Stay Out of the Way
What lesson is to be learned? Well, let’s take a look.
The brethren of the early church met in counsel in Jerusalem. There was stuff to decide. Of the greatest concern was what they would do about the Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus Christ. God was moving among the nations, exactly as He said He would. Now these men needed to figure out how they would respond to the move.
What was the problem with Gentiles receiving the saving grace of Jesus? Well, they weren’t Jews. These were pagan people learning about Jesus and accepting Him as their one true God. The Holy Spirit was even filling these Gentiles. But they had no foundation in God’s Word. Their culture and their lives had no connection with scripture. They were not people of the Book. So how could they properly worship the Most High?
When God plans and executes a move of His Spirit for the salvation of people, keep your religion to yourself and out of God’s way.
Testimony was brought before the counsel. Barnabas and Paul, two missionaries directed by God to focus their ministry on the Gentiles, spoke before the august body. These men were sent to the council to find out what its position would be on uncircumcised pagans receiving salvation through faith in the Lord. The missionaries were joyfully welcomed to Jerusalem, but it did not take long for conflict to arise in the council.
Some of the “believers who belonged to the Pharisees” demanded that gentiles follow the law of Moses and be circumcised. Their stance started a serious discussion. If they had had some Gentiles there, the discussion would have been pretty quick. Salvation through circumcision? No thanks. But it was Peter who stood before the council and gave them notice of God’s intention. The early church apostle expounded on how God, long before their time, planned to reach out to the nations with His salvation. He analogized the demand for circumcision of Gentile believers as trying “to test God by putting on the necks of the Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear.” Peter’s rebuttal stated the obvious truth that the Law was, is, and always will be a weight that human beings are unable to carry - a code that no man is capable of living up to.
That quieted the assembly down, and Paul and Barnabas testified of the wonders occurring among the Gentile nations. James, the brother of Jesus, then stood up and gave a passionate defense of Peter’s position. The apostle quoted the prophet Amos, “After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name says the Lord, who does these things’ - things known from long ago.” Through this scripture, James pointed out that God has always intended to reach out to the nations through Israel and His Son, Jesus Christ. If this is the case, the brother of Jesus argued, “we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”
There it is. The argument makes so much sense, but it seems nearly impossible for the church to follow the logic. God intended to reach out to the Gentiles, people who did not know the good news of Jesus Christ. He placed no stipulations on the outreach other than from where it would come. Then God does what God does.
THEN humans have to throw their two cents into it and…
It is safe to say that religion has been responsible for more souls being lost than any other influence in the world. What should we learn? What should those of us responsible for sharing the gospel understand from this account? When God is moving, don’t let your religion get in the way.