Sermon Video: The Council at Jerusalem, Acts 15:1-19

There have been many Church Councils in the past two thousand years, most of the helpful, a few not so much.  The very first of them was held at Jerusalem under the leadership of Jesus' half-brother James over the question of how to include the new gentile believers in Jesus Christ in the Church that was at this point predominately Jewish.  If this first Council not successfully resolved the controversial issue at hand, the Church would have split far sooner than the Great Schism of 1054.
The issue debated at this first Council arose because individual from Judea decided that they needed to go down to Antioch to tell the Gentiles there that, "unless you are circumcised...you cannot be saved."  In other words, unless these gentile believers were willing to follow the whole Law of Moses, their belief in the salvation through Jesus Christ would be insufficient to save them.  This issue had been simmering behind the scenes throughout the first half of Acts, but now it was boiling over.  Paul and Barnabas opposed their message, and the leadership of the Church of Antioch decided to send them, along with other representatives, to Jerusalem to the disciples to resolve the issue.
After much debate, Peter stood up and took the side of the gentiles by proclaiming that God had not only sent him, and others, to them, but had also validated their work by giving the same Holy Spirit to them as he had given to the Jewish believers at Pentecost.  If God had approved their salvation by faith, apart from the Law, who would gainsay God?  In addition, Peter points out the fatal flaw in the argument of those in favor of extending the Law to the gentiles: Nobody is keeping the Law.  The history of God's chosen people is a story of broken promises on the part of the people who failed to keep the Covenant.  If the Jews couldn't keep the Law, "a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear", why would anyone believe that the first chosen people had been saved by anything but God's grace?  Indeed, Peter concludes, "it is through grace...that we are saved, just as they are."
When Peter finishes, Paul and Barnabas add the testimony of their recent successful mission's trip among the gentiles, but the final answer awaits the decision of James.  James, known for his piety and reverence for the Temple, agrees with Peter that this decision has been made by God, as predicted by the Prophets, and thus "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."
With that decision the Council at Jerusalem manages to avoid the splintering of the Church along ethnic lines that had been threatening its unity.  Their wisdom speaks to us today as we ask ourselves, how are we hindering the Gospel through our actions or inaction?  What obstacles have we put in the way of the Lost hearing the accepting the Gospel?  Whatever those things may be, we as a Church must rid ourselves of them because the Lost are coming to God by grace, just as we did.

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Sermon Video