The Sermon on the Mount III

Subtitle: Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom II, also

Fulfilling the Torah and the Prophets of God

Matthew 5:13-16, 17-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 17, 2023.

We are continuing our look at Jesus, King Messiah, who was also The Prophet like Moses.  He is giving the good news to the poor and misfortunate of Israel that the door to the Kingdom of Heaven is in front of them.  They only need to enter by faith in Jesus as its king.

This sermon will finish the introduction of Jesus.  Thus, I have titled this first part “Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom.”  Verse 17 will begin the main body of the message Jesus is giving.  I have titled it as “Fulfilling the Torah and the Prophets of God.”

Let’s look at this first part.

Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom (5:3-12, 13-16)

Verses 3 through 12 are called the beatitudes, and they answer the questions of who God is planning to bless and how.  The surprise twist in these beatitudes show that God values things very different than we do.  None of these people would have thought of themselves as blessed, but rather cursed.  Jesus is not in the temple talking to the elite religionists of his day.  He is in the wilderness on a mountainside with the poor and afflicted of Israel surrounding him.  He tells them that they are blessed because God is opening up the Kingdom of Heaven to them.

We also pointed out last week that the beatitudes do more than tell them they are blessed.  They also create a composite sketch of Jesus himself.  Jesus is the ultimate poor and afflicted one whom God values, more, whom God loves.  Jesus is the ultimate person who is blessed of God to the ultimate degree.

This is exactly what Isaiah is prophesying in Isaiah 53:3-4.  Here is the text.  “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Notice the intention is to show that our value system would be so messed up that we would think Messiah, the Servant of the LORD, was essentially cursed of God.  These people listening to Jesus would have been told by society (and believed it) that they were not blessed of God, otherwise their life wouldn’t be so filled with sickness and poverty.  Yet, Messiah would appear to be the most cursed of God, while all the time being the most blessed of God.  This is why Jesus not only puzzled people in the first century, but continues to puzzle them to this day.

Starting in verse 13, Jesus gives three metaphors that represent the purpose behind why God is blessing these unfortunates.  In other words, the blessings mentioned in the first part has a purpose that goes beyond those people.  Do you remember Abraham?  God blessed him above all others in his day.  Yet, that blessing was intended to be a blessing to all of the nations (Genesis 18:18; 22:18; and 26:4).

This is a principle with God.  His blessing to anyone is never intended to be only for their sake.  If you picture a reservoir behind a dam, then you will get the point.  We can be so fearful of the lack of future blessing that we dam it up and hold it to ourselves.  Yet, God has a purpose in blessing us that intends for us to find ways to release it to others in a good way.  He wants to bless others through the blessings that He gives to you, and He wants to bless you through blessings that He gives to others.  May God help us to understand this way of God so that we can be truly blessed.

The first purpose in our blessing is pictured by salt.  Those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus are intended to be the salt of the earth.  Jesus doesn’t tell us what the salt represents, but he does give us a hint by emphasizing the flavor of the salt.  Through the years, two aspects have been pointed out about salt.  It makes things taste better, and it preserves things from rotting.

So what is the flavor?  Are we making the world taste better for God?  Or, are we to be making this life taste better for the lost, so that they will see God?  This is not explained.

A good principle to remember is to let Scripture interpret Scripture.  We can look for other places where the Bible talks about salt and see if it is used as a metaphor for anything.  You are going to find about 42 places in the Bible where it uses the word “salt.”  It almost always simply means salt.  However, there are a couple of references that are interesting. 

In Leviticus 2:13, we see that a grain offering was required to be salted, even referring to it as the “salt of the covenant.”  So whatever the salt represented, it was important to God.  We should also put on the back burner of our thoughts that Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.  Jesus tells us to remember her.  The most helpful verse is given to us by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 4:6.  It reads, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”  From this verse, it appears that the salt most likely represents grace in Matthew 5.

Does this make sense in the story of Lot’s wife?  Notice that she had been the recipient of a lot of God’s grace, particularly being saved from the destruction of Sodom.  Being turned into a pillar of salt may represent the sad reality of her perishing over the top of all the grace that God had given her.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, who is the ultimate grace of God, graciously opens the door of the kingdom to the poor and afflicted of Israel.  Yet, such grace in their lives, is intended to be spread, salted, on others in Israel, and even to the Gentiles, by extension.  This grace of God is what not only makes this life that He has given us flavorful.  Yet, for the lost, we become the flavor of God by being His grace to them.  Only some will like the taste, but it is God’s intention for us nonetheless.

If the salt loses its flavor, its grace, there is something missing.  Essentially, we are missing Jesus.  We are then not helpful for the purposes of God.  We will simply be trampled upon by men.  In this world, there will be trampling.  The trampling itself does not mean that you have lost your flavor.  Rather, if we have lost our flavor, that is the only thing that we would be good for.  Don’t miss that point.  In Jesus, any trampling that happens to His people will accomplish the work of God because we have the flavor of God in us, essentially Jesus.  They trample us over the top of being the grace of God.  This will open the eyes of some as they see that something is wrong.  On the other hand, the trampling of those who do not have the grace of Jesus only seems fitting to the world.

Jesus then gives two metaphors back to back because they essentially point to the same thing.  Believers are to be the light of the world and a city on a hill.  These are both about visibility.  Light enables people to see things that they couldn’t see before, and elevation helps whatever is on it to be seen as well.  Of course, Jesus is the light of the world, but because he is in us, we become the light of the world (like a lamp). 

We have no light in and of ourselves.  Rather, we become a container of light that is supposed to be made visible to the world around us.  A good metaphor for this is the earth, the moon, and the sun.  Only the sun makes light in and of itself.  However, the moon can reflect light to the earth because of its relationship to the sun relative to the earth.  Jesus is not on the earth, but our relationship with him makes us able to give light to them, i.e., information about God, His character, and His purpose.

God’s intention is that the truth, about who Jesus is and what he has done for those who will believe, will be made known to everyone.  If this is hidden, it is not done by God.  If our light is under a basket, it is because we are not cooperating with His intention for whatever reason.  In fact, a city on a hill has no say about it.  It will be visible.

The principle given in verse 16 is that we are to do good works, live out the righteousness of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, in such a way that those good works point them to our Father in Heaven.  God wants them to see true righteousness born of the Spirit and out of relationship with Jesus.

This will set up a later tension in the Sermon on the Mount between things that should be visible to others and things that should not be. The flesh tends to make things public that it shouldn’t and keep private what should be public.  In more simple terms, the flesh makes public what should be private, and private what should be public.  How do we know which should be?  We know through the word of God and relationship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  He leads us.  Nothing can replace true spiritual relationship with Jesus.

Fulfilling the Torah and Prophets of God (5:17-20)

In verse 17, we come to the main body of Jesus’ teaching.  It is going to come across as something totally new, as if Jesus was adding to the Torah, or even changing it.  Thus, Jesus begins by clarifying exactly what he is doing.

Jesus knows that his teaching will be misconstrued by some, whether purposefully or ignorantly, as anti-Law.  Paul had this same problem.  In fact, even in the Church, there are some pastors who basically tell their people that they don’t need to know the Old Testament.  It isn’t for Christians.  However, instead of destroying or abolishing the Law (the instructions of God given at Sinai), Jesus had come to fulfill it. 

This is Matthew’s 7^th use of the word “fulfill.”  It is easiest to see this with the prophets.  They often pointed to future things that God was promising to do in order to encourage the faith of people before they were fulfilled.  You might picture this as an empty glass, or a glass that is not completely full.  The presence of the cup, or rather many cups of prophecy, gives us hope that God will keep His word.  Past fulfillments encourage waiting for future fulfillments.  The Law also has aspects that need to be fulfilled, like an cup that is only partially filled.  An example of this would be the sacrificial system.  It begs the question of just how does the blood of an animal remove my sin from me.  The work of Jesus on the cross and at the resurrection becomes a fulfillment of the sacrificial system.  We now understand what it was trying to teach us.  And, herein lies the problem.  We too often think of the Law as a list of infractions and penalties.  However, it’s true purpose is to teach us about righteousness, sin, judgment, and the loving grace of God.

We should be careful of just thinking of Jesus as fulfilling some of the prophecies.  He is what all the Law and Prophets were pointing us towards.  Their whole purpose is so that we would recognize, embrace, and follow Jesus.

Paul explains this in Galatians 3:23-25 by comparing the Law to a tutor or a schoolmaster.  Israel was like a child who is under the rule of a governor or governess.  When the child becomes an adult, the job of the governor will be over, and the young adult enters into the next phase of life.  Jesus was too valuable of a gift to simply send.  God took precious time training and teaching Israel through the Law so that they could recognize Jesus for what he was, the ultimate servant of the LORD.

Jesus is coming forth as the Messiah to lead Israel into the Kingdom of spiritual adulthood.  “The Kingdom is here; it is time to step up, son!”

In verse 18, Jesus speaks to the certainty that every bit of the Law and the Prophets would be fulfilled.  To do this, he refers to the durability of heaven and earth.  This heaven and earth are not eternal.  They are destined to be transformed (melted down and reformed) into a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 20).  How are we going to survive that?  The answer is only by Jesus! 

Jesus explains that before the heavens pass away, i.e., the Revelation 20 event comes, every bit of the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled.  In order to emphasize both the certainty and the attention to detail of its fulfillment, Jesus mentions two words that are strange to English ears.  The KJV and NKJV have the words “jot” and “tittle.”  The ESV has the words “iota” and “dot.”  The NIV doesn’t even try to come up with a word for them.  It has “smallest letter and least stroke of the pen.”  What is he talking about?

If you were in our church when I preached this, I walked us through the Hebrew letters and what these words are referring to.  In a shortened form for this article, the word “jot” or “iota” is a reference to the Hebrew letter “yod.”  It looks like an apostrophe but is a consonant that has the sound of /y/.  It is the smallest letter in Hebrew (at least half the size of the others).  The “tittle” or “dot” refers to a small protrusion on a letter that distinguishes it from another letter.  This is the case between the Hebrew letters Resh and Dalet.  The Dalet is not rounded like the Resh, having a protrusion on the upper right-hand side of the letter.  This small stroke on the letter is important to distinguish the letter.

Notice what this means.  It makes sense that God is going to fulfill all of the statements and promises that He made in the Bible.  However, this takes it deeper.  He is not only going to fulfill the statements, He is going to fulfill the words, the letters, down to the small distinctions between letters.  The detail to which God is fulfilling the Law and the Prophets will go to a level that we can’t even comprehend looking forward.  It is similar to the disciples after the cross.  Beforehand, they had trouble getting what Jesus was saying.  It seemed so contradictory to the Scriptures.  However, after the cross and after the explanations of Jesus, they look back at the Old Testament and it suddenly explodes with meaning that they did not see before.  They had been trained not to see it.

Verse 19 then moves to underline the importance of the commands and their fulfillment.  Jesus didn’t come to break the commandments, but some would.  Some would even teach others to break the commandments.  Breaking the commands is parallel with the earlier destroying the Law.

Now, if you read what Jesus is saying like a Pharisee, then you will think that we should still be doing sacrifices, and that the Apostle Paul really was a heretic misleading early Christians.  However, this is an uninformed application.  The Church does not teach that the Law has been destroyed so Christians can eat pork if they want, go to church on Sunday if they want, and skip doing sacrifices.  Rather, we teach that Jesus is King Messiah who sets up a new covenant in which we now fulfill the Law and the Prophets by obedience to him and the instructions that he brought down from God the Father (like Moses).  Jesus teaches us to accomplish the whole purpose of the Law.

This is what Jeremiah was getting at in 31:31-34 of his book.  The new covenant was not taking away the Law, but putting the Law (the Torah, instructions of God) in their minds and writing them on their hearts.  The new is absolutely connected to the old because the old was pointing to the new all along.  Israel was by and large stuck on the superficial aspects of the law but not understanding the deeper truths that it was pointing towards.

It would be similar to parents giving their children a bed-time.  They go to bed at a specific time, not because it is the inherently moral time to go to bed.  Rather, the bed-time teaches a discipline and greater lesson that there is a time to go to bed and a time to wake up.  All responsible adults who do not live like children, understand this and respect it in their lives, regardless of when exactly they go to bed.  Yes, some laws are inherently moral.  “You shall not murder.”  But, the sacrificial laws, dietary laws, and feast days, were illustrative, even prophetic, of things that they only typified.  They were training wheels to help us understand what Jesus was, and is, doing.  Through Jeremiah, God basically says that their penchant to focus on the superficial aspects of the Law had kept it from getting into their hearts and minds.

Yet, God was going to fix that.  How?  Verse 34 tells us that God would forgive their iniquity and their sin.  It is important to understand the power of God’s forgiveness of our iniquity.  Jeremiah doesn’t explain the mechanism that God would use to make it possible for Him to forgive our iniquity.  However, Isaiah 53 does.  When you are given forgiveness undeservedly, it can have a powerful transformative affect upon your heart.  It is not guaranteed.  Some are not seeking forgiveness and don’t believe that they have done anything wrong.  But, forgiveness powerfully affects the repentant heart that desires restoration of relationship.  This is what John the Baptist meant when he said, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). 

Jesus is instituting a new covenant, a covenant of the adult-children of God who are no longer under the tutor of the Law, but for whom the lessons of the Law point us to the ultimate fulfillment that God intended in it.

Lest we be arrogant towards Israel, let us remember that no one gets to adulthood without first going through childhood.  Don’t think of it as God loving one more than another.  Rather, it is God doing what is necessary to save humans.  In fact, the kingdom is first offered to Israel, and a remnant of Israel entered into the Kingdom, becoming adult-children of God.  The Church is founded upon the faithful work of Jewish men and women who took the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth, bringing Gentiles into the saving work of Jesus.

Christians do not throw off the Old Testament.  Rather, we fulfill it in our lives through faithfully following the instructions of King Jesus.

To slam this point home even further, Jesus gives a serious, even severe, warning.  Those who misunderstand his teaching here will be the least in the Kingdom as opposed to the greatest.  This is not a time to be humble.  Jesus is speaking about a judgment by God as to our service.  We can be saved by believing in Jesus, but still misconstrue some of the finer points of what he is doing.    It appears that a person can be in the Kingdom, but become hampered in our ability to truly serve Him.  The key is to stay humble, stay in the Scriptures, and keep prayerfully seeking the help of the Holy Spirit.

Yet, verse 20 gives us a more powerful warning.  Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  The idea of being shut out of the Kingdom is a fearful one.  All of Israel saw the Kingdom as the apex of God’s promises to us.  The Kingdom is perfect relationship into eternity.  To be shut out of the Kingdom is to be shut out of all that will come for those who are in relationship with Yahweh.

It is only the righteousness of Christ that saves us.  Yet, Christ wants to impact us by His Holy Spirit to live out that righteousness on this earth through a real relationship with our Maker, and Redeemer.

If we think of this warning in superficial terms, then we will be exasperated at the idea of doing more righteousness than the Pharisees.  However, we need to understand the heart element here.  A Pharisee may do a ton of things that he believes to be righteous because of the traditions of men.  His righteousness could amount to filthy rags before God.  But, one sinner who believes on Jesus and has even an ounce of Christ working in his heart can produce more righteousness, more true righteousness, than the other.  It is quantity, but quantity that first survives a hurdle of quality.

May God help us to be a people fulfilling with Jesus all that the Law and the Prophets are pointing towards!

SOTM3

The Sermon on the Mount I

Subtitle: Behold Your King!

Matthew 1-5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 3, 2023.

As we embark on our look at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 through 7, we want to take time to adjust just how we see this scene.

The word “sermon” sounds as if Jesus is simply a preacher, and everyone that day was simply going to church.  As we will see, Matthew sees something far greater than a teacher exhorting us to live for God.

As an introduction to this series, I have picked the subtitle, “Behold Your King!”  These words are used in Zechariah 9:9 to point Israel to Messiah who would come to them as lowly, and riding on a donkey.  Both Matthew and John quote Zechariah 9:9 to Jesus, particularly the Triumphal entry before his crucifixion.

The early church understood that Jesus was presenting himself as king.  Even after his rejection and crucifixion, he is still King Messiah.  God had made him king, and God was not taking nominations for the position.  He wasn’t looking for our input on who it is going to be.  We see this in Psalm 2.

Matthew’s gospel is not just a diary that tells us what happened each day of the life of Jesus.  It does roughly follow his life, but it is presented, or packaged, in a way to help us see who Jesus really is.  Some of the crafting of this message is done by Jesus himself, particularly when we are reading his words.  However, in the chapters leading up to the sermon on the mount, Matthew is purposefully arranging things so that we will understand what he understood about Jesus.  In fact, the whole book of Matthew is clearly packaged in a way to highlight things about Jesus.  There are 5 large collections of the teachings of Jesus in Matthew with the Sermon on the Mount being the first.  Another one that we see is the Parables of the Kingdom.  It is believed that Matthew puts it in these 5 collections to map or to picture the five books of the law.  A similar thing is done with the five collections, or books, of the Psalms.

I say all of this because I want us to pay attention to how Matthew presents the very Jesus who gives the sermon on the mount starting at Matthew 5:3.  There are two main pictures that lay behind who Jesus is.  Let’s look at those.

Jesus is the greater David

In the very first verse (1:1), Matthew signals something important about Jesus.  He is descended from David, “the son of David.”  He is also descended from Abraham.  Matthew will go on to give the data of the genealogy of Jesus.  However, this is the most important connections.  Why? 

He does so because King Messiah would come from the lineage of David.  Matthew is ultimately presenting Jesus as the Messiah of God, sent to rule Israel and the nations.   He is also presenting Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of The Promise to Abraham.  Through Jesus, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

Yet, Messiah is not just a son of David.  Messiah, Jesus, is greater than his ancestor David.  David gives us a template of a righteous king versus King Saul, a template of a wicked king.  David was righteous, but not like Jesus.

If you think that I am making this up, then look at 1:18.  Matthew writes, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows…”  For us, the word “Christ” almost comes off as a last name.  However, it is the Hebrew word for Messiah, and all of the prophecies in the Old Testament make it clear that Messiah is a king.  You can particularly go to Psalm 2 to verify that.

Yet, the king references given by Matthew continue.   In Matthew 2:2, the Magi come from the East and ask Herod a question.  “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”  They are looking for a king, which is disturbing to Herod (isn’t he the king? Who is this king they are looking for?).  In 2:4, Herod inquires from his religious experts where “the Christ was to be born.”  Notice that Herod and his religious leaders make the connection from a king of Israel, that Gentiles would be looking for, to the Messiah, Christ.  The chief priests then respond by using Micah 5:2.  Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and would become the “Ruler,” and the “Shepherd” of Israel.

All of this harkens back to the Davidic covenant given in 2 Samuel 7 (also in 1 Chronicles 17).  There God tells David that one will come from his line who will be a son to God and that God would be a father to him.  This special son would reign as king forever.  This king would be directly anointed by God’s Spirit to fix and rule over Israel and the nations.

This is most likely why the exile (“captivity”) is mentioned by Matthew in his genealogy of Jesus, 1:17.  The captivity was a great crisis among the people of Israel.  The line of David was cast down, Jerusalem destroyed, and the temple gone.  What was God doing?  Was He done with Israel?  We will look more at this later.

In Matthew 4:17 and 23, the main thing that Jesus is proclaiming is “The Kingdom,” which is connected to King Messiah.  Jesus is not just a man from the house of David trying to be king.  He is being presented as the Messiah who brings in a special time of heaven’s administration on earth called “The Kingdom,” or “the Kingdom of Heaven.”   In the sermon on the mount alone, Jesus references “kingdom” nine times (five times in chapter five, three times in chapter six, and 1 time in chapter seven).  The Kingdom is important for Jesus.

Jesus tells them in Matthew 4 to repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.  They need to get things right with God, but they specifically need to listen to the one whom God was sending, Jesus.  He would show them how to fix everything in Israel and the nations.

The sermon on the mount becomes a king who is announcing his arrival, and declaring the terms of his kingdom.  Yet, this is not the only image that Matthew is projecting to us.

Jesus is the greater Moses for a new exodus

Jesus is not just giving Israel the word of the Lord.  He is the Word of the Lord.  Similarly, Jesus is not just another prophet in a long series of prophets.  He is The Prophet.  In fact, Moses prophesied that God would send another prophet like him in Deuteronomy 18.  Israel would need to listen to this prophet. This is important because Moses was not just another prophet.  The writer of the book of Hebrews in chapter three of his letter makes the connection between Jesus and Moses.  Moses was faithful as a servant in order to set up the House of Israel for Yahweh.  All the prophets that came after him were different in that they pointed Israel back to the writings of Moses.  They were not instituting a new thing, but maintaining what Moses helped set up.  Even the prophecies they gave of the future Messiah were in light of Israel. 

Jesus would similarly build a new house.  However, Jesus is greater than Moses.  He is not just building a house for God, but He is building a house as a son.  This is a marriage picture.  The son builds onto the house of his father to make room for him and his bride.  Jesus is The Prophet who is like Moses, and yet, who is also greater.

Matthew’s 5 large collections of the teachings of Jesus are presenting him in this light.  We can notice on top of this that Jesus goes up  in Matthew 5:1 “on the mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.”  “The mountain” is sometimes translated as “a mountain” simply because it is not defined in the passage.  Yet, the definite article is there.  Matthew is using language connected to the days of Moses, and the mountain they went to in order to receive the instruction of Yahweh. 

This may not be expected for us, but the Hebrews understood from the prophet Isaiah that God was going to do a New Exodus in order to solve the problem created by Israel’s sin.  Isaiah ends chapter 39 with the revelation that God was going to judge Judah and send her into exile in Babylon.  Yet, the next chapter opens with God telling the prophet to comfort His people.  God would send a servant that would bring Israel back from the captivity and enable the work of God to prosper in his hands.  This servant would set up the promised Kingdom of Messiah.  From chapter 40 to 66, the imagery of the Exodus is promoted as God’s template for saving Israel again.  The same God who saved them from Egypt would save them from Babylon, and even more than that.

Yes, it looked like Israel was done, and that the line of David was done.  However, through Isaiah, God says that He is not done!  When the enemy tells you, “It’s over,” and “There is no recovery from that,” don’t listen to him.  Whether it comes to mind about yourself, another person, or a certain Republic you know and love, it doesn’t matter if it is dead, the meat is completely rotted off of the corpse, and the bones are completely dry.  God is able to bring back from the dead in order to keep His promises.  This new exodus would be on a greater scale, and such an impact would require a greater Moses.

Christ would be the end of the captivity of not just Israel, but also of the nations.

Yet, Jesus is greater than simply being the greater Moses.  In Matthew 2, we see the child Jesus going down to Egypt in order to escape Herod’s attempt to kill the kids under two years old.  Isn’t it strange that we have a king killing babies, and Jesus going to Egypt?  There is purposefulness to this.  Jesus is even the greater Israel.  Everything that Israel went through and failed, Jesus will walk through and succeed, without sin.  He will be the perfect Israel, the perfect servant of the Lord, following the leading of Yahweh even through the desert.

Israel’s time in the wilderness was supposed to be an intimate time of God’s supernatural care and provision.  Yet, they fell to sin by grumbling and complaining.  They created a golden calf to serve, rebelled against Moses, and even committed sexual immorality at Baal Peor.  Yet, Jesus goes into the wilderness and is tempted at all points by the devil, only to come out of it having passed the test with flying colors.

All the promises to Israel fall upon the One who is the ultimate Israelite.  We should even note that the name Israel was not given to the nation.  It was given to an individual, Jacob.  Jacob had wrestled with God and is given a blessing of a new name.  It is often translated as “Prince with God,” which is fair.  However, it might be more impactful to think of it as “One who has power with God.”  Jacob had touched God, and God helped him.  He had power with God, not a power of control, but a power of relationship.  God cared for him.  Jesus is the greater Jacob, the greater Israel, the greater One who has power with God!  God listens to him.

Listen, God is not done with Israel even today.  Romans chapters nine to eleven show this.  Just as God did not throw off the gentiles forever, but used Israel to reach them, so too, God has not thrown off the nation of Israel forever, but will use the nations to bring Israel to a place where they will recognize Jesus as Messiah and repent before the Lord.

In Matthew 2:15, he quotes Hosea 11:1 “out of Egypt I called my son.”  When you look at the context of Hosea 11, you may think that they are misquoting.  It is clearly speaking of Israel as a nation.  Yet, when you see Israel as a prophetic, image in contrast, then you see how Matthew makes the connection.  Just as God called Israel out of Egypt, so Messiah would be brought out of Egypt.  Messiah is the ultimate Israel.

This connection of Jesus with King David and with The Prophet Moses will later be rounded out with The Great High Priest.  Jesus is presented as all of these roles all wrapped up into one.  He sits on the mountain and gives the Torah, the instructions of Yahweh for His people.   This is what Matthew is presenting.

So, when we read the sermon on the mount, we are not just hearing a nice sermon.  Jesus is setting up his kingdom, and we would do well to heed his instructions.  He is the prophet of god who we need to listen to so that we don’t perish in the wilderness (Exodus).  And, he is the king established by God that we need to submit to so that we don’t perish in the way when his wrath raises up just a little (Ps 2, Messiah).  Lastly, he is the High Priest who we need to remove our sins from us, to reconcile us to God so that we do not miss out on our inheritance.

Thus, Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount, 5:17-18, that he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.  He is all that the Law was pointing towards.  He is the ultimate fulfillment of what the Law was showing us.  Hallelujah!

Behold King audio

The Acts of the Apostles 63

Subtitle: The Gospel Comes to Greece 

Acts 16:11-24.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 12, 2023.

It is interesting to contemplate when the Gospel first came to a particular geography.  In our story today, Paul and Silas will take the Gospel to the Grecian city of Philippi found in Macedonia.  Thus, we know that the Gospel entered the area of Greece around AD 50.

It is clear that Paul and Silas were actually more interested in reaching more places in Asia Minor, but Paul has a vision of a Macedonian man begging him to come and help them.

Ministry in Philippi (v. 11-24)

Luke gives us several stories from the labor of Paul and Silas in this European city.  The people of that day would not have likely thought in terms of Asia versus Europe.  Still, we can see that the Gospel spreads beyond the Near East and crosses into Europe through the Apostle Paul.

A more biblical way to think of it may be in recognizing the beast empires of the book of Daniel.  Greece is the origin of the third beast.  By the time Luke’s account ends they will be in the territory of the 4^th beast, Rome.

These men represent the kingdom of the Son of man (Daniel 7) to whom the Ancient of Days had given all dominion.  They are more than missionaries.  They are the beachhead of the warriors of Christ against the spiritual powers that then held Greece and Rome under bondage to false religion.  The Gospel is a call for people to leave the kingdom of darkness and to join the kingdom of light.

After they had been in Philippi for several days, the Sabbath arrives.  We can see here that there must not have been a synagogue because this was Paul’s practice.  Instead, they find out where people in that city who worship Yahweh go to pray.  It is a nearby river,

At this river, we do not see them addressing any men.  To set up an official synagogue required 10 believing, Jewish, adult males.  We can assume that they had less than that.  Perhaps they had no men in the city, or perhaps only women went to the river.  Regardless, there are no guys mentioned here.

We are then introduced to a business woman from Thyatira (Asia Minor).  She is clearly a woman of means.  She is a seller of “purple,” a reference to an expensive dye and the expensive clothing made with it.  We also see that she has her own house along with a “household” (v. 15) that is big enough to have room for Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke.

Luke does not refer to himself other than to use the pronoun “we,” as opposed to “they.”  There are several section in Acts that are referred to as the “we” sections.  The first is from the port city of Troas to this city of Philippi (Acts 16:10-17).  The others are: 20:5-15, 21:1-8 and 27:1 through 28:16.  Luke is clearly not intending to draw any attention to himself.  Yet, at the same time, this signals to readers that he has spent time with these men that he writes about, and he even experienced some of these things with them.  His account can be trusted.

Back to Lydia, we are told that she is a devout Gentile who believed in the God of Israel (“worshipped God” v. 14).  This is why she was at the river on the Sabbath praying with other believers to the God of Israel.

As Paul and Silas spoke to the women there about Jesus, the Lord opens Lydia’s heart to heed the thing that they were teaching.  She and her household, which would include slaves and family members, put their faith in Jesus as Messiah and are baptized in water.  She then pleads with them to stay at her house, which will become the first house church in Greece, and Europe.  These are the nucleus of the people that Paul is writing to in the letter to the Philippians.

I find it interesting that the Macedonian man turns out to be a Thyatiran Woman.  Men will also be saved in Philippi, but Paul initially runs into women, and his first convert is a woman and her household.  Of course, God is concerned about everybody.  Paul is not sure what to expect.  Is he supposed to recognize the man in his vision, or is it more general, representing the people of that area?  My point is that he didn’t know.  Visions by definition tend not to have a lot of explained detail.  Yet, Paul was faithful to the mission that Christ had given him, preach the Gospel.  Who responded would be up to the Lord.  Lydia is the first to be saved there, but she won’t be the last.

At verse 16, Luke introduces a new part of the story with the phrase “as we went to prayer.”  This is most likely a subsequent Sabbath, whether the next Sabbath or several later.  Paul and his group continue to go back to the river to pray, but also to proclaim Jesus as the Christ to those who were gathering.

I believe that incident with a possessed slave girl demonstrates that the word was spreading among the spiritual realm in Philippi.  The devil didn’t like what was going on, even if there were not hundreds of people being saved.  Thus, a slave girl begins to follow them. 

We are told that she had a spirit of divination.  The word in Greek is literally a spirit of python.  For those who may not know, the python was connected with the false-god Apollo who killed the enormous serpent.  The priestess at Delphi was known as an oracle because she would give prophecies from Apollo.  This ability to give a prophecy or fortune was referred to as a spirit of python, i.e., a spirit that helped the person to tell fortunes.  Those these spiritual beings are not actually gods, they are real spiritual beings who manipulate humans to do their bidding.

Since she is really listening to a spirit and giving a real message from it to people, we could say that her masters were not running a scam operation.  However, these evil spirits are misrepresenting themselves.  They do not know the future, and they cannot be trusted even if they say something that turns out to be true.  They simply have lived a long time, can communicate with each other, and have personally experienced human history.  The devil and those fallen spirits who follow him are the ultimate scammers.  They promise people power by certain rituals and mechanisms.  They also present a perverted view of the world and reality.  They cannot be trusted because they despise humans who are imagers of God.

Christians should have nothing to do with using spirits to divine the future.  I mention this because there are people today who claim to be Christians that take occult practices and try to “Christianize” them.  One such deluded practice is the concept of Christian Tarot cards.  They make the images nicer and dress it up in Christian lingo.  This is dangerous and should be avoided and denounced, along with any other such practices.  God tells us not to look to the spirits of the spirit world to give us information.  Rather, we are to pray to God and trust Him and His revelation. 

So, when this girl begins to herald Paul and Silas as “servants of the Most High God,” and declare that they are there to “proclaim to us the way of salvation,” we can be sure that the evil spirit animating her is up to something nefarious.  It may be that there is a mocking attitude to it.  However, it may also be an attempt to muddy the waters by associating what they were doing with Apollo.

Whatever the spirit is trying to do, Paul becomes “greatly annoyed” by her activity.  What she is doing grieves him.  It is not clear if he knew it was an evil spirit from the beginning, or why he would delay in rebuking the spirit.  It is possible that Paul knows that the situation could blow up if he rebukes the spirit.  There is no mention of what the Spirit of God may be telling Paul to do.  Is God telling Paul to wait for two days?  When Paul finally responds, we can also wonder if the Holy Spirit tells him to rebuke the evil spirit.  Regardless of all of these questions, we can empathize with Paul’s situation.  What do I do?

There may be a level here where these evil spirits are trying to bait Paul into a situation where they can discover some information about him.  There is a bit of this in the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  If Jesus would have jumped off of the temple, and then was not hurt, the devil would know that killing him was off the table.  Jesus didn’t give him anything.

Finally, the Apostle Paul  turns to the girl and speaks to the evil spirit.  “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!”  Though Paul does the commanding, i.e., he is the one having faith and standing up to the evil spirit, he makes it clear by what authority and by what power this demon would be made to obey.  No matter how crafty, powerful, and intelligent, these spirits may be compared to humans, they are still under the power and authority of Jesus Christ.  Paul stands firm as an ambassador of the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, Jesus.  He has been fully authorized to go into any nation, region, or town, and preach the Gospel.  Jesus never made humans to be manipulated by these evil spirits, whether through possession or through listening to them.  Christians need to have a strong relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that they can stand up to evil spirits “in the name of Jesus Christ.”  In ourselves we have no power, but we can command them to leave because of our relationship with Jesus.  We are to declare liberty to those who are oppressed in the Name of Jesus.

We are told that the spirit came out of the girl “that very  hour.”  This may give the impression of Paul saying the same phrase over and over again for an hour, but that is not what is likely intended.  “That very hour” was a phrase that often meant that it happened right away.  Yes, some spirits are harder to cast out, but Jesus emphasized that his disciples should pray and fast more often (Mark 9:28-29).  Notice that Jesus cast out the demon immediately in that context.   

This is a spiritual encounter, and we need to have a true spiritual relationship with Jesus that is more than a superficial stating of some exorcism formula.  Be a person of prayer and fasting today because we will see more and more spirit possessions as our society turns away from God’s Word and towards the occult.  People will need someone with a real relationship with Christ in order to help them be freed.

Though the girl is set free from the spirit of python, she needs to put her faith in Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Otherwise, that spirit will show up again with seven more stronger than itself in order to attempt to repossess her.

You will also notice in this story that the masters have no care for this young girl’s soul.  They don’t care that she is shackled to a spirit.  They only care that they can make money through her.  When they find out that she no longer has a spirit of divination, they are not happy.  Paul had messed up their gravy train.

We should note that, throughout history, men of business have held an important sway on the authorities of a town, city, region, or nation.  They are a big part of the engine of wealth for the rulers and the citizens alike.  They often have connections and ways of leveraging the authorities (lobbying) to do their bidding.  Sometimes, they can even run the show from behind the scenes.

If you are looking for corruption in government, this is a good place to start.  Look for connections between business and those who sit in the chairs of power.

These men drag Paul and Silas before the magistrates of the city of Philippi and charge them with disturbing the peace, and promoting illegal activity (probably promoting a religion that is not approved by the State).  They are able to whip up a mob of the citizens along with the magistrates to deal with these “troublemakers.”

Christians should not fall into the error of seeing business men as the bad guys and the poor as the good guys.  This pitting of groups against one another has been a favorite tactic of rulers through the years, but especially by socialist groups.  Over the years, we have seen many stirring up one group against another group within our Republic: poor against rich, black against white, workers against employers, criminals against cops, homosexuals against heterosexuals, etc.  You will always find evidence of one group sinning against another, and none of these groups is without sin.  The problem is not the “power imbalance.”  The problem is that we are too easily manipulated, both to sin for our benefit and to sin against others for their hurt.

These business men are a problem for Philippi, but Lydia is a business owner too.  She is not what is wrong with Philippi.  The true problem goes deeper than simply business.  We must understand that not every polarization that is thrust in front of us is about truth.  This is why justice is supposed to be blindfolded (at least when it is a human judging the case).

The magistrates order that Paul and Silas have their clothes torn open to expose their backs so that they can be beaten with rods.  They are then put in the prison with their feet in stocks, representing the most secure form of detainment.  Stocks were often designed to create severe discomfort what would be normal.

This is what spiritual warfare looks like.  We can be guilty of only fighting spiritual battles in our prayers and in our mind.  All spiritual warfare starts in prayer, but it cannot end there.  If you want to really be involved in spiritual warfare, then go into the devil’s territory and start working to set people free.  You will probably see all hell break out, but you may see people set free by Jesus!

The devil is going to get some licks in.  He won’t just stay silent as you plunder his spoils.  However, we must keep our eyes upon Jesus and trust him no matter what happens.  This spirit was prodding Paul to see how much of God he had.  Well, he found out when he was cast out.  Greater is Jesus who is in us than any evil spirit in the world.

Ask yourself how much Christian ministry doesn’t happen because we are afraid of what people, business, and authorities might do.  Perhaps, this is exactly why Paul delayed to cast out the spirit.  He knew that he would be poking the hornet’s nest.  Regardless of how many “hornets” are in your town, when the devil comes after us, he is doing some poking of his own.  Paul may have poked a hornet’s nest, but the spirits of Philippi were now poking the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus!  When the devil comes after you, he comes after one who is a child of the God of all things, the Most High God!  We should not be arrogant in that, but neither should we forget it.  The devil is in the weaker position, and we should not fear him, but rather fear not doing the will of God.

May God help us to avoid the kind of spiritual growth that is only in our imagination.  We need true spiritual growth where the rubber meets the road.  True spiritual growth is always forged in the fires of a relationship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  It is forged in the fires of trials and temptations, where we learn to trust Jesus and walk with Him.

We need to be bold, but we also need to be a people who are praying and fasting, and ready for every good work that Jesus may have for us to do.

The Gospel Comes to Greece audio

The Acts of the Apostles 58

Subtitle: The Jerusalem Council I

Acts 15:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 8, 2023.

The early Church was spreading rapidly, and it was becoming clear that there were some very different ideas on what Gentiles had to do in order to be saved. 

Of course, God was never confused, or unsure of their salvation.  It was the preachers, teachers, and elders who had some conflicting ideas.  To be fair, most of the conflict is caused not among the apostles, but from a group of Pharisees who had become believers in Jesus as the Messiah.

The church in Syrian Antioch had become the main hub of ministry to the Gentiles, specifically through the missionary work of Paul and Barnabas.  Thus, they are the ones who are going to present this conflict before the apostles and elders of Jerusalem because the Church needed to be united on such an important doctrine, salvation itself.  However, that unity needed to be founded upon what the Lord would have them teach.

This issue of unity is important.  Unity is good when it is united upon a good thing.  However, unity around a bad thing is at best a house of cards.  This world cannot deliver anything without God, but an implosion of ideas, activity, and culture.  In reference to the end times, Paul tells the Thessalonians that when the world says, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them.

The key here is determining what God expects from the Gentiles who are coming into the new covenant.  This will even have implications on what God expects from Jews as well.

Let's look at our passage.

A conflict arises regarding Gentile salvation (v. 1-5)

At the end of chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas had come back from their missionary journey in Asia Minor.  They reported to the people all of the amazing things God had done among the Jews and Gentiles there.

It then says that they stayed there "a long time."  Luke is good at giving general statements that make it hard to nail down a perfect timeline.  However, from analyzing the book of Acts along with passages in Galatians that giving timing information, we can determine that within the next year certain people from Judea arrive in Syrian Antioch.  They have some strong opinions on what Gentiles need to do to be saved, which causes a big conflict.

Before we look at this conflict, I want to point out one of the schemes of the devil.  Whenever God's people see a big victory, there will always be a spiritual counter-attack from the kingdom of darkness.  Another thing to keep in mind is that he doesn't always use pagans, witches, and satanists to do his bidding.  Of course, he does use them.  Yet, at the same time, the devil is always on the prowl for unstable Christians who are not grounded in the Word of God, and are not led by the Holy Spirit.

The devil finds fertile ground in these men to stir up conflict in the church even though they are believers in Jesus.  This is why it is important for us to pay attention to what the Bible says about our relationships in the Church.  We do need to be forgiving and work for reconciliation, but we also need to be firm on the truth.  This helps to defend against the devil's ability to find leverage within someone's heart and mind.  He knows how to ask slippery questions that get us second guessing, and thinking that we know what others are thinking and what their motivations are.

These Jews from Judea, the area surrounding Jerusalem, were teaching that a Gentile had to be circumcised in order to be saved.  However, circumcision was just the cause célèbre, the tip of the conflict.  Notice that verse 1 mentions that the custom of Moses is why they think that.  Of course, Moses instituted other customs as well.  We will see in verse 5 that they believed Gentiles should obey the whole Law of Moses in order to be saved.

It is important to understand what they are doing.  If you think about it as a formula, it would look like this.  Obeying the Law of Moses + Believing in Jesus = Salvation.  To them, Jesus is simply an addendum to the Old Covenant made with Israel through Moses.  They fail to see that this is a new covenant altogether.  It is based upon God writing laws upon our heart instead of on stone tablets.

Verse 5 also relates that the source of this persuasion are a group of Pharisees who had become believers.  Of course, the apostle Paul had also been a Pharisee who came to believe in Christ.  However, Paul learned his lesson about kicking at the goads of the Holy Spirit the hard way.  They on the other hand have not. 

Now at the first, this argument of the Pharisees might sound wise.  They would just cast the aspersion against Paul and company that if a person is merely saved by faith in Jesus, then they can sin with impunity.  Of course, this would be an error.  You can say that you believe in Jesus, but have you really put your faith in Jesus?  God knows.  He is not playing a game of words.  He deals in reality and truth.  However, let's keep walking through the passage.

Paul and Barnabas quickly get wind of what these guys are teaching and a strong dispute breaks out between them.  Neither side is backing down.  

Let me just remind us something Paul taught in Acts 13:39 when he was in Pisidian Antioch.  He said, "and by Him [Jesus] everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."  So, Paul does not just see this as an issue for the Gentiles.  He sees it as critical to understanding even how Jews are made right before God.  There were certain things that the Law of Moses could never justify.  Only God's perfect sacrifice could make right those things, and that is Jesus.  The Law's weakness is not what it says, but that I cannot fulfill it in the flesh.  I need a redeemer, and that redeemer alone can make me right with God.

As I said before, if we make unity the cardinal doctrine, we must make it a unity upon what God is saying and doing.  This is why it is a good thing, a necessary thing, to stand strongly against those who teach error, especially when they claim to be believers.  These men were in danger of supplanting the truth in the hearts and minds of the believers of Antioch, and anywhere else they would go.

In Galatians 2, Paul refers to these men as false brothers (in the same fashion as the Bible speaks of false christs, false prophets, and false teachers).  He most likely did not call them that up front.  But later, he would see that many of them never truly embraced the grace of Jesus.  They were more about keeping the Law and its traditions than they were about coming into the new covenant.  In Galatians 2, Paul says that they did not submit to those false brothers for even one hour.  In our day, he would probably say not for one nano second.

When it is clear that neither side intends to relent, the church of Antioch decides to send Paul, Barnabas, and some others to Jerusalem in order to talk with the apostles and elders there.  This issue had to be ironed out now.

It is interesting to me that Paul and Barnabas did not jump on a ship to Jerusalem, which would have been quicker.  Instead, they travel down the coast through Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon) and Samaria (northern Israel).  As they travel, they share with the churches they find about God's gracious work among the Gentiles.  We are told that this brings great joy to the believers.  It is always wonderful to hear stories of God moving powerfully anywhere in the world today.

I think the main purpose was to counteract any of the false teaching that may have happened by this group of men who had stirred up so much conflict in Antioch.  By the way, the term "Judaize/Judaizer" is often used of Christians who teach others to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing on Jesus for salvation.

This group from Antioch is received by the Jerusalem church like any group of believers coming from abroad.  Paul and Barnabas share all that God was doing through them, particularly among the Gentiles.

This initial report is quickly resisted by a group of Pharisees who were now Christians.  In verse 5, we have their main argument.

First, they state that "it is necessary..."  Necessary things have no wiggle room.  They are not saying that they think it is wise for Gentiles to do this.  There are thing that I myself choose not to do out of wisdom, not because I believe they are necessary.  I will not drink alcohol because of the damage it did in my life before I surrendered to Jesus.  I do this not because it is necessary for salvation, but as a matter of wisdom.  I've never looked back.  Yet, they are emphasizing that there are some things that the Gentiles necessarily have to do.

Now, let's be honest.  There are some things that God says are necessary, and when He does, we do well to pay attention and obey.  Acts 4:12 says, "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  Jesus is a necessary condition to salvation.  This cannot be rejected without losing salvation.

Second, the first necessary thing is circumcision, according to the Judaizers.  Circumcision was a sign that you were under the covenant of Moses.  They believed it necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised to be saved.

Third, which actually incorporates the second, the Gentiles should be commanded to obey the Law of Moses.

This contention precipitates a gathering of the apostles and elders.  It is not referred to as a council in Acts, but historically it is viewed as an official gathering of the leaders of the Church to hammer out doctrine, so it qualifies as such.   They gather to determine exactly what should be taught to Gentiles in regard to salvation.

We should note that the kingdom of God is not about a democracy where everyone votes, and each votes is equal, regarding what we are going to teach.  What we teach must be based upon the decrees and work of God, and it should be led by spiritually mature believers.  Like a family, we would not expect the toddlers to help with the security and provisioning of the household.  Moms and dads are accountable before God to make decisions that are in conformity with God's Word for the sake of the children in their home.  Similarly, the apostles and elders are supposed to be a safety, and a help, to the new believers coming into the Church.  Of course, those elders would one day pass on, and young believers would become the elders of tomorrow.

They gather in order to make a decision (v. 8-12)

Luke tells us that there was much dispute, and then he gives us three testimonies that seem to have helped the group make their decision.  It is not important what all the intricacies of the arguments were.  Rather, Luke gives us the important testimony.  He gives us what we need to know.

The testimony of the apostle Peter is given first.  He was one of The Twelve taught directly by Jesus, and God had worked powerfully through him in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.  He also did not represent the "extreme" of the position of Antioch.  He was from Jerusalem, not one of "them."  Of course, the position of Paul and Barnabas, even that of the Antioch church, was not "extreme."  It is only extreme to a person who is unwilling to listen to God, and continues to resist what He is doing.  If God is moving and we are dead set on staying still, then even He will seem extreme to us.

So, what is Peter's argument, and which side does he take?

Peter points out that God's ministry through him made no distinction between Gentiles and Jews, especially in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  They knew the story of Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven and how God told him to go to Caesarea and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles there.  In fact, even before he finished his sermon, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon those Gentiles in the same manner as had happened to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.  Peter says that God, who knows the heart of a man, poured out the Spirit upon them.

How do you argue against that?  So, you are left with disagreeing that God had actually led Peter to do this.  However, that leads you to having to deny that they actually received the true Holy Spirit.  They would have to reject Peter's clear ability to know what God is doing before everyone.

Peter was not participating in an intellectual exercise of who-can-outwit-whom.  He was dealing with the reality of what God was telling Him, and what God was doing among Gentiles.  Jesus was saving and filling Gentiles with the Holy Spirit without them being circumcised.  This is a bigger deal than we might think.

Peter then says that God purified their hearts through faith (verse 9).  How could God take up residence in an unclean vessel (Gentiles were considered such under the Law)?  God had to purify them first.  On what basis?  Purely on the basis of their faith in Jesus.  There is no way theologically around this except calling Peter a liar, which would not be based in reality either.

In verse 10, Peter clearly separates himself from those who are pushing for Gentiles to be circumcised and follow the Law.  He asks them why do they "test God" by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples that even we Jews couldn't carry.

This phrase "testing God" is loaded with the connotation of Israel in the wilderness where they tested God.  Those who tested God in the wilderness perished while others went into the Promised Land without them.  These Pharisees may not have known it, but they were acting the part of their forefathers in the wilderness.  They were rebelling against God.

Peter could not have put this in clearer terms.  He is firmly on the side of Paul and Barnabas, but really on the side of Jesus.  He believed it to be dangerous to persist in requiring Gentiles (or Jews) to follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved.  Why would it be dangerous?  This is the argument Paul makes in the book of Galatians.  It is dangerous because it teaches you to lean upon all the wrong things for your salvation.  It diminishes Jesus to something less than your total hope of salvation.  Salvation belongs to the Lord, and is not a work of man, though we can work with the Lord in it.

Peter ends his testimony in verse 11 by giving a summary that parallels that of Paul in Ephesians 2:8,9.  "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they."  When you couple that statement with the statement earlier that they were purified by faith, we see the grace of God working through our faith in Jesus to save us.  "Not of works lest any man should boast," as Paul would later say.

Peter had come to see salvation as a gift, a grace, of Jesus, and that even Jews are saved in the same manner as Gentiles.  There are not two paths to salvation: one for Jews, and another one for Gentiles.  In Jesus Christ, we are saved the same way, into one body, the Church (English), the Ekklesia (Greek), the Qahel (Hebrew), the People of God.

After Peter's testimony, we then have Barnabas and Paul testify.  Instead of focusing on a biblical argument, they give evidence of the work of God among the Gentiles.  In a sense, they are packing the testimony of Peter, which involves the work at one point in time among one group of Gentiles, with that of many groups of Gentiles, and many points of time, and many different places.

This creates a mounting question that is harder and harder to overlook.  Why would God fill Gentiles with the Holy Spirit and do miracles among them, if they now needed to be circumcised?  If circumcision was needed at all, then God would not do the other.  They would not be fit for service, and for His presence.  A holy God filling an unclean vessel would have been a concept that was anathema.  The vessel is cleansed first, and then it can be holy unto the Lord for His work.

The Pharisees are faced with either obeying God in this matter, or continuing to hold on to their traditions and points of pride.

We will finish up with the council next week.  Yet, let us notice that the freedom of Christ for believers is often put in contention with obeying the Word of God.  However, this is a false dichotomy.  We who have put our faith in Jesus have been purified by faith and now stand in a place of safety, on a foundation of salvation.  From that safe place of Jesus, we are enabled to partner with the Holy Spirit and follow the commands of Christ.  We are enabled to walk out the righteousness of Christ by the grace of God.

You will notice that the moral aspects of the Law (forbidding sexual immorality, murder, hatred, dissensions, etc.) are all restated in the New Testament.  However, the dietary laws, the temple ordinances, the special days of observance, et. al. are not reiterated as obligations of believers.  However, regardless of this, even the moral requirement to love one another is not a work I am doing to obtain salvation, but an act of love out of thanks for salvation.  Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commands."  Let us love the Lord our God with all our heart.  And, if we stumble, let us confess our sin, repent of it, and let him do his work of cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Jerusalem Council I