MPC, 16th September 2001.Acts 15 - "Amazing Grace"
Phil Campbell MPC, 16th September 2001.
Seems like in the USA there's nothing like disaster to remind you what's important. To focus your attention. They say there are no atheists in the trenches at war; and I guess it's true. So from the hardest firefighter to the President, from the recovery crews in the wreckage to the Mayor of New York city, suddenly everyone's talking about GOD. Praying. And singing hymns. Especially that ONE HYMN that you might have seen concluding the channel 9 news on Wednesday night.
A solo, sung by an American Marine, I think it was in the Capitol Building. And the Hymn was AMAZING GRACE. For me, it was one of the most moving moments of the week. "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."
But I wonder as the words rang out around America and the world how many people really UNDERSTOOD WHAT THE SONG WAS SAYING? And really meant it? Because there in a nutshell you've got the essence of the difference… between CHRISTIANITY… and every other religion in the world. Between the CHRISTIAN GOSPEL. And everything else. The difference in a word is GRACE.
Sometimes we don't reflect that truth very well. Sometimes we don't even UNDERSTAND that truth very well. But we need to. And as we look at Acts 15, we see a turning point in the history of the church. They say this last week has been a turning point for the world. Well, here's another one. The DECISIVE POINT where it's made very clear that the Christian message is all about GOD'S AMAZING GRACE. His GENEROSITY TO SINNERS. Because that's literally what GRACE means. Undeserved kindness. Unmerited favour. Sheer GENEROSITY in being treated with MERCY YOU DON'T DESERVE. And not about the harsh imposition of law. Even the Old testament law of Moses.
You might have noticed as we've followed Paul and Barnabas on their travels over the last couple of weeks, GRACE is a word we've seen before. Back in Acts 13:43, as they leave Pisidian Antioch, SOME HAVE BELIEVED. And Paul and Barnabas say as they're leaving, KEEP GOING. Urged them, it says at the end of the sentence, to CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD. That's what they've been hearing about. That's what they've understood. That's what they need to HOLD ON TO. Hang on to THE MERCY OF GOD.
Acts 14:3; a few verses further on, do you notice, Paul and Barnabas are doing great miracles. WHY? Because, we're told God is confirming THE MESSAGE OF HIS GRACE. That's their message summarised in a word. The message is the MESSAGE OF GOD'S GENEROSITY. The message of Grace.
Problem is, the MESSAGE OF GRACE is a message that meets opposition. And as you look at the world today, you can see that GRACE AND MERCY aren't top of the shopping list.
And right back here in Acts 15, the message of grace is under attack. From the message of LAW. Jewish law. The LAW OF MOSES in the Old Testament. If you’ve been following through our series on the Acts of the Apostles, you’ll know there’s been a HUGE CHANGE. That the message of Jesus, instead of just going to the Jews, is spreading to NON JEWS – to Gentiles – as well. And for some of the first JEWISH CHRISTIANS, there's an issue. Because to be a Jew, there are RULES TO BE KEPT. And besides which, who's inviting these Gentiles to the party anyhow?
I'll always remember how awkward it was at our wedding reception when a couple of UNINVITED GUESTS turned up. They came along to the service at the church. Which was fine. But these two young guys, they were having such a good time of it, they decided they’d just come along to the reception part as well.
And Paul and Barnabas who we saw last week, they’re INVITING ANYONE. They're preaching about Jesus all over the place. Telling people who follow gods like Zeus and Hermes to turn away from their WORTHLESS GODS – and turn to Jesus. And people ARE.
So let me ask you, if you’re a RESPECTABLE JEW who’s become a Christian, what do you DO WITH PEOPLE LIKE THAT? People who want to follow YOUR MESSIAH? Because worst thing of all, when Paul and Barnabas have been traveling around preaching, they haven't even mentioned the DRESS CODE. They haven't even mentioned the RULES. The LAW OF MOSES; so you've got these non Jews who think they can be CHRISTIANS… without being Jewish first.
Have a look at verse 1, and you’ll see. Because when this Presbytery visitation comes up from Judea to Antioch, there's an outcry. They say, Paul and Barnabas, you've got it all wrong. They say, if you want to come to Jesus, you’ve got to go through the right channels. And first of all, if you’re a bloke, it means you’ve got to be CIRCUMCISED. The ritual for becoming a JEW. Which I guess meant you’d have to be VERY COMMITTED to the idea.
But you need to notice, when they’re talking about CIRCUMCISION HERE, they’re talking about a WHOLE LOT MORE AS WELL. Because that’s just the start. What they’re talking about is the WHOLE BOX AND DICE of taking on the JEWISH LAW. Of which circumcision was just the symbolic start.
Read verse 1, Some men come down from Judea, from Jerusalem, to Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas have just got back from their mission trip. And here they are, they're teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, YOU CANNOT BE SAVED.”
And it's summarised again in verse 8. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."
Now here’s a problem. I mean, what’s that say for all the people who've just been SAVED back in chapter 14? And so Paul and Barnabas SEE RED. Verse 2, there's a sharp dispute and debate. Because THIS IS IMPORTANT. Let me tell you, there are people who want to say Christians shouldn't argue about little things like theology. Well, this is PURE THEOLOGY. And it’s WORTH AN ARGUMENT. Because if these visiting teachers from Jerusalem have got it right, THEIRS IS NO GOSPEL AT ALL for anyone who isn’t Jewish. And that includes YOU AND ME. It's not a message of GOD'S GENEROUS MERCY AT ALL. It's a list of RULES.
So Paul and Barnabas and the church decide they’ve got to go up to Jerusalem, and get it sorted out. In Jerusalem they call a meeting; good Presbyterians say it's the first ever PRESBYTERY meeting, and we’ve been doing them every month ever since.
And so verses 3 and 4, you see Paul and Barnabas going down through Phoenecia and Samaria on their way to Jerusalem; and everywhere they’re stopping off and telling people what’s been happening up North. That GENTILES had been converted as well. Not given the law. But GIVEN THE MESSAGE OF JESUS. And everyone who hears about it is glad. Verse 4, they’re welcomed in Jerusalem by the apostles and the elders; and they fill them in on what’s been happening too. And they're glad.
But then time for the meeting. The secretary ready to take the minutes; and verse 5, some of the believers from the Pharisee party stand up to speak. Now listen to this, because these are the guys who have been stirring things up in Antioch. Ex-Pharisees who have been converted to Jesus. And they say the words we saw before. Verse 5. RULES ARE RULES. “The Gentiles must be circumcised AND REQUIRED TO OBEY THE WHOLE LAW OF MOSES.” Or else THEY CAN'T BE SAVED.
Well, that’s it in black and white.
That’s the big question that’s got to be decided. And let me tell you, it's important for YOU AND ME. Because we're GENTILES. Tell me this. What are you allowed to do on the Sabbath? And why? What time did YOUR Sabbath start this week? And why? Can you go to a football game on the Sabbath day? Why or why not?
The answers are all here. In the minutes of the meeting in Jerusalem so long ago. Listen to the Apostle Peter. He stands up. And makes a stirring speech.
Peter who in Acts 10 had that dream with the sheet full of unclean animals. Lobster mornay and ham and eggs and stuff that Jews weren’t meant to eat, lowered down out of heaven; and a voice that says TAKE IT AND EAT IT. And Peter said, NO WAY, I’M JEWISH, I've got VERY DISCERNING FOOD RULES. And the voice of God says to him in the dream, DON’T GO CALLING STUFF UNCLEAN that I’m telling you is CLEAN. And the day after the dream, he’s sent off to the house of an UNCLEAN GENTILE. A Roman soldier called CORNELIUS. Who becomes the first NON JEWISH CHRISTIAN. The moral was, DON’T GO CALLING PEOPLE UNCLEAN – who GOD CALLS CLEAN.
And Peter’s learned his lesson. You can see it here. Because in his speech, he’s talking about how he’s seen Gentiles receive the HOLY SPIRIT the same way the first APOSTLES HAD. And he spells it out in verse 9. He says God made NO DISTINCTION between us and them. So why should WE. He says, God didn’t send them off to get circumcised before he gave them the SPIRIT. So why should WE. He says, God didn’t give them the law of MOSES before he gave them the Spirit. So WHY SHOULD WE?
Read what he says. Verse 9. “He made NO DISTINCTION between us and them, for HE PURIFIED THEIR HEARTS BY FAITH.” Just by accepting Jesus; trusting him; exactly as it was with the Christians who started out Jewish.
God's Old Testament law only ever proves you're wrong. That's what it did with the Jews, over and over again. Why put that load on the GENTILES?
Verse 10, Peter says WHAT ARE YOU DOING? He says, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither WE NOR OUR FATHERS have been able to bear? All the law did was show where we were going wrong. Over and over and over again. And now you want to get it, and put the load on the backs of these GENTILES as well.
Yeah, well, IT WAS TOUGH FOR US when we were your age. So we’ll make it TOUGH FOR YOU AS WELL. Time honoured tradition, isn’t it? We had to put up with the law. So you gentiles should as well.
To which Peter says, YOU’RE FLYING IN THE FACE OF GOD. Verse 11, he sums it up in a nutshell. And here’s where we started. Because the fact is, it’s all about GRACE. That’s what being a Christian is about. Not about RULES. Not about LAWS AND REGULATIONS that somehow let you crawl your way up the ladder to God with a load on your back. That's not what we're about.
And Peter says this. Verse 11. Burn it into your heart, because it’s the KEY to understanding what it means to be CHRISTIAN. He says NO. No to all that other stuff: No to CIRCUMCISION and the LAW OF MOSES. He says “NO! We believe it is through THE GRACE of our Lord Jesus that WE are saved, just as THEY are.”
Not as if some of us are saved by keeping rules and others just scrape in by GRACE. Its GRACE for all of us. By the sheer undeserved GIFT of the fact that Jesus came and died a criminal’s death-penalty; crucified as the worst of LAWBREAKERS even though he was innocent. So that with the penalty for sin justly paid, God can pour out his mercy on US.
I've read about a great scene in the movie THE LAST EMPEROR, about the last Emperor of China; a small boy. I would have watched it, except it’s one of those three hour epics. And I’d read about the best bit anyway. Because another small boy asks this child emperor one day, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING WRONG? To which the child emperor says, WHEN I DO WRONG, ONE OF MY SERVANTS GETS PUNISHED. And he demonstrates, by dropping a bowl and smashing it. At which point, they grab a servant – and they whip him in punishment.
Now that is exactly THE GRACE OF JESUS in REVERSE. Because instead of a slave being punished when the King sins, it’s the opposite. With Jesus and us, the SLAVE SINS. And the KING TAKES THE PUNISHMENT. We do the sinning. And Jesus takes the whipping; there in his body on the cross. How GENEROUS is that?
That’s what Peter’s talking about when he says our RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD comes through the GRACE OF JESUS. Grace means being treated BETTER THAN YOU DESERVE. And that’s why Peter says NO! That’s why Peter says “We believe it is by THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS that we’re saved.” The only way ANYONE is saved.
Paul and Barnabas speak. James speaks. And in the end, everyone's persuaded. Grace wins the day. Grace is what the gospel's all about.
I mean, it’s incredible, isn’t it, that in the light of that, there are still these people who want to make Christians jump through the hoops. And take on the full weight of the law of Moses. And they MISS THE POINT OF GRACE. They miss the GIFT.
You know, the point is, God's grace to us, it's meant to overflow in our words and our lives and the way we treat one another and the way we treat others.
And you catch glimpses of that in a week like this one; in disaster. When they say, WHAT WILL WE SING. And we sing AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME. But we need to be praying now that in amongst the JUSTICE we want to see done, there's GRACE DEMONSTRATED. So the world will see a difference.
And GRACE is the difference between the gospel we have - and every other religion in the world. GRACE IS THE DIFFERENCE. And it needs to be shown in a real generosity of spirit that has a beauty to it that shines out in the darkness. That's a stunning CONTRAST to the anger and the hatred and the vengeance that comes so easily.
We can pray that for World leaders. But as always, lets start with us.
God wants nothing more than to WELCOME AND FORGIVE SINNERS – that's his Amazing Grace. But what about YOU? Easier to hand out a list of pre-requisites, isn't it. So people are acceptable on OUR TERMS. Easy to demand JUSTICE FOR YOURSELF. Not just on the world scene now, but in all sorts of everyday ways; forgetting that GRACE AND MERCY are what makes us different. And when you see the other option, grace and mercy are very beautiful indeed.