PT-4 "The Decision" (Acts 15:22-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2018 9:28 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-4 “The Decision”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 15:22-29

            Message of the verses:  “22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas-Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, 23 and they sent this letter by them, "The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. 24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.’”

            We have been working through the third sub-point in John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Acts since the 30^th of March and it does look like we will be here for a little while as at this point we are looking at the letter that the Apostles wrote to the church at Antioch.  We begin looking at verse 24 in our Spiritual Diary for this morning.

            We see in this verse the reason for this letter stating that some of the people in the Antioch church were disturbed because of actually what the Judaizers had been telling them.  John MacArthur writes “(Tarasso) ‘disturbed’ is not the same word used in verse 19.  It is a strong work, meaning ‘to deeply upset,’ ‘to deeply disturb,’ ‘to perplex,’ or ‘to create fear.’  It is used in John 14:1 to describe the disciples’ agitated state after Jesus told them of His impending death.  It also appears in reference to false teaching in Galatians 1:7 and 5:10.  Anaskeuazo (unsettling) appears only here in the New Testament.  In extrabiblical Greek it was used to speak of going bankrupt or a military force plundering a town (W. E. Vine).”   

            We now move to verse 25.  Now we see in this part of the letter a part of the solution to the unsettling problem and that is in a unanimous decision the Apostles were going to select men to send to the church along with Barnabas and Paul.  We mentioned that probably the reason for this was because they did not want it to look like that the Apostles were one-sided in only sending Barnabas and Paul. I have to say that as I look at this very large problem that has been caused by both the Judaizers and also some of those saved Pharisees that God was going to work it out for good as Romans 8:28 tells us that He will.  I say this because Paul and Silas would be traveling together in the next missionary journey and we will get into the details of that later, but that is what happened and Silas is one of the men sent to Antioch by the Apostles.

            In verse twenty six we see the great words that the Apostles said concerning both Barnabas and Paul that they had risked their lives for the cause of Christ.  This statement is the noblest any could receive.  John MacArthur writes “On their first missionary tour, the two had faced persecution (Acts 13:50), and Paul had nearly been killed (Acts 14:19-20).  Willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ was the consistent pattern of their lives.

            “What made them willing to risk their lives?  First, they were concerned for others.  To the Philippians Paul wrote, ‘Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all’ (Phil. 2:17).  Second, they knew the path of suffering led to a richer provision of God’s grace (2 Cor. 12:9-10).  Third, they understood the continuity of eternal life.  In Romans 14:7-9 Paul wrote:

‘7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8  for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.’

Knowing that in life or in death they were the Lord’s made them fearless.  Fourth, they knew that death merely gained them heaven, which they longed for.  Paul expressed that hope in Philippians 1:21-23:

‘21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.’

Fifth, they sought to obey Christ at all costs, even when that obedience involved suffering.  Peter wrote that believers ‘have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps’ (1 Pet. 2:21; cf. 1 Pet. 3:17; 5:10).  Finally, and most significant, they were willing to suffer ‘for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. Phil. 3:10).  The ‘name’ of Jesus Christ included all He was and purposed, and it motivated Paul’s service (Rom. 1:5), as well as the service of others in the early church (3 John 7).  When the apostles suffered persecution, they rejoiced ‘that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name’ (Acts 5:41).  No cost was too high to pay to protect the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            Verses 27-29 merely repeat things that have been written in earlier verses, like who they were sending and what the believers are to sustain from.

27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.’”

            MacArthur concludes this rather long section by writing “The letter thus answered the doctrinal question raised by the Antioch church and gave wise instruction on how to avoid rifts in the fellowship.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God does not call every believer to suffer for the cause of Christ, but perhaps He expects all believers to be read to suffer for the cause of Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be ready to do what the Lord has for me to do as I believe is spoken of in Ephesians 2:10:  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Philemon.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What was the altar in Solomon’s temple made?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/3/2018 10:17 AM