Acts chapter 21 verses 16 through 17 through 26. I remind you this is God's holy inerrant and infallible word. After we arrived in Jerusalem the brethren received us gladly and the following day Paul went in with us to James and all the elders were present. After he had greeted them he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they began glorifying God. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. And they are all zealous for the law. And they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs. what then is to be done. They will certainly hear that you have come. Therefore, do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. And all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law. But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrifice to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Thus ends the reading of the Word of God. Let's pray. Father in our God, we give thanks to you for the reading of the Word. We pray, Jesus, that you would come and preach the Word. Come and preach the Word to our souls and let us behold wonderful things in the Word of God. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, there are concessions to make and there are compromises at the same time. Compromise is to let go of some particular piece or part of conviction. Compromise is when you have a certain set of principles and you take those principles and you go to the negotiating table and others come with their principles and they come to the negotiating table and each of you concedes or lets go of a particular conviction of a particular set of principles for the sake of arriving at a common group of principles that you could both agree upon. Meanwhile, you arise from the negotiating table with certain principles being left behind. No longer are they considered so vital that one must cling to them, hold fast to them, and thus stand without movement away from them. Now concession is different. Concession is to simply, in things less vital, to concede. In other words, someone will make a will suggest a certain principle, and you might say, well, that doesn't violate any of my principles, therefore, all right, I'll concede and allow you to, or I'll let you, or I will come along with you in that same conviction. There are things adiaphora, it's a Greek word, things that are of less importance than others. We see it identified in the Acts chapter 15 council. There the church gathered together for the purpose of indeed affirming things that were of vital significance, James spoke for the church and spoke to the Gentiles that were in fact coming into the church and they affirmed that they would not be required to hold fast to the Old Testament ceremonial sacrificial dietary law and the law regarding washings as well. You hear James affirm what was the decision of that council here in this particular chapter. But you also will see Paul make a concession or conciliatory action as he takes up this suggestion from James and as we see him in some ways compromise. We are uncertain, at least as we initially read this section, as to what Paul is doing and as to what James is doing. My suggestion to you this morning is what James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem are doing, what they're doing is they're compromising. And what the Apostle Paul is doing is simply making an accommodation. Paul does not step away from what his convictions are. However, there is some question as to what he's doing. My suggestion to you this morning is that what James is doing, along with the elders, they are compromising and they have compromised. I hope is to explain that as we go along this morning. There is an example of compromise and an example of accommodation even drawn out of our news this last week. You'll remember that there was a terrorist attack in Colorado brought by a man in particular with a wife and five children. It turns out that the news has told us that that woman and her husband and their five children live next door to a very strongly practicing Jew together with his wife and their children. And this last week, or a couple of weeks ago, the wife, along with the children, went over to this Jewish family and brought cupcakes to them as a gesture of goodwill. Now, the Jew, Jewish man and his wife, who are practicing Jews, they keep kosher. They could not eat those cupcakes. But they took those cupcakes as a neighborly gesture, brought them into the home, thanked them for them, and then threw them into the trash. They did not compromise their kosher keeping practices. But they did show a measure of goodwill in accommodating these neighbors next door to them. Well, there are always such questions that afflict Christians, aren't there, about accommodation making conciliatory efforts as well as compromising our faith. Christians face these questions often when our employers come to us and say, we want you to work on Sundays from now on. And, you know, even there are questions that come to Christians that, may not even compromise our commitment to worshiping the Lord on the Lord's Day. Your employer will come and say, you can do this work at any time on Sunday, but we need you to get this work done on Sunday. And then the Christian is faced with a question, how far can I go in my compromise? We know that the Lord has commanded that we should not work on the Sabbath day. We know that the Lord demonstrated that himself as God ceased from his creative work after six days and he rested on the seventh and that day has been replaced by the day in which the the Lord has been raised. It is the Lord's day. We see John worshiping on the island of Patmos on the Lord's day in the spirit. This is the day that the gathered assembly of God's people occurs and continues to occur, which Hebrews chapter 10 affirms is a necessity for New Testament believers. The principle remains, it is not to be a day of work. It is a day for worship, of adoration for the Lord God, for service and ministry, acts of necessity and of mercy. Well, there are other compromising moments when a Christian may be tempted to compromise. When an unbelieving spouse comes and says, let's go on vacation or let's go to this place or that place. And you know that that will be a day when you gather together on the Lord's day with God's people. What will your testimony be? A commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ that transcends even your commitment to your spouse or your family? Do we compromise? Christians will hold fast to the truth and seek to obey God's moral code. What do we do? And so the Apostle Paul is faced with such a situation as he enters into Jerusalem. You know that he has come from island hopping as it were. He has made his way back from Achaia and Macedonia, all the way back to Jerusalem. And he has come in the fear of the Lord in a sense that in the sense that he has been told by the Holy Spirit repeatedly from the crowds as well as Agabus that he will in fact be bound. He will be bound and he will be taken to Rome and the Apostle Paul knows this. He has been commanded by God. He has been told by the Lord that in fact he will go into the uttermost parts of the earth. He will be used as an instrument of witness and of gospel enterprise even to the Gentile church. He has gone on these various passages. He has gone on ship after ship, 44 days. Now he has finally arrived. And what do you do when you come to Jerusalem? Well, you, if you are, have been sent by the church with the right hand of fellowship, what do you do? Well, you report back to James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem. And so he spends a night in Haciana Manasin for one night. And then the next morning, there's a meeting, a meeting with James and the elders. And there are three A's that occur. I'll use that. There are three points. The third point you'll get next week, that will be arrest. But this week, we see first accounting and accommodation. Next week, arrest for my dear friend, Ivelisse, who watches very carefully over the points of the sermon. So this week, accounting and accommodation. Next week, arrest, but first, Accounting. So the Apostle Paul has reached Jerusalem and he is there and he is meeting with the leadership of the church in Jerusalem and of course that is supremely James. James is not the Apostle James that ministered with John, James and John being brothers. This is James the brother of Jesus. And the Apostle Paul comes with a collection from the Gentile churches. He has written in his letters to Corinth. They have had some questions about it. Some feel that the collection has been too much. Others have not fulfilled their obligation to give, even though they have pledged that amount to give. And we see that the Apostle Paul has received from the Corinthian church pledges in relation to what they have promised that they would give. But it's not just them, but the Roman churches pledged to giving for the Jews in Jerusalem as well. There was a famine 10 years prior. And that famine had its mark upon the people of God. And they are still suffering. Many of them at that time had sold their own properties and their means of income. And so this is a church that is facing continually a serious deprivation, real need. And so there have been collections. And the Apostle Paul, as he has made his way back, met people on the beach, wept with them, and said goodbye, and prayed with them. He has also received, together with those who are his associates, something of the collections that they have received. And he is returned. And in that room, as he meets with James, and the elders, and his Gentile associates, including Luke, there is a collection on the table between them. It is substantial. It is a collection given from the means of Gentile believers for their Jewish forebears, brothers and sisters, leaders. It is substantial. It's remarkable too. especially with what is about to take place and the accusations that have been made and the misinformation that has been shared, the gentile believers are sharing out of their wealth and substance with the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. And it's there on the table. This is an extraordinary collection given from Gentiles to Jews who only recently had considered Gentiles as dogs, and who are now counting them as brothers and sisters in Christ, and yet are still holding a tension between the two groups because of their heritage, their cultural mores, and of course, their continued prejudices, we might say. In Acts chapter 24, 17, Paul makes a defense before Felix. And when he does, he says that there is a collection that he has come to bring. And of course, we know that that's on the table before James and the people there. And we know that this is James, the brother of Jesus, because Acts chapter 12, verse 1 says that James, the brother of John, was seized by Herod the king, who laid violent hands on him. and some who belong to the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. Well, this particular James is the brother of Jesus, but he's mentioned in Galatians chapter 2 as an apostle. Some hold the view that he was to be tossed from the pinnacle of the temple only 10 years hence, and then stoned afterwards. But he is the brother of Jesus and most likely has replaced James in the views of the church. James, the brother of John. Well, as the Apostle Paul recounts all that he has done in all the churches there, he is sharing stories with them. He is sharing stories about the healing of the young man. You remember Lucky, who fell out of the upstairs window? He is sharing stories of various others who have come to faith in Jesus, those who have received the Holy Spirit, healings that have been made, riots and persecution that have occurred. He is sharing about Jews from Thessalonica and other places in Philippi who have followed him, threatening his life. He is sharing with them the news that he has met on the beach with elders. and with men and women, boys and girls on the beach at Miletus, Troas. There is gladness. There is a full accounting of ministry of all that he had done. And the response was they receive it with gladness and they glorify God. The first lesson of the text this morning is that there should be and there ought to be a glad receiving of the good news that is to be received in our present day of the advance of the kingdom of God. In other words, you and I should earnestly look for and search to receive good news about gospel enterprise in our world. Do you hear? Do you listen? Do you seek out information from Operation World or from the Christian Post or Christianity Report or Christianity Online or Christianity.com or various other ministry endeavors and reports from those who make them? from those who share the gospel of God in our world. Do you receive it with gladness and do you glorify the good name of God in his mercy to our generation? Do you seek out reports from missionaries? Do you receive those reports with glad receiving and do you glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you receive them? Or how about when a brother or sister in the Lord comes and shares that they have in some way had an opportunity to share the gospel with a loved one? Do you receive it with gladness and with glorifying God? Do you turn around and glorify the name of Jesus when you hear of it? In other words, dear Christian, does the news of the gospel of Christ and the magnification of the name of Jesus and of people who have come to faith in Jesus Christ or to whom the gospel has been shared, does this thrill your soul? Does this cause you to glorify the name of Jesus? And do you glorify the name of God and the grace of God when you hear? And do you seek out the hearing of this good news? sometimes when we share the gospel and we come and we share with you that good things were done in the name of the Lord Jesus, people often are very, very silent. Or when prayers are made and Wednesday evening Bible study and offerings are made or offers are made to pray for prayer requests, so little is said. I'm so thankful for this last week. Three or four requests for prayer were given What that did was it endeared my heart to you as you gave them. It also laid upon my heart a burden for you each and every morning this week. And further, not just me, but your brothers and sisters in Christ began to pray for you. Did you glorify God that the Lord was in fact with each of these individuals? Did you glorify God in the prayers of God's people? Did you glorify the name of the Lord by sharing this burden with him in prayer? Further, dear friends, I'll tell you as Tuesday evening I was on call in the local hospital and God gave me two opportunities to go and to share in some way the gospel of Christ as I attended upon those families, those individuals that were asking for prayer. I went with a distinct effort to share the gospel and God gave me a couple of opportunities for doing that. Will you rejoice with me? Will you give glory to God? Will you glorify the Lord God in that? I have had those opportunities, but also will you give me the privilege of sharing in the same with you as you've shared the gospel with your coworkers, wife, husband, family members, cousins, coworkers. You see that what the apostle did was he recounted for James and the elders and they together with him rejoiced and gave glory to God. May we do the same, and may we make every effort to do that. Not just passively waiting, but actively working. The second thing we see here is not only an accounting, but also an accommodation. There are only two points to this sermon this morning. Accommodation. As I've suggested at the beginning of the sermon, what we see in James is compromise, but what we see in Paul is accommodation. Let me make my argument. There's a striking transition between glorifying God all the way down in verse 19. After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they began glorifying God. We're good to that point, but then And they said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. And they have been told that about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. Well, then what is to be done? What a striking transition. It's like receiving someone in the church and saying, it's such a joy that you have been converted and have believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in order to celebrate this and also to satiate the demands of those who think you should do certain things and act in certain ways, we want you to accommodate their foibles by also not only believing, but also doing these things that we're about to tell you what to do. You see, it's wrong. It's wrong. So there's compromise here. The Apostle Paul is returned with a message that the Gentiles have received the Gospel with joy, that they have received the Holy Spirit as an affirmation of the genuineness of their faith. There are churches throughout Galatia, and Philippi, and Colossae, and Corinth, and Macedonia, and Achaia, and the regions there. And we have met Gentile elders on the beach at Troas, and Miletus, and there are people, and they're everywhere. And the church is exponentially growing. It's hard to account for all of these things. James's response together with the elders is almost, it's something that we simply cannot understand. Paul, that's all wonderful, and we glorify the name of the Lord Jesus. We're glad with you. But you see, in our church here in Jerusalem, there are thousands of Jews who have believed. And make no mistake, that's the audience that is to be accommodated here, according to James. He's not saying unbelievers are amongst the Jews. No, he's saying there are believers. There are thousands of believers amongst the Jews here in Jerusalem, and they are in the church. They are not like the churches you've come from. We want you to accommodate in some way their foibles By going through this action with relation to this vow and these individuals and their shavings and their washings and their purifications and their days appointed for them, thousands among the Jews of those who have believed, they are zealous for the law and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. All of this is just completely wrong. Now, let's make clear that the Bible records things which are wrong at times, not because the Bible is saying this is right and it's misleading you, but because it records for us things that are wrongly done and even the sins of David and the sins of Peter, who didn't speak with and broke table fellowship with Gentile believers when representatives from James came from Jerusalem. Do you remember that account in Galatians? And Paul had to publicly berate them, along with Peter, who he calls Cephas. You see, the Bible records for us things so that we will avoid those same sins. And just because James and the elders in Jerusalem have said, Paul, we want you to accommodate yourself to the foibles of and the expectations of individuals here in church in Jerusalem, it doesn't mean that it was right. And I put it to you this morning, it was wrong. It was wrong what they did. This is James. Paul writes about him in Galatians chapter two, verse 11. When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. You see, Peter sinned. Not only did he sin when he denied the Lord three times, the Bible records that too, but he also records Jesus's forgiveness and reaffirmation and lifting and restoration of Peter But this is what he goes on to say. Peter was rejected, was opposed by Paul to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. So let's get this straight. There are Jews who say that one must believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and also be circumcised. and they're not content to just hold that conviction themselves, they expect you to hold that conviction too. And they have come from James and clearly James, while maybe not holding that same view, accommodates it and compromises with it. And is so compromised at this point that those individuals who identify with him have come in representation of him and they have embarrassed Peter to the degree that Peter says, hmm, I better not continue to eat with the Gentiles as is my practice because I fear their opinion of me and of their misrepresentation of me. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, Galatians 2 continues to say. So that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. You see, this is a sin that has afflicted many, many significant individuals. Barnabas, Peter, James, the elders in Jerusalem, and many believers amongst the thousands of believers in Jerusalem. They're looking at Gentiles and saying they have to be circumcised. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? They were hypocritical. They were inconsistent. And what they did was ungodly sin. And Paul condemns them for it, not condemning them with relation to their salvation, but he condemns the hypocrisy of their sin. And he commands, he exhorts their repentance and their faithfulness from that point forward. You remember the Acts chapter 15 council, the whole church gathered with the intention of ascertaining what they would require of Gentile believers as they are included in the church of God. And this is all that they said. And of course, this is what James affirms, even in this same context. One wonders how James can affirm these things while expecting Paul to make accommodation for Jewish people who are believers and who are misled relationship to to the law of God. This is what they said, abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from strangled animals, and from fornication. James affirms the exact same thing in this passage. Now this is where we have to acknowledge that there is something missing in the Acts chapter 15 counsel. And it's never occurred to me before without having come to this text and preaching from it. The Acts 15 Council affirmed that they would not require the Gentiles, the outward keeping of the law and ceremonial, civil, sacrificial, cleanliness, purification, all that sort of thing. What they did not speak to were the Jews. There's implications there, but they did not say, and to our Jewish brethren, we will affirm this. The keeping of the law does not justify the flesh. There are no requirements of the law to be fulfilled in the flesh in addition to believing and repenting. That was not done. And James and the elders in Jerusalem have not corrected that misunderstanding, as Paul did to the Galatian church. And as Paul has affirmed throughout his ministry, and as he also affirmed to the Roman church, but he affirms it emphatically to the Galatian church. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who has caused you to believe another gospel? Not that there is another gospel. And so what James makes in reference to Paul is not a truthful statement. Paul was sharing and applying the Jerusalem Council's decision and not preventing the Jews from circumcising their children at all. But he was rather saying to Gentile believers, you do not need to submit to circumcision. Rather, come, believe, repent, and be baptized. And he actually goes so far as to say, Baptism has replaced circumcision. The covenant remained, the promises remained, God remains, and yet the gospel has replaced the Old Testament administration of the covenant of grace. Believe and repent. and do not submit to aesthetics and or the rigorous obligations of the flesh that some will try to get you to affirm. There are all sorts of rules that people make up, don't they? Well, you know, in our Baptist circles, amongst our Baptist friends who believe the gospel, who are our lovely brethren and sisters, sistren, nonetheless, they will say one must believe the gospel and must also abstain from dancing and short dresses and pants for women and short hair for women and long hair for men. and in addition to abstaining from smoking and drinking and there are all sorts of administrative things that people will require. There are all sorts of different things that man will lay upon other men and women that will be required as a necessity for inclusion in the Church of God. Many years ago, there were churches that required participation in the Masonic inclusion or the Masonic endeavors. Some churches affirmed that, that one could not enter into the leadership of the church unless one was a member of the Masonic enterprise. Now, that's long been debunked. and pushed away from the church. In fact, our own denomination has said you cannot be a member in a secret society like the Masons, including the Masons, and serve as an elder and or take up membership in the Church of Christ because of the contrary to the word of God beliefs that they have. But there have been many different requirements in the church. There are churches that have held at bay men and women of color who come from a different culture, who come from a different location or place, whose ethnicity is outside of the Euro-Asian whatever. And there are all sorts of requirements that people place upon other people. But the gospel says those lines of division have been destroyed. There is no wall of hostility between people groups and between men and women, that we are one in Christ. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism. All of those things. And so what James has done is James has compromised. There are some parts of the gospel that he has suspended for the sake of holding onto and maintaining the obligations of the human flesh, as understood in Old Testament law. And he has allowed those in the church to continue the same. Even if he didn't hold them himself, he allowed this to continue amongst the thousands of Jewish believers in Jerusalem. And it's wrong. So what does he do? He says to Paul, look, we have four people that are about to undergo a vow. In the legality of the law, We want you to get your head shaved with them and to submit to the purification rites, and thus show yourself to be a good practicing Jew. That's what he says. Take them, purify yourself along with them, pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law. Isn't the most important thing for New Testament Christian believers to know about another New Testament Bible-affirming Christian person is that they love the Lord Jesus Christ and have believed the gospel? Isn't that the only thing? It was wonderful having Roberto here last week. He's a blessed brother in the Lord. There are differences between he and me. But we sat with joy together eating a meal at Serre II the night before on Saturday. We got together, we had a meal together. Now, I don't know that kind of food. And I don't hail from Puerto Rico as he does. There are differences between he and me. But I love that brother because we walk in the truth together. And he sent his big sister here. And she is a great joy to all of us. And so it didn't matter to me the linguistic differences or cultural differences. That man loves the Lord. And according to his sister, he eats weird things. That doesn't matter to me either. He just loves the Lord. And I know he loves the Lord. There's an infectiousness to both his and his sister's love of Christ. And so that instantly draws me to them. because they love the Lord. That's all that matters, dear friends. You do not need to demonstrate, let me make this clear, if you're a member of grace or you desire to become a member of grace, you do not need to demonstrate that you can fulfill anything with regard to ethnicity or the keeping of the law or any other such thing. What you do need to be able to affirm is that you have believed the gospel. You believe and you have turned away from your sins and you are endeavoring with the help of the Holy Spirit alone to follow Jesus Christ faithfully. That's it. James, it's remarkable. It just seems like such an obvious contradiction. How can he say to the Apostle Paul, you need to demonstrate yourself a good law-keeping boy? while at the same time reminding the Gentiles that they're not obligated to keep the law. This really doesn't make sense, does it? But this is James, and he has been clouded in his thinking. Now, some would say, well, he's not a believer. Well, believers are capable of serious and significant sin and misunderstanding and theological failure at times even. Ken and I have been looking into Athanasius together. You remember Athanasius is a man who affirmed the divinity of Jesus Christ. And he fought for that against the world. No one believed it, or so few did. And he maintained his commitment to this. It was Athanasius contra mundum, against the world, that godly African man. And yet he was also guilty of Apollinarianism. which is a heresy. But he believed the right things concerning the person, nature, and work of Jesus Christ. He's a believer. It's possible that believers can affirm the wrong things at times and come to the wrong conclusions theologically. And we ought to be very, very careful about condemning them out of hand. I reject that. Well, the Jerusalem church had a decidedly Jewish form. Paul was sharing and applying the Jerusalem Council's decisions and not preventing the Jews from circumcising their children at all. Rather, he was saying to the Galatian church in writing, don't submit to this as a necessity for salvation. Don't resubmit yourself to Old Testament obligations, old covenant obligations in light of the new covenant of grace in Jesus Christ. You're not obliged to do this. But the Jerusalem church had a decidedly Jewish form. The presence of the temple, they had sacrifices, the priesthood was ongoing, Sabbath worship, synagogues, many living within the city, believers never having seen the Gentile churches at all, and there was a continuity of feast days. It was hard not to continue in this as they did. But James should not have fostered it. James should not have compromised with it. What should James have done? Stand by the Apostle Paul and say, I have heard these things about the Apostle Paul that you hold these views. Let me tell you what Paul has submitted to and what the Jerusalem Council has decided. Apparently, the Gentiles received the news. Did the Jewish church receive that news? I don't seem to hear it. It was proclaimed throughout the Gentile churches, but it doesn't seem that it was shared very often with the Jewish church in Jerusalem. James is willing to affirm that with Paul in a private meeting, but has the whole church heard this? James should have reprimanded and taught errant believers. Sometimes pastors will concentrate on a particular subject because we know that there is something contrary to that subject or contrary to the Word of God that's being proclaimed in the church. And so we see this is a problem. We have to speak to this. James, being a good pastor, should have done so. He should have prayerfully taken up this passage, these passages, this issue, and he should have preached against it and proclaimed the whole counsel of God. Instead, he compromised. He should have shared Paul's teaching regarding justification And he should have shared what Galatians chapter 6 verse 15 says is true. Neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation. Well Paul did not compromise and I'll suggest to you that he didn't because at no point in all of his many many letters does he make any kind of a compromise. He rebukes Peter but here he is willing being in Jerusalem to make accommodation to the believers in Jerusalem. You see, what does he do? He goes about doing this outward vow. And for him, it's an audiophorific thing. In other words, it doesn't make any difference. He's not justifying himself before God. He's not justifying his faith before anyone. But he is attempting to do what he says in 1 Corinthians 9. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. That's accommodation, not compromise. There's a difference. But I'll put to you this morning that there is Where concession and compromise are made, it's often unsuccessful because people, it's hard to quench the passion of hatred and of unrest and of hypocrisy. It was interesting to me, I was preaching against sins a few years back and there was an individual in the church and I spoke about hypocrisy in the church. And he got after me afterwards and said, Christians are not capable of hypocrisy. Here's an example. Yes, we are. You bet we are. I think that man's getting after me was, in fact, a hypocritical thing to do. I wanted to say, here you go. And I did in a gentler way. But where is James' corrections of these misunderstandings? Where is his correction of misinformation? It just wasn't present. So the second lesson I would suggest for you this morning in this passage, as we draw to a conclusion, is to be taken from Philippians chapter 2. So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind. having the same love, being in full accord of one mind. How does one get to one mind? Not compromise, but yes, in accommodating love and kindness, even being willing to let go of some of those foibles, not things essential to the faith, not compromising the gospel, but rather where we can make accommodation in relationship to our own personal expectations. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. The Apostle Paul is demonstrating that in the text right here. Let each of you look out not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ, This attitude, this mindful disposition is in fact yours. It's not something you're not capable of because if you're in Christ, you can do it. He calls you to do it. He's been, he is your example. He is your power in doing so. I appeal to your brothers, Paul says in Romans 16, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of some who are naive. Don't think for a moment that a small church like this cannot, will not come up against such persons. We have seen them. They have been here. And they have caught up some who are naive. through their smooth talk and flattery. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, be on the lookout for such people. Beware of those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine you have received. And be wise enough in the spirit of Christ to reject such statements. diligently pursue unity of thought and faithful activity and worship, unity in doctrine and in the word of God, ruthlessly avoid division and obstacles to faith. All of this is still flowing out of what the apostle Paul was convicted of in verse 13. You remember? Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart for I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. The name of the Lord Jesus is what animates Paul to make accommodation and to show grace and to reach even those amongst his brethren who are mistaken. Paul says in the verse that preceded the one about circumcision in Galatians 6, he says, far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. the finished cross work of Jesus Christ is our only satisfaction before God. And it is the one thing that unifies and drives us together in the gospel of Christ. And we cannot and we must not add anything to it, nor should we tolerate any of those who would add anything to it. But we must be ruthless in our attachment to and attachment to the exclusivity of the crosswork of Jesus Christ. And we must be motivated in doing so in the name of the Lord Jesus. There is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but only a new creation in Christ Jesus. And the early Jerusalem church was wrong in affirming in addition to that. And James was wrong in compromising with that. But the Apostle Paul was right in accommodating himself in things indifferent over which he neither saw himself being justified in the doing or in the abstinence from doing, but rather his desire was in proclaiming the gospel of Christ and in seeing those amongst his own Jewish ethnicity coming to that same gospel together. May God be pleased to enable us to flee from those who would compromise this and maintain the purity and the doctrine that we have received. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for that word this morning, your word. We pray that you would help us to not compromise with the world, but rather to be willing to accommodate in whatever ways we can without compromise. We ask that you would help us to hold fast to the faith once received. Protect us, Lord, from those who are uncompromising or unaccommodating people who have compromised with the world and their own thoughts and who are not walking in unity with the gospel or those who believe the gospel. We ask, Lord, that you would help us to avoid those who sow divisions and who have compromised their faith with their own personal foibles and expectations. Lord, protect us and help us. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.