inevitable santanic counterattack soon came.

The Problem

Acts 15:1 “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

A lot of the meetings we encounter is that we have to solve a problem.

And the inevitable conflict between two groups- the Jews and Gentiles have come to a head after the first missionary journey.

And it came to the heart of our gospel, heart of our religion.

These mans - Judaizers did not deny salavation by grace.

They simply said salvation came by grace plus circumsion.

What is circumcusim you may ask, in Genesis 17:10-14 “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised.

Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised.

So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

For them circumsion marks them to be God’s people, the decendents of Abraham and God’s blessing.

The judaizers while know Jesus Christ now, cannot let go on their previous life, the life of law.

THis was upsetting, to say the least, Acts 15:2 “And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.”

Probably a lot of these crucial meeting start with passionate argument, perhaps shouting.

There have raised such a conflict amongst Christians because this is no small matter, it affects the core of what they believe.

But we also know their organized religion right then, there is power dynamics.

Not doubt the juaizers calimed the front-office support from Jerusalem, and Paul and Barnabaes were more outsiders.

The result was division among the brothers.

this was tragic, it seemed that only solution was to send Paul and Barnabas up to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders.

And in the road to Jerusalem, they spread great joy to other believers.

HOwever, when they got to Jeursaslem, they found that the Judaizers were well entrenched.

And the meeting began.

Acts 15:4-5 “When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.””

Some of the pharisees who had been convereted to Christ were insiting their version of CHrsitinality.

To become a Christian, according to them, one must go through a procedure very much like becomeing a Jewish Proselyte.

The apostles were faced with a huge problem.

It would be easy if these Pharsaic Christians are evil.

But they have genuinely come to know Christ, and their faith cost them dearly.

But they were also the produce of their upbrining.

In a meeting, and in any debate, you need to know who you are talking, or debating to.

Think of the stability of the Phrasee’s training, his immersion in Mosaic Law and traidtion, his pride in being part of the chosen people of God.

live in his shoes as we live his rigorous education and joyous particiaption in Israel’s custom.

Feel the loving arms of family as his circumcised, catch the awe and wonder he felt sitting under Pharissees studying the scripture, identity the pride he felt when he becamse a son of the Law at his bar mitzvah.

Become one with him as he grew to full manhood and earned the revered status of a Pharisee, and consider how he must have burst with satisfication as he put on the dignifited robes of a leader of Israel.Into the Pahrises neat well ordereed life came the claims of Christ, and with that an agonizing vicil war within.

Then came conversion - new life from above.

To be knowing Christ, means parents, firends considered them dead.

They lost everything because of their association with the Saviour.

Though Christians, they could not bring themselves to give away centuries of distinction that set their people apart from the world.

The Phraisee Christians banded together to make sure no one slipped by Mount Sianai on the way to Calvary.

The law of Moses is not to be abandoned.

But given time, their view, tighly held would pull them so far away from the doctrine of grace they would become apostate.

We all are influenced by our backgrounds.

Each of us has expeirenced some doctrinal or praticial distoration because of past experience or enviornment.

The challenge is to dinetiy those points of error before we drfift too far away from Christ.

Here, because of that the future of the church and the doctrine fo the way of savlation were at stake.

History and experience have proven that anything made a co-requirement with faith soon shoves faith aside and becomes the means of salvation.

Theologically, the truth of the gospel were at stake in Jerusalem, and relationally the stakes were just as high.

A wrong move in this meeting in Jeursalem and gracious openess would be replaced with Jaundiced exclusiveness.

The Debate

Peter’s speech

By verse 6,7 the council had convened, and there had been much debate.

No doubt some of the hootter head had said some things for which they were already sorry.

Perhaps there were even times of chaos before Peter raise to speak.

But then Peter raised.

Often in meetings, arguments may get so heated, you need somebody with some authority to calm everyone down.

This seems to be the case.

Jesus inner circle of disciple, the first diciple who recognized JEsus as the messiah, and the one Jesus gave a leadership role of the church.

he recalled his expeirence with the Gentiles, Acts 15:7-9 “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.”

He was refering to his ministry years earlier in seeing the GEntile Cornelius and his entire house receive CHrist and the HOly Spirit through faith.

The conclusion, God made no distinction between us and them.”