LETS SET THE RECORDS STRAIGHT Acts 16:4-5. “And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily”. For the purpose of understanding, let the reader appreciate that the context is taken from the preceding chapter where is recorded that in the church there had been some dispute about what ought to be the acceptable standard on the subject of Gentile that is non Jewish salvation. Now we are told that “they” that is Paul and his companions went through the cities (in Greece) delivering what the apostles and elders of the Church in Jerusalem (which for general purposes could be termed the headquarters of the church at the time) had agreed should be required of them as decrees to keep. Notice also, that for the purpose of establishing the place of the “apostles in Jerusalem” the same Paul in another place in the bible tells us that he too went to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles there for the sake of ascertaining that he had preached an accurate gospel in his missionary journeys. So they went about delivering the counsel of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and the bible is careful to note that “And so were the churches established in the faith”. Let me ask a question: “Do you think it was the decrees that established the churches in the faith?” The answer is NO. And that would be because as we know the real church is established in Jesus, grows in him and is held together in him. However for anything to grow or be established it must be given some kind of structure which in some cases would be in the nature of dos and don’ts as we shall see in the index case. The decrees were not about the matter of salvation but of acceptable conduct and I know that because at the meeting referenced in chapter fifteen we are told that the apostle Peter got up and stated very clearly (verse 11) that about salvation the matter rests on faith in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what were the decrees issues, which Acts 16:4-5 refers? From Acts 15:29, it says “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well” So it has been the practice from the beginning that the leadership of the church be involved in setting standards for the members to follow. Being that they were in a Gentile setting the locals who received these decrees could have refused them on the grounds they were of Jewish traditions, or in fact that they infringed on their fundamental human rights (or is it liberty in Christ?), but they did not and so chose to remain in the fold of the church not minding that the said decrees had no direct bearing on the more important issue of salvation. Once they remained rather than leave they were bound to honour those decrees or become guilty of dissension, division, ultimately rebellion and setting a bad example which always have the potential to undermine authority. For this it would have become necessary to discipline them, and there are many examples in the bible. This is not a matter of discrimination or high handedness, but every society has established and acceptable expectations of behavior and errant people are disciplined. That an errant person “shows remorse” in front of the judge does not mean he will not be reprimanded or serve the penalty for his actions especially when they are premeditated and by highly visible members of society who should serve as examples of good behavior. Having established that, what was the church leadership doing by conducting that wedding in the first place? Did they not know their traditions were being contravened at the time? Who conducted the premarital counseling was it not the same leadership? Did the counselors not tell the intending couple about church traditions and expectations during those counseling sessions? As it happens we know that there is usually some kind of rehearsal before the big event, did somebody in all this not tell the couple about church expectations? Let’s not pretend about what has really happened here, some kind of leadership failure has happened, and let’s call it what it is. When it happens outside the church we are quick to cry foul, yet it is the very failure of the church to establish standards that is manifesting in the rest of society. For according to the scriptures the church is supposed to be “the light of the world”,being the example others are to follow. Yet we can’t even manage ourselves. And now everybody else is talking about our business!
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 06:31:29 +0000