Grace Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2017 · 15 January 2017
The early church met together on the crucial question of how a person is saved and we have been studying it now for a few weeks. And we have learned how the Apostles defended the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith plus nothing. And then having defended that teaching they entered into the area of fellowship. There any rules to the conduct of a Christian in relation to other Christians, and that is the subject tonight.
Man is separated from God by sin, but God at the same time desires to draw men back to Himself. So God set a plan in motion to recover man, to turn off the darkness and turn on the light, to forgive his sin, to redeem him. So how do the two get together? The answer is in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
How is a man saved? Well, that had to be decided in the Council of Jerusalem. Now, the Jews had always felt that to come to God a person had to become a Jew. In the New Testament, Christianity was introduced and salvation through Jesus Christ by faith was taught, but the Judaizers disagreed. So they trailed Paul and Barnabas everywhere and announced to newly saved Gentiles that they had to be circumcised and keep all the laws of Moses.
And that issue needs to be settled because if we don't have the right doctrine of salvation then nobody gets saved. Acts 15 began with dissension. They were all meeting in Jerusalem because everything began there, and the Apostles and the elders of the church were all considering this problem. So Paul and Barnabas presented their view first and then the circumcision party got up in verse 5 and said that everybody had to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses.
Following the dissension we saw the discussion, in verses 6 to 18, and there were three major speeches, first by Peter, one by Paul and the last one was by James. Peter defended salvation by grace alone, and he used the case of Cornelius as an example. Cornelius was saved purely by grace through faith. God gave him the Holy Spirit, and God purified him by faith it says in verse 9. And in verse 10 and 11, he discouraged putting the law on these Gentiles when nobody else was saved by the Law.
The crowd is stunned and silent. That was followed up by words from Paul in verse 12, and they gave another reason why salvation is by grace alone, because God approved of the message of grace. Paul and Barnabas are doing miracles, and performing signs and wonders. God is validating their message, which was grace alone, while God was not confirming the work of the Judiazers.
Then the last proof was the statement of James in Acts 15:13-18. And James simply says salvation is by grace because the Old Testament prophesied that Gentiles are going to get saved as Gentiles. The Old Testament says in Amos that some men are going to seek the Lord, and all the nations, who call on His name are going to be saved.
In verse 19 James says, “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Let us not hassle them, by requiring legalism. Now that is the conclusion, and that is what the Apostles agreed on. In Romans 1:16 the Apostle Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first, also to the Gentile.”
But doctrinal issues don't always resolve heart attitudes. So the salvation doctrine was grace, but fellowship with Gentiles needed to be carefully planned and they needed to learn some things. Verse 20, “but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.”
Do you know that the most offensive thing for a Jew was idolatry? God continually punished Israel about worshiping false gods. So sometimes a Jew would eat at a Gentile home and get served meat that has been offered to idols. To a Jew this was offensive, because he did not understand that there was no idolatry there. So even though we are free under grace, we need to be sensitive to how Jews feel to be able to minister to them.
So James says, stay away from foods offered to idols. In 1 Corinthians 8:9, Paul says, “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.” That's the principle of caring for the weaker brother. Then, in Acts 15:21 James says, “For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Remember that Moses is still being studied and many Jews are still under the instruction of Moses. Then James says, stay away from fornication in verse 20. Gentile idolatry was all wrapped up with sex and prophetesses and priestesses were prostitutes and worship in the temples like Diana were simply orgies. And so James says, avoid any kind of sexual activity or implication that has to do with fornication.
Now this is also a moral issue, and 1 Corinthians 6 deals with this on a moral basis. It is wrong to join yourself sexually to somebody outside of marriage, because you are joining Christ to a harlot. It's wrong morally, but it's also wrong in fellowship. The effects are deep and long lasting for many generations. Then the third and the fourth thing James says is, "Abstain from things strangled, and from blood." Those were dietary laws.
There is nothing wrong with eating meat with blood, in the Old Testament those rules were given to set Israel apart as a distinct nation so they could not eat the same things, they couldn't have the same schedule because their calendar days were all different, with Sabbaths and so on. God did a lot to keep them separate, so they would be a pure witness. But in the New Testament He is putting Jew and Gentile together, so God eliminates all those things.
Remember the sheet that came down in Acts 10:12-16, “In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.”
That is over Peter, Jew and Gentile are now one in the church. That's the way God designed it, there's no more clean or unclean. Rise Peter, kill and eat all of it. So that ritual is over but some Jews weren't free. The Jews had been restricted from eating things strangled, because the blood hadn't been drained, and from drinking blood. And so he says to them, don't do those things.
Now why does James tell them to avoid that? Does abstaining from all those things save you? No, we are saved by grace through faith, but here it has to do with fellowship. If the body is to be one and Jew and Gentile are to get along together then Gentiles are going to have to restrict their freedom for the sake of the conscience of a Jew.
Some people think, I am saved so I will just do what I want. Once in a point of time I got saved, from there it is all grace. But that isn't how it works. You know there have always been laws? Before the fall, Adam and Eve in the beautiful garden and everything was pure but God still had a law. There is a tree over there, but don't eat that fruit. Every man on the earth is under some kind of law from God.
Right now all saved people are under a law too. What is this law? Well, it's called the law of Christ or the royal law, which means in James 2:8, it came from the King. Now the Mosaic Law was called, the yoke of bondage. But the New Testament law is quite different, it is called the perfect law of liberty.
Jesus said to His disciples, after He just washed their feet, and shown them His love in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” In the Old Testament the law worked differently, “Do this, or you will die.” It was a law built on fear.
The Bible says in 1 John 4:18, “perfect love casts out fear.” We have a new kind of law, I don't worship God because of fear, I serve Him because I love Him. It's a law of love, but that's only one dimension. There is another one in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” When a person can't carry their load, help that person.
Romans 13:8-10, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness, “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
We don't need a list of rules is because the love that we have for other people makes it not necessary to give any specifics. That is the law of love. James 2:8 says, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.” The Christian life boils down to one thing only, and it is loving others, and that's it. Not circumcision, not ceremony, just love.
When you love somebody it alters your behavior toward them. I think of my family relation, I take care of my family, but I also need to treat everyone else as my family. If have a need, I try to provide that. If they are hurting, I comfort them, if they need discipline, I discipline them. When they need love, I give them time, and it is all because I try to love every one like I love myself.
The greatest force in the world is love. What men have done for the love of a women, and what women have done for the love of a man, what people have done for the love of a cause or a country, something they believed in, is truly amazing. Love is the greatest force in terms of motivation. How do you obtain that kind of love toward God and toward others?
Galatians 5:13-14 says this, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now watch, verse 16, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
So the first principle of loving somebody is to walk in the Spirit. When you love people and you can't help it, it must be Christ in you. In Ephesians 3:16-19 Paul says, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”
You will never know the love of Christ, until you are strengthened with His might by the Spirit in the inner man. The Spirit walk is necessary to be able to love. Why? Because you are unable to love in the flesh. It has to be the love of Christ through the Holy Spirit. And the walk of the Spirit is a day by day yielding to the Holy Spirit.
The second principle goes back to the perfect law of liberty in James 1:18, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.” Verse 21-22, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
In verse 25, you will see the perfect law of liberty operating, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Worldly love is just all emotion, but Godly love is not a feeling but a principle that says you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself, and bear one another's burdens.
You may not feel lovey-dovey but you may love, by action and by deed. And so the law that a believer is under is the law of love. Converted Gentiles even though they were free, were not to act antagonistic. They were not to condemn, they were to love them. And if they restricted their behavior from certain things to keep them from offending others, that was a good thing. That is the principle of love in operation.
Now this principle was difficult to learn by the early church. Look at Romans 14:1-2, “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.” That's not a moral issue, if your thing is vegetables, great, I love you anyway. Then Paul says in verse 12, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” So that neutral inconsequential things don't mess you up.
So James said to the people at the Jerusalem Council, you are in grace, and you are free, but there is a royal law, a law of liberty, and it says, don't do those things that are going to offend your weaker brother. Help him carry his burdens, and wait till the Spirit of God brings him to maturity. Paul said, if I am with the Jews, I become as a Jew, if I am with the Gentiles, I become as a Gentile, that by any means I may win them for the Lord. Well, let us pray.