05-03-2026 - ALL THE SAME - Acts 15:1-15

 MESSAGE BY PASTOR DANIEL PARK

 FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

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I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G,   Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J.  Magda- Laci M.  Gloria F, Miguel A H. Silvia H, Manuel D, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M, Oscar ND, Juan Carlos V.   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; And for those who have departed and are in eternal sleep, waiting for you to come, and with joy they will live eternal life with you. 

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

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COVID really did a number on churches all over the world

• In a message a while ago, I shared a statistic from the United States that tens of millions of people had left the church during and post-COVID 

I am happy to say that there is now some more positive news

• For the first time in decades, church attendance is now on a slight rise

• And it is being driven by the younger generation - Generation Z - 15-29 year olds

One church leader is quoted as saying, 

• “I think COVID-19 gave people a lot of time for introspection, and I think Gen Z is looking around and they are realizing how anxious, lonely, isolated and fearful they are about the future and that secularism, its promises of progress and freedom, simply have not delivered.”

• A mental health expert attributes this rise in spirituality to a desire for authenticity in community that people cannot get from being part of group chats or online social media 

• The authenticity of a relationship with, and a new life through Jesus Christ that has stood the test

The new life that is possible through Jesus is attractive by itself 

• Through humble, and I would even say pathetic, beginnings 

• Through persecution and even genocide 

• Through thousands of years.

The church grows, with more people coming to Jesus - all peoples.

• And as Peter said in verse 11 of today’s passage, 

• “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

People come to know Jesus and put their faith in Him through many ways, one of the main ways being through the church

• And the church is a place where EVERYONE should have the SAME and equal opportunity to experience the grace of Jesus

But things don’t always go as smoothly or easily as we like

• Even with Paul and Barnabas, there were SOME who were critical and argued that they were not preaching the full gospel 

• Verse 1. While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

While Paul and Barnabas were bringing people to saving faith in Jesus and planting churches in foreign lands, 

• SOME MEN from Judea chased after them and started preaching the Law of Moses

• These men were Jewish believers of Jesus who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees

  • Whose priority was doing the right thing

  • To the point of making sure everybody knew they were doing the right thing 

  • Because what’s the point of doing something good if people don’t recognize it right?

Notice that it’s “some men”, “some of the believers” who belonged to a sect within the church of believers of Jesus 

• Do we have sects in the church today? 

• Do we have some people who like to insist on some things? 

The thing that “some believers” are insisting on for all believers is that they must be circumcised 

• And follow the law of Moses

• Basically, to be a Jew 

• This was the process of how a non-Jewish person could become a proselyte when they wanted to worship and follow God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Isn’t it interesting that this small group of “Christians” don’t mention God or Jesus

• But they appeal to Moses

• Compare that to Peter and James - all they talk about is God

  • How God chose, God confirmed, God accepts, God cleansed, the signs and wonders God has done and how God first visited the Gentiles 

    • Reminding everyone that Abram was a gentile

      whom God chose and called to Himself.

Maybe it’s understandable for these Jewish Christians to want to hold on to something that defined and set them apart among all the countries surrounding who were also very real enemies 

• What made them “special.” 

But they were letting something that is peripheral become the central 

• The Law, Moses over God, over Jesus 

We might have traditions, culture, and habits that have become very important to our spirituality and faith, and we consider them doctrinal 

• Fundamental to our faith

• When they are a part or an aspect of our spirituality 

This thing that some of the Jewish-believers were trying to force on all the gentile-believers is described by Peter as “challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that our ancestors were able to bear.”

• You are challenging God

  • ESV says you are putting God to the test

  • When Jesus was being tempted in the Wilderness by the devil, He quoted Deuteronomy 6:16.

• You must not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah.

• Challenging and testing God is a sin

• Forcing gentile-Christians to be circumcised and to follow the Law from the OT is a yoke - a harsh burden of hard labour that the Jews in thousands of years could not properly follow, 

• In Matthew 11, Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” 

• Jesus gives us rest - not labour.

Believers of Jesus are given rest 

• So the church is a place and community of abundant life 

• The church is not a place of conformity 

  • No one has to prove anything to be a Christian or be at church

  • You are a Christian because you believe that Jesus has proven HIMSELF and your salvation by dying and rising from the dead 

But when there is trouble, the Church defends the Truth

While the opposition to the false teaching is spearheaded by some big names - the named leaders of the church - Paul and Barnabas, Peter, and James 

• The church makes the main decisions and moves

• While individual leaders like Paul and Barnabas argue the case,

  • The church sends Paul and Barnabas

  • The church sends a delegation to Jerusalem, where the whole church there greets them with the apostles and elders.

See how important the church, the body of believers, is

• You can pressure a few people, you can trick a few people

• But there is safety in numbers 

• A lone-wolf Christian has no support 

• But a pack cannot be bullied 

One person with a crazy idea is probably crazy

• But when 50, and then 200, and then 500 and a thousand, and so on, has the same idea… You gotta consider it

• A solo-Christian has no one who will argue with them with reason 

• And that’s a dangerous place to be 

• And might even become a dangerous person 

It may seem like a bit of a rabble and a bit of a mess

• There are a lot of disagreements, intense arguing, and discussions - multiple rounds of meetings

• Sound familiar?

• Happens to this day! 

• Well, maybe it’s not a bad thing! 

Meetings and long discussions sound like paint drying, but it is also the foundation of our relational and spiritual formation 

• It’s not just for church discipline when there is a problem

• But also for fellowship and community 

In other places, arguments, discussions and meetings can go nowhere, but I believe a body of believers is different because it has a head - Jesus 

• Jesus is the head of the church, the body

• So the church will be led.

Besides Jesus, no one voice can be louder or have absolute authority 

• Generally, I would trust and follow a body of believers rather than a small group of people 

• Though most may remain nameless, the church is made up of saints 

  • People who are surrendered to Jesus, devoted to the scripture, who love Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit

• This is how the Church is stronger than it has ever been in the past 2000 years

• Because it is not a human institution 

• No church is perfect because it is made up of sinners like me, but I love Jesus, and I want everyone to love Him and be loved by Him

• So the church is a loving place.

The church is where you hear witnesses of signs and miracles 

• Reports of lives transformed by Jesus’ love and forgiveness 

• And it strengthens and proves our faith.

I ask SOME of you, do you have “A” church? 

• Are you part of “A” body?

• Where is YOUR church? 

• I know some people like to do this at this church and learn that at that church

• Because every church is part right? The body of Christ is not limited to one particular location or community

• But that is from God’s omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent perspective 

• We finite beings need things are more limited in scope 

• We need to take root to be nourished and grow

• And I humbly suggest that Bethany Baptist Church can be such a place for you

  • But at the same time, I have to say that it’s not the only place

  • The important thing is to be rooted.

Because the church is where believers experience and grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus, 

And the church is where the issue is resolved - a church that is centred on Jesus Christ, the Son of God 

The argument is resolved on the grounds of what God has done

• Through personal revelation as Peter received and experienced in Acts 10 with Cornelius 

• The evidence of the Holy Spirit given to the Gentiles 

• Their repentance through their faith in Jesus’ name 

• And James goes further back to the prophets of the Old Testament, that the Gentiles were always part of God’s plan from the beginning

All of this made it clear that the work of Jesus Christ had changed something 

• Jesus has torn down the barriers around what it means to be God’s people 

• It didn’t require the blood relation of being born to a particular people

• Or the blood of animal sacrifices to observe laws and rules.

• Only the blood of one sacrifice, Jesus, that once and for all paid for and redeemed all humanity

• And then His resurrection proved to the world that there is only 1 God 

So now there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, something Paul unpacks in Ephesians 2

14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

Jesus didn’t just get rid of some rules 

• He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.

  

• One new people - that is, a new body, with Jesus as the head - that is, the church

• Now the church is the vehicle of the Good News of Peace for everyone.

  
  

  As verse 11 of today’s passage says, “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

  • We

  • All saved

  • The same way

  
  

  By the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus 

  • Undeserved whether Jew or Gentile

  • Undeserved whether born into a Christian family and grew up in the church, or very far from Jesus and the church 

  
  

  There is nothing we can do to be saved and to receive Jesus’ grace - that is love 

  
  

  Before, the law was all for nothing by itself

  • Now with Jesus, it’s all for love

  • All the same, all for love. 

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