Simplify your Message

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Good morning Chapel family. Way back in Acts chapter 1, Jesus says to his tiny little group of disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses.” And this whole series is built on the premise that those words are also meant for us. Jesus says to us: “You will be my witnesses.” We don’t have all the answers; we’re not trying to shove anything down anyone’s throat; but we are put here to point people to the one that they need, and that is Jesus. We are his witnesses.

Now—if you accept that calling, I have a question for you: when people spend time around you, do they feel like this Jesus that you follow wants to put a burden on their shoulders, or do they feel like your Jesus wants to take a burden off their shoulders? Hmmm. And I would ask the same question of us, as a church: When people drive away after spending time at The Chapel, do they feel like a burden has been placed on their shoulders, or do they feel like a burden has been lifted off their shoulders?

It’s a really important question. And it’s exactly the question the early church deals with in today’s passage.

Up until this point in the book of Acts, it’s been non-stop action: we’ve seen healings and jailbreaks and arrests and stonings and dramatic conversions. And then, all of a sudden it’s like someone pushes “pause.” Because a debate arises. And it’s such an important issue that the leaders of the church drop everything until they can figure it out. 2,000 years later, this issue is just as important. Because whatever we decide on this issue is going to determine whether our message feels like a burden is being loaded onto people’s shoulders, or like a burden is being taken off. And that makes all the difference in the world.

So—let’s read the passage. Acts chapter 15, verses 1-11, and then verses 19-21. This is God’s Word for us today…

1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “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. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our

ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Now skip down to verse 19…

19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 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. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” This is the Word of the Lord.

So the issue had to do with Gentiles—non-Jewish people—who became Christians. Remember that in the very early days, most Christians were Jewish people who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. So even as Christians, they tended to preserve their Jewish culture and customs. But now, Gentiles were accepting Christ, which brought up an interesting question: do these Gentile Christians have to follow the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament? The main example that’s used is circumcision: the Old Testament law said that males need to be circumcised. But circumcision represents the whole body of ceremonial laws: dietary restrictions, rules about clothing, religious holidays, etc. Should we require the Gentile Christians to obey all those laws? There was a group of faithful Jewish Christians who said, “Absolutely! We’re glad to have them, but they need to obey our laws!”

And verse 2 says This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. Paul and Barnabas realized they had to get this question right. So they put the mission on hold, and they went with a few other key leaders to Jerusalem, to figure this out.

At its heart, this is an issue of freedom. So here’s how I’m going to frame this message—two points: The Great Gift of Gospel Freedom, and The Wise Use of Gospel Freedom. The great gift of gospel freedom, and the wise use of gospel freedom.

So, first: The Great Gift of Gospel Freedom. They arrive in Jerusalem; there’s an official gathering of church leaders. And right away, someone stands up and says, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” They put it right on the table. And let’s be very clear: they were not talking about the moral laws of the Old Testament. The moral laws are found in the Ten Commandments, and they’re all repeated in the New Testament. Nobody was asking, “Is it okay for them to lie and steal and commit adultery?” The debate was all about the Old Testament ceremonial laws—do Gentile Christians need to obey those? And it says there was a lot of discussion and debate.

Finally Peter stood up. And he said, “You guys know that we’ve been preaching the gospel to Gentiles, and they’ve been accepting Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit just like us.” Verse 9: 9 [God] did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. That was shocking for a Jewish person to hear! Because if you grew up Jewish, you were told Gentiles were unclean. And we Jews show our differentness—our cleanness—through things like our diet and our clothes and especially the fact that we circumcise our boys. In fact, those are sometimes called the “cleanliness laws.” And before the time of Christ, a Gentile person could convert to Judaism, but they had to then adopt the rituals of the Jewish law. And now here’s Peter—a Jewish man—saying, “It’s not like that anymore! These Gentiles—who haven’t even been circumcised!—are clean.” How could he say that?

Here’s the most important theology you’re going to hear all day: they were clean because Jesus fulfilled all the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. So since we have him, those laws no longer apply to us. Let me explain what I mean. And since the main example here is circumcision, let me

explain it in terms of circumcision. Why did God choose the sign of circumcision? Because he was entering into a covenant with his people. And back then, when you made a covenant, everybody knew that if you didn’t keep your end of the deal, you would be cut off. So God chose this very unusual symbol, which—let’s face it—it’s kind of awkward to talk about, because it makes a person very vulnerable, and it’s bloody, and it involves something being cut off. But don’t you see the symbolism? Circumcision was a graphic reminder that the curse for breaking the covenant is to be cut off. So as long as you got circumcised, you were accepted by God and considered clean by God.

So…what do I mean when I say that Jesus fulfilled the law of circumcision? Look at Colossians 2, verse 11: In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ… And then look at verses 13 and 14: When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. On the cross of Christ, Jesus was extremely vulnerable; he shed his blood; and he was cut off from the Father—that’s why he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was cut off in our place…so that we could be brought in and made clean. Does that make sense? So the very thing that circumcision was symbolizing, Jesus fulfilled. It used to be that circumcision was our cleanness and our righteousness; now Christ is our cleanness and our righteousness. Since we have him, we no longer need the symbol.

And if you were an adult man who was converting to Christianity, that was truly good news.

Just a little more theology, and then we’re going to get practical. In the church at Colossae, just like in Jerusalem in Acts 15, there were Jewish Christians saying, “You can’t really be a Christian in good standing unless you obey the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament.” Same issue—this was a stubborn issue. And look how Paul responds—Colossians 2:16…16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. All of those are ceremonial laws in the Hebrew Scriptures. And he says, “Don’t let anyone give you a hard time for not following those. Here’s why—verse 17: 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. In other words, Jesus fulfilled those laws for us, so if we are in him, those laws are no longer necessary. Everybody with me? This is a big deal!

So back to Acts 15: Peter stands up at this counsel, and he says, “Look—we’re seeing Gentiles come to faith in Christ all over the place, and God is purifying their hearts—making them clean—by faith in Christ alone.” And Peter’s argument was so compelling, and the Holy Spirit was so in that place, that everyone in the room agreed with him.

Some of you are thinking, “Why does this matter to us?” Here’s why. Look what Peter said in verse 10: 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? You know what a yoke is, right? It was that heavy, wooden collar you would put over the neck of an ox to steer it when it was working in the field. And Peter says, “All the rituals and customs of the law are like a yoke—they’re heavy; they’re painful; they weigh you down. And let’s be honest: our people have never done a great job keeping all those rules. So why in the world would we put that kind of yoke on the neck of these new Christians?” And I realize we might not talk about circumcision or Yom Kippur or dietary laws. But we have our own ways of coming up with rules and customs, and putting them on people’s necks like a yoke. And when we do that, we rob their freedom.

I spent the summer between my Junior and Senior years of college on a mission project in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I was there with about 60 other college students from around the country. We were so fired up about our faith! And in our zeal, we got a little legalistic. One of the things we latched onto was the speed limit. We said, “Look: God wants us to obey the laws, and the speed limit is a law, so Christians cannot speed.” Now, if that’s true, the entire Jersey Turnpike is on its way straight to hell, right? But that was the view that developed in our well-meaning group of college students.

So all summer long, I drove the speed limit. The summer ended, and I had to drive back to college in Virginia. And I was going 55 on the Interstate, and cars were flying past me, but I held to my principles. But then I got to the campus of Virginia Tech. And the speed limit on the campus was 10 miles per hour. Have you ever driven 10? I can walk faster than 10. But I wasn’t going to disappoint God. And this line of cars began to form behind me. And then they started beeping. And I’m looking in the rear-view mirror, with beads of sweat coming down my forehead, in this ethical dilemma.

And after a few minutes, something snapped. I like to think it was the Holy Spirit finally getting through to me. And I stepped on the accelerator, and I brought it up to about 19 miles an hour. And I have to admit, there was this nagging sense that I had just disappointed God. Isn’t that crazy? In our zeal for God, we had put that yoke on each other’s necks.

Can you relate to that at all? Maybe for you it’s not the speed limit. For some people, the litmus test is politics. Like, if you’re a Christian, you better vote this way and not that way. So it’s a political yoke. That’s what makes you clean. Sometimes we add lifestyle things, like you better not smoke—or maybe you can smoke a cigar with your buddies, but not a cigarette—those are evil. Or you can’t touch a drop of alcohol, or you have to homeschool your kids. Every culture and every subculture has their own list, and it’s probably not written down anywhere, but everybody knows it: do this, and you’ll be clean. God will accept you, and we will too.

And it’s so important that all of us ask ourselves the question: When people spend time around me, do they feel like I’m trying to put a yoke on their shoulders? When people spend time at The Chapel, do they walk out with a burden on their shoulders? Because if so, we’re getting the message wrong.

And in direct response to that kind of thinking, look what Peter says in verse 11: No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. In other words, we are made acceptable to God—at the moment of salvation and every day after that—not by keeping the rules, but purely by the grace of God, accomplished at the cross of Christ. This is exactly what Paul was talking about in Galatians 5:1—listen to this: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Guys, this is such good news. The gospel removes the burden of guilt and obligation and slavery from our shoulders.

So—remember my first question? Let me be really clear: if we are witnesses of Christ—as individuals and as a church—when people spend time around us, and hear the way we talk about our faith and see the way we live our faith, it should be so clear that the Jesus we follow removes burdens from people’s shoulders. Amen? It should be obvious that we follow a burden-removing God; not a burden-adding God. Is that what people see in you?

So that’s what they decided at the Jerusalem Council, and I’m so thankful the Holy Spirit led them to that clarity.

BUT…that’s not the only thing that was decided! Because any time you have freedom, it can be used foolishly or it can be used wisely. So, point number two: The Wise Use of Gospel Freedom. There’s a principle about freedom that all of us know, and it’s this: when you love, you voluntarily

give up some of your freedom. For example, when I was single, I was free to stay out as late as I wanted. It was great! When I got married, I realized that coming home at 2:00 AM was not going to go over well. So I gladly gave up that freedom because I loved my wife. And I was a little bit afraid of her. But mostly love. Before we had kids, we were free to travel and go out to dinner with our friends any time we wanted! Then we had kids, and we gladly gave up that freedom, because we loved our kids. You see the principle, right? When you love, you voluntarily give up some of your freedom.

So now look what happened at this council. They had just made it crystal clear that God accepts us purely by faith in Christ—so we’re free from the ceremonial laws. But then another apostle stands up—James, the brother of Jesus. And he says this wise thing—look at verse 19: 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 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. He mentions four things that Gentile believers should stay away from. And every one of them is related to pagan sacrifices to idols. See, in that culture, there were pagan religions that would sacrifice to their gods, and then they would sell that meat in the market. So here’s what the council was saying: “Even though you have freedom in this area—because idols are false gods; it’s just food. So you’re free to eat it. But we’re asking you to give up that freedom.” And the reason is given in verse 21—it says because there are Jewish people in every city, and they might be offended if they see you eating meat that’s been sacrificed to idols—so offended that they won’t listen to the gospel. So, because you care about them and love them, give up that freedom. Like it says in Galatians 5:13—You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

So…taking that principle, and thinking through New Testament teaching on this, let me give you three situations where we should consider limiting our freedom because of love.

First: we should limit our freedom For the love of unbelievers. Because we’re on a mission to reach people with the gospel, so if there’s something that might be a barrier that would push them away, even though we’re free to do it, we should give up that freedom. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 9:19…Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

For example, if you are a very staunch, conservative Republican…and you have a very close friend who does not know Christ, and your friend happens to be a liberal democrat, here’s the question: are you willing to put aside your political views and not focus on political things, knowing that those might be a barrier to the gospel for your friend? And maybe you say: “Wait a minute! I’m not going to change who I am. I have the right to talk about my political views with anybody I want!” And it’s true! You do have the right! The question is: are you willing to give up that right because you love your friend, and you don’t want anything to distract from the gospel.

So, for the sake of mission, where is God calling you to voluntarily give up some of your freedom?

Secondly, sometimes we should limit our freedom For the love of believers. If you are my Christian brother, and you feel strongly about some moral issue—even though I know I’m free to participate in that thing, I should be willing to not do it, so that I won’t mess you up. For example, if you have a strong view that Christians should not touch a drop of alcohol, and maybe you come from an alcoholic background, so it’s a serious issue for you. Now, I know that the Bible doesn’t prohibit drinking, right? The Bible prohibits drunkenness, but it doesn’t prohibit drinking. So I know that I’m

free to have a drink. But because of my love for you—because I don’t want to mess you up, and possibly tempt you to fall into sin—when I’m with you, I won’t touch a drop. It’s just not worth it.

Paul also talked about this, in 1 Corinthians 8:9—listen: Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. And then in verse 13, he says Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. So, for the sake of fellowship, are you willing to give up some freedoms?

And then one more reason to limit our freedom: For the love of myself. I know that sounds strange, but look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12… “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. There are certain things that I am free to do as a Christian, but to protect myself, I choose not to use that freedom. For example, I believe that as a Christian, I’m free to walk into a casino, and play the slot machines. Maybe some of you disagree, but I can’t find any place in the Bible that prohibits that. So I’m free to gamble. But now are you ready for my true confession: I don’t trust myself in a casino. Years ago, Norma Jean’s parents were living just outside of Las Vegas, and I tried it a few times, and any time I lost, I had a strong urge to keep playing until I won. So I could feel that pull to keep going. So to protect myself, and to keep myself from being mastered by gambling, I probably will never gamble, even a little. It’s just something I’ve decided for myself. I don’t want to be mastered by it.

Now, some of you are saying, “I don’t know, Dave. You’re starting to sound legalistic! You’re adding rules that aren’t in the Bible!” No I’m not…and here’s why: when I choose to keep my political views to myself; when I choose to not have a drink when I’m around an alcoholic; when I choose to stay out of Atlantic City; I realize that I’m free to do any of those things! I am accepted and loved by God because of the cross of Christ, and as his beloved son, he gives me freedom in those areas! But it is my choice, because of love, to give up those freedoms. Does that make sense? It’s the not the heavy yoke of rituals and customs; it’s the freely chosen yoke of Jesus—who says “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

So, that was the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council: Gentiles and Jews are accepted by God purely by grace—by believing in Christ. So when it comes to the ceremonial law, we are free! But for the sake of love, there are times we should choose to limit our freedoms.

So, the council was complete; they wrote that decision in a letter, and they sent the letter back to Antioch. And verse 30 says: 30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. It was truly good news! It was like (deep breath)—like a burden had been lifted off their shoulders. And that’s how the gospel should feel for us.

I hope this message has caused you to take a long look in the mirror, and ask yourself: am I the kind of person—am I the kind of parent—the kind of friend; are we the kind of church…that gives people the wrong impression about this Jesus we follow? Do we make people feel like this faith is true and it’s right and it’s a burden we have to bear? And if you join us, you too can walk around with a heavy yoke on your neck! OR, do we exude grace and freedom and lightness and joy? Do we live like people who’ve had a burden removed from our shoulders, and invite people to the Jesus who can do the same thing for them?