sermonette: Gentile Abstentions

The Judgment of James in Acts 15
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 12-Jul-03; Sermon #621s; 16 minutes

Description: (show)

---

As you know, Carowinds is just up the road from here. And over the past several years, Beth and I have bought season passes. The first year we bought them for all of us, and then the last few years we bought them just for Courtney and John to let them go because as old folks with little kids, we do not like to go all that often, but they do. They enjoy it. They can go there several times during the summer. And we save a pile of money getting this season pass because you know how amusement parks are, they are just ridiculously expensive to get a daily pass. So, uh. We let them go and usually they go with, with Heather and Josh and Joey and Jenny and some of the others that also have passes. And that makes a good, and Chris too, I forgot about Chris, do not want to forget Chris. uh. Anyway, they all get together and they go in one big group. But whenever they go, we always give them a few parting instructions as parents do. We say things like stay with the group. Don't go into the restroom alone. Uh, watch what you get to eat. You do not over sugar yourself so that you're uh. You know, vibrating, um. Don't spend your money foolishly or whatever. They're just prudent cautions and instructions that deal with the particular occasion. Now, when we say these things, and I know you as parents know this, we and they. Know implicitly that all the other family rules and regulations apply. As well as the 10 Commandments and everything else we've ever taught them. Just because we gave them 3 or 4 explicit instructions that have to do with this particular situation doesn't mean that we've thrown everything out. Everything else out, I should say. Just because we give them instructions for a specific occasion does not nullify the previous instructions as far back as it goes. We've been teaching these kids the way to go for however long they have been alive. Now a similar but far more important thing happened in AD 49 at the Jerusalem conference. Here, if you go to Acts 15. We will find that just because a group of people are given specific instructions does not mean that other laws do not also apply to them. And I think this, it just comes out here as we look through it. It'll be very clear. We're going to start in verse 13. Acts 15:13. After they had become silent, this was after Peter had spoken and, and Paul and Barnabas. had also said a few words about the things that had been done among the Gentiles. After they had become silent, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree just as it is written. After this, I will return and will rebuild rebuild the temple of David, the tabernacle of David, excuse me, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may see the seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things. Known to God from eternity are all His works. Therefore, I judge, I give my opinion that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood, for Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach Him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. And in the next few verses it shows that this was agreeable to the whole church, including the apostles and the elders, and then they write this letter. Let's go down to verse 24. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your soul, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law. To whom we gave no such commandment will drop down to verse 28, for it seemed good to, good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. OK, we could spend many sermons on this chapter, and ministers have, but the gist is that some Pharisaical Christians, you'll find that in verse 5, felt that the Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses before being considered members. Peter argued when you get down into what he had to say that when he had visited Cornelius, God made it clear in the vision and all the things that happened after that that he made no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. You'll find that he says that very clearly in verses 8 and 9. In fact, Peter called the law of Moses, which here is kind of a code phrase for the rituals and the traditional traditions of Judaism. And not necessarily the law of God, he called it a yoke of bondage that no one could bear. That's in verse 10, and then he very clearly says in verse 11 that salvation. is by grace. We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. Meaning there is no distinction. And then a little bit after James concurs with Peter in every point, and he adds that the Old Testament shows very clearly in these prophecies that God has always intended to include the Gentiles in salvation. He had always intended to extend to the Gentiles the offer of salvation. There is no reason then for them to be treated any differently in terms of salvation and membership to the church. Because they had been always. Intended to be saved just as the Jews just as the rest of the Israelites. If they believe if they repent and be baptized, that is enough, just as it was enough for anybody else. However, he adds these different, these admonitions, I call them abstentions in verse 20. Now why does he do that? Are these the only laws that they must keep? Well, obviously not. The Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the general epistles, they are just full of instructions about keeping the commandments. Every one of the 10 Commandments is named somewhere in the New Testament. Whether or not it's specifically in a commandment form, but they are all there. Now, as I mentioned in the introduction, it would be ludicrous to believe that with the judgment, James wiped away the whole law of God just because they were Gentiles entering the church. No, what James does with these stipulations is highlight a few rampant gentile sins. Especially those that were highly offensive to Jews. Now first he says things polluted by idols. Now everywhere this Greek phrase is used both in the Septuagin and in the New Testament. It's talking specifically about meats. Meats polluted or offered to idols, polluted by or offered to idols and sold in the markets. The Greek word is used only of food corrupted by idolatry. Now we know that later on Paul says that the idol is nothing in I Corinthians 8, but such a thing, the eating of meats offered to idols could be. or could offend those weak in the faith faith, and it would especially offend the Jews in the church because they wanted nothing to do. With meats or foods that had anything whatsoever to do with an idol since God had railed upon them from time out of mind not to be not to have or do any idolatry, and so it was a very touchy point among the Jews. The second thing is sexual morality. Immoral sexual practices practices were pandemic in the ancient world. as they are today, I mean it's really no different, it seems. Gentiles had no compunction about doing, doing sexual sins. There was no shame in it for the most part. Because to them it was a wholesome practice, I guess, that pictured the reproductive cycle of life. And, and we know that many of the pagan religions had prostitution, ritual prostitution right built right into the worship. Uh, this was like especially true of let's say Diana Warship. And James highlights this as something the Gentiles would be, have to be especially careful about because they had been reared in a culture that really did not consider these to be taboo things to do. Then there is things strangled. This refers to meat that has not been drained of blood. Now it says specifically in Leviticus 17th chapter. In fact, all of these are found in Leviticus 17 and 18, which are part of the introduction to the holiness code. It specifically says there that if you catch something out in the woods, you have to drain out of blood. But eating strangled food, meat. With the blood in it was considered a delicacy among the Gentiles. And there were some pagan sacrifices that were strangled rather than drained of blood. Uh, I guess they considered it to be a delicacy for the gods as well. But we know that it says that the life is in the blood. And eating the blood violates the life given for our sustenance. God said that, um, in several places in the Old Testament. So no Jew would eat with the Gentile who served strangled bloody meat. It just wouldn't happen, and we are talking about a church trying to put Jews and Gentiles together, so James says this to the Gentiles so that there would be fellowship between Jews and Gentiles within the church. So this was an instruction to facilitate fellowship between Jews and Gentiles. And then there is one that says just simply abstain from blood. This is very similar to abstaining from things strangled. Now some Gentile religions drank blood as part of the ritual. And some Gentiles drank blood as part of their customary diet. I remember seeing a documentary not too long ago of an African tribe who did a lot of herding cattle, and they would, they would drain, not drain particularly, but they would take various amounts of blood from the ox and the cow's jugular vein and drink it as part of their diet. Thinking that it would give them strength. Probably full of iron. It might give them some strength, but it's not something that we would particularly care for. Now the Jews would have considered such people defiled. And would not have associated with them. Thus it was another facilitator of fellowship. That anybody who drank blood, you just would not. Get along with because you would consider them to be unclean and so he's telling them not only does this, it's say in the Old Testament that it shouldn't be done, but you Gentiles have to be particularly careful about this because it's part of your culture and it needs to be Done away with Some commentators even think that it may not refer to this, but may be an instruction against murder or having a low regard for human life, and that's certainly true that in many of the Gentile nations that they have a very low regard for human life. Um, I can think particularly of, you know, certain people like the Chinese and whatnot sending in just millions of people to their deaths and seeming not to care that that there were that many slain. But I do not know if that's exactly what James was getting at here, but it's something to think about. So it's clear that James was focusing on widespread gentile problems that are essentially incompatible with Christianity, which indeed is a religion of holiness and purity in worship and in everyday life. So let's conclude in Romans the 3rd chapter. And just get Paul's a kind of explanation from Paul of what was going on here. We'll start in verse 21. Paul's Paul's explanation of, of this in a kind of a doctrinal statement. He writes, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. Remember what he said, what Peter said. There is no partiality with God. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The only way to have salvation or justification, especially is what he's talking about here, is through faith in Jesus Christ, and it doesn't matter who it is, Jew or Gentile, we've all sinned, and so the same solution applies. Verse 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth to be a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the One who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Is it? It is excluded by what law of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we established the law.