by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\tI. One way to learn how to handle various situations that arise in any congregation is to\nexamine similar situations\n A. Our problem will not be exactly similar, but what was done, how it was done and\nwhy it was done can be greatly useful.\n
B. Sometimes we think that the perfect church will be free from problems. <\/p>\n 1. Oddly, I don’t remember reading about any congregation in the New\nTestament that did not have some problem.\n 2. With Satan walking about as a lion, seeking to devour us, it is impossible not\nto have problems – I Pet 5:8\n
II. Acts 15<\/p>\n
A. A great dispute arose in the church at Antioch – Acts 15:1-3<\/p>\n 1. Some came from Judea (Jerusalem in particular) teaching that the Gentiles\nhad to be circumcised in order to be saved.\n
a. Paul and Barnabas disagreed strongly with these teachers<\/p>\n
b. This has been a continuing problem for Paul – Gal 2:4-5, 5:1-4<\/p>\n c. The church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to resolve\nthis issue.\n
2. Why Jerusalem? The disagreement was in Antioch<\/p>\n a. The source of the problem was members of the Jerusalem church – Gal\n2:11-13\n b. It was not, as some claim, because the Jerusalem church was the\nsource of doctrine for the church\n
3. Why Paul and Barnabas?<\/p>\n a. They were the most knowledgeable about the situation and why it was\nwrong\n
b. The church’s aim was not compromise, but reaching the truth<\/p>\n
B. They were received by the apostles, the elders, and the church<\/p>\n
1. Notice this describes the whole group. It was not just the men.<\/p>\n 2. As they gave report of God’s work in the north among the Gentiles, some\nChristians who still belonged to the Pharisees interrupted\n
a. They insisted that these new Gentile Christians be circumcised.<\/p>\n b. They insisted that all Christians follow the teachings of the Law of\nMoses\n C. The public forum stopped and a more limited one began composed of the apostles\nand elders with a large group listening.\n 1. Notice that the answer wasn’t clear. There was much disagreement among\nthis group\n 2. Notice to that the matter was not handled privately, but allowed all who\nwanted a chance to listen.\n 3. Notice that elders were involved in publicly defending God’s teaching (See\nTit 1:9)\n
a. Too often we think this to be solely the realm of the preacher. <\/p>\n
b. Notice that preachers were not involved in this discussion group.<\/p>\n
D. Peter’s argument<\/p>\n 1. God, though him, chose the Gentiles who had not obeyed the Law to be\nchildren of his – Acts 11:14-18\n
2. This is not a recent event. They should have remembered their approval.<\/p>\n
3. God did not distinguish, why should we?<\/p>\n 4. We Jews know that the Old Law was difficult to follow, so why re-establish\nit?\n
5. Gentiles and Jews are saved in the same manner.<\/p>\n
a. Later, Paul would write – Col 2:8-17<\/p>\n
E. Paul and Barnabas’s argument<\/p>\n 1. God has shown His approval by the signs and wonders done among the\nGentiles – Heb 2:3-4\n
F. James’ argument<\/p>\n
1. This matches what God has said on the matter.<\/p>\n
a. Similar to Hosea 2:23<\/p>\n
2. This is not a recent innovation, but something God has planned.<\/p>\n 3. Suggested a letter be sent stating their position that certain beliefs that the\nJews also find acceptable are to be followed by all Christians\n
a. Avoid things associated with idol worship<\/p>\n
b. Avoid sexual immorality – Gen 2:24<\/p>\n
c. Avoid things strangled and from blood – Gen 9:4<\/p>\n 4. All of these things predate the Old Law and are understandable by all, since\nthe Old Law has been taught widely for many years.\n
G. A letter was sent<\/p>\n 1. It was not a commandment from the church, but a clarification of the\ncongregation’s position.\n 2. They do not approve of requiring circumcision and they did not authorize\nanyone from their group to teach such things.\n
3. They support the work of Paul and Barnabas among the Gentiles<\/p>\n 4. They explained some of the things they do require that happen to match the\nOld Law.\n H. Men were selected by the apostles and elders with the whole church’s approval to\ntestify to the truth of the letter.\n
1. Notice that again the decision was not done by a limited group in isolation.<\/p>\n
2. Whole church includes the women – I Cor 14:23<\/p>\n 3. Does not imply that the women taught or exercised authority (I Tim 2:12). \nSince it was the whole church, it meant they had to remain silent (I Cor\n14:34-35)\n
III. Things to notice<\/p>\n A. Even though these men were gifted by the Holy Spirit. Even though the apostles\nwere among the people, they solved their doctrinal problem by the same method we\nhave available to us. They used commands, examples, and drew inferences from the\nthings God had done.\n B. Even though there was no “Thou shalt not circumcised”, the beliefs they reasoned\nout were expected to be followed. It wasn’t a suggestion or considered a matter of\nopinion.\n
C. The elders were the defenders of the faith.<\/p>\n D. Decisions were made in public forums where the whole church could listen, even if\nthey could not participate\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I. One way to learn how to handle various situations that arise in any congregation is to examine similar situations A. Our problem will not be exactly similar, but what was done, how it was done and why it was done can be greatly useful. B. Sometimes we think that the perfect church will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[448,1200,231],"class_list":["post-63757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-church","tag-disagreements","tag-strife"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28971,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/solving-church-problems\/","url_meta":{"origin":63757,"position":0},"title":"Solving Church Problems","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bobby L. Graham Sentry Magazine, September 2003 Jerusalem: A Church with Problems While it is true that Corinth is probably the church that most often comes to mind in connection with problems, it is also correct that Jerusalem was the first church with problems. The chief difference is that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/explosion-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thats-not-a-problem-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":63757,"position":1},"title":"That’s Not a Problem Here","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Heath Rogers Several years ago, I was reprimanded for preaching a rather straightforward sermon on the sin of homosexuality. The language of the sermon had upset a couple in the church, as they did not want their young children exposed to this subject. When I discussed this matter with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-should-i-leave-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":63757,"position":2},"title":"When should I leave a church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am looking for guidance on where I should worship in general and more specifically: If there are multiple sound congregations nearby, must I worship with the most local? Am I free (in God's eyes) to change which local congregations I worship with as I please? When must I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90453,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-merge-with-a-nearby-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":63757,"position":3},"title":"Should we merge with a nearby congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a few questions about two churches of Christ merging. I'm a member of a church of Christ. Around five years ago, we had around 50 members, including two elders and three deacons. I was one of the deacons. Things changed a few years ago. The two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9101,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-elders-and-preachers-constitute-the-church-in-decisions\/","url_meta":{"origin":63757,"position":4},"title":"Do the elders and preachers constitute the church in decisions?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been a member of the church of Christ for some time now. My family and I moved to another congregation to help out because they were very small. My wife and I began to have difficulties in our marriage. She decided to take our problems to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/denominationalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":63757,"position":5},"title":"Denominationalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Denominationalism today is not just about one particular doctrine but a mindset that relates to how we think about the Lord's body. Denominational thinking perceives the church (universal) as comprised of an interconnected web of congregations instead of seeing the church as comprised of individual Christians without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}