Grace For All

GRACE FOR ALL

a prayer to open

Holy Spirit, come. Center my heart.

Fill my mind. Guide my steps.

While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. . . . They stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”

So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 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 the Lord Jesus.”

Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written:

‘Afterward I will return

and restore the fallen house of David.

I will rebuild its ruins

and restore it,

so that the rest of humanity might seek the LORD,

including the Gentiles—

all those I have called to be mine.

The LORD has spoken—

he who made these things known so long ago.’

“And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

Chapter 15 of Acts reports a critical moment in the church. The apostles gathered together in Jerusalem to resolve a dispute over whether Gentiles were required to be circumcised and obey Mosaic law in order to be saved. Up to this point, none of the apostles had imposed such requirements on Gentiles. But apparently certain Pharisees who converted grew to resent the ease with which a Gentile could be saved. They grew to resent grace. Ultimately, the apostles affirmed that it is by grace alone—not works, circumcision, or the law—that all are saved.

• Read this passage again. What word or phrase stands out to you? Sit quietly, reminding yourself that you are in God’s loving presence, and ask him to show you how that word or phrase connects to your life.
• Reflect on whether you have ever resented the extension of God’s grace to someone. What triggered your resentment?
• Have you ever heard anyone say that grace is too good to be true? How did you (or how might you) respond to such an assertion?

Father, thank you for grace. Thank you that it is by grace alone that I am saved. Keep this truth at the center of my heart and mind, and make it the lens through which I see others. Remove any sense of superiority or resentment in my heart. Remind me of how far you have brought me and how far I have to go to look like Jesus. Allow me to be a messenger of your grace, and let my life showcase the need and beauty of your grace. Amen.