To the Ends of the Earth | Acts 15:19-29

Well, hey, good morning to you. If you were to ask me what word describes how I'm feeling lately, it would be the word grateful. As I reflect now, going on two years in Utah, what God has done in me, what he's done in my family, what he's done in you, and what he's done in this church, my heart this week has been grateful. If you were to give me another word that describes how I feel lately, it's what the heck is going on? I have three teenagers now, and I don't know what to do with it.

So if I'm in my feels today, it's partially because I'm, like, super grateful for you and what God's doing here. And then I'm emotionally not knowing how to process the fact that I'm a dad of all teenagers. My daughter celebrates her 13th birthday today. Please, please don't say anything to her. She's gonna get so mad me even saying this, but I'm like, that's what happens when you're serving kids.

But took her to the mall yesterday, six preteen teenage girls. And I'm like, what has my life become? You know? And so I'm grateful. Here's why I'm grateful.

Two years ago, you guys, as Church of the Valley, welcomed our family in as just complete strangers. And you're like, hey, you get to be the pastor now. You're in charge. Whatever God leads you, we're in. And I'm grateful that you guys have, like, just stepped into that.

Like, I didn't know you two years ago. For some of you, I've just known and met over the last several weeks, and I'm reminded this week of what a humbling responsibility it is to preach and proclaim and to lead in the church. And so I'm just grateful for you. I'm celebrating with you. February was such a great month around here.

So I want you to put your hands together as I just kind of call out some things. Last week, man, we got to see people respond to the gospel, surrender their lives fully to Jesus. That's always worth celebrating.

You guys are living out one of our strategies where we say, hey, we give generously and gladly around here. We give and we tithe because we want to, because it's our desire to. February was, as I looked through data, I think it was probably our best month of giving we've ever had in the history of this church. So that's because of you.

And then 30 some people signed up either to serve on a team or you made Your team leader mad, and you switched teams last week, so. But 30 of you stepped up to serve, man, that's awesome. That's worth celebrating.

I think being a part of the local church is one of the greatest things we'll ever get to do. Like, this is the one thing that we get to do that advances the gospel. And lives are changed because of this. So if you don't get excited about seeing lives change, man, I don't know what will. Like, when you get to see people, like, come to faith in Christ.

When you see people, like, hey, been reading the Bible for the first time, or, hey, I've taken this step of obedience towards Jesus. If that doesn't excite you, I don't know what will. Maybe killing an elk one day or winning Super Bowl, I don't know what it is for you. Whatever you fill in the blank. Seeing Jesus work in people's lives is one of the greatest joys and treasures we get.

Amen. Last week's sermon was on this whole idea. In Acts chapter 15, we saw this thing called the Jerusalem Council, right? There was a bunch of people coming to faith in Jesus that were not Jewish in background, and they were coming to faith in Jesus. And there's these agitators that came along to start preaching a false gospel, saying, hey, if you want to be a Christian, you gotta, like, have Jesus.

And if you're a dude, you gotta go through this procedure, too. And all the dudes are like, yo, I'm out. Like, man, I knew church was kind of weird and complicated. Not down with this. This is not what's going on today.

So just let me disarm some of you. When you look at what was going on in Acts 15, what was really at the heart of this false teaching is you had a bunch of Jews that were like, hey, yeah, Jesus. But they've got to become Jews also. They've got to embrace our heritage, embrace our ideas, our rituals, our laws. And we asked the question last week, what must I do to be saved?

Or another way. We asked the same question, is, how do I get to heaven? This was what the whole Jerusalem Council was about last week, as people were saying it was Jesus plus something, right? Works good efforts, religious obligation, do all these things plus Jesus. Then you go to heaven.

And the disciples and the apostles were like, no, it's just Jesus alone. It's Jesus plus nothing. When we think about the gospel, we say that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. Like, your salvation is purely on the work of God in Your life. This is good news for us because it means that there's nothing we could ever do that's going to revoke it.

There's nothing we could do that's gonna maintain it. There's nothing that you and I could do that God is going to look upon you and be like, I don't love you as much because of. But his grace is just lavished on you, and his mercy is lavished on you because God loves you deeply. And your salvation, and my salvation is purely by grace alone. It's this unmerited kindness of God.

It's through faith, right? We're kept by faith. We're just gonna believe that when Jesus said, this is how it is. When Jesus death, his burial and resurrection was what God said, hey, put your faith in that you'll be saved. We say it's by faith and it's in Christ alone.

So the reality is that the Gospel is not just for your eternity, but it impacts our everyday life. If you're to look at the Jerusalem Council, right, we've broken it up into three weeks on purpose here. Last week we said, hey, the Gospel is our foundation for all things. That was Acts 15, verses 1 through 18, that the gospel is foundational for all things. If we get the gospel wrong, then I would say that we get everything wrong.

If we misunderstand the gospel, then our application of all of the Bible gets skewed. We also said this week we're gonna see how the gospel in our is played out in our relationships with each other. That's what we're gonna talk about today. And then next week when the Jerusalem Council's done and dismisses, we're gonna see how the gospel advances best with the unified church. See, the gospel saves you from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day the presence of sin.

When we talk about the penalty, right? There was a payment that was required to pay the debt of sin. That's on the cross, buried in a tomb, rose in victory over it. We see now how the gospel is saving us from the power of sin. This is a whole idea of sanctification.

Philippians 1:6, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. This is God working away. Like, this is why we say, as Christians, we ongoingly repent of sin, not so that we could re earn our salvation, not so we could get back into heaven. But we repent because as we bring our sin into the light, we get to see it disarmed and we get to see true freedom. That's this gospel saving us Penalty, power.

And then we say, one day the presence of sin. What that means is there will be a day if you're a follower of Jesus, that you will stand face to face in the presence of King Jesus. And when you go to heaven according to the Bible, right, you get to be there in all of its glory, fully present, fully, fully known, no sin, no shame, no condemnation, fully in the presence of the triune God, Father, Son and Spirit. You go there face to face with him. You see, the gospel changes everything.

It's not just for your salvation, but for your everyday life. When you start to think about how the gospel plays itself out, right? It's this whole idea, one that we are reconciled vertically to God, right? That's the gospel for your salvation. And then the gospel pushes us towards a horizontal faith that you are horizontally using the gospel to reconcile with one another.

This is why the power of forgiveness is so strong. This is why when you go to your spouse or your friend and say, hey, I'm sorry for what I've done, it's the power of the gospel working through you and changing and transforming hearts. And we see how the gospel sanctifies, empowers me. Now, this is me walking in Christlikeness in my pursuit of holiness and godliness. And then we see the picture of heaven, that we will be glorified and fully free in heaven.

That's the book of Revelation. So last week, foundation for the Gospel Today. How does the gospel play itself out relationally? Let me reread some of that text for a moment. Verse 19.

This is a guy named James talking. James says, therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled from blood. I'm going to explain all of that in one second. Because for some of you, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no mid rare steaks and filets. I'm out.

Like, that's. Let me give you some grace, man. We give you some freedom. That's not what's going on here. But he says this in verse 21.

For from ancient generations, Moses had in every city those who proclaim him. For he has read every Sabbath on the synagogue. So what James is saying in verse 21 is, hey, all throughout this region, all throughout this area, from Jerusalem and beyond, there are Jewish people that call on the name of the Lord. There are Jewish people worshiping God. And in Every city there are these people.

But what Paul or what James is doing, he's like, hey, I'm writing to those of you who are Gentiles, those of you who are not of the Jewish religion or heritage. Hey, there are going to be some Jewish people in your church. Verse 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. So they sent Judas, who's called Barabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter.

So, right, this is James in the first couple verses. They're like, hey, let's tell them not to do this. And then they draft up a letter, right? This would be like when we say, hey, we could just send this in email. Would have saved us a couple hours of hiking.

This is what goes on the following letter, the brothers, both the apostles, and the letters to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria and Sisula. Greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, right? Here's kind of a key point here is what James is saying. Hey, there's some people and they ain't with us.

They came from us, but they're not of us. They are distorting and twisting the Bible, and we are not okay with them. Right? They have troubled your minds. And this is Paul almost just offering a rebuke to those people as well.

Verse 25. For it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Saul. Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love that. Hey, these are men changed by grace, changed by what Jesus has done.

They have literally given their lives and risked it for your sake. Saw a quote this week by a guy named Michael Horton. He said the early Christians were not fed to wild beasts because they thought Jesus was a helpful life coach or role model. They didn't die because they just thought this was a good idea to follow. I mean, they died because they were like, hey, this is the Savior of the world and he is worthy of us giving our lives to even towards death.

Verse 27. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from that which has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from that what has been strangled and from sexual morality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

So here's James. Didn't talk a lot about him last week, but James was one of the ringleaders in the church. Very interesting. Fun fact about James is James was the brother of Jesus. Didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah till later.

You imagine growing up in a household where your brother's like, yo, I'm the king of Kings, Lord of lords, like, it's me. You gotta stand in the shadows of that your entire life. I don't know why. It took James a lot longer to come to faith in Jesus, but he eventually does becomes one of the church leaders. James is saying, hey, let's not put any other burden on these Christians.

Let's not put any other burden on these. We're gonna rebuke the false teachers. I wanna add to the gospel, and we're gonna say to the Gentiles, hey, here's what we say. Now. James was the perfect example of this.

There are accounts later about his martyrdom in church history that say that James was a good guy. Deep piety, observance of the law, like, still did these things not as a means for salvation, but because of his desire to honor the Lord. And they send out these men to go visit all, all of the churches in which we talked about for the last several weeks since Acts 13. Paul, Barnabas and co go back and say, hey, here's our encouragement from you. Hey, from the mothership in Jerusalem.

This is what they said. So if you're taking notes, write this down. That the letter in Acts 15, verses 19 and 29 wasn't about salvation, but how they could lovingly serve one another. This is important to get here. It is very important for us to understand what Paul and them are delivering is instructions.

Not saying, hey, do these things in addition to the Gospel so you're saved. What they're saying is, do these things because what's at stake for your new brothers and sisters here, the instructions are going to go deeper than just a short list of do's and don'ts. Right? Remember, the Gospel changes everything. Vertically to God, horizontally to one another.

These instructions go deeper than just a short list of do's and don'ts. But what it did is it brought the church into a greater way of thinking that our lives are not all about us. What Paul and these guys are saying is, hey, we're giving you these instructions not so you would try to ensure your salvation but because you're already speaking saved, do these things because of the sake of your brothers and sisters around you. Hey, you know what? They found the center of the universe one day.

Pretty cool. You know who's not there? You and me. Like, we're not the center of the universe, but yet so much of our lives are all about us. And what Paul and these guys are going to go do is go into the churches and say, hey, your salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone.

But because you're in Christ, there's some things that are going to cause your other brothers and sisters to kind of feel a little weary with the things you do. The whole idea here is about table fellowship. Now, the assembly in Jerusalem decided, hey, we're not going to add to the burden of the Gentiles. We're not going to tell them, hey, you have to observe all these Jewish rituals too. So you have to understand how this messed with the mind of a Jewish guy in the church.

So these Jewish Christians are like, yeah, but we've related to God like this for century after century after century. And now we don't. Like, how do we make sense of this? And James and the apostles are like, hey, don't put any more burdens on them. These things are a prescribed way and basis for fellowship.

Now, because you had two people groups, right? Jews and Gentiles, two complete different traditions, two completely different backgrounds, two completely different ways of life. And all of a sudden now in the church, they're one family. This is what makes Christianity hard at times. It's because there's some things that you do, there's some things I do, there's some things that we do.

And we're like, man, I don't know about that, dude. I can't believe he'd do that. For some of you, you come from more reserved backgrounds. You walk in here and people got their hands up and you're like, I don't know, man. You got some people shouting and you're like, we never did that.

Some of you like, man, we sat in church to sing. Now we're standing. What's going on? This is Jewish and Gentile type things.

So there's this growth opportunity for the Jews now because these Gentiles coming into the church, and, man, the Holy Spirit's on them, and they're just like, man, Jesus is the greatest thing ever. And these Jews are like, but you gotta do this, you gotta do this. You gotta do all these other things too. And the apostles are like, no, don't Add to it, not requiring these Gentiles to go through the Jewish rites and rituals was a radical departure for the Jewish mind. But you have to see here that what was going on was the Holy Spirit was leading God's people and it was confirmed, right?

Acts 13, Acts 14, Acts 10, right. People are just coming to of faith in Jesus and the Jews are like, we don't know what to do with this. And so the apostles get together and say, hey, it's good because this is from the Spirit of God. There's this consistent picture in the book of Acts that wherever Christians are open to the leading of the Spirit confirmed by the Word, there was a sense of unity. And then secondly, you see these Jewish Christian leaders showing a deep concern for the gospel to continue to advance that would overshadow their own special interest.

How that looks like here is in our core values. This is why we say to you, we do whatever it takes to reach one more for Christ. We, that means us. We do whatever it takes. That means for some of us, it just means laying our preferences to the side.

I don't like how loud it is. I don't like how quiet it is. I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like that.

I don't like that we have this type of thing or that kind of thing when we're saying is man, we just do whatever it takes. Why? Because what's at stake is eternity for people. Amen. If we have to do things that make us uncomfortable, if they're like outside, if they're just our preferences or extra biblical things, we just say, hey, it's fine.

You need me to show up early, I'll show up early. Why? Because I'll do whatever it takes. If you need me to go to men's group at 6:30, because that's the best time for everybody, I'm in. We do whatever it takes.

I'm laying down my preferences. This is what was going on in the Jerusalem Council. So let me give you some context on this instructions here, because this is what happens. James says, hey, there's three things we need to tell these Gentiles. Don't eat meat sacrificed to idols, don't eat meat with blood in it, and don't commit sexual immorality.

I'll tell you this, two of the three aren't a big deal. One of the three is a big deal to us today. The context of these three things, if you were to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 8 for a moment, here's Paul addressing meat sacrificed to idols here, this is a big deal. Back then, nobody in our church is, like, doing this and not inviting me over. They're like, guess what, bro?

This stake was sacrificed to this idol I got in my closet. That's not our context today. But it was a big deal to these folks because the pagans in Paul's day, right? Like, this is Paul specifically addressing the church in a city called Corinth. There were Christians in Corinth that came out of pagan worship and idolatry.

And what happened is these people would sacrifice meats to false gods because they were afraid if they didn't, then the gods would punish them like they were always trying to sacrifice in a way to make sure these gods weren't angry with them. There was this idol worship. So in verse or First Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 1 says this. Now, concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge. This knowledge puffs up, but our love builds up.

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and there is no God but one. For although there are so many called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, for whom all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge, but some, through formal association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol.

And their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God, for we are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that it is your right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so, by your knowledge, this weak person has destroyed the brother from whom Christ died, thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience.

When it's weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. So here's Paul echoing this instruction in first Corinthians. He's like, here, there's some people around you, their conscience is weak. They don't understand yet that Acts 10 is true, that he could Go for freely and eat all kinds of foods.

But yet in their conscience they think if we sacrifice to idols, if we do these things, we're partaking in our old pagan ways. And Paul is saying, hey, you in the church who are mature, right? So Paul is saying, hey, the Jewish Christians in their step of maturity are not requiring you to be like them anymore. And you as a gentile now need to be mature in your thinking and realize that there's some people, people in your church that are going to struggle with the things that you do that you're freed to do. And then first Corinthians 8 just kind of echoes that saying, hey, don't do it.

Like, Paul is a far better Christian than I am. Because if you were to be like, hey, you need to give up steaks and ribeyes for the sake of the kingdom of God, I'd be like, man, this is very tough, tough, tough. But Paul's like, hey dude, I'll do anything. If it means that my brother's conscience is going to get severed and he's going to go in disray and and be distraught because of this, I'll gladly do so. So the Jerusalem council says, hey, first, don't eat meat, sacrifice to idols.

And he says, secondly, don't eat meat with blood in it. He's not saying stop eating mid rare steaks. It's actually a sin. It's in the Bible. Just trust me on this one.

If you cook your steaks well done, like that's the sin and abomination of the Lord. Fellowship way. Just kidding. Several years ago I had a guy in our church, super, super wealthy and just like to bless people. And so I was like, hey man, I'd really like to take our pastors and some of the husbands out.

Could you gift us a gift card? And he said, sure. And so we have this like 700 some dollar gift card to Ruth Chris. And we just feasted like kings that night. It was awesome.

And then it got to the point where we're like, we might actually owe money because we're just ordering obnoxious obnoxiously here. But my best friend, who's now my former best friend because of this, orders a filet. And I'm like, there you go, that's awesome. And he's like, let me get this thing well done. And everybody at the table was like, bro, even the waiter was like, I can't with good conscience do this.

If that's what you want, then I'll do it. And we were like, no, he's not allowed to do that. It's the biggest sin of his life. That's not what's going on here. What was happening though was there's all these Jewish rituals and laws about being clean, unclean, about what to eat and how to eat.

And you got to think table fellowship, right? Like you come to my house for group, there's Jews, gentiles. The Gentiles are like, man, throw that stake on there midwear. And the Jews are like, man, we just don't know what to do with this. We can't do that because it would go against our conscience and our heritage and our background.

And Paul's just telling them, James is telling them, Peter's telling them, hey, abstain from those things for the sake of your brothers. Because you're one church now. You're not two separate peoples, but you're one. So those were two things. Not that big of a thing for us today, right?

Like you could go in your freedom, eat your steaks. If you're vegan, you could eat your vegan pancakes and patties and all that freedom. Here's the one that gets a little more serious though, as this one still is applicable to today. Twice James says in verse 20, tell them to abstain from sexual immorality. And then later in the letter he says, abstain from sexual immorality.

When you read the Greek for this term, there's a word in there, right? The Greek, the Greek word for sexual immorality is the term pornea, right? This is where we get things like pornography today. Well, the apostles are saying, hey, flee from sexual immorality. You're going to read throughout the entire New Testament, flee from these things.

When you think about sexual immorality today, the word porneia just kind of covers a blanket of things, all right? Like when you think about all the things today, like back in the day, New Testament, right? The city of Ephesus had a huge sex cult there. All throughout First Corinthians, there's sexual immorality, right? Like, hopefully never, ever have to deal with this today.

But in first Corinthians, Paul's like, hey, man, like you're like shacking up with your stepparents. Like, we just can't have these things. When you think about today, all time highs, pornography's on the rise, like onlyfans, like just this, like wicked that is just kind of rampant going on, like things from adultery to just casual hookups. This is where people are just like swiping left and right looking for somebody to meet up with the word porneia covers all those things, covers things like homosexuality, all in the same bucket under the banner of sexual immorality. All sin put Jesus on the cross, my friends, right?

This is where Paul or this is where Jesus says, hey, you've heard it said, don't commit adultery. But I tell you that if you have lust in your heart over another woman, you've just done so. So what Jesus does and what the New Testament does is it kind of brings this higher awareness to the impacts of sexual sin. And so the church here is saying, hey, flee from these things, flee from sexual morality, because it's different, right? All sin is equal.

My pride is the same as my lust. Your addictions to porn are like affairs that we have. All of these things put Jesus on the cross, but it lands differently than things like greed. Why? Because the Bible says that when we sexually sin, it's a sin against the body.

You have to understand, like, culture today has made sexual sin. That's just a physical thing. But when you really unpack the implications of sex on the soul, that it's not just physical, it's always physical, it's always emotional, and it's always spiritual. Pastor Matt Chandler talks about sex as this mingling of the souls. This is where we get things today where we're like, man, I just have these soul ties.

When we think about what the Bible prescribes for sex, when we think about it, right? Here's our definition that sex is designed for one man, one woman in a covenant marriage relationship. And the Bible will just say everything outside of that is sexual immorality. And it's an old school thing, right? Like today's culture, like, man, that's old school.

And I was like, hey, don't care what you want to call, what you want to criticize. When we think about it now in our day and time, we have to even like define it more articulate that when we talk about sex, right? It's this great gift from God for some of you grew up in very fundamental, like very, like really, really bad theological churches. And what they did was like, sex is bad and evil, but when you get married, it's great and sex should be avoided and like, be scared of it. And then you get married and you're like, I don't really know what to do.

Sex is one of the greatest gifts that God gives when it's in the confines of how he's designed it. So we have to define it even further just because mainstream culture today just goes in all different directions. So like when we think about it today, it's like we say this, that we believe that sex is designed for a biologically born male and a biologically born female in the covenant of marriage. Let me unpack this some more. Because mainstream culture is always shifting, right?

You think about like the hippie days, you think about like Woodstock type times and sexual like revolution was just different than it is today. And here's what happens is when you go outside, outside of how the scriptures has designed it, sexuality and gender is not as complicated as we think it is. Sexuality, gender and sex is not as complicated as we make it. I don't think it's as complicated. I think it's.

This is that people just don't like the simplicity of the Bible when it says these things. When the Bible says, hey, there's two genders, there's male and female. Sex is a gift from God for a married couple. And fleeing from sexual immorality is a way and path towards freedom. Like, it's not as complicated as we think.

Just don't like the answers because why? We're always trying to just subtly justify our sinfulness rather than just entrusting ourselves to God's word. I have yet to meet a married couple that's like, you know, one of our biggest mistakes is we just kind of honored God with these things and we just kind of stayed within the confines of what God designed sex for in marriage. I've never met a Jesus loving couple that's like, that was our biggest regrets. Sexual sin has a far deeper stain on the soul than we realize because it's not just physical, it's emotional and spiritual.

I'm dealing with personally, with the repercussions of just stupid decisions made by a friend. Like this entire week, right? Good friend of mine for years hid the fact that he was having an affair. And it goes public and it's all over the news. I'm like scrolling Instagram and scrolling Facebook.

I'm like, dude, that's one of my best friends. And he totally shipwrecked his entire life. And we've lived in the wake of this over and over again with people and what's going on in this whole thing where the Bible's like, hey, flee from sexual immorality. It's those little compromises that you and I make that ultimately end up into getting to a place you never thought you'd be. And man, my just exhortation for you is, whatever you're flirting with, whatever, you're kind of just like dabbling and be like, nah, I got this under control.

I know she's not my wife. I know he's not my husband. We're just talking. We're just. Just leaning on each other in a hard time.

These little compromises that the Christian makes will ultimately lead you down a road that you never thought you'd want to be. And you got to understand that your decisions will bear weight with more than you realize.

And as I'm, like, just sitting here wrestling with the news of my friend, I'm just like. And in my mind, I'm like, how did I miss this? How did I miss this thing? Everybody around us is like, man, like, what the heck? And then I'm looking, I'm like, man, I'm 40, he's in his 50s.

And I'm like, when he should be right in the prime of his entire ministry and life and career, it's starting all over again. And I'm just like, this just sucks. So the Bible says, hey, flee from these things.

What do you do when you're enslaved and trapped to sexual morality? Did you just go back, my friends, to the gospel? So for some of you, you're like, gotta deal with some things. Oh, man, there's some things I might need to cut out of my life, do so for the sake of the gospel. But let me just give you some good news here, because the way that sexual sin kinda enslaves and entraps people is it tempts you, then enslaves you.

And then for some of you, you're like, walking in here like, man, I feel the weight, I feel the shame. I just feel the condemnation that I'm giving myself. Man, the gospel sets you free from those things. When you look at Romans 8:1. Now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

So all of your sexual sin, all of your things that you're just trying to bury and hide and run from, has been nailed to a cross buried in a tomb. And when God looks upon you, he's not looking at you, and be like, man, this adulterer, this luster, this, like, horrible, wicked person. The gospel would say, no, man, that's my son in whom I'm well pleased. You are forgiven, and you are made righteous, and you are perfected. And being perfected in the image and the likeness of Jesus.

What you now need to understand is that when the Bible says to confess, confess is to bring it out into the open. Not so God's like, oh, finally got him the thing you've been hiding. God's not like, dang, didn't know about that. God is like, yes, and thank you. Now let me lavish on you grace upon grace for the things in which you are trying to run from the gospel is good news for you because your identity is not in your sexuality.

This is not me, like, coming and be like, oh, I hate this church. Now he's like, bashing lgbt. No, it's just, I believe that there's a far bigger identity for you. There's something far bigger than your sexuality that defines you and owns you and loves you. And for those of you that are caught up in sin, man, the gospel just beckons you to the cross, man.

I bet for some of you there's some weight you're carrying right now, man, what a better day than to just bring it to Jesus and be like, father, forgive me, set me free. Here's what he does. Because the gospel covers your shame, it alleviates your embarrassments, and it alleviates and it heals those insecurities. Why Psalm 103? The Psalmist says, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Like, when you bring your sin to Jesus, he says, hey, as far as the east is from the west, as so far as I removed your sin, you know what that means? That if you keep going east, guess what? You're just going to keep going east and you're never going to eventually circle back to west because that's how far God removes these things. And you are not defined by.

By your worst sexual sin, my friends. Like, it doesn't own you and it doesn't define you. It's something you've done, but it's not who you are. So I just want you to be set free from these things and to walk in light of the scripture. So when you think about Acts 15, how are we to live this out?

The apostles are like, hey, don't eat meat, sacrifice to idols. Don't eat meat, blood with it, and flee from sexual morality because of the sake of your brothers and sisters. You're doing so because the gospel is calling you, right? As Galatians says that we have been crucified with Christ and the life we live, we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. So how does this get to be very practical?

Write this down. Is that mature believers just ask what is permissible? They ask, what is beneficial for the family of God.

Mature believers don't just ask what is permissible. They ask what is beneficial. You know, a lot of times we're just asking the wrong questions. Like, majority of my life, I'm just asking the wrong questions. This is like when you were a teenager, the Bible says, don't commit sexual immorality.

You're like, how many bases can I round before it's sin? It's like, no, how can I honor somebody who's my brother or sister in Christ? Is the better question. We do this similar thing today, don't we? We justify our, like, sinfulness in ways that we're just like, how much is too much?

How far is too far? When we think about the metric for Christian maturity today, we think it's just based off who knows the most. But you know, who knows a lot about Jesus and doesn't follow them? The demons. It's not just about what you do for Christ because you could do a lot for Jesus and still not be doing so out of a posture and a heart that loves him.

A real test for maturity is, what's the posture of your heart towards others? Are you more annoyed and agitated by the immaturity of others? You're probably not as mature as you think. If I see new Christians or I see Christians acting differently than me, and my first thought is like, ugh, how dare they? Rather than being a mature person saying, hey, let me help you figure this out.

Hey, let me just walk with you. Let me just do as the Scripture says to disciple you. Let me take you. And not constantly just condemning and criticizing for somebody because they're not on my level. See, a mature person walks towards each other, towards others.

This is what's going on in the text. Hey, don't do these things because you're lowering yourself for the sake of those around you. This is what Paul says in First Corinthians 10. He says, I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but not everything is constructive.

No one should seek their own good, but the good of others is what Paul's saying. Some of your translations might say, everything's permissible but not beneficial. And so as we seek to mature as Christians, we just start asking ourselves some sets of questions. Man, is this going to be loving and kind to the family? I could do these things, but should I?

I could do these things, but is it going to be edifying for those around me?

What we need to start asking in response to Acts 15 are, what are more ways I can give for the sake of others? What can I do. Knowing that when I walk in this room, right, this room is full of like, just kind of like. And I don't mean diverse and like, like so much as race. Like a bunch of white people in here, right?

Look at his hiking boots and like Subarus, right? Like, epitome of being white.

But this church has got a sense of diversity in the sense of you guys all come from different areas of the world. Some of y', all, like, when I talk about like the south, you're like, oh, come on. Some of you are like from the West Coast. And you're like, don't you guys just all drive pickup trucks? And then I look at you from west.

Look at you west coasters. I'm like, where's your convertible at? All right? Like, we stereotype. There's cultural difference, there's religious differences.

Some of you are coming out of LDS backgrounds, some of you are coming out of charismatic backgrounds, some of you coming out of Baptist backgrounds, Presbyterian backgrounds. So there's a kind of a diversity of just where you're from and how do we live in relationship to one another. For some of you, you're like, never read the Bible in my entire life and it's just come to life for me. For some of you, you're like, man, like, I didn't know what Christianity was and I walked in here for the very first time and I'm like, man, this is all new.

The goal for us is not diversity for the sake of diversity. The goal for us is a greater worship of Jesus. And diversity follows those things. The church as a whole, it is a makeup, right? Like when you think about local church, church of the Valley, local church, part of the universal church.

Universal church is every Christian in every tribe, nation and tongue. Like every corner of the world is the universal church.

So our goal in this is a godly, humble church that just says, hey, we're just going to be aware that there are people here with different backgrounds and the freedoms I have might be a stumbling block to their conscience. Because Christian love and maturity says, hey, I will gladly give up my rights and freedoms in order to serve my brothers and sisters. That's Acts 15, the gospel together. So three quick Bible verses and then I'll pray is, how do we live this out? As you just look at Philippians 2, verses 1 through 5, where Paul says, hey, take on the mind of Christ.

Do nothing from selfish ambition. This is more about your motives than your actions. Because I could do some really perceived godly things, but it's really self serving. Paul Says, hey, if there's any encouragement from Christ, complete my joy of being of the same mind, same love, same being, a full of cord. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than myself.

This is us just saying, hey, my life isn't my own and it's just my greatest joy and pleasure to serve you. Paul says in Romans 12:10 to outdo one another in showing honor. He says, love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. The way we do this is we just ask the question, how can I make you feel like the most important person in this room right now?

Honor. And then your foundational verse is Matthew 22:37 40 says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. This is the greatest and first commandment. Second, love your neighbor. As your your application question is this is how would you want others to treat you in this situation?

Like whatever the situation is, whatever the circumstances, what would you want others to do for you? And so because I'm trying to be just a simple, simple man these days, I just have a few little one liners for you to just take a picture of and write down. Here's your maturing mindset. Number one. Today is not about me.

I'm free to do blank, but should I? 3. I get to serve others today. 4. I get to lay my life down for others.

5. It's my greatest joy to put you before myself and then finally I will see and believe the best in others. Why? Because the gospel changes everything. You want to take this more to heart?

You just say, hey, because of the gospel. Today's not about me. When you first open your eyes, today's not about me. But it's about glorifying God and serving others. Hey, I can do these things, but I don't know if I should.

I'm totally free to do this, totally free to eat a mid rare steak, but should I for the sake of my Jewish brothers? This is the application of this. So here's your next step as Chris prepares to go lead us in communion. Here's just your one next step is one simple prayer. God, show me one area I can better bless my church family.

Amen. What's the one thing? What one freedom? What one act of service? What one thing can you do to say, hey, it's not about me today, but it's about others.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for your goodness. I pray Father that you would allow us to live out the scripture together, Father, in a way that honors you and serves one another. In Jesus name, amen.