This is Monday evening, February the 5th, 1973,
in Richmond, Virginia.
Minister being given through Brother Stephen Tong.
I have a word of prayer.
O Lord, we do come to Thee together
tonight because Thou art the River of Life.
We come to drink and to live by
Thee.
We ask Thee, Lord, that Thou will open
Thy word to us and open our hearts
to Thee.
May Thy Holy Spirit do the work that
Thou dost desire to accomplish.
Lord, we are here not just to say
something or to hear something, but we are
here before Thee.
We want Thee to finish Thy work of
new creation in and among us and among
Thy people everywhere.
So Lord, we do look up to Thee
for Thy working tonight in the name of
our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
We will please turn to Acts chapter 15.
Acts chapter 15, we'll read from verse 1.
And certain persons, having come down from Judea,
taught their brethren, If ye shall not have
been circumcised according to the custom of Moses,
ye cannot be saved.
A commotion therefore having taken place, and no
small discussion on the part of Paul and
Barnabas against them.
They arranged that Paul and Barnabas and certain
others from amongst them should go up to
Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this
question.
They therefore, having been set on their way
by the church, passed both Phoenicia and Samaria,
relating the conversion of those of the nation.
And they caused great joy to all the
brethren.
And being arrived at Jerusalem, they were received
by the assembly and the apostles and the
elders and related all that God had wrought
with them.
And some of those who were of the
sect of the Pharisees, who believed, rose up
from among them, saying that they ought to
circumcise them and enjoin them to keep the
law of Moses.
And the apostles and the elders were gathered
together to see about this matter.
And much discussion having taken place, Peter standing
up said to them, Brethren, ye know that
from the earliest day God amongst you chose
that the nations by my mouth should hear
the word of the glad tidings and believe.
And the heart knowing God bore them witness,
giving them the Holy Spirit as to us
also, and put no difference between us and
them, having purified their hearts by faith.
Now therefore, why can't ye, God, by putting
a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we have been
able to bear, but we believe that we
shall be saved by the grace of the
Lord Jesus in the same manner as they
also.
And all the multitude kept silent and listened
to Barnabas and Paul relating all the signs
and wonders which God had wrought among the
nations by them.
And after they had held their peace, James
answered, saying, Brethren, listen to me.
Simon has related how God first visited to
take out of the nations a people for
his name.
And with this agree the words of the
prophet, as it is written, After these things
I will return, and will rebuild the tabernacle
of David which is fallen, and will rebuild
its ruins, and will set it up so
that the rest of ye of man may
seek out the Lord.
And all the nations on whom my name
is invoked, says the Lord, who does these
things, known from eternity.
Wherefore I judge, not to trouble those who
from the nations turn to God, but to
write to them to abstain from pollution of
idols, and from fornication, and from what is
strangled, and from blood.
For Moses, from generations of old, has in
every city those who preach him, being read
in the synagogues every Sabbath.
Then it seemed good to the apostles and
to the elders, with the whole assembly, to
send chosen men from among them, with Paul
and Barnabas to Antioch, Judas called Barnabas, and
Silas, leading men among the brethren, having by
their hand written thus, The apostles and the
elders, and the brethren to the brethren who
are from among the nations at Antioch, and
in Syria and Cilicia, inasmuch as we have
heard that some who went out from among
us have troubled you by words, upsetting your
souls, saying that ye must be circumcised and
keep the law, to whom we gave no
commandment.
It seemed good to us, having arrived at
a common judgment, to send chosen men to
you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men
who have given up their lives for the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who
themselves also will tell you by word of
mouth the same things.
For it has seemed good to the Holy
Spirit and to us to lay upon you
no greater burden than these necessary things, to
abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from
blood, and from what is strangled, and from
fornication, keeping yourself from which you will do
well.
Farewell.
They therefore, being let go, came to Antioch,
and having gathered the multitude, delivered to them
the epistle.
And having read it, they rejoiced at the
consolation.
And Judas and Silas, being themselves also prophets,
exalted the brethren with much discourse and strengthened
them.
And having passed some time there, they were
let go in peace from the brethren to
those who sent them.
And Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching
and announcing the glad tidings with many others
also of the word of the Lord.
We mention that from chapter 6 of the
book of Acts through chapter 15, these chapters
record the formative years of the body of
Christ.
On the day of Pentecost, the body of
Christ came into being.
And then you'll find it began to be
formed according to the divine design.
And in the formation of this body of
Christ according to the heavenly pattern, it went
through a period of conflict.
And it is through that period of conflict
that you'll find it finally came into that
new vessel fit for the Master's use.
We may call it the pains of growth.
Through the pains of growth finally you'll find
it has taken its proper form.
Now during this period God raised up a
few key men to help to direct this
formation according to the heavenly pattern.
And we have mentioned five of them in
the past.
Stephen as the pioneer of the heavenly way.
Through Stephen you'll find the body of Christ,
the Church, begins to break away from Judaism.
Because before that time people often considered the
Church as part of Judaism.
Probably they say it was just another sect
in Judaism.
But then Stephen was one who had vision.
And in him you'll find his spearhead, as
it were, the break of this body of
Christ, the Church, from Judaism.
And this was further brought forward by Philip.
Because through the ministry of Philip the Samaritans
were brought into the Church.
You know, there was no relationship between the
Jews and the Samaritans.
On the day of Pentecost when the Church
was formed it was mainly Jews.
And to the Jews the Gentiles had no
part in the grace, in the blessing of
God.
But here were the Samaritans, those that were
despised by the Jews, because they were haughty.
And yet throughout the ministry of Philip these
Samaritans were brought in.
But the head purposely withheld the gift of
the Holy Spirit.
Until the apostle came and laid a hand
upon these believers.
Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Why?
Because in the formation of this body of
Christ there will be only one body.
And in that good body both the Jews
and the Samaritans were joined into one.
This prejudice against each other was eliminated by
the cross.
And the Holy Spirit just brought them together
into one body.
A further move away from Judaism.
And then you'll find after Philip came
Paul.
This master builder.
Paul was a symbol of Judaism.
And God shattered his Judaism completely and made
him a new vessel for the building of
the body of Christ.
A special vessel appointed by God.
Then we mentioned about Peter.
The apostle to the Jews.
And yet God used him to open the
door to the Gentiles.
Actually, Philip probably was in sectarianism.
Most likely he was.
And yet God as it were set aside
Philip and sent his angel to Cornelius and
said you send messenger to Joppa and get
Peter here to tell you how to be
saved.
Why?
Again you'll find it was to keep the
oneness of the body of Christ.
Otherwise you will have a Jewish church and
a Gentile church.
But now because of this you'll find the
church is one.
That's Peter.
And after Peter we find Barnabas.
Barnabas was a man with a big heart.
And he was sent out to visit these
churches.
Just came into being in the cities of
Syria and Cilicia.
And he came to Antioch.
He saw the grace of God and he
rejoiced in what he saw.
He encouraged his brothers and sisters to go
on with the Lord.
And seeing that the work was so big
he went to find Saul and brought him
to Antioch.
And together they labored.
And the church was established there.
To such a degree that the disciples were
called Christians first at Antioch.
And tonight we'll come to the last person.
James.
You know it seemed very strange that James
should be one used by God to finalize
the whole thing.
God had his strange way.
Now who was James?
This James was not one of the sons
of David.
You remember among the twelve apostles in the
beginning?
There were the two sons of David.
James and John.
So this was not James the brother of
John.
The son of David.
Why?
Because in Acts chapter 12 you'll find James
was beheaded by Herod.
Now who was this James?
That we find in Acts chapter 15.
He was the fleshly brother of our Lord
Jesus.
You know in Matthew chapter 13 we are
told Mary after she gave birth to Christ
through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit she
begat by the natural course many sons and
daughters.
And to our Lord Jesus Mary begat James
Joseph Simon and Jude.
Four more sons and several daughters.
So this James was a brother of our
Lord Jesus according to him.
Tradition tells us.
Now we do not know exactly how true
it is.
But we are told that this son of
Joseph and Mary, James after he was born
he became a Nazarite.
You know what a Nazarite means?
You know in Numbers chapter 6 if anyone
wants to serve God he can set himself
apart as a Nazarite.
In other words one who is separated consecrated
to serve the Lord.
And we are told by tradition that James
from his childhood he was a Nazarite.
He was set apart to serve God.
He was a most righteous person.
He lived a very godly life.
He was deeply rooted in Judaism.
In the tradition of the fathers.
He prayed so much that tradition tells us
his two knees began to develop like camel's
knees.
And he was such a righteous person.
Even though he was not of the family
of Aaron he was allowed to enter into
the temple and pray.
He was the man admired by the Jews
at his time.
A most righteous person according to law.
But then he was so deeply rooted in
Judaism.
He was so brainwashed in the tradition of
the fathers so he took the same position
towards his brother in the flesh Jesus as
the Pharisees and the scribes of his time.
He did not believe in the Lord.
He grew up with the Lord himself.
He must have seen everything about the Lord.
He should be the first one to notice
the uniqueness of this man of his brother.
Certainly he should.
But strange to say he was blind.
On the one hand he might notice in
the life of his brother something unique unearthly
and yet on the other hand because he
was so deeply trained in Judaism he could
have but take that position looking at his
brother as an imposter.
During the life of our Lord Jesus there
was no indication that he believed in the
Lord Jesus.
On the contrary in the gospel according to
John chapter seven you'll find one day the
brothers of our Lord Jesus spoke to him
and said if you want to be famous
to be known by people don't hide yourself
here in the hidden country of look what
you did call the people up and show
yourself to them and the Lord said it
is always convenient for you to go but
my time is not yet.
Now who were these brothers that mocked our
Lord Jesus in such a way?
Actually they ridiculed him, you know.
They mocked him.
They didn't believe him.
Certainly James was one of them.
We had absolutely no proof that during the
lifetime of our Lord Jesus James ever believed.
No proof at all.
But strange to think at the death of
our Lord Jesus after his death it seemed
as if something happened.
James who throughout the life of our Lord
Jesus failed to believe in him and yet
at his death after his death something changed.
We do not know if James was at
Calvary when our Lord Jesus was crucified.
We don't know.
But one thing we can say he must
have heard what happened.
He must have heard of it.
And at the same time he must have
heard that the veil that separated the holiest
of all from the holy place at the
death of the Lord Jesus the veil was
wrenched from top to bottom into two.
He must have heard of that.
And probably the death of the Lord Jesus
in such a manner sealed his conviction that
was buried by tradition all these years.
Such a righteous person could not but have
noticed the life of the Lord Jesus.
Could not but be touched by the life
of our Lord Jesus.
There must be some conviction going on in
that man.
But because he was so deeply grounded in
tradition he couldn't get away from it.
He was bound but the conviction was there.
And when he heard of the death of
the Lord Jesus and when he heard of
what happened in the temple as if God
was saying to him this is the Messiah.
This is the one.
It is through him that the new and
living way is open.
And probably the death of the Lord Jesus
sealed that conviction in him and turned it.
Maybe that was the very reason why after
our Lord Jesus was resurrected he appeared in
1 Corinthians chapter 15.
The Lord appeared to James not the brother
of John.
James his brother in the flesh.
The Lord purposely appeared to him alone.
He needed it.
He must have wondered throughout his life he
rejected his brother.
He rejected the Lord.
And now he knew his brother is the
son of God the Christ.
And he is sincerely believing him but probably
he wondered whether his brother will ever forgive
him.
Will ever accept him.
He needed an assurance from the Lord.
The Lord knew.
The Lord appeared to him.
And since that time you'll find he was
listed among the believers.
Because in Acts chapter 1 after the Lord
was ascended those who have witnessed his ascension
they came back to Jerusalem.
Because the Lord said you go back to
Jerusalem and there wait until you have received
power from on high.
Then you shall be my witness from Jerusalem
to Judea to Samaria and to the end
of this world.
So here you'll find these brothers and sisters
they came back to Jerusalem and after ten
days only a hundred and twenty were left.
And a hundred and twenty people among these
hundred and twenty people were the apostles, the
mother of Jesus, Samuel and the brethren the
brothers of our Lord Jesus.
Not only James believed in the Lord but
his other brothers came to the Lord too.
Probably through the influence of James.
Eventually you'll find we have two books in
the New Testament written by two brothers of
our Lord in the flesh.
The epistle of James and the epistle of
Jude.
So here you'll find James was with the
believers at the very beginning.
And when they were baptized into one body,
James was one of the members of the
body of Christ.
He was not listed among the twelve apostles.
Nevertheless, he was an apostle.
Then the persecution began.
You know when the persecution after Stephen was
sown, then the persecution began.
And the disciples began to stutter but the
apostles remained in Jerusalem.
Now some people ask this question.
Why was it that when the persecution came
to the church in Jerusalem the disciples, they
were stuttered and the apostles remained behind?
Why?
One reason was when the persecution began the
target of the persecution was not the Hebrew
Jews but the Hellenistic Jews.
You know the church in Jerusalem was composed
of the Jews but of two kinds.
The Hellenistic Jews and the Hebrew Jews.
Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew.
The persecution was started by the synagogues of
the Hellenistic Jews.
So when the persecution first came upon the
church in Jerusalem the objective was mainly upon
the Hellenistic Jews.
So when they were persecuted they went back
home.
They stuttered and they went to the cities
of Samaria and to Phoenicia and to Syria
because that's where they came from.
So they were stuttered but all the twelve
apostles were Hebrew Jews.
They were not the main target of persecution.
So they remained behind.
And you know after the persecution and when
the persecution began to increase Paul came in
and he was this indiscriminate.
He will go into Hebrew Jews and Hellenistic
Jews equally and brought out men and women
and put them to jail.
So the persecution began to increase.
And brothers and sisters most likely during that
period of persecution many Hellenistic Jewish believers they
had gone out.
So what remained must be the Hebrew Jews
became the majority or even more than majority
of those who remained in Jerusalem.
And during the period of persecution you need
some people who are very firm, steady strong
deeply rooted solid to stand and to lead.
That's natural.
Was Peter such a person?
Peter changed to Eden.
During the time of persecution if Peter was
the leading brother in the church in Jerusalem
you can hardly think how can the church
stand against the persecution.
So naturally you'll find during the time of
persecution it seems as if James the brother
of Jesus began to be manifested as the
leading brother in the church.
On the day of Pentecost and during the
first period Peter seemed to be the leading
brother.
Of course there are other leaders but Peter
seemed to be at the front leading.
But at the persecution and after that you
read the Bible you'll find it was James.
Why?
Because James was a solid brother very very
solid.
Oh we need people like James.
You know?
We need people who are solid in Christ.
We need people who have statues.
Spiritual statues.
And we were told that James was not
only loved by the believers in Jerusalem but
he was admired by the Jews.
He has such a good testimony.
And for a man with such a good
testimony to the youth of God to lead
the church in Jerusalem it could stand against
the persecution.
So probably that was one of the reasons
why we find that James began to come
to the front.
Of course three brothers were pillars in the
church in Jerusalem.
James John Paul and Peter.
These three men were pillars to the church
in Jerusalem.
In other words through their strength the church
was supported.
But of the three James seemed to become
the leading man in the church.
You see it was not a legal official
appointment.
It was a matter of life.
Of spiritual life.
Peter at one time was ahead of the
others therefore he was leading.
But then you find James seemed to go
ahead of Peter.
And naturally you find he began to lead.
There was no argument.
There was no strife.
It was just a manifestation of the Holy
Spirit.
And how you find because of that there
was no conflict between this brother and that
brother.
It was the Lord.
It was the life.
The spiritual life.
James being a man with such a background
even after he believed in the Lord Jesus
he kept the law of Moses very strictly.
Because you know it was a transitory period.
Transitional period.
So on the one hand he still kept
the law of Moses very strictly.
And on the other hand he was the
leading brother in the church in Jerusalem.
So you can see it was quite a
mixture.
Because most of the believers in Jerusalem were
Jews.
And many of them with Pharisees background.
Even priests.
And some of the brothers in Jerusalem went
out to Antioch.
And after they arrived at Antioch they began
to teach.
And said you must be circumcised.
You must keep the law of Moses.
Otherwise you cannot be saved.
Now these believers in Antioch were mostly Gentiles
in origin.
And yet these Jewish believers if we may
use this.
These Jewish believers coming from Jerusalem began to
teach and say no you have to be
circumcised.
Otherwise you are not saved.
And because of that there was a commotion
in the church in Antioch.
And there was much discussion.
Paul and Barnabas said no this is not
the truth of the gospel.
And these few men insisted that this is
it.
And they couldn't solve that question.
So finally the church sent Paul and Barnabas
with some other brothers to go to Jerusalem
to see the apostles and the elders to
solve this problem.
Now before we go on we mentioned before
that in Christ all the natural discrimination distinctions
were eliminated.
There was, there is neither Jew.
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
Neither barbarians nor schisms.
Neither freeman nor barman.
But Christ is all and in all.
The Lord will bring Jews.
The Lord will bring Gentiles and make them
one.
How can the Jews and the Gentiles be
made one?
Because when the Lord brings them in through
the cross the Jew is eliminated, the Gentile
is eliminated, so when they come together they
are no longer Jews nor Gentiles but they
were one in Christ.
And that is the truth.
The body of Christ.
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
The Jews were circumcised.
The Gentiles were not circumcised.
But when they came into the body of
Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
Why?
Because they were on the other side of
the cross.
In resurrection there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
It is the new creation.
Neither barbarians nor schisms.
That is according to civilization.
Some were considered as barbarians.
Others were schisms.
Of course commentators have different opinions about schisms.
Since some said the schisms were the most
barbarians of the barbarians.
And other people said the schisms were the
most civilized people.
Now whether they are more barbarians or more
civilized that is not a question.
But the question is whether you are civilized
or uncivilized.
That is in the world.
God will bring in the civilized just as
he will bring in the uncivilized.
But when they come into the body of
Christ neither civilized nor uncivilized.
In the world you have social structures.
The barmen and the freemen.
The masters and the servants.
That's when they were brought into the body
of Christ neither barmen nor freemen.
Because it is Christ.
It is Christ.
So we say that in the formation of
the body of Christ they went through a
lot of conflict on these sides.
The cultural differences.
The racial differences.
The educational differences.
The social differences.
And you'll find the Holy Spirit has to
break through all these distinctions.
Eliminate them all.
And bring them together into the body of
Christ.
Brothers and sisters that is glorious.
In the body of Christ there is no
distinction.
Because it is Christ.
That does not mean that there is uniformity.
In other words, having no distinction does not
mean that everyone is alike.
Why?
Because it is the body of Christ.
As the body is one there are many
members.
And look at the members of your body.
They are all there.
If all the members of the body are
alike you have a lump of meat.
You do not have a body anymore.
Brothers and sisters, how easily it is for
us to go from one extreme to another
extreme.
The one extreme is we bring all the
distinctions in the world into the church.
Into the body of Christ.
We bring our Jewish background, our Gentile background,
our American ways and our Chinese ways and
all these things into the body of Christ.
And you begin to divide and divide the
body of Christ along these natural lines.
That is one extreme.
The other extreme is because all the distinctions
were eliminated therefore we must be uniform.
Everyone comes out just the same.
That is another extreme.
Another extreme.
And yet here you find these Jewish believers
whether they are real believers or not I
don't know because Paul called them false brothers
in Galatians.
Some false brothers came.
Whether these false brothers mean that they were
not true believers or whether it means that
they were true believers but they were in
the false.
I don't know.
But here you find these brothers coming and
said conform or out.
If you want to be saved if you
want to be in the church you must
be circumcised just like we are.
You must keep the law of Moses just
like we Jews are.
Unless you do it exactly as we do
and you believe exactly as we believe and
you follow us completely you are out.
You are not even saved.
Did you hear such voice today?
To have no distinction is one thing.
To allow differences is another.
There shall be no distinction in the body
of Christ.
And yet there should allow differences.
We must be open to one another and
tolerate there and for there.
Aside from the basics of the gospel that
we have to believe otherwise we are not
saved.
Concerning the person and the work of our
Lord Jesus we must allow
differences of opinion.
Why?
Because there are differences of growth.
Some may feel they have to keep the
day.
Others feel that every day is the same.
Some feel they cannot touch meat.
Others feel that they must eat meat.
It is true.
Those who say they must keep the day
they are weak in their conscience.
But the strong is not to impose their
conviction upon the weak.
Rather it is the strong that should lure
themselves to meet their brethren on their level
and try to lift them.
In other words, brothers and sisters on this
matter of circumcision there is the difference of
opinion.
These Jewish believers say you must be circumcised
but the Gentiles said we don't need to
be Jews in order to be Christians.
Because the body of Christ is a new
creation.
It is not Judaism.
We don't need to join Judaism before we
become Christians.
There are differences of opinion in these secondaries.
Circumcised or uncircumcised has nothing to do with
salvation.
And yet they make it as a condition
for salvation.
For the sake of preserving the truth, the
liberty of the gospel before grace, Paul and
Barnabas will not do.
Brothers and sisters, when God brings us together,
thank God, there is the unity of the
Spirit which we need to diligently keep in
the bond of peace.
Why?
Because we have one God, one Lord, one
Spirit.
And yet you cannot expect that when we
start to come together, we have the same
idea and the same opinion and the same
interpretation and the same experience in everything.
It cannot be.
It is bound that you have your experience
of Christ.
I have my experience of Christ.
You have your understanding of the Bible.
I have my understanding of the Bible.
You have some background.
I have some background.
We have all the differences there.
But remember, no distinction but differences.
Distinction is eliminated but differences are permitted.
Do not try to impose your views upon
your brothers and sisters.
Do not try to make it a condition
for salvation.
Do not try to make people conform to
you.
We are to be conformed to Christ.
Not to you, not to me.
We have to be open.
Openly discuss and fellowship.
Nobody insists.
We allow differences.
And if we tolerate each other and we
love each other and we fellowship with each
other, you know what happens?
Suddenly you discover your opinion is gone.
You discover your view is changed.
Now who changes you?
You don't even know.
And not only you think it that way,
your brother thinks it the same way.
But he knows he is not changed by
you.
He knows that.
And you know you are not changed by
him.
Now who changes?
The Lord.
Brothers and sisters, the wonderful thing is if
we diligently keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace and just be
open to one another, love one another, and
fellowship with another, don't be afraid of differences
of opinion.
Don't be afraid of them.
As we fellowship, as we share, gradually what
you experience becomes my experience.
I begin to experience what you believe and
understand.
Gradually becomes my understanding.
And that's what Ephesians chapter 4 says, until
we all arise at the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God.
At the full growth, at the fullness of
the sanctuary of Christ.
Now that's Ephesians.
So here you'll find in the growth of
the body of Christ they came into this
growing pain.
Oh, some people came in and insisted their
opinion upon the brothers and sisters to bring
them into bondage of the Lord because they
were under bondage.
So finally they went to Jerusalem.
Why did they go to Jerusalem?
Because Jerusalem was the mother church?
Jerusalem was the headquarter?
Not at all.
We mentioned this morning that in the Bible
you have only sister churches.
You don't have parents church and children church.
You don't have that.
Only sister churches.
All the local churches are sisters to one
another.
They went to Jerusalem because the trouble came
upon them.
That's the reason.
If the trouble came from Samaria they would
go to Samaria.
They could not solve the problem because these
people came from Jerusalem.
So they went to Jerusalem to solve that
problem.
Now brothers and sisters remember this.
These men came to Antioch without being saved
by the church.
They were not saved.
They just came by themselves when they insisted
that the Gentile believers must be circumcised in
order to be saved.
Did James preach such gospel?
Not at all.
James kept the law of Moses very strictly
himself.
He was a very strict practical man.
And yet you never heard him say anyone
a Gentile must be circumcised and keep the
law of Moses in order to be saved.
He never did that.
You read the epistle of James.
Do you find in the epistle of James
he insisted that they keep the law of
Moses?
And he was writing to the Jewish leaders.
Oh of course Martin Luther you know.
He said the epistle of James is a
straw.
No he, Martin Luther used to fight you
know.
And he fought Catholicism with the letter to
Stabilation.
That was his thought.
But when he came to the epistle of
James he said it was a straw.
He could not do that.
Brothers and sisters if you read carefully the
epistle of James.
Even though James wrote the epistle to the
Jewish believers scattered all over.
Yet never in the epistle you'll find he
commanded them to keep the law of Moses.
He said keep the royal law.
The law of Moses.
In other words it is not the letter
it is the spirit of the law.
The law of the spirit of life.
If you have faith you must prove your
faith with your word.
That's what James insisted.
And you'll find he was perfectly faithful.
He had faith in the Lord Jesus and
he lived of God.
But never did James insisted or preached that
the Gentile believers must keep the law.
But evidently these false brothers probably because they
thought James was a person who kept the
law thought they began to use James as
their champion.
They might even use the name of James.
James said this.
James said that.
You must be circumcised otherwise you are not
saved.
You know this often happens right?
Even Martin Luther he never had the desire
to form a party.
He never had the desire.
But he was made the founder of a
denomination.
John Wesley never had the idea of forming
another denomination.
But his followers made him the founder of
another denomination.
Brothers and sisters that's the tragedy.
Many great men of God they had no
desire to be party members.
They had no desire to divide God's people.
But circumcised all them to be leaders of
different.
It often happens.
Look at the church in Corinth.
There was the church in Corinth.
Paul went there and brought it to God.
Apollos went there.
Strengthened them in the word of God.
Peter went there and further reinforced the church
there.
But the problem was the believers.
Some who were held by Paul and said
we are of Paul.
Other who were held by Apollo said we
were for Apollo.
And other who were held by Cephas said
we belong to Cephas.
And here you find in the body of
Christ in the church in Corinth.
And then the fourth party came.
You belong to Paul.
You belong to Peter.
You belong to Apollo.
We belong to Christ.
As if you don't belong to Christ.
A spiritual party.
Paul, Apollo, Peter.
They had absolutely no ambition to form a
party.
They went to Corinth to build the body
of Christ, the church.
They did not go to Corinth to build
the Pauline church, the Apolline church, the Petrine
church.
No.
They went there to build the church of
Christ.
They built the church of God there.
The body of Christ.
But you know, in the flesh there is
always that thing of thank God.
When Paul noticed that, you know what he
did?
He told Apollo you should never go to
Corinth again.
No.
He asked Apollo to go.
He had no territory concept.
This is my territory.
Don't come.
Instead, he encouraged Apollo to go.
If you people want to exalt me, I
will encourage Apollo to come.
And see how Apollo reacted?
Apollo said, I won't go.
I won't go.
I do not want to seize upon this
opportunity and your offer and try to make
something out of it for myself.
No, I'm not going.
Brothers and sisters, what attitude these apostles have
above humans.
Selfish, notice and ambitious.
They are purely for the body of Christ.
But you see many different things today.
If Paul tells, tell Apollo, you go Apollo
first.
Even if you don't ask me, I'm going.
I'm going to take over.
I have my followers there now.
But anyway, you'll find James had
no desire at all to be a leader
of absolutely no sense idea.
It was these men that followed James.
They tried to use him as a banner
because they were not great enough.
You know, it often happened that way.
So when they came to Jerusalem, Paul said
he went there by revelation.
He was sent by the church, but at
the same time he went there by revelation.
Why?
In order not only to keep the truth
of the gospel, but to maintain the unity.
Humanly, it was a test of strength between
Paul and James.
Now, if these two men were to crash,
you know what would happen?
The church would be divided right along the
line into two.
And that would be the beginning of heresy
in Christianity.
But thank God, James rose above the situation.
Brothers and sisters, we have to give him
credit.
These men were supposed to support James, you
know.
And yet James would have nothing to do
when they came to Jerusalem.
And they went along the way.
Everywhere they went.
And they reported of what the Lord had
done.
All the churches rejoiced in the Lord.
Why?
They had no prejudice.
They rejoiced in what the Lord had done.
But when they came to Jerusalem, yes, they
were well welcomed by the apostles and the
elders.
Why the apostles?
Because of the teaching there.
Why the elders?
Because these men came from Jerusalem, you see.
Not because Jerusalem was the headquarter of Christianity,
the mother church.
It was because here was the question of
doctrine, of teaching.
So the apostles must be involved.
And here was a matter of discipline.
So the church in Jerusalem must be involved,
represented by the elders.
Now that was the reason.
So they came together, and you see how
they came together and just throw the whole
thing over for discussion.
And afterwards the apostles and the elders met
to decide upon them.
Some of the sacrilegious stood up and said,
they must be charged to keep the law
of Moses and be circumcised.
And then Peter rose up.
Oh thank God.
He rose up and said, related how God
used him in the beginning to open the
door to the Gentiles.
And Peter went further and said, why should
we put upon these Gentile believers the burden
that we ourselves cannot bear?
We are saved by the grace of Jesus
Christ just as they are.
In other words, not because we are Jews,
not because we keep the law of Moses,
therefore we are saved.
We are saved just as the Gentiles.
The law and circumcision had nothing to do
with it.
It is the grace of God.
So why should we put this yoke upon
them?
Thank God, Peter was delivered.
And then they listened to Paul and Barnabas
relating what the Lord had done.
But finally you'll find he gave his judgment.
He gave his judgment.
He was the leader of them.
His kingdom was good.
But here you'll find he made his judgment
not according to the flesh.
Why?
He was a man who kept the law.
He was an admiral.
And here were these people supporting him as
it were.
You, you, you are our leader.
We are standing with you.
And they stood up.
And you'll find he denied himself.
And he used the word of God and
said, this is what the law says.
He was not afraid to displease his father.
You know many leaders, first they began to
lead.
And then they began to be put.
You know, in the beginning they were leaders.
They lead the people.
But finally you'll find they are not leading.
They are being put by the Father.
It cannot stop.
But here you'll find him who knew the
Lord.
Even though he himself kept the law of
Moses strictly.
He said to the Gentiles, because in God's
original design he has designed to bring in
the Gentiles.
Circumcision is for the Jews.
For a purpose.
Thus the original purpose of God when he
rebuilt the tabernacle of David all the nations
shall be joined there.
Therefore, the only thing we shall ask them
to do is to abstain from the things
of the idols, from fornication, from strangled things
and from the blood.
And you know these are not strictly the
law of Moses.
These are the universal law of morals.
You can trace that to the covenant of
Noah.
In other words, they did not put the
Gentiles under the law.
But of course, being believers we are not
above morals.
That is true.
So finally you'll find they wrote the letter
and said the Holy Spirit and we, the
Holy Spirit was able to be in charge
of this decision.
And you know this decision was made.
So brothers and sisters, here you'll find he
who was a man of law and yet
he had the grace to understand not to
put the yoke of law upon others.
He continued to keep the law because it
was a tentatively sin.
And so finally God in his sovereignty destroyed
Jerusalem and the Temple.
But even before that, James could see that
you should not impose anything upon your brothers
and sisters.
Even if you keep it, you should not
impose it.
And thus the unity of the body of
Christ was preserved.
So we say the formation of the body
of Christ was finalized till then.
Very strange.
Humanly speaking, he must be the opposite you
know.
And yet grace overcomes all human differences
and rise above and embrace all.
So we do thank God.
What is the body of Christ?
The body of Christ, no decision able to
embrace all differences and thus through fellowship we
may arrive at the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Father.
Oh Lord, do you allow us to see
what the body of Christ is?
What kind of a vessel it is?
What is this new wine stream in which
thou are able to pour in the new
wine?
Show us what kind of a body thou
does desire to continue to be and to
be.
Oh Lord, deliver us from that which is
earthly, that which is man.
Oh Lord, enable us to rise above all
these and really be fitted together and minister
one to another in love, that we may
arrive at the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto the full grown man, the statue of
the fullness of the Christ.
May it be so, oh Lord.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.