20th Sunday after Trinity 2024

Father in heaven, we humbly come before your word, a very rich and dense and in some cases

difficult text to understand, and we pray that you'd give us humility to learn and to submit

to your word. And Lord, we also ask that you'll open our eyes to what you would want us to see

this morning. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

If you've been watching the news at all, last week in Vancouver, a group of anti-Israel and anti-West

and anti-Canada demonstrators, they publicly burned a Canadian flag. After and during the burning of

the flag, the leader led them in a chant of burn Canada. A few other things they wanted to burn as

well, but burn Canada was heard loud and clear. They're clad in masks. We have no idea who these

people were. The police were said to look into it. I'm not sure. I don't know of any updates. I didn't

go digging around. But it would be safe to assume that these people were Canadians themselves,

at least some of them, either through birth or immigration. Either way, they would hold Canadian

citizenship. I was thinking about, apart from the obvious, I'm a Canadian. I'm thankful and proud that

I'm a Canadian and I don't like seeing the flag burned. But I was wondering why it made me so

unsettled to see the flag burned. I think for me, and maybe for you as well, the Canadian flag,

it represents the ideals of Canada and our shared citizenship, the things that bind us together

as Canadians. I say ideals because ideally we'd hold on to these. Maybe they're not held so tightly

anymore. But by and large, the Canadian flag, it ought to represent our shared values for tolerance,

that many people from different backgrounds can live together and coexist, for equality before the law,

just to name a couple things. The flag, ideally, is the thing we rally around as Canadians. The flag

is our point of reference. Especially in this Olympic year, the summer that we had, it's a wonderful time

to be a Canadian. So it represents our unity, our national pride, and unfortunately, less and less,

this is appearing to be the case. And so the Canadian flag goes up in flames on the streets of Vancouver.

And people like myself lament it, but it's a bit unsurprising. I bring that up just to talk about

the flag itself as being the very thing that is what we rally around. It represents our ideals.

And I want to ask this morning, what is the unifying ideal for Christians? What is our flag,

so to speak? The thing that we rally around, the thing that unifies us, the bond that transcends,

as Christians, national pride, even our civic duty. What is the thing that unites Christians?

The question's easy. It's also very hard. It's easy because we could say it's Jesus. That's what

unites us. And it's incredibly difficult in some cases because even though Jesus is the center and

we are on the periphery, but he's connecting us all, he is the hub and we are the spokes,

and he is the source of our unity as Christians, we have a real tough time to find things that we

agree on. Maybe not necessarily this church, but Christianity itself across our province,

across our country, across our continent, across the world. What unites us is hard to understand,

and if we're being perfectly honest, quite elusive. The Christian churches across Canada, for instance,

even if you look at Ottawa, differences in emphasis, cultures, practices, styles,

and certain doctrines that are held dear in the church. I'm not saying all differences are bad,

but where there is differences, unity is not necessarily easily come by.

So, how do we debate well? How do we consider well? How do we unite well? How do we come to

consensus well? And how do we struggle even to get to the table to have that conversation?

So, Jesus is our rallying point, but how do we come into this unified group? How do we come to call

each other brother and sisters, arm in arm, hand in hand? So, we're at Acts 15. This text is a key text

for just this question. It's the midway point of Acts, both pretty much in terms of its structure of

Acts in the narrative. It's kind of at the halfway point, but it's also the midway point of Acts where

there's a clear shift towards the spread of the gospel and the building up of the church. What we see in

Acts 15 is the Jerusalem Council, as it has been come to known, come to be known, and it's the first such,

it's called ecumenical council, the universal or where all of the church comes together in one spot.

There'll be councils afterwards, but this is the first one, and it's in Jerusalem. It's a huge turning

point in the narrative of Acts, for it both defines what true salvation is, and by extension, what true

membership in the churches is, it also provides us a blueprint for how to deal with differences,

doctrinal differences within the church. Okay, mountain in Acts 15. It's a mountain. We're not

going to scale to the summit addressing every little bit. We'll read the entirety of it by the time we finish

up this morning, but I'm going to point out just a couple things, and I've already mentioned them.

Acts 15 will help us to understand what the true definition of salvation is according to God's word,

what that looks like, and by definition, what membership in his church looks like. And then the

third thing that we'll investigate is a blueprint for navigating doctrinal differences.

Huge implications for the church, but huge implications for how we live our life and how we

enjoy flourishing as human beings in God's creation. So let's jump to it. If you have one of these,

turn with me, like I mentioned, page 86, and read verses 1 to 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. We'll continue on to read verses 4 and 5. 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 rose up and said,

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

Many people romanticize the early church as the key point of purity and unity within the history

of Christianity. And we get to Acts 15 and we see within the first generation, within the first

generation, there's dissension, there's debate. It's not exactly so pure and clean and without blemish.

Everybody linking arms, everybody in one accord. We have instances of that early on,

but within a generation, we're seeing debate and issues arise. Sex even developing. Here we see

that there's some converts from the Pharisees who are promoting this distorted view of the gospel that

they're saying, hey, listen, yeah, you have to have faith in Jesus, but you also essentially have to live

like an observant, law-keeping, Torah-abiding Jewish person. And carton parcel to that is circumcision.

Before we address this, I just want to say this. These aren't the Pharisees that are trying to

thwart Jesus in the gospels. These are brothers and sisters in the faith,

except that they're believing a false gospel. They love Jesus, but they have a distorted view of what

it means to walk with Jesus and to serve with Jesus. I would say that we need to be careful

to demonize them, but rather show some sympathy to them for two reasons. They left Pharisaical

Judaism to follow Jesus. They're part of the Pharisee group, which is to say that they just have those

leanings. They haven't kind of abandoned those leanings. You're in the church long enough and you

have the privilege of seeing people come to faith from, say, a different religion or a different

practice or a different kind of spirituality. They don't do away with everything overnight.

It's not like a switch is flipped and then within moments they don't, they stop thinking like a Muslim

or they stop thinking like a spiritualist or they stop thinking like somebody that is obsessed with

money. It takes time. This is what the Bible calls sanctification. It's God working in us and through

us to change our view towards him. This is what's happening here. These aren't enemies. These are brothers

that are confused. The second thing why we should be sympathetic towards them is that they really want

to follow God's law. They really want to be concerned about the Bible. I mean the New Testament's not

written right now, so they're trying to follow the Bible. Wrong way of following the Bible, but they're

trying to follow the Bible. So they're brothers in Christ, but brothers who are confused about salvation

in the church and the place of the Gentiles, nevertheless, even if we're sympathetic to them,

they're causing problems, dissensions, debates. They're, we'll see, hoisting upon the non-Jewish

believers in Jesus a yoke that was never intended for them. What's interesting today amongst Jewish people,

and it has been for centuries upon centuries, is can I be Jewish and believe in Jesus? Here it tells us

that the original question is, can I be not Jewish and believe in Jesus? This is what's at play here

in Acts 15. Were they just these Jewish believers? I mean, they were worshiping the Jewish Messiah

from the Jewish scriptures, walking according to the Jewish Torah, with Jewish patriarchs,

all of the Jewish hope. Are they to abandon that? This is the question. Are they to abandon that for

the Samaritans, for the Phoenicians, for the Cypriots, to those in Antioch, to those in Pisidia,

in Asia Minor, in Rome, in parts of Asia? Are they supposed to abandon all of that for these Gentiles?

It's a big question. It's a big question. What's at stake here isn't just, can Gentiles remain Gentiles?

It's, does the gospel destroy culture? Does it destroy our heritage? It's a scary thing to ask.

It's a good thing to be proud of where you're from and the people you're connected to.

I mean, within moderation. I'm not talking about like, like Nazi pride or something, but like a good

pride. I'm thankful for the parents I have and where I came from. I, I'm privileged wherever I am.

I'm thankful for the life I have. The gospel comes and offers us true life. And the questions asked,

do I have to give up everything? Scary.

So, Paul and Barnabas, they're pushing back against this question.

And they are proclaiming a gospel of faith in Christ alone, not compelling

the Gentiles to become Jews. They're not asking them to have Jesus plus anything, but just Jesus.

So, we have these two sects within the Christian church early on that are promoting two different

faiths. How are they to be dealt with? Look with me now in verse 7. Before we get in there,

there's going to be three successive testimonies on behalf of the true gospel. It'll be Peter,

it'll be Saul and Barnabas, and then it'll be James. We're going to just jump into Peter's bit here,

starting in verse 7 to verse 11. And this will tell us a little bit about what true salvation is.

Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles

should hear the word of the gospel and believe. What he's referring to, by the way,

is a few chapters back, and likely about a decade prior, where Peter gets a vision and goes by the

Lord's leading to Cornelius, who is not a Jewish person. He is a Roman soldier and proclaims the

gospel. They believe the Holy Spirit is given, and this is what Peter's referring to here.

Verse 8,

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, that is Cornelius and his household,

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?

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

Notice a few key points here. Peter references the story of Cornelius and his household coming to faith.

It was by divine will that it happened. If you remember, Peter has this vision, and it's God

speaking to him to associate with people that he previously deemed unclean. It was God who made the

inroads into Peter. And God also, we find out later, made the inroads into Cornelius, opening his eyes,

connecting the two. And when Peter proclaimed the gospel to Cornelius, he did not compel him to become

Torah observant. He did not compel them to get circumcised. No. In verse 7, they hear the word

that is the gospel message and believed. Faith was at work. And that's all Peter ends up talking about

here. That's it. It's just faith. They heard, they believed, it was faith, it was the gift of God

to these Gentiles. And what's interesting, too, in all of this, is that God bore witness to what he was

doing to the Gentiles. How? By giving the Holy Spirit. And then he says, just like it happened with

us, and he's referring to Acts chapter 2, where the Holy Spirit falls on the Jewish pilgrims when they're in

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Jerusalem. And it's a fulfillment of prophecy, the God verifying that he is at work saving people.

And the same pattern of events is happening

with Cornelius. And he is not a Jew. He is a Gentile. And he is going to stay that way for the rest of his

life. True salvation, what we see here, it's always a matter of the heart. It's always a matter of the

heart. The heart that hears the gospel message and turns to Christ by faith and enjoys the cleansing

that only God can do. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that is given. All of which, Peter says,

at the end of this section, is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all through the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ. A gift from above by God himself.

And what does this result in? He says, Peter, that there's now no distinction between Jew and Greek.

And that's not my opinion, he says. God is the one who said that. So if you have a quarrel with what we are

saying, listen, you're not quarreling with me, Peter, the former fisherman. You're quarreling with God

himself because he is the one who's bore witness to all of this. It's a heavy, heavy statement, but it is true.

No ceremonial conversion to Judaism, but a spiritual conversion of the heart all by the power of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And friends, I'll just say this. Why is this a good news for them and also for us today?

It's because such a salvation that is not our own doing. It is by the grace of God that we receive by faith.

It is a gift for us. It is no small matter because it both obliterates pride and it smashes hopelessness.

And if you're following along, even on the periphery, there's a lot of pride and a lot of

hopelessness today. There's a lot of it.

So it's good news for us. How does it obliterate pride? It does so because the heart that revels with

pride in either achieving enlightenment or perfection or nirvana or some kind of connection to

the above or thinking that I am somehow, all of that doesn't apply to me. I'm good where I stand

right here. That heart is not just a part of the problem. It is the problem. If you're familiar with

the seven deadly sins, pride is the king of the sins by which all of the other sins can take root

and germinate and germinate and grow and bloom.

Pride needs to always be fixed. And therefore, the idea of salvation through self-achievement,

be that keeping the Torah law or just thinking, no, I'm okay, I'm good the way I am, it's inherently

flawed. It is, and I have no idea why we use this. It's like pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.

It's an impossibility. It's impossible. It's inherently flawed. Likewise, hopelessness. Why does

it smash hopelessness? Hopelessness, it falsely states that there's no way out of the pit, that

the dark is too dark. The light isn't good enough. The life that it's offered, it's not going to

deliver what it's promising. Things are too far gone. Life lacks hope. But like with pride, a salvation

that does not offer and satisfy the longing for hope is no salvation at all. So, it would take the

very person of God himself to take upon human flesh, to die in our place, to live, to die in our place,

to defeat death, to rise again. That's the hope we put our, that's what we put our faith in. That's our hope.

And if the object of our hope defeated all of the things that cause us hopelessness,

my goodness, that's an antidote to the hopelessness of our society.

As we transition to the next bit, the next point, there can be no plurality of thought when it

pertains to salvation by grace through faith. There can't be two competing gospels. There can't

be a 1A and a 1B. There can't be a Jesus and then a Jesus plus whatever, fill in the blanks.

So much rides on a proper definition and understanding of salvation, for it has implications

for both belonging to Christ and to his church. And this is where we'll jump to the next section.

Look at verse 13 and following with me.

So, I'll back up. Verse 12. Paul and Barnabas, it's one verse, but it's like a,

we could double click on that, but we'll just read it. And all the assembly fell silent. That's

at what Peter has just said. And they listened to Paul and Barnabas as they related what signs and

wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. That's, we're presuming that's the first missionary

journey that we talked about the last three weeks. Verse 13. After they finished speaking,

James replied, brothers, listen to me. Simeon, that's Peter's Jewish name. Simeon has related how God

first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. And with this, the words of

the prophets agree, just as it is written. He's going to quote Amos chapter nine here.

After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its

ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who

are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. We're not going to

deep dive into this prophetic quote of James and not a lot of time on this point because we've covered

some of this already. However, what James is claiming here is that as Gentiles have come to faith,

that Gentiles being in Christ, now they belong to the people of Israel in a very real spiritual way.

James, he is a leader of the church in Jerusalem. He is a Jewish man himself. And what he is doing is

he is describing the conversion of the Gentiles using language that up till now has only been applied to

Jewish people. This is a bit of a scandal because the Jewish people in Israel, they've existed by being

distinct and the times that they haven't been distinct where they've wanted to be like the

nations around them have led to their downfall. So they're very cagey on who is and who isn't

in the in crowd. And here, James, he is using language that is exclusive to the Israelites and he's applying

it to the Gentiles. So words like visitation and speaking of the Gentiles as a remnant are very

Judaic words to use. And yet he is not using it to describe the nation, singular, that is the Jewish

nation, but the nations which come to describe people from every tribe and tongue, every part of the world.

Not only that, the quotation of scripture speaks to this expansion of David's kingdom.

If you remember, King David is like the king of kings, the king that the Messiah will come from.

That this kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and now it is expanded to include people that did not belong

to this kingdom beforehand. And finally, if we take a look at the letter written to the Gentile church,

this is the portion that Matt didn't read, verses 23 and following, which is to say a summary of the

debate and a letter written to the Gentile churches informing them of all that went down in the Jerusalem

council. If we look at that letter, it is written from the brothers to the brothers.

From the brothers to the brothers. Not from the master to the slave. Not from the clean to the unclean.

Not from even God's chosen wonderful race and those people that have kind of just slipped in

in the back door. It's brothers to brothers. That is not a small detail. That's a huge detail. It's huge.

Distinctions remain. Jews are still Jews. Gentiles are still Gentiles.

But those important identity markers are superseded by new and eternal identity markers.

That is, before we are Canadians, we are Christians.

No longer do ethnic and familial and social and economic and regional and whatever other factors

that come to mark us,

they aren't the highest description of who we now are.

Rather, we are Christians.

So our allegiance is still, say, to a Canadian flag, but it's,

we have a higher allegiance to a different flag.

And this flag is eternal.

And around this flag are people from every tribe and tongue.

It is a beautiful, a beautiful family that we have been brought into.

Full inclusion into the people of God.

He does not have two peoples. He has one.

And as we get to our final bit, looking at the blueprint for this unity,

how to get and maintain unity within the church.

In Christ, Paul can say there's neither Jew or Greek,

that all are one in Christ Jesus.

But we need to be honest and open about the disputes and differences that mark the church.

From the beginning all the way to the present,

that threaten to undo the unity and purity of the gospel message.

And these differences and disputes,

they threaten to burn down the flag.

Acts 15 provides a blueprint for how to achieve and maintain this unity.

This perplexing section that I'm going to read,

follow along with me, verses 19 to 21.

It is no small portion of scripture to interpret.

Verse 19.

This is James now speaking.

Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.

Okay, that sounds great.

Verse 20.

But should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols,

from sexual immorality,

and from what has been strangled,

and from blood.

For from ancient generations,

Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him,

for he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

Four prohibitions.

Difficult to understand.

Three seem to be ceremonial in nature.

That is, the eating of meat sacrificed to idols,

strangulation, which is a type of slaughtering,

and the consumption of blood.

Things that we probably don't deal with.

If you're like from England,

you might enjoy yourself a blood pudding in the morning.

It sounds disgusting.

I looked up the ingredients,

and it's not like,

hey, it's called blood pudding because it looks red.

It's blood.

And anyways, if you like that, fantastic.

Great for you.

So there's three ceremonial prohibitions,

and then there's one moral one.

And the three ceremonial ones,

you could say, okay, we can figure that one out,

but how does it work with this one moral one?

Because the prohibition of sexual immorality,

that is, any sexual knowing outside of a male and female marriage,

it seems to be applied across all people.

It's binding on all people.

So there's more,

but there's two fairly mainstream ways to understand these prohibitions.

The first,

that all of these four prohibitions

are somehow connected to foreign practices

that were repulsive to Jewish sensibilities

that were prohibited back in Leviticus 17 and 18

to foreigners living amongst God's people.

I'm not going to read portions of Leviticus 17 and 18.

You'll have to take my word for it.

Jump into it.

I can see it.

There's definitely a case to be made.

I am not smarter than the biblical scholars that I consult.

So that's one view.

The second is this,

that these practices were seen as representative of paganism writ large

and therefore also repulsive to Jewish sensibilities

so that to become a Christian yet remain a pagan

would cause a dissension,

cause a disunity,

a separation between the two.

I'm not sure which one is correct.

However,

in both cases,

it would seem that these prohibitions have

more to do with making concessions

for a portion of the church,

in this case,

the Jewish brothers in Christ,

who may have been offended by certain practices

and therefore to disregard their unease

would be to not love them

and therefore break fellowship in Christ's church.

Okay?

Stick with me.

So in other words,

it would be to poo-poo the unity of the church.

I think that's a decent way of saying it in layman's terms.

The fact is,

we all have our things that make us feel uncomfortable.

And we always feel seen and appreciated and heard

when people can,

one,

articulate that

and then make concessions for us.

Make exceptions.

Help us.

Maybe,

even though that they can,

for instance,

drink alcohol,

if somebody is a tea totaler

and somebody recognizes that

and they come for dinner,

they don't bring wine.

Or they have you for dinner

and they don't have wine,

but rather they have some non-alcoholic drink.

Oh,

this person,

they care enough about me

to make this concession.

This is like a loving thing to do.

And this is,

I think,

what's happening here.

And the reason why I think that

is because in the very next chapter,

the Apostle Paul,

who is vehemently opposed

to this sect

of believers

who are pushing circumcision,

the very next chapter,

he circumcises Timothy

for the sake of the gospel

being spread amongst Jewish people

and non-Jewish people alike.

And you're like,

wait, what?

This is like exactly the opposite

of what you've said.

And it would seem to me that

that for the church

to stay unified

means,

like in any family,

we make concessions.

Here's where the rub is.

We can't make concessions

that then go against

our convictions.

So,

how do we navigate this stuff?

Either we embrace,

in this case,

unity,

but we engage with heresy.

Or,

we have a pure doctrine

and we're schismatics,

which is to say

that we're just separating

from everybody

because they're not

spiritual enough,

they're not clean enough,

they're not focused enough,

whatever.

You have two gutters.

How do you navigate it?

Heresy and schism.

It's a huge problem.

It's a huge difficulty.

How do you do it?

So,

as that kind of sets the table,

how then does,

does Acts 15

lay out a blueprint

for us to navigate

these things?

I'll say this,

for the,

for the Christian faith

to be truly,

truly unified,

it has to be

small c Catholic.

That is to say

it has to

be universal.

That,

that doesn't mean

there's not differences

because Catholic

also means varied.

To have a Catholic

taste in music

means to have

an eclectic taste

in music.

So it has a bit

of a double meaning here.

But for the,

the church

to be truly unified,

it has to be

small c Catholic.

It must both avoid

and make concessions

to non-core beliefs

that are sectarian

in nature.

There's a,

a great YouTube channel

and,

and,

and theologian,

it's called

Truth Unites

by a guy named

Gavin Ortlund

and he calls this

theological triage.

It's very

helpful.

We're not going to

jump into it,

but all that to say

is the Christian faith

can never bend

on core beliefs.

The Nicene Creed

that we,

we not just recited

but proclaimed,

that is,

that's core stuff

we need to believe.

The Apostles Creed.

We can't be wishy-washy

on the Trinity.

That's not,

that's not a concession

we make.

We,

we're not wishy-washy

on the Incarnation.

It's not a concession

we make.

The mode of baptism

can be a concession

we make.

It's,

it's,

it's important.

It's not to say

that the concessions

aren't important.

It's to say

that they're not core,

that the faith

doesn't rise and fall

with,

with whether we do

away with them

or embrace them

in,

in a certain way.

The faith rises and falls

if we say

the resurrection

didn't happen,

but it does not

rise and fall

if we say,

listen,

this church,

baptism by sprinkling,

this church,

baptism by full immersion.

It doesn't.

They're,

they're,

they're modes

we're discussing.

We don't break fellowship

over that kind of stuff.

And there's a whole host

of other things.

This is why it's called triage,

right?

Because we have our core beliefs,

but for secondary

and third order issues,

we can have unity

with difference.

It's not to say

that we don't wrestle

and spar

and,

and read

and push back

and have discussions,

a lot of which

is like,

there's a famine

in our culture

about that today.

To wrestle with this stuff

and to,

hopefully,

to come to

at least an understanding

of saying,

you know what,

I'm going to stick

to this conviction

or I see the way forward

and I'm actually

going to switch it.

this is what we see here

in Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

The core beliefs,

they are not,

they are not sacrificed

at all.

It's still salvation

by faith.

But,

there's these,

these wonderful,

beautiful,

lovely brothers

that just struggle

with Gentiles

eating non-kosher.

So don't eat kosher.

Eat kosher.

It's not going to bother them.

Like,

is it going to,

are you not going to get

your nutrients?

What are you worried about?

You don't have blood pudding.

You'll live.

For the sake of unity,

what is that?

We,

we embrace it.

We embrace other people's

struggles.

And I'm telling you,

if you stand

on your pride

and say,

I don't need to bend

for somebody else,

question if salvation

has taken root

in your life

because what marks

the Christian

is love.

It isn't the ability

to just rail off

all of the doctrines

of the faith.

Very important.

But it's how do we

love God

and how do we love others,

especially our brothers

and sisters in the faith.

We have to do hard work.

We have to search

the scriptures for truth.

The cry of the Reformation

was ad fontes,

which is back to the sources,

back to the scriptures,

and not a generation

after the Reformation.

Another rallying cry

of the Reformation

was semper reformanda,

which is to say

the church is reformed

and always reforming.

We're always,

we're always,

we're always

seeking God's face,

seeking to reform,

always coming under

God's word.

Well,

not just the book of Acts,

but the entire Bible.

God's word.

We are submitting to it.

It's a huge aspect

of what it means

to be a Catholic Christian.

And that's why

we will,

we will say that,

that we are Catholic,

small c,

and I will push it

in this church

and push other people

to embrace it

because

this is what

the heart of God

is for the church.

And the Roman Catholic Church

can't

claim the word Catholic.

It can claim the word Roman

all at once,

but it

can't claim the word

Catholic.

And even still,

and I'll say this,

a little bit of polemics,

and if you have issues,

talk to me afterwards,

I'm happy to

discuss the issue with you.

This is why

the Roman Catholic Church

isn't truly a Catholic church,

but it's more sectarian.

Because what it does

is it elevates,

I would say erroneous,

but we could call them

secondary beliefs,

but say erroneous beliefs,

to primary doctrines,

so that if you do not

believe in it,

you are anathema.

They are preaching

faith in Christ

plus circumcision.

We cannot

elevate anything

above faith in Christ

as the very core

of what true salvation is.

That God has made a way

irrespective of our ability

and where we are at

so that our hearts

can be cleansed

from sin.

That we can know

true joy,

peace,

that we can be in fellowship

with one another

because we are in fellowship

with God.

God,

we cannot elevate

anything

to that level.

It is only grace

by faith.

So,

to wrap it up,

Christ died and rose again

in order to make

many people one.

Yet,

they remain different.

Yet,

they are one.

Yet,

they remain different.

Yet,

they are one.

And when we see

differences,

he has given us

the strength

by his Holy Spirit

as individuals

but also as a church

and as the church

to do the hard work

of figuring out

how to make

loving concessions

for our brothers

and sisters

so that we will remain

in fellowship

with them.

And it reminds us

that what truly

unifies us,

what is our true

rallying cry,

what is the flag

that we pledge

allegiance to.

We don't do that

in Canada

but the flag

that we pledge

allegiance to

it is Christ Jesus

who is Lord of all

and nothing less.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven,

we thank you

for the Jerusalem Council

and there was

much more

that we could have

read and plumbed

but Lord,

we pray that

what we have read

and what we have considered

we've seen

what true faith is,

what true membership

in your church is

and a blueprint

how to maintain

that unity

Lord,

that we would take

that to heart.

Lord,

that we would be marked

by people that love

that would do,

like your son,

do away with

our own prerogatives,

our own rights

so to speak

for the sake of others,

to put others

before ourselves.

Lord,

we ask that you

bless us this week

as we consider

these things

and Lord,

may your church

be continually

cleansed

and made

whole

and cleaned

by your

most precious

son,

Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory.

Amen.