14-Exploring Faith: Idol of Religiosity
by Jeff Fry
NIV Acts 15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. 5 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 obey the law of Moses." 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
Thesis: We must beware of making man-made religion our idol.
I. Intro
A. Review
1. God, the Lord, is in Control (Isaiah 48:9-16) - God's creation in heaven and on earth does His bidding. Not because they are forced to against their will, but because their hearts want to.
2. God, the Lord, is our authority (Deut. 6:4-9)
a) God has the right to command us
b) God commands us out of love, not harshness and oppression.
3. God, the Lord, is present with us.
a) God is no impersonal "lifeforce" (contra Star Wars) but is personal and active in our life.
4. God, the Lord, is a jealous God and we are not to have idols before Him. (Isaiah 44:15-20; Exodus 20:4-5)
a) idol = anything worshipped other than God
b) our world is moving away from God as its centre to a more secular society
B. This week: the idol of religion
II. We must beware of making man-made religion an idol
A. State
1. As soon as the gospel broke loose after the resurrection and the church began to form it wasn't long before certain issues arose which needed resolving. None the least of them was the one of religious ritual.
2. Read Acts 15:1-5
3. Background
a) Time: 48-49AD during Paul's first missionary journey with Barnabas.
b) they spoke in the synagogues to mixed Jewish and Gentile audiences and made converts of both in various cities
c) Paul is at the end of his journey and returns to Antioch (show map)
d) men come from Judea which is near Jerusalem and teach circumcision as a requirement for salvation.
4. Get your head around the passage
a) what do we know about these men - who are they? (brothers, circumcision a la Moses for salvation)
b) what are these men teaching the Gentile converts in Antioch?
c) What is Paul and Barnabas' reaction to this teaching from these men?
d) what did Paul & Barnabas do about it?
e) what happened when they got to Jerusalem?
f) Who were the "party of the Pharisees"? (believers, req'd circumcision, law of Moses)
5. Some believers wanted to make salvation dependent on following religion or religious rituals.
a) In verse 5 the party of the Pharisees said that the Gentiles must be circumcised and obey the law of Moses in order to be saved.
(1) these were believers who were Jews and maybe had been Pharisees or at least followed the Pharisaical teachings when they were Jews.
6. Elders and apostles considered the question
a) verse 7: "… some time ago .." Peter refers to his God-ordained meeting with the Gentile centurion Cornelius in Acts 10 when Cornelius and all his household responded to the gospel through faith.
(1) this was a major NT event as it showed God pouring out his salvation blessings on the Gentiles for the first time in the NT
(2) Jews and Gentiles were not to associate with each other
b) Peter says in v. 8 that "God … knows the heart" and this is the main issue.
(1) the hearts of the Gentiles have been purified by God so that they can love God through Christ.
(2) Before that moment when God changes the heart, a person's heart is in rebellion against God (see Ephesians 2:1-3 : disobedient, fulfilling the desires of our sinful nature, objects of God's wrath)
(3) Relationship not performance
c) Peter strongly affirmed that God has already shown acceptance of the Gentiles through their faith (again referring to the salvation of the Gentile Cornelius the Centurion and all his household and friends - see Acts 10).
d) Therefore both Jews and Gentiles are saved on the basis of God's grace, not the performance of the law.
(1) law = man's work to connect with God
(2) grace = God's work to connect with man - what God has done for you - Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sin)
(3) they are the opposite in many respects
(a) what God does vs what man does
(b) work vs gift
(c) free vs earned
7. James delivers a decision
a) quoting OT Scripture from Amos 9:11-12 James agrees with Peter's assessment of the Gentiles' situation before God
(1) God is making a "people for himself" from the Gentiles (covenant language!) says Amos.
b) The purity of the gospel is maintained. Nothing is added to it as the Pharisaical bunch wanted to do.
c) The church is protected from religion - man's efforts to reach God through man's work.
d) James only urges them to abstain from:
(1) eating food sacrificed to idols & eating the blood of animals
(a) these are both things that would prevent table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles
(2) sexual immorality
(a) to combat the general immorality of the Gentiles at that time
8. They got the Christian balance right:
a) license - liberty - legalism
(1) license - (too loose) do whatever you want including sinning it up big time without thought for God's holiness
(2) liberty - belief that the Christian is free from the law performance trap of trying to earn his acceptance before God, but recognizing that sin is not good for us nor for God's holy reputation.
(3) legalism - belief that one must perform according to a system of rules in order to be accepted by God.
b) Common problem in the early church, throughout history and now
(1) The whole letter to the Galatians is about Paul trying to rescue the Galatian Christians from reverting back to their former religious orientation based on the law and circumcision.
(2) The Protestant Reformation was fuelled by a church that had gone off the rails and had drifted far from the biblical gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone.
B. Illustrate
1. "Earning a Free Gift"
a) This morning I received …
C. Apply
1. Being religious, being a good person, is a form of religiosity which many people throughout history have substituted for the true biblical gospel. (Galatians, medieval times and reformation, today)
a) Why?
(1) It's easier in one sense to believe in religion than to believe that there is only one way to God - through Jesus.
(2) It opens salvation up to more people if we can work our way to God - e.g. other world religions, those people who are not religious but consider themselves to be good, etc..
(a) Recent talk with a friend at the pub about Christianity
(i) he considers himself a "half Christian" (i.e. not fully committed)
(ii) What keeps him from being committed?
(a) He has other commitments - e.g. to family which prevent him from being committed further to Christianity
(i) But Christ's mission is ultimate for us (Christ in Matthew 8:19-22 : "let the dead bury their own dead").
(b) He has questions about Jesus being the only way to God
(c) He wonders if being a good person isn't enough for God
(i) And what of God sending his Son, Christ, to die for us - was it just God's whim or necessary?
(ii) salvation by goodness nullifies the cross
(3) More comfortable - we are more comfortable with the idea of earning something (earning a wage, earning the right to be heard, earning a friendship).
(a) Saying "there's no free lunch"!
(b) Paradox is that we can't earn a relationship with God!
(c) We can only establish a relationship with God through a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9).
(4) It's what a lot of biblically illiterate people already think due to liberal theological teaching that spread during the beginning of the 1900's.
(a) I used to go to a Methodist church during my childhood and the message was:
(i) be a good person and you're in (you will be ok).
(ii) you never heard that man is sinful and separated from God and therefore in need of a saviour
III. Conclusion
A. what is Christianity all about to you - religion or relationship?
B. It isn't rules and rituals that connect us to God, it's relationship. As Peter says in verse 8 it is keeping our heart pure before
1. Markers
a) thoughts - are your thoughts pure or are they rubbish that needs to be cleaned out?
(a) Freedom in Christ course - learn how to "renew your mind" as Romans 12:1 says.
(b) let me know by Sunday, January 12, 2009 if you can commit to this course
(c) Please read the flyer on the course
b) words - often when I get angry at my children and yell at them then I know my heart is not pure before God (no patience)
c) actions - when my actions are sinful this is a big marker!
C. Illustration from "Amazing Grace" film
1. John Newton story
The film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffedd) as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century.
Wilberforce has made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton (Albert Finney). Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account of his slave-ship days. Newton, however, refused to do so, because the experience and the "20,000 ghosts" haunted him too greatly.
Now, near success in ending the slave trade, Wilberforce visits Newton and discovers that he has recorded his account. His eyesight now gone, Newton says to Wilberforce, "You must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, people—everything I remember is in here. Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior."
a) This is Christianity - great sinners reconciled to a great God by Christ's forgiveness. It is not on the other hand religious rules and rituals.