191204 Advent Midweek Sermon on Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) December 4, 2019 Today and next week we will be considering the same event with the same text. The topic is the council of Jerusalem. The leaders of the Christian Church gathered together, perhaps about 20 years after Christ’s ascension into heaven. They needed to discuss whether people who were from Gentile rather than Jewish backgrounds needed to observe the regulations that God gave in the Old Testament. This was the most important controversy Christians had in the early part of their history. This issue is in the background of much of the New Testament, especially St. Paul’s epistles. It is good for you to understand it, so that you can read the Bible more easily and profitably.Since we have two weeks to look at the council of Jerusalem, tonight I’d like to introduce the controversy by, first of all, looking at the big picture. The essential element behind the question of whether the Old Testament Law must be kept is faith. What God is being believed in?This is a question that goes all the way back to the beginning. Adam and Eve started out believing in God. They soon switched their allegiance to a different god—the devil. They were obedient to him and his Word rather than the God who had given them the command not to eat from this certain tree. God restored faith in Adam and Eve by coming to them again with his Word and promise, but ever since then mankind has been changed. We are more prone to believe in all kinds of things besides the true God.This happened with the first generations after Adam and Eve. The descendants of Seth called upon the name of the Lord. They believed in him and his word and his promises. The descendants of Cain, however, tried to make a paradise out of this world. In so far as they made advancements and progress, to that extent their heart grew cold towards God. They came to believe in themselves and what they could accomplish with their smarts and technological advancements. They believed that they would be better blessed by these things rather than being blessed according to the Word spoken to Adam and Eve about the Messiah. This was a kind of idolatry that is similar to the idolatry of today. Moses does not tell us any names of gods or goddesses that the descendants of Cain believed in. He only speaks of their many and great accomplishments. So it is also today. People do not think that they are worshipping gods, but indeed they are. Whatever a person trusts in for blessing or power or success—whatever that thing might be—that is a god for the person who thusly believes. When we believe that we are going to be happy and successful because of money or education or technological progress or any other thing, then we are worshipping idols. It doesn’t matter that it is not formal. Worship is more a matter of the heart than it is of particular services or labels.Eventually the idol worship among the descendants of Cain developed these religious rites and ceremonies. The things that the people trusted in came to receive names. Temples were built. Priests and priestesses were inducted into them. Those who wished to have a good crop were thought to be wise to go to the temple of Baal, just as today people believe that a successful harvest is dependent upon the blessings of professors and universities. The use of temples and priests had a lot of various practices that came along with it. Depending on the god or goddess involved there would be certain foods that were eaten or prostitutes visited or the sacrifice of animals or even children.In the midst of all this unbelief in the true God and belief in idols, God chose a certain man and woman named Abram and Sarai. They would eventually be given the names Abraham and Sarah. God said to Abraham that he was his special, chosen one. He would be good to Abraham and give him happiness and success. Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Princes would be born of his descendants. Al