Bible Text: Acts 15:1-6, 22-29 | Preacher: Pastor Dorry Newcomer | Series: Acts | In our scripture lesson today, we meet up with the members of the early Church in the midst of a critical debate:  does a person have to convert to Judaism in order to be a Christian?  Remember, the first Christians were all Jewish people who came to believe that Jesus was the long-anticipated Messiah they had been waiting hundreds of years for.  In becoming Christians, they weren’t switching to a new religion as much as they were simply seeing the hopes of their Jewish faith finally fulfilled.  The earliest Christians were Jews who followed the Jewish law and continued to worship in the synagogue.  Christianity was a sect within Judaism, not its own religion at first.

But all that changed when Peter shared the gospel with the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household.  As we talked about last week, the Holy Spirit very precisely led Peter to Cornelius’ house, and at the same time, the Holy Spirit was very precisely leading Cornelius to welcome Peter in!  It was a divine conspiracy, that led a Jewish Christian into the home of a Gentile, Roman soldier—in many ways, a person Peter could easily have considered an enemy.  But Peter went, and Cornelius received him.  And the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ came upon the whole house.  All Peter could do was marvel that the same baptism of the Holy Spirit that had come upon him and the other Jewish believers at Pentecost had now come upon these Gentiles.  Surely, then, the promises of Jesus were not just meant for Jews.  Jesus was Emmanuel—God with us!  And not just “us” as in Jewish people, but all people!  Jesus truly was God’s gift to the whole world.

For ten years, the gospel spread further, among both Jews and Gentiles.  But inevitably there arose tension between some of the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians.  Some were adamant that the only way to be a true Christian was to follow the Jewish law.  And so the debate was on:  Did you have to keep the Jewish law to be a Christian?  Early Christians who grew up Jewish were doing just that:  obeying all the laws about kosher diet, staying ritually clean, morally pure, and worshipping in the synagogue.  But keeping the Jewish law was not easy!  Even knowing them all is hard!  There are 614 laws, and if you are not surrounded by a community of fellow Jewish law observers, it is virtually impossible to keep them.  This would be a huge cultural and lifestyle shift for the Gentile Christians.  Not to mention, Jewish law requires circumcision for males.  It’s one thing to undergo that as an 8-day old infant.  But as a full-grown adult?  With no anesthesia, and no antiseptic?

We can see why this was so upsetting to the Gentile Christians.  They had found life in Christ!  Why should they have to follow the Jewish law?  What is it, exactly, that “saves” a person?  Is it following a certain set of rules?  Or is it by loving God?  Are we saved by trusting our own efforts at keeping the law, or are we saved by trusting God’s goodness in keeping us?

Jesus devoted a lot of teaching to this very issue.  The Pharisees criticized him for eating and drinking with sinners.  They criticized him for healing on the Sabbath.  They criticized him for plucking grain on the Sabbath.  But Jesus said to them, because of me, the blind receive sight!  The lame walk!  The lepers are cleansed!  The deaf hear!  The dead are raised!  The poor have good news brought to them!  Isn’t that more important than following any one particular rule?  Jesus’ life was meant to show us what God’s nature is all about.  But some people were so hung up on the particulars and the requirements, they dismissed the presence of the Divine in their midst!

Paul and Barnabas were not about to let this same conflict Jesus had with the Jewish authorities hurt the early church.  Luke tells us they “had no small dissension” with those who were insistent that Gentiles had to be followers of the Jewish law in order to be saved.  This was a huge conflict!  And there was no easy compromise.  So they decided to bring the matter before the assembly in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was where the church started.  The gospel had spread from there.  If there was a seminal question to be decided, best to take it to the founding fathers at the mother church.

So that’s what they did.  After much discussion, Peter, Paul and Barnabus stood up and testified: we have seen time and time again that people who have no connection with the Jewish law are being blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit and are being saved and are doing great things for God.  They are doing the things Jesus did!  Why would we impose on them the burden of following the law?  We all know that no Jewish person has ever been able to follow it perfectly.  And we can all agree that following the law never felt as good as following Jesus.  Why would we hamper the spread of the gospel by insisting that everyone become just like us?

The whole assembly debated, but the decision rested in the hands of James, who was one of Jesus’ brothers.  He was known as James the Just and had an extraordinary reputation for being a good man.  After listening to all the presentations, he made this decree:  that the Gentile believers should not have to follow the entire Jewish law.  But, they should keep certain minimal standards so they don’t offend their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ:  do not eat any meat that has been strangled or from which the blood hasn’t been drained away; do not eat any meat that was sacrificed to idols; and stay away from fornication.

James’ decision seemed to everyone to be the will of God, and two men were chosen to go with Paul and Barnabas to deliver the good news, Judas and Silas.  Two observant Jewish Christians went to the Gentile Christians and read the letter drafted by the Jerusalem council.  As you can imagine, the Gentile Christians were very relieved to hear that they did not have to follow all the Jewish rules.  Whew!

 

So now you know why Christians do not follow all the dietary and lifestyle rules our Orthodox and Conservative Jewish friends do.  It’s because of the Council of Jerusalem.  Funny how such an important decision is mostly unknown among Christians.  If you’re curious and want to know more, I checked, and there is indeed a Wikipedia page for the Council of Jerusalem!  Most Christians have never really heard about the decision, but we have been continually influenced by its ramifications.  From early on, the Christian Church decided the entrance into the abundant life Jesus offers is not circumcision. It’s not rigid observance of the legal code.  It’s baptism, being washed with the Spirit of God.  Except for three specific carry-over rules, Christians were to be free to live out their conscience in accordance with Jesus’ teachings and the leadings of the Spirit.

I thought about this on Friday night when we took my mom out for a birthday dinner at Legal Seafoods.  Only seafood with fins and scales is considered kosher.  I had a fabulous crab cake, four grilled scallops, and a skewer of grilled shrimp.  Not kosher!  Thankfully for Christians though, not a problem!  But the Council of Jerusalem did specify that, even though not all the Jewish food laws needed to be kept by the Gentile Christians, meat that had been part of idol worship should not be eaten, because that is especially offensive to God.  And meat that came from a strangled animal should not be eaten, because that was deeply offensive to the Jewish Christians.  The Council of Jerusalem specified these two requirements to safeguard our relationship with God and with each other.  It has me wondering about how we use food today.  Are our agricultural and dietary practices hurting other people?  Are we offending God with what we grow, modify, eat, and throw away?  Personally, I know I need to do some praying and learning about this.

I am also wondering about how the third stipulation, about sexual immortality, applies to us.  The Council of Jerusalem stipulated that all Christians should abstain from “fornication”, or in some translations, “sexual immorality”.  No commentary or explanation or flushing out of that is given.  But we know from Matthew 5 that Jesus said even looking at someone with lust in your heart is adultery.  Jesus raised the bar on human dignity, calling each of us to stop seeing others as sexual objects and focus on purifying our own hearts.  There is no doubt that what we do with our sexuality impacts our relationships with each other, and with God, and we all need to examine ourselves in light of the high bar Jesus set.

But I can’t help but notice a parallel to our situation today as our culture and in particular our denomination struggle with human sexuality.  In the early church, there was tension between the “traditional” people who upheld the Jewish law, and “new idea” people upon whom the Spirit was being poured out and in whom many gifts and graces were evident, even though they did not keep to the same rules as the traditionalists.  Today there are many Christians for whom the traditional views simply do not work, yet who are filled with and blessed by the Holy Spirit, and creative and loving ministries are coming forth from them.  I hope we will remember the Council of Jerusalem’s decision, and how it declined to give any other specifics about sexual behavior.  Instead, it gave us the template of looking for how the Spirit of God is moving, seeing how the Spirit is gifting and empowering new and diverse people, and not making rules that would hinder the Spirit’s will and progress.

I chose as our key verse today Jesus’ words from Matthew chapter 11.  After Jesus gets done chastising the Pharisees for putting protocol over people, for making legalities more important than love, Jesus says these wonderful words of comfort to those who were accepting of him:  Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  I’d like to read for you those same verses from Matthew 11 as translated in The Message:  Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30. 

Contemporary Christian author Anne Lamott wrote a book once called, “Help!  Thanks!  Wow!”  She says those are the most important prayers we need to keep company with God.  When I think about the Council of Jerusalem, it’s easy to hear how much the early church needed help.  We can totally relate to the division and conflict part!  Amazingly, the help came in the form of an agreement, for which I want to say thanks and wow!  Maybe even double wow!  A bunch of diverse Christians with strong opinions got together, had their say, and by the grace of God, reached a consensus—a unanimous consensus!

I imagine there were many other ideas and suggestions and motions made about what should be included in the list of rules of Gentile Christians, but, as Luke writes, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements…”  My favorite experiences in ministry have been when I have seen congregations come together with a united sense of “it seemed good to the Spirit and to us…”  That is my prayer for Lima, and for all the churches in our denomination, as we grapple not just with issues of human sexuality, but with other important subjects as well, including racism, gun violence, immigration, the environment, homelessness, poverty, public education…May we be empowered by the Spirit of God to work together for justice and peace.

Amen.  May it be so.  Amen.