Acts 15:10-11 NIV “So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of Jesus.”
Acts 15:10-11 MSG “So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don’t we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?”
Observation
Paul was presenting his case to the Christian leaders in Jerusalem. Today, he would have been appealing to the Board. He was not asking to throw out every tradition and teaching of the past. The new Gentile converts had no experience with Jewish rituals as they were coming from idolatrous religions with their own heavy load of rituals and traditions. He was asking for a determination of what was eternal and important, and asking new Gentile believers to hold only to that. He wanted the new converts to experience the freedom, release, adoption and grace that Master Jesus provided.
Empty tradition does not bring joy; it brings legalism and bondage. Rituals and tradition can be beautiful and uplifting, but should not be treasured just because they have been around for a long time. The teachings of Jesus often flew in the face of established ritual and traditions and religious laws because they delivered the wrong message, defamed the generosity and love of God, and created a soul-breaking burden for the people. He went back to the basics, showing God as merciful, loving, kind, a healer, a provider, and full of grace for the hopeless, sick and sin-ridden. He asked that we simply worship and honor God in spirit and in truth, trusting in His love and grace.
Impact on Me
I grew up in a church environment heavy with ritual and tradition. I learned to respect spiritual authority, be faithful in attendance, to serve others, to care for the sick and abandoned, and so much more. There are lots of traditions and rituals that have value in helping us to be reverent, worshipful and focused on the God we serve. However, I also found many church laws, traditions and rituals became anchors to keep me fixed, crushing weights impossible to bear, interfering with a soul that should be dancing with the joy of salvation. I had a picture of a distant God Who was mostly displeased with me and wanted me to try to earn His favor by following the rituals and rules.
When I discovered that salvation was free, God loved me just as I am AND wanted to be an active part of helping me to become more like Him despite my human tendency to fail, I started to dance to the symphony of His salvation, the harmony of Jesus in me, the melody of the Holy Spirit’s work song as He began to change me into a living sacrifice, a loving and obedient child of God. I woke up to the freedom there is in Christ and willingly became that living sacrifice, trusting in a loving Father to equip, protect and assign me for His purposes.
Devotion
Lord God, Heavenly Father, Jesus Messiah, Holy Spirit, my Helper, how beautiful, holy and blessed You are. Search me, find any old weights and chains, and break me free to be all You desire for me to be. Speak to my heart in a way I cannot deny is You with Your assignment for me. Let me never walk by someone who will hear Your voice speak through me to bring the knowledge of Christ. Help me always to be an encouragement to others, allowing You to be to them what they need You to be, expressed in the way they need to have You “appear” to them. Make it so, in Jesus’ name.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 