Good News Math
Preached by Ben Bechtel
August 30, 2020
Scripture Reading
Acts 15:1-35
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.”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. 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. 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.”
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.”
12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 “‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’
19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 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.”
30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. 32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. 33 And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Sometimes when we preach through the Scriptures passage by passage through a book of the Bible, as we tend to do at this church, the Lord seems to line up a passage with the events of our day. We’ve seen this time and time again this summer through preaching through the book of Acts. Church, I think this morning is one of those mornings. And I’m not just saying that because I’m the one preaching this text. This text has the potential to satisfy our parched, dry hearts with the oasis of Jesus in a particularly potent way today.
On the surface though you might think this passage seems bizarre, dealing with ancient Jewish practices and not eating animals that were strangled. However, at its core, this passage is about the fundamentals of the gospel. This passage shows us the potential threat of what happens in our lives and community when we don’t understand the gospel, along with the beauty and power that accompanies understanding and living in light of the true gospel.
We’re going to talk this morning in terms of good news math. What is the correct equation of the gospel if you will, and what results does that have in our life together?
1. The Wrong Equation (vv. 1-5)
First, we have to address the problem. Look with me again at how this passage begins (verse 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.”
This group of men journeyed from Judea to Antioch and stirred up trouble in Antioch by their teaching.
Now in order to rightly understand this problem, we have to do a little bit of contextual heavy lifting, which we will have to do a few times in this sermon. Stick with me. If you remember in the book of Acts, there has been a steady move of God to begin including Gentiles in on the salvation that is found in Jesus. Both the Ethiopian man in chapter 8 and Cornelius in chapter 10 are Gentiles who are saved and brought in on God’s salvation. However, both of these men were familiar with Jewish laws and customs. Both Paul’s ministry in Antioch in chapter 11 and his first missionary journey in chapters 13 and 14 have resulted in the conversion of many Gentiles, a lot of whom were unfamiliar with Jewish law and customs.
So, the question then naturally arises, do these Gentiles have to live like Jews in order to be right with God and welcome among the church? We clearly read in Acts 10 that God’s salvation is now including the Gentiles in broad terms, but how does this Gentile inclusion into God’s people work out on the ground? Do they have to be circumcised, eat kosher, etc. to be right with God and members of the church? Or to put it in a way that might sound a little bit more provocative to us today, does salvation come by trust in Jesus and works?
These Jewish leaders were teaching that the equation of the Gospel is Jesus + observance of the Jewish law = reconciliation with God and welcome among his people. It is very clear that Paul and Barnabas believe that this is a false representation of the gospel they have been proclaiming and teaching (verse 2). The stakes are high for them and so they send this debate to the broader church. As one commentator says, “Theologically, the truth of the gospel was at stake in Jerusalem. And relationally, the stakes were just as high. A wrong decision in Jerusalem and gracious openness would be replaced with jaundiced exclusiveness.”[1]
2. The Right Equation (vv. 6-18)
If that is the false equation and what it produces in us, what is the true gospel? What does this council in Jerusalem conclude? Peter really begins to put a finger on it in verse 10:
Now, therefore [since God shows no partiality and the Gentiles have received the Spirit just like Jews have], 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?
Peter says here that placing a burden of law-keeping on the backs of the Gentiles denies God and places the same burden on the backs of the Gentiles that not even the giants of the Jewish past have been able to keep. That’s why they had the sacrificial system! Not even Abraham, Moses, or David could keep the intricacies of the Jewish law.
(FCF) But, we all naturally relate to God and try to find ultimate significance in our lives on the basis of human works. Do you feel scared of God, like you constantly owe him, and if you don’t pay up, he’s going to be angry with you? Do you think that if you don’t hustle hard enough at work that he will view you as less of a man or woman? Do you feel like if you don’t speak up for your political cause enough that you’ll be letting God down? Do you live under the guilt of constantly feeling like you’re disappointing God by not reading your Bible enough, not evangelizing enough? Do you as a parent live under the weight that if your child deviates at any point from being a good Christian boy or girl that God will look down on you as a failure?
The law as a means of right standing before God only leads to bondage. It’s like Peter is saying, ok, you who want to place the law on the people’s backs again, how is that working out for you? Are you more free, more happy, more filled with an experience of God’s love for you? Or do you still feel like a slave, like an animal plowing the fields with the yoke of the law on your back.
But in Christ God provides another way of relating to Him (verse 11):
11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The message of the true gospel is grace. Now, don’t snooze through this, those of you who have heard the word grace a million times. Grace means gift. What is the gift of grace which God has shown toward us? He has given us himself in the person of Jesus. Jesus has lived the life we all should have lived in perfect obedience to the law of God and died the death we should have died as a curse for breaking the law of God. Now as the resurrected one, for all who trust in his life and death, the legal penalty of the law has been met for our sin in Christ and now we are counted as those who have fulfilled the whole law in Christ. Although we didn’t deserve it, Jesus gave us himself for our punishment and as our righteousness. And this is the same for Jew and Gentile, united by faith to Christ.
And yet, so many of us fail to see that because of what Jesus has done, God now relates to us in Jesus Christ not on legal terms by works, but on family terms by grace. Jesus has guaranteed your righteous status according to the law and you died to the law in him. And now in him, God is your Father. You have a familial relationship to the Father through the grace of Jesus. Let me put it this way: it would be weird and unethical for a judge to invite a defendant in a case they are presiding over, over to their house for dinner. But it is not weird at all for my dad to call and invite me over for dinner. It is a different type of relationship all together. You don’t have to try to prove your innocence. You don’t have to sit in guilt. You don’t have to earn his love. You see, because of the grace of Jesus toward you, you now relate to God as Father, and he loves you with the same love which he shows Jesus.
This is the point of the parable of the prodigal sons, which I made plural intentionally. At first, both sons see their relationship to their father as a legal one. The prodigal asks his father if he can work for him as a hired servant, after he has basically wished his father dead and squandered his money away. He is trying to pay back the father, but the father treats him as a son. The same is true for the older brother. He viewed his relationship to his father in terms of his own accomplishments, his own law-keeping. Both sons did not relate to their father as father but on the basis of their own works in a legal relationship. But Jesus invites us to come to the Father as we are, apart from our own achievements, apart from our own status.
Church, see the freedom that is found in the grace of Jesus. Jesus shows us that no amount of hard work, no amount of advocacy for a political cause, no amount of Bible reading or evangelism, and no amount of obedience from your children can change God into a judge who wants to cast you out. Your relationship with him is on an entirely different foundation! The grace of Jesus casts out our guilt, fear, shame, and anxiety and replaces them with joy, freedom, love, peace, and gratitude because we have the loving gaze of the one who truly matters. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus. Good news math is Jesus + nothing else.
3. The Practical Application (vv. 19-35)
With the message of the gospel clearly defined, that we are made right with God and adopted into his family by the free grace of Jesus apart from our own works, what is the practical ramification for the church? How does the church respond to this good news of grace in Jesus? Look at verses 19-20:
19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
This seems very strange to us. If James and the leaders don’t want to cause extra, unnecessary trouble for these Gentiles who are freed from the law, why do they seem to add an extra law? Well, let’s think about these four realities listed for a second. These four realities all in some way pertain to Jewish purity laws, laws originally given by God to the Jewish people in order to separate them from the nations, which are eventually fulfilled by Christ cleansing our hearts through his Spirit (verse 9). What is occurring is not a rebinding of the Gentiles under law as a foundational principle of their relationship to God but rather it is a request to sacrifice gospel freedom in love for the sake of one another. It would have been difficult for Jewish people, who grew up equating welcome in the people of God to observance of certain practices especially with regards to food, to have Gentiles in their community. So, the council requests that the Gentiles abide by these four principles in order to help facilitate true community in the churches. They are not driving Gentiles back to the law to earn God’s favor, but they are imploring them to show love toward their weaker Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ because of the grace of God given to them.
The main point for us to take away from this is that the gospel creates a culture of love and sacrifice within the people of God. We often think of salvation by grace purely in individual terms of going to heaven when we die. But just like the grace of Jesus changes our relation to God from a legal relationship to a familial relationship, so too the grace of Jesus changes our relationships with one another from legal to familial relationships. You see, especially as Americans, we are very concerned about getting our legal rights and when someone doesn’t give us our rights we pursue legal action against them. We can relate as long as you don’t violate my rights. However, the gospel of grace creates a culture of family, where we lay down our rights out of love and respect for one another. The mantra of the church is not how can I get my rights from you but how can I give up my rights in love for you.
This is the welcoming culture of the gospel lived out in the life of the church. This is precisely what Romans 15 describes, in a very similar situation with Jews and Gentiles coming together in a church (vv. 2-3; 5-7):
2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me…” 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Church, do you see how the grace of Jesus grounds our welcoming, self-sacrificial community? Jesus, the God of the universe, lovingly restricted his freedom and took on our human form. Jesus, the innocent one, suffered the gravest injustice that this world has ever seen. Jesus gave up his rights and died for us in order to welcome us into his family. (BI) Self-deference and a willingness to submit to one another in love should be the mark of any church that truly grasps the gospel of Christ.
What are some ways this might look in our community? Let me give you two practical examples, given what is going on in the life of our church community. The first one relates to masks and the ongoing COVID situation. It can be very easy for us to make mask wearing or non-mask wearing a functional requirement for welcome and fellowship in the church. This is a gray issue. It is difficult. I’m just as tired of thinking about it as you are but we’re going to have to deal with it here soon as we move toward the Fall and colder weather. A significant portion of our time and prayer as an elder team is going toward this and we don’t have any of this figured out yet. But this is a chance for us to show self-deferring love to other people. For those who think that mask wearing is the right thing to do, you have an opportunity to understand those who disagree with you, particularly those who may equate wearing a mask in church with a certain type of legalistic requirement for worship. You may have to defer your expectation that everyone wears a mask. And for those of us who simply do not prefer to wear a mask, this is a chance for you to restrict your freedom for the sake of your brothers and sisters who are vulnerable. This isn’t an obstacle but an opportunity to shine forth the gospel of grace by the way we move toward one another in love.
One other example of how this might play out in our church is multiethnic ministry. It has been a desire and prayer of our pastor-elder team for the past five years that our church would come to more represent the ethnic diversity of our surrounding community. It can be easy for us in the majority culture to view all of our preferences as the right way to do things, like length of worship service, style of music, promptness of arrival at events, and our own view of social issues. These can easily become something that we add to the functional gospel equation. However, partaking in true multiethnic community is deeply challenging because it challenges us to restrict and defer these preferences for others for the sake of the body as a whole.
Let me conclude with verse 31:
31And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
When we experience and live out a culture of gospel grace, we will know it when the whole church is rejoicing because of the encouragement that it is to truly be welcomed by the grace of God. Church, Jesus has gone to great lengths at great cost to himself to welcome us into his family. Let us today receive that welcome for the gift of grace that it is and turn around and give it to others, even if it costs us. And let’s rejoice as we embody the grace of Jesus by giving up our rights for one another.
[1] R. Kent Hughes, Acts (), 193.
