Daily Devotional for Tuesday, February 28th

The Decision by the Council

“Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them,
which from among the Gentiles are turned to God,” Acts 15:19.

Peace seems woefully lacking in the world today. Opinions are so polarized that strife and discord reign. It seems that disagreement equals hatred. No one is willing to compromise. In the context of Acts 15, we see this illustrated clearly; only in this instance compromise brought peace.
As often happened, Judaizers had come around insisting that Gentiles had to follow the Law to be saved. The new Gentile converts understood that salvation was by grace plus nothing. On one side were Paul and Barnabas, preaching salvation by grace through faith. On the other side were those saying that Jesus needed some help to save us (merit through good works).
In the end, the two factions traveled to Jerusalem to have their cases heard by James and the church elders. After consideration and prayer, the verdict was clear, proclaimed by James and inspired by the Holy Spirit: “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15:10, 11).
What happens next in our story confuses some. After clearly establishing that salvation is by grace, through faith, James did issue some instructions regarding some things which the Gentile believers should and should not do. It is important to note that there is not a single word that indicates these things contributed to salvation. These things James mentioned were to help appease the Jews.
There are two important lessons here. First, you are completely saved by grace without any works which you might do. Second, just because grace saves you, it never means you are free to do anything, anytime you choose.

THOUGHT
If my actions might cause my brother to stumble, I ought to spare him the burden of watching me do them.

Wally Fry