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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the first reading, the 15th chapter of the book of Acts. You may be seated.
Peter and Paul, as you know, were not perfect men. The scriptures record their sins very clearly. They were broken men who had broken lives that could only be fixed, repaired, and redeemed by the Holy One, Jesus himself. But the church has been celebrating their lives for hundreds and even over a thousand years. The church began to celebrate this day, on the 29th of June, since around the 4th century A.D. It was thought that this day in June was the day that both Peter and Paul were martyred, killed for the sake of the faith that they proclaimed.
Under the Emperor Nero, Peter, tradition has it, was crucified, but was crucified upside down because he did not feel like he was worthy to be crucified as our Lord was, head up. Paul, his life was ended with a large hatchet, or axe, or large sword that beheaded him. Both died for the faith on this day. Whether it was exactly this day or not, we don’t know for sure. But that their lives are lives for us to take an example from, we are sure.
In this morning’s reading in the book of Acts, there is an aspect or facet of their lives that I wish to proclaim to you this morning. Amen. It’s not the miracles that Peter or Paul did, because both did miracles, you know that. And it was not some fantastic thing of all the converts when Peter preached on Pentecost and 3,000 were brought to the church. It’s not going to be about that either. It’s not going to be about Paul confessing the faith before kings and rulers on his way to Rome. It’s going to be about something that’s a little bit more sublime in their lives and really has more importance and a more profound effect on the church than any of those miracles that they performed and any of those miracles that they saw by God’s word before their eyes.
Peter and Paul were very humble. Now you also know they had pride. And God crushed that at every turn so that their pride would not push out of their lives the faith. They were sifted by God like you were so that your pride does not push out of your life the faith. They were submissive, which means they made the great statement in their life that there is one who is over them. Remember, Peter and Paul were not pastors. They were apostles, evangelists. They submitted to their pastors. And in fact, in this morning’s text, they submitted to James, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, the bishop. For they knew that their authority did not come except through one who gave it, ultimately all back to God.
Peter and Paul had the great and burning desire to proclaim the gospel that we are saved not by works. We’re not saved by circumcision. We’re not saved by any other act in your life except by grace through faith. That way your and my life can stand only on God’s grace. And that is a rock-solid foundation. It is not shaky and shifting as sand, which would be looking at our own lives as to why God saves us.
Finally, the most important sublime thing about their life that you will hear that I really want to make the point is their love. Their love for not only the Gentiles whom they were proclaiming the gospel to, but their fellow Jews, especially the fellow Jews who took umbrage with them in regard to salvation. See, at the very beginning of the text, there is a discussion between Paul and Barnabas and these Jews. And these Jews are believers. They are not unbelievers. They are brothers in the faith to Paul and Barnabas.
And the discussion is going around. The Jews, who are believers, say they not only need salvation by grace through faith, but they need circumcision in order to be saved. Right? Paul and Barnabas are saying, no, no, no. Christ never proclaimed that when he was among us. The Old Testament never proclaimed that. It was all fulfilled in Christ. So they discussed it for a time, and then what did Paul and Barnabas do? They let it sit. They would submit to what the church in Jerusalem and their pastor, James, would proclaim to them and what the church would say. According to the scriptures to be the right and true understanding.
So all the way from where they were preaching, as they made their way back to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas told the people of every church that they stayed at, look at what God has done through this message of Christ and by grace through faith alone. Look at what God has done. Look at what God has done.
They did not, Paul and Barnabas, on their way back to Jerusalem, take people aside and say, hey, you know those Jews who are brothers? They’re erring. They’re teaching false doctrine, and we’re going to completely snuff them out. We’re not going to give them any time of day, so listen to me and have an attitude toward them. Could they? Oh, my stars, yes. Paul is an apostle. There were only 13 apostles. Wait a second, pastor, there’s still 12. What? Add Paul. He’s the 13th. Come on, y’all. There were only those few.
So Paul could have said, listen, I’m an apostle. You listen to me. I was taught by Christ himself and you’re wrong. I’m right. That was not humble, would it have been? That would have been drawing power to himself and not letting God’s word be where the power lies.
So all the way back, Paul and Barnabas did not divide the church, but proclaimed what God has done to the Gentiles through the word of God. When they finally arrived back at the church in Jerusalem, where James is the pastor or the bishop, they discussed this matter again. The brothers in the faith, the Jews, who said that circumcision is a requirement, and Paul and Barnabas proclaiming this, and they discussed it again.
Amen. Now before you and I have kind of a negative attitude toward the Jews who were believers in Christ, who wanted circumcision added, you’ve got to understand this massive cultural difference between Jew and Gentile. We live in a city that’s the perfect example of such a massive difference between Jew and Gentile. Now what do I mean by that? Most of you or very few of you have not grown up in the church. You have structured around your life the basic tenets of Christianity. The Gentiles had nothing like that. Completely pagan. Either they had multiple gods, or they were a part of some cult-like experience for their quote-unquote spirituality. Not too unlike some of our fellow Austinites, would you agree?
They looked different. They spoke different. They had different habits. But they didn’t grow up in the church like maybe you did or like these Jews did. So before we get mad at these Jews, we have to remember their construct was they understood that there was this importance to obey the commandments. Where they got off was this. They mistakenly thought that in order to keep these Gentiles from misusing God’s grace and abusing God’s grace, that they needed law in their life to know that salvation is also by what they do, not by what God has done.
So they were trying to solve it not by gospel, not by what Christ has done, but by law, what they must do. So what was their intent? Their intent was to keep the Gentiles from abusing or misusing God’s grace.
Okay, brothers and sisters, you who grew up in the church, have you misused or abused God’s grace? See, it doesn’t matter whether you grew up in the church or not. God’s grace can be abused or misused by people whether they grew up in the church or not. But the solution is not law. The solution still is God’s grace in Christ Jesus. And salvation is not by works through faith, but by grace through faith.
So this is a huge cultural shift that was happening within the church. The church that was geographically near Jerusalem was predominantly Jew. The further away geographically that they got from Jerusalem, the more predominant those churches were Gentile who looked and acted differently.
Now, when they had this discussion, Paul and Barnabas did not try to sway everybody to their point of view. They submitted to Peter and to, ultimately, James, their pastor, and the church. So the discussion goes on, as you read in the text.
Then Peter stands up and proclaims some truth. His truth was not meant to divide the church, but to unite the church around truth. The same thing he talked about in the second reading in Galatians, where he said, we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. Paul and Peter were all about the truth. They did not want the truth to be compromised.
But how do you handle the truth as a believer? Do you use it as a club to convince, to coerce, to intimidate? Or do you use it in love and let God do the work? After Peter quotes and makes this point about Gentiles also being brought into the kingdom of God, James then quiets the crowd and stands up and quotes Scripture. James doesn’t even quote Paul or Peter in this matter because Christ never quoted himself but quoted whom? His Father. So James quotes the scripture and proclaims to them in love what is truth.
Now, we don’t know whether some of those Jews turned away from God and left the church or not. Some did, I’m sure. We also don’t know whether along the way, as truth was maintained in those congregations where Paul and Barnabas preached, that some Gentiles might have left because they tried to abuse and misuse the grace of God too, like the Jews. Yes.
They let God’s word do its work and entrusted them to God’s word. So then James speaks up. He makes the point, we must maintain fidelity to what the word of God has taught, which is in the Old Testament, it’s always been salvation by grace through faith. And that which the New Testament is based on Christ’s own preaching and teaching, same teaching, salvation by grace through faith.
James does not ridicule the Jews who were brothers in the faith. James does not condemn them in any sort of fashion. James lovingly proclaims to them the truth. Now at that point, we don’t know. We assume that they repented and believed, but we don’t know. But look at how they handled it. Not with intimidation nor coercion.
After the decision has been made that James recommended to the church, James himself telling the church and the church all agreed. And those who didn’t agree probably left the church over time. But it was not meanness, intimidation, nor coercion that caused anybody to stay in the church. It was not meanness. Nor was it intimidation, coercion, or meanness that caused anybody to leave the church. It was God’s truth that did its work.
Now, you’ve got to think in terms of humility because Paul and Barnabas could have said, see what you guys caused all this trouble here? They didn’t. They loved them as brothers in Christ if they repented. Peter could have said, what are you thinking? Look at what I did with Cornelius. That very stained glass window was Peter’s vision when the unclean food came down from heaven and God told him, everything is clean by God’s word. Go and proclaim to Cornelius, the Gentile Roman centurion. And his whole household was converted not by Peter’s personality, but by the word of God.
But neither of them looked to their apostleship. Neither of them looked to the miracles they performed. Neither of them turned to anything but God’s word, which was just in keeping with what Jesus did. He did it in love. And those who left, left. And those who stayed, stayed. But he maintained his fidelity to the love that he was given to proclaim and teach. He did not bend and he did not compromise, but he did not also misuse it as a club of coercion.
Now you and I as parents, if you are parents, know the temptation is to use coercion and intimidation to get your children to obey you. Sometimes that’s necessary. Don’t cross the street because a car might be coming and you literally have to do something intimidating or coercive. But what maintains the fidelity with your children is love, not intimidation or coercion. What maintains your relationship with husband and wife is not intimidation or coercion, but humble love.
What’s going to bring change in people’s lives that they would believe in Jesus is not intimidation or coercion, but humble love. And those that are believers will come in. And those that aren’t, we entrust them into God’s hands as these apostles did and as our Lord did.
Now they died for the faith, these two men. And they died for the faith by not compromising. But they did not die for the faith because of meanness, intimidation, or coercion, but because they loved in spite of it. That is what empowered the church to change and to grow. It is God’s love. That’s what’s going to change us as a parish family. That’s what’s going to change you and your relationship with your family and ultimately this world.
No, not everyone is going to believe as you believe, but God will do great things through your love because of what God has done for you, in you, and through you.
In the name of Jesus, amen.