In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council requested the Gentile believers to avoid food offered to idols, food that had been strangled, and food with blood still in it.  Why focus on food issues?  Because eating together was and still is an important part of fellowship, and these three things would offend the Jewish believers.  If Jewish and Gentile believers are going to have fellowship together, eat together, and find unity together, then the Gentiles need to strive to avoid offending their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ.

We too must strive not to offend each other.  We all have different personal convictions regarding behavior based on our age, how we were raised, where we have lived, and more.  We ought to strive not to offend each other in what we do.  We may need to agree on some things we will all avoid so as not to offend each other.

We have all seen one child figure out that something bugs another child, and so this first child goes out of their way to do that something just to irritate the second child.  Scripture teaches us to do the opposite.  If we know something offends someone, we should graciously strive not to do it.  Pursue unity in fellowship.

But notice also that the Gentiles were only given three things to avoid so as not to offend their Jewish brothers.  But the Jewish believers held many more personal convictions from the Mosaic Law, and the Gentiles were not expected to keep the Law to please them.  There was still a lot of room for Gentiles to do things that the Jews would find offensive, but the Jewish believers had to avoid being offended.

We too must graciously strive not to be offended.  We can’t expect others to follow our personal behavior convictions, or judge them when they don’t.  We must avoid being offended by what our brothers and sisters in Christ do.

If you go out in the rain in a t-shirt, you will soon be soaked.  You need a rain slicker, so the rain “slicks” off of you.  When you go to church, don’t wear a “t-shirt” in which every offense soaks in until you are drenched with anger.  Wear a “rain slicker”, so the offenses just slick off of you.

In sum, we all need to focus on ourselves.  Graciously strive not to offend.  Graciously strive not to be offended.  Pursue unity in fellowship.

Acts 14 gives us four essential elements of the work of missions:  The work of missions includes:

• The Work of Proclamation (v1-21) – They went about proclaiming the gospel.  At times they could launch straight into the gospel.  At other times they had to go back and start with the “pre-gospel” – that there is one true God who made and sustains the world.  Wherever they had to begin, they proclaimed the Word boldly.  And they were humble: they knew they were mere men and refused to be exalted.  In the same way, the work of missions today is to proclaim the gospel (and the pre-gospel as needed) both boldly and humbly.
• The Work of Perseverance (v1-21) – They had to flee one town.  One man was stoned in another town.  But they didn’t quit.  They kept preaching the gospel.  They persevered.  Missions is tough.  Missions is war.  The work of missions today, no less than in Acts, includes the need to persevere.
• The Work of Planting (v22-23) – They didn’t just proclaim the gospel, but they gathered new Christians into churches where they could grow.  They planted churches.  This included building up the churches and appointing leaders.  The work of missions today still requires planting new churches.
• The Work of Partnering (v24-28) – They returned to their sending church to tell all the great things God had done.  They understood that they were not lone rangers, but rather partners with their supporting church.  In the same way, the work of missions today includes the need for active communicating partnership with supporting churches.

In Acts 6:1-7, we see six clear commitments of the early church.  These same commitments should be true of our churches today as well:

• Unity – The occasion behind this passage is a real threat to unity.  Diverse backgrounds, neglect, and complaining all threaten the church.  The apostles deal decisively with the problems to preserve unity in the church.  So should we.
• Caring Fellowship – The early church was daily feeding widows in need.  Acts 2 tells us they gave to anyone in the church who was in need.  Plus they met regularly in homes.  They cared about each other in tangible ways, and so should we.
• Prayer and the Word – The apostles wouldn’t neglect prayer and the Word.  Indeed throughout Acts, we see prayer and the Word continually.  These were central to the early church, and they should be central in our churches today.
• Diverse Roles – If the church was going to commit to caring fellowship and the Word and prayer, it became clear that diverse roles were necessary.  Some needed to focus on caring for people’s physical needs, while others focused on people’s spiritual needs.  Diverse roles are just as important today.
• Active Membership – The full number of the disciples assembled for essentially a business meeting to deal with the issue at hand.  They were involved in choosing the seven.  These same disciples were devoted to the ministries of the church (Acts 2:41-42).  We need an active membership today.
• Qualified Leadership – The apostles gave clear guidelines for choosing the seven.  This was not a popular vote.  Each leader had to have a good reputation, and be full of the Spirit and full of wisdom.  We need leaders like that today as well.

As the early church lived out these six commitments, the gospel continued to spread.  May God help our churches to live out these six clear commitments, and may the Lord cause the gospel to spread through us today!