Unburdening the People

Photo by Rusty Watson on Unsplash

When I think of my early ministry, I am embarrassed by the extent to which I associated "busy-ness" with holiness or discipleship. That embarrassment is dwarfed by the extent to which controlling, imposing pastors and churches, I have observed, have sought to regulate every aspect of their members' thinking, behavior, and calendars.

Do not get me wrong: I desire each of these things to come under the direct Lordship of Jesus through the Holy Spirit's guidance in my life. I am talking about control by leaders and human institutions.

Contrast that level of dysfunctional, cult-like control with the attitude of the Jerusalem church not to overburden the new converts to the Jesus Movement who were coming from among the Gentiles.

They would not have to submit to centuries of traditions that were not their own. They would not have to go through the rituals of becoming part of a distinct people group or culture in order to follow Jesus.

Those traditions would be, for them, the backdrop of the good news they were receiving. they would be meaningful, instructive, and rich. They were to be appreciated and the sensitivities of their brothers and sisters would demand respect.

Yet, they were free and unburdened by any burden except that of the one whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

That is the message I receive today from:

Acts 15:22-35

Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, with the following letter: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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 impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When its members read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After they had been there for some time, they were sent off in peace by the believers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught and proclaimed the word of the Lord.