SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2018 10:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Dissension”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 15:1-5
Message of the verses: “1 Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. 3 Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. 4 When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses."”
We want to pick up our lesson today in verse three where
we see that this delegation of trustworthy men, Paul and Barnabas and some
others, went up to Jerusalem and on the way they were passing through Phoenicia
and Samaria, and then the verse talks about what they were describing, that is
the conversion of the Gentiles. Perhaps
they were giving a kind of report as to what happened in their first missionary
journey. But I think that the
conversation was with people in the regions that they were going through. Paul seems never to miss an opportunity to
preach the gospel and because traveling was rather slow in those days they had
opportunity to speak to people along the way.
Many people in those days traveled in groups in order to be safer, so
perhaps that was what these men did and then had time to talk to other about
Christ. John MacArthur writes of these
people “Those regions were populated largely by Hellenistic Jews and
Samaritans, who were more open to the salvation of Gentiles than the
Palestinian Jews were. The news of the
conversion of the Gentiles brought great joy to all these brethren. As the spiritual children of Stephen, Philip,
Peter, and John, they did not share the views of the legalists troubling the
Antioch church. Paul and Barnabas were
building support as they went. Not only
the Antioch church but also the brethren from Phoenicia and Samaria supported
the apostolic doctrine of salvation by faith along for both Jews and Gentiles.”
In verse four we see that the journey was over for these men as they reached their destination at Jerusalem and they were received by the apostles and also the elders of the Jerusalem church. Once there they reported all that the Lord had done with them, as Paul and Barnabas gave glory to the Lord for the success of their first missionary journey similar to what we read in Acts 14:27 “When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”
I want to mention a few different things from this
section and the first is that Paul remembers this time when he wrote to the
church at Galatia as he was defending his apostleship in that letter. Next I have to admit that I would have loved
to be part of that meeting as all of the great apostles meet together
discussing what the Lord had done for them thus far in their lives.
The problem with this meeting is that there were certain
people who did not agree with what Paul and Barnabas were doing as they were
making the free salvation that Christ offers into a Jewish “thing.” They wanted to add to what people had to do,
and if that were done then salvation would then not be free. We read that “certain ones of the sect of the
Pharisees who had believed protested. It
is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of
Moses.” We will deal with this issue in
our next SD, but first I want to say that it is hard for people after they are
saved to give up some of the things that they had before they were saved, that
is why Paul wrote to the Philippians “work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling,” in other words once you are saved you need to grow in grace as
Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:18.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Barabbas” (Luke 23:18).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Of a truth I
perceive that God is no respecter of persons’?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/23/2018 10:46 AM
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