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“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading Acts 15:1–11. “Thanks be to God.”
In the 1950s ABC had a hit with its tv show, The Lone Ranger. It opened with the masked horseman shooting his gun, riding on a white horse. A trumpet call. And then the voiceover:
“Hi-Yo Silver!” A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty, “Hi-Yo Silver, away!” The Lone Ranger!” With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States! Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear! The Lone Ranger rides again!
The Lone Ranger is a former Texas Ranger that turned into a kind of vigilante for good. Saving people. Catching bad guys. Always masked. Never known. As he rides away at the end, someone will ask, “Who is he?” “He’s the Lone Ranger.” And then you hear the Ranger’s, “Hi-Yo Silver, away!” Roll the credits.
That image of the self-reliant, self-directed force for good isn’t very realistic. It makes for a good TV show. But that’s not how people are. We don’t thrive that way. People need people to flourish. We get tempted. We get distracted. People can help us see when we’re drifting and nudge us back on course. A man with no ties to family or a community doesn’t tend to remain a “vigilante for good.” He tends to become just a “vigilante.”
What’s true of individuals is true of churches. Churches need churches to flourish. Churches don’t flourish in isolation. We need other churches to stay faithful. And we certainly need other churches to see the Great Commission fulfilled. The Great Commission is a global mission. No single church can do that.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen that as Christians we’re spiritually connected to all Christians everywhere—and throughout all time. Being part of the spiritual body of Christ means an unbreakable connection to all who belong to Christ.
What we’ll see in our text this morning is that this spiritual unity is meant to be reflected in local churches, too. Christians need Christians, and churches need churches.
Because of that, our church has partnered with Trinity Fellowship Churches—a group of churches committed to living out this New Testament vision of interconnected churches.
In the first sentence of the TFC Book of Church Order, kind of like our “constitution”:
Trinity Fellowship Churches (hereafter, TFC) is an ecclesiastical union of confessional, connectional, and missional churches committed to maturing and multiplying disciples with the gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God.
TFC Book of Church Order
That idea of an “ecclesiastical union” is what we’re talking about this morning. That word “connectional.” TFC has a vision for churches that don’t just do things together but which are truly “connected” in some deep ways.
A key reason for this is our passage this morning, Acts 15. Right in the middle of the book of Acts. A kind of hinge. Before we’re focused on Jerusalem and Peter. After this we’re focused on Paul and the nations. But for the mission to the nations to really take off, they need to settle a theological issue.
We’ll trace the passage with the geography in it: (1) Antioch goes to Jerusalem (15:1–21); (2) Jerusalem goes to Antioch (15:22–33); (3) Antioch goes to the Churches (15:34–16:5).
Prayer – for TFC. For Cornerstone elders. For our connection to churches in our area.
If there’s one name of an ancient church that stuck out as a possibility when we were renaming the church it was “Antioch.” City in modern Turkey near the Mediterranean. Just over 300 miles of Jerusalem.
Acts 11:19–30: Here you can read of the church beginning when Christians scattered during the persecution from Acts 8. A persecution that the apostle Paul helped create before he became a Christ-follower. As Christians fled, they shared Christ. Gentiles converted in Antioch. Barnabas sent from the Jerusalem church to support the work. Barnabas went to Tarsus and got Paul to help him with the work back in Antioch.
“In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26). Ultimately this church would send a financial gift to Jerusalem because of a famine. Luke says the church in Antioch sent the gift “to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Paul” (Acts 11:30).
A few years later we read about Antioch in Acts 13:1–2:
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:1–2)
This is what begins what we call “the first missionary journey” of Paul. Acts 13–14.
When they return, major turmoil rocks the church in Antioch—Acts 15:1.
The solution: Send a delegation to Jerusalem: “Paul and Barnabas and some of the others” (Acts 15:2).
They were sent “Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question” (Acts 15:2).
Then they’re “welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders” (Acts 15:4).
Then the debate begins:
Interestingly, the group then changes: “The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter” (Acts 15:6). This feels like a different gathering. A more formal one. The larger body of “the church” (Acts 15:4) doesn’t seem to be here now. Just the church leaders.
Peter speaks (Acts 15:7–11): The gospel of forgiveness and having our hearts cleansed “by faith” and “through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Confirmed “by giving them the Holy Spirit.” “The assembly” fell silent.
Interlude as Barnabas and Paul speak: Back in Jerusalem, Barnabas the greater figure so listed first (Acts 15:12). Note “signs and wonders.” Evidence that the same Holy Spirit at work as Peter mentioned.
James speaks (Acts 15:13–21): “Simeon” (the more Jewish version of Peter’s name “Simon”). But who is James? Certainly, “James, the Lord’s brother” (Gal 1:19). A little fuzzy whether he’s here as one of “the apostles” or as the preeminent among “the elders.” By this point he’s the leader of the Jerusalem church (see Acts 12:17).
James adds two things to Peter’s testimony.
The gospel of free grace that Peter is describing is not a gospel without holiness. But the holiness required has to do with moral commandments—not ceremonies like circumcision.
The significance of the moment is evident in the way Luke will preserve the entire letter in his narrative. Not only the debate but also the letter. Read Acts 15:22–33.
“It seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church…” (Acts 15:22).
“It seemed good to” is more forceful in the Greek. Other translations have captured it this way: “the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to” (CSB, NIV).
The decision was to send a letter with a small delegation.
The letter: “The brothers…to the brothers who are of the Gentiles…” (Acts 15:23) – Note the way the letter has built a bridge with these Christians. You are I, we’re just “brothers.” Yes, we’re “apostles and elders,” and yes, you are “of the Gentiles,” but at the end of the day, we’re just brothers with the same heavenly Father.
The body of the letter (Acts 15:24–29).
“It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28).
The small delegation: Send a delegation with Paul and Barnabas—“Judas” and “Silas,” described as “leading men among the brothers” (Acts 15:22). Judas and Silas, who were “prophets,” “encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words” (Acts 15:32).
The letter is delivered to Antioch where “the congregation” was gathered, and “they rejoiced because of its encouragement” (Acts 15:31).
The letter made clear that Gentiles don’t need to become Jews in order to be saved. They need to believe the gospel of free grace offered in Jesus Christ. They need to keep God’s moral laws. But they don’t need to become Jews. Circumcision is not necessary. Jewish food laws aren’t necessary.
After a while “they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them” (Acts 15:33).
Then we get a fascinating turn of events we didn’t see coming. There’s been so much good ministry, so much harmony, so much cooperation between Christians. The next passage catches us off guard. Read Acts 15:34–16:5.
Paul and Barnabas (now Paul first) stayed in Antioch and ministered.
Then the desire to visit “the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are” (Acts 15:36). Again, “the brothers.”
An unexpected disagreement that doesn’t get settled (Acts 15:37–39).
Why would Barnabas be so committed to John Mark? We learn from Colossians 4:10 that John Mark is Barnabas’ cousin.
And like Michael Corleone said to Fredo in The Godfather Part 2, “Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever."
Paul and Silas go, “commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord” (Acts 15:40). Ministry “through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches” (Acts 15:41).
Lystra: Timothy is raised up and commissioned (Acts 16:1–3). Fascinating to record it here of all places, that Paul circumcised Timothy for the sake of the mission. But it isn’t contradicting the Jerusalem Council, it models it: Not for salvation. Not for obedience. But sometimes for the sake of mission: “To the Jews, I became as a Jew” (1 Cor 9:20).
In their ministry, they delivered “the decisions” (from Grk. dogma) made “by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem” (Acts 16:4). Not just to the church that asked for help—Antioch. But to other churches as well that were faced with the same issues.
The result? “So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5).
Let’s notice the model Luke is holding up to us. He’s holding up to us a model for an assembly of “apostles and elders” that can make decisions for groups of churches.
Some would say that the presence of apostles makes this “assembly” unique, since there are no more apostles.
People who argue there are no more apostles have a very specific kind of apostle in mind.
Better to see apostles like prophets. There is a certain kind of infallible prophet that no longer exists, the prophets behind Scripture. But there are other kinds of prophets that exist today—like Judas and Silas in our passage.
With apostles, there is also a certain kind of apostle that no longer exists—eyewitness to the resurrection and author of Scripture. But there is another kind that does—still busy about planting churches, overseeing churches, involved with larger works involving many churches.
There’s a place, then, to see that an assembly of “apostles and elders” can still gather for the sake of a larger group of churches and make key decisions.
Another thing to notice: Good to see the way “the church” (the ekklēsia) served as “affirmation” in this chapter. They welcome the Antioch delegation (15:6) and they’re mentioned in 15:22. Notice the subtlety, though: “it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church” (Acts 15:22).
***We believe Luke is holding up to us a model for an aspect of church government. Some kind of “assembly” (Acts 15:12) that can act on behalf of multiple churches for important decisions.
John Murray:
The unity of government exemplified in the gradation of courts of jurisdiction…is a principle which…the New Testament sets forth…in Acts 15….Apostolic example has the force of divine prescription. The unity that belongs to the body of Christ must come to expression in government, as well as in the other functions which are properly those of the church. That each congregation should be entirely independent in its government is incompatible with the oneness of the body of Christ….There must be some way of bringing this unity [expressed in Eph 4:4–6] to expression.
John Murray, “The Form of Government”[1]
We express this connectedness with our “Regional Assemblies” and “General Assembly.” Assemblies where we do the work of making decisions that impact local churches, establish what we mean by “sound doctrine.”
A new gospel clarity has been achieved, and now the gospel will go into new lands with new fruitfulness—Corinth, Ephesus, ultimately, Rome.
Clearly, the picture of the flourishing church in the New Testament is not the Lone Ranger image—a person unknown and unconnected off doing what he thinks best.
New Testament Christianity is a connected life. True at the individual level as we join together in a local church.
It’s true between churches.
The New Testament is filled with ways churches connect with churches to bear good fruit.
We are one body of Christ, and as one body we are to be connected to other churches who are also part of this one body of Christ.
Examples of this connectionalism in the New Testament:
But Acts 15 reminds us that a shared government is another important point of connection.
Trinity Fellowship Churches and what it means to be “Connectional”:
We believe it is healthy, strategic, and safe for a church to be interdependent and not disconnected from other congregations. We are, therefore, a fellowship of interconnected churches united in the Holy Spirit and committed to building relationships, developing healthy elderships and churches, adhering to our foundational documents, and pursuing mission.
TFC Book of Church Order 1.2
Prayer
[1] Murray, “The Form of Government,” Collected Writings, 2:349, 350.
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