Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 15:13-21 (April 14, 2026)

April 14, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 15:13-21

Good morning! What a beautiful crisp morning for driving with the windows down, and enjoying the cool, sunny, and calm air today. Please be reminded that we have our free movie this coming Saturday at 1PM in the Sanctuary. Treats will be provided, or you may bring your own, or some to share. This month we will have a romantic comedy; title posted at church. Please continue to pray for our church and her family as consideration is given for a direction that will assist us in continuing the rich ministry of American on into the future. I know that the church council is busy in prayer as well, as we look for the Spirit's guidance in what lies ahead. Pray too for peace, and the cessation of hostilities between nations.

Today we encounter another quiet, competent, Spirit guided leader in the Church in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas have returned from the mission journeys, and they have come before the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to appeal for the inclusion of gentile members in the Christian fellowship in Christ. Peter has offered words of support for such an action using the forbidding obedience to the law, to which no one has ever been able to adhere completely, and instead, speaking about faith as the primary act of inclusion in the community of new Christians. Faith becomes a reality in people's hearts and minds as a gift of the Spirit. That's true for you and me too! So, it is the action of God's Grace through the Spirit which enables all people who have come to faith to be assured of forgiveness, life with God, and Salvation. Of course, this is a new way for the conservative Jewish Christians to think, and even just one solid argument by Peter in favor of the gentile community of believers, and the many stories which Paul and Barnabas bring from their journeys are not enough to sway the thinking of the more conservative side of the new Church. 

In our reading today we are introduced to James, the brother of Jesus. James is of the highest status in the new Church in Jerusalem, not because he is the brother of the Lord (He did receive a visit from the Resurrected Lord when he was by himself. 1 Corinthians 15:7). James was an extraordinary person of the highest character, the gentlest nature, with a true heart for the work of the Gospel. (Galatians 1:19) From our passage for today, it really does appear that James is also highly respected by both the conservatives, and the moderates in the new Church. James is called James the Just by those who know him best. He worked to rigorously obey the law of Moses in every part of his life, yet he is seen as fair to everyone. When James speaks, he brings to the conversation the power of kindness and grace. Through his words, James indicates that for everyone to include everyone else in the Church, there must be a few things which the gentiles must also observe to be received by the conservative Jewish Christians. They all have to do with food laws, without which, the Jews might well be offended and unwilling to receive the gentiles as brothers and sisters in Christ. First the gentiles must not eat any food, perhaps especially meat, which has been sacrificed to idols because it had never been properly prepared by draining its blood before it was burned on that idol altar. In other words, the gentiles must refrain from idol worship or the practices of idol worshipers. Kosher preparation of meat meant that the blood must be drained before its preparation because the Jews believed that blood was life itself, so for an animal to be truly dead, its blood must be fully removed. All of this was Jewish food laws. This was enough for the conservative new Christians to be able to accept the gentiles into the fellowship of Christ and His Church. We must note that later, as Paul writes his letters to the early church, the question will still come up about eating that meat sacrificed to idols. Paul's answer will be that Christians are not bound by those previously established rules in Jerusalem unless another person is led astray by the action of that Christian person. For Paul, and that appears in just about all things, Christians are free because there are no other gods, and idol worship is the worship of something that does not exist. James, in his wisdom and fairness, finds a common ground on which gentiles and Jews can know unity in the new Church, being welcomed by one another as true believers.

Thanks for being with me today. I am in Christ, secure in the Spirit's gift of faith, and ready to share the Good News of our Risen Savior.

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

Pastor Kim