I’d like to start today by asking a series of questions. Don’t answer these out loud, but think through in your head. Should a Christian wear yoga pants? Can a Christian vote for any candidate, no matter what he or she says or supports? Should a Christian drink, smoke, or chew or date guys who do? Should a Christian watch an R-rated movie? Are there a list of words that Christians should never say? How short can my shorts be? How much skin can my bathing suit show? Do I have to recycle? Now...what do we do when we disagree on those things?

Today, we’re going to look at a passage of Scripture that answers all of those questions. In this passage in Acts, Barnabas puts on yoga pants and smokes a cigarette and throws a plastic bottle in the trash...and Paul tells him he is a sinner.

No. That doesn’t happen. But what does happen in this passage is going to help us navigate something that is a really big deal to our church, because it's a really big deal to God.

Acts 15:1-12

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Acts 15:22-29

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

You might ask, Why in the world are we reading this passage about a 2,000 year old theological disagreement? Well, I hope today this text is going to answer 2 very important questions for us.

1- How do we help people most clearly hear the gospel message? 2- How do we humble ourselves to love and serve each other?

We’re going to answer both of those questions with 4 truths that come out of this very odd Scripture.

1) You aren’t saved from your culture, you’re saved from you sin.

Alright, I know that there are probably 2 other big questions in your head right now. #1- What’s he gonna say about Yoga Pants or alcohol? #2- How in God’s creation does keeping my self from what has been strangled have anything to do with Yoga Pants or alcohol?

Then, of course, there’s the handful of you thinking a third question...what are Yoga Pants and how have I missed this controversy? To understand this passage, Let me give you an idea of the tension going on ...what the argument is all about.

Remember, the gospel was first delivered to the Jews. But at this point in the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas have been traveling to cities with Greeks and Romans, preaching the gospel there...and people have been hearing it, believing it, and God’s been doing miraculous things among the Gentiles.

So imagine what a church is like at this time in a diverse city, where there are lots of Jews... and also, lots of Greeks. On one hand, you have Jews who have been applying this strict moral code for centuries...and then BAM!...Jesus comes in and says “Actually, you don’t have to do that anymore.” I mean, its kind of hard just to stop, isn’t it? Think about like this. What if Jesus showed up today and said, “You know how you pray before every meal? That’s really not necessary.” It bet it would take you a while to stop praying before meals if you had been doing it since you were a preschooler. I know it would. Because sometimes I’ll go out to lunch with some of you and I just dive right in to the meal...and you sit across the table from me in this awkward-deer-in-headlinghts, “ohhhh...that’s how we’re gonna do this” kind of look. But there is no explicit command in the Bible to pray before a meal. Yet...we kind of feel like its something a Christian should do because it's so deeply ingrained in our culture. (By the way, I think giving thanks to God before a meal is a very good thing to do, in case you’re wondering)

On the other hand, you have these Greek gentiles who were hearing the gospel and they had never even heard of this moral code the Jews lived by. In fact, they were very used to seeing sexual orgies at their places of worship to their gods...it was ingrained in their culture. Now, imagine the Jewish pray-before every meal guy...all of sudden starts going to church with the Greek halter top and short-shorts girl...which is conservatively dressing in her culture. He walks up to her and says, “You can’t wear that kind of stuff in here! Cover yourself!...and do you pray before meals?...because you need to if you are going to be a REAL Christian!” And she looks back at him and says, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? And why would I pray before a meal?”

Now. Multiply that by the tens of thousands....and There you have a sort-of/kind-of picture of this church in Acts 15. But the controversy wasn’t about praying before meals...it was about circumcision.

See, there were 613 Jewish laws. Circumcision was just one of them. But Circumcision was representative of observing the whole law. Kind of the way you assume that when you see somebody pray before their meal at a restaurant that they are “pretty good Christians”... Don’t ask me how they knew if you were circumcised? You walked with a limp? So the controversy in the church is “When Gentiles become believers...do they have to keep all the Jewish law?”

Now, hang with me. Here’s what you need to know about the Jewish law. These 613 commands come from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. And they can be divided up into 3 categories. Moral, ceremonial, and civil.

The Moral Law included laws like the 10 commandments, that represented the character of God. Like Do Not Murder. Do not commit adultery.

The Ceremonial Law included instructions about keeping yourself set apart for worship. Things like not eating animals whose hooves didn’t raise them up off the ground, or commands about how to kill an animal for temple sacrifice...(like you couldn’t strangle it, you had to slit its throat). Or commands about avoiding unclean things like blood.

The Civil Law included laws about how to apply the moral in the Jewish culture. So for instance, there’s a law that says that you have to put a fence on your roof. Well, that law is there because people hung out on their rooftops...and if you didn’t put a fence on your roof...you were liable for murder if a guest fell off your roof. So this was a way not to passively commit murder.

Actually, some of our civil laws now are like this. Do you drive on the right side of the road? Do you stop when the light turns red? You are obeying civil laws that are applications of the Moral law “Do Not Murder”. They value human life. So, here’s the question that’s being asked back then...and by the way, here’s a question that a lot of people are asking today... “Why do Christians pick and choose what laws to follow in the Old Testament?” I mean that’s exactly what these Pharisees are saying... “If these Gentiles are going to be Christians, they better keep the law like the Jews.”

Well, lets take this a section at a time. First of all, Christians should obey God’s moral law. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not Steal. Do not lie. These commands are all statements about God’s character. And christians should obey these commands.

Now, what about the Civil law? Well, remember, the civil law was the application of the Moral law. So, the question is this. Is it necessary for me to put a little fence around the edge of my roof to keep this law? Well no. That has no civil or cultural good. That is not helping me at all apply the moral law to not murder. But stopping at a Red light and driving on the right side of the road does. And I shouldn’t even legalistically keep those laws. For example, if an emergency vehicle needs to get through a red light, and I’m blocking the way, I’m going to run the light in order to pull over...because I’m valuing the human life in that ambulance.

Or Imagine if I insisted driving on the right side of the road was THE GODLY WAY to drive. What would happen if I drove in Great Britain? I’d be killing people in the name of the LORD. Telling them they are all wrong!

Now, how about the ceremonial law? The ceremonial law was given to point people to essentially 3 things. Their own sin, The fact God has set them apart for something special, and the way that God was going to deal with their SIN.

Let me give you an example of each one.
Leviticus 11:3 1) Law about animals that split the hoof, cloven footed, and chews the cud. My own sin....cursed ground...when I go through the hassle of skipping the BBQ...I’m reminded... “GROUND IS CURSED! God do something about this!!!”

Deut. 22:10-11 2) Law about mixed fibers/not plowing with an ox and a donkey together. This reminded Israel that they were set apart for something special...and that they weren’t to risk worshipping other gods by blending with other cultures. SO, Every time I want to wear a 50/50 blend t-shirt, I’m gonna be put out thinking...DANG IT! God set me apart. Everytime I want to plow a field with an Ox and Donkey I’m going to say “Dang it. We’re supposed to be set apart.” God was using the ordinary to remind the Jews of truth.

Leviticus 17:10-11 3) This law said you can’t eat blood. Other laws say you can’t touch it. A husband and wife weren’t allowed to have sex on her menstrual cycle. Why? Because blood was special. It represented life. And it was only to interacted with during a sacrifice for sin. Because God was promising that he would use blood to forgive the sins of his people.

But see, when Jesus died on the cross and resurrected he was fulfilling the ceremonial law. He was removing the curse of sin so now we don’t inconvenience ourselves to not eat Pork, but we enjoy it, remembering that Jesus has undone the curse, and we can freely where a cotton blend t-shirt because now we know we aren’t told to separate to stay clean...but to take our light to the nations. We are set apart by the Holy Spirit to go to the nations with the gospel, not by withdrawing from them.

And of course, we see the horror of our sin in the crucifixion of Jesus...and his blood is the blood that was promised to atone for us....so we don’t need reminders of what God promised...when we have already seen it come to pass.

So, when someone says, “Why do you follow the Bible’s sexual ethic, but you eat Shellfish and wear Cotton blends? Aren’t you being inconsistent?” You can say, “No. I’m living very consistently with Jesus’ death and resurrection.”

So when the argument starts about whether Gentiles who become Christians should keep the Jewish law, Paul looks at everyone and says, “Don’t burden them with this law. Don’t put these unnecessary inconveniences in their lives. Sure, if you want to still follow the law because you’ve done it for so long...that’s fine. But there is no reason to get these gentiles to do all the things we do...they are all just a part of our culture now...not a part of our salvation. We are saved the same way they are. By God’s grace...not by keeping these laws.”

The keeping of these laws had simply become a part of culture. They weren’t necessary for righteousness.

Look what James says to everybody. He says, “Don’t trouble these Gentiles who are turning to God.” You know what that means. It means that we shouldn’t put unnecessary obstacles in the way of people hearing and believing the gospel. Including having people adapt to your culture in order to trust Jesus. You know what this looks like for us today?

Somebody walks into church wearing something you don’t think they should be wearing... short shorts...yoga pants...so you don’t talk to them....you just talk about them. That’s a barrier. You are saying, “Before you can be a part of who we are, you are going to have to adapt to our way of dress...and we don’t wear shorts that short...at least not in church.” In fact, we should probably have people looking, talking, and dressing differently from each other here...because that’s a good sign that God is reaching people from different cultures in our city...which we know he wants to do.

One more thought about this. We need you on Easter to remove obstacles from people hearing the gospel. If you serve on a parking team, on a greeting team, on a City kids team, you are helping people adjust to being here at an unfamiliar place...you are helping them to feel welcome...and that’s going to open them up much more to hearing what we are preaching. The sermon doesn’t start when I open my mouth...it starts in the parking lot when you open yours. So Grab a card, put it in the offering bucket...and help remove some obstacles next week.

So, is the point of this sermon that anything is fair game? As long as you don’t technically break God’s moral law...go for it. Strut your stuff. Come to church in a thong drinking a 40... because its your freedom in Christ.

I hope you know...that’s not the point of Acts 15. And its not my point either...and please, unless were’ talking about a sandal, don’t come to church in a thong. See...
2) The church doesn’t exist to exercise our freedoms, but to crucify them for each other.

Whenever the Bible talks about marriage...and how a husband and wife should treat each other, there is this common idea that’s always there. It's the husband sacrificing for his wife...and the wife submitting to her husband. In other words, in the New Testament Paul looks at husbands and says “Lay your life down for her...put your own freedoms aside...and sacrifice for her.” Then he looks at the wife and he says, “Put your own freedoms aside, put your own agenda and comfort away, and follow your husband’s lead.”

That’s not very different from what Paul is asking the church to do here. He looks a the Jews and he says, “Think about the Gentiles, don’t put unnecessary burdens on them. Lay aside your own interests...your own cultural preferences to serve them.” But, at this point, he doesn’t just walk away and say... “Break out the short shorts and lets Party!” No!

Instead he looks at the Gentiles and he says “Abstain. Keep yourself from these things.” Do you see what’s happening here? He’s looked at both the Conservative Jews and the Liberal Gentiles and he’s said...put aside your own comfort zones...put away some of your freedoms...all your comfortable cultural practices....for the sake of the these brothers & sisters.

Specifically, he gives the Gentiles 4 things to abstain from. The first three represent the ceremonial law. Food sacrificed to idols was considered unclean. And then, of course, there are these other 2 laws that have to do with blood. Animals were not supposed to be strangled according to the law, they were supposed to have their blood drained out. Then there is this last thing...sexual immorality.

I gotta tell you. I had quite a time this week trying to decide what category this fell into. Is this moral? Is this just a command to keep the moral law to “not commit adultery”? Well, I think it is. But it's also more. I think its also ceremonial. You can read in Leviticus 18 about some of these laws. And there, you’ll find both moral law, like, “Don’t lie with your neighbors wife”...and you’ll also find ceremonial law like, “Don’t approach a woman in her nakedness when she is on her menstrual cycle.”

Now, why is that important. Well...for Yoga pants, short shorts, sleepovers, texting conversations, watching movies on the couch with your boyfriend or girlfriend and about 1,000 other ways men & women can exercise their freedom in Christ. Here’s what I mean.

You don’t have anybody at our church that’s going to flip out about you eating a hamburger made from meat sacrificed to a 1st century idol. Nobody is going to worry whether or not the chicken that your Chick-Fil-A sandwich came from was strangled.

But sexual immorality...nothing is more culturally relevant than that. On one hand, with God’s moral law...he draws some pretty clear lines. Sex is wonderful gift inside of the covenant of marriage. It brings life to a marriage. Outside of marriage...it breaks you.

On the other hand...that leaves a huge grey area. Like with clothing? What’s ok to wear? How short can my shorts be? Can I spend the night at my girlfriends house...even if I’m sleeping on the couch? Can a girl wear workout pants to the gym? Ok...how about the grocery store? Ok...how about to church? Should a married guy text with woman that isn’t his wife? 3 things I won’t you to think about for all those questions.

1) Don’t place burdens on people that Scripture doesn’t.

In other words, don’t make categories like “All Christians make sure their shorts don’t come up above their mid thigh” If you do that, you are going to have people rejecting Jesus NOT because they rejected Jesus, but because they rejected your Ceremonial Fashion Laws.

You’ll also create Pharisees. You’ll have people who dress a certain way to fit in to your culture...but their hearts are never clean. They follow all the rules, but they don’t follow Jesus.

2) Consider how to lose your freedom to serve others, not how to use your freedom to serve you.

If the only question you ever ask is “Does the law allow me to do this?”...you are really only thinking about yourself. So, you sleep over at your girlfriends house and you say, “This is fine. The law says, ‘Don’t commit adultery’. No big deal. I’m well within my rights.’

But what about your roommate? They don’t know what you’re doing. What about her neighbors? If a guy sleeps over at a girl’s house...I’ll tell you exactly what they are going to assume...and it won’t be that you’re doing a bible study.

See, the question you should ask is not, “What is moral?” Its never “How far can I go?” The question you should be asking is “How far can I go to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ?”

So, can you drink, smoke, curse, wear short shorts, watch R-rated movies...well, I can’t tell you for absolute sure on any of those. But I can tell you God gives you wisdom... and he never faults you for asking for his wisdom.

...and if you approach all of those issues not saying “What do I get to do?” but “God, how can I honor you?”...we all may come down on a different answer...but we’ll all be pointing in the same direction...and that’s a good thing. Because...

3) We strive for unity by his Word with his Spirit.

Do you think its funny that when this controversy breaks out in the church, that Paul & Barnabas stop what their doing to address a theological debate? Think about this. Paul is an extremely successful church planter. Does it seem to you he should have just said, “Quit your bickering...I’ve got important ministry to do. I don’t have time to argue about doctrine...I’ve got people to love and care for.”

But he doesn’t. He stops what he’s doing, gets off the church planting trail, and goes back to Jerusalem for a board meeting. Listen. Doctrine is important. Theology is important. It doesn’t simply matter whether the church is active in the community, or doing good things, or ministering to people...what a church believes is VERY IMPORTANT. OF utmost importance is what a church believes about the gospel of Jesus.

Here’s the other thing that’s important. The unity of the church. The whole reason all these apostles and elders come together is they are concerned about the church staying together, but they don’t say, Well, lets just ignore doctrine. No...they go deeper into the gospel. They define their doctrine more clearly. Then they lay out specific steps for how the church will accomplish this unity. And the church agrees. That is how important unity is. But look how they do it.

They come together, under the leadership of their elders, approved and accountable to the congregation, and they say, “This seems good to us.” In fact, they say in v 28 “This seems good to us and the Holy Spirit” Do you see that?

To solve this disagreement, they call on elders in the church to lead, they all look deeply into the word of God as they are guided by the Holy Spirit of God...and they do what seems good. Do you think everyone was happy this? Probably not. This was uncomfortable for the Jews...and the Gentiles couldn’t do everything they wanted either...but look at the result?

The congregation rejoices. Because they are together under the Word of God, guided and kept by the Spirit of God. Uncomfortable? Yes. Challenged? Yes. But unified...? OH YES.

One of the best things that ever happened to Christianity through the Reformation period...and then through the printing press...is that Christians could read the Bible on their own. It opened beautiful opportunities for people to know Christ personally, to understand how God loves them...and what God was doing in history.

But it was also one of the worst things to ever happen to the church. Because now so many of us think that the best way to read and interpret the Bible is alone....and that is Positively not true.

I mean look at this church. They are all gathering together, arguing about doctrine and interpretation, but also doing so in a loving way. There is mutual submission happening. There is patience and understanding that ends in a unified church that is on mission.

What doesn’t happen is 4 church splits where everybody can exercise their preferences. Listen, the Bible is meant to bring us together...with each other, and with God. So please, don’t turn the Bible into merely your personal devotion or life play book. That’s not why God gives it. He reveals himself to us in his word to reconcile us...to him...and to each other.

So lets make sure we’re not using it to do the exact opposite. One of the ways we do that in our church is by appointing elders. Elders, or pastors, are the way God sets up in Scripture for the church to be both committed to doctrine that comes from the Bible, and also, to help protect the church’s unity.

In these verses, Judas and Silas, 2 of the men appointed by the church to lead them...are sent off to other places. And two of the men, Paul and Barnabas stay in Antioch, continuing to preach the Word of the LORD with many others. At the end of this service, we are going to be sending off one of our elders...and also appointing another one to help lead us in doctrine and unity in his place.

But before we do that, lets finish by answering this question.
Why? Why should I limit my freedom as a Christian? Well, very simply because....

(4) Jesus limited his freedom so we could be free to limit ours.

Jesus didn’t die on a cross so we could argue about whether or not you can drink beer. Jesus didn’t raise from the dead so that churches around the world could listen to their favorite style of music while they sat next to people who dressed, thought, and acted exactly like they did. No. The son of man came to seek and save the lost. He came to create ONE PEOPLE...from every tribe tongue and nation. He didn’t come to make us all alike...he came to make us like him. Holy. Set apart for a mission. A purpose.

In fact in John chapter 17, in the garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus dies on the cross, he prays to the Father for 3 things for the church. He prays for us to be unified, to be set apart to be different from the world...holy, and to be on mission...sent to the world...to love people...to sacrifice for their good...so they can know Christ. Then, Jesus did everything needed to unify us, to set us apart, and to send us on his mission. Take a look...

Philippians 2:3-11

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

See, Jesus is God himself. Yet, he limited himself. There’s this part in the book of John, when the guards come to take Jesus away to be arrested...where he shows a little glimpse of his divinity...and the guards are all sent flying to the ground.

See, Jesus could have walked around like that all the time. He could have jumped off the cross any time he wanted. He could have called angel armies to destroy those who crucified him. He was free to do so. But instead, he chose to limit his freedom. He took on human form, and was obedient to the point of a bloody death on the cross.

And as Jesus was ripped apart, blood everywhere, totally ceremonially unclean....it was his blood that was atonement that all the ceremonial law pointed to. To make us all clean, but not just ceremonially....morally. Spiritually. Because Jesus died, we become clean.

Jesus limited his freedoms...he was crucified for us...so that we could know God the Father...and we would be so captivated by his love that we would limit our own freedoms... and take the gospel to the world so that every tongue in creation would confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Church, We are not here to lay burdens on people. We are here to deliver the message that Jesus has lifted those burdens away.