Readings for today: Acts 15-16
It’s so easy for human beings to divide. We’ve been doing it for centuries. We divide over language, culture, ethnicity, and tribal affiliation. We divide over land, money, wealth, and power. We divide over politics, social action, and religious faith. We divide over disappointments, hurts, and fears. Christians are no different. Despite the fact that we are bound by a spiritual bond in Jesus Christ that is thicker than blood or water, we cannot seem to help ourselves. We are vulnerable to the same pressures that divide every other group of human beings.
The early church had to fight to stay together. Despite the cultural forces arrayed against them and the persecution they suffered at the hands of their enemies, they still found the time and energy to fight amongst themselves. Circumcision was the pressing issue of the day. The cultural practice had set apart the Jewish people since the beginning. All the way back to Abraham. It was essential to their identity as God’s covenant people. But now Gentiles are coming to faith in droves. Their numbers are threatening to overwhelm the early church. The Jewish Christians are rapidly becoming a minority and probably feeling under threat. Like all these new people had stolen “their” church. So a group of them band together and begin teaching the new Gentile Christians that faith in Jesus Christ was not enough. Baptism was not enough. They needed to be circumcised in addition to these things if they truly believed and wanted to belong. This created all kinds of controversy. Paul and Barnabas go nuts. The early church is wracked by conflict and so they call a meeting of all the leaders in Jerusalem. The case is presented. They seek the mind of Christ together. The Holy Spirit makes His will known. And the mark of circumcision is rejected as a requirement.
This won’t be the end of the story, of course. Human beings are notoriously rebellious and many of those early Jewish Christians will continue to cause Paul headaches as he plants his churches around the Roman world. So will the Gentile Christians, by the way! It’s just so easy for any of us to fall prey to focusing on the non-essentials rather than the essentials of our faith. It’s so easy for us to focus on what separates us rather than what holds us together. It’s so easy to focus on our differences rather than our shared convictions which is why there are so many different denominations and churches in the world today. Boil the Christian faith down to it’s essentials and what do you have? Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Readings for tomorrow: None