Acts 15:1

And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and the elders about this question... But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it is needful to circumcise them and to command them that they keep the law of Moses.

When the first great controversy struck the early church, the question was simple and eternal: how is a person made right with God?

The World's Councils and the Church's Council

It has been an eventful week in our nation and in the world. The leaders of many nations gathered in New York City at the General Assembly of the United Nations. You probably heard bits and pieces of speeches from world leaders such as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, as well as Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and our own President Barack Obama. Right after that, the leaders of the nineteen biggest economies and the EU gathered for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Both gatherings were attempts by the leaders of this world to fix or at least address the problems our globe is facing—the global economic crisis, climate change, and other things they're seeking answers for.

In Acts chapter 15, we come to a council, a general assembly of the church, to discuss probably the first major problem the church faced in the book of Acts: the issue of works salvation. How is a person made right with God? How can one receive forgiveness and justification? This was not the last time the church would gather—if you've studied church history, you've read of the Councils of Nicaea, Chalcedon, and Constantinople, where the church gathered to address heresies. This was the first such gathering.

Trouble Comes to Antioch

It happened that certain men came down from Judea to Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas had been ministering for some years. Remember that Barnabas first came to Antioch to see what God was doing, and when he saw many Gentiles coming to faith, he went and found Saul of Tarsus and brought him back. Paul had a gift and calling from God to equip the saints, and the church grew not just in numbers but in strength. The people were so transformed that the unbelievers of the city took notice and began calling these followers of Jesus "Christians"—"little Christs." It was meant as an insult, but they took the name willingly.

In Antioch, Gentile and Jewish believers enjoyed great fellowship—great koinonia—whereas before, Jews would never associate with a Gentile. In Christ, those walls of separation were torn down, as Paul writes in Ephesians. After Paul and Barnabas had been sent out as the first worldwide missionaries into Galatia and returned, these men came from Judea and began teaching the brethren: "Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved." Their coming from Jerusalem gave them credentials, so they were welcomed and given a chance to share—and they caused a stir.

The Heart of the Question

At its root, this false teaching presented the church with an important question: how is a person made right with God? When we use the word righteousness, our minds often go to sinless perfection, but the best biblical definition is simply to be right with God—to have a right standing with Him, to be in fellowship and relationship with Him.

Man always has a tendency to interject himself into the answer of that question. The mindset is partly true—if I walk in continual sin, I cannot expect to have fellowship with God. As Isaiah told Israel, "Your sin has separated you from your God." But as it relates to justification—that big word dealing with the forgiveness of my sin and the removal of the punishment I deserve—does it have anything to do with my works? Some of us relate to God in a quid pro quo way: if I do A, B, and C, then God will bless me. We say it in the negative too: "I didn't read my Bible this morning, so God's not happy with me," or "I haven't prayed, so God can't bless me," or "I guess I'd better fast to get His attention." That's exactly how Israel related to God 2,800 years ago, even accusing Him of not taking notice.

These men went further. It wasn't merely an issue of blessing—they said you cannot even be saved unless you basically become a Jew. Prior to this, the church was often seen as a sect of Judaism, and so they said: before you can become a Christian, you must receive circumcision, the sign of the covenant of Abraham, and you must follow the law of Moses.

Paul Confronts Peter at Antioch

We're told it was "certain men." Their names aren't given—perhaps out of respect, perhaps because they were unknown. What we do know from Galatians is that the apostle Peter was in Antioch when this happened. In Galatians 2:11, Paul writes:

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain men came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision.

Picture it: Paul, Barnabas, and the church praising God together, Jews and Gentiles alike, the middle wall of separation broken down. Peter, a traveling teacher, comes and fellowships freely with the Gentiles—eating with them, worshiping with them. But when the men from Jerusalem arrived, he withdrew, afraid of what his Jewish companions would think. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him—even Barnabas was carried away with the hypocrisy. This false teaching erected a wall in the church that had never been there before.

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before every single one of them, If you, being a Jew, live after the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews?... knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Imagine being there. A hush had to fall when Paul said, "Simon Peter, how dare you?" Here is the same Peter who walked on water, revered and looked up to, being seduced away from the simplicity that is in Christ. And Paul, who had formerly persecuted the church, withstood him to his face: man is not justified by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

On the Way to Jerusalem

Because of this great stir, they determined to go down to Jerusalem. Acts 15:3 tells us:

And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

As they traveled from Antioch toward Jerusalem, they stopped with brothers and sisters in Phoenicia and Samaria and shared how God was moving among the Gentiles—how, apart from circumcision and the law of Moses, these Gentiles had been so transformed that their neighbors and coworkers took notice. The people had great joy at this news. But notice what they did not share: the problem raised by these Judaizers. They shared only the good things God had done, because the question had not yet been answered.

When they came to Jerusalem, they were received by the whole church and the apostles and elders, and they declared all that God had done. There was no contest, no division—they were welcomed and given opportunity to speak before the entire body. Then in verse 5: "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it is needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses."

A Civil Council, A Genuine Concern

This council did not unfold like a judgmental courtroom drama. Paul and Barnabas weren't dragged in as a lunatic fringe carrying heresy, nor were these Pharisaic believers presented as a group of legalistic nuts. Both simply shared, and a question was posed. The whole body heard it, but in verse 6 "the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter." It was not a congregational vote—the leaders made the decision. This reveals an important aspect of early church government: the question was presented to the whole body, but only the leaders decided.

Verse 7 says, "And when there had been much disputing." When I read "disputing," I picture cable-news pundits talking over one another, red-faced and sweating. But in the original language the word means mutual questioning—a civil discussion. The Pharisees had a genuine concern: they feared these Gentile believers wouldn't follow the Lord obediently and would be bad witnesses. They wanted them to walk in righteousness—and God desires that too. But their idea of how righteousness comes about was completely different from how God reveals it in Scripture.

The Religious Heart Without a Savior

We often think we have to drum up righteousness ourselves—make it happen, make ourselves righteous before God. That's how the Pharisees lived, and how Saul of Tarsus lived. Yet Jesus called them whitewashed tombs: beautiful outside, full of dead men's bones within. Because of their religion, they didn't believe they needed a Savior. That's why Jesus said the physician comes for the sick, and why He spent His time with tax collectors, harlots, and drunkards—people who knew they needed saving.

That was the purpose of God's law: that Israel would recognize there was no possible way to keep it and make themselves righteous. Instead they took it as a list to check off—all 613 laws. Paul says in Philippians 3 that as a Pharisee, "according to the law I was blameless." That's what religion kindles in a person. When you meet a purely religious person, two things are usually absent: humility and joy. No humility, because before others they present themselves as having arrived. No joy, because alone with the Scriptures they know that the good they want to do they don't do, and the bad they don't want to do, they practice.

These men were presenting works salvation. People still come to our doors today talking like Christians, looking like Christians, even carrying a Bible, and yet saying, "Yes, belief in Jesus is important, but you must do this and this and this to really be saved." It was no different from what these Pharisees were teaching.

Peter Stands Up

Then Peter rose up. Put yourself in Paul's sandals—just previously he had confronted Peter to his face. As Peter stands, Paul might be thinking, "How is this going to go?"

Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Paul must have been jumping for joy. Peter says God has already made this decision for us. At the house of Cornelius, before Peter even finished his message, God poured out the Holy Spirit on those Gentiles because they believed—and by grace through faith they were justified, and God proved it.

It's a good thing God did, because Peter himself had a bent toward legalism. Just before going to Cornelius, on the rooftop of Simon the tanner, God let down a sheet of clean and unclean animals and said, "Rise, Peter; kill, and eat." Peter answered, "I have never eaten anything common or unclean." Three times God had to tell him, "What I have cleansed, call not common." Every person who becomes a Christian tends to go through a period of legalism, and at various stages we fall back into it, thinking, "If I do A through F, then God will bless me." But God made no difference between Jew and Gentile—so why erect a wall, why fashion a yoke that neither we nor our fathers could bear?

The Law as a Schoolmaster

The yoke of the law was never bearable. In Exodus 19 the people said three times, "All that the LORD hath said we will do." In Exodus 20 Moses received the law, and by the time he came down the mountain the people were already bowing to a golden calf. Before they had even heard the law, they had broken it. Through Numbers we see them fall into idolatry and immorality. God seated them in the promised land—not for their righteousness, but because He is gracious. By faith they crossed the Jordan and the Red Sea; they could never have done it by their own strength. Then in Judges, repeatedly, "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD." Through the judges, the monarchy, the prophets—always turning away, always proving the law true.

The law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. It reveals my sin like a giant spotlight. Romans 3 says, "By the law comes the knowledge of sin." Imagine waking with a terrible headache for weeks. You go for an MRI, and the doctor says, "We found a large tumor." Frustrated, you grab a Callaway driver and smash the MRI machine to pieces. People would say, "What are you doing? Nothing's wrong with the MRI machine—it revealed the cancer within." The law reveals the wickedness within you and me. It is holy, just, and good. But because of pride, I want to play a part, so that when I get to heaven I can say, "Of course He blessed me—look at all I did." God doesn't work like that. It's not by works of righteousness.

To This Agree the Words of the Prophets

Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

After Peter spoke of God's work at Cornelius's house, Paul and Barnabas testified of the miracles among the Gentiles in Antioch and Galatia. Then verse 13: "And after they had held their peace, James answered." By this time James, the half-brother of Jesus and author of the epistle, had become the primary leader of the Jerusalem church—something like the senior pastor everyone deferred to.

Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

Notice James calls Peter by his original Hebrew name, Simeon. He understood the culture of Jerusalem and wanted to remind the many Jewish believers that Peter had not rejected the law or the Lord—he was still Simon, declaring what God had done. Then James says, "And to this agree the words of the prophets." Underline that. Circle verse 15. Their authority was not the word of Paul, the testimony of Peter, or the message of Barnabas—it was the word of God. James quotes Amos 9:

After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down... that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Then verse 18: "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." This was not outside God's plan—it was exactly what He had said He would do through the prophets. The moving of the Lord among the Gentiles surprised the Jews, but it never surprised God.

Nothing Ever Occurs to God

How often I think I've got it figured out, and my prayers almost seem to instruct God. I've been teaching through Isaiah again, and Isaiah 40:12–17 keeps standing out:

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span... who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel?... Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.

God measured the waters, the heavens, the dust, the mountains. Who counseled Him? No one. And yet my prayer life often acts as though I must clue God in. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God? There's never a moment where He says, "I didn't think of that, Miles—thank you." Isaiah says all the wood of Lebanon and all its beasts wouldn't be a sufficient offering, for He is so glorious. "All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity."

This is a great reminder as we watch the nations gather in New York. The Jews in Israel call the United Nations "the united nothing." All these nations are trying to save the world, save the economy, and we can get wrapped up in it and become fearful. I'll admit I'm the worst news junkie you'll find—my wife tells me at one in the morning to put down the news and go to bed. We can get sucked in and anxious. But verse 18 reminds us: known unto God are all His works from the beginning. Did Barack Obama take God by surprise? He might surprise us, but God? Never. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't either. God knows what He's doing; He's on the throne; He's not finished.

God Is on the Throne

When a problem rose up in the church at Jerusalem, this is what they came back to: God knows what He's doing. He made this decision—not us. You may say, "We elected these leaders, we put them in power." But God raises up one and puts down another; He's in control. Does that mean we're not active? No—we have a constitutional mandate, and God told us to be subject to those set over us. We play our part, but we recognize God is on the throne and not taken by surprise.

We don't have time to finish, but look at verse 22: "Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church." Every person who had a concern was pleased with the outcome, because it came by the word of God. For a brief moment they may have feared God wasn't in control. We get there too. But known unto God are all His works from the beginning of this world.

We are saved by grace through faith, "not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created unto good works, which God ordained before that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8–10). And the authority in our lives and in the church must be God's word. The more I study Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, the more I find God knows exactly what's happening on earth today and already has a plan. People once mocked evangelicals for saying there would one day be a global currency—yet that's what they discussed at the G20 summit this week. We're heading into a time the Bible speaks much about, and this verse should comfort us: known unto God are all His works from the beginning. That's your memory verse this week—Acts 15:18.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You that that verse is true—that You're on the throne, You're in control. Lord, even though we look around this world and sometimes think You've got to do something, You are working and You know what You're doing. You are our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. You, Lord, are there in the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High; You are in the midst of her; Your throne will not be moved. You hear our prayers. Though the heathen rage and the kingdoms are moved, You utter Your voice and everything melts. Lord, You are our God, You are our refuge. We praise You in Jesus' name. Amen.