And I invite you to turn to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 as we continue in the book of Acts together. Beginning in verse 22 will be the text this morning. If you will follow along in your Bible while I read from mine. Then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. namely Judas who was called or named Barsabbas and Silas, leading men among the brethren. 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, 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. It seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, 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. Would you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word and we pray, Lord, that Your Word will be living and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. Lord, that You will show us how we should conform our lives to Your Word. And Lord, I pray that You will enable me by Your Holy Spirit. I pray Your Spirit will speak to everyone who listens this morning. And may Your Word have an impact upon us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The apostles, elders, missionaries gathered in Jerusalem for an important council. And it's recorded for us here in Acts chapter 15. At issue was the question of whether or not it is necessary for a person to become a Jew and keep the Jewish law in order to be saved. Even Gentiles would have to do that. Well, as they heard from Peter, as they heard from Paul, as they heard from James, they concluded that no, salvation is by grace. It's a gift of God. It is not earned by keeping the law or by doing good works. And you know, those that say, well you know, if you tell people you're saved by a gift and you don't have to work for your salvation, then people aren't going to do anything and people are just going to live as they please. Well, you know, Ephesians 2.8 says we're saved by God's grace. But verse 10 goes on to say we're created in Christ Jesus unto good works. If you are truly saved and born again by the grace of God, then you have a new heart, you have new desires, you have the Holy Spirit, and you are now able to do good works that are pleasing unto God. But the Jerusalem Council not only settled the issue of salvation, but they also shared about certain responsibilities that we have once we become Christians. And this morning I'm going to share with you three basic responsibilities that we have as Christians. Most of us in this room are already Christians and I want to share with us three basic responsibilities of living the Christian life. And the first one is this. Let's talk about some responsibilities that we have to other Christians. Now the Bible says that when you become a Christian, you become a part of the body of Christ. You do not live your Christian life independently of other Christians, but we are interconnected as believers. We're stronger together. We are stronger as we worship together. We grow in our faith. And so it's very important that as we live our Christian lives with other believers, that we consider how our lives will impact others for good or for bad. And so with that in mind, I want to share first that we must not tear each other down. We're to build up each other and certainly not tear each other down. And yet, that is what was happening to these Gentile believers. Their faith was being torn down. Their assurance of salvation was being torn away from them. And so, as we think about different ways that we can hurt one another, one is through false doctrine. If you look back in verse 1 of chapter 15, it says, certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Well, most of these believers, Gentiles, had not been circumcised, and so they're basically saying, you're not saved yet. What Paul and Barnabas told you was not the complete story. It wasn't the complete gospel. And so they began to doubt their salvation and they were adversely affected. If you look at verse 24, we see the effect of this false teaching among them. It mentions that they troubled you with words unsettling your souls. This false doctrine troubled them and it unsettled their souls. The Greek word translated unsettled is a word that was used of marauders coming into a village and pillaging that village and carrying off everything that they could steal from that village. Wrecking havoc as they went. And so these false teachers were wrecking havoc. They were disturbing the faith of these new believers. Taking away their joy and their peace and their assurance of salvation. And folks, that's what false doctrine does. It unsettles the souls of believers. It disturbs them. It creates a disunity and agitation within the body of Christ. And so we must be careful not only to see to it that we do not teach something that is false, but that we do not introduce through some other way false teaching into this church. And so we must be careful about false doctrine. We must also be careful about being a stumbling block to other believers by what we say and what we do. And we have an example of this in verse 29, where they were trying to prevent these Gentile Christians from being a stumbling block to their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. Notice what it says there in verse 29. that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. We'll deal with the first three at this time. First of all, they said, listen, for the sake of your Jewish brethren, Because these three things are so offensive and disturbing to them, we ask that you refrain from these three activities. The first was eating things sacrificed to idols. Now there were two basic ways you would eat something meat that had been sacrificed to idols. One was by going to an idol temple and eating the sacrifice at the idol's temple. These Christians would not be doing that. In that society, they also would offer sacrifices at social events. It may be at a wedding. It may be at the trade guild. And so that would be a situation where some of these Gentile Christians may say, Hey, I'm at this wedding. I don't want to give up eating this good food here. And so they go ahead and eat it, though it was from a sacrifice to an idol. But the other way is going to the meat market. The sacrifices, leftover sacrifices would be carried down to the meat market and sold to the general public. And they said, don't eat meat that had been sacrificed to an idol. Why? Because the Jews were so adamant against idolatry that to do so would taint them and would be too close to idolatry and it would be especially offensive to their Jewish brethren. And it mentions furthermore from blood, abstain from blood. Yes, it was part of the rituals of pagan religion to drink blood. Now that may sound a little gross, but yet, you know, the occult still does that today. And why was this so offensive? Well, according to Leviticus 17, God specifically said, do not drink blood. Do not drink blood from the sacrifices. And to do so was especially abhorrent to their Jewish brethren. And then it mentions, furthermore, that you are to abstain from things strangled. There's a connection between those two. Now before you eat meat, you do It's killed, right? My cat will eat something alive, start eating it when it's still wiggling. But we don't want to do that. If we're going to eat meat, we want death to occur first, right? And so they would slit the throat of the animal and the other way to kill the animal, a smaller animal, was strangulation. Now what's the problem with eating something that had been strangled? Well the problem is that the blood isn't drinked. And so it would be a form of eating and drinking blood if you ate something that had been strangled. And so because of Jewish sensitivities and because they found these behaviors especially abhorrent They said, don't do these things for the sake of your Jewish brethren. Don't be a stumbling block to them. Folks, we don't deal with this today, do we? I mean, does any of us ever eat meat that had been sacrificed to an idol? No, I don't think so. Do any of us drink blood? I don't know. Hopefully not, but you know, Halloween's coming up. Don't be taken in by that occultic stuff now. But that's not much of an issue. Now eating meat that is bloody, yeah, some of us get into rare meat. But yet still, that's not much of an issue today unless you're with an Orthodox Jew or someone like that. So how do we apply verse 29 to our situation, to our culture? The principle is this, that if you learn that a certain behavior is especially offensive to one of your brothers or sisters in Christ, then for the sake of love and to prevent from being a stumbling block, we should abstain from those behaviors. And again, let me try to bring this into modern times. Our youth and our young adults are growing up in a culture that is post-Christian. It is much more like the Roman culture that Paul was ministering in. Our senior adults, and I'm now one of them, I can't believe it, but I'm one of them, we grew up in a culture that is a world of difference. We grew up in a culture where Christian thought and morality dominated even the general population for the most part. And so we have, young and old, a part of two very different cultures. as far as upbringing and our beliefs and deeply held cultural beliefs. And yet, we're a multi-generational church. We want to be a multi-generational church. And so how can two groups of people from such different cultures love each other and get along in harmony with each other? and worship together in the same church? Well, we follow the same principle. That we would ask the younger generation to be mindful of certain things that are especially offensive, for example, to the older generation. I'll give a couple of examples. When I was growing up, men wore hats, but not in church. Never in church. Not during a prayer. And so that's kind of deeply ingrained in the culture of the older generation. The younger generation, they wear hats everywhere. No big deal, and even in church. You go to some churches, you'll see guys wearing hats. But in this church, we have a lot of senior adults, and in this situation, it is wise to be considerate. of your older brothers and sisters in Christ who will find such an activity very distracting, somewhat offensive to them. And so, for the sake of unity, for the sake of your brothers in Christ, guys, just take the hat off when you come to worship here. That's just the best way to deal with this particular situation. Alcohol. Alcohol is very accepted by the younger generation today. We're a Baptist church. Especially my generation, alcohol is absolutely taboo, especially for leaders. And I still believe in total abstinence, but yet the younger generation, even in especially the contemporary churches, have a very much of an acceptance of alcohol in moderation. But in this body of believers, I can tell you, it would be considered a stumbling block, it would be considered offensive, and you should be mindful of that. And those are just a couple of examples of how we need to apply this principle to our own situation. But let me put the shoe on the other foot. What should I say to our older generation? Well, you notice in this text, they limited what they asked the Gentile Christians to abstain from to how many things? Four. Four things. For things that were especially offensive, they made the decision that we are not going to impose our Jewish religious culture on these Gentile believers. And so the way we apply that to us today is that we need to be careful in the older generation not to give a whole bunch of long list of do's and don'ts that fit our culture but doesn't fit their culture. Yes, we can deal with and identify certain things that are especially troublesome that the younger generation should abstain from, especially as we gather together, but we must also be careful of how far we take it. It's imposing our culture on the younger generation. One obvious example is the younger generation doesn't dress up like we do. And, you know, God looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart. And so, you know, as long as a person is dressed with adequate modesty and, you know, some semblance of decency, you know, that should not be an issue that we impose on the younger generation even when we gather together for worship. And so, the first thing is we must not tear each other down. We must not hurt each other by what we say and what we expect. But furthermore, we must instead build each other up. And our text here in chapter 15 gives some examples of that, of how we should build each other up. One is by gathering together on a regular basis. And this is implied and indicated here in verse 30. So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch, the church there. And when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. Most of the time the church met in homes and small groups, but on this occasion I believe they called the entire church together. They all gathered together. It must have been a wonderful time of worship and a time where they heard this letter from the Jerusalem church and they were so encouraged. And it's important that we gather together on a regular basis. That's how we're built up. You know, we'll talk about what happens when we gather together in just a moment, but let me say this. You come to church not just to receive a blessing, but you should come to church to give a blessing. You receive the Word. And that should be a blessing to you. But when you come, you can be a blessing also. Those of you that minister and serve on Sunday, you're being a blessing to this congregation. When you greet one another lovingly and warmly, you're giving a blessing. When you see that someone is down and discouraged and you give a word of comfort and encouragement, you are being a blessing. Your presence is a blessing to me, I can tell you that. And so, come and be a blessing. Gathering with other believers is so important to be built up and strengthened in our faith and do so on a regular basis. Furthermore, we should teach the Word of God. In verse 35, notice Paul and Barnabas also remain in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord with many others also. They not only gathered that one time to hear the letter, but they kept gathering together, one purpose being for the teaching and the preaching of the Word of God. Listen, the Word of God is what's going to make you a stronger Christian. The Word of God is going to help you battle temptation. The Word of God is going to give you comfort when you go through trials. It's going to give you hope. The Word of God is so very important that it be taught, that it be ministered to. And notice it says, "...with many others also." Yes, and not only was Paul and Barnabas teaching, but also others were teaching. And you know, we have not just this worship service where you're going to hear the Word of God, but we have Sunday school classes. We have home groups where you can hear the Word of God from others also. And so that's how we're built up in our faith. We're built up through exhortation, verse 32. Now Judas and Silas themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words. Teaching gives information. And that's important. You need to learn. But you also need exhortation. You need someone who can help you to see why you need to do what you've been taught to do. You need preaching to exhort you and to encourage you. And so, that's also important as well. And exhortation doesn't just come from me, but it comes from others of you that exhort. your brothers and sisters in Christ. And furthermore, we are built up by love and acceptance. I'll tell you what, rejection is going to hurt that brother or sister in Christ. But to show love and acceptance is going to help them, is going to build them up. Notice in verse 23 what they call these Gentile believers. It says in the middle of the verse, "...to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia." Here were Jews, believers, calling Gentiles, believers, brethren. Now what did Jews call Gentiles? They called them dogs and other derogatory terms. They despised Gentiles and yet Christ has changed their hearts. Christ has changed the hearts of these Gentiles and now they embrace them as brethren. We need to see ourselves as Christians as part of a family. And we ought to treat each other as family ought to be treated. Not as we are sometimes treated in family, but the way we ought to be treated with love and acceptance. We ought to make every person feel loved, feel welcomed, feel wanted here in this church. That builds up. Paul says, Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. And so that is so important. So these are some responsibilities that we have as Christians to our brothers and sisters in Christ. But secondly, let's think about some responsibilities we have to non-Christians. Yes, we are salt of the earth, light of the world. We are to be a witness to unbelievers in this world. And notice in verse 35, it says there, Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others. That word translated preaching in my Bible is a word that means to share the good news. So they were not only teaching the saints, they were evangelizing the unbelievers that they came in contact with. And so we have responsibility to unbelievers. And so we should do nothing to hinder evangelism. Now that's part of what verse 29 goes back to. If they would abstain from these abhorrent activities, then they would not only help their Jewish brethren, but they would not hinder Jewish evangelism. Because it would do that if they would be doing these things that Jews found so abhorrent. And so we need to see to it that as I preach the gospel from this pulpit, as you share and witness of your faith out in the community, and as we all do that as well, We need to be sure that we're not hindering evangelism. Let me tell you how Christians can hinder evangelism today. And that is by living a life that is not godly. You can witness to somebody and you talk to them about the Lord and how they need to repent of their sins and you know what a lot of them are going to say, well I know so and so that's supposed to be a Christian yet he does this and he does that. That hinders evangelism. We should be living a godly life so that our lives back up our testimony. And so, we need to do nothing to hinder evangelism and to do everything to help in this work. Again, verse 35 indicates that they were not only teaching discipleship, but they were also sharing the gospel with unbelievers. And it says in the last of verse 35, "...with many others also." Evangelism was not something just Paul and Barnabas did, but many others were sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. And we should be doing the same. Evangelism is not just for the pastor, it's not just for the youth pastor, associate pastor, it's not just for a few others, but all of us are to share of our faith. All of us need to know how to at least share our testimony of how we came to know the Lord. And you can put some gospel into your testimony, or you can learn the Roman road or some other simple gospel presentation that you can share with someone. Yes, we need to do everything to help with this work of evangelism. I hope within the next year or two that we'll offer another evangelism course and I hope you'll take advantage of that opportunity to fulfill your responsibility to non-Christians. Pray for them also. And then finally, we have a responsibility to God. This is brought out in this text of Scripture as well. God is a holy God. He is a just God. And we have certain responsibilities to God. First of all, we have a moral responsibility to God. You know, I hear some folks talking about that we ought not to equate the gospel with morality. as if just teaching people morals is how we're saved. Well, I agree. But nevertheless, we should teach Christians morals. We should teach Christians how God expects us to live. And we now have the power to live a godly life, a holy life. And so, notice the other requirement they asked of these Gentile believers, and that is that you abstain from sexual immorality. Now why did they single this out? As of all the moral requirements they could have mentioned, why this one? And I'll tell you why. Two reasons. One is because it was so pervasive in that society. Immorality, including prostitution, temple prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, you name it. It was pervasive in Roman society. And it's becoming pervasive in our society as well. And yet, God says don't do this. That the sexual relationship should only take place within the covenant of marriage. Anything outside of that is immorality, specifically forbidden in verse 29. And so because of the cultural pervasiveness, they said don't do it. But I'll give you another reason. And it's because immorality more than anything else, strikes at the very heart of the family, which is the foundation of society, is the foundation of the church. As the family goes, so the church goes, so the nation goes. You see, children conceived in lust rather than conceived in a loving covenant relationship, they're starting the family in the wrong way. And it is having detrimental effects. When I was a child in elementary school, I hardly knew any child I went to school with who did not go home to mom and dad. But how is it today? At least half going home with mom or dad not being present. What has changed? What has changed is the sexual revolution. It began in the 60's in earnestness. And immorality strikes at the very heart of the family. Our nation is committing suicide. We are sliding into decadence because of this embracing of sexual immorality. You want to get people politically hot, you start talking about banning abortion and you'll see what kind of reaction that you get. But abortion helps to enable this kind of sexual immorality and we are destroying the family, we are destroying our nation and I feel for the country that my grandchildren are growing up in today. So why should we avoid immorality? Because God says so. 1 Corinthians 6.13, the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And then He says later on in that same Scripture, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you are bought with a price, therefore honor God with your body. Have you heard them say, it's my body, my choice? That's not what the Bible says. It's God's body. Especially as a Christian. And then furthermore, it says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 3, it is God's will that you should be holy, that you should avoid sexual immorality. And so yes, we have a moral responsibility to God. We are to learn the moral commandments and we are to live by those moral commandments. And then finally, we have a loving responsibility. of all the things we are commanded. You know what the greatest commandment is? Jesus said so. Deuteronomy 6.5, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love God. God created us. And He wants us to love Him. And it's the foundation of all other love. And so we should love God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed. It's that important that you love God. Do you love God this morning? Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? That's a responsibility that you have to God. Husbands are to love their wives. Christians are to love their God. We are to love God. Say, I would like to love God more. Pastor, how can I love God more? Well, the Bible says we love Him because He first loved us. We'll love God more as we respond to reflecting on how much He loved us. Loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus loved us so much that He went to the cross to die for our sins. Someone that loves me that much. I ought to have my love and devotion. Do you love God? Jesus said, if you love Me, you'll keep My commandments. The two go hand in hand. And so are you fulfilling your responsibilities to your brothers and sisters in Christ this morning? Are you fulfilling your responsibilities to unbelievers in the community? Are you fulfilling your responsibilities to love God, obey God? I challenge you to make a renewed commitment to fulfill these responsibilities. Not by just trying harder, but by the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of love. Would you bow with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have told us how we are to live our Christian lives. I pray that You will help us to fulfill these responsibilities each and every day, Lord. And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name, amen.