August 23rd - Acts 15:28

Acts 15:28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. The council of Jerusalem, which we read about in Acts 15, had a massive problem to resolve. When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, it came upon a huge gathering of Jews, so the first Christians brought with them the richness of their Jewish traditions. However, very quickly, the gospel spread to people from a non-Jewish background. This set up enormous tensions because there were many Christians from a Jewish tradition who believed that non-Jews were welcome to Christian faith on the condition that they all abided by Jewish law. After careful debate, the council came to the conclusion that those from a non-Jewish background did not need to accept all the law. However, they did need to abide by some sensitive restrictions. In the beautiful words of today’s verse, the settlement that they arrived at “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”. We face huge challenges in the Church today and as we make decisions together we need to share in good debate, just as they did in the council of Jerusalem. We need to listen carefully to one another and weigh up the different opinions. And through it all we need to pray that, at the end of the day, we will be able to say with the early Church “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”. Question In what current issues do we particularly need to be seeking the Spirit’s guidance? Prayer Lord God, we praise You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit and we pray that He will lead us into all truth. Amen