Us and Them

The whole world talks about “us” and “them.” We are born into a family where we experience and develop intense loyalty for one another. Our clan and tribe become the way in which we understand ourselves and see the world. These closest associations give us both identity and protection. They are the very center of our universe.

As we mature we choose affiliations that support our values and our view of the world. We survive and flourish as we leverage the power and influence of these connections. We believe deeply that we have discovered the very best way for humans to live in this world. 

If God were to send his One and Only Son to this earth to show us his love and to provide a way for us to be with him in heaven, how would that Son do affiliation here on earth? Every choice he made would be exclusionary. If he became a Pharisee, he would anger the Sadducees. If he became a Republican he would alienate the Democrats. 

We know how he did it. Jesus was God’s Son and our Savior. Think about his social network for a moment. He managed to live on this earth for 33 years without being captured by any human affiliation other than the one he initiated with 12 people whom he himself chose. 

Jesus was building his church from the very first encounter with Andrew and Philip. He pulled these men out of their occupations and groups. He insisted that they follow him and him alone. For three years he poured his life into them.

After his death and resurrection, these apostles understood. Jesus had given them the supreme gift, the gift of life only available through him. This transcended all other concerns of life. And it could not be compromised by any of those other concerns. “You’ve got to hate even your father and mother,” Jesus said, in relation to your love for me.

Salvation in Jesus Christ was from the very first intended and designed for all humans everywhere regardless of their previous affiliations. And once Jesus was Lord in them, all other affiliations became secondary. 

The Leading Moralists Stake Out Their Position:

"Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.'” — Acts 15:5 

The Pharisees really treasured their identity within the Jewish community. They were the ones who were seeking to purify the worship of the one true God and to live out that commitment faithfully in the community.

• The Pharisees were the best people they knew in relation to the law of Moses. 
• And really, how could you be a Christian and not keep the law that Moses received from God on Mount Sinai?

This “party” was identified apart from Christ. The idea of being a Pharisee had nothing to do with being a Christian.

They brought their pre-existing affiliation into the church. It wasn’t a “Christian” identity but a Jewish identity. 

Then they insisted that everyone become one of “them” in order to become “us.” 

• They wanted to erect an extraneous cultural hurdle to church membership and to salvation. These Gentiles who were responding to the good news about Jesus must become Jews, being circumcised and keeping the law of Moses, if they wanted to be Christians.
• Every human organization in which members invest resources of time and money tends to become the depository for cultural values. Sometimes those cultural values become more important to the members than the reason for which the organization was founded. If that happens the organization loses it focus and morphs into something else.

This is the great danger in the proposal of the party of the Pharisees. Their proposal is deadly to the fledgling church on many fronts. If the church agreed to do this to the Gentiles—require their circumcision and keeping the Mosaic law—the church itself would have lost its soul. They were Christians, Christ-ones, not Jews.

Our missionaries all over the world are instructed not to get involved in the politics of the nation where they are sent. They are simply to focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is their task. As the people of that nation embrace Jesus as Lord, we expect them to see their own world more clearly and to participate more fully in their society in a just and loving way.

But Already, “God made a choice”

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. — Acts 15:7

All the same way! God has declared, Peter said, that we are all saved the same way—by grace through faith. 

• The way we are saved is our great unifying principle.
• We are all saved the same way because we are all afflicted by the same deadly virus of sin. 
• This is true whether you have the law of Moses as your moral standard or not. You are still a sinner. Peter asked, “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?” (Acts 15:10). 

No discrimination! “He did not discriminate between us and them,” Peter said (Acts 15:9).

• God did not say of one group that they could come into his presence in a different way. The implication of the party of the Pharisees is this: salvation comes at least in part through circumcision and keeping the law of Moses.
• But Jews are not saved by a different covenant. They do not have a different path to heaven. They are saved the same way that Gentiles are saved. That is the point.

Through Grace! “It is through the grace” (Acts 15:11). “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Peter in Acts 15:11).

• Grace cannot be earned. Therefore, there is not a single thing that a person can do to save himself.
• This grace is available exclusively through Jesus.

Through God's Intervention! James: “How God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles” (Acts 15:14)

• This is the activity of God here, not human choice.
• God is choosing these Gentiles for his name. I am just as chosen by God as Abraham or Moses.

This Was God’s Purpose All Along:

“I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent” (Acts 15:16; Amos 9:11-12)

God rebuilt the house of David at the same time he established a people for his name from the Gentiles, according to Amos 9:11-12. 

He accomplished these two simultaneous spiritual revolutions through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of David and Son of God.