Saved through Grace
(Acts
15:1-11, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 5, 2012)
[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.”
The
church in Antioch was a fruitful church dedicated to the grace of
God. This church had caught the Spirit's vision for missions and had
set apart two of their best teachers to be sent out for the work of
the kingdom. Paul and Barnabas had now returned with great accounts
of the Word preached and received in Cyprus and in several towns in
central Galatia. But not everyone was content with what had taken
place. There were many non-Jews that had been somewhat attentive to
the teachings and practices of Judaism prior to the apostolic visit.
Where were they now? They had heard a Word of Jesus that they had
received with joy. No longer were they looking for good news in the
traditions of Judaism. The true message of the Law and the Prophets
was showing to them a new door of peace with God through faith in
Jesus Christ.
In
addition to these God-fearers, the Lord had led Paul to the cities of
the Lycaonians where pagans that seemed to have no attachment to
Judaism at all had witnessed astounding miracles and had been taught
the message of a Shalom that had come to them through Jesus alone,
and not through any of the old rituals of Moses of which they were
entirely ignorant. Could peace with God actually be that easy? Was it
right for utter pagans to be baptized in the Triune Name without any
Jewishness? Some people thought the Paul was very wrong to allow
Gentiles to come to Jesus and salvation without any commitment to the
old ways of the Law. Their position was plain: “Unless you are
circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
These Pharisaic voices wanted to correct Paul's theology, but there
were some serious factual errors with their own statements. First,
circumcision did not come through Moses, but through Abraham, 500
years before the Mosaic Law. Second, circumcision was a mark that
committed the bearer to complete obedience to all the Law of God. In
itself it was not a mark of merit, but a plea to God for the
provision of an obedient Substitute who would Himself be cut off from
the Lord for our sake, that we might be counted as having His perfect
righteousness by faith. See Romans 4:11. Circumcision was never a
badge of honor, but a plea for salvation and a statement of faith
that God would provide. Third, all that Abraham did was prior to the
giving of the Law to Moses, and was entirely flowing from the
gracious promise of God to save His people.
[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.
Those
who were dedicated to the traditions of the Law as requirements for
salvation had not adequately grasped what God's provision of Jesus
meant to the old ways of worship. They did not understand and they
would not learn. It was time to take this important question to the
church. A solution was necessary not only for Antioch but for Galatia
and for the world. The church leaders in Antioch insisted on a
solution that would be finally authoritative and powerfully unifying.
They looked to God and to the mature leaders in the church in
Jerusalem to settle this important question not only for there and
then, but also for here and now. Was Jesus enough? Did people need to
be Jews before they could be saved by Jesus? God would know.
[3] So,
being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both
Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the
Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. [4] 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.
Off
they went back to the mother church with the expectation that the
Jesus who had died for His church would not leave them without an
answer. God's Spirit could lead the way through the difficult waters
of theological trouble that threatened to destroy the beginning of
the gospel in the churches of Galatia. Along the way there was much
refreshment for the churches in Phoenicia and Samaria. Men like
Philip and Peter had brought them the good news first. Now they heard
from Paul and Barnabas. The only name that could bless them forever
was the Name of the man who is the Word, Jesus. It is Jesus whom Paul
had preached in Cyprus and Galatia, and it was Jesus that had
converted the lives of so many by the power of the Holy Spirit.
All
the way from Antioch to Jerusalem, the Name of Jesus was being lifted
up. Jesus is far superior to Moses. He is building His kingdom all
over the world through the power of His atoning blood shed for us on
the cross. Do you love the Son of God who can work miracles at a
distance and who has removed the stain of your unrighteousness and
credited you with perfect obedience? Do you love the resurrection
King who opened a door of faith in Galatia? Many people did, and the
news of what Christ had accomplished through His ambassadors had
thrilled them as they considered the obvious ways in which Jesus of
Nazareth was the fulfillment of all the expectations of Moses and the
prophets.
[5] 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.”Nonetheless
some in the Jerusalem church were not enthusiastic with the news.
They could not imagine a new order of life where circumcision and the
traditions associated with the Law did not govern notions of what it
meant to be clean and to live in right standing with the Lord. How
can anyone ever be cleansed with ceremonial washings any more when
the blood of Christ has cleansed us from all sin? How can we have
peace with God through circumcision when Jesus was cut off from the
body of God's people for our sake on the cross?
[6] The
apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this
matter. [7] 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. [8] And God, who knows the
heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as
he did to us, [9] and he made no distinction between us and
them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. [10] Now,
therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on
the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been
able to bear? [11] But we believe that we will be saved through
the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Peter
reminded the assembly of certain facts of New Testament ministerial
history. God had chosen Peter to speak to Cornelius. The word that
Peter spoke to the Gentiles that day was not a word about
circumcision and the Law, but the Word of the gospel of Jesus given
for all people who would believe. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit had
confirmed this message with His own presence in power among the
uncircumcised that day, just as He had been present among the
circumcised on the day of Pentecost. God cleansed their hearts
through faith in the Word about Jesus that Peter had preached that
day. Were the uncircumcised, who began with faith and the Holy
Spirit, to be perfected by the old way of the Law that was already
passing away? The Law has never been able to save anyone. But now a
Savior has come. It is not through the merit of ceremonial obedience
that men can be saved, but through unmerited favor lavished upon the
guilty through the grace of the Sin-Bearer, the Lord Jesus. He
remains our only hope.
1.
What was the root of the controversy that led to the council in
Jerusalem?
2.
What is the weight of Peter's argument?
3.
What is grace?
4.
Why is the grace of God called here the grace of the Lord Jesus?
OT
Passage: Genesis 12:1-3
