by Pastor Danny
Acts 15:1, 10-11 - Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses,you cannot be saved.” Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Christ always brings freedom. Do you remember what it felt like when you first got saved? The joy that filled your heart? The weight that was lifted off your shoulders? The peace that surpasses all understanding invading your very soul? Total and complete freedom!
The problem is that sometimes, as Christians, we like to add rules. We like to fill in the gaps so to speak. We take the laws and draw them out to their logical conclusions. Most of us have opinions and convictions about things in the Bible. This is a natural thing to do and can be good. The problem is that, if we're not careful, we can fall into the same trap that the Pharisees did--to trade our freedom for rules--to become legalistic.
Legalism happens when we care more about adhering to the letter of the law than honoring the spirit of the law.
We see from this passage and many others that the Jews, especially Pharisees and Sadducees, struggled with legalism. They knew that they were God’s chosen people. God had made a covenant with them and they were very proud of this special status. They looked down on the Gentiles and Samaritans. They were supposed to be a flashing neon sign saying, "This way to God!" Instead they touted their relationship as a thing of pride. In fact, this passage of Scripture says that they were surprised that the Holy Spirit had come to the Gentiles just like it had come to them. The Jews were supposed to be showing the world how to live in covenant relationship with God; instead they turned their covenant into a thing of bondage. They were following the letter of the law, but missing the heart of it.
The Jews thought everyone had to experience God their way. They thought that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised. They thought that the Gentiles needed to follow the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenant.
The crazy thing is, it's easy for us to do the same thing.
It's so easy to turn our walk with God--our relationship with Him--into a thing of bondage. It's easy to get so focused on the dos and don'ts that we forget about the relationship. We sacrifice the joy of the Lord for rules. We expect others to share our convictions. We are annoyed with believers who hold contrasting views and ideas. We snub our noses at Christians who do things that we don’t like.
God forgive us...Restore our joy...Make us like you…..
Passage Guide - Acts 15 & Psalm 63