A Study Of Acts, 'Resolving Differences Of Interpretation", Acts 15

RESOLVING DIFFERENCES OF INTERPRETATION

ACTS 15

Have you ever had a difference of opinion with another person and that difference destroyed the relationship or closed the door to a new relationship?

What happens when the disagreement is based on what you have been taught, based on

what you have learned or based on your experience. How do you handle the

situation without falling out with the person.

SATAN IS BEHIND ALL DISAGREEMENTS

  1. He came to steal, kill and destroy

  2. Recognize that the devil is behind every disagreement.

Luke 11:17-20

17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

3. The devil wants to destroy unity

    a. Psalms 133:1

     How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

    b. Unity can be destroyed when there is disagreements.

   James 4:1

   What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that   

    battle within you?

NIV

      

  

DON'T ARGUE, DISUSS THE DIFFERENCES

V:1-4 Differences can easily create divisions

A. The church at Antioch was established  among the Gentiles by Paul and Barnabas , 

      preaching  Jesus Christ the risen savior.

    1. Some Jewish Christian came down from Judea teaching the new  Gentile Christians

        that they could not be saved unless they were circumcised.

    2. Paul and Barnabas argued that salvation is by Grace through faith and

        not of works.

B. A group including Paul and Barnabas was sent to Jerusalem to discuss

     the issue of circumcism with the Church leaders

    1. The difference was based on scripture and the interpretation of scripture.

    2. Satan is at his best when Church members can't agree with each other.

C. Problem with the teachers

   1. The Jews from Judea were teaching what they had been taught.

      a. It is very important that teachers know what they are teaching.

    

 b. Study to show yourself approved so that the man or woman

          can rightly divide the word of truth

      c.  Given before the Law to Abraham

           Genesis 17:10-11   (2000 years before Christ birth)

           This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you   

           are to  keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo  

           circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

     

       b. Given to Moses as the Law

           Leviticus 12:3    (1500 years before Christ birth)

           On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.

    2. The Jews were right if they lived under the Law.

    3. All the requirements of the Law had been fulfilled with the

        death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

       Luke 24:44

       He (Jesus) said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you:  

       Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the   

        Prophets and the Psalms."

    4. Paul and Barnabas were right because the Church operates under Grace.

        Romans 1:16

        I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of  

        everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

    5. It is important to know how to apply scripture to the right situation.

        a. Observation

        b. Investigation

        c. Application

        d. Be careful not to take scripture out of its contents,

V:6-9  RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENCE WAYS

            OF DOING THINGS

 A. God has a different way of operation based on The Times

     1. Jeremiah 31:31-32

        "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant

          with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

          It will not be like the covenant

          I made with their forefathers   when I took them by the hand

          to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant,

          though I was a husband to them,"  declares the Lord.

     2. Under the Law,  purification was done through sacrificing of animals

     3. Under grace purification is done through the Word.

         Acts 10:15

          The voice (God) spoke to him (Peter) a second time, "Do not call anything   

           impure  that God has made clean."

          Matthew 9:17

         Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst,    

         the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into   

       

             new wineskins, and both are preserved."

         Much of the covenant God made with Israel through Moses had been fulfillled.

         Yet there were some portion still ongoing. The new covenant Jesus ratified with   

        his blood included some of the promises God made under the Law.

John 15:3-5

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

BE WILLING TO LISTEN TO A THIRD SPIRITUAL PARTY

Acts 15:12-15

12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

COME TO AN AGREEMENT BASE ON GODLY DISCUSSION

Acts 15:19-22

 "And so my judgment is that we should not insist that the Gentiles who turn to God must obey our Jewish laws, 20 except that we should write to them to refrain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from all fornication, and also from eating unbled meat of strangled animals. 21 For these things have been preached against in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations."