What Ever Happened?
Sometimes, an official document is written that somehow gets forgotten through the generations, and the result is that the later generations find their way back into something they were originally set free from.
This is often the case with the church today. It has forgotten what was officially written to the Gentiles by the Jerusalem Council, which was chaired by the first apostles of Jesus and the first elders of the first church at Jerusalem.
An issue had arisen regarding the matter of circumcision and keeping the law. It was causing problems for the Gentile churches. Men from Jerusalem were infiltrating the Gentile churches and insisting that they be circumcised and start keeping the law. This was the primary issue occurring in the Galatian church and throughout that region at the time. It was first noticed at Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas were operating at the time.
It was getting so bad that Peter had withdrawn himself from the Gentile believers at Antioch and was only fellowshipping with the Jewish believers due to these men who had come to Antioch. It was even beginning to lead Barnabas astray. Paul rebuked Peter for not living according to the gospel based on his behavior. This led to the church at Antioch sending representatives to Jerusalem for a final ruling on the matter.
Acts 15:23 They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment— 25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have, therefore, sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
For any “Leader” to attempt to bring the church back under the law is a direct violation of this very official letter that was given to the churches. The way was made so simple, and yet today, it has become so complicated.
Just as here in the United States of America, a departure from the constitution results in the loss of freedoms originally intended for the citizens by the founding fathers, the church, if it loses sight of what was done for it by the founding apostles and elders, will forfeit freedoms Christ purchased for it with His own blood. When the church loses sight of the New Covenant established by Jesus’ blood that was sprinkled once, for all, and for all time on the true mercy seat in heaven, it will forfeit the freedom that shed blood was intended to bring. Forgetting very important pivotal moments in the church’s history revealed in Scripture is not beneficial. It results in the loss of the actual context we are currently in, like that of the New Covenant, as opposed to that of the old.
It is for freedom that Christ set us free, and the just shall live by faith. Not to mention the truth that declares that if we walk according to the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Losing sight of what’s really important leads to living in a limited way. So I ask, whatever happened to simplicity?
