Thursday, July 11, 2013

Fight and Bicker or Divide and Conquer

Disagreement about Circumcision (Acts 15:1-35)

    One of the challenges in the early church was that the Jews tried to blend their Old Testament beliefs with their new found faith in Jesus. In many ways they could do this and it would not violate the new faith, but the problem occurred when they tried to push these convictions off on the Gentiles.
    They said that the gentiles needed to be circumcised, which was not true, but even worse they said they needed to keep the law. (Acts 15:1, 5). What we are seeing here is the early entrance of legalism and works salvation into Christianity. Paul fought this all the time and we are still fighting it today. Be strong with the Biblical truth that you can not work for your salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5).
    The end conclusion of the apostles and early church leaders was to ask the gentiles to be careful about what they ate to try to avoid offending the Jews unnecessarily and to avoid sexual sin, but they did not have to be circumcised. Although it would not have been wrong for them to get circumcised (no scripture prohibits it), even Paul ask Timothy to do this to avoid offense and unneeded hindrance to their ministry (Acts 16:3), but a precedent needed to be set so that works salvation could not get a foot hold. In other words they could have said, "It doesn't violate scripture for them to be circumcised, so let's have them do it to avoid offence." But you have to ask what might this cause in the future.

Disagreement about John Mark (Acts 15:36-41)

    Paul and Barnabas were headed back out to check on all the churches that had been started due to their first evangelistic campaign, but they could not agree about taking John Mark. Barnabas insisted he should go, while Paul said no because he left them the first time.  They simply could not agree on this issue. So they parted ways.
    It really turned out to be a great thing. We know that Paul and Silas did wonderful things for the Lord and evidently Barnabas and John Mark did too. Paul later said that John Mark was useful for the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). Also John Mark is the author of the book of Mark. So God used them all.
    But who was right? That is the point. It doesn't always have to be about who is right and who is wrong. It doesn't always have to be a fight to make sure you don't lose face, or position, or whatever. When you simply can't reach an agreement, the best thing is to part ways instead of doing damage to God's kingdom and allow him to use you and the other people.
    Careful though, you could easily become the person who runs at the first sign of trouble and that is not right either. Do all you can to work through it in a Godly way, but if the disagreement is too sharp (Acts 15:39) part ways for God's glory.

Paul in Macedonia (Acts 16:1-22)

    This section of scripture introduces us to the great Macedonian vision and Lydia.

Paul and the Philippian Jailer (Acts 16:23-40)

    We can learn much from Paul and Silas' attitude during this difficult trial. God is certainly in control and he can be trusted. He sent Paul and Silas down there so the Jailer, his household, and who knows how many prisoners could be saved. This section gives us the simplest and yet most wonderful answer to the question "what do I have to do to be saved?". Acts 16:31, So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” This is this week's Journey Memory Verse. How powerful, believe and be saved!

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