God Does Not Discriminate! - Acts 15
Acts 15:6 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. 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.”
As more and more Gentiles came to faith in Christ, some of the traditional Jews incited by the Pharisees began to question why Gentile converts were not circumcised according to Jewish law. Basically the Pharisees were distorting the gospel by saying, "Unless you are circumcised you cannot be saved." But Paul had a difference experience of what God was doing among all people. He was seeing Gentiles coming to faith and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as the apostles had. At the heart of this controversy was how is one saved.
The Jewish believers led by the Pharisees were advocating being saved by the Law of Moses. What they failed to see was that the Law of Moses was a type of what was to come. Being circumcised was a sign they were God's chosen people was now being replaced with a circumcision of the heart through Christ. In addition, Paul wonders why they are burdening the new Gentile believers with a law their ancestors had never been able to bear. Paul knew that firsthand, as a Pharisees of Pharisees, that one could never measure to the Law. In a famous passage he says in Romans 7, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me." But when Paul met Jesus, he realized that salvation came by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ. This was critical time in the life of the early church. Would they stick to a doctrine of grace or would they go back works of the Law? There was no in between. Either we are saved by what Jesus did for us on the cross, or by trying to justify ourselves with good works.
The gospel, or Good News, is that we cannot justify ourselves. We cannot do enough things to be reconciled to God. God's standard is perfection, and we can never measure up to it. Therefore, we need a Savior. Without a Savior we are dead in our sins, circumcison or not. With Christ we are set free and marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever.
So the question for you today is have you received God's free gift of grace, or are you still trying to earn it? There is a part of all of us that thinks we can earn God's love. We think we are good enough and we try to fend for ourselves. But this is the great lie that comes straight from the devil. The devil would love for us to keeping trying to be self reliant on ourselves to be saved. Like Paul defended the gospel in the first century from the heresy of salvation by works, Martin Luther did the same in his day. Forgiveness in his day became of matter of giving "indulgences" or paying for the forgiveness for one's sins. Like Paul, Luther realized that if forgiveness could be granted by our works of the Law, then Christ died for nothing. But Christ did not die for nothing, he died for me and you. He died for Jews and Gentiles alike He died for all people. God does not discriminate but gives the Holy Spirit freely to those who come to him by faith.
As more and more Gentiles came to faith in Christ, some of the traditional Jews incited by the Pharisees began to question why Gentile converts were not circumcised according to Jewish law. Basically the Pharisees were distorting the gospel by saying, "Unless you are circumcised you cannot be saved." But Paul had a difference experience of what God was doing among all people. He was seeing Gentiles coming to faith and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as the apostles had. At the heart of this controversy was how is one saved.
The Jewish believers led by the Pharisees were advocating being saved by the Law of Moses. What they failed to see was that the Law of Moses was a type of what was to come. Being circumcised was a sign they were God's chosen people was now being replaced with a circumcision of the heart through Christ. In addition, Paul wonders why they are burdening the new Gentile believers with a law their ancestors had never been able to bear. Paul knew that firsthand, as a Pharisees of Pharisees, that one could never measure to the Law. In a famous passage he says in Romans 7, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me." But when Paul met Jesus, he realized that salvation came by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ. This was critical time in the life of the early church. Would they stick to a doctrine of grace or would they go back works of the Law? There was no in between. Either we are saved by what Jesus did for us on the cross, or by trying to justify ourselves with good works.
The gospel, or Good News, is that we cannot justify ourselves. We cannot do enough things to be reconciled to God. God's standard is perfection, and we can never measure up to it. Therefore, we need a Savior. Without a Savior we are dead in our sins, circumcison or not. With Christ we are set free and marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever.
So the question for you today is have you received God's free gift of grace, or are you still trying to earn it? There is a part of all of us that thinks we can earn God's love. We think we are good enough and we try to fend for ourselves. But this is the great lie that comes straight from the devil. The devil would love for us to keeping trying to be self reliant on ourselves to be saved. Like Paul defended the gospel in the first century from the heresy of salvation by works, Martin Luther did the same in his day. Forgiveness in his day became of matter of giving "indulgences" or paying for the forgiveness for one's sins. Like Paul, Luther realized that if forgiveness could be granted by our works of the Law, then Christ died for nothing. But Christ did not die for nothing, he died for me and you. He died for Jews and Gentiles alike He died for all people. God does not discriminate but gives the Holy Spirit freely to those who come to him by faith.
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