Acts 15

Firstly, I loved that Paul and Barnabas showed so much faith in going to talk with the apostles and elders about the issue of whether Gentiles should be circumcised or not. If you don’t know the story, Paul and Barnabas disagreed with what some men traveling from Judea who were teaching. Those men taught that, “unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved (Acts 15:1, NLT).” The next verse says that Paul and Barnabas and these men were disagreeing with each other and arguing vehemently. Well, because they were not able to agree Paul and Barnabas were sent by the church to speak with the apostles and elders. But what struck me as different was that on the way they stopped to encourage some other believers by telling them about the Gentiles that they had seen converted. But not only did they just do that, but when they reached the apostles they told of what God was doing in the Gentiles to the apostles and they quietly listened to either others points. This really showed Paul and Barnabas’s hearts’ for the Gentiles. They were discipling them in their walk with God and they couldn’t help but tell of the miraculous signs and wonder they had seen God preform through the Gentiles.

After they finished describing all they had seen James stood up and spoke. He said that they shouldn’t make it more difficult on the new believers. However, He did say that the Gentiles should follow the laws of Moses on abstaining eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. With this new word, Paul and Barnabas along with Judas and Silas took a letter to the Gentiles saying what all they had determined on the matter. It says, “there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message (Acts 15:31).”

I think this chapter shows God love for us. In Acts 15:8-9 it says, “God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.“ If you think about it we are the Gentiles. We are unclean and unworthy and we put Jesus on that cross. But the great thing is that God chooses to love us apart from all that and He forgives us for our sins. Peter was so right in saying that “we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus (Act 15:11).” And He will fill us with the Holy Spirit just as He did for the Jews and the Gentiles. God makes no distinction between us, he loves us all equally, sinners and Christians alike. God calls us to draw near him. That is one of the great things about God in Acts 15, in that, He didn’t want to put any extra burdens on His people. He just wants us to press into Him. He wants us to be baptised in His word and His heart. And He wants to take away any burdens or extra things that might be keeping us from His word. Also, God has put disciples in our lives who will encourage and lead us in our walk with God but maybe you should try being that for other people.



Sincerely,

Catrese