In Acts 15: 1-35 we encounter a discussion about rules and who they apply to. This is a discussion that should be very relevant to us today.
During Christ's ministry Jesus was often followed by the Pharisees who were searching for faults about what he was doing and preaching. They especially were upset with him if he healed a person on the Sabbath because it broke a rule. Each time he was confronted by them, he would ask them very pointed questions about why it should be unlawful to heal or help someone on the Sabbath. He was frustrated by the many rules that men had devised for those who practiced the Jewish faith. He confronted those who held the laws of the faith in such esteem and chastised them for the rules that they had laid on men that had little to do with Gods intent. Who can forget the soliloquy by Jesus in Matthew 23 where Jesus confronts the Pharisees in a powerful message. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. ( Mthw 23:13) "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. ……But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. (Mthw 23: 2-4).
In Acts we see an important discussion that deals with a similar issue as this new Christian faith is taking hold. The discussion is around whether a practice in Judaism should be continued in order for non-Jews to become Christians. At some point Paul makes the plea that it should be made easier for people to become followers. In essence, focus on the really important stuff and forget all the fringe rules. As the question was being considered, it was not just about the purpose of the rule, more importantly, it was also about who made this rule and how did it bring one to faith and subsequent salvation?
How we qualify for salvation has been an on-going question throughout Christian history. The answer was always evident in what Christ preached, but at some point or another, man has continuously made embellishments and rules which were entangled with the message of the cross. Again and again the question would be asked, are these rules truly God's or are they mans? Hence, great schisms rose up in the church, wars were fought and the reformation occurred.
So how does this discussion amongst these early Christians affect us today? The on-going examination continues as to whether our rules or thinking is about what God has declared to be true, or whether it is human beings who have conjured up a truth of their own making.
Unlike the apostles who were trying to open the doors to faith in Christ and hence, salvation, by eliminating items of the old guard Jewish faith that could keep people out, many doors in the Christian faith today are being opened for what seems a "come with whatever beliefs you want and pay little attention to the Bible." Sometimes it is called Swiss-cheese faith or smorgasbord faith, but whatever you may term it, many people are creating there own rules to quell what we used to see as sin and make it sinless. There is a thought process that says that ones own version of God and Christ, to meet our own purposes, is an acceptable idea even though it has no Biblical authority. In fact there are whole churches that are marching to this drum beat, as they move away from the word. Because of this, we see controversy. Our culture is troubled by such things as abortion, a woman's right to choose, homosexuality, gay marriage and life-styles where there are children brought into the world without the marriage of the parents. All of this thinking is really about rules and whose rules work the best---God's or mans? Who is the authority in such matters?
The new covenant, given to us by God through the cross of Jesus Christ, made the Christian faith inclusive- open to all, without the bindings of Jewish law. Conversely, it made it exclusive, in that one must believe that Christ was and is the only way and the Truth and the life leading to the Father. This idea of an 'inclusive-exclusive' faith seems like a paradox, but it the Truth that saves.
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