Acts 15:1-33 "Turning Pagans into Christians"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either

by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray

for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,

I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,

they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will

do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a

non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the

types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, pour out the Holy Spirit upon us at this time. Pour out the

Holy Spirit upon us deep within, not just us, but those online and those live right now and those

watching downstream. Pour out the Holy Spirit upon us. Father, tune our hearts to receive all the

grace and all the truth and all the wisdom and all the beauty that you desire to give us this

morning through your Word and later through the Lord's Supper. And we ask this in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

You know, sometimes, because we preach through books of the Bible at this church, sometimes I look at the text

for the week and I think, oh my, like, oh boy. But you know, that's the momentary thing. At the end of the day,

I'm really glad that I preach through books of the Bible. It makes me talk about things that in my flesh I probably

wouldn't talk about most times. So what we're looking at today is actually touching on or opening a door or a window,

depending on the image you want to use, and opening a window into something which is increasingly important in large

sections of our culture. There's an increasing interest in traditions, in rhythms of life, in habits, in rules of life,

in rituals, to help to sort of stave off the chaos of life. And there's this ongoing desire to get into these types of

things with the hope as well that they'll be meaningful and just help to ground them and connect

them to something bigger than themselves. It's a very big growth industry. People go back to ancient China,

writings of ancient China, writings of the Stoics, listening to Navy SEALs, retired generals,

and psychologists by the name of somebody like Jordan Peterson, who has, I think, a YouTube channel of six

or seven hundred million. I'm just a few people. So it's touching on something like that, although at the

surface level of reading it, it actually would reinforce to many people the problem with Christianity

and the problem with religion in general. So let's look to go beneath the appearances to see how it's

opening the door into something which is very important in our culture. And here it's Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

That's what we're looking at today. It's going to be verses 1 to 33, or at least verses 1 to 20.

Let's see if we get to the last few verses. And the context is the book of Acts is written. It's about

the first 30 or so years of the Jesus movement. It's a history of that movement. It's written by a man

who was an eyewitness for big pieces of it. And the parts he wasn't an eyewitness for, he consulted

eyewitnesses. And it was all written while many eyewitnesses were still alive. And what's just

happened before this in the story, and I've talked about this, I think, two weeks ago. I know it's a

dirty word in Canada right now, but there'd been the very first ever Christian missionary journey.

And that's what sort of happened in the previous two chapters. It's come to an end.

The two men who did that missionary journey, men by the name of Paul and Barnabas, they've returned to

their sending church to great joy at the way that God had moved. And now the story continues,

and it goes like this. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers and sisters,

unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

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 the question.

Now just sort of pause here for a second. You know, some of us use talk and using,

can be a bit facetious. Some of us can be very ironic in our conversation. And we don't always

realize that sometimes the Bible speaks in the same type of way. So if you go back and look at that

part in verse two, where it says, and after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate,

he's being ironic. This was a full bore argument that went on for a long time. They went at it,

hammer and tongs over this particular issue. And some of you might be thinking, and this is where,

you know, on one level, people will tune out at this point in time. You can just imagine sharing

this story at your local boutique coffee place or your Tim Hortons as you're going there to get your

double-double or something like that. And people would just, you know, if they were honest with

you inwardly, they're rolling their eyes. This is exactly why I don't want to have anything to do

with the Christian faith. Good grief, getting into a big argument over circumcision. Like,

how crazy is that? Who cares about all those dietary laws and all that thing? That's exactly

what the problem was with Christianity and other types of religions. That's why I don't have anything

to do with them. And it sounds at face value as if that's what it's all about. Now, as I said,

it actually is going to open a door into something that we are, in fact, many people in our culture.

But I said, not all. Some people want to have more and more chaos in their lives.

And this text isn't really for them, unless it's to give them a bit of a check. But there are many

people who want traditions and rituals and other things. And this is actually going to open a door

on that question in a way that I think people would actually need to hear. But it looks as if

it's just an argument about words. And they make a decision to go down to Jerusalem. Why to Jerusalem?

Well, that's, of course, this is probably happening about 48, the year 48, maybe early 49. Depending on

when you date the death and resurrection of Jesus, either the spring of 30 or the spring of 33,

this is 15 to 18 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. There's lots and lots and

lots and lots of people in Jerusalem who would have heard Jesus preach many, many, many times. So

they're going to the source. That's what they're doing. And they're going to the apostles, the men,

all of the apostles except one, James, has died. The others are alive. And they're going to the people

who spent three years with Jesus to bring this question to them. And so the story continues. Verse 3.

And it goes like this.

So being sent on their way by the church, that's the church in Antioch, now known as Syria,

it's sort of Antioch in Syria, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail

the conversion of the pagans and brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters. So they're telling

what's happened in their missionary journeys and in their work in Syria. It's just bringing joy to

everybody who hears it. By the way, it's like a 550 kilometer trip from Antioch to Jerusalem, Antioch

and Syria to Jerusalem. So they would have, this would have taken quite a while to make the walk.

They would have reported to lots of churches. Everywhere they went, there was great joy.

Verse 4.

For 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 wrote up and said,

it is necessary to circumcise them and order them to keep the law of Moses.

Now just sort of pause. So just imagine it's something like this, this big room or bigger room,

something like Woodvale Pentecostal. I think that's the biggest in terms of seating church in the city,

and the place is completely packed. Everybody's just really, really having, they're just really

overjoyed when they hear the things that have been going on. And then in the midst of that,

a group of people stand up and say, but we worry that things are going off the rails.

Don't we all believe that they would have called it the Tanakh? Actually, just as a bit of an aside,

the Gospel of Mark might have been written by now, Galatians had probably been written by now,

and the Book of James had probably been written by now. And as we're going to see in the story right

now, in a sense, what they are going to teach in Acts is also, in a sense, already very commonly known.

Luke is just going to record what they all obviously know. But they get up and say, listen,

don't we believe in the Tanakh? Don't we believe that that's the infallible authoritative word of God?

I think these, I'm really happy these people are all becoming Christians, but they're really lacking

something of the utmost importance. They got to obey the Tanakh. They just got to. The men have to

be circumcised, and they have to start keeping kosher, and there's a whole range of things that they

got to do. I mean, that's what the Bible says, is what they say. So what happens? Well, look at verse 6.

What they do is they don't have the whole congregation decided. And by the way, at this point in time,

we need to take off our sort of a certain type of lens. When they say the church in Jerusalem,

I don't know who, there might have been 10,000 Christians there. They didn't all, there was no

huge 10,000 seat place that they'd all, this was, when they say the church, they're meaning

the church in the city and all the local churches. That's what they mean. And the apostles and the

elders who are overall. In some ways, it's more like a diocese, actually. And so what they do is they

break off from that meeting, verse 6, and the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider

this matter. So, I don't know how many that would have been. They leave and they go to a different

place. At verse 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 pagan should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Now, just sort of pause here for a second.

It doesn't say how long the debate went on, but there was a serious debate. And maybe it was an

hour, maybe it was six hours, maybe it was a couple of days. They had a lot more time to talk

about things back in those days. So, there's real back and forward debate amongst the whole room.

They're a bit confused. Some people would remember what Jesus said, what the Tanakh says. There's a debate.

And so what Luke is doing now is he's not recording the minutes of the debate. He's set up the primary

issue. And now he's going to give you the sort of three pieces of evidence that bring the whole

thing to a conclusion and what the conclusion is. And it's really interesting. I paused on that

in verse 7. It is by my mouth that the pagan should hear the word of the gospel and believe. That's a

very encouraging word for us. God uses... God can use your mouth.

God can use your mouth. He doesn't need you to be super wise. He doesn't say, I only use people who

have five PhDs and have passed every public speaking course and have a huge YouTube presence. He just,

he uses your mouth. And it's just, but we bear witness to Jesus in very simple ways and he does

the work. You know, just a very simple thing. Like often after this service, I stop at a coffee place

on the way home because I really, really like dark, dark roast coffee. And I stop there on the way

home and it's a place that I'm familiar with, but often there'll be somebody who doesn't know me.

And they'll ask the normal barista type of question. What did you do this day? What do you do it? What

did you do today? And I say, well, I just came from church.

They often go, oh.

You know, sometimes they have a big frowny face when I say that. Others are just sort of like puzzled,

you know, like Monday they asked me what I do yesterday, you know, I'll say, oh, I went to

church and I did this. And they go, oh, like if they don't know me. That's a simple way of bearing

witness to Jesus. You never know what doors will open as a result of that. Like I encourage you to do

it. Anyway, it's just his mouth. But what does Peter keep on saying? So Peter's, I'll talk more about

in a moment. Peter's just reminding them about something which I'll talk more about in a moment,

fill you in the details, but let's listen to the rest of what he says. Verse 8.

So the people have heard, the pagans have heard the word of the gospel and believe. Verse 8.

And God, who knows the heart, the inner person, not the emotions, that's like the very center of who

you are, 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. Now, therefore, why are

you putting God to the test? That's a bad image. A better way to put it is, in English, it sort of

sounds neutral, but it's a negative thing. It's the, oh yeah? Oh yeah? That's it. It's an oh yeah

thing to God. Oh yeah? God? Oh yeah? You can do that? Like, you think that's it? It's an oh yeah

statement. You know? Or it's a good luck with that statement about God. You think God's going to do

that? Good luck with that. That's what's trying to be captured there with the test. And then it says,

first hand again, 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. The image there, to give it a sort of

an image which we can get a better sense of, it's like the image you might see in movies or in books

where the enemy, you've got your enemy down and somebody puts their foot on the person's neck who's

down. That's the image. Right? It's not a good image. So that's what he's saying. You know, these

people who are arguing that you need to be circumcised, keep the law, what they're in effect

doing is testing what God has done. And they're actually, it's like putting a boot to the neck of

these pagans. Verse 11. And here's the key theological truth. But we believe that we will be saved

through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. And so that's the culmination of the long

debate. There's going to be two more important things that happen here. But here's a couple of

things about it. So a little while ago, I was talking to a young guy, very, very smart young guy,

really interested in ideas and talking. I have a feeling he's probably been really influenced by

Jordan Peterson. And he knows I'm a pastor. And he often asked me different Bible questions and

stuff like that. And we were talking the other day, and about, I said, about maybe a month ago. And

all of a sudden, he realized that he and I were missing each other in the conversation a bit.

He said, one moment, you're just talking about like, psychological structures and like metaphors and

meanings and lenses to see the world and give meaning. That's a Jordan Peterson's perspective,

right? It's all just psychology. It's all archetypes and different ways to frame the world and get in

touch with things deep about being human beings. That's fundamentally what Jordan Peterson has done,

bringing out great truths about the Bible. But he sees it from that perspective. And I think that guy

might have been affected by it. And he said that to me. I said, no, no, no, no. No, I believe these

things actually happened. Like, I believe they're real. Like, I think Jesus really did die on a cross.

I think he really died. I think he really was buried. I think the grave clothes were there,

and he rose from the dead. And I think he appeared alive. And I think when I pray, I'm talking to an

actual God who really is there, who speaks. And he went like this, like, oh. We've been having a

conversation for maybe a month. But he just thought I'm talking, like, in Jordan Peterson,

you know, but no, no, I'm talking about something real. And it's a very common, you know, problem.

And it's even at the—and so here's how we can see with this why it's—how Peter is talking about

something that's real. In Acts chapter 2, you have the story about how the Holy Spirit falls

Acts 2 · chapter mention

on the first Christians, and they get filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, what didn't happen there is

this. Okay, what didn't happen? Sometimes, you know, there can be a congregation like, you know,

like this, or you have a vestry or something. And after the whole service is over, maybe you and your

buddy or, you know, you and your wife or your whatever, you walk out, you think—you say to yourself,

I have a sense that something changed today in the church. I just had this real feeling that

something changed, that a corner was turned. You know, and maybe the person with it said, yeah,

you know, I sort of felt that too, as if something changed. But that's just very subjective.

And what happened, what's described in Acts chapter 2 isn't as if Peter and John and James,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

after they leave Acts 2, they say to each other, you know, I really think something changed today.

Like, I don't know what—you think something changed? No, no. That's not what happened at all.

Like, God made it abundantly, spectacularly clear that something different had happened.

First of all, they saw what looked like fire landing on people's heads. Secondly, there was such a loud

noise of roaring wind that it drew a big crowd from the entire surrounding neighborhood wondering what

had caused this noise. And then the clencher was that people started speaking in languages that they

didn't know. It would be as if all of a sudden today that happens, and Jono starts speaking Mongolian.

You don't know Mongolian, do you, brother? Okay. Jono starts speaking Mongolian.

Harold starts speaking Mandarin. Andrew starts speaking Swahili. And all of a sudden,

they're speaking all these other languages, and you really know that something's happened. And it's

not just something on the outside, it's something on the very inside. And then Peter, under the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit, realizes that what Jesus had talked about and what the Bible talked

about, it all actually happened. Now, what's Peter talking about? If you go back to Acts chapter 10,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

they don't tell you all of the details. But pagans, they just, all the Christians sort of thought you'd

have to be sort of Jewish, or at least know some Jewish stuff before you could really become a

Christian. And all these visions happen. Peter goes into the house of a pagan, and he starts telling

them about Jesus, and Peter's there with other Jewish people who'd become Christians. And all of a

sudden, all heaven breaks loose. And we don't tell the details. They just turned to each other and said,

good grief. Just like Pentecost, it's happened to the pagans. I don't go into the details, but they

say, just like us. So maybe all of a sudden, they see the tongues of fire, they hear the rushing noise,

and they start speaking in languages that they shouldn't know. And Peter realizes that they've

heard the gospel, received the gospel, and it's objective. It's real. That's what's happened.

You see, it isn't that they're having an argument about whether the best-tasting ice cream has to

have chocolate in it or not. I mean, that's just ridiculous, right? That's what people think

religion is. It's just a matter of taste. Ice cream makes most people feel happy. Some people like

vanilla. Some people like, I mean, my grandkids like those ones that, you know, the really gross

colors that look like they're radioactive and will kill you. You know, that if they go for ice cream

and there's that choice, they'll take the ones with the grossest, brightest, most terrible colors,

and they eat that, you know? But, you know, we don't get into argument over stuff like that. That doesn't

matter. But this is talking about real things. And so why is it then that this whole thing actually

even matters? Well, I'm going to tell you why it matters in a moment. Let's look at how it continues

to go on. So the main thing is, and by the way, that means if this is talking about something which

is real, that really happened, if Jesus really did die, if he really did get buried, if he really spent

three days in the tomb, if the grave clothes were still there and the door was opened and the body was

gone and they never found the body and Jesus appeared alive, if that really happened, it changes

everything. Changes everything. The universe is different than they talk about in global and CBC

and the court and in academia. The world is different. Reality is different. It means there is a God that

does exist. It means there is a, he does want you to pray. It means he can hear your prayer. It means

Jesus is alive. It means there really is a Holy Spirit. I mean, it's, everything changes if that's,

if that's true. And if Pentecost is true, it's, we're talking about objective things, but they're

objective things that matter. They're not just sort of random facts that weird people know so they can win

trivia contests. It actually matters. But we'll get to that in a moment. Let's just a little bit further.

Verse 12. But the key point has been made. You are made right with God completely and utterly by the

grace of God that you receive by, you receive by faith. That's, that's how you're made right with

God. And verse 12. And all of the assembly fell silent. And then they listened to Barnabas and Paul

as they, Paul, Barnabas and Paul, Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done

through them among the pagans. Once again, saying, listen, we went and a man who'd never walked,

he was healed. And this happened. The person who was blind received sight. People who, you know,

had leprosy were healed. Real objective changes as a result of prayer. Verse 13. After they finished

speaking, James, this is Jesus's half-brother, not the original, not the brother of John, but Jesus's

half-brother, James. And by the way, did you know, this is a bit of an aside, did you know that

this isn't, James isn't just somebody known in the Bible, but Josephus, a Jewish historian, writes about

James. Like, Acts is history. It's not fantasy. It's not mythology. It's not metaphor. It's not myth.

It's not allegory. It's history. James is known to ancient historians. I'll continue. Brothers,

listen to me. Verse 13. Simeon, that's another name for Peter, has related how God first visited

the pagans. Listen to this wonderful phrase, to take from them a people for his name.

When you and I become a Christian, it's Jesus taking you and me to be part of his people for

his glory. That's what that means. I, in a sense, am taken out of my life before Christ and my

allegiances and my citizenship, and I'm transferred to a new kingdom, and God does the taking, and now

I am his by his action. And it's not just a solo George with Jesus. I've now, it's me, so it's deeply

personal, but I'm now part of Jesus's people. Verse 15. And with this, what I just described, the words of

the prophets agree. Now, I'm just going to read it for a moment. It's an actually, if you are really

interested, you can go online or go other places. It's a fascinating mashup of five prophets all put

together in a very interesting way. It's Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, and Zechariah all mashed

up together. So, for those people listening who really know their Old Testament, their Tanakh,

they would pick up that he's made five interwoven references in this quote, very cleverly put together.

But here's how it goes in English. After this, I will return, that's God speaking, and I, God,

will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. And God says, I will rebuild its ruins, and I will

restore it. Why? That the remnant of the human race may seek the Lord, and all the pagans who are

called by my name. He's going to restore it. He's going to bring, he's going to rebuild,

a sense of a perfect kingdom and people, and all the pagans that he's called are going to be there,

says the Lord who made these things known from of old. So, well, here, no, now we get to the really

weird bit, and that's where I'm going to explain why the gospel matters and what the weird bit means

in my last 10 minutes. So, they've made a big decision. It doesn't matter if you have grown up as

a Hindu. It doesn't matter if you've grown up as a Buddhist. It doesn't matter if you've grown up as

a Confucius. It doesn't matter if you've grown up a Taoist. It doesn't matter if you've grown up as an

atheist. It doesn't matter if you've grown up Jewish. It doesn't matter if you've grown up Christian.

We are made right with God.

He makes us right with himself

when we put our faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus.

And we're trusting that everything that had to be done

to make us right with God is done in the person of Jesus,

and we receive it by believing into him.

And believing is not an intellectual word.

It's a personal word.

It's believing into a person.

It's like you're entering, in a sense, into trusting them

and giving yourself to them and committing to them.

It's a relationship word,

which obviously has intellectual components,

and that's how you're made right with God.

And that's now been established.

It's been, in a sense, they'd say it's what the Bible teaches.

It's what God has obviously shown in an objective way,

and that's the truth.

Now they're going to give this weird bit.

Verse 19.

Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble

those of the pagans who turn to God,

but should write to them two, four things.

Abstain from things polluted by idols,

abstain from sexual immorality,

abstain from what has been strangled,

and abstain from blood.

Verse 21.

For from ancient generations,

Moses has had in every city

those who proclaim him,

for he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

That's the conclusion, and that's pretty weird.

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird?

It's pretty weird.

Like, why those four things?

Why sexual immorality?

Does that sort of mean,

well, all of us, I think, here in the room

are former, from pagan stock.

It's all right to lie.

It's all right to kill.

It's all right to steal.

That's the only one,

like, what's going on here with this weird thing?

Like, you know?

So here's the two things.

First is this.

Why did this whole issue matter?

And what is the second weird bit?

As I've talked to you about before,

but it's, I need to be,

I need to remind myself of this,

brothers and sisters,

and I hope,

and I think you probably need to have it reminded to you

time and time and time again,

the natural way that our mind works

about connecting to God

or that connecting to anything is real,

our natural inclination

is that first you try to get your life in order,

then you start to get connected

with other people whose lives are in order,

and then maybe God accepts you.

That's the natural way things work.

So, you know,

maybe you've stopped coming to church,

and maybe you're watching online,

you know,

because you're really caught up,

you're getting drunk all of the time,

maybe you're watching lots and lots of pornography,

you're doing a couple of other naughty things,

and so you think,

I can't come to church.

So what do you decide to do?

You decide, well, you know,

finally you come to,

you hit some type of bottom,

and you say to yourself,

I'm going to stop drinking,

I'm going to disconnect from the internet,

and I start to go for a bit of walk

and get some exercise.

And after you've done that,

you think,

okay, now I can come and be with other people

who are doing the same thing.

And then after you do that,

you think,

okay, well, now maybe God will accept me.

And you can fill in the blanks in different ways.

It could be, you know,

whatever it would be for Hinduism or Buddhism

or different forms of Christianity,

but that's the way just our natural mind works.

That's just the way the world works.

And the gospel is completely and utterly

upside down, back to front, and inside out.

The message of the Bible is

that will never work in 100, 100, 100 billion years.

You're completely fooling yourself

if you ever think that that's actually going to work

with anything like a God who's real,

who really is goodness himself,

beauty himself,

justice himself,

truth himself.

To think that you're going to be able to do that

is you're just fooling and deluding yourselves.

And so the Bible says something

that goes completely and utterly against the grain

of how we naturally think about these things.

It proclaims,

Peter proclaims,

none of that's ever going to work.

I'm going to tell you something completely and utterly shattering.

God did everything to make you right with himself,

and you just come with empty hands,

and you lay your down and surrender yourself to him,

and accept what he has done for you,

and he makes you completely and utterly,

perfectly right with himself.

And you receive it just by trusting in him in repentance.

And out of that,

you connect with other people.

And out of that,

you get better.

It's a complete opposite direction.

That's what grace is.

So you see,

what these people wanted to do,

the Judaizers it's called,

they wanted to actually make

Christianity,

unwillingly,

they wanted to make Christianity

the way that the normal,

natural mind works.

And they wanted to say,

listen,

if you're going to route to reach pagans,

they've got to take on

some of these practices around food.

And then after they've taken on

some practices around food,

they've got to get circumcised.

And then they can fit in with the congregation,

and then God will accept them.

And Peter says,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That is not what the Bible teaches.

It's not what Jesus teaches.

It's not what we've seen the Holy Spirit do.

That's completely wrong.

You're leading them.

You, in fact,

the well-intentioned,

are leading them down

a way that leads to nothing.

We need to understand.

And we need to be reminded

all of the time,

no,

everything that had to be done

to make me right with God

has been done by God himself

on my behalf.

Because he,

it's his unmerited kindness,

unmerited because

I do not deserve it.

It's my,

God,

I don't deserve God's kindness.

I'm shocked by his kindness.

I'm actually probably

in most of my moments

would say,

God,

I would never do this for me.

How can you do it for me?

And that's why this issue matters.

But what about

these other four weird things?

Okay,

here,

I'm going to give you

a disclaimer.

If you go and look

at most major

conservative,

orthodox commentaries

on this issue,

they will tell you

it means

these are rules

set up for table fellowship

between pagans and Jews.

And I think

with all due respect,

I'm just going to let you know

that if you go and tell

your pastor about it,

he'll say,

well,

George is wrong.

Go read,

go read Stott on this.

Go read this guy.

Go read this guy.

Go read this guy.

Go read this guy.

They all say,

George,

that it's all about

table fellowship.

And when George says

it's not,

George is just wrong.

I need to know

that I'm taking

an extreme minority view.

I think it has nothing

to do with table fellowship.

I think it has to do

with how do you

de-paganize pagans?

Why do I not think

it has anything to do

with table fellowship?

I'm going to maybe

write a little thing

for the webpage about this

if you're really interested.

A couple of reasons.

One is I don't think

it fits with the context,

which is the main reason.

Other thing is

I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood.

I really did.

From 5.5 to 14.5,

I grew up in a neighborhood

which was 96% Jewish.

And most of them

were relatively secular Jews.

And they don't give a hoot

about any of these

four requirements.

And I've also been

to Israel three times.

And I've seen lots and lots

of ultra-Orthodox people.

And none of the ultra-Orthodox

would accept these.

So it has nothing to do

with Jewish people.

But what it has to do with

is that this letter

is in between

the first missionary journey

and the second missionary journey.

And at the end

of the first missionary journey,

we had this story

that we talked about.

I think it was last week.

Of Peter and Paul,

of Barnabas and Paul,

and they're preaching,

and a pagan becomes a Christian

in a completely,

utterly pagan background.

And yet,

at the same time,

the whole crowd,

probably others

had become Christians,

but then they want

to sacrifice animals to them.

And they realize

that paganism

is very, very deep,

very extensive.

It's woven into the fabric

of how they think.

And people can come

to a faith in Jesus,

but now you need

to de-paganize them.

And Paul gave a bit

of an argument

for about how you would do that

at the end of chapter 14,

but this is now

another part of it.

Now,

I'm watching my time.

If you're watching this online

or if you're here as a guest,

everybody outside

the Christian faith

knows that Christians

have different views

on sexual knowing

in the world

than the average Canadian does.

And I have no particular

bee in my bonnet about it,

but the text here

is talking,

when it says sexual immorality,

it's that sin.

What Christians believe

is that God designed

human beings

to have sexual knowing,

but sexual knowing

is to be limited

to a biological male

married to a biological female.

And outside of that marriage,

people are to practice abstinence.

And anything that departs

from that then,

therefore,

is wrong.

So that's just,

but that's not,

I mean,

average Canadian thinks

we're horrible people,

but it doesn't surprise,

shouldn't surprise

an average Canadian

to hear that that's the case.

And by the way,

I think the Christian position

is unbelievably wise

and healthy and whole,

and it's a perennial thing.

But here's what's going on

in these four things.

In the ancient world,

the very typical way

that men would worship

would be to sleep

with prostitutes,

male or female.

And in the ancient world,

often blood played

a very significant role.

You would be marked with blood

or covered with blood

as part of a blessing

or a curse.

You would drink blood

as a way

to connect yourself

with the powers

of nature

and with success.

The sacrificing

to idols

would also involve

often meat

that was connected

to it.

And you'd get the blood

on you

or often you would

consume it

by having the animal

die without any blood

being shed

and then you'd cut

the animal open

and you'd eat the meat

with the blood

and it's all about

getting the power

of the blood.

And I think what they did

is they said,

we're going to give you

these four simple things.

We need to de-paganize you

and it's going to involve

taking on new habits

and stopping old ones.

This is how it fits

in with traditions.

And they don't talk about it

but if you go through

and you read the rest

of the book of Acts

and you read the rest

of the Bible,

it's very obvious

that what the habits are

that you have to take on

to grow as a Christian.

You need to hear

the apostles' teaching

in the scriptures.

You need to be praying.

You need to be having

the communion together.

You need to be

financially generous.

You need to be sharing

the gospel.

You need to be doing

these things.

These are the positive things

that you do to grow.

But you also have things

that you need to put away

because habits and rituals

like that form you.

They form you into

a particular type of person.

They form your understanding

of the world.

They form your identity.

You don't just learn

these things by ideas

but by practices.

That's why somebody

like Ross,

probably if you asked him

afterwards,

what they do

in the military

is they don't just give you

a whole pile of ideas.

They teach you

how to make your bed.

They teach you

how to salute.

They teach you

how to march.

They teach you

a whole pile of other things

because that's how

human beings are formed.

They'll give you a lecture

and they form you

at the same time.

That's just what

human beings are looking for.

And here's where

this is really important

because, you know,

friends,

if you're outside the church

and you want to have

a tradition

and a habit

and a rhythm

that's real,

that's beautiful

and that's deep

and that's ancient

and that's connected

to reality,

well, good grief,

Christianity is all about

Jesus' real defeat of death

and revealing

what the real world is

and so you should want

to get the habits

and the rituals

and the rhythms

which he has taught.

Communion,

scripture,

worship,

community,

all of those things

and you can't just,

you know,

it's like breathing.

You don't just breathe in,

you have to breathe out

and it's like in marriage,

if you're going to have

indismy,

you embrace your wife

and you reject all others

and it's the same thing then,

if you're going to

deconstruct paganism,

you not only have to teach people

these new habits

that are going to form them

and give them an identity,

but you have to break them

from habits

that connect them

to their old worldview

and form them

in those old ways

and so that's what they've said.

If you're doing anything at all

that involves sacrifice

to idols,

you don't have anything

to do with it.

Anything to do with the blood,

in either way,

you don't have anything

to do with it.

Any type of worship

that's going to involve

sleeping with a prostitute,

whether male or female,

you have nothing to do with it.

An analogy would be like this.

So,

one of the people

that I share the gospel with

at the coffee house

in the gay village

and is completely

and utterly familiar with

and just formed

by the entire pride world

and they become a Christian

and we would all rejoice

and we would start to tell them,

well,

here's how you read the Bible,

here's how you sing,

here's how you,

you know,

you come for communion,

do all of those things,

but you're going to have to maybe,

that's not going to be sufficient.

There's some things

they need to reject.

Here's four things.

You can't go to pride parades anymore.

You shouldn't go to them.

You shouldn't go to the pre-

or post-parties and meals

of pride events.

You can't,

you have to stop wearing

pride buttons

and having pride flags

in your house.

And you have to say

that your pronoun

is your biological sex

and you're going to stop

wearing pronoun pins,

period.

I probably shocked

the whole room.

But how else do you help

to break them

from a whole worldview,

a whole organizing world?

Well,

you want to do

the positive things.

You read your Bible,

come to church,

receive communion,

give to the spread

of the gospel

and the support

of the church

and the relief

of the poor.

You give financially,

generously to,

you know,

you do,

there's these habits

that you need

that will form you

into the Christian faith

and you can't just say yes

to them

without saying no

to other things

and that's

what is going on

in this particular thing.

How

do you turn a pagan

into a Christian?

Things you take on,

things you stop.

But what makes you

a Christian

is hearing about Jesus.

I knew very little theology

when I became a Christian.

I didn't know all,

you know what,

I,

some people do.

I know a guy

who's now

a professor of philosophy

and he had to go through

a whole pile

of apologetic stuff

before he became

a Christian.

For me,

it was just a sense

of the incompleteness

of my life

and a fullness

which I needed

and I gave my life

to Christ.

Christ.

And then the formation

comes afterwards.

I invite you to stand.

Bow our heads in prayer.

Father,

we thank you

that everything

that had to be done

to make us right

with you

was done by you,

that we receive

that by faith

and that out of that truth

flows

our worship together,

our disciplines,

the changes

that you help us

to make

in our lives,

you know,

in terms of being

more financially responsible

and more disciplined

in our time

and having rhythms

that come from you.

And Father,

we ask that you

help us to accept that,

to grow into that,

to understand

that it's not just us,

Father,

learning things

in our head,

although that's really,

really, really important,

but developing habits

and rhythms

and disciplines

and traditions

and ways of being

that also form us

into that, Father.

And we ask that you

help us to embrace

these things

and to turn away

from those habits

and traditions

and rhythms

which take us away

from you,

form us into

something different.

Father,

we're so glad

that you have saved us

by Jesus

and we ask that you

fan in the flame

within us

an ever deeper hunger

and longing

and yearning

to truly be yours

and to see ourselves

and see others

from the lens

of your grace,

what you have done

for us so freely

and completely

and thoroughly

in Jesus.

Help us,

Father, to be so rooted

in that

and live out of that

and be shaped by that

that day by day

we are being fit

to spend eternity

with you.

And we ask all these things

in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.