Bentley Baptist Church Sermons
Located in Perth, Western Australia. Listen to the weekly sermons from Bentley Baptist Church. Visit our website for more information.
Bentley Baptist Church Sermons
Finding God's Will
Ever found yourself at a crossroads, unsure of God's direction? Acts 15 offers something extraordinary – a blueprint for navigating life's toughest decisions when the way forward seems unclear.
The Jerusalem Council marks a pivotal moment in church history. Christianity stood at a crossroads: would Gentile converts need to become Jewish first to be saved? The answer would shape the future of the faith forever. What unfolds is a masterclass in spiritual discernment that remains profoundly relevant today.
Within this ancient controversy, we discover three powerful anchors for finding God's will. First, the early believers didn't isolate themselves but conferred together across cultural divides. While our individualistic culture often prizes autonomy and inner searching, the early church recognized the wisdom found in community. When facing significant decisions, they listened to diverse perspectives and sought consensus. Second, they grounded themselves in Scripture, with James declaring "as it is written" before quoting the prophets. Even when addressing questions not explicitly answered in the Bible, they found guiding principles in God's word. Finally, they paid careful attention to the Spirit's movement, recognizing God's favor where lives were being transformed.
The results were remarkable: "It was the Holy Spirit's decision and ours," they wrote, leading to a resolution that brought joy, unity and strengthening to the church. This three-fold approach—seeking wisdom from God's people, God's Word, and God's Spirit—creates a spiritual foundation for discernment that works not just for churches but for our personal lives too. Whether you're facing major life decisions or trying to navigate our complex cultural moment, this ancient wisdom offers a path forward. Together, these three anchors can guide us toward truth, even when the answers aren't immediately clear.
Want more confidence in discerning God's will? Subscribe now to explore how ancient wisdom meets modern challenges. How might this three-fold approach transform your next big decision?
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Acts, chapter 15, verse 1. So men came down from Judea to Antioch and began to teach the brothers unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved. After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue. Pretty heavy start, isn't it? You know, every believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to give us guidance and to help us live a godly life. But sometimes really big decisions or really challenging situations like that that faced Antioch, confront us and we're not quite sure what God's will is. How is it that we can discern God's will when we're facing big decisions, big challenges, big controversies?
Speaker 1:In its first few years, christianity was basically seen as a Jewish sector, a branch of what we now call Judaism. But as the gospel spread around the Roman world and started to include Gentiles and not just the God-fearing Gentiles that the Jews were halfway comfortable with, but full-on pagans hearing the gospel and getting saved it inevitably meant change for the growing church and some big questions. And let me ask any parents out here how do we know, how many of us know, that a growing child needing new clothes, to new challenges in how to discipline a child from the inquisitive why of a toddler to that sort of defiant, why should I of a teenager? No different in the church, and at first the presence of gentiles probably flew under the radar. They, these first gentile converts, already hung out at synagogue and knew the scriptures, even if they hadn't made the full leap to become jews. But as more pagan gentiles responded to the gen, to the gospel, things got messy and the jewish believers now had to wrestle with. What does church look like with these Gentile converts in here? And they needed discipling in everything, from the way we worship, and that starts to change. We read in the scriptures to discipling them in godly sexual ethics out of a very promiscuous background.
Speaker 1:And finally a group of Christians in Jerusalem, which was the birthplace of Christianity, had had enough. The Gentiles and the disruption they brought couldn't be ignored anymore, and so for these guys the solution seemed quite simple Christianity was a Jewish religion, and so the Gentiles needed to become Jews in order to be saved and become Christians, and for the men that meant circumcision and the church at Antioch in Syria, which was sort of the base of the global mission of the church bristled at this suggestion because Antioch had led the way with Gentile mission. This was a threat to their identity as a multicultural missionary church. And so the question was who was right? What was God's will for Gentiles and Christians in general? Do we need to be circumcised, essentially to become Jews to be saved? Might seem obvious to us now, but in that moment the future of the gospel hung in the balance. But again, in our own lives, how do we make complex decisions when there's no, perhaps clear answers? How do we determine God's will? Well, let's look at how the church handled it in verse 6.
Speaker 1:The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter in Jerusalem, and after there had been much debate, peter stood up and said to them now Peter is the chief apostle. Brothers, you are aware that in the early days, god made a choice among you that, by my mouth, the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe, and God, who knows the heart, will witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear. On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are. And the whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. You know, I feel like I'm going to have to go back and preach a couple of these chapters again because there's so much in here. But today we're looking at decision-making and the will of God.
Speaker 1:The first thing the church did was to come together to confer. You know, the church at Antioch could have just told these Judaizers to naff off. That probably would have set the church up for a church split maybe between Jerusalem and Antioch, who knows and that would have been a disaster for this burgeoning church and it would have stood against everything that the gospel represents. You know, our culture is highly individualistic and it encourages autonomy. You're not the boss of me. You know we're told to go for an inner search. The answers are within. In fact, as Baptists, we believe strongly in freedom of conscience. Do you know? The first treaties on religious freedom was written by a Baptist, arguing that Muslims should have religious freedom. So that's how strongly it is in the Baptist DNA. But when the church in Antioch came up against this major challenge, what did they do? Well, antioch submitted to Jerusalem, they took it to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem, the mother church, listened to Antioch.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to the big questions, it's not just a matter of well, what do I think your opinion doesn't matter. Quite the opposite, we need to ask. So what does the body of Christ have to say? Now, there are layers to this. As individuals, we don't go to the whole church necessarily to seek advice, but we do want to go to individual believers and seek the counsel of wise, godly Christians. We don't have to do a journey inwards, or at least not alone. Not only we need to look for others as well, but as a church, sometimes there are questions we have that we need to come together to discern God's mind. Sometimes, pardon me, we even need to ask other churches, other church leaders, our denominational leaders, for advice, and we confer together as churches.
Speaker 1:In fact, throughout history, the Church of God has held councils about the big issues of doctrine and practice. Now, there have been many councils through history and various branches of the church hold these more or less. Some is authoritative, some is not, but still today Christians often hold these councils. So you might be aware of sort of the Catholic big councils Vatican, vatican II you might have heard of, and those things are binding on the Catholic Church. But did you know that we, as Protestants and evangelical Christians, we have councils too? They're not binding on the church but they are a bunch of, you know, usually pretty significant Christian leaders coming together seeking the mind of God and certainly giving advice for Christians. There's been ones on mission, there's been ones on sexuality, there's been ones on the place of the Bible, all sorts of things. And although they're not binding to us, we do well to listen to their wisdom and the advice that's in there. And again, none of these historical or contemporary councils are binding on us, but we still need to listen to godly wisdom. We need to listen to one another, to spirit-led, like-minded churches and apostolic leaders, and I think the challenge for us in the West is we need to listen across the cultural boundaries as well. I think you know the Western voice. Christianity sort of started in the East, in Israel, but it grew to dominance in the West and it's our voice that has been very loud over the past centuries and as the balance has shifted to places like Africa and South America and Asia, we do well to listen to what believers in those places are saying into our culture, not always advice we want to hear. Well, after various weighty voices have been heard at the Jerusalem Council, james the brother of Jesus gets up and speaks. So there's two Jameses mentioned in Acts. One of them was martyred, was killed earlier. It's James the apostle. This is James the brother of Jesus getting up. After they stopped speaking, james responded Brothers, listen to me.
Speaker 1:Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name, and the words of the prophets agree with this as it is written. After these things, I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, declares the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago. So, quoting the prophets, he continues. Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulty for those among the Gentiles who turn to God, but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted, to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled and from blood, and I think we'd better come back at a later date and unpack all that. For since ancient times Moses has had those who proclaimed him in every city and even every Sabbath day he is read aloud in the synagogues.
Speaker 1:Now again, james wasn't just anyone as he's saying in. He's saying, in my opinion, in my judgment, this was Jesus' brother. He wrote a New Testament letter, the letter to James. He was, or from James. He was recognized as a pillar of the church and while he also undoubtedly spoke by the Spirit, he also stood on the Word of God. He said, as it is written Now at BBC we believe in the divine inspiration and authority of the Bible. It's our final arbiter in matters of faith and Christian living.
Speaker 1:There are issues, of course, that the Bible's not clear about. There are issues at Silenon. Should humans colonise Mars? I don't know. But you know, sometimes things are a little closer to home. So we as Baptists believe in congregational government. Ultimately, although our church is run by the council and the leaders, ultimately the authority of the church resides in the membership and in the members' meeting Churches, and we believe that, because of the Bible, but churches of Christ have an elder-led church. The authority of the church resides with the elders and they also believe that because of the bible.
Speaker 1:So sometimes it's not crystal clear, but even with less clear issues, the bible often gives us broad principles we can work with. So, for example, the bible is almost I don't know I hope this isn't too controversial this morning in this place although it is in society. The Bible is almost silent on the issue of abortion, but the church has always maintained that abortion is wrong because of the things the Bible is clear about. So the Bible is clear about the sanctity of human life. We're made in God's image. It's clear that God foreknew us, that children are a gift from God, that Jesus pronounced judgment on anyone who causes a child to stumble. The Bible commands us not to kill, and we put all these things together.
Speaker 1:Very often, in fact, the things that churches argue over are not because the Bible isn't clear or doesn't point pretty clearly in a direction. It's because we don't like what it says, and so we do well to remember what the first question in the Bible was. Do you know what the first question in the Bible was? It's when the serpent spoke to Eve. Did God really say? Discerning the voice of God involves listening to each other, and it involves listening to the word of God and submitting to that. But there is one more voice we do need to listen to, a voice that we've been hearing all through this passage, and that's the voice of the Spirit. Verse 22,.
Speaker 1:Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Judas called Basavis and Silas, both leading men among the brothers, and they wrote from the apostles and the elders, your brothers, to the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, syria and Cilicia Greetings. Since we have heard that some, without our authorization, went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts, it's a bit of a stinging rebuke against that group. We have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you, along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth, for it was the Holy Spirit's decision and ours not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell Council wrote it was the Holy Spirit's decision and ours.
Speaker 1:And do you notice how Peter argued that God had given the Spirit to the Gentiles, just as he had the Jews at Pentecost and Barnabas? And Paul's testimony was really about the work of the Holy Spirit among the Gentiles, which James then picked up on. So how do we hear the Spirit's voice corporately? Learning to hear the voice of the Spirit is something you can do. If you're not sure, that's a topic for another time. But I want to encourage you to tune in.
Speaker 1:What is the Spirit saying to you? But how do we know when the Spirit is speaking to us corporately? Well, first we need to look for what the Spirit is doing in the world and in our presence, in our midst. Where do we see God's favour resting? The apostles saw the favour of God resting on the Gentiles. That said something about God's view on this matter. Are people coming to faith? Are lives being transformed by the power of God? Is supernatural love abounding? Is holiness evident? And they looked at what was happening among the Gentiles and, as we read in the rest of the New Testament, it was pretty messy, but yes, those things were happening.
Speaker 1:Second, what are the prophets saying? So what do godly leaders and prophetically gifted individuals discern? And you learn who those voices are. The council at Jerusalem writes a letter and you hear that some brothers went out without our authority. Don't listen to them. Then you've got these other people, like Paul and Barnabas, who are sort of the focus of this controversy because they're leading the mission to the Gentiles and it's like they've risked their lives. You see the fruit of the Spirit on their lives. These are the men that are commended.
Speaker 1:Now we do need to practice discernment when we're listening for the voice of the Spirit and who we listen to. Not everyone who says Lord, lord, is from Jesus. Jesus said to beware of false prophets. Demons can counterfeit the work of God. Paul, interestingly, in the letter to 1 Corinthians he's lamenting divisions in the church, but he says it is necessary that there be factions among you so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. So how do we recognize those approved? Well, jesus said you'd know them by their fruit, godly character, gracious speech, a commitment to God's word, the power of the Spirit doing the stuff, putting their lives and reputations on the live line for the gospel.
Speaker 1:How do we know the council made the right call in the end? Well, it was because of the fruit, verse 30. So they were sent off and went down to Antioch and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter and when they read it they rejoiced because of its encouragement. They rejoiced. Both Judas and Silas, who were also prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers and sisters and strengthened them with a long message. And after spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them. The church was strengthened and unified. The message was affirmed by other prophets. It was a good result.
Speaker 1:So how do we discern God's will? Well, simply the church of God or other Christians if it's the church of God or other Christians if it's individual. The word of God and the spirit of God, and together these lead us into the truth of God. You know we are living in a world that is throwing up all sorts of novel challenges at us that people of previous generations, let alone Bible times, couldn't even imagine. Consider AI Who'd have thought back before computers? Certainly that people are starting to ask can a computer have a soul? How do we respond to that? How do we respond just to the practical challenges of something that's probably bigger than the industrial revolution or the printing press? Medical technologies raise deep questions about gender identity and what it means to be human. Churches have torn themselves apart with arguments about how to respond to that. How can we know God's will in the face of such big challenges that the Bible just couldn't have addressed not directly?
Speaker 1:Well, church and Acts came together to listen across cultural divides. They came to listen to the Spirit. They discerned where he was at work through what he had to say and through what he had to say through prophets and leaders, and they listened to the unchanging, authoritative word of god, which may not speak directly into these situations but gives us a lot to work with. You know, this doesn't just apply to the big decisions we have to make. But, as I said, what about your life? How do you make decisions? How do you determine what God's will for your life is?
Speaker 1:Again, you can seek the counsel of other believers, you can seek the mind of the Spirit and you can seek the Word of God for guidance. The answers may not always be clear and, frankly, we often disagree. But I want to say this as long as we are anchored in God's people, in God's Spirit and in God's Word, we're going to be on pretty sound foundation. Let's pray as we move from these thoughts into communion. Father, we thank you that we have an anchor In fact, we've just been talking about three anchors that we don't just have to figure things out with our own wisdom. We don't just have to seek the truth in our own hearts, as the world so often encourages us. I don't know about others, but I get lost in there. But, father, that you give us guidance in there, but, father, that you give us guidance. And as we come now to communion, we see the cross and what you have communicated to us on that. In Jesus' name.