In The Footsteps of Paul

The Church Emerges

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Tony Moore

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Series Code: IFP

Program Code: IFP000006


01:35 After returning from their successful journey to Cyprus
01:40 and Galatia, Paul and Barnabas rejoiced with the church
01:44 here at Antioch.
01:45 They were praising God for how the Holy Spirit had
01:48 answered their prayers beyond their wildest hopes
01:51 and fondest dreams.
01:53 Yes churches had been planted throughout Cyprus,
01:56 Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Galatia.
02:00 Cities like Perga and Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe
02:05 and Lystra, they were rejoicing at what God had done.
02:09 But soon a crises developed here at Antioch that
02:13 threatened to destroy the church in its infancy.
02:17 The basic issue is this, Was Christianity to remain a
02:22 sect to the Jews, or was it to stand apart on its own?
02:26 This issue is often misunder- stood in modern times because
02:31 we tend to read it from our Western modern perspective.
02:35 You see the church was still very, very Jewish.
02:40 They still circumcise their sons.
02:44 They would still go to the temple to honor the various
02:47 festivals, and would pay the temple tax, they would
02:51 take the ritual baths.
02:53 Yes the believers were still very, very Jewish.
02:57 This was fine as long as the church was focused in
03:01 Jerusalem, even as it went beyond that holy city to
03:05 Judaea and Samaria.
03:07 The converts were still largely Jewish.
03:10 Jewish believers accepted Jesus as their Messiah and this
03:16 fulfilled their Judaism, it made them complete Jews.
03:19 But as the gospel went beyond the borders of Judea and
03:23 Samaria and came to the region of Phoenicia and Cyprus
03:27 it up here to Antioch, more and more Greek and Gentile
03:32 believers were joining the church.
03:34 They were accepting Jesus as their Messiah and joining
03:38 the largely Jewish church.
03:41 The church here at Antioch, was very open-minded.
03:45 They accepted this mix with an open heart.
03:48 They rejoiced at the fact that the Greeks and Gentiles
03:51 were joining the church.
03:53 They commission Paul and Barnabas to go out and proclaim
03:56 the good news of Jesus in distant lands.
03:59 Paul and Barnabas returned and rejoiced with the church,
04:02 and God continued to add to their numbers more and more
04:06 people, it was a thrilling time.
04:09 But soon, some of the Jewish believers began to be
04:13 concerned, the additional Gentiles joining the church.
04:18 Was this weakening the Jewish-ness of the church?
04:22 Would Judaism be swallowed up by the growing movement
04:27 of Christians in this city?
04:29 Some believers came from Jerusalem and began to stir
04:33 up a controversy here at Antioch.
04:48 Some brothers came down from Judea, here to the city
04:51 of Antioch, and they began teaching that unless you are
04:54 circumcised, according to the customs taught by Moses,
04:58 you cannot be saved.
05:00 Now notice they didn't say, it would be nice if you
05:03 are circumcised, they said unless you are circumcised
05:06 you cannot be saved.
05:08 In other words, they were saying, unless you become a Jew
05:12 you cannot be saved no matter how much you believe in
05:16 Jesus, no matter how sincere your faith is in Jesus,
05:20 you cannot be saved unless you also first become a Jew.
05:25 Paul recognizes this was contrary to the gospel.
05:29 He and Barnabas recognized that this would destroy the
05:32 church if it was allowed to continue.
05:35 So what led them into a sharp dispute with the people
05:38 who had came from Jerusalem.
05:40 It was decided that they should send a delegation from
05:44 the church here at Antioch down to Jerusalem to settle
05:48 the issue, Acts 15:2.
06:06 Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem and now we look
06:09 on our map and we see that it's south.
06:11 Why would it say going up?
06:13 Because now we are at sea level, and Jerusalem is 2500
06:17 feet above sea level.
06:18 Paul and Barnabas went with some of the other men and
06:21 journeyed up to Jerusalem, visiting the churches through
06:25 Phoenicia, and Samaria, Judea, until they came to the city of
06:30 Jerusalem where the church convened a council to
06:34 decide this issue.
06:38 When Paul and Barnabas finally arrived in Jerusalem
06:41 they gave a thrilling report, to the church, of how God
06:44 had worked miraculously among the Gentiles.
06:47 You see Barnabas had long been a leader of the Christian
06:50 church in Jerusalem, and had been sent up to Antioch
06:53 to organize the work there.
06:55 They came and shared how God had been working miraculously
06:59 amongst the Gentiles, not only at Antioch, but in
07:03 Cyprus and throughout the regions of Phrygia and
07:06 Galatia and in Pisidia.
07:08 They gave are tremendous report and the church was
07:11 thrilled to hear what had been said.
07:13 Then some of the Pharisees who have become believers in
07:16 Jesus laid out their concerns.
07:19 They were concerned that Gentile believers must not
07:23 only accept Jesus as their Messiah, but they must
07:26 also become Jews.
07:28 That is that they must be circumcised, they must be
07:32 complete Jews.
07:34 This threw the council into turmoil and the council
07:38 wrestled with the problem for some time, finally Peter
07:42 stood up and shared how God had worked in his experience
07:46 about the Gentiles.
08:29 The situation Peter refers to was critical to understand.
08:33 It shows just how prejudiced the Jews at this time were,
08:37 and just how Jewish centered the young church was.
08:41 The story is recorded in the 10th chapter of Acts.
08:44 Where God moves upon the heart of a Roman
08:48 centurion who was in charge of the garrison
08:52 at the port city of Caesarea.
08:54 Caesarea was the administrative center of the Roman
08:57 province of Palestine.
09:00 Cornelius was a devout man, he was a God fearing man
09:04 who gave generously to charity.
09:06 One afternoon, while he was praying, an angel appeared
09:09 to him in vision and instructed him to send two servants
09:13 down to Joppa, to the house of a leather worker by the sea
09:17 where Simon Peter was staying.
09:19 Immediately Cornelius dispatched two servants and a
09:23 trusted soldier to go down to Joppa, 30 miles south
09:27 of Caesarea, near the modern port city of Tel Aviv,
09:31 to look for Simon Peter and to bring him back to
09:34 teach him as the Holy Spirit had revealed to Cornelius.
09:39 The problem was, Peter was an extremely bigoted man.
09:43 He was extremely prejudiced, Peter would never think
09:47 about going into a house of a Gentile,
09:49 or eating with a Gentile.
09:51 Peter was a Jew, indeed he was a believer in Jesus
09:54 but he was Jewish.
09:56 It's amazing to the Western Christian perspective, the
10:01 religious prejudice that was being exhibited by
10:04 a person like Peter.
10:06 Peter was an extremely bigoted person and so God had to
10:10 prepare Peter's heart.
10:12 Peter went up on the rooftop toward noon to catch the
10:16 gentle sea breezes there at the house of the
10:19 Tanner by the Sea.
10:21 When Peter drifted off to sleep,
10:23 God revealed to him a vision.
10:26 In vision he saw a sheet coming down and being held by
10:30 four corners, inside the sheet he's saw all kinds of wild
10:34 unclean animals.
10:36 There were dogs and cats and pigs and snakes,
10:39 all kinds of animals.
10:42 We read about the story in Acts 10:13.
11:08 Peter were shocked by the vision, it was a Jew's worst
11:11 nightmare, but he wanted to be obedient to the Lord so
11:15 he immediately got up and went to local barbecue and
11:18 ordered a rack of spareribs, right?
11:20 No! Of course not.
11:22 Let's read on.
11:36 Scripture says while Peter was wondering what the vision
11:40 meant, there was a knock at the door.
11:43 The men from Cornelius's was standing there asking if
11:46 this is the house where Simon, call Peter was staying?
12:28 What a tremendous story.
12:30 God has a high-ranking Roman official, who was
12:33 spiritually hungry, to understand more about the Lord.
12:37 The problem is, the Christians are so prejudiced that
12:41 they will not share the gospel with Gentiles.
12:45 They don't understand that the good news of Jesus
12:49 death, and resurrection from the dead, is for all
12:53 people regardless of their ethnicity,
12:55 regardless of their racial backgrounds.
12:58 How can God get through to His main man Peter?
13:03 There is a spiritually hungry Gentile who needs
13:07 to be fed, and Peter considers that Gentile and
13:11 unclean dog, and unclean animal.
13:14 God gets through to Peter by sending him a vision,
13:18 and in vision He tells him that Peter is a Jew needs to
13:22 get up and eat unclean animals.
13:25 We read about it in Acts 10:23 and onward.
13:55 Peter went in response of the vision that God had given
13:59 to him, when he reached the city of Caesarea, he went
14:02 into the house of Cornelius the Gentile.
14:05 This had been previously unthinkable for a good Jew like
14:09 Peter to do, we read on in Acts 10:27.
14:29 Peter reminds his guests that it is unlawful for a Jew
14:32 to associate with a Gentile.
14:35 The question is, why is Peter now entering into their
14:39 house? The key is found in the remainder of verse 28.
14:59 Peter had been wondering with the vision could mean.
15:01 He knew that God did want him now to eat, rats, and snakes,
15:06 and camels, and cats and dogs and pigs.
15:10 No, God was revealing to him that he should call no man
15:13 common or unclean.
15:15 You see before the vision, Peter considered the Gentiles
15:19 to be common, to be unclean.
15:22 But now God had revealed this vision to him.
15:24 So Peter could go into the house of Cornelius the Gentile
15:28 and share the good news of Jesus with him.
15:31 Isn't it amazing how God could work through someone
15:35 like Peter, in spite of his prejudiced,
15:38 in spite of his bigotry?
15:40 Yes, the Lord accepts us in spite of our backgrounds,
15:43 in spite of our limited perspectives, and yet He
15:47 chooses to change those perspectives.
15:49 Peter now had a new worldview.
15:52 So he asked Cornelius why have you sent for me?
15:56 Cornelius explained how an angel had appeared to him in
16:00 vision, and Peter was amazed and now he explains
16:05 the Gospel to him.
16:15 This was a major step for Peter and for the church.
16:19 To underscore the fact that Jesus had accepted Gentiles,
16:22 the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentile believers and
16:25 they spoke in tongues just like the apostles had on
16:29 the day of Pentecost.
16:31 Yes Peter was in shock when he stayed in step with the
16:34 Holy Spirit, he says.
16:51 Yes this was exciting, it was wonderful.
16:54 Peter and the disciples were thrilled, everyone was
16:57 thrilled until Peter went back to Jerusalem.
17:11 Can you believe it?
17:12 Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah were now
17:15 criticizing Peter for going into the house of a Gentile
17:19 and eating with them.
17:21 Instead of rejoicing that the lost had been found,
17:24 they were criticizing Peter for sharing the gospel
17:28 with a Gentile and baptizing him in the name of Jesus.
17:32 Yes people who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah were
17:36 still controlled by their personal worldviews.
17:39 This should tell us to be very careful and to make a
17:43 careful distinction between what our opinions are and
17:47 what we believe and what our Lord actually said.
17:50 Peter reviews with them what had happened in Acts 11:7-18.
18:54 This was a major step for the church.
18:57 To admit that God was opening a door of salvation
19:00 to the Gentiles.
19:02 Who was Peter? Better yet who were the believers in
19:05 Jerusalem to oppose the work and plan of God?
19:08 Gradually began to dawn upon them that the gospel
19:12 was more than just for Jews or Jewish converts.
19:17 Gradually they began to understand that when Jesus said,
19:20 "for God so loved the world," that it meant more than
19:22 just the Jewish world.
19:25 The gospel was for all people in all places at all times.
19:29 Yes the divided Council at Jerusalem began to understand
19:33 that you did not have to become a Jew before
19:36 you became a Christian.
19:49 With the backdrop of Simon Peter's experience,
19:52 the elders listen carefully to Barnabas and Saul as
19:56 they describe carefully how God had worked through
20:00 their ministry to reach the Gentiles.
20:02 Then James, the brother Jesus, spoke up and said.
20:31 Perhaps what he didn't say was more important than what
20:34 he did say, do you remember why the Council was called?
20:38 Do you remember why the men were stirring up controversy
20:41 in Antioch, and why the church sent Paul and Barnabas
20:45 down to Jerusalem?
20:46 Remember we read about the controversy in Acts Chapter 15:1
20:59 James said that the Gentiles did not have to be
21:02 circumcised to be saved.
21:04 That meant that they did not have to become Jews
21:07 before they could believe in Jesus and be baptized.
21:10 Theologically this is a very important point.
21:13 It was a crucial time, for it meant that the church was
21:17 moving beyond the boundaries of Jewish ethnicity.
21:20 You see the church began as a sect of the Jews, but now
21:24 it was moving beyond that, it was emerging to stand
21:28 upon its own.
21:30 Jewish believers understood this in principle,
21:33 even Peter did not understand the full implications
21:37 of what this meant.
21:38 Yes it was a very, very important time for the church.
21:42 We examine what the council didn't say.
21:45 Now let's look into what the Council did say.
21:48 Four points, they said the Gentile
21:51 believers were to follow.
22:11 The first request of the Council of Jerusalem was that
22:14 Gentile believers abstain from eating food that had
22:18 been polluted by idols.
22:20 This would be a problem that would plague the church
22:22 for years to come.
22:24 Paul would address this issue in his letter to the
22:27 church at Rome, and also in his first letter to the
22:30 church at Corinth.
22:32 The crux of the problem was basically this.
22:34 Often animals would be sacrificed in pagan temples
22:39 to heathen deities, then the meat would find its way
22:43 back into the public marketplace.
22:47 Sometimes sold at a discount, the crux of the problem
22:50 was if you ate this meat that had been sacrificed to a
22:54 heathen deity, were you in fact worshiping that deity?
22:58 When Daniel went into Babylon, he and his three friends
23:02 chose to follow a vegetarian diet in order to avoid the
23:06 consumption of animals that have been sacrificed to the
23:09 Babylonian deities.
23:12 Many believers were choosing to be vegetarians in order
23:17 to avoid eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols.
23:21 The second principle that the Council of Jerusalem asked
23:25 Gentile believers to abide by, was to avoid or abstain
23:30 from fortification or immorality.
23:32 There really wasn't the word morality as we would know
23:35 it today in the Roman world.
23:38 Often part of the ritual of worship, in heathen temples,
23:43 had to do with immorality.
23:45 We think of the famous worship of Aphrodite's in places like
23:49 Corinth, that actual immorality was part of their religious
23:53 worship and exercise.
23:56 Yes, prostitution was rampant in Roman society.
24:00 Immorality was rampant and so the church at Jerusalem
24:04 requested that the Gentiles believers follow a moral
24:08 life, that sex only could be in the context of marriage.
24:12 Third principle, they asked them to abstain from eating
24:16 animals that had been strangled.
24:19 Often animals would be beaten to accentuate the hormones
24:23 in their bodies, they would be beaten and strangled to
24:28 prevent the loss of blood.
24:30 Blood was a great delicacy in the Roman world at this
24:33 time, and this was to be avoided.
24:36 Cruelty to animals was to be avoided and so they asked
24:40 the Gentiles believers to abstain from eating animals
24:44 that have been sacrificed.
24:46 The fourth was quite similar.
24:52 This is a very fundamental teaching in the Old Testament.
24:55 The entire Council endorsed the idea and wrote it into
25:00 a letter, they decided to send several men of respect and
25:04 authority from the community in Jerusalem to accompany Paul
25:08 and Barnabas back to Antioch and present before the church
25:12 there the decision the Council had made.
25:15 One of the men that went with Paul and Barnabas was Silas
25:19 who had joined Paul on his second missionary journey.
26:46 Yes, this was the heart of the gospel.
26:48 Paul contended for the gospel, he did not want the
26:51 church to be relegated, to be a sect of Judaism.
26:55 He saw that it had to emerge and go beyond that.
26:58 He championed the gospel of Jesus Christ so that you
27:02 and I might be part of the church today.
27:05 We praise God for that and thank God for a man like
27:09 Paul who had the vision to see the church emerge from
27:13 the shadows of Judaism.
27:17 Join me as we pray.
27:18 Father we thank You for using the apostle Paul to have
27:22 the clear vision and foresight to contend for the
27:25 gospel even against men like Peter and Barnabas who
27:29 were waffling over these issues.
27:31 And to allow the church to develop from the shadows
27:34 of Judaism's. We thank you for Paul, help our
27:38 faith to grow and be steadfast in You,
27:42 just like his we pray, in Jesus name Amen!
27:45 Paul and Barnabas had returned to the church up in
27:50 Antioch and after sharing the good news with the church
27:53 at Antioch, the decision of the Council of Jerusalem,
27:56 they decided it was time to go revisit the churches
27:59 that they had established in Cyprus and throughout
28:02 Pisidia, Galatia and Pamphylia.
28:05 Soon a dispute developed between the two men and
28:09 Barnabas decided to take his nephew John Mark and go
28:12 back and visit the churches in Cyprus.
28:15 Paul invited Silas, one of the men sent up from the
28:18 Council of Jerusalem, to accompany him and he would
28:21 take his journey up through Tarsus in the Cilician
28:24 Gates into the regions of Galatia to share this
28:26 important message with them.
28:28 Join us for the next episode as Paul returns to the
28:32 area of Galatia, sharing the good news of the
28:35 Council of Jerusalem.


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Revised 2014-12-17