Study No. 17 - UNDER ATTACK!! Chapter 15:1-35
Jesus is central to everything we believe. He is the Saviour.
Jesus came to ‘seek and to save’ that which was lost. (Luke 19:10),
He is the coming King.
Lu 19:12 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
And He is the founder of the church.
Mt 16:18 "… I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Even though the scripture teaches that Jesus shed His blood to pay for sins of the whole world (I John 2.2) in the following verse we understand that the purchase of the church was something special and additional to paying for the sins of the world.
Ac 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
1Ti 4:10 ….. who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Let’s spend a few moments looking at just a few scriptures that help us to understand just how special the church is to Christ.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Re 19:13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Re 21:9 ¶ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST - ATTACKED FROM … WITHIN!!
Early in our study of Acts we read of an incident which claimed the lives of two ‘church people’. Ananias and Saphira were taken out of the church. Why? They had lied to God. Does God always remove ‘church people’ physically (kill them) when they lie to him? No, obviously not.
So why did He do it then? I believe it was because his church, His precious church, had just been ‘spotted’. It was necessary for God to do it.
In our study today we see an interesting development in God’s church. They have been persecuted and opposed from the outside by the instigation of Satan. For the first time in our study of Acts do we see Satan opposing the church from within. The difference between this situation and the one involving Ananias and Sapphira is that now there is not only one church in a city, but many churches. And the danger now is that the new move to reach into all the world can be affected, causing the church to evolve into beliefs and practices that could destroy the message of eternal life.
When these ‘Jews from Jerusalem’ come to Antioch we recognize first of all, that they are not merely Jerusalem Jews. These are Christian Jews, members of the Jerusalem church. They (not all of them in the Jerusalem church of course) have embraced Christ as Saviour, but have not let go of many of their former Jewish beliefs. And secondly, to make matters worse they are teaching that Salvation is a combination of believing that Jesus is t he messiah plus observing the basics of Judaism. Particularly they are saying that circumcision is required for salvation.
These Christian Jews have come to Antioch with the ‘correction to’ Paul’s teaching. Since we have no other account in scripture which give any new details about this, we have to surmise that these same persons got the ‘news’ to the new churches that Paul planted in Asia minor (Galatia).
Why should we assume that this ‘perversion’ of the gospel happened at this particular time and not many years later?
One clue is the wording that Paul used in writing to the Galatian churches … “I amazed that SO SOON you are adopting a new gospel”. He would not have mentioned ‘soon’ if it had occurred years later. I think it is right to surmise that Paul wrote to the Galatian letter Somewhere between Acts 15:1 and 15:2.
How do we deal with issues and opposition in the church?
1. How serious is the issue – and what does it affect? – (Matthew 13:24-30 – wheat and weeds)
This ‘attack’ is serious, it is huge in magnitude. v1
2. Deal with it - accordingly
a ) If an issue is a matter of practice and preference – learn to concede (Romans 14:1-23, 15:1)
b) If it affects the message that leads to eternal life …. Fight.
Jude says 1:3 ¶ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Verse 2 – A huge fight ensues ... to no avail.
c) Seek independent, unbiased help. A conciliator or judge is recommended in 1 Cor. 6.5
Verse 2. The church sends Paul and Barnabas and others to Jerusalem. In so doing they are appealing to the control center of the church. There is no higher court to which they may appeal, and because the issue is so important they go to the extreme or ultimate.
d) Do not malign the opponents nor discuss the issue with anyone who is not part of the solution.
See verse 3
e) Allow for both sides of the issue to be presented and heard. 4,5
f) listen to the counsel of those who are appointed to conciliate. 7-19
g) Sometimes compromise is a good word. 20-21
h) graciously accept the wisdom that is given
i) Follow through with fixing the issue … applying the wisdom and reinforce the truth in such away that this problem does not return. 23-30
31-35 A peaceful happy solution. Happy for the Antioch church, happy for the gentile Christians, happy for the Apostles and Jerusalem leaders … but possibly a grudging concession on the part of the ‘Pharisee’ Christian group.
In our next study we begin to explore Paul’s second missionary journey.
Jesus came to ‘seek and to save’ that which was lost. (Luke 19:10),
He is the coming King.
Lu 19:12 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
And He is the founder of the church.
Mt 16:18 "… I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Even though the scripture teaches that Jesus shed His blood to pay for sins of the whole world (I John 2.2) in the following verse we understand that the purchase of the church was something special and additional to paying for the sins of the world.
Ac 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
1Ti 4:10 ….. who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Let’s spend a few moments looking at just a few scriptures that help us to understand just how special the church is to Christ.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Re 19:13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Re 21:9 ¶ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST - ATTACKED FROM … WITHIN!!
Early in our study of Acts we read of an incident which claimed the lives of two ‘church people’. Ananias and Saphira were taken out of the church. Why? They had lied to God. Does God always remove ‘church people’ physically (kill them) when they lie to him? No, obviously not.
So why did He do it then? I believe it was because his church, His precious church, had just been ‘spotted’. It was necessary for God to do it.
In our study today we see an interesting development in God’s church. They have been persecuted and opposed from the outside by the instigation of Satan. For the first time in our study of Acts do we see Satan opposing the church from within. The difference between this situation and the one involving Ananias and Sapphira is that now there is not only one church in a city, but many churches. And the danger now is that the new move to reach into all the world can be affected, causing the church to evolve into beliefs and practices that could destroy the message of eternal life.
When these ‘Jews from Jerusalem’ come to Antioch we recognize first of all, that they are not merely Jerusalem Jews. These are Christian Jews, members of the Jerusalem church. They (not all of them in the Jerusalem church of course) have embraced Christ as Saviour, but have not let go of many of their former Jewish beliefs. And secondly, to make matters worse they are teaching that Salvation is a combination of believing that Jesus is t he messiah plus observing the basics of Judaism. Particularly they are saying that circumcision is required for salvation.
These Christian Jews have come to Antioch with the ‘correction to’ Paul’s teaching. Since we have no other account in scripture which give any new details about this, we have to surmise that these same persons got the ‘news’ to the new churches that Paul planted in Asia minor (Galatia).
Why should we assume that this ‘perversion’ of the gospel happened at this particular time and not many years later?
One clue is the wording that Paul used in writing to the Galatian churches … “I amazed that SO SOON you are adopting a new gospel”. He would not have mentioned ‘soon’ if it had occurred years later. I think it is right to surmise that Paul wrote to the Galatian letter Somewhere between Acts 15:1 and 15:2.
How do we deal with issues and opposition in the church?
1. How serious is the issue – and what does it affect? – (Matthew 13:24-30 – wheat and weeds)
This ‘attack’ is serious, it is huge in magnitude. v1
2. Deal with it - accordingly
a ) If an issue is a matter of practice and preference – learn to concede (Romans 14:1-23, 15:1)
b) If it affects the message that leads to eternal life …. Fight.
Jude says 1:3 ¶ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Verse 2 – A huge fight ensues ... to no avail.
c) Seek independent, unbiased help. A conciliator or judge is recommended in 1 Cor. 6.5
Verse 2. The church sends Paul and Barnabas and others to Jerusalem. In so doing they are appealing to the control center of the church. There is no higher court to which they may appeal, and because the issue is so important they go to the extreme or ultimate.
d) Do not malign the opponents nor discuss the issue with anyone who is not part of the solution.
See verse 3
e) Allow for both sides of the issue to be presented and heard. 4,5
f) listen to the counsel of those who are appointed to conciliate. 7-19
g) Sometimes compromise is a good word. 20-21
h) graciously accept the wisdom that is given
i) Follow through with fixing the issue … applying the wisdom and reinforce the truth in such away that this problem does not return. 23-30
31-35 A peaceful happy solution. Happy for the Antioch church, happy for the gentile Christians, happy for the Apostles and Jerusalem leaders … but possibly a grudging concession on the part of the ‘Pharisee’ Christian group.
In our next study we begin to explore Paul’s second missionary journey.