Saved & Santified.

We have one more thing that I want to spotlight for you. Every single year, one of the things that we get to be a part of as a church for the past three years is the Madison Good Neighbor Gathering. This started by neighborhood associations a few years ago, and then our partners over at Neighborhood House Community Center were asked to step in and they invited us to come and partner with them. For the past three years, we have hosted one of Madison's largest family-focused festivals, and it's right down the street at Brittingham Park.

We wanted to share this because if you're new to New Culture, you're probably like, do we just go to this thing? What is it? Well, we'll have about forty of us there volunteering all day. We have everything from food trucks and we end with a free hot dog meal for everybody. There's all sorts of activities and the biggest thing is we keep this free for all the kids and all the families that come. There's free face painting, free bounce houses, rock walls, all these different activities. We need you to join us in loving our neighbors.

If you haven't yet, please sign up for the Madison Good Neighbor Gathering. This is something too. If you have friends that like to volunteer, you can come. We have you kind of sign up for two-hour shifts. You could be helping them stay in line at a bounce house or helping cook and serve the hot dog dinner. We offer prayer for people that are at the festival looking for that. We wanted to just make you aware that this is happening in just a few short weeks. That Sunday, we'll meet here at ten a.m. instead of eleven. After service, you can just walk over to the park because parking will be crazy. It's like a twelve-minute walk from here. So make plans for that and walk over to the park for the festival together.

My name is Sean. Sometimes when you're going to teach, the Lord puts you through whatever experiences he wants to prepare your heart to teach his word to his people. During worship, the Lord was ministering to my heart. You're opening your heart to him while we're singing these songs and while the word is coming to us and out from our mouths. He reminded me of a guy I was with yesterday. His name is Greg. I don't have a picture of Greg. We were on the back of a tandem bike. I was on the front. This thing where we go, we call us pilots for the blind. People on the back of the bike. Greg has another malady he calls it. He's blind but he also has Parkinson's. He's progressed in his Parkinson's to the point where Greg used to be just a seven-day-a-week, you know, bike everywhere all the time person to work and back, and he's seventy-five now.

What he had lost, because in Parkinson's, you start to wobble. If you have a wobbly core, you're going to need some help with that. We were gauging how much to go with Greg and how much of a distance. The Lord was speaking to me during worship this morning that he wants to let his word from Acts 15 come to you and strengthen your core today so that you can finish the course that God has for you. He's going to speak to you from his scriptures. They're alive. His word is living. It says it's active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It's able to divide between our thoughts and our intentions.

Yesterday we had some adventures. I ended up carrying him and I did something I've never thought I would do. I drove my actual van on the bike trail west of here, or east of here, the Glacial Drumlin Trail, to pick him up because he just couldn't go anymore. First, we got a flat by the way. And then his core went. He can't predict when it's going to go. We made a plan for next time. I'm like, Greg, if you come back, we have a plan to go forward. Just let the Word of God come to your innermost being and let him speak to you because I'm just a person on the front of the bike. The Lord is good. He is here. Let's pray before we get into the word.

Father, thank you for the honor of opening up your eternal word. Thank you for its strength and the love and the peace also that it can bring to our hearts. Peace with you, peace with one another, and Lord we ask you to speak and to do what only you can do, Lord. We thank you and we praise you in your name. Amen.

Welcome to the first century

Welcome to the first century. We're going back to the first century in the book of Acts. But it's actually welcome to the first century now as well of the new millennium, really we're in the first century of the new millennium, of course, here. We're twenty-five years in and well removed, but it's almost like there's an eternal, what would you call it, a portal with the Word of God and with the cross. When we were singing about the cross today, it was like his blood coming in and just washing us afresh. Anybody else receive just a fresh sense of his forgiveness? So that's what I was drawing from when we kept singing. So really, it's not removed. It's just usually here. Abbie asks us to do it.

So what today is? So what did it look like when Jesus showed up in Acts 15? And then I had a second one. So you get two dips today. What does it mean as we build together and with others in this city and in the world that he loves?

The great joy and the great dilemma

The setting is Jerusalem down on the bottom of the map, of course, and then Galatia and Antioch. That's Paul's first missionary journey. This has just happened in the context of our story. You can follow the little arrows of where Paul went with Barnabas on their first trip. There's a great joy amongst all these new churches and then there's a great dilemma and a dispute. These non-Jewish or Gentile people, they're receiving the good news of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit the same way the original described the new life.

As a matter of fact, it was a Pharisee named Nicodemus. He came to Jesus at night and he said, "Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God." He says, "How can I go inside? I'm looking at a mom here. How can I go inside the mother's womb, right? Again, and be born." Jesus says, "No, that which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." What got to these Pharisees who came to faith in Jesus Christ, what it means to be born of the Spirit. But I cover both of those things. A third thing that the church is going to rejoice about and be strengthened and grow.

So Paul and Barnabas, Peter, they witnessed miracles in those places, and then they began to come back to Jerusalem and give their testimonies. Awe and joy is filling the hearts. But then, just like any other time in history, starting from the garden, where there was Adam and Eve and all the goodness and the miracles of God, what comes into the picture? A serpent comes. Did he really say you shall not, you know, did he? So they're going to be followed by what's called Judaizers. These characters come and they say, unless these new Gentiles are circumcised, they cannot be fully saved. This is a big dilemma for the early church.

Peter's bold proclamation

I wonder if the one being translated was agape or phileo, one of those two. That's right. We'd have to be married for the other stuff. So amen. God is good. Nobody went from that tradition all the time and all the time.

There they are. They come back to Jerusalem, and it says there's a sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with some of the believers to go there and to see the apostles about this question of circumcision. So the church is going to send them on their way, and this is where our story picks up. I've got a scripture reader here that's going to help me today.

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." 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 the apostles and elders about this question. 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 believers very glad. 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. 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." The apostles and elders met to consider this question. Okay.

Acts 15:1-6

A sharp dispute, and they meet in what's called the first church council in Jerusalem. This is the first. See what Jesus is going to do as he shows up. So behind this, look for him in this passage. He is showing up here. The brothers are gathering. They're debating, discussing. But the Holy Spirit is about to make very clear that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Go to John 8, if you would. Jesus, they're going to be echoing Jesus and his words from John 8, which happened to be on a building in Madison, just opposite North Hall. There's a plaque on the other side. I forget the name. South Hall. There's a big plaque, and it says, "You shall know the truth." You ever seen that when you're walking up Bascom Hill? Anybody? You've seen it. And the truth shall what? Make you free. Set you free. John 8.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 8:31-32

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. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 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 the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

Acts 15:7-11

This is one of the strongest words in that passage. No has an emphasis in this debate. Jesus always brought the law back to its original intention, echoing Jesus in this council. And he's echoing the prophets before Jesus. One of those was Samuel. Samuel says to obey is better than to sacrifice. So the ritualistic sacrifice had its place, had its time and season.

God performed the first sacrifice in the Garden of Eden. He provided clothing out of animal skins for Adam and Eve. He shed blood. That's why we were singing about the blood on the doorposts of our hearts. So God made the first sacrifice for the first sin. And then he instituted that as a way for his people to come into his holy presence without dying because the wages of sin is death. But here we know the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is what Peter is proclaiming by the Spirit of God.

One new humanity in Christ

Therefore, remember that formerly you who were Gentiles by birth, called "uncircumcised" by those who called themselves "the circumcision" which is done in the body by human hands. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ. You were excluded from the citizenship in Israel. You were foreigners to the covenants of the promise. You were without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:11-22

James brings the prophets forward

Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this.

Acts 15:14-15

The Spirit is about to bring up what seems to be an obscure passage from the prophet Amos. Yet its broad scope is the desire of the Father to have his redeemed children from all the earth with him. King David was a prophet, and his Psalms are filled with wonderful detailed images about the promises of God and his kingdom.

What did King David do in his day? This all relates. He took what you saw in the first Indiana Jones movie, the ark, right? He took the ark of the covenant of God and he didn't have a house for it yet. He hadn't built a temple for it yet. So he put it in a tent and then he set musicians all around it to sing and praise God twenty-four seven, constantly, in shifts. They would prophesy. One of these prophets after that time said, "This is what I'm going to restore in the last days when the Messiah comes. I'm going to restore this tent with the ark in it and music and prophecy around it."

What does that have to do with circumcision? What it means is any Gentile could draw near or be in the present initial sacrifice, bronze labor, incense, going into the Holy of Holies to see the ark. David did a prophetic act and James is saying this is the message now for us in the New Testament church as we know it today. So by the way, that's why churches have a lot of liberty on how they gather and what they do as well. You'll notice some don't do anything like this church. They'll do like one song and then a scripture and then bow and then pray. But it all has to do with access to God freely that way. So there's singing, there's prophesying, all of that is there.

This is the obscure Amos scripture that's going to bring unity and it's going to bring joy. James did a scroll drop right there. Amos. They all knew this. Peter knew this from his recent experience with Cornelius the centurion. Paul and Barnabas had seen this. James is Jesus' brother. He used to scoff at his brother and say things like, you know, if you're so popular why don't you just go up to the festival now, brother? Jesus says it's not my time yet. Jesus loved him into this. James knew it.

On this truth, on this scripture here, on this rock, the whole plan of God and freedom in Christ is kind of empowered in this council. The Spirit of truth is Jesus in this scripture. He's bringing this word and he's laying a sure foundation with the hearts and the minds of those gathered. And then his own words of life that are sealed by his blood and that are effective by his ascension and his rule in the heavenlies. Jesus is reigning in this council.

After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord who does these things, things known from long ago.

Amos 9:11-12

The judgment of James

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times, and it is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

Acts 15:19-21

Moses has been preached. The seed has been sowed, but now the Holy Spirit is bringing this truth. This new law of love is not the difficult yoke of the former law that no one could truly keep from the inside out. It's fulfilled in Christ. So all we do is look to the cross. He saves us. He forgives us. And then we look to the empty tomb and we receive his power over death and we begin to live in that new eternal resurrection life being born again.

Why are these conditions at the end of the letter? What's happening? Why will Paul, Peter, and James all clearly and strongly teach these avoidances later on in their letters? Go to Galatians 5. Whenever I was confused, whenever I had doubt, whenever I was feeling the heavy yoke of the law, whenever I struggled in my faith, my dad was faithful. He was a believer and a teacher, and he would say, Sean, read Galatians. So I'd go and read Galatians again. Here it is. I'm following my dad's advice. Chapter 5.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. What is the yoke? Circumcised. Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. For in Christ Jesus there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. Has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So we live by the Spirit. Let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Why are these conditions? There's really three layers here of the letter that are going on. Salvation by grace through faith, we covered that. You can look up Ephesians 2. And then fleeing immorality, especially sins of the flesh or greed or favoritism. You can look up First Corinthians 6. It gives details about that and why immorality, especially sexual immorality, is a sin against your body before the Lord and why what we do with our body is important to him. And then you live in the new law of love. You give up these freedoms for love. Paul says at one point, I'll never eat meat that might have been sacrificed to an idol ever again if it offends my brother because of the love that I have in my heart. So in Acts 15, love the Lord your God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself, and the love one another command of Jesus are all encapsulated in this letter to the churches. It's so wonderful.

One of the main reasons, the first and really primary thing that's addressed a lot of times about the sexual immorality, is because it's connected to idolatry in that day. They would worship the idols and that went along with it. Any form of that immorality outside of marriage was present and that's been from the beginning all the way up through. One beautiful thing that the early church used to do that I found out this week was they would actually, when they did the sacrifice, would they actually leave the infant out? They would go and rescue the infant, and they would take them into their homes, and they would raise that child before the Lord. The early church was persecuted for that. It's just such an amazing thing that they would do. It's like, wow, the gods in each generation demand their offerings with our bodies. So we're going to end here in Romans 12.

True and proper worship

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to us, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

That's summing up this letter that it sent to the churches.

Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

Acts 15:24-29

And there was much rejoicing. Yay! The church just went, jump around! They were like, this was the good news. You know the guys are saying yay and the gals are saying yay. They're all rejoicing before the Lord. And it had its truth. Jesus, you know, really he's building his church here as they're continuing in this humility and repentance but also receiving the free gift of life. And in Matthew 7 he says if you hold to my teaching you will be like the wise men. You will build on the rock. A story has a denouement. A good story has a little ending that ties up the loose ends. The Spirit is going to tie up our loose ends. So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

Acts 15:30-35

There's some things now. We want to receive and believe. When the next baptism comes, that's the circumcision of your heart before the Lord. In Madison, do not be conformed to the world here or its hollow promise of life, knowledge, false freedoms, or even fulfillment. Be in it, but we're not of it. We show love, but we love him. So we escape the mix of idolatry here. We embrace his cross and we see his glory.

Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for this letter that you've given to us. Thank you for the patience of my brothers and sisters as we went through this. Lord, I do pray that you would now just give grace upon grace and that if there are things that you have for us to think of or things that you want to lead us into, Lord, we open our hearts and we say yes. In your name. Amen.