Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Acts 15 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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Ever wonder how a diverse church can stay united without watering down the gospel or trampling conscience? We walk through Acts 15—where the dispute in Antioch sent leaders to Jerusalem—and watch the early church model a Spirit-led, scripture-shaped path to agreement. Peter recalls the Spirit falling on Gentiles, James anchors the moment in Amos, and together the council affirms salvation by grace through faith while offering four practical guardrails for shared table fellowship.

From there, we wrestle with the tension between liberty and love. Why these four limits—idols, blood, strangled meat, and sexual immorality—and how do they relate to Paul’s later teaching on conscience in Romans and Corinthians? We talk about cultural customs versus moral absolutes, why the church must remove unnecessary barriers to the gospel, and how to choose restraint when freedom would cause a brother to stumble. The line “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” becomes a blueprint for discernment: seek God’s word, listen to God’s people, and trust the Spirit’s leading.

We also lean into the very human story of Paul and Barnabas parting ways over John Mark. Barnabas bets on restoration; Paul prioritizes mission reliability. The split is sharp but not bitter, and later Paul calls Mark useful—proof that convictions can diverge while love endures, and that time can redeem what tension strains. Along the way, we revisit core themes—grace that saves apart from works, good works that flow from faith, and the ongoing need to strengthen churches with encouragement and clarity.

Join us for a grounded, practical look at conflict, conscience, and community that speaks to leadership, church unity, and everyday discipleship. If this conversation helped you think more clearly about grace and wisdom, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Flick. That's Pastor Holland. We're talking Acts 15. We're going to outline it. We're going to observe it. We're going to interpret it. We're going to apply it so that you can take Jesus along with you today. Now, Acts 15, 1 through 5 g brings up the dispute in Antioch. Certain men from Judea were saying, hey, you've got to follow the law of Moses, like being circumcised, if you are going to be a Christian. And then that brought everyone back to the council of Jerusalem in verses 6 through 21. And finally Peter rises up and says, Hey, we're not going to put any of the burdens on him. James, the brother of Jesus, then agrees and he quotes Amos 9, 11, and 12. And then in verses 23 through 29, there's the decision and the letter. The apostles, elders, and the whole church agree to send chosen men to them to say, Hey, here's what you can do. Here's the freedom you have in Christ. The only things we ask you not to do is abstain from things offered to idols, blood, things strangled, and sexual morality. If you keep that, you're going to do great. Farewell. Then in verses 30 through 35, uh, they return to Antioch rejoicing. And then the delegation arrives, and then uh they keep on teaching and preaching there. Well, then 36 through 41, Paul and Barnabas decide to go back and check out the churches that they had planted on their missionary journey. And whenever they do this, Barnabas says, Hey, great idea. Let's take away what this John Mark. Paul's like, nah, not taking John Mark. He quit on us before. That becomes problematic, and a sharp disagreement arises with them, where uh John, Mark, and Barnabas uh sail off on their journey to Cyprus, and then Paul and Silas they go to um through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. So now let's get to some observation, Holland. What do you see here?

Pastor Holland:

All right. First observation for me is this split over Mark and just how Paul and Barnabas kind of differ in you know their thoughts on Mark. And um, yeah, it's very interesting. And you know, from here, Paul kind of takes the lead in the book of Acts. Barnabas kind of fades a little bit, and Paul takes center stage, and it has to do over Mark. Um, and yeah, I think that's interesting.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and and I wonder who was right and who was wrong here. Uh, there the thing is kind of nice about it, it doesn't give anybody right or wrong, it says there's just a sharp disagreement. And so is it possible there could be such a sharp disagreement among Christians that you would uh split off? And then if you notice, it says the elders commended both uh parties to go. And so, like, I guess you guys can't be, I don't know. I don't know if it was you guys can't be friends.

Pastor Holland:

I don't know, you know, again, we don't know what the it seems just more strategic to me. If Paul is thinking, like, hey, because it says that um Mark had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Um, and so Paul's going, look, I don't think this is the most strategic move. Uh, this is gonna be a liability, not an asset. Right. Um, and Barnabas is going, you know, Barnabas, son of encouragement, is going, no, he's an asset. I, you know, and so it's like I don't know if there's necessarily a right or a wrong. Um they might both be right in different ways, you know. Um and we know later, so this is John Mark, like the author of um the Gospel of Mark. Yeah, and we go later from uh 2 Timothy. Um, 2 Timothy ends with Paul saying, Hey, um uh bring Mark to me. He's useful to me in ministry.

Pastor Plek:

But you don't ever that and this might be just you know, I also hear about Nicodemus after the Gospels, right? And so I wish that uh the Luke writing this would include, and then one day Paul and Barnabas hung out and had a party. Yeah, I don't know, something would have been that would have been nice, and you don't always get that.

Pastor Holland:

I I like that you get, you know, that at the end of Paul's life, him and Mark were like buddies, buddies, not only buddies, but like he's uh I need Mark. Get him for me. Like that's that's cool, that's encouraging to me. But there's this one point where Paul's like, no, I'm not, I don't want to go with that guy.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, how about this? Speaking of disagreements, you've got the disagreement of I I think the these guys are from the Pharisee party. They would they would have said we believe Jesus, yes, we do, we love Jesus, he's the Messiah, we're all in. It's just he came and he saved us, but we should be following the law of Moses. And um they go great debate comes up, and I I think eventually they get in line. I'm assuming. Would you agree with that? That the fair sounds like it. Yeah, and and then the thing that always sort of I struggle with, and I think we can probably unpack it here, is verse 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and has to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements. So he kind of lays out here's what you have to do because you already have the Holy Spirit. So it's not to be saved, here's what you have to do to sort of like continue in the faith, right?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and continue in the faith, and you know, the issue is like the the people of God was like primarily Jewish people and did and now it's expanding to include Gentiles. And so, how do Jews and Gentiles fellowship together when Jews say we don't eat these foods, we don't, you know, even culturally, right? And so, you know, the a lot of these cultural issues and customs and stuff are gonna change over time, but at this point, how do how do Jews and Gentiles like fellowship together? And so that's what I think these instructions are about is uh essentially like politeness and fellowship between two very different groups.

Pastor Plek:

So so why these rules? And I know that this might be the part where I'm probably reading too much into it. Why uh because we we see in First Corinthians uh is it 10 and then Romans uh maybe it's Romans uh 14, where Paul's like, hey, you can eat food sacrifice idols.

Pastor Holland:

Uh so and but then he says, if it caused your brother to stumble, don't do it. Right. That's the whole point of these instructions here is not causing stumbling as these two different groups of people try to learn how to fellowship together.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, so food sacrifice idols later on becomes a a uh a subject of personal conviction. Um what about blood? Is it wrong to eat steak rare?

Pastor Holland:

The that's not that's not blood, though, right? When you eat a rare steak, that's like just the juice. Well, what else is it? Oh no, you're asking me steak questions, not Bible questions.

Pastor Plek:

I mean, it ha it's like it, you know, is the steak in a or is a steak, is the red juice in a steak blood? Yes, I think it is.

Pastor Holland:

No, the red juice and steak isn't blood, it's a protein called myoglobin mixed with water that gives meat its red color.

Pastor Plek:

All right, all right.

Pastor Holland:

Uh, that okay, so I'm not like some steak, I love steak, but so I okay, so that so that's not blood. That's what Google says.

Pastor Plek:

Hey, you know, I think that makes sense. Okay, all right, good. All right. But you know, that uh I always struggle with that. So I feel like you know, we myoglobin. I'm I'm grateful that it's myoglobin, not blood. But to me, I'm I wonder if okay, that's good. It's similar to hemoglobin in blood, which is why it's red when exposed to oxygen. All right, fair enough. So so it's not blood. So when you eat um a rare steak, you're not eating blood. Do you eat rare steak or are you like a medium? I'm a medium guy. I'm medium. Yeah, my wife is more of a rare person. And what's wild is sometimes it's a little jelly and then she kind of gets a little sick. So, you know, anyway.

Pastor Holland:

So I okay, so these some of these things here, it's like a mixture. Well, so one, the concern that came up first was hey, they need to obey Moses. So now, you know, you're having to figure out the old covenant is done, and you're transitioning into like a new time under the new covenant. Um, and they're having to figure out, okay, there's some moral commands from the old testament. So like the Ten Commandments continue on, but the civil laws um and the ceremonial laws are now, you know, being uh done away with. And and yet there's still these people who are um uh who have grown up with these ceremonial laws and are used to them and are wondering, you know, it feels wrong to let go of them. Does that make sense? Like I'm just trying to bring up here's the text.

Pastor Plek:

But I I guess the thing that I'd be struggling with is all right, what about what has been strangled? Like, why are is was that something like from Genesis nine, whenever Noah gets off the boat or something, don't eat strangled animals. You know, that's the part that I'm sort of wrestling with here on that. Because I think um because that Genesis 9 said also, I think it says don't don't drink blood, right? Yeah, um, and so I I I don't know. That's the part where I I feel like um yeah, that that that's the part that I struggle with.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, those were Jewish customs and um practices, uh, and the Gentiles didn't hold to those. But um the the council, the Jerusalem council is saying, hey, even though you don't personally hold these customs, in order for to fellowship together, you know, it's like the don't cause your brother to stumble. If you eat strangled food with the blood in it, um, then uh that's gonna cause your brothers to stumble. It's gonna create a barrier um between these two groups when what we want is for us to all come together as one.

Pastor Plek:

Right. Uh so I guess the part that I'm I'm struggling with is like because clearly there was their intermixing. So it's like, hey, this is right for everybody. Um, but then later on with Paul, hey, if you have conviction, like I can't eat this without feeling like a sense of I should um not eat eat that was eat meat that was sacrificed to idols, then I need to withhold, but not judge those who have the freedom to do that. Yeah. Um that that's the part I think that it felt like they kind of create a universal rule, and then Paul later on changes it as the Holy Spirit reveals more as it goes on. Anyway, uh that that's always been a struggle for me, and it might have been that might just be part of it.

Pastor Holland:

And it seems this is like a this is wisdom. You know, he says it seemed good, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements. No, this is them exercising, you know, essentially like pastoral wisdom for a particular situation based on the word and based on the leading of the Holy Spirit. It's not them laying down a um, you know, a permanent eternal law or something. It's them saying, Hey, here's what seems good to us right now for what we're dealing with.

Pastor Plek:

Okay. All right. So then so you've got that issue that, and you're watching the church go from this exciting of explosion of evangelism to really wrestling through what exactly is they believe. And I think that's what's so important.

Pastor Holland:

It's really cool.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I think that's what's so important for us to realize that people get saved and there's gonna be questions, and those aren't something to be scared of. You need to ask the questions and then consult the Holy Spirit, walk through the reality of it, and then make a decision based on the conviction that the Lord has given you.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And there's a lot to be learned from how they made this decision in the same way that you can go, okay, man, look back at um uh uh things like the Council of Nicaea, right? And look back at um, you know, the Reformation and the canons of Dort and you know, some of these confessions and um creeds that were written, and go, this is, you know, throughout church history, um, godly uh leaders coming together to try to say, okay, here's how we obey God's word together here and getting more and more clarity and trying to refine their beliefs. And so that's just part of the Christian life. Yeah. You see the first one here.

Pastor Plek:

And I and you know I say this probably way too much, but whenever you're trying to discern God's will, it's God's spirit, God's word, God's people. And so they consult all three of those, which I thought was kind of neat. You've got God's word, he quotes back to Amos, and then he then he's got obviously have God's people, and then obviously the whole they said seems good the Holy Spirit and us. So I I really love the those three are seen right here. Boom, boom. Uh so I I do appreciate that. All right. Um, yeah, and and I and I think it's just interesting that we're we're finding that people do disagree. So let's get into some of the the nature of men. I think people have opinions. Nature of man. People have opinions that won't always be the same, and that not isn't necessarily sinful, uh, but based on conviction, it will be different.

Pastor Holland:

And based on we see in part, we don't know everything. Right. Yeah. So that's that's part of our nature too, is we're not God. We don't have all knowledge. Right. Um, and therefore, uh, you know, things like this councils are important where a discussion and debate happen and go, well, what about this? And what about that? You know, Moses is read, and you know, we always did it this way, but what about you know, God saving these Gentiles over here and they're not circumcised, right? But they have the Holy Spirit, you know.

Pastor Plek:

And I kind of appreciate that there wasn't like a straight word from the Lord that they had to discern by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the counsel of men, and by seeking God's word. I mean, I because I think so much, even that we sort of like the God told me, um, even then, you're having to have a discernment with counsel and wisdom um to kind of lay out what is the right thing here. I I really appreciate that.

Pastor Holland:

And it's cool, you know, it it teaches um that uh we have different opinions and different perspectives and stuff that but you can come together in agreement. But also sometimes another thing it teaches godly people disagree and need to part ways.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, gosh.

Pastor Holland:

Paul and Barnabas, right?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, that's sort of sad, but yeah, and maybe it wasn't sad. I don't know. Maybe to me, I look at it as being sad, and maybe it was like Paul and Barnabas, which were really tight, like, hey, listen, I just can't do John Mark. You take him. Yeah, cool. Let's go. All right, I'll see you. And and maybe they hung out at all the I have guys like that. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

And I was that guy for someone at some point, probably like, hey, look, uh Holland, I love Holland, but I can't do ministry with him. Yeah. And you know, over time, Mark grew up.

Pastor Plek:

Or even it wasn't I can't do ministry with you, is like, oh, hey, like you really believe in that guy? Hey, you need to go and do what the Lord has convicted you to do, and I and I'm for that, go and do it. I just can't go that direction. And maybe it's even better that we kind of do double the work.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. I find it encouraging that there was a sharp disagreement between two godly people trying to figure out the best thing. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

So if you have marriage issues, that's in the Bible. If you have ministry issues, turns out that's in the Bible. Like even the early church, when the Holy Spirit was working just the same way then as is now, uh, in many ways, uh, you have actual people who don't can't figure out what's the right answer, and there could be two right answers.

Pastor Holland:

I got another one. Um, we need strengthening. Paul says, let's return, visit the brothers in every city, um, and see how they are. And then, you know, at the end, um it says that they uh strengthened um the churches, verse 41. And so it's like churches need strengthening, they need encouragement. Um, that's something that we need as people.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. And I don't really usually think of like, man, I really need someone in here to come and strengthen us. However, uh, you know, having like uh a pastor that founded the church come and speak, or another pastor come and speak to the congregation to encourage, hey, you guys are doing a great job, or like repent. You know, that's actually kind of nice. Yeah. Um, all right, what about some character of God things here? Um I I think the biggest one is God saves by grace, grace through faith.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Uh like alone. And there is no amount of works, it's not like, hey, do yeah, verse nine, having cleansed their hearts by faith. And now, is it works to then live a sexually pure life? What? So like you're saved by grace, uh-huh, but you are now called to live a certain way which would show your works.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah. Saving faith, sorry, I didn't quite understand what you're asking, but yeah, saving faith produces good works. That's that's very biblical.

Pastor Plek:

Right, but it wasn't like you, you know, and this is the the whole is this order salutus, like order of salvation. Like when do you start being changed? Do you change first, or is your heart changed first, you believe, and then your life changes. And how long does that take? I think that's usually the big issue that people find that happens in people's lives, that there's this sanctification process that happens over time.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And yeah, good works are without um faith, you can't please God, right? Romans. And so um for it to be genuine genuinely good works, it has to proceed from faith. And so when we're born again, when our hearts are cleansed by faith, then we begin to live lives of good works.

Pastor Plek:

I think this goes without saying, but God's sovereign or God's sovereign and wanted to include Jews and Gentiles. Yeah. And I think sometimes we're like, well, duh, most of Christianity is Gentiles. But I think there was um in the very beginning, there was a question about that. Does God really want these people? I I kind of think about um, is it the Dalits? Am I saying that right in India, the lowest caste, the untouchables? Um, you ever heard of this? No. So like they're like the I mean, I've heard of the untouchable lowest caste. I'm not called the Dalites or Dalites, or anyway, maybe they need to be deleted. I don't know. Like it's uh that's how they felt about them. Anyway, so like, but like there is no type of person that is untouchable to the gospel. In fact, because what God does, he wants all to be saved, um, no matter what your caste or where where you come from. Yeah, and he's gonna give his spirit to you the same he gives it to a Jewish person.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, amen. Uh, also, God leads by his spirit. Um character of God is you know, he he's our shepherd, he's our leader, he dwells within us by his spirit, and he leads us to make decisions, not just by I had I got this direct revelation from God, but rather uh it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit. So that is God influencing our thinking and decision making and you know, intuition, and uh and God leads his church in that way.

Pastor Plek:

So early on you had the Urim and the Thuman, Urim and Thum, and that was the black and white rock the high priest would have to help uh Israel's leaders make decisions. Should I go this? Yeah, black rock or white rock, yes, you should. Should I do that? Black rock, no, you shouldn't. Um, which is sort of like cryptic and sort of, but now it's like, God, should I do this? Hmm. It seems good to me that we do it. Ah, me too. No, not me. Uh-uh, two out of three ain't bad. Uh, you know, like I it is a little more challenging. It takes a little bit more um faith, and it seems like you're you have to be able to be corrected. Um anyway, it's it's it's an odd uh what I think you said earlier, like you just you don't know every you only know in part. You only have partial revelation in this era of um of of the the I guess church age or like yeah, faith age. Yeah. Okay, uh let's talk about let's get into some application. Okay. Um, how about you know, sin to avoid, a promise to claim, example to follow, command to obey, or knowledge to believe. Sin to avoid, imposing extra biblical commands on people.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, that's good.

Pastor Plek:

There shouldn't be any legalism.

Pastor Holland:

Yep, no legalism, Christian liberty. Um, that your conscience would be bound by the word of God and not by other people's made-up rules. Yeah, it's good. Um what else you got? Uh I like that uh, like what you brought up earlier, um, discerning God's will with his word, his spirit, and his people. Right. I think that's a good example to follow. They're clearly doing that in this passage. And yeah, it's just a good reminder like, don't just make decisions in isolation or without prayer or without scripture, um, without asking the Holy Spirit to lead you. Um, incorporate all those things in your decision making.

Pastor Plek:

How about commando obey? Uh don't engage in idolatry or sexual morality. Amen. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. That's a good one. Um example to follow. Okay, go with me here. Barn Barnabas and Paul um separating. Yeah. Uh, and uh, but you know, they they went different ways, but they stayed in fellowship and connection with each other. Um, you see Paul and Barnabas um uh not separating like as friends or not, you know, calling the other one a heretic, or you know what I mean? Like they got God leads them in two different directions. Um, and yet they are able to stay brothers in Christ. And even, you know, Paul at the end of his life saying, Bring me Mark. Yeah, I think that's awesome for like the Lord might you might part ways with a close brother or sister, you know, for some reason. And uh that doesn't mean that you got to part ways as a friend, as a brother, as a sister, and you know what I mean? There's seasons, yeah.

Pastor Plek:

I love it. Uh I think that's good. I think, yeah, that it the example follow also, I think uh Peter and James' example of humility. Like Peter could have been like, hey guys, shut up. Didn't we already already decide this forever ago? But he kind of let the debate kind of go and go and go when he listened, and then finally when he had he felt The conviction of me, I'm assuming the Holy Spirit here, he speaks, and then James, the brother of Jesus, then speaks. So and I know I'm getting to God's word, God's Spirit, all that. But Peter speaks with a Holy Spirit. Here's what I saw in the vision and the experience the Holy Spirit led me in. And then uh God's word is where James goes to, and then um the whole council, God's people, uh finally makes a declaration. I think example of follow, do that to follow God's will, and I'm super excited about that for people. Love it. Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

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