22The apostles, the leaders, and all the church members decided to send some men to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Silas and Judas Barsabbas, who were two leaders of the Lord's followers. 23They wrote a letter that said: We apostles and leaders send friendly greetings to all of you Gentiles who are followers of the Lord in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.
24We have heard that some people from here have terribly upset you by what they said. But we did not send them! 25So we met together and decided to choose some men and to send them to you along with our good friends Barnabas and Paul. 26These men have risked their lives for our Lord Jesus Christ. 27We are also sending Judas and Silas, who will tell you in person the same things that we are writing.
28The Holy Spirit has shown us that we should not place any extra burden on you. 29But you should not eat anything offered to idols. You should not eat any meat that still has the blood in it or any meat of any animal that has been strangled. You must also not commit any terrible sexual sins. If you follow these instructions, you will do well.
This is all about unity in the Body of Christ...
I like the idea of the letter...it formalizes and codifies the deliberations of the Council. Probably the most important phrase of the entire letter is "the Holy Spirit has shown us..." I've read a lot of things by a lot of church leaders that never included this phrase.
If we've lost anything in 2,000 years this is surely the most significant...
Which brings me back to yesterday's point. If we wait for the Holy Spirit to show is, we really never have to worry about doing the wrong thing...because we all know the Holy Spirit would never lead us in that direction.
However, waiting takes a lot of patience and discipline...usually when we think we've waited long enough we go ahead and use our own judgment. What is it about us that keeps us in such a hurry? I'm willing to venture that every mistake any of us has ever made can be traced to not waiting until the Holy Spirit showed us the right way...or most likely, not even attempting to wait.
I shouldn't gloss over the meat offered to idols, etc. This issue was emphasized because once gentiles joined the Church there was a real chance of disunity in the Body unless some cultural issues were resolved. In the first century most butchers sold meat that had recently been offered to idols. No point in wasting a good New York strip, right? A pious Jew would never countenance such a thing. Even once he or she became a Christian they would have great difficulty overcoming their training. On the other hand, a gentile would never view this as a spiritual isue.
This is naturally what happens when various traditions come together into one group. I have led a number of people to Christ who had no concept of the "rightness of wrongness" of their habits. Simply because the became Christians didn't mean they immediately understood they should not live with (have sex with) their girlfriend/boyfriend. From their background, they didn't see a connection between that and sin.
They had to be instructed...Why? Because the Church will not, and should not, countenance that lifestyle. So, we might as well make some of these things clear up front, before they become divisive. Although...I have no idea what a "terrible sexual sin" is. I thought it was all pretty terrible.
We can do it in fraternities and sports teams: sacrifice our own desires for the group. I'm always curious how the free-will I willingly sacrificed for the Air Force seems so precious when I'm expected to give it up for the church.
Live boldly out there today...
No comments:
Post a Comment