Acts 15
The Great Controversy- How they handled conflict
“God treated the outsiders exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed him. . . . why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too?" Acts 15:9-10 (MSG)
The Cross, not the law, is the cure for sin.
The Holy Spirit, not human regulations, does the Life Long work of changing us.
Pastor’s Reflections
Acts 15 records the pivotal Jerusalem council in 50 AD where the Christian Leadership, virtually all Jews, had to decide what would be required of gentiles before they could be admitted into the Christian Church.
In today’s passage Peter is adamant that salvation takes place for everyone, Jew or gentile, through faith, belief, trust in Jesus Christ. That’s it. That’s all that’s necessary. At the point of salvation, the point at which one trusts one’s life to Jesus Christ and gives Him leadership of one’s life, one’s salvation is both complete and just begun. It is complete because once a child of God, always a child of God. It has just begun because, like a physical birth, there’s still a lot growing up to do. The rest of one’s life is spent cooperating with God, who, by way of the Holy Spirit, works from the inside out to transform one into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Peter is arguing for God through Jesus Christ as savior. He is arguing against having to become Jewish, get circumcised, in order to become a Christian. And he makes a very profound observation, one that Paul makes in his letters to the Galatians and the Romans. That is that the law never cured a single soul. The law was and is good, but it saved no one. It simply led a nation to understood God’s holiness, but never to attain to that holiness.
Peter got it, at least at this moment, that the law in the hands of the Holy Spirit is a beautiful thing. But as a set of rules acting as an entrance gate into the kingdom, it is an insurmountable barrier.
It would seem that if salvation was dependent on what we in our human ability could do to achieve or earn it would give man power, not God, to make changes in us. It would abolish Grace, make it null and void, and unnecessary. And then there would be power plays, one man over another to achieve "greater heights". All leaving God out of the picture. So it makes sense that BY GRACE WE ARE SAVED.
ReplyDeleteNow God's Grace as I have come to learn is always towards us. However, we have to be willing to receive it. It is another choice we must take. It's free, but if we don't reach for it, there it sits waiting on us. Also finding out that it is neverending, always full to overflowing, never running out. God's abundance!
So salvation is by faith. Romans. And then, NOT SO FAST. There is the book of JAMES. Salvation is by faith and works. I am interested to hear this Sunday's sermon.
ReplyDelete1) Grace is what offers the gift of salvation:
ReplyDeleteEph 2:4-5 "But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transfressions-it is by grace you have been saved."
2) Faith is belief in that grace
Romans 4: 20-22 "Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promis of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised"
Eph 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, THROUGH FAITH- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast"
3) Works is the proof of faith, belief is not stagnant it is alive and produces action:
James 2:14 "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead. But someone will say, You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do.
God did not have to extend the offer of salvation, through His grace he did so.
Through the power of His Word, he gives us a chance to hear the offer.
We make our choice and believe.
Belief grows into faith, faith produces a life of action through behavior.
Faith without deeds is no faith at all.
Deeds without faith is simply a person who knows how to behave well.
Titus 2:11
"For the grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ who has redeemed us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do good"