In this short section today, we see a really important teaching, and I made me want to stop and reflect on it this morning.  This is a key teaching that is reiterated in several places throughout scripture, and in several places in this writing as well (in Acts).  We see Paul and Luke, who is writing, talking to James (the brother of Jesus, and a major player and leader in the church at this point) discussing all of the people who’ve come to know Jesus through Paul’s and his associates ministry.  It is a celebratory moment for God, for sure.  Then, notice the dilemma that they pose to James - they are trying to figure out how to handle this situation where there is a clash between Jews who are following the Law and Gentiles who don’t live by the law, both of whom are coming to Jesus , and they are trying to figure out how to live together in harmony while seeing their commitments to the church in a different light.  It was common for the Jews coming to Jesus to have been practicing the Law of Moses, or at least they were trying, and so they lived under a strict code of conduct and often felt, in some ways, ‘deserving’ of Jesus.  After all, they had lived a certain way, depriving themselves of certain bodily pleasures, in order that they may one day receive this promised Messiah.  So, once Jesus came, for those who believed that He was the one for which they were waiting, it was a moment of “Well, here you are...great, we’ve been expecting you, and we’ve been preparing for you.”

For the Gentiles, they weren’t waiting for Jesus.  They weren’t preparing for Jesus.  They were just living their lives, and then Jesus showed up.  Their mindset was a little more of the “Oh, man, I didn’t even know about any of this...of course I need saving, now that I understand just how lost I was, I definitely welcome a savior!”.

These 2 groups were coming to Jesus from completely different places.  One group put in all of the work and endured years of the Law and the other showed up in the last second.  I think this is precisely the point of God’s including the story about the criminal on the cross next to Jesus the day Jesus died, who was saved and promised an eternity in heaven as he was about to breathe his last breath, having nothing to give to God other than his trust...it was the drive this point home.  None of us can earn our salvation.  All of us are broken.

All of that said...today reminds us that we should constantly monitor how we practice our faith outwardly, as the purpose of our outward actions should be focused on gaining influence with others.  James (and the elders) are reminding Paul that these folks interacting in the Jewish world should act Jewish, adopting their customs to maintain influence with them, while the folks interacting with the Gentiles should avoid the customs of the Jewish law; after all, now we know the customs aren’t requirements for salvation, so don’t muddy the water with the Gentiles, keep the message on-point and focused on Jesus.  That’s a great reminder!