Follow-up to July 31st teaching

Sunday Follow-up
“Saved by grace and now free to show grace”

This Sunday we were in Acts 15. In this chapter one of the most important meetings in church history takes place in Jerusalem. The purpose of this meeting was to settle the issue of who can be saved and how. Gentile believers in the church in Antioch were being told by believers from the party of the Pharisees in Jerusalem that they weren’t saved. They were told they could not be saved unless they converted to Judaism (get circumcised and keep the law). They said faith in Jesus was not enough. A good start, but not sufficient for salvation. So, the leadership of the church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem to settle this issue.

After much intense discussion, it was decided that salvation is by grace through faith. The gentile believers were asked to abstain from meat offered in sacrifices to false gods, to not eat meat that was not properly drained of its blood, and to not commit sexual immorality. Who can be saved? Anyone. How is one saved? By the grace of God through faith in the person and work of Jesus upon the cross. Based on chapter 15 it would seem this issue was settled. Yet today, there are still those who teach that salvation is by faith in Jesus plus something else. As an example, some teach that baptism in water is necessary for salvation. I do not believe that. When salvation is faith in Jesus plus something else, it is no longer grace.

One of the things the Lord ministered to me about the instructions given to the gentiles is those instructions became an opportunity for Jewish and gentile believers to show grace to one another. Jewish believers were under a new covenant, but they had the right to continue to observe certain practices that were part of the old covenant. In a sense, Jewish believers were free to have personal convictions about continuing to observe certain practices. What they weren’t free to do was to try and force those convictions upon the gentile believers.

Gentile believers weren’t asked to not do those things as conditions of salvation, but rather as a reminder that those things were part of their old life and as a way to show grace to their fellow Jewish believers who did not feel free to eat meat.

Often as believers, we develop personal convictions about things we believe we should or should not do. Example – “not watching tv, not watching rated R movies, dressing a certain way when attending church services”. As long as our convictions are done for the right reasons, they can be a great asset to our spiritual growth. Convictions are wrong when they are done because we believe we will be more spiritual if we do them. They are wrong when it leads us to believe that we are better than those who don’t practice what we do. They are wrong when we try to force our convictions upon others and then look down upon them when they don’t follow our example.

Grace is also something we need to show towards those who hurt us and/or let us down. Grace is what we need to show to those who struggle with sins in their life. Showing grace does not mean we excuse their sin, overlook their sin or withhold consequences. It does mean however we continue to love them and support them as much as we can. As great of an apostle as Paul was, he failed to show grace towards John Mark who failed him.

If you are a follower of Christ, you have received the grace of God. As such, let us be known as grace givers. We don’t show grace to others because they deserve it. We show grace because we know what it is like to be shown grace though we did not deserve it.

Have a great week as you follow Jesus.