The Most Important Meeting Ever
Acts 15:1-2 NIV
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.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them...
What Was at Stake at the Most Important Meeting Ever?
1. WILL THERE BE A CHRISTIAN HIERARCHY?
Galatians 3:28 NIV
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Acts 15:4-19 NIV
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. 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.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 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. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 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?...
No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”The whole assembly became silent as they listened to BARNABAS and PAUL telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, JAMES spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “Listen to me...
It is my judgment, therefore, that WE SHOULD NOT MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THE GENTILES WHO ARE TURNING TO GOD.
What Was at Stake at the Most Important Meeting Ever?
1. Will there be a Christian hierarchy?
2. IS JESUS ENOUGH?
Romans 1:16 NIV
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, so that no one may boast.
Jesus + Nothing = EVERYTHING!
Galatians 1:6-8 NIV
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s CURSE!
What Was at Stake at the Most Important Meeting Ever?
1. Will there be a Christian hierarchy?
2. Is Jesus enough?
3. DOES IT MATTER HOW I LIVE?
Acts 15:19-20 NIV
“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 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.”
"It is not the ship in the water but the water in the ship that sinks it. So, it's not the Christian in the world but the world in the Christian that constitutes the danger." – John Wilbur Chapman
“There are churches all over the world that have added to the Law of God and bound men where God has left them free.” – R.C. Sproul
Maybe you made a decision to follow Jesus today, or maybe you’re curious what life with Him is all about. Wherever you are on your journey, we invite you to share with us so we can help you discover your next step.
