I couldn\u2019t tell you the date or anything else about it, but I know this: I was six years old when I first acknowledged a desire to follow Jesus. I\u2019m not sure any first grader would know entirely what she was getting herself into, but I prayed a prayer and was baptized one morning at my small Christian school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was over thirty years ago. I\u2019ve been trying to figure out the way of Jesus ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Becoming a Christian isn\u2019t a one-time prayer experience that fills our brains with knowledge and our hearts with constant joy. It\u2019s an ongoing process of learning and unlearning, wrestling and seeking our way toward greater freedom that has been offered to us in Christ. When we look all the way back to the beginning of the Church, we see that the very first Jesus followers had the same experience. The Twelve walked and talked with Jesus, then worked to share His story and build His Church. As people from an array of non-Jewish cultures joined the fold, new believers had to contend with a huge question: \u201cWhat must we do to be saved?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a particularly confusing debate arose in Antioch over the need for Gentile believers to adopt Jewish traditions, the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to work it out. The Jerusalem Council was a time to debate, all in an effort to discern the true essentials of following Jesus. I love how Peter expressed the heart of God in his speech to the council: \u201cHe 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\u2019 necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?\u201d (Acts 15:9\u201310).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a diverse, growing community, Peter stood up for the newcomers who didn\u2019t have the insider knowledge of Jewish culture. Bringing all nations into the family is what Jesus commissioned them to do, after all. Paul and Barnabas backed it up with exciting stories from their missionary travels. James advocated for a simple way, because \u201cwe should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God\u201d (v.19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doesn\u2019t this feel freeing? Following Jesus was never meant to be burdensome, and it\u2019s certainly not meant to erase the incredible diversity of the kingdom. It\u2019s a narrow way, true, but a narrow way marked by freedom (Galatians 5:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result of this conversation was the Jerusalem letter, a message to Gentile believers, written to ease their confusion and give clear direction. It was clearly what they needed to hear, because, \u201cwhen they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement\u201d (Acts 15:31). Not only that, the council sent leaders to these churches to offer them presence and guidance. There is always more to learn and room to grow, but, thank God, we don\u2019t have to do it alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I couldn\u2019t tell you the date or anything else about it, but I know this: I was six years old when I first acknowledged a desire to follow Jesus. I\u2019m not sure any first grader would know entirely what she was getting herself into, but I prayed a prayer and was baptized one morning at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":72918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts26"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[73104],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL<\/b>
\r\nby Jen Yokel<\/i>
\r\n
I couldn\u2019t tell you the date or anything else about it, but I know this: I was six years old when I first acknowledged a desire to follow Jesus. I\u2019m not sure any first grader would know entirely what she was getting herself into, but I prayed a prayer and was baptized one morning at my small Christian school.<\/p>
\r\n
That was over thirty years ago. I\u2019ve been trying to figure out the way of Jesus ever since.<\/p>
\r\n
Becoming a Christian isn\u2019t a one-time prayer experience that fills our brains with knowledge and our hearts with constant joy. It\u2019s an ongoing process of learning and unlearning, wrestling and seeking our way toward greater freedom that has been offered to us in Christ. When we look all the way back to the beginning of the Church, we see that the very first Jesus followers had the same experience. The Twelve walked and talked with Jesus, then worked to share His story and build His Church. As people from an array of non-Jewish cultures joined the fold, new believers had to contend with a huge question: \u201cWhat must we do to be saved?\u201d<\/p>
\r\n
When a particularly confusing debate arose in Antioch over the need for Gentile believers to adopt Jewish traditions, the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to work it out. The Jerusalem Council was a time to debate, all in an effort to discern the true essentials of following Jesus. I love how Peter expressed the heart of God in his speech to the council: \u201cHe 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\u2019 necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?\u201d (Acts 15:9\u201310).<\/p>
\r\n
In a diverse, growing community, Peter stood up for the newcomers who didn\u2019t have the insider knowledge of Jewish culture. Bringing all nations into the family is what Jesus commissioned them to do, after all. Paul and Barnabas backed it up with exciting stories from their missionary travels. James advocated for a simple way, because \u201cwe should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God\u201d (v.19).<\/p>
\r\n
Doesn\u2019t this feel freeing? Following Jesus was never meant to be burdensome, and it\u2019s certainly not meant to erase the incredible diversity of the kingdom. It\u2019s a narrow way, true, but a narrow way marked by freedom (Galatians 5:1).<\/p>
\r\n
The result of this conversation was the Jerusalem letter, a message to Gentile believers, written to ease their confusion and give clear direction. It was clearly what they needed to hear, because, \u201cwhen they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement\u201d (Acts 15:31). Not only that, the council sent leaders to these churches to offer them presence and guidance. There is always more to learn and room to grow, but, thank God, we don\u2019t have to do it alone.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"23","scripture":"Acts 15:1-35, Romans 2:17-24, Galatians 5:1","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}