05/05/2023 – Stuck in the 1980’s
My wife and kids always poke fun at me, accusing me of “being stuck in the 1980’s”, for my choices in style, clothing , shoes, and sneakers I wear, from the movies and music I repeatedly enjoy, a style that was distinctly unique to the 1980s. Yes, I plead guilty to all the above, and to a major extent its true, some parts of me are stuck in the 1980’s. For me the 1980’s represents that part of my youth where I was at the prime of my life, where I came into my own. But I see how embarrassing it is for my wife and kids to endure me insisting on holding on to the 1980’s, the truth is that the 1980’s is an era long gone and it’s never coming back.
Acts 15:1 and 5
1.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.”
- Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
Paul and Barnabas where preaching and teaching that salvation in Jesus was purely by grace alone, there is nothing for us to add to God’s gift. All the requirements to salvation was completely met through Christ alone. Our part now is only to receive what God has given us freely by grace. The Pharisees in these verses, although they believed in Jesus, they thought the new covenant needed the help “of works” from the old covenant. In their thinking they thought, their beliefs in Jesus could coexist with their customs, rituals from the old covenant. That kind of thinking can prove to be toxic and contrary to the Gospel of grace. They didn’t see that the new covenant of grace had replaced their old covenant of the law. Much like me, insisting on holding on to the 1980’s, an era that has since been long gone and replaced by a new era. Don’t get stuck in the old covenant of religious rituals, superstitions, where extra task and works are required to gain salvation, that’s false. Salvation is purely by God’s grace as a gift and nothing more.
Today Meditate on this verse: Acts 15:11 “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”