When in Rome (Do not destroy the work of God)

I Cor. 1:10-11 “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.”

Paul and Barnabus have just returned from their 1st missionary trip over the Gentile world…preaching the gospel, seeing people saved. Then some men came from Judea and said to these new converts, you’re not really saved, you just think you are…if you really want to be saved you need to convert to Judaism, and go thru our rituals, be circumcised. Well, this disturbed the faith of all these new believers…so Paul and Barnabus speak up.

They said, we’re Jews! We get Judaism and the rituals.  We’ve lived them, but you need to understand that has nothing to do w/ being saved. Salvation is by faith.  Period.

James does a really nice job of laying out a solution to the dilemma with these Jews and Gentiles, and I feel he lays out the path for how we can proceed even in our own churches.

Peter- who is a Jew has now been convinced the Mosaic laws were not necessary – and opposes these Jewish requirements and emphasizes his experience with Cornelius. He has seen God move among Gentiles and had witnessed the Holy Spirit alive where no circumcision had occurred.

Acts 15:1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. ….5 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 keep the law of Moses.”6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question.7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.”

So we have this disagreement. Vs 5 has the Pharisees presenting their position, and Peter giving his. But Peter’s testimony pointed to the truth that God did not differentiate between the Jews and the Gentiles in terms of how their hearts were purified. Faith in Christ.  No more. No less.

Jews believed purification occurred through ritual cleansing, and Peter makes the point that the Gentiles had been cleansed by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 15:10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

James speaks. Acts 15:19 “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 the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

James started by affirming from Scripture that Gentiles were welcome in the kingdom of God. And says that in view of that, they should not be burdened with circumcision or any other Mosaic requirement for salvation. Still, he would encourage the Gentiles to keep kosher, to eliminate division between the Gentile and Jewish believers in the church. With the Gentiles keeping kosher, they two could share meals together, and the Jewish believers could honor their religious practices without worry of being defiled.

Sometimes we do things to keep the peace. If the Gentiles were to do any of these they wouldn’t lose their salvation, but it is a best practice – it keeps the peace.

So what is the application here? Sometimes we do things to keep people from being confused or causing discord. Drinking – I bet 90% of Christians, many of which include Baptists, have no issues with drinking alcohol. However – there is some faction that do think there is an issue with drinking alcohol. Will you lose salvation over it? NO! But sometimes, to keep the peace or to keep from creating confusion or a stumbling block, we should abstain. (Not saying you have to abstain all the time – just round those that may stumble!) Get it? It’s compromise for the sake of LOVE.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

To me, these verses speak so much to how we should live out our love for one another. It isn’t about our salvation. It is about our love for one another and for God, and our church.

Vs 20 do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food, or whatever it is that creates barriers between you and another Christian, or that causes someone to stumble.

So Paul and Barnabus head to Antioch along with Silas and Judas to personally deliver the ruling as well as a letter from the Jerusalem leaders.

 Acts 15:23 … To the Gentile believers … Greetings. 24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. …. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. … 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

The plan earned the blessing of the entire congregation, uniting Jews and Gentiles. The Gentile Christians were glad about the decision. The leadership had strengthened the bond between Jewish and Gentile believers by eliminating the legalistic barriers.

We have to be really careful that we don’t let our opinions create division in our churches. We adopt our core tenets as a church and those are the things we stand firm on, and the rest we allow for opinions, but we must be careful those opinions are not presented as tenets. For example – we believe in the Holy Trinity – the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  We believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

We can get into differences of opinion on whether we believe the rapture will occur pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib. We must be careful that we don’t pass those opinions off as church tenets. Your preferred style of music may be different than mine, but they are not our church tenets.

Disagreements are going to happen. It’s human nature to disagree with one another at times because we are different people. We have different backgrounds. Different upbringing. Different ages. Different parents. Different interests. Different Gifts. This means we will not see eye-to-eye on everything in life.

Work at finding common ground, instead of rooted in your opinion. We should work at making peace and be less judgmental toward one another. That may mean bending in your opinion. Finding areas that are most important to you, and then finding areas that you can concede.

Rom. 12:18 “If it possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

As far as it depends on you. Live at peace. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? It will require you to compromise.

Let’s go back to vs  Acts 15:19 - “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Jews who are turning to God.” 

While James was taking care of the Gentiles, he was careful to consider new Jews who were being saved. These Jews had been raised in their Mosaic laws and customs. It would have turned their world upside down for someone to tell them to stop doing all of that, that your customs are wrong. The message was that their customs didn’t equate to salvation. You want to remain kosher because that is your lifestyle? That is fine. It won’t save you and it won’t keep you from being saved.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 9: 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Paul was adapting to the people he was with. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you choose to worship alongside Jews, respect their ways. No, you don’t have to be circumcised (not that sisters get circumcised, but you get my point), just don’t bring a ham to their Jewish Passover meal! We can leave in peace when we adopt a spirit of love for our sisters and their ways. We have a lot of denominations represented at our Sisters & Grace meetings. Love them and respect their worship.