Church Government: The Jerusalem Council | Pastor William Hixson

Well, I trust you had a blessed time

while we were in Florida.

If anyone wants to see pictures of my

grandchildren, I'm sure I could find one

or two.

And so, we had a good time down there.

There's nothing like buying a

four-year-old boy a uh

plastic crossbow with arrows.

>> Only a grandparent would do that.

>> That's true.

>> But guess what? I am on his favorite

list now,

but not on anybody else's.

But he's having a good time with the

crossbow and he has instructions not to

shoot people with it. But uh he's

enjoying his $10 gift and I got a

special video from him saying, "I love

you, Grandpa."

So I bribed my grandkids.

Anyway, we did have a good time and it

was a enjoyable time. I think a

profitable time with our family and I

thank you for praying for that uh very

very much.

We are back in our series of Acts 15. or

excuse me on church government. And we

are in Acts

here in Acts chapter 14 and 15 here this

Acts 14 · chapter mention

morning to try to

continue in this study which for many of

you it probably feels like we're over

this is over too much information uh

over what you need. It's not a subject

we deal with very much, nor should it be

a subject we deal with very much. It's

not a subject that we ought to

overoccupy oursel because there's good

Christian churches with these all three

of these forms of church government. So

why should we do it?

Well, we need to know the form of church

government of the churches we are

affiliated with if we're going to

function in that church in a harmonious

way and in an intelligent and effective

way. Uh and so it's quite important that

we do that. And so part of this is to

prepare folks for joining Athens Bible

Church part that are interested. Part of

it is simply to reinstruct all of us in

things we've heard before but probably

haven't

had some of these things sealed in our

minds and hearts yet.

I will say there are things in the Bible

that good Christians differ on. I hope

you know that by now. Trust you do.

Armenians and Calvinists differ on

things.

uh there's differences between

uh Christians on certain doctrines of

the scripture, water baptism,

um that kind of thing. The Lord's

supper, how we are to look at it, and on

this subject as well, there's

differences. Good people have their

differences,

and good people have their differences

on this subject.

So, we're not trying to demonize or

characterize people who differ from us

on these matters as if there's something

wrong with their discernment or

spirituality.

But, uh it is important to know what you

believe and what others believe. So, uh

there are certain things in the Bible

that people are always going to disagree

with. And sometimes it's very serious

like the deity of Christ or the trinity

or the inspiration of the Bible. Those

are very serious subjects and there's no

room for leg for uh coloring outside the

lines there on any of those things.

But when it comes to these other uh

certain doctrines, yes, there's some

struggle to understand what the Bible is

saying. It's not the Bible's fault. It's

ours. It's our our limited ability to

grasp the things that are there.

And it's also very difficult when you

see people struggling to make a passage

fit their system.

You feel it, don't you?

Try to get a Jehovah Witness to properly

interpret John 1:1.

John 1:1

It's obvious they can't do it. have to

they have to

make a they make great efforts to avoid

the truth

and or an Armenian to try to understand

Romans chapter 8 the last few chapters

Romans 8 · chapter mention

and they start talking to him about an

election or predestination and they get

all nervous and sweaty and argumentive

and upset

or can I put it on the other side,

someone who's a very strong five-point

Calvinist, try to get them to be honest

about 1 John 2:2.

1 John 2:2

And you see him sweating bullets trying

to get around that passage.

So there's there's things that all of us

have issues with and struggles with,

whatever our system of theology on on a

lot of subjects. Uh but this one is

another one. And as you know uh there's

three models of church government that

have come down through church history

where Christians understand this subject

differently and we've already gone over

that and gone over it. I'll just touch

it just a little bit and then we'll get

into Acts 15. The reason Acts 15 is

important, every view, whether every

view of the three views of of church

government, whether it's Episcopalian,

Presbyterian or Congregationalism,

has to deal with this section

and the they have to come to this

section and and have a understanding of

the section and uh

some have more trouble than others.

So this is a helpful section.

It's not necessarily an easy section.

And behind this is the Judaizers, right?

The Judaizers caused a problem in the

church at Antioch.

Antioch in Syria, north of Jerusalem.

And people from the church in Jerusalem

had gone up to the church at Antioch

and started causing problems there.

You know that history.

And so Paul and Barnabas got into it

with them up there to their credit.

But then they went they all went down to

Jerusalem

to deal with this subject.

And it was it's an important subject. It

deals with sotiology. It deals with

salvation.

And so what what happened was there was

a church council. The first church

council dealt with the subject of

salvation. How are you saved?

And because some people

uh had did not have the right view of

that, these those people had to be

corrected and put in their place.

And that's exactly what happened.

It is a very important subject. It's a

very important issue

and it was dealt with by the apostles

and the elders and the church

in Jerusalem.

So pick it up with me in Acts 14.

Acts chapter

Acts 14 · chapter mention

14. Well, I'm going to go to 15.

Acts 15.

certain men

who came down from Judea.

Judea was higher elevation

to Barnabas and Saul.

Excuse me, I'm getting myself mixed up

here. Certain except a certain men who

came down from Judea taught the brethren

and said, "Except you be circumcised

after the manner of Moses, you cannot be

saved.

This was the issue.

Who started this fight?

People from Jerusalem

started the problem in Antioch

and giving the impression that the

authority of the Jerusalem church was

behind them for this particular

understanding

of salvation.

When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no

small dissension and disputation with

them, what does that mean?

>> Had a big fight.

>> They had a big fight

and would God, this is a fight that

needs to be fought whenever it arises.

No small dissension and disputation

took place to Barnabas and Paul's

credit.

And

they determined that Paul and Barnabas

and certain other of them

should go up to Jerusalem. Remember it's

higher in elevation

to the apostles and elders about this

question.

Now where did the problem come from?

Jerusalem.

Where did the problem manifest itself?

The church in Antioch.

So the church at Antioch is taking the

problem that started in Jerusalem

back to Jerusalem.

Okay, this is important. This problem

started in Jerusalem. It didn't start in

Antioch. It started in people from the

Jerusalem church trying to make the

people in the church at Antioch conform

to their theology.

salvation.

And so there was one item on the agenda,

one.

And the one item on the agenda

was, how is someone saved?

And we might think, well, that should be

obvious. Well, it wasn't obvious to

these people that were causing the

problem.

And it wasn't obvious to the people in

Antioch that get stirred up.

Now Paul and Barnabas understood very

clearly and no doubt other leaders in

Antioch understood very clearly. But

it's this whole business of what

these people came from Jerusalem. They

were sent by James.

Are we out of order? Are we out of sync

with the mother church in Jerusalem?

So verse three, being brought on their

way by the church, they passed through

Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the

conversion of the Gentiles and cause

great joy to all the brethren. Who's

that? Paul and Barnabas. What are they

causing joy about? Gentile people

getting saved without being circumcised,

without becoming Jews.

And when they come to Jerusalem, they

were received by the church.

So the mother church, if we can call it

the mother church, received them

and they were received by the church and

the apostles and the elders.

So the mother church in Jerusalem

received Paul and Barnabas and re and uh

and that includes the leadership of the

mother church in Jerusalem, the apostles

and elders. Now here is a very important

point.

The apostles had not left Jerusalem yet.

They had gone out a little bit like

Peter did in some other areas, but

mainly the apostles were still in

Jerusalem.

It's a very important point. Why were

the apostles involved? Because they were

still there.

So

everybody seems happy as Paul and

Barnabas come back towards Jerusalem

and then they're in Jerusalem

in verse four. But then something

happens.

There arose up certain of the sect of

the Pharisees

who believed

saying it was needful to circumcise them

and to command them to keep the law

Moses who rather them gentiles.

Now the background of these people is

they were from this phariseical

background. So their phariseical

background,

the way they interpreted the Bible

before they were Christians is now

crowding into their understanding of the

Bible as Christians or professing

Christians.

And they said, "Well, you got to

circumcise them, command them to keep

the law of Moses."

and the apostles and elders came

together to consider this matter.

Who are the apostles? The apostles that

are in Jerusalem haven't left yet. Who

are the elders? The elders. The elders

of the church of Jerusalem.

And when there been much disputing

and when we come to verse 7 we thought

who's disputing here the apostles and

elders are they disputing well I don't

believe so I think the apostles were

clear on this and I think the elders at

least most of the elders in Jerusalem

were clear on this but there were other

people involved besides the apostles and

elders church members were there as well

this was an open meeting this was not a

closed dooror

You will see that

when there had been much disputing,

Peter rose up and said to them, "Men and

brethren,

you know that a good while ago, God made

choice among us that the Gentiles by my

mouth should hear the word of the gospel

and believe." This was an important

moment

and a wonderful providence.

The first Gentiles were not saved

through Paul and Barnabas.

The first Gentiles were saved through

Peter.

God had a reason for that. And remember,

if you go back to Acts 10 and Cornelius

and his family, guess what? When Peter

went into the uncircumcised

and ate with them,

church members jumped Peter's case. You

went into the uncircumcised.

What are you doing?

It's a very interesting observation

because apparently in the early church,

no leader was above criticism,

not even an apostle.

And these folks felt an obligation to

call him out.

And then Peter said, "Well, who God gave

them the same gift as he gave us? It was

I that I could withstand God.

They got the Holy Spirit.

When I preached, they all got saved.

They got the Holy Spirit. They spoke in

tongues, which showed that they that not

the tongues of today, but the tongues of

the first century.

The ability to speak a foreign language

you'd never learned.

Who was I that could withstand God?

Don't Don't argue with me. Argue with

God. He did it.

So Peter was right on there with Paul

and Barnabas

and he stood up and made it very clear.

Paul, Barnabas, this isn't the first

time Gentiles have got saved. This isn't

the first time in the church age that

people have been added to the church.

This already happened with me.

So you're not just arguing with Paul,

Barnabas. You're arguing with God.

You're not just arguing with Paul,

Barnabas, and Peter. You're arguing with

God.

When there and when there had been much

disputing, Peter rose up and said to

them, "Men and brethren, you know that a

good while ago God made choice among us

that Gentiles by my mouth should hear

the word of the gospel and believe. And

God who knows the hearts, bore them

witness, giving them the Holy Spirit

even as he did to us."

And where does an unsaved person ever

have the Holy Spirit?

Since they got the Holy Spirit, they're

saved. That's why I baptized them.

Since God accepted him, we accepted

them.

And God accepted him without being

circumcised. And put no difference

between us, verse 9, and them. Purifying

their hearts by what? Faith. In my

opinion, this was one of Peter's finest

hours.

And Peter was speaking not just for

himself, but for the whole apostle band.

And he said in verse nine, "And put no

difference between us and them,

purifying their hearts by faith." And we

can say by faith alone, apart from

circumcision and and uh all the rest and

keeping the law.

Now therefore, why put God to the test

to put a yoke on the neck of the

disciples, which neither our fathers,

that's Jewish fathers, nor we were able

to bear. We couldn't keep the law. Why

you trying to make them keep it for

salvation,

but we believe verse 11,

Peter is now officially speaking

for all the apostles.

He's the official speaker

not just for himself.

All the apostles in the church at

Jerusalem and they were all there.

We believe

that through the grace of the Lord Jesus

Christ, we that's Jewish people who've

been circumcised and and have been under

the law, we will be saved even as they.

He doesn't put it the other way around.

they'll be saved even as us.

In other words, we have to not trust our

circumcision. We have to not trust our

lawkeeping. We have to be saved as

Gentiles are saved where they have none

of this background.

We shall be saved even as they

that to me was Peter's probably finest

hour

really.

Then all the multitude kept silent.

Remember there's thousands of people in

that church. And all the multitude kept

silent in verse 12 is the explanation

of that earlier verse

in verse 7 when there had been much

disputing.

So this was not a private meeting among

leaders.

This was a meeting before the whole

church.

leaders were there. The disagreements

were between

people who were there whose theology was

correct and people who were there whose

theology was incorrect or incomplete.

So all the naysayers

were shut up

by Peter's statement

and that gave the opportunity to

Barnabas and Paul to give their side of

things.

Then all the multitude kept silence and

listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring

what miracles and wonders God had

brought among Gentiles by them.

Now remember this is important. Barnabas

was a member of the Jerusalem church.

So he had a credibility that even Paul

did not have. I mean read the earlier

chapters of

Acts.

And

so when Barnabas and Paul, they're both

declaring the miracles and wonders God

had brought among the Gentiles by them,

it was very important. Why are they

talking about the miracles? Because God

does not authenticate error by miracles.

When the miracles done by Paul and

Barnabas, both of them, it was an

obvious authentication by God. These men

are proved to me.

And you have to go back and act and see

those different miracles.

And after they held their peace,

finally Paul and Barnabas are done.

This is a very interesting situation.

Uh they've come together, they've got a

meeting, there's one question on the

agenda. The apostles and elders come

together. Everybody else is listening.

Pretty soon, there's a bunch of

disputing. Peter rose up and shuts

everybody's mouth. And then Paul and

Barnabas speak about the miracles God

has wrought. So the people have heard

the head apostle and the people have

heard about the miracles

and they're thinking, "Wait a minute,

God doesn't authenticate error.

So

we better change our mind."

And after they held their peace,

James answered.

Now this is James,

the halfb brotherther of Jesus. This is

not James the apostle. He's dead in

heaven. He's been martyed. This is James

who wrote the book of James. This is

James, the halfb brotherther of Jesus.

He was the pastor of the Jerusalem

church.

He was the primis enterparez the first

among equals of the Jerusalem church.

Uh and he rises to speak. Peter spoke

for the apostles. James spoke for the

elders

at Jerusalem.

And it will become obvious that the

apostles all of them do not agree with

these Judaizers.

on sotiology

and that the uh elder board at Jerusalem

doesn't agree with him either.

So, these were people that were claiming

to be from James

and possibly even sent by him, but not

James maybe missed their error. And then

they're trying to correct the church at

uh Antioch when they're erroneous

themselves.

So, they got a big red face.

So, here's James. After they held their

peace, James answered, saying, James

closes the meeting with this.

Men and brethren,

hearken to me.

Simeon, that's Peter's name, has

declared how God first did visit the

nations to take out of them a people for

his name. This is biblical. This is Old

Testament biblical.

to this agree the words of the prophets

as it's written after this quoting Amos

after God takes out a people for his

name among Gentiles after this I will

return and will build again the

tabernacle of David which is fallen down

and I'll build again its ruins and will

set it up

that the residue of men might seek after

the Lord and all nations upon whom my

name is called says the Lord who does

all these things known to God are all

his works from the beginning of the age.

And then he says, I'm in total agreement

with the arrest of the of all the

apostles and I'm in total agreement with

Paul and Silas. Wherefore my judgment is

that we trouble not them who from among

the Gentiles are turned to God.

We trouble not them. Let's leave these

people alone. Let's not try to make Jews

out of Gentile,

but that we write to them that they

abstain from pollutions of idols and

from fornication and from things

strangled and from blood.

This is very interesting what he's

asking here. These are

these are matters

of

u fellowship.

If the gentile church wants to

fellowship with the Jewish church, they

have to not just agree with the church

about that fornication's wrong, but they

abstain from idols. That's a big one.

Everybody ought to know that's wrong.

But how about this other from things

strangled and from blood? Well, Jewish

people won't eat something that has

blood in it. They wouldn't eat English

pudding, right?

So what do they call that?

>> Blood pudding. They wouldn't eat

anything with blood in it and I don't

blame them. Blood pudding is terrible.

And so but anyway, they had a thing on

that. That was a conscience issue with

them even as Christians.

So this is verse 20. James is is issuing

a um

a a recognition that remember Paul and

Barnabas are right and nobody need

should be troubling these Gentiles. It's

biblical. The Gentiles be saved. God's

still got a program for the Jews with

the coming kingdom. But that doesn't

change things about what's going on now.

And then he says, "Moses, verse 21, of

old time has in every city them that

preach him being read in the synagogue

every Sabbath day."

Plenty of people are preaching

what Moses said about all these things.

We don't have to do it. Our job's

different.

Then pleased it the apostles and elders.

That's the tw the twel apostles and

whoever many elders of the Jerusalem

church with the underline with the whole

church.

Apparently the people who are

wrong-minded changed their mind

and voted differently.

Whatever Peter said and what James said

corrected their wrong ideas

and their aberant theology right there.

Right there.

So the whole Jerusalem church got

clarity on this subject. Apparently some

were aberant on this subject. Some of

them didn't have clarity on this

subject. And this problem brought about

a clarity in the Jerusalem church

that they needed

that they needed.

So he says in verse 22 that it pleased

the apostles and elders with the whole

church to send chosen men of their own

company to Antioch with Paul and

Barnabas, namely Judas surnamed Barabus

and Silas chief among the brethren. So

they didn't just they're going to write

a letter, but they don't just write a

letter. They send two of their own

leading men.

So they're saying, "Look, we're going to

spread this far and wide." This idea

that the Jerusalem church believes in

circumcision and lawkeeping

uh of Moses uh in a legalistic way as a

way of salvation is heresy. And we we

want anything with it. We don't have

we're not with these guys. Whoever they

are, whoever they whatever they they say

about us, we're not there.

And they wrote letters by them after

this manner. The apostles and elders

plural plural plural. Apostles, all of

them. Elders, all of them. And brethren,

all of them.

even the ones that were spreading error

on that occasion.

Send greeting to the brethren who are of

the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and

Silosa.

And notice they call these Gentiles

what?

Brethren,

the brethren in Jerusalem church are

sending this news to the brethren in the

Gentile church.

For as much as we have heard that

certain men who went out from us have

troubled you with words subverting your

souls,

saying, "You must be circumcised and

keep the law." Underline this about five

times. To whom we gave no such command.

They pretended to be from us or they

imagined they were representing us but

they never were commissioned by us to

say such things

to teach such things

to whom we gave no such commandment.

That's a total complete repudiation

of the Judaistic doctrinal statement.

It seemed to us verse 25 good to us

being assembled with one accord with

underlined with one accord. There was no

dissenting boat.

Everybody

went with it.

God be thanks when we have leaders that

can stand up for the truth

and bring others along

who've been misled or misleading.

This is a great moment in church

history.

It seemed good to us being assembled

with one accord to send chosen men to

you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.

We love them Barnabas and Paul. We're

all in for Barnabas and Paul and what

they teach and how they teach it. Men

that have hazarded their lives for the

name of our Lord Jesus. We have sent

therefore Judas and Silas who shall also

tell you the same things by mouth.

So they took this problem very

seriously. They sent a letter and then

they sent people to make sure nobody

misunderstood what the letter was saying

and not saying.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit

and to us. Now they're bringing the Holy

Spirit in to lay upon you no greater

burden than these necessary things. This

is necessary for fellowship. Kind of

hard to have a church dinner if

somebody's cooking kosher and nobody

else is. Somebody's eating a ham

sandwich. You know, it doesn't work.

That you abstain from things offered to

idols and from blood and from things

strangled and from fornication, basic

morality issues for which if you keep

yourselves, you'll do well. Bear ye

well.

Now that letter took off and those men

took off with us. So the early church

took this problem very seriously. They

delegated two people to travel uh with

the others to make sure nobody thought,

"Oh, Paul and Barnabas just made this

up." No, these were others from the

church of Jerusalem, qualified people.

Um

so verse 30 when they were dismissed

they came to Antioch and when they

gathered together the multitude together

they delivered the epistle which when

they'd read they rejoiced for the

consolation that's gentile churches in

these different areas and Judas and

Silas being prophets also themselves

exhorted the brethren with many words

and confirmed them after they tried

there a space they were let go in peace

from the brethren to the apostles

Notwithstanding, it pleased Silas to

abide there still. And Paul and Barnabas

continued in Antioch, teaching and

preaching the word of God with many

others also.

So this happened right after the first

missionary journey and before the second

missionary journey and the air came in

and it was dealt.

Now, Acts 15 that we've just kind of

summarized

is appealed to by all three models of

church government.

I mean, they have they all have to deal

with what's exactly going on here.

The Episcopalians emphasize the primacy

of Peter among the apostles and the

primacy of James among the elders.

Um

and Peter Ton mentions that they they

believe that the seed of not full-blown

but the principle if not the whole full

concept is here illustrated by a

differentiation of ordained ministers

and in their mind James is a monarchial

bishop and so forth in Jerusalem.

So that's how they see it. The

Presbyterians look at this as a local

church problem settled on a higher level

as a justification for their view of the

preset.

One writer said the church churches are

not independent but interdependent

government representation and connection

between churches. Local churches do not

minister alone but in connection with

other local churches. The church is more

than a local church. That's how they

look at how do how do independence how

do congregational churches like Bible

churches and Baptist churches and some

others we look at as two sovereign local

churches that had a problem

and the two local churches that had a

problem are dealing with the problem

between themselves recognizing that if

they don't deal with it and get it dealt

with clearly it's going to affect all

other churches.

in a deep way.

And so what should we say?

I I I believe the last part this is the

one this is important. The problem

started in Jerusalem from people in

Jerusalem and then infected Antioch and

then so Antioch and people went to

Jerusalem and went where the problem

started.

And the problem was big enough that the

apostles and elders of the church

Jerusalem had to deal with it because it

came from their church that they were

teaching. This is kind of important.

People in a church can do things the

leaders don't agree with at all.

Isn't that true? Ever have your children

do something you don't agree with?

>> People in a church can do things that

the leadership does not approve of.

Right? Not the way the leadership would

do it. People can teach things to the

leadership doesn't they do that. It's

not right that they do it, but they do

it thinking they're right.

It happens.

So when it happens, the leadership must

take a stand on it and say that's not

what we believe here. That's not how we

how we do things.

So what should we say with all this? Um,

well, number one, church government is

not the main point of Acts 15.

It's not the main point.

Sometimes we read our concerns back into

a passage, but it's not the main point.

The main subject here is the way of

salvation, right? That's the point.

salvation by faith alone or salvation

uh by faith plus plus plus plus plus

plus plus plus other things.

A second thing was under attack the

oneness of the church.

I mean these things could have just

split things up. The you could have had

a gentile church that has one way of

salvation, a Jewish church another way

of salvation. That's horrible.

John Phillips said, "There can be no

little doubt that was a faithful day for

the future of Christianity. Failure to

reach the right decision would forever

split the church or else reduce it to

the status of a Jewish cult."

FF Bruce, the great scholar, the New

Testament scholar said there was a grave

danger of a complete cleavage between

the church of Jerusalem and Judea and

the on the one hand and the churches of

Antioch and her daughter churches on the

other.

There's two things going on. Salvation

by grace through faith alone plus the

unity of the church between Jew and

Gentile. This had to be dealt with and

it was and God allowed it to happen

so that the church could go on unified.

It's kind of painful when churches have

problems and have problems with other

churches. But God has a purpose in all

of them. even in the problems.

So, what about church government

questions?

Here it gets a little opaque

because Acts 15 honestly doesn't

completely fit any form of church

government we've got today

other than the recognition that the

apostles have to be the ultimate

authority.

And here we are less than 20 years from

Pentecost and the beginning of the

church. there's a problem.

I mean, it's a little difficult just how

we should read and understand this

section.

Um,

but there's some things that we can say,

"Yep, that part is right."

In Acts 16:4 it says, "And as they went

Acts 16:4

through the cities, they delivered to

them the decrees to keep, dogmas, keep,

and they were ordained of the apostles

and elders who were at, excuse me, to

keep that were ordained of the apostles

and elders who were at Jerusalem." And

so there were so were the churches

established in the faith and increased

in number daily. So for the church to

grow, a clarity had to be made and a

stand had to be taken and they did it.

IH Howard Marshall said they write with

authority to their Christian brothers at

this stage. The Jerusalem church still

felt possessed of authority to tell

other churches what to do. No doubt

because no and he underlines this. No

doubt because it was led by the

apostles.

Underline that thought. The church of

Jerusalem had authority over other

churches because the church of Jerusalem

had all the apostles in it.

So it's the apostles that have the

authority

and that's and they just happened at

that time in church history to be in

Jerusalem. Of course, other than the

apostle Paul,

Patton Glow said, "This epistle proves

that the church of Jerusalem as the

mother church still exercised a

superintendence over the other

churches."

And I I think because the apostles were

involved, that's true.

And the letter was written to the

Gentiles, not to the local churches

themselves. Gentiles as Christians, not

local assemblies.

The other thing is the whole

congregation in Jerusalem was involved

in a major way. They embraced this. The

whole church embraced this.

um leaders were not exempt

from discussion or they could didn't

keep it to themselves. There's no hint

that the apostles elders ever had any

disagreement among themselves but there

was a disputation for a while where

people were still unclear.

Longenecker said the reference to

apostles, elders and the whole church is

comparable to the kuman structure of

authority where executive action for

religious matters was in the hands of

the priest other matters in the hands of

the overseers. There was a council of 12

to 15 and all the for mature members of

the community gave them approval to the

decisions of the priests and overseers

and council. It seems clear that the

Kuman and within the church of

Jerusalem, the congregation while not

equivalent to the Greek assembly in its

governmental powers was involved

underlined in the deliberation of its

leaders.

Leaders had their part. People had their

part.

And I believe that that's right. And

that's what congregational government,

the leaders have their part. They're

elected by the congregation. They lead

the congregation does vote on certain

things including things like

excommunication.

So

the wonderful thing is everybody was one

of four. So this ended well

things like this don't always end well.

This ended well.

And uh

CG Von he's a Presbyterian writer. He

said, "Happy had the universal church

been if a spirit of equal wisdom had

always presided in her councils or a a

spirit of equal simplicity been

everywhere diffused through her

congregations." But of course, we know

that hasn't always been true.

How did they get the mind of the spirit?

Remember the letter said, "Seem good to

us, the Holy Spirit." They got the mind

of the spirit through the spoken word of

Peter. the spoken word of Paul and

Barnabas and the spoken word of James.

That's how they got it.

And the spoken word of the Old Testament

scriptures.

So,

um I hope this is helpful to you.

Uh church meetings are not the most fun

thing to be part of, but sometimes

they're needful.

And so churches, people shouldn't say I

don't want to go to meetings. That's not

for me. You have a responsibility

sometimes to be there.

Now this is the earliest public

documents of the church at Jerusalem on

these matters

and it's one of the boldest and

magnanimous in the annuals of church

history. someone said.

So it was fatal to the life and ministry

of the Jerusalem church to have a false

position and they repudiated.

RK Harrison said it was a courageous

decision.

I'm going to end with this. It was a

courageous decision for it bound it was

bound to bring disfavor of unbelieving

Jews upon the Christian church

especially the mother church at

Jerusalem.

That is a very perceptive comment

when the Jerusalem church repudiated

the Judaizers

that were saying the Gentiles have to be

circumcised and keep the law of Moses

and have been literally become Jews

before they become Christians.

Once that Jerusalem church made this

decision, they put a bullseye on every

Christian in that church.

The hatred of the Jerus city of

Jerusalem came upon that church in a

great way because of this

decision.

You know in the book of James, James is

writing to all the people that were

scattered. And we know that the

persecution came and they were scattered

before this and now they're scattered

again.

God help us to do the right thing when

it comes to hard decisions

and side with the truth. Theological

truth, practical truth, biblical truth.

But the result of this was a second

missionary journey

and the unifying of the church.

Now, what does it mean for Athens Bible

Church in 2026?

Let's just bring it up to date.

Well, congregational government does not

mean

that local officers of the church are

not subject to the apostles.

Every Christian is subject to the

apostle.

And how can we be subject to the

apostles? We have to be subject to the

New Testament that they wrote.

There's no leader that should be above

the apostles or apart from the apostles.

Second, inner church problems

are to be settled by the two

congregations involved in those

problems.

That's pretty basic here, isn't it? and

the decisions that are made to solve the

problems dare not go against the

apostles or the early church.

Any position of the early church should

be the position of churches down through

time.

Um

third application

when we have problems and we have things

to deal with in our assembly we need to

not just think about ourselves. whole

Athens Bible Church. If we do this,

we'll grow or we do this, we'll

diminish.

Any decision we make on any problem, and

some of them might be hard

decisions,

we have to take the rest of the church

of Jesus Christ in consideration when we

make it.

You see, James understood something.

Other churches are going to be affected

by what we do today.

That's just

this is not just about J. This is not

just about Jerusalem church and Antioch

church. We It is such importance that if

we do the wrong thing, they're going to

be affected in a wrong way. Do the right

thing, they'll be affected in a right

way.

There are some churches that have taken

stands that put them out of business.

Good for them.

It's better to go out of business than

create some kind of compromised

situation that affects churches

everywhere and there and then other

people say, "Well, so and so church did

this and therefore it's okay."

Um, the whole church needs to be in mind

when we make our decisions on a local

level.

And

sometimes the best thing we can do is a

hard thing. Call out air for what it is.

If it comes from in in our midst or if

it comes because of our people or if

it's if it makes us uncomfortable, we

have to change, we do what we have to do

because it's bigger than us. It's always

bigger than us.

And so the congregational form of church

government does not mean we live in a

bubble and it doesn't matter what we do.

We don't have to think about anybody

else. We just do our thing and that's

the only thing that matters.

What we do affects everybody else in

some way.

And either error gets a applause by

those who endure it and who promote it

or uh or permit it or is rebuked and

God's work goes on.

I can't tell you how many people have

justified something because of what

another church did that they know about.

I had someone say to me, "Well, I know I

know other Christians that believe that

sex before marriage is fine."

Well, does that make it right?

You want to overthrow the whole Bible

and everything it says about fornication

because some group says this is okay.

But people do such things. They justify

themselves by what somebody else is

doing somewhere else and then want

churches to bend to that. You can't bend

to it

if you want to be faithful to the Lord.

Same thing with different doctrinal

error. There's some error that's just

wrong.

It shouldn't be tolerated. There's some

there's some interpretations of the

Bible and minor things where good

Christians differ on, but there's some

things that should be of no shouldn't

even be questioned. Shouldn't even be in

doubt.

Major issues.

uh we should major on majors and minor

on minors but we should never we need to

teach the whole council of God and we

need to be gracious in minor things when

people differ from us but there's

certain things we must make our stand on

we owe it not just to ourselves

and to Jesus we owe it to the rest of

the church of Jesus Christ

not only the church that's in our day

but the church that follows

so kind of important

So even though we believe church

government is local and there's no group

outside the local church that can really

come in and deal with stuff

uh we have to deal with our own issues

in congregational government. That

doesn't mean we view ourselves in

isolation and or or the problems we deal

with in isolation.

When good churches compromise, other

churches are affected.

When good Christians compromise, other

Christians are affected.

So I hope that this has been helpful uh

on the church government in a way that

even though we believe in a

congregational government here, we don't

believe that what we do or say is in

isolation and should be made in in

without consideration of other

Christians elsewhere or other churches

elsewhere.

We want to do the right thing to

encourage other people to do the right

thing.

Father, we thank you for what uh we've

learned here tonight. Uh we know that

none of us always do the right thing,

but we need to try to do the right thing

in every way possible to honor and

glorify you.

We pray for our church. We don't know

how long we have on this earth

till the trumpet sounds and the church

age is over. But may Athens Bible Church

be whether we grow big or small or

whether we go out of existence or

whether we continue and that we would do

the right thing and leave all the

results to God in every case that comes

before us as much as we can waiting on

you in Jesus name. Amen.

>> 384. If you'll stand with us. 384.

>> As we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world as we go from

this place.