Acts 15:12-21
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
12 The whole assembly
became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the
miraculous signs and wonders God
had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they
finished, James spoke
up: “Brothers, listen to me.14 Simon has described to us how God at
first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15 The
words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this I will
return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’
18 that have been known for ages.
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’
18 that have been known for ages.
19 “It is my judgment,
therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are
turning to God. 20 Instead
we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of
strangled animals and from blood. 21 For Moses has been
preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on
every Sabbath.”
I am a little confused
by this passage. The Council at Jerusalem listened to Peter as he addressed the
council. Remember, Peter is the one that
had the vision regarding food. He was
convinced that it was okay to eat with the Gentiles whatever was served to
him. He spoke of how God had opened the
doors for anyone to receive Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. The council agreed that this went along with
the scriptures and decided that this meant the Gentile men did not have to be circumcised
to be a part of the family of God yet they put on some stipulations. What confuses me is that Peter did not bring
up his experience with the dream but let the council write their letter the way
they wanted.
I found it very
interesting that they began by having them abstain, once again, to a tradition,
what types of meat they could and could not eat and then they went to the sin
of sexual immorality. I guess to them
sins of the flesh included what you ate.
I would not classify my food choices in the same category as sexual
immorality yet that is what these Christians had done. They thought by only having these few rules
the Gentiles would have an easier time in the faith. What?
Have you ever been on a diet? All
the food that you are not to have is the food that you crave the most! I have never been to a foreign country for an
extended amount of time but I would imagine that I would be craving some good
American food if I did. This was going
to be a tough one for these Gentiles. I have
to wonder if they would have just been circumcised if they could have eaten
their food.
Even more amazing is that
abstaining from sexual immorality was the last abstention mentioned. Sexual immorality, another sin of the body
almost seemed like an afterthought. If
eating meat sacrificed to idols was actually a part of worshipping idols, I
would understand why they should not eat that meat but there is not mention of
abstaining from the worship of idols.
Sexual immorality is a sin that Jesus spoke of as a sin that comes out
of the heart in Matthew 15:19 and
just previous to that in Matthew 15:17
He tells us that it is not what goes into the mouth that is bad because it
eventually comes out of the body but it is what comes out of the mouth that is
from the heart. It appears to me that
these men were still holding on to tradition, they were still trying to “do”
things, to sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. There is not anything wrong with doing things
to please God but we must remember that is not what earns us our
salvation. I am not sure why Paul and
Barnabas chose to deliver the letter.
Although I think they resolved one issue they caused several others to
pop up. The Jewish Christians were still
holding on to their traditions. They
were not looking at heart issues rather acts of self-righteousness. Although we need to set ourselves apart from
the world, we need to be people of integrity but having a list of do’s and don’ts
that are from us and not from God is something that we need to be cautious
about. This is where judging comes in, thinking
we are better than the next guy because we don’t practice what they do.
What is most important
is that we put our trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and live our life to meet His
approval, not man’s approval. If you can
honestly say that you would be perfectly fine if Jesus walked into your home,
sat at your table, and you were able to offer Him anything on your table and
not feel guilty, then you are eating and drinking what is allowable. If He
walked through closed doors into your bedroom and saw you with a partner would
you be ashamed? If we would be ashamed
of our actions, then we need to rethink what we are doing. For if we are ashamed it is the conviction
from the Holy Spirit not from man and we do not want to grieve the Holy
Spirit. We need to live our lives to be
pleasing to God. If He has called you to
not drink alcohol, to not eat red meats, to be a vegetarian then you must
listen to what He is telling you. If it
is man that is telling you how to eat and what to drink and you have no
conviction then it is from man and not from God. Be careful of what comes out
of your mouth, Jesus tells us, because what comes out of our mouth is what is
coming from our heart. It is the heart
issue that causes us to displease God.
Seek Him and know His ways,
walk the path that He leads you on and you will find contentment in all things.
Seeking Him with all my
heart,
Sheila
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