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Acts 15:1-2
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "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.....
We have heard of the way that the Gospel has spread to the non-Jews, how the Holy Spirit led Paul and Barnabas to preach both in the synagogue and to pagans. We have heard of the success of this mission and how well things were going…but there was trouble back in Jerusalem. There were some people who were worried about how these new converts would fit into the community of believers. Who would change the most, the community or the new believers?
It is hard to be an exciting and vibrant church without there being some frank discussion (arguments). It is hard to be an exciting and vibrant church if there are frank discussions. Every time you try to do somethng new, someone comes up with a plethora of reasons as to why it shouldn't be allowed or can't be done.
It might be a question of tradition again. Some of the Jeruslaem delegation wanted the gentiles ot be circumcised. We might hear what they are not saying. No one is saying that mission shouldn’t be to the Gentiles, non-Jews and pagans, just that if they have faith they should get circumcised in the same way that all the Jewish people did, including the Jewish Messiah Jesus.
When we seek to make the Gospel relevant and accesible to the people we are trying to reach how far is too far, and how much should church be different, challenging, a prophetic voice to the world that God wants to redeem? I’m not going to answer, I just thought I would ask the question again...the church has been asking it for thousands of years, and it is always worth revisiting.
