The White Whole Theory

The scripture in Acts 15 is used by both catholics and protestants (which includes Pentecostals) to argue for a hierarchical structure for church government.  Catholics use this scripture to make Peter the first Pope and protestants use this scripture to make James the leader of the early church, but neither position is supported by reading the scripture.  If we examine the context surrounding the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15 and the response of the Apostles and Elders in the council there are some profound ramifications for our current church governmental structure.

The reason for the council was that some men came to antioch teaching that the believers needed to be circumcised as required by the law of Moses to be saved (Acts 15:1).  In reading this scripture there are a couple of things that we need to note:

1. Paul and Barnabus argued with them vehemently about this as they knew this was false teaching.  Some scholars believe that the letter to Galatians was written before Paul went to Jerusalem for the Council and in Galatians Paul was brutal in his dismissal of this teaching.
2. It was the church in Antioch that asked the church in Jerusalem for help with this issue.  An important consideration in why the church in Antioch doing this is that they did not have the New Testament and only Galatians and James where written before the Council.  This means that if the Antioch church was unsure of which was the correct teaching, the Jerusalem Church would have been the logical place to appeal to for help.
3. In Gal 2:11 we find out the Paul confronted Peter because he was not opposing these men who where proclaiming this teaching and started avoiding gentile Christians because of peer pressure.  It is possible and probably likely that this happened while Paul and Barnabus where in Antioch and would understandably have confused the Christians in Antioch if Peter seemed to support them by association even if he didn't actively support their teaching.

When the Council in Jerusalem is held it starts with a lot of discussion then Peter addresses the council reminding them that both Jews and Gentiles are saved by Grace.  This allows Paul and Barnabus to tell the council about there missionary Journey and all the wonderful things that God has done among the Gentiles.  After this James speaks to the council giving them his opinion, which the apostles and elders agree with in their letter.   

In examining the response of the apostles and elders we need to note the following:

1. The authority in the letter rests on the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, not the authority of either Peter or James.
2. Neither Peter or James are given any special position in this council other than that they had oppinions that where worthy of noting in scripture.  Any special positon to either of these men is given by us in our interpretation of scripture, based on our experience that church has a hierarchical structure.
3. The question the church in Antioch asked was do we need to be circumcised, yet the response from the Jerusalem Council and ultimately the Holy Spirit is a general one about the Jewish law mentioning only 4 things from the whole of the old testament law.  An important note here is that they didn't mention tithing even though this is in the law and it would have fit with the response that the council gave.
4. So as you can see this passage of scripture gives no support to our current hierarchical church structure where a Senior Pastor rules his little kingdom as he sees fit.  In fact it actively opposes it as the ruling was given by a council of apostles and elders with no mention of any single leader.  

When Christians get involved in politics or think about voting in an election the thing that seems to be the highest priority is the moral standards of the politicians and political parties.  Yet this is at odds with the message of the Gospel.  The message of the gospel is that Jesus had to die on the cross because we were unable to meet the standard that the law required to know God and be like him.  Jesus’ message was one of grace and love for the sinner and open opposition to the Legalistic teachings of the religious leaders.  So if we were to create a political movement based on love what would it look like?

¹If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-7

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

 So what does this well-known scripture tell us about how we should be involved in politics?

1. If we don’t do it in love then it is meaningless and has no eternal value.  All we do is make a loud noise but have no lasting effect.
2. Our involvement must be done with patience and an understanding that not everyone will listen.  We must wait for the opportunities that allow us to get our message across to the public.
3. Our policies need to be kind, we should not support policies that treat people harshly like the current border protection policies of both major parties.  Compassion needs to be a major component of any policies we support.
4. We should not boast about our achievements but let our actions and the results speak for themselves.  The media will want to know about our policies and platform and will provide ample opportunity for us to put forward our position and critique the policies of the other parties.
5. We should not be proud of what we achieve but recognise that anything we do achieve is through God’s grace.
6. We should not be part of the standard political manipulation that tries to shade the truth to match our political goals and thus bring dishonour to us and our opponents.
7. We are not there for our own needs, but to represent the needs of the constituent that elected us.
8. We should be calm and measured in our responses and avoid political grandstanding, i.e. Question Time in the Australian Federal Parliament and the great American filibuster are examples of the kind of behaviour to avoid.  
9. We should not seek revenge when opposing parties manipulate the truth and lie about what we say but depend on God to bring the truth about their behaviour into the light.
10. We need to uphold sound moral standards but we also need to remember that Jesus only gave us two laws under the New Covenant, love God and love your Neighbour.
11. We should support policies that protect and support the disadvantaged in our society and provide them with the opportunities to overcome their circumstances.
12. We need to trust the advice of professionals and academics where it does not disagree with our faith.  This means that we need to have a very good reason to support policies that are against mainstream academic and professional opinion.
13. Our policies need to provide hope and avoid personal attacks.
14. We need to persevere and not react to every wind that blows in the news cycle.

And remember our purpose in being involved in politics is not to achieve power and become the government but to show through our words and actions that Jesus is alive.

When I was reading the story of Jacob and Esau recently I found it very interesting that God gave them to Isaac and Rebekah when Isaac prayed for his wife as she was unable to have children.  God's answer to Isaacs's prayer was twin sons who would continually be in conflict with one another.  And not only that when Rebekah wondered what was going on when they were struggling in her womb and asked God about it, he told her that it was Jacob that would inherit the promise from Isaac and not the firstborn Esau.  As far as we know from scripture God never tells Isaac that it will be Jacob that is going to inherit the promise, only Rebekah.  And when on his death bed Isaac calls for Esau to give him the blessing, it is Rebekah that ensures that it is Jacob that receives the blessing fulfilling what God told her when she was pregnant.  Throughout Jacobs's life we continually see that he has to fight for everything that he receives.  He has to fight for the blessing from his father that God told his mother he would have, he has to fight to get the wife he wanted after his father in law deceives him when he is getting married.  Then when he has worked for free for decades and decides to leave, his father in-law tries to leave him a pauper and he has to fight for the wealth that he receives.

And the most amazing thing about this was that this was the blessing of God on his life.  It was because of this continual struggle that in Genesis 32:28 when God comes to him he can struggle with God and prevail becoming no longer Jacob but Israel, the one who fought with God and man and won, the father of the nation of Israel.

We could probably look at David's life and see a similar story.  A shepherd boy who was anointed king well before he had any chance of being crowned king, but who became a man after God's own heart and whose son Solomon was the wisest man to have ever lived and who built the first temple of God in Jerusalem.

Accepting the truth that these scriptures reveal to us is not easy.  We equate blessing with Joy and happiness and all things nice, not conflict and struggle, not with David fleeing from Saul.  But these are part of the blessing of God because of who we will become if we allow God to lead us through them.  The blessing is who we will become and it is this goal that God sees.

Yes, that is a newspaper headline but I also think that it happens to be true and I hope that you will allow me to explain why I think that Christian political lobby groups are a misrepresentation of the Gospel.

In John 4:1-38 and John 8:1-11 Jesus confronts two women who have obviously not been living up to the standards held in Jewish law, yet in neither case does Jesus accuse them of being sinners.  Instead his goal is redemption and in the case of John 4 many Samaritans end up believing. 

In a number of places in the Gospels Jesus said,Your sins are forgiven,in a way that suggested that sin was no longer really a problem.  This was something that the religious leaders had a very big issue with as there whole system of worship and sacrifices was built around the fact of atoning for sin.

If we then contrast Jesus attitude towards sin and sinners with Christian lobby groups like Festival of Light and others we see a big difference.  Most of what Christian lobby groups do is focus on the sin and try and get sinners to obey the law when it is not in there nature to do so.  Essentially the message that Christian lobby groups preach boils down to 'you are a sinner and you sin'.  It is nothing more than a moral religious crusade design to impose our moral standards on all non-christians.

The significant issue with this is that this is not the Gospel, Christianity is not a moral crusade.  Christianity is about redemption and transformation. 

But this is the new covenant I will make   with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their minds,   and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people(NLT).

When we become Christians God writes his laws on our hearts.  What Christian political lobby groups are trying to accomplish, but never can, is already occurring in churches all around the world every day, when people choose to follow Jesus.  Political lobbying reduces Christianity to a moral crusade making Christianity like every other religion, nothing more than a system of rules and regulations that robs it of its true power. 

The only way to accomplish what Christian political lobby groups want is to change the hearts of the people through salvation.  Once this is done the laws of the country will take care of themselves.

There are no short cuts to the Great Commision.