You want me to WHAT!?!?!

Acts 15:10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

I believe that we are saved through grace….alone.

A problem in the early church is the first Christians (who were Jewish converts) still didn’t fully grasp the concept of the grace they were living and saved under. They had for thousands of years been required to live under the law…so it was only natural to believe there were certain aspects of that law that they Gentiles must abide under as well.

I believe we need to be very careful (deliberate) in the way we present ourselves, today. Yes, we need to be ‘set apart’ for God ….people need to see a difference between us and them…..but the culture I’ve grown up in, was more of a what we couldn’t/didn’t do…..verses what we did do. The differences I want to be noted for is love, compassion, mercy (which I lack), charity, and joy. I think we need to focus on what are doing to further the Kingdom, more so than on the things that set us apart…..when we focus on what we shouldn’t do….all we find is that we are further away from the very people Christ hung out with ….. and came save.

I realize a lot of things are cultural, but one of the ‘stumbling blocks’ we, as Christians, have put up for non-Christians is that we draw a definite line, on disputable matters (not talking about illegal things or immoral things) . That is sometimes more a turn off for non-believers than the lure of ‘saving grace’.

I wonder how many Gentiles… during the early stages of the Way….heard about the requirement of circumcision and said…”you know what….I’ll pass.”, never to return to church.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:21-23 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.