Acts 15:12-21
As children, we loved to form clubs. My favorite club was “no boys allowed.” We would make a list of rules. Soon, however, the list of rules became so complicated, not even the founders of the club could follow them.
It was this problem that the apostles tried to avoid in Acts 15. On the one hand, they did not want the gospel to be complicated; a weight around the neck of the Gentiles. They knew it was a matter of simple faith: for the Jews and for the Gentiles.
On the other hand, they did not wish for lawlessness in the church; they were advocating for grace. So, they boiled down the “rules” to three: “abstain from food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, and from meat of strangled animals” (Acts 15:20b).
Let us remember we serve a God, who in His grace, asks for a simple faith. We do not have to make Christianity complicated. Let us not make it difficult for anyone turning to God. Our message is: “God loves you. Love Him in return.”
Author: Kelly Yates