In Every Age

Acts 15:1-6, 12-20

August 29, 2021

Emmanuel Baptist Church; Rev. Kathy Donley

Note: A recording of the worship service in which this sermon was preached may be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0s2Ob2mL5U (Recording includes the testimony of member Curtis Klope.)

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ final instructions were “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Luke says it this way “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The instructions are specific in some ways – as you go, make disciples, teach, and baptize. Begin in Judea, go on to Samaria and then to all nations, to the ends of the earth. There are important specifics, but not a lot of logistical details. Jesus told them what to do, but they had to figure out how.

And they did. They received the power of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem and immediately began telling the story of Jesus there. A community formed with a connection to the Temple, a community that grew exponentially. The community faced the same kind of resistance that Jesus had, so there was persecution which scattered some of those believers. Last Sunday, we saw that they moved from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and even farther, pushing out into the known world. They were doing what Jesus told them to do.

That bothered some people. It often happens like that – when one group of people does what Jesus says, another group gets mad. Jesus said “make disciples of all nations”. Two unnamed disciples did that – by preaching in Antioch to Gentiles. And then Paul and Barnabas joined their effort. That was last Sunday’s text. But here in chapter 15, some people have come to Antioch to set them straight.

You see, word has reached Jerusalem that some Gentiles are choosing to follow Jesus. That’s the good news. The bad news it that they are not quite doing it right. They have been baptized, but not circumcised. They keep the Lord’s Day at the beginning of the week, but perhaps not the Sabbath at its end. Of course, all of that is required if they are to be truly faithful. At least that’s what these messengers have come to say.

From our place in history, we have to make an effort to enter into this story. We know that in a short time, Judaism and Christianity will become two separate religions, but at this point, they are very much intertwined. From our Christian vantage point, we might think of these as people as former Pharisees who have not left go of previous beliefs after having become Christian. It is probably more helpful to recognize them as sincere and faithful observers of Torah who also happen to be Christian.[1] They are followers of Jesus who find meaning and joy in certain spiritual practices. They want to insure that the next generations of Jesus-followers find that same joy and purpose. The best way they know to do that is to require the newcomers to do what they did.

This is not limited to Antioch. This controversy pops up in various places all through this section of Acts. But here, in chapter 15, we get an official church response. There’s a meeting in Jerusalem. The church in Antioch sends delegates. And there is considerable debate. That might sound familiar to you. You might know this meeting by its other name – a denominational convention or a Biennial. If you have been to one of those, you know that things can get intense. I’m pretty sure they got intense in Jerusalem. But then, they reached a decision.

The decision was that Gentiles did not have to become Jewish in order to become Christian. They did not have to adopt a different worldview or culture in order to put on Christ. Now, the final agreement did list four things that were expected of Gentiles. Three of them were actually related to Jewish practices, and as the two religions moved further apart, those things lost importance. The point here is the church leaders realized that, within a few decades of the church’s existence, there were already human-made barriers to the gospel. And, equally importantly, they decided to take down those barriers. The report that was sent to Antioch said, “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials.” (Acts 15:28)

It has become popular to say that every 500 years the church holds a rummage sale where we get rid of what we don’t need any more and rediscover forgotten treasures.[2] This story suggests that process probably needs to happen more often than that.

This was an internal process, a conversation and ultimately a decision, that shaped the direction of the church. There were also external forces at work. We’ve mentioned the persecution that resulted in the disciples moving outward, taking the gospel with them towards the ends of the earth. There was also a war which resulted in the destruction of the Temple. It was a devastating loss to both Christians and Jews, a loss around which they had to shape a new identity.

Contrary to what we’ve generally come to believe, Christians did not stop offering sacrifices because Jesus was a once-for-all-sacrifice. The sacrificial system ended when the Romans destroyed the Temple, which was when Christianity and Judaism were still intertwined. So that sacrificial system ceased within Judaism before Christianity became a separate thing.[3] The loss of the Temple, an external event, profoundly shaped both Christian and Jewish theology from that time forward.

At Emmanuel, we work hard at being an inclusive church, a space where everyone is truly welcome. We do that well, but sometimes our efforts are not enough because we no longer see the barriers between us and those who remain outside. We may have good intentions – to help others find the joy and purposes that we know by requiring them to engage in the same spiritual and communal practices as we do. We may not recognize that those practices which are life-giving to us are burdensome to others.

Sometimes our efforts are not enough because there are external shifts beyond our control. A world-wide pandemic has certainly made that clear. We can think of others. A couple of generations of people with no first-hand experience of church, or a wide-spread suspicion of religious leaders because of decades of abuse and deceit and a grasping of political power, or a culture that sometimes prizes individual rights over the common good and but also sometimes seeks wisdom from crowd-sourcing rather than so-called experts – these are just some of the forces which shape our identity, some of the realities which make us pause and wonder about how to apply the teachings of Jesus now.

As our first hymn says, the church of Christ in every age must keep on rising from the dead.[4] We find ourselves in one of those moments, a time when we have to recognize the particular challenges of our age, and then to rise, responding boldly as the Spirit leads.

The Jerusalem Council arrived at their decision after listening to people who shared the same faith in Jesus, but who came from a different place with a different perspective. Curtis is a Jesus-follower. He is an Emmanuel insider, but he also comes from a different place and offers a different take. So I’ve asked him to share some of that now.

[1] Justo L. Gonazalez, Acts: The Gospel of the Spirit (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001) p. 172

[2] Phyllis Tickle, quoting Anglican bishop Mark Dyer, in The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008).

[3] Mark McEntire, Belmont University, College of Theology and Christian Ministry Faculty Member, in a Facebook post on July 24, 2021 https://www.facebook.com/mark.mcentire.319