Very few people can understand how I could possibly enjoy what is one of my favorite activities. For most folks, it is a terrible chore. But I love doing it! I look forward to it each week and am often sad when it is all done. I love cutting grass!

I myself have tried to analyze this, attempting to understand why I find such satisfaction in it. I know that it reminds me of my country-life childhood – where I regularly did this at my own home and for my grandparents who lived across the road.

But I think it is more than just that. I like the roar of the mower and the solitude that comes with being detached from the rest of the world. The phone and computer can’t get me.

Yet it is still something more than that. I have concluded that it relates to investing time in doing something and seeing the visible fruit of it. When cutting grass, you can see results.

In the work of ministry there are not always a lot of visible results. To some extent there are metrics like numbers of church attenders, people getting baptized, etc.  But true and lasting spiritual fruit is difficult to quantify.

As we turn to Acts chapter 17, it looks at first glance like another new city (Thessalonica) on Paul’s missionary journey, another set of angry people, another riot, and another instance of Paul either getting thrown out of town or having to narrowly escape. But there is more than just that …

Acts 17:1 – When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

5 – But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.

Though we see some recorded results of a number of Jews who followed the gospel message along with a larger number of Gentiles (as referenced in 1 Thess. 1:9), it sounds like Paul and Silas were merely there for three weeks before having to high-tail it out of town. This is because of the text referencing three Sabbaths in the synagogue. But we know from other passages that the Philippians (4:15-16) sent a couple of offerings to them during this time, implying a longer stay. As well, Paul spoke in both of his letters to this church about supporting himself there by working at his trade.

In any event, the preaching was done, converts came to faith, and what would prove to be a significant church was planted.

God is going to get His work done. The big idea of this week will be to talk about how our role is faithfulness, while God’s role is giving success to His word through bringing people to biblical understanding and salvation. It is a nice bonus when we can see and experience results.

We all have different places in the vineyard of his service. Some are led to serve in more difficult areas than others. Some are more on the planting and production end, whereas others have the assignment on the fruit gathering end. In both cases, our responsibility is to be faithful where were are.

Ministry is not as simple as cutting grass. It is not as measurable as the profit margin of a business. But God’s Word bears fruit over time as we are faithful to live it and share it with others. And that fruit is always more than just what meets the eye.

Today I will spare you a running illustration by using one that is 99% as good – one about baseball. Imagine you are watching some kids play baseball and you note rather quickly and easily that the game is totally out of control. Among crazy antics are the following scenarios …

1. The batter pops up a ball to the second baseman, and just as he is about to catch it, the runner who was on first base flattens him so that the ball hits the ground and everyone is safe.
2. Next there is a ground ball to the shortstop with runners on first and second. The shortstop does not choose to throw to a base; rather, he hits the baserunner going toward third in the back of the head with a throw, rendering him momentarily unconscious.
3. A batter hits a ball between the outfielders and immediately runs to second base, returning to home plate over top of the pitcher’s mound, doing a chicken dance at the end and claiming he hit a home run.

After these events, everyone on both sides is totally frustrated and a gang fight breaks out between teams.

At that point you feel you need to restore order and safety, so you step between them and explain the rules of the game as Abner Doubleday invented them in the 1800s!  Those children who listen are able to learn the game of baseball and enjoy playing it correctly. But another group of them simply think you are no fun at all, and they write you off as a legalistic lawgiver who is interfering with everyone’s individual rights and creativity. In fact, this second group goes to the police station and tells the authorities that you are a child stalker, getting you temporarily thrown into jail.

I admit that this is a pretty wild story, but it is no more “out there” than the one that Paul and Silas experienced in our passage for today from Acts 16 …

Acts 16:16 – Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

This is a rough start for the gospel ministry in Europe. The slave girl was possessed by a demon, and she was used by her owners for their personal gain. A humorous fact here is that the demon spoke the truth about the missionary team, whereas the crowd told a lie. Though her description was factual, the association with her constantly being nearby was a distraction that Paul finally addressed boldly.

Since Timothy was a half-Gentile and Luke fully Gentile, they did not get the same treatment. The Emperor Claudius had recently thrown all of the Jews out of Rome, and likely this impact and prejudicial feeling extended to the Roman city of Philippi.

The gospel message is not going to be popular in a secular world – then or now. It calls people to a submission to God rather than their own desires – to submit to the rules of the Life Race as God instituted them, so as to have any hope of true success. The messenger of this teaching is therefore going to be discredited and ridiculed as holding to dangerous teachings. The preacher of the gospel is going to be pictured as extreme and eccentric, even with efforts directed toward marginalization.

But none of this should deter us from sharing the words of life with those who are lost. God uses even the worst of circumstances for good and for the gospel message to have impact, so let us not lose heart in being faithful to do and speak what is true and right.

Currently I have a friendly competition going with my good pal Arnold Horst. He’s not nearly as competitive as I am about this, but I’ve drawn him into the contest of counting grandchildren. He’s leading me at this moment by a score of 13-9, but I have another on the way and the deeper bench for the future. (My slogan for the family is: “We’ve only just begun to reproduce!”)

I have several family members (particularly my mother-in-law) who are really into ancestral research, using the incredible wealth of varied internet resources to build unbelievable family trees of hundreds and hundreds of people. She even found out that we are cousins from seven generations back – into the 1700s! (Hey, we’re all cousins somewhere back there!)

What would it look like to have a spiritual life family tree? Think about the person who brought the gospel to you and to your understanding. Who brought that person to Christ? And before that, who was your “spiritual great-grandparent?”  And then, looking in the other direction, how many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can you claim, spiritually speaking?

As we move on today into the next section of Paul’s life as recorded in Acts 16, we see the missionary party heading into Europe for the first time – to the Macedonian (northern Greece) city of Philippi. And we see also that the pronoun of the writer Luke changes from a third person reporter, to a first person plural “we” … indicating that Luke has now personally become a part of the team.

Acts 16:11 – From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Clearly there was a very minimal Jewish element in the Roman colony of Philippi – a place established to be a sort of mini-Rome, populated by Roman citizens and soldiers. Lacking a synagogue, Paul and his travelling companions knew that the place to find any worshippers of Yahweh would be along a riverside. And there they find only some women, including a successful businesswoman named Lydia who was a God-fearer – meaning a Gentile who worshipped the one true God of Israel but who was not an official proselyte. The sovereign hand of God is evident in the story, as she is obviously prepared to hear the story of Christ and, along with her substantial household, become the beginning of a movement of the gospel into Europe.

At first glance, this does not seem to be a very auspicious beginning. One would more likely expect that God should prepare the message to first go to some prominent male leader of great standing in the community. But great things can become of small beginnings. In fact, if we could make a spiritual family tree, probably most of us would be eternal-life-descendants of Lydia. As we’ll talk about later in this series, the church at Philippi would prove to be the one that most blessed Paul and created the least difficulties for him.

Not everyone is a great evangelist by gifting. In fact, most people are not. But all of us have a commission to be witnesses of the gospel within our spheres of influence. And who know what all God might accomplish through some single person any of us may be used by God to introduce to faith. We might find (perhaps only later in heaven above) that we have a huge number of grandchildren and generations descending from us. That is a very cool thought!

I think it has been a long time since I have shared the following story at TSF, surely longer than the 4.5 years we have been doing these online devotionals. It is about the night that I was truly angry with God.

Having completed a five-year double major in Bible and music, I had gone on to Dallas Theological Seminary – a four-year program. Following the first year in Texas (our second year married), finances were rather tight and I was working evenings at UPS to get by. We had been attending a Bible Church of about 300 or so in weekly attendance and enjoyed it very much.

At the beginning of my second year, the church announced that they were looking for a minister of music. It was exactly what I had studied for in college and made complete sense to me that this was surely God’s leading. The timing of things, the need … it all looked obvious.

I applied for the position and had a very good interview. Being pulled aside after a Sunday night service, I was told that they had decided to give the position to another fellow whom I had previously known distantly from both college and seminary. He was not an honorable fellow in my view (he proving me correct in that judgment before much time would pass). I was REALLY disappointed and frustrated.

Driving home that evening (Diana was not with me, being sick at home), I remember yelling at God and pounding the steering wheel, saying “There is no possible excuse for this! You know I need this job. You put me through all of that music education and then dragged me halfway across the country to Texas … and now the perfect situation opens up and you allow it to go to that other guy!  This is inexplicable!”

After settling down about the whole experience, I came to a point of faith by saying that if I never got to do a music job and that my Dallas years would be filled with cleaning swimming pools and moving boxes, it would be OK.  A month or two later I was contacted out of the blue about applying for a position at another Dallas church – one that was much larger and more established. I zipped through the process and within a couple of weeks was leading a music program comprised of some of the finest and most talented people I’ve ever known. The church staff that I joined was simply fabulous, including two older pastors who mentored me and to whom I owe most everything.

The closed door that looked so wrong led to an open door that proved to be so right and so much better. And that is the essence of our passage today.

Paul, Silas and Timothy had visited the previous churches from the first missions journey, and now it would seem clearly obvious to expand the operation to the west and north of this region. Why not? What else made any sense? Here is the story …

Acts 16:6 – Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Suddenly there were closed doors, but the trio moved on … finding more closed doors, but they kept moving. Coming to the west coast of what is today the country of Turkey, Paul in Troas has a dream that he understands to be from God – a vision of a man of Macedonia calling to him to come there. This is the region of northern Greece, and to travel there would require a multiple-day trip by sea. Immediately they prepare to go, believing this is the place where God was opening a new door of opportunity.

This event that we call “The Macedonian Call” involved the gospel going from one continent to another, from Asia to Europe. It was the grand vision of God to see the message moving rapidly to the west. In time, the areas skipped would see the gospel message come to them as well.

As with Paul’s experience, God can be trusted in our lives to handle the opening and closing of doors. The person is yet to be found who can truthfully look back at God closing a door in their life race and say, “God really messed up on that one!”

In the late 1990s, when we as a church were considering a targeted mission venture to the Turkic world (eventuating as our large, long-term Kazakhstan partnership), I travelled to Turkey and Uzbekistan with a group of men. There were a couple of Evangelical Free Church Missions execs, several other pastors, and a man who was a missions committee chairman at a large Midwest church. This final gentleman was very interested in missionary work and apparently also very generous with his wealth to support such ventures. However, he was oblivious to cross-cultural sensitivities – speaking out loudly and inappropriately with off-the-wall questions and comments. Though his heart and intentions were good, he was a total liability for our mission, as we were meeting with secular authorities and not only Christian brethren.

When you are seeking to work together as a team in a strange and foreign context, the last thing you need is a person who is a loose cannon. But there are other ways that a person could be a liability on a missions team. Whatever the issue, missionary teammates need to be able to have total confidence in each other and a strong working relationship.

For some undefined reason, Paul did not feel he could have this confidence with John Mark. And as we wrote previously, this issue created a rift between Paul and Barnabas. The result is that Paul set out on the second missionary journey with Silas instead. Along the way, Timothy joined the new missions team as well …

Acts 15:4 – Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Acts 16:1 – Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Silas offered a number of strengths for the missionary partnership. He had an extensive Jewish background and was a recognized prophet – a man capable of proclaiming God’s truth as revealed in Scripture and through the leading of the Spirit. He was also a Roman citizen, which would come in handy when things got tough with the Roman authorities. So he was the right background of theological understanding, along with a capacity to interact successfully with the Gentile world.

Also joining the team was Timothy, a well-liked and respected younger man who could help in a variety of ways on the journey. From a Gentile father and Jewish mother, it was through the apparent influence of his mother and grandmother that he became a believer. Though not an outgoing sort of temperament like Paul, Timothy was a rock solid guy in every other way. He would become Paul’s #1 protégé.

Together the team shared the decision and word from the Jerusalem Council, and everywhere people were encouraged by it. The summary statement is that these new churches were solidified in their faith and witness, with the result being consistent growth in numbers of people.

In serving God together as fellow believers saved from the curse of sin, we are never going to have perfect relationships. But we can have strong relationships that enhance our effectiveness. Good teams understand that different members have different roles and strengths to contribute. All are needed, though some may be more prominent than others. But as each one understands their unique gifting and role, each understands that they are all servants of the same God who distributed the gifts and abilities. When this happens, strong ministry can follow.

As staff and elders at TSF, we covet your prayers as we seek to work well with one another. The staff has a good time serving together and we get along with each other exceedingly well. Likewise with the elders. At this time, the staff and elders are working through a common reading and discussion of a book entitled “Sticky Teams.”  We have all really enjoyed this exercise in recent months.

So as you serve God, look toward working together in teams. The fact is that none of us have every gift that is needed in a ministry venture, but together we can have those individual gifts combine and add together for great effectiveness. Who are your teammates in the Life Race?

I absolutely hate conflict when it shows up in the body of Christ. The sadness of a few situations I’ve known over the years will likely go to the grave with me. It is not always that there is a completely right or wrong party, but rather, a pair of reasonably-committed followers of Christ just have such different perspectives and values on a particular subject that it causes them to have to go in different directions.

Today’s rather brief passage is one of those where we would wish to have a few more details about exactly what transpired between Paul and Barnabas. In writing this account, Luke is setting up the story of the Second Missionary Journey of Paul. And so it is necessary for him to explain why Barnabas did not participate, but rather, a new figure by the name of Silas becomes Paul’s travelling companion.

In short, Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement of significant proportions. It was all over John Mark (yes, the guy who would later write the Gospel of Mark), who had abandoned them on the first journey – apparently in some moment of personal weakness…

Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas

Acts 15:36 – Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

When it says in this text that it was a “sharp disagreement,” there is no way to get the original Greek words to water it down – this was a significant conflict, enough to cause them to part ways and work separately.

Paul was standing on principle. Though we don’t know the exact reason why John Mark departed, it was a scar that Paul could not get past. Maybe it was a personal failure? Or perhaps it had to do with John Mark’s possible discomfort at the Gospel going to the Gentiles on the first missionary journey? Maybe he even caused some of the trouble in Jerusalem by being an eyewitness reporter of these events? That would certainly rile a person of principle like Paul, for in this scenario, John Mark would have been challenging the core of the Gospel message of grace.

On the other hand, Barnabas was standing on the value of personal restoration. Some might argue that this was because John Mark and Barnabas were cousins (Col. 4:10); though being a person of grace and encouragement of others fits the entire Scriptural portrait of Barnabas. Paul himself could not have originally been aligned with the early church leaders apart from the gracious, visionary intervention of Barnabas. Barnabas saw the potential in John Mark, whereas Paul could not get beyond the problem.

I reconcile this as simply the outworking of two very different personalities with differing gifts. Though Paul had certainly a large compassion for lost people, he was a fellow who particularly valued truth, hard facts, and principles. Barnabas, while standing for truth repeatedly in biblical passages, valued people so highly – having a heart for seeing believers restored and deployed in greater capacities than ever before.

These personalities sometimes have difficulties working together. As I’ve written previously over the years of these devotionals, I relate to Barnabas most especially among biblical characters. And in my ministry life, I have a number of times had conflictual issues most often with other leaders who lean in the opposite direction toward the hard line on principle. I have sometimes been the last person standing in defense of someone – a couple of times when there really was no substantial defense remaining.

The fact is this: each of these personality proclivities needs the other. The “truth first people” need to be challenged that we are all such a mess saved only by God’s great grace, that none of us have much merit apart from Christ. But the “people-oriented, gracious types” need to be reminded that there are hard principles that genuine believers must honor in order to walk rightly with the Lord in the light of truth.

The fact is that all of these guys went on to serve the Lord well. We see Paul sending greetings to John Mark later on; and this passage in Galatians (2:12-13) shows the high esteem Paul had for Barnabas: (writing about a time he confronted Peter) … For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

God has a place in His vineyard for all of us to work for Him with the gifts He has given each one. And we need to value one another, even if we are not always working side by side.

The older one gets, the more difficult it is to give up long-held beliefs and notions about all sorts of life items. I grew up being taught that even going to a movie theatre to see a wholesome film was wrong for a Christian to do, the idea being that supporting the industry in any way was making possible all of the other morally corrupt productions. I struggled always to see that logic, and though I reject that association, it remains very rare that I will enter a theatre. On the other hand, I was also taught that alcohol consumption was sinful in any degree. Whereas that is surely true for drunkenness, I acknowledge the Christian liberty to partake, though continue to this day to think that any participation is unwise for the believer. Yes, I understand what a minority I am in this regard.

Jewish folks of the first century grew up in a culture that was filled with many restrictions and detailed obligations. It is difficult for us to imagine what a complete worldview change it was for those first Jews who accepted Christ as the Messiah. Beyond that, they had to grow to understand that this church thing was not “Judaism Version 2.0.”  No, this was a totally new thing (a “mystery” – to use the biblical description – something hidden in the past, but now revealed). This new experience was never something they anticipated, yet it did have all of its roots in the Jewish background of the sacrificial system of atonement, etc.  So what elements of the past were to be kept, and what were to be discarded as now obsolete?

The theology of grace through faith in the once-for-all finished work of Christ’s atoning blood meant the eradication of much of the Mosaic Law. Even so, there were timeless moral principles in the Law that were honorable to be kept and valued. Immorality was forbidden by the Law, though it was the common experience in many Gentile circles. Jesus didn’t set people free to indulge in such activity. This remained a black and white item. While on the other hand, there were dietary restrictions of the past that did not necessarily constitute a sin if now participated in doing, yet if Gentiles and Jews were to successfully meld together in this new institution of the church, it would be best for the Gentiles to willingly abstain from certain practices and associations.

James takes the lead in bringing the intense Jerusalem Council to a conclusion by suggesting a plan of action and communication for new Gentile believers – both affirming and welcoming them, while also seeking from them a high level of moral decorum …

Acts 15:19 – “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the Law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Acts 15:22 – Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.

24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

A most important truth was established – that the Gospel message was fully of grace and did not contain the requirements of the Law of Moses. In the face of the Jewish world around them, this was not going to play well, yet the truth needed to be established. This would facilitate the rapid expansion of the Gospel in the Gentile world. Paul and Barnabas were affirmed, along with their mission.

As well, the Gentiles were encouraged to be sensitive at the same time to certain Jewish cultural backgrounds, particularly related to dietary matters that, if participated in publically, were going to be difficult for the Hebrew Christians to accept and fellowship around. The exhortation was to avoid these things for the greater good of the church and for family unity.

So essentially, one side was told to not make precepts of beliefs that were in reality preferences, but the other side was encouraged to be sensitive to not live out the freedom of their every preference in the face of those who struggled from a cultural background of rejection toward such things.

Beyond the great message of the love and grace to be found in God and his provision in Christ, there is hardly any other message so pervasive in Scripture (particularly the New Testament) than that of giving away personal values and tastes in order to rather serve others. This is the essence of Christian living – of having the mind of Christ who did not hang onto the glories of heaven, but rather took on humanity to the extent of being subject to death for sins he did not commit.

We can be people who live with such others-oriented values!

Some of you today read the headline and knew exactly what was meant by it; others of you looked at it and had no clue whatsoever!

We have a lot of fun in our church staff meetings on Tuesday mornings. Trent and Chris will often comment about how a topic we’re talking about reminds them of a scene in a movie. Dave, Tim, or Mary might understand the reference, whereas I will be about 98% in the dark – being a guy who practically never watches movies.

But once in a while the older guys in the meeting will make a reference to something of the past, and the two younger guys have that “glazed eyes” look of being totally lost. And this happened not long ago when I called something “an E.F. Hutton moment.”  Dave, Tim and Mary laughed, but Trent and Chris looked quizzically at each other, wondering what just happened.

In the 70s and 80s there were frequently-repeated commercials on TV (sort of like those we see today for Geico, for example) about a brokerage company called E.F. Hutton.  A typical sort of setting would be a group of people in a loud, public setting, like a restaurant full of patrons and waiters. At one table would be two people talking over dinner and one of them would say, “Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says …….”  Suddenly, the entire restaurant goes totally quiet; the waiters all stop; everyone is looking and leaning toward the table to see what stock recommendations E.F. Hutton promotes. And then the announcer would always say, “When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

We have several E.F. Hutton sorts of moments in our passage today in Acts 15 as the crowd of people gathered for the Jerusalem Council met to discuss the issue of Jewish/Gentile obligations relative to the keeping of the Law of Moses. In verse 7 where ii says, “After much discussion…” that word for discussion is one that includes intense argument and debate. This likely went on for quite some time before Peter finally stood up with an E.F. Hutton moment … followed by Barnabas and Paul … followed by James – the half-brother of Jesus.

Acts 15:6 – The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Acts 15:12 – The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon [Peter] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 16 “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things—18 things known from long ago.” [Amos 9:11-12]

Peter’s story was referencing the conversion about 10 years earlier of Cornelius and his household (see Acts 10). This was a huge breakthrough moment in Peter’s life, as you will recall that there was a massive movement of the Holy Spirit. So Peter’s reasoning is that since the same Holy Spirit was given to these very genuine new Gentiles as to Jewish believers, there was no reason to believe that some connection of Law-keeping was necessary for them to be truly saved.

Barnabas and Paul next described their incredible missionary journey stories with the group, surely highlighting the massive movement of God among Gentile peoples.

And finally, James – the ostensible leader of the church in Jerusalem – put the concluding emphases upon it by validating these testimonies, yet also bringing to mind a Scripture passage that looked forward to a day of Gentile salvation and inclusion.

Boom!

There is a two-pronged formula here that is valid to this day for affirming truth and the work of God: there is the observable testimony of what God is doing, foundationally validated by the testimony of Scripture. Experience alone doesn’t do it. But when the experience squares with God’s Word, there is the authoritative stamp of approval.