All over a little piece of skin. There is a huge dispute going on in the church. They are trying to establish the requirements of the faith as some come out of Judaism, while others are just coming out of other cultures to embrace following Jesus. One of the traditions that is being demanded by some in Judaism is that the new followers be circumcised. This creates a whole bunch of debate among the apostles and the elders and Paul and Barnabas. As it turns out circumcision was not needed for people to follow Christ.So here is what they conclude from all the discussion:
“And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.” (verse 19 & 20)
Also in this chapter, this always stood out to me. There was a “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark. I think that “sharp disagreement” is Biblese for “they had a big fight”. It is like this one guy, John Mark, wasn’t as committed as Paul and Barnabas were, but Barnabas wanted to keep working to build up John Mark (remember, Barnabas is “Son of Encouragement”) while Paul was done with trying to keep working with this man… So they go their own way. Now Paul pairs up with Silas and he goes off to do something else.
Being someone that works with people in the church, I have seen sharp disagreements, and I have been part of sharp disagreements. We all have people and situations that bother us in the church, but it should not stop us from chasing what God has for our lives…. AND we have to remember that all of it should be done with love, and if we do step into the hurtful and angry, then we must do what is needed to make things right… and to love them… sometimes in SPITE of ourselves.
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