By David Kennedy
I consider myself to be something of a novice golfer. I like to go out and play, at least in theory. I mean, the idea of going out to a beautiful course with good people and spend- ing time outside playing the game is very attractive, until I actually get there. I then spend a lot of time and money putting myself through misery!
I don’t understand why golf is such a difficult game. I don’t know why hitting that little ball with a golf club is so hard. The ball isn’t moving. It just sits there. And yet it seems to be the most difficult thing in the world. But here’s what really drives me mad: With golf already being so difficult, why do the people who design golf courses feel the need to make it harder? They put trees in your way. They put lakes out on the course to attract your ball. They have these things called “bunkers” that make it even harder to hit your ball. Many courses have deep, thick grass that eat your ball. You never see it again!
Why? Why make an already difficult game even harder? Are these people sadists? Do they find pleasure in other people’s pain?
It occurs to me that in the same way those who design golf courses make an already hard game even harder, many churches make becoming a Christian—something that for many is already very difficult—even harder by building unnecessary obstacles and hurdles. Is that the purpose of church? Is Christianity like golf? Do we take something that many consider to be difficult already and make it even harder?
This question led to one of the first controversies in the early Christian Church. For the first ten years of the Christian church, every Christian was Jewish, and that made things simple. Everyone talked the same, and thought the same, and ate the same, and worshiped the same. But as Acts 10 records, the Holy Spirit eventually fills Gentile believers too. As the Gentile believers began to worship with Jewish believers, things started to get very messy. These Gentiles didn’t talk the same, or think the same, or eat the same, or worship the same. This new diversity led to new questions. “What do we do now that the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit? Now we need to make them Jewish, right? Now we need to indoctrinate them into all things Jewish, all things Old Testament. Right?”
It wasn’t long before the mounting tension led to a debate in the church. It’s described in Acts 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’” (Acts 15:1). So the issue they chose to focus on was circumcision.
Do Gentile men need to be circumcised? In other words, do they need to become Jewish in order to be saved? According to one group, the answer was, “Yes! Gentiles may be filled with the Spirit, but now it’s our responsibility to make them thoroughly Jewish so they can be saved.” Those of us living in the twenty-first century may shake our heads at the narrow-mindedness of the Christian Pharisees who would demand circumcision for salvation. But those of us who are
Adventist Christians have to ask ourselves how we would fill in that blank. “Unless you are ________, you cannot be saved.” “Unless you believe _________, you cannot be saved.” What would you put in the blank? What obstacle, biblical or otherwise, would you demand be upheld for salvation or church membership?
We can support what we put in our blank by arguing, “I have the Bible on my side. I’m only upholding the clear teaching of Scripture.” But the Pharisees had the Bible on their side too. The Old Testament clearly states that circumcision was essential for God’s people. (See Genesis 17:11-14.) You see, this isn’t a simple issue. Those who were demand- ing the Gentiles be circumcised had good reason to demand it. But Paul and Barnabas had another opinion. “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” (Acts 15:2).
And so here is the setup for a monumental game changer in the life of the church. Paul and Barnabas, together with other believers, go to Jerusalem where the church had its headquarters, and they call together all the elders and leaders of the church to figure out this pivotal issue. Are Gentiles required to be circumcised to be saved? Clearly, this was a much bigger issue than just circumcision. It had to do with what it meant to be a Christian. Did Gentile Christians have to become Jewish in order to be saved?
All the church leaders came together. After they debated the issue for a long time, the great apostle Peter got up and told of his experience with the Gentiles. He explained how the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit before circumcision, so why would God require circumcision after they received the Holy Spirit? He went so far as to say, “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Acts 15:10-11).
Peter used some really strong language. He said that by demanding circumcision of the Gentiles, by making some- thing already hard even harder, they were “testing God.” In other words, it wasn’t pleasing to the heart of God. He said they were putting a yoke around the necks of the Gentiles. The yoke Peter spoke of was all of the laws of the Old Testament that they thought they had to keep in order to be in good standing with God. Yet that yoke was a burden; it led to bondage. So Peter asked, “Why would we put that on the Gentiles after we’ve been trying to get free from it ourselves?”
I think this has so much relevance for us today. It is convicting to me, as a pastor, to know that I have tested God by trying to put a heavy and unnecessary yoke on people. I’m not trying to be critical of my denomination when I say we’re pretty good at this as Adventists. Becoming a Christian is already difficult for most. There are intellectual obstacles, social obstacles, faith obstacles. Jesus asks us to give the rest of our lives to Him. That’s difficult for most.
As Adventists, we often add just a “few” more things before someone can be baptized and considered a part of the fold. You know the list: Stop smoking. Stop drinking. Stop eating pork and shellfish. Stop wearing this or that. Start keeping the Sabbath. If your job won’t let you take Sabbath off, quit. Thoroughly study the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, and be able to draw a diagram of the 2300 day prophecy. Change what you believe about where your deceased grandparents really are. I sometimes think it would be easier to be circumcised!
Let me be clear. None of that stuff is bad. Some of it is really important. But we’re faced with the same question today that these believers grappled with and settled 2,000 years ago. “Do people need to become Adventist before they can be saved? Do they need to become Adventist before they can be baptized, or admitted to the family?” I can hear the voice of Peter echoing down through the millennia, “Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? It is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved!”
In the end, James, the brother of Jesus, the leader of the Church, gave his verdict. “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turn- ing to God.” The church’s decision is a game changer. “Let’s not make it difficult for the Gentiles. Let’s make it as easy as possible without compromising the gospel.” Yet this doesn’t mean the church threw out all standards. They didn’t say, “We’re saved by grace, so who cares what the Gentiles do?” They still acknowledge that Christians are called to lay down their lives for Christ. There will be many things we give up for the sake of Christ. James looked at his current context, and saw what things might hurt the church or inhibit the growth of Gentile believers, and he told them to “abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (Acts 15:20). An interesting list, but one that was relevant for that place and time. But here’s the overarching principle: “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles. Let’s make it as easy as possible for them!” This is the trend and trajectory of the book of Acts. Observe the following: Acts 2: The people asked, “What must we do?” What did Peter say? Jump through these hoops? No! “Repent and be baptized!” Acts 8: An Ethiopian in a chariot asked Phillip, “What hinders me from being baptized?” Phillip answered with his actions, “Nothing hinders you, and neither will I!” Acts 10: Racist Peter saw ethnicity as an obstacle that would keep people from coming to Christ. If they weren’t Jewish, they couldn’t receive the Holy Spirit. But then God sent Peter a vision, telling him three times, “Don’t call anything impure if I’ve made it clean!” All through the book of Acts, God removed obstacles, making the way to life easy for people!
So what does this mean for us today? What does it mean for us to “make it easy”? I believe what that means is that we make it as easy as possible for people to come to Christ without compromising the gospel. This isn’t easy. We have to think and process, “What is essential to the gospel?” We don’t promote sin. We don’t compromise our beliefs. We continue to uphold the truth of the gospel that God wants all of me, and he wants to transform all of me. But we do need to think and work and determine what is essential, what are the non-negotiable parts of our faith, and, conversely, what is unessential tradition and merely an obstacle keeping people from coming to Christ.
My prayer for our church is that we do not make becoming an Adventist Christian like a golf course. We don’t want to make something that is already hard, by its very nature, even harder. My prayer for our church is that we might join the early church by making it easy for those who so desperately need the transforming and saving grace of Christ.
–David Kennedy is lead pastor of Newday Christian Seventh-day Adventist Church in Parker, Colorado. Email him at: [email protected]