Paul and Barnabas attend the Jerusalem Council to meet with the apostles regarding division between the Jews and the Gentiles on the basis of the Mosaic Law.

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      Good morning. Today's scripture reading is from Acts 15, one through three. 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. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

We live in tense times. Much of it centers on identity. What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to be an American? Unlike other nations that might be able to claim an ethnic component to their national identity, thinking, for example, maybe of like the Japanese, such is not the case in the United States. We are a people of many ethnicities. Unfortunately, there's some people in our country that think that's a problem. They think that American identity should be defined racially, but you don't think that, or at least you shouldn't think that. Other nations define themselves that way, but not the United States of America. We are a nation united by a set of ideas. A set of values captured in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that lay a foundation for our rule of law. And these derived from the Western legal tradition, yes, but they have been shaped and especially rooted in the teachings of scripture. It was the gospel that transformed Europe from the barbaric ways of their pagan gods to the way of Jesus Christ.

There is no America as we know it without Jesus. In fact, I would contend that it is the appearance of the church that opens the human imagination to conceive of a nation such as ours, a nation not defined by ethnicity, but by a common creed. It's in the church that we see divisions of ethnicity, class, and gender reconciled in Jesus.

We take the possibility of that kind of unity across diversity for granted these days. Like, oh, of course people should just do that, but that's not the situation the church encounters. Division is the original situation the church encounters. Today's passage takes us right into the middle of the new reality Jesus is introducing, the reality that supplanted the presiding idea of who could belong to God. It's gonna seem like a bit of a strange and foreign controversy to you, but I want you to step back and consider how the resolution we find here lays the groundwork for the civilization that we have inherited. Our civilization, which is presently in the midst of kind of breaking down. I want you to begin thinking about the implications for the church today. But first, we must enter the situation of the First Century Church. So we look to Acts 15 verses one through three.

Now as Rena read, Luke tells us that certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and they had this simple message, which was, unless you are circumcised according to the custom top by Moses, you cannot be saved. And this led to a very sharp dispute between them and Paul and Barnabas. Now when we're talking about these certain people coming down, you might think that they headed south, but we have to remember that when you're talking about the Jewish people, their orientation to Jerusalem, to Judea, is that you're ascending to the temple, you're ascending to Mount Zion, and so anywhere from there is down. So they headed down from Judea, actually went north to Antioch to where Paul and Barnabas were and entered into this debate on this, on the stipulation that they had, this contention that they had, that the only way that a person could be saved is if they're circumcised in accordance with the Mosaic law.

Now, in fact the practice of circumcision goes back all the way to Abraham, and we find its origin in Genesis 17. And it's a, it's a chapter worth reading, in its, in its fullness. But I'm not going to read through all of it, I'm gonna summarize some parts of it. Those of you who were here for our series through Abraham will recall that God had made a promise to Abraham to bless him, to make a nation out of him, even though he had had no children. And in Genesis 17, he does have a son, Ishmael, but he's not the promised son. But God establishes this covenant between him and the sign of this covenant is going to be circumcision. And so we look at verses 12 through 14. It says there in Genesis 17, for the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner-- those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

Seems like a pretty open and shut case here. And you can see here from these verses that it was to include not only the those who were ethnically of the house of Abraham, but even those who were outside that came into the household. And so the contention that these people from Judea have is that gentiles too must be circumcised. Not only Jews, but also the Gentiles.

Now we don't have a record here of what Paul and Barnabas argued in reply, but we can imagine that they probably argued along the lines that we find elsewhere in Paul's letters. We look to Romans four verses seven through 11. And here Paul goes back to Abraham, but he notes that the righteousness that God a accounted to Abraham was not on the basis of circumcision, but on the basis of something else. Quoting Psalm 32 verses one through two, Paul starts off by saying, blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. Is this blessedness only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

And what Paul's recalling here is what transpires in Genesis 15, where God comes to Abraham and tells him that he is going to have a son, even though he, he and Elizabeth have been childless, not Elizabeth. He and Sarah have been childless for so many years and Abraham believes him. It's on the basis of that faith that he's accounted righteous, and all of this happens before he's been circumcised. So what Paul is saying here is that just as Abraham was counted righteous on the basis of faith, so it is that the Gentiles can be counted righteous on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ, and circumcision is not necessary.

Moreover, Paul would say that if you're going to try to gain your standing before God on the basis of compliance with the law, you're going to be found wanting because everyone comes up short and instead receives the curse of the law. He says this in Galatians three, verses 10 through 14. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because the righteous will live by faith. The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, the person who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Now, what Paul, Paul is saying here is that if you're going to try to live by the old covenant, which requires circumcision, living kosher, all of that. You're gonna have to be perfect up and down the board in complying with the law. Though, that's the standard of the old covenant, and the reality is, is no one does that, and so they all come under a curse. What Jesus is doing here is he's introducing a new covenant. Not only does he offer the sacrifice, that perfect atoning sacrifice that would be required under the law, but he in fact receives the punishment that is due to us because of our sinfulness, because we've broken the old covenant. Because of him, because of his righteousness, we can now be saved on the basis of faith.

Now, that doesn't mean that we no longer, that that sets aside the moral commands of the old law, but it does mean some of these laws which were stipulations of the old covenant, the signs of the old covenant, have passed away. And so the basic debate here is that either you have to live in accordance with the law and you need to get circumcised and do all these things, versus what Paul and Barnabas are, are contending here, which is that those things could never save you at all, they were just signposts to Jesus, to the faith that begins in Abraham and culminates in us putting our faith in the revealed Messiah. And so because there's this debate brewing and because you do have this precedent, I mean, circumcision is the precedent. Paul and Barnabas and a, a company of others are sent to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and elders there to help resolve this issue.

And just as kind of a side note here, I think this is, this kind of suggests that it is beneficial for us to have relationships with churches outside of ourselves. You're just an independent church, non-denominational church, sometimes the issues come up and who else are you gonna turn to? You're kind of it. And so it's good for churches to be in, in relationship with the, with one another to help resolve kind of these bigger issues. And that's what we see going on here. And as, as they go to Jerusalem, they encounter Christians in Phoenicia and Samaria, and they share the report of everything that's happened in Paul's journey and how he has shared the gospel with the Gentiles, and how they've positively responded, and they're encouraged, and then they get to Jerusalem and it's there that they, they do meet a bit of resistance.

So picking up in verse four says, 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.

So they offer the same report here in Jerusalem, but now they come up against some resistance, and interestingly, from the party of Pharisees. Now, you might be wondering, what are the Pharisees doing here? I thought they didn't like Jesus. Well, as it turns out, some of the Pharisees did come to believe that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. But it's possible for one to keep with the Pharisees in saying, you know, you should be very devoted to upkeeping the, the law of Moses while recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah. And so you can see there's a whole spectrum of kind of views on these things within the body of the church at this time.

Some who are saying, we must really keep to the, to the, all the commands of the old covenant, whereas others, in the case of Paul, are saying some of these things are, are passing away in Christ because Christ has fulfilled them. And so in this meeting among the apostles and elders, Luke says that Peter arose to share his testimony on the matter.

So we continue on verse seven. Says, 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.

So what Peter's recalling here is the, the record that we have in Acts 10 of his visit to the Centurion Cornelius, and he was prepared for this visit to this Roman centurion by a vision that he had of a sheet coming down from heaven that was filled with all kinds of unclean foods that a Jew shouldn't eat. And its connection with this, with visiting Cornelius is that a good Jew really shouldn't have even entered the household, the house of a Gentile, because of the potential of becoming unclean. Now, on the basis of that vision, of God telling Peter to take and eat, he takes it that when he receives his invitation to go to Cornelius, that he should go. And so when he goes there and he preaches, lo and behold the Holy Spirit comes upon the Gentiles there and they respond to the gospel. And so Peter says in verse eight, he says, God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he did to us.

This is an act of revelation on the part of God. God was showing that in Jesus Christ, he was uniting, he's reconciling, he's bringing together both Jew and Gentile. And so Peter says, if God's not discriminating between Jews and Gentiles, how could we possibly do that? Along those lines, he continues on in verse 10, he says, 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.

Peter's saying, you gotta watch out here because if you insist that the Gentiles have to do all these things in order to be accounted among God's people, even while God is not requiring that of them, then you're really putting God to the test. The last time we had that kind of language of testing God appear in Acts five was when Ananias and Sapphira lied about how much money they were giving to the church, and they were struck dead. Serious stuff to test, to test God. Serious stuff, to ignore his determination, his, his will. And very much along the lines of what we read earlier in Galatians two Peter says, why in the world would we put upon them this yoke of the law that we ourselves have not been able to bear? We haven't been able to be perfectly righteous as it requires. Why would we expect that of them? Rather, he says in verse 11, this is the heart of the message here. We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. We believe is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. That's the gospel right there.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for whether you're a Jew, whether you're a Gentile. It's true for all people. Christ has come to be the savior of the world.

As we think about the law and gospel, as we think about God's moral commands and the grace we receive in Jesus Christ, what we have to understand is that the gospel is not primarily a message of moral instruction. It's something much more than that. The gospel is the good news that, of a transformation that can occur as we become united to Christ, as we can receive the, the Holy Spirit, who then transforms us so that we become the virtuous people that God created us to be. So then we actually do start walking in accordance with God's commands. But grace does not come from our compliance. Grace does not come from our obedience. We receive grace, obedience flows from that.

Now, apart from the argument that we've kind of gone over that Paul could have presented, what we really have here from Peter and then as indicated from Paul and Barnabas, we have a testimony from them of what God has actually done. The report that Paul and Barnabas get, they said, okay, Peter is saying this. We can go to the scriptures, see what God has actually done. How can you account for this, all these miraculous things that have occurred? How can you stand opposed to what God is doing?

The testimonies of Peter, Paul and Barnabas is then followed up by that of James. Now James was the leader of the Jerusalem church. Now it, so many of these names are the same. It's like, you had multiple Judases and you just like, you wanna get that one right. And you have a few James here, very common names. This James should not be confused with the disciple James, who is the brother of John. This James is, in fact, the brother of Jesus. We know that Jesus' brothers were skeptical of his claims to be the Messiah. If that was the case for James, everything changed for him when Jesus appeared to him after his resurrection. That's an encounter that Paul mentions in 1st Corinthians 15:7. This is the James who wrote the book of the Bible named after him. We know from that book that he was no squish, that he was morally stalwart, and so you might expect some resistance from him. Yet even James cannot deny what God has revealed in both the scriptures and what has transpired.

Continuing on in verse 13, it says, when they finished, James spoke up. Brothers, he said, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: after this I will return and rebuild, rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things-- things known from long ago.

So James recalls here what Peter's just referred to, God's first indication that the Gentiles were going to be welcomed in based on this encounter with Cornelius's household. And what James wants to go on and say here is that we should have expected this all along 'cause it was foretold by the prophets.

He makes reference to Amos nine verses 11 through 12, where it says in that day I'll restore David's fallen shelter-- I'll repair its broken walls and restore its ruins-- and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, declares the Lord, who will do these things.

And then, as with a lot of these prophecies, they go beyond just kind of the front facing prophecy that you might draw in connection with this. And it, it takes in just all of the prophets. And so another instance that seems to be kind of connected to what James is saying here is Zechariah eight versus 20 through 22.

Says, this is what the Lord Almighty says: many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, let's go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going. And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.

So as, as Amos is looking, as Amos, as James is looking at that passage in Amos here, and he knows the rest of the prophets, you think about Zechariah here, he's saying that God's promise of rebuilding David's tent, of basically resurrecting Israel, was always intended to include the other nations. Now when you look at the Amos passage, you might think it, well, it kind of looks like conquest. What we understand from the other passages is that it's not that it's a conquest by other means. It's a conquest by the gospel, really, so that people are from other nations are going to be seeking the Lord. An amazing thing to contemplate, because if we were just going to account for the Jewish religion in natural terms, you think it would just be all about the Jews. The Jews, Jews, Jews. Why would they care about other nations seeking the Lord? And yet that's what we find prophesied here.

And so in light of this, James says in, continues on in verse 19, it says, 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. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

And so, as James says here it, he concludes that we shouldn't make it any more difficult for the Gentiles to respond positively to the gospel, but there should be some instructions given, and this is where things get a little bit complicated in trying to understand the rationale that James has here. He says, we should instruct them not to eat food polluted by idols, they shouldn't engage in sexual immorality, shouldn't eat animals that have been strangled, they shouldn't eat, consume blood. You're like, that seems kind of like an odd list, especially sexual, sexual immorality. It's like, what does this have to do with the, the other things? Because that seems like an absolute, a definite absolute that you shouldn't engage in sexual immorality.

The other things are kind of an odd assortment here. Now commentators have different views as kind of to the rationale here. Some think it's based on kind of the basic Noahic Covenant that is established, which would predate the people of Israel and so it would apply to all human beings in which animals shouldn't be consumed, consumed with their lifeblood in it. Some think it relates to the commandments given in Leviticus 17 about how blood should be drained from animals. I'm, I'm drawn to the theory which looks at kind of the whole picture and, and asks just why this assortment, particularly the inclusion here of sexual immorality. I think the common denominator here is that these are all practices that would've been associated with gentile peoples and their pagan practices. And so it would, and in that case, would also be particularly sensitive, or offensive, rather, to Jewish sensibility.

Now, I have one example as to why I think that Pagan participation is the primary concern here. Based on what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 10. If it was the case that the food itself was polluted by idols and so shouldn't have been eaten at ever, you would expect that Paul would tell christians, okay, you better investigate the source of your foods. You better make sure it has the halal label or the kosher label on there. You know, all those, all those things. But it's interesting 'cause in 1st Corinthians 10, he doesn't say that. He says, do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. Okay, so clearly what Paul is saying here, you shouldn't explicitly consume this food as it's, when, when it's clearly associated with, with idols. And at that time they'd often have feasts for these pagan gods, and everyone would be invited, and sometimes it was the best source for having some good meat. Otherwise, meat could be difficult to acquire. Paul is saying you can't get involved with that.

Then in verse 27, he says, if an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever's put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, this has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. So if the concern was with actual pollution, you would expect Paul again to say, for them to ask, did, by the way, did this food come from, from a sacrifice to idols? Instead, he says, don't ask any questions about it. The concern is the effect that it would have on others, even though he, Paul, recognizes that an idol is, is nothing.

So this kind of raises a question for ourselves. Is this an instruction for that time? For those, for the Christians in that time, for the Gentiles at that time, or is it for all time? Does it apply to us? I'm gonna suggest that I, I think obviously sexual immorality is all time, but these other instructions are very specifically focused for that time.

And Saint Augustine, who lived a few hundred years afterwards, he lived in like the three hundreds AD, thought the same. And it was very influential in kind of the general conclusion that most theologians have on this. He says in his book, Contra Faustum. It says for, allowing that the apostles did on that occasion require Christians to abstain from the blood of animals, and not to eat of things strangled, they seem to me to have consulted the time in choosing an easy observance that could not be burdensome to any one, and which the Gentiles might have in common with the Israelites, for the sake of the Cornerstone who makes both one in himself. Watch what Augustine is saying there. He's saying that the concern of the apostles was the unity of the church. He's saying, what is something that if you've got a wide spectrum of views here, you have some Jewish Christians that are very sensitive about compliance with the law, and you're trying to bring in these gentile people who have no familiarity with a lot of these things, what can we instruct them to do in order to make sure that everyone gets along peaceably here. And Augustine says it these instructions, that's why they came up with these instructions. Now, I think, you know, prudence would say again, obviously sexual immoral, sexual immorality is off. You can't do that at any point, under any time. Um, but I think the principle here that's established would apply for all times, so that, yeah, like you shouldn't involve yourselves with things that seem sketchy, basically.

But I can think of scenarios where it would be all right for someone to consume blood. I've, I've listened to a few survival shows where people have been lost at sea and they've drank turtles blood just to survive. Very gross, don't want to do that. I don't think it's against God's commands to do that. The concern here is, again, contextual, what's going on here, the unity of the church and the concerns of pagan associations. The other thing that we, I think you should notice here is how the instructions are really going to be directed towards Gentiles.

It's not saying anything to the Jewish people that are Christians, and this comes up again in Acts 21. They're not gonna say anything to the Jews about, oh, don't bother with getting circumcised now. Now, technically, is that required? No. But they're very concerned about the backlash and we're gonna see Paul receive all kinds of backlash moving forward because the Jews think that he's telling Jews not to get circumcised, not to obey these laws.

So the focus right now is really on the Gentiles and just kind of letting the Jewish Christians do what they want with regard to these laws under the old covenant. So in one set of instructions, they're really kind of killing two birds with one stone, that the Gentiles should refrain from practices associated with paganism, and this is corresponding with some Jewish sensitivity because there is an aware, an awareness of these things. He, he says in verse 21, for the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

So as it turns out, James' assessment won the day, and Luke tells us what follows verse 22. Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers, with them, they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You'll do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

So we see that they send back Paul and Barnabas, and they also send along Judas and Silas to confirm what's being said. Maybe there could be some question of, you know, people doubting what Paul and Barnabas are saying because maybe the argument's kind of, the argument's kind of gone in their direction, so to assure those that they're going to, Yes, this is in fact what the apostles and elders determined. And they also say that these ones who traveled to Antioch previously, they didn't have any authority to say what they said. These messengers, however, are authorized by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

The other thing that kind of is just notable here is once again, we see the role of the Holy Spirit. Verse 28. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. So yes, human beings are involved here. The apostles and elders are involved here, but who is guiding them? It's the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who's guiding them and giving them the wisdom to know what should be done here. And so continuing on in verse 30, we learn of how they were received.

Says, so the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. Then regarding verse 34, it says, some manuscripts include here, but Silas decide to remain there. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

So the people are encouraged by the letter, and we can imagine why they're encouraged, because the Antioch Church is a church where you do have a strong presence of Gentile Christians. They're also encouraged by teaching offered by Judas and Silas. It would seem that they offered, says that they said, they said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. When we think about prophecy, it may be here that what they're actually doing is going into the Old Testament prophets and explaining all the instructions of the apostles and elders based upon what the prophets have foretold, kind of like what James did in his reasoning with the apostles and elders. And then from there it says that they were sent off. And it would seem that both Silas and Judas are sent off. But then you'll notice here that in verse 34, it says Some manuscripts include here, but Silas decide to remain there.

Now the reason why there's a discrepancy here between some of the old manuscripts, you have to understand when it comes to putting together the New Testament that they have, that we have here, they're drawing from many copies of manuscripts, and they try to draw from the oldest copies that we have in order to have the most accurate version. And so there's a bit of a discrepancy. Some of the old copies include that Silas remain there, some of them don't. The reason why we might think that he stayed there is because later in the chapter it says that Paul took Silas with him, but perhaps a later scribe decided that they should put that in there 'cause it would seem like, oh, that was just a detail that was missing. Nothing that was, you know, malicious, like they were trying to twist the scripture. They just thought like, oh, clearly Silas must have stayed there because Paul took him. But trying to be diligent to the original text of scripture, that's why we have that note in there. Meanwhile, Paul and Barnabas stay in Antioch and they continue in their teaching ministry.

So now, returning from the first century to our own 21st century, we can consider the position of the church today in the midst of the tensions that are surrounding us. The tension of our time, while stressed all the more by racist solutions, is not the only cause behind some of the extremist voices out there. The tension we are presently experiencing is not just racial in origin, but it's ideological. There's ideological opposition going on that's causing tension. Ideologies from varying ends of the, ends of the spectrum are being marshaled in opposition to God's word, which as I've explained, really serves as kind of the bedrock of much of the Western values that we hold. And opposition to the Gospel isn't limited to one race or another. It's found among people of every ethnic background, not only one or some.

This also holds true-- that the Gospel is accepted by people from all nations, tribes and tongues. The Church transcends every human division to unite all in Christ who would turn to him in faith. Now, as I said at the beginning, this could not be taken for granted in the first century; all of us who are Gentiles should recall that our acceptance by God is only made possible in Jesus Christ. This remembrance should make us utterly grateful and constantly thankful to him.

And in truth, only Jesus can break the tension that surrounds us. Only Jesus can bring true peace in himself. You're not gonna find peace in the world, but in Jesus Christ, as members are added to the body of Christ, we find the peace that Jesus offers. That is the truth. In a time fueled by competing narratives, it is the truth that really matters. We must be resolute, we must be absolute in declaring this. The good news is, is that it can be done without being hateful or obnoxious. It's possible to be humble, loving, and absolutely confident in the truth of the Gospel. The message hasn't changed, it remains as Peter himself says, we believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. That's our message. That is the truth for all people, salvation cannot be found anywhere else. As we share that same faith, we are counted among the people of God, counted among the people of God; we are made true brothers and sisters in Jesus, no matter what our ethnic background is, our status, or, or our abilities, we are all one in him.

Here in our time our unity in the gospel as the church can shine as a witness to the world as to what's possible in Christ. And even if all do not immediately or ultimately come to him, I believe that by the grace of God the warmth of our witness can have a medicinal effect upon our society and promote healing where division is currently festering. I believe it can hopefully lead people to that true and complete restoration that is available through faith in Christ. Every century has its difficulties. We must take courage and not despair because the same spirit who guided the church then is guiding us now. And so testify to the truth of the gospel. Tell of what you have experienced, the goodness you have found, the mercy you have encountered. And let the world know.

Press on and let us pray.

Dear Father, we thank you that we are saved by grace in Jesus Christ. We thank you, father, that we are not saved on the basis of whether we have been perfectly righteous, because if that was the basis, father, none of us would be saved.

Father, we, we thank you that not only have you reconciled us to yourself in Jesus, but as we see here in the text, you have used Jesus to reconcile us with one another, make us one people in Jesus Christ. And so Father, we pray that the gospel would truly be our mainstay as we try to navigate the tense times that we're living in, that we would make clear to the world that the peace that they're seeking, it can only be found in Jesus Christ and help us to live it out.

Father, help us to live it out here in Rockland Community Church. Be a source of peace and of unity and of hope here in Scituate. Father, we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community

Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)