Boundaries Not Barriers

July 27         

(Acts 15:19 NIV) “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” 

(Acts 15:28-29 NIV) “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: {29} You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

(Ephesians 2:11-22 NIV) “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- {12} remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. {13} But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. {14} For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, {15} by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, {16} and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. {17} He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. {18} For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. {19} Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, {20} built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. {21} In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. {22} And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

James made a grace-filled statement at the end of the Council of Jerusalem. Basically he said, “Let’s keep it simple, and not make it difficult for people to turn to Christ. It shouldn’t be hard to get into the church. Let’s do away with the legalistic burdens. The church should be about inviting people in, not about keeping people out. The church will have some boundaries, but it shouldn’t be about building barriers.” James called for a few basic requirements regarding food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality, but other than that, the church was open to all sinners saved by God’s amazing grace. Christ’s church should be accessible to all those seeking and celebrating salvation. Some basic boundaries are necessary, but the church should not be in the business of creating barriers. We are called to labor at bringing them in… not work to keep them out. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day