Considering the Necessary Things

Scripture: For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Acts 15:28-29

Observation: The council of Jerusalem has acknowledged that gentile believers need not adopt the laws of Judaism. They have acknowledged that the ritualistic practices of the Jews, along with the understood laws about clean and unclean things, is a stumbling block, not a requirement. However, they do define four things as "necessary", which are one moral law (sexual immorality) and three rules about food. That is not to say these are the only laws, only that the original question was about ritualistic practices. Therefore, these necessary laws really involve three elements:

1) Our Lord commands us to have no other gods, therefore you must not be anywhere near food used as rituals to those other gods and idols.

2) Our savior Jesus absolved us from sacrifices, therefore you have no need to adopt any practice that involves ritual killings and consumption of animals.

3) Our way is about loving one another, therefore you must treat each other with honor and respect and proper relationships, and thus sexual morality is proper.

Application: Today, the church - at least some denominations - has volumes of documents trying to summarize every detail about living. Yet the first Church summarized it all in about 150 words ... believe in the Lord God the Creator of heaven and earth, have faith and trust in Jesus as your savior, and love (properly relate to) one another.

Yes, they called out one "sin" above the others, and certainly I could rant about that point given the issues in the PC(USA) I once had to address. However, I would rather focus on the positive message just as the first believers did. There are necessary truths, and they are straightforward ... Love God, love Jesus, love one another.

If everything I did every day simply aligned to those three things, I certainly could never go wrong.

Prayer: Lord, may I be better focused this day and every day on these three things. I love and believe in you, oh Lord my God, and I love and have faith in Jesus, my Lord and savior. I strive to love others properly, and I know I am less consistent with this. Please soften my heart. Amen.