(Galatians 5:14, 16).”
No sooner had the church begun to grow than conflict emerged. Satan is never idle. With every success, every victory, every movement forward, we can count on the principalities and powers, the high princes of the world’s present evil, to send messengers of chaos, confusion and doubt and conflict. As more and more “unclean” Gentiles came to the faith, the Orthodox Jews who followed the way of Jesus had a concern. “They are not following the Law of Moses.” They did not follow the ritual cleansings. They did not prohibit homosexual relationships. They ate foods considered “unclean.” They did not circumcise their children.
The question is not whether or not conflicts will come but how do disciples of Jesus discipline ourselves, so that we can learn to deal with conflict appropriately. The discipline of Jesus is often neglected, but Jesus made it clear in Luke 9, “If you want to be my disciples, then forget about your biases, your preferences, your presuppositions, your personal comforts, forget about self-interest, “let the dead things, the things of this world, be of concern to someone who is obsessed (OCD) and hence dying with them.
They are not to be your obsession. I already told you, do not worry about what you shall eat, what you shall wear, where you shall live. Unbelievers focus on all this to the exclusion of real life. You don’t have to because God will take care of your self-interest. When you surrender them to God they become God’s interests. You know longer have to worry about them, because God wants you to live carelessly. It should seem to others that you don’t have a care in the world, only then are you living as my disciples—living carelessly.
Acts 15:1-2; 5-10
The Council at Jerusalem
15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the Law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you already know that God did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Jesus concluded, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God (9:62).”
Living carelessly requires letting go of self-interest, of judgmental attitude toward others, in favor of embracing God’s interests, God’s love, God’s mercy. How can I do this if I don’t know what God’s interests, love and mercy are? How do I know when I am?
Paul writes an answer to the church at Galatia, a new mixed race Gentile and Jewish Christian community, “Walk in the Spirit: Live a life habitually controlled and guided by God’s spirit.”
Our discipline is not following laws, but making it a habit to surrender everything to God. It sounds simple but our flesh, our human nature will react negatively to this. It fears that if we surrender, somebody else will get ahead of us-somebody else will be noticed before we are noticed- someone may miss dealing with our issues, our rights, and our place in the kingdom of life.
Living carelessly is developing the habit of surrendering everything to God. How do we know when we have developed this habit? Paul answered: The whole law, the real goal that God has in mind for us is summarized in one idea,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
I was driving over the detour around the tunnel in old downtown Richmond, and as I turned south on Washington and headed for the sharp curve down the hill toward the beach, a sign posted by a neighbor read, “Drive as if your children were out here playing.”
Jesus said, “As you would have others do unto you, do also unto them.” Instead of the “me first and foremost” agenda, put the needs, the hopes, the aspirations, the concerns, the prayers, and the longings of your neighbors in place of your own.”
Jesus let us know clearly that to live with total disinterestedness, to live a life wholly focused on God and the well-being of God’s creation, would give us the careless life, the abundant life, the spirit-filled life, the life of peace and joy and faith and hope in the midst of every storm, every challenge, every conflict, every calamity. But it will also move us away from judging our neighbors as to whether or not they measure up.
Peter had to remind the church that God had already demonstrated that he fully accepted Gentiles as believers, as made righteous through Jesus Christ, even though they knew nothing of the law and did not and probably would not follow it (Acts 10-Gentile Cornelius). He then declared that they should not put a burden (adherence to the Law of Moses) on Gentiles when even they, as Jews, had never been able to follow it. Peter concludes that both Jew and Gentile are saved, delivered from the stain of the human condition called sin, not by following the law but by accepting the full love, forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus Christ.
If God has accepted us fully, even though we didn’t measure up, then God accepts them, too. God accepts every human being because of Jesus’ righteousness, not human righteousness.
Our prayer is that one day, Christians in our time will fully accept this truth, and will no longer insist that full adherence to the Law of Moses, the same error that these early Christian “Pharisees” made, is necessary to live in complete acceptance, love, faith, harmony and joy with God. Thanks be to God for his unconditional, all-consuming love.
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