Acts: Unity With Differences

As well on Monday, this past Monday, we bought the space on the other side of that wall.

So the space on the other side of that wall we now own, you know, wonderful, praise God.

Pretty amazing to think about, pretty amazing to think about the fact that we get to buy the space on the other side of that wall, considering that we don't have land that we can build unto.

We own our space, but we're part of a community.

We're part of an HOA.

And so our neighbor went up for sale, amazing, the wall that attaches to our sanctuary, amazing, and then sold it to us at a price that was fair to them and also fair to us that other people have already tried to buy it from us, which always feels really good, you know, when you buy property other people want.

And so that property is available to us right away.

Uh it's like a 1992 office space if you're wondering what it's like.

Um, and so eventually we'll want to renovate it for highest and best use.

Um, we bought another unit that attaches to it that's a that goes to the back parking lot and it's under lease for the next couple of months.

And so we're right now getting our act together.

Like, how are we gonna like pay off this debt?

How are we gonna renovate it?

Where's that money gonna come from?

Uh, and so you can just begin to pray about that as we're praying about it.

We are jumping right back into this early church story in the book of Acts.

We're in chapter 15.

The church is growing, it's great, it's filling with both Jewish people and non-Jewish people, it's called Gentiles.

So, not one people, but all people, like a melting pot of people are coming into this early church.

And so all this goodness is all mixed up, sort of getting all over each other like a melting pot, right?

And this is church.

This is what church is.

Right?

It's all really good, but we do have we do have differences.

The context of Acts chapter 15 is that some of the Jewish Christians, they thought that the non-Jewish Christians, they need to accept Christ, but also practice their Jewish religious law.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

So this began the first major theological debate of the church here in Acts 15.

What is required?

What is required for someone to be a Christian?

And this debate helps us learn that, but also it helps us learn how do we disagree?

Like, how do we have differences and still move forward?

Acts 15, verses 1 through 5.

Acts 15:1–5

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.

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.

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.

When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God has done with them.

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

So we have a difference.

Point number one is this, coming from what this difference actually is.

The prison of legalism is in conflict to gospel freedom, rest, and growth.

The prison of legalism says this your good standing as a Christian with God, so God's forever delight in you, well, that is secured by you holding, keeping, obeying, probably creating some more rules, certain rules.

So a council form in Jerusalem discussed this.

Let's talk this through.

We need to make a decision.

What do non-Jews need to do to be accepted as Christians?

So imagine you're a non-Jew Christian.

You can probably imagine it because you probably are a non-Jew Christian.

You heard you're fully accepted and loved in Jesus.

I actually have forgiveness, I'm loved by God, I'm secure with God, that's unbelievable, I have eternity in heaven.

And then the people in charge say, well, actually, you know, actually.

Yeah, that's kind of true, but actually, you really need to do this whole other set of things as well.

So Jesus loves you, but but this week I I was driving, I was talking on the phone to Christy as I was driving in my car.

I pulled up to a congested traffic light.

Traffic was barely moving through from the other direction.

I'm talking to Christy.

And then our our arrow turned green.

And that other traffic kept sneaking through.

Uh-uh.

No.

Nope.

So I do a little honking, you know, like a little honking, just enough.

Just enough.

And then I look to the side, to the car next to me, thinking, he will appreciate what I have done here.

And he gives me this look, it's like sort of this like half disgust and half you're a moron look.

And it was then that I learned that this was a funeral procession.

I was talking at the grieving family.

Maybe you.

I don't, it could be you.

This grieving family who just lost a loved one, and I am letting them have it.

So if we're living by our resume, we are doomed.

Right, not to mention just all the much more profound ways that I'm still reliant and you're still reliant on comfort or security or status or approval or money, people's approval.

Right?

We're like too much of something we shouldn't be, but we're not enough of the other thing that we should be, right?

Like but neither, this is the good news, but neither the mistakes or the posturing or all your goodness.

None of that is your actual belovedness to God.

Because we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.

Everything else flows from there.

For years I lived with an internal scoreboard, like a list of rules.

What else do I need to do?

And if I'm scoring better, I feel better.

So sort of like pride and then exhaustion, pride and then condemnation, right?

And it turns out that I really do need God's grace to welcome me in as a Christian to grant me salvation, and also needs God's grace to sustain and empower me for ongoing growth and godliness.

So what I keep learning is God's delight in me is not based on my production or my resume or my growth.

God is already fully delighted in me, in Jesus.

My growth and godliness, your growth and godliness is living more deeply in what God has given to you, in this great wealth of identity.

So this council forms in Jerusalem.

Eventually, Peter stands up in Acts 15, verse 7.

Acts 15:7

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 mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

And he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

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?

That's his way of saying, we've never been able to live up to the law.

We need to live by grace through faith.

Verse 11.

But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.

So Peter just drops that gospel bomb on the place.

It goes completely silent because everybody recognizes that they don't keep the law up, that they need God's grace to them.

And then James says, in Acts 15, 19 through 21, and you can see how James here, you can see how we get the book of James when we hear James right here.

Because James is taking gospel and he's going, yeah, let's also talk about what it means.

What are the implications of this gospel?

What does growth and godliness mean?

And he says in verse 19, therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.

All right, so he's aligned with Peter here.

But should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols and from sexual morality and for what has been strangled and from blood.

For from ancient generations, Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

Alright, here's the point.

Point number two.

Our rescue is always the gospel.

Justification by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone.

That's always a rescue.

Forty years ago, the great Ren McCormick.

Do you remember the great Wren McCormick?

1984 Footloose, not the new one.

The new one does not count.

I've seen it.

Ren's a bit of a rebel, but he has a good heart.

If you remember the storyline, his family has fallen apart.

They move to this town that's controlled by legalistic church folk.

So there's no rock and roll, there's no alcohol, there's no drinking.

Ren goes before the city council to request a high school dance.

Do you remember this?

This great speech, right?

He's so poetic, it's emotional, the music's in the background, and his pauses are perfect.

He reads from the Bible.

He cites that King David danced.

Why aren't we dancing?

King David danced.

And then he says, and I'll read it, I cannot do justice to Kevin Bacon, but here we go.

Ecclesiastes assures us that there is a time to every purpose under heaven.

A time to laugh, a time to weep, a time to mourn, and there is a time to dance.

And there was a time for this law, but not anymore.

See, this is our time to dance.

And it is our way of celebrating life.

It's the way it was in the beginning, it's the way it's always been, it's the way it should be now.

Now, years before Ren showed up into this town, there had been a wreck.

Some teens had been drinking and driving, and they all died.

Horrible.

So this past wound turns to fear.

Fear turns to control, control turns to legalism.

That's how you get legalism through woundedness.

But all of life feels like legalism.

We can get to legalism just even if we're not out of a wound, just our sinful nature pushes us there.

Paul says we are prone to justification by works of the law.

What do I really need to do or be to be loved?

I mean, I know what you're telling me about this like free, like freely forgiven, justified, righteous in Jesus, but sure, what do I really need to do?

But Peter and Barnabas and James and Paul, they all say there was a time for life by the law, but not anymore.

Now, what does that mean?

Well, religion or life by the law says, as a Christian, it would say something like Jesus plus something equals everything.

You just need something more than Jesus to be okay with God or beloved to God.

This is why the Pharisees are asking the non-Jews to obey their religious law from the past.

Now, the gospel says Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

Everything.

He's all we need.

Now there are implications of that.

Now, how this is how the implications work out.

Religion says, well, it's like this, obey, then you are accepted.

That's justification by works of the law.

But gospel says you are accepted, therefore obey.

Now that's what James was saying in verses 19 through 21.

That our godliness is an empowerment out of our deep identity of already secure and forgiven and righteous in Jesus.

That council sent a group of leaders out to these churches.

In Acts 15, verse 27, we read that.

Acts 15:27

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements, that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood, and from what has been strangled and from sexual morality.

If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Farewell.

So it's sort of like you are welcomed and free in Jesus, and in that freedom there is a path.

There is a path of growth and a path of godliness.

Now look at verse 28.

It has something for us as a community of people.

Verse 28, for it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.

So point number three is this.

A little bit long, I think it's all important.

We seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in conversations with others.

This is what this council is doing.

We seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in conversations with others for gospel faithfulness toward church unity.

When we run into differences, this is what we should do.

This is what these people did.

They met together, they're seeking the Holy Spirit's guidance, they're talking things through, they're hearing from each other, coming to a decision.

Twenty years ago, I went to Le Breeze Study and Retreat Center just south of London.

Here's a picture of a beautiful manor home south of London.

And you can go there and you can study for a few days or a week or up to a semester.

I went for a week to study God's will.

I was going to figure out God's will in a week.

That's how I was going to do that as a 22-year-old.

That's what you do when you're 22.

So you can figure that out that quickly.

And so you go there and you can study all sorts of different folks.

It's an amazing place.

The theologians run the place.

So you're studying half the day, you do chores half the day, and then you have some little lectures and stuff like that.

So the theologians at Run Place once a week, they have a house meeting.

Kind of like a family meeting.

Like, hey, we're all living together, we need to talk through things.

Is there any conflict?

What's going on?

Full room.

It's probably 15 different nations represented in this room.

First world, second world, third world.

Rich, poor, black, white, brown, conservatives, moderates, liberals, all together, one room.

Big melting pot.

Guy raises his hand.

Oh, he's ready.

And he lets it rip.

He is so upset.

He is so upset as a Christian that a group of these other Christians they walked into town and had a couple of beers.

And he's upset.

He's distraught.

And the theologian says, okay, thank you for sharing that.

Thank you.

Would anybody else like to share?

And one of the gals from the group that walked in and had a beer at the pub, she shares her view and opinion and convictions from the scriptures.

So both have shared their heart from their convictions.

Now what do we do?

Both are wonderful people, wonderful, devout Christians.

Now the theologian shares his view and his opinion and why.

And then he said, this issue falls into important but not essential.

See, the framing of your new shed, the framing of that shed is really important.

But the foundation is essential.

Alright, we got it?

I mean, that's that's big.

That's big for communal life.

The framing is important, vitally important, but the foundation is essential.

So in Acts 15, what do we learn as individuals living in a community of faith?

Well, number one, we are rescued out of guilt and self-justification by God's grace to us and Jesus.

Essential foundation.

We can't talk about number two through five until we understand number one.

Number two, we will have differences.

And we need to listen to each other with humility and compassion.

Number three, we take our differences to the scriptures, asking the Holy Spirit for help.

Number four, we need to distinguish between the essential and the important.

Number five, the church can make a proclamation while individuals still differ.

Now you already know that because you differ with stuff all the time when I say something.

Right?

Every single one of our beliefs are never gonna line up.

I mean, it's not even true in my marriage, right?

It's not gonna be true with 250 people or 400 people or a thousand people, right?

But what we're looking for is we're looking for like laser close alignment on the essentials.

Like Acts 15.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Laser close.

And then reasonable alignment on the important.

And even getting to say reasonable alignment is an unbelievable kind of cultural and historical gift.

Because in many places in the world and in history, you're lucky if there's one church to show up to.

Just one.

See, we get to do all the shopping, picking.

Imagine if there's just one.

Now I know you want me to name the important.

Baptism, creation, homosexuality, gifts of the spirit in times, men's and women's roles, alcohol, Seinfeld friends.

Were Ross and Rachel on a break or not?

I mean, this is but did I hit a hot spot?

Of course I did.

Of course I did.

I'll say vitally important issues.

The framing of the house.

Vitally important issues.

And we want to stand in truth as best we can.

So our church will proclaim a clear view on essential and the important, which means you as an individual probably will not be in a hundred percent agreement with every single little thing.

It's also why you haven't been in agreement with 100% of every single thing in any other church you've ever been to.

And if you find that church, you will be by yourself in your basement.

We're just looking for alignment on the essentials, laser alignment, the core of who we are in Jesus, and kind of reasonable alignment on the important.

Like if we're getting around 80% of the important, like that's probably pretty good.

If you drop below a certain point, start to get tense, and you can't be in a place in peace.

Well, maybe you need to, maybe another church is an option for you.

And this isn't easy because we do believe something.

And sometimes the important can feel essential.

And the essential and the important are connected.

They're not separate.

So that makes it harder too for us.

But without some distinction here with us, we will never be at peace with each other, much less be at peace with our Christian family at Stonebridge, or our Christian family at First Methodist, our first Presbyterian, or the Baptist.

We're different.

But we are one in Jesus.

Now, another gift that we have is councils have met throughout the history of the Christian faith to define the essentials.

So our church's essentials are the 39 Articles of Religion, pretty long Reformation document.

But we also hold to the historic creeds.

The historic creeds give us the essentials.

The Apostles' Creed in the fifth century is a summary of the Nicene Creed in the fourth century.

So as to close, I'll read these essentials that unite our hearts together.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead on the third day, he rose again.

He ascended into heaven.

He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church.

Catholic means all embracing.

The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, help us.

Help us in all the places that we differ.

Forgive us for our lack of compassion, our lack of curiosity.

Forgive us for always wanting to be right more than listening and asking your Holy Spirit to help us.

Would you increase both our love toward people and our love of truth?

And help us on both the essentials and the important, not to be at the whim of culture, but to be in submission to your scriptures and the Holy Spirit that you would guide our hearts and us as a church.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

We say together, Amen.