Acts 14:23 - 15:21 "Picking and Choosing"
So I was enjoying a bacon cheeseburger when the person I was having lunch with hit me with this: “Oh, so you believe what Leviticus says about sex and homosexuality, but you’re okay with eating bacon?”
They’re like—”Checkmate, Christian!”
And I mean... okay, that’s fair.
Because from the outside, it really does look as if we’re just picking and choosing Bible verses—like we’re treating Scripture like a buffet.
“No shellfish rules, please. I’ll take extra judgmentalism instead.”
We condemn adultery but eat shrimp cocktail and pork ribs. We trim our beards, wear polyester, and pile up creamy casseroles at the church potluck—then draw a hard line on the ‘sexy nasty parts’ like they’re the really important commands. From the outside, it looks like we’re making it up as we go—picking and choosing from what God said based on what we like.
And if we’re honest… some of us don’t know how to respond.
If you're not already a believer, that kind of inconsistency makes Christianity look either dumb or dangerous. And if you are a believer, it can be hard to explain why we believe the parts we believe without sounding like total hypocrites.
But the truth is: we’re not picking and choosing—we’re rightly dividing. As in
“Study to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
We’re reading the Old Testament the way the New Testament shows us how to read it.
This tension between the Old and the New is not just a modern problem. And today, we’re going to see how the early church dealt with the same accusation.
We’ve been reading the Bible together in a one year plan called, “One Story That Leads to Jesus,” and having a Sunday School discussion before worship about our questions and observations. I know a lot of us get a little uncomfortable with parts of the Old Testament. We don’t know what to do with some of it.
All those demands. Do we obey them? Do we ignore them? God seems to get pretty upset at the people who do.
Most of us haven’t thought through why we still care about some Old Testament commands and not others. And the world is watching. Especially when we say something they don’t like—like God’s design for sex and marriage. They throw it back at us like a dodgeball covered in bacon grease.
They think we’re being inconsistent—But what if we’re not being inconsistent at all?
What if we’re doing exactly what Jesus and the Apostles told us to do?
What if there’s a way to read the entire Old Testament that’s not picking and choosing, but rightly dividing? What if Jesus already cleared all this up for us?
We’ve been going through the Book of Acts verse by verse. It’s the story of the early church—from the resurrection of Jesus to the disciples spreading the Gospel all over the known world. We’re wrapping up Paul and Barnabus’ first mission trip to the Gentiles at the end of chapter 14…
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples. Acts 14:23-28
They appoint elders in every church, pray, fast, and commit these new believers to God. Then they head back through the cities they visited, return to home-base in Antioch, and tell the church everything God had done—including how He opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
This is huge.
Because at this point, Gentile believers were exploding in number.
God was saving people who didn’t keep Jewish customs, who didn’t follow the law of Moses, and who definitely weren’t circumcised.
And no one knew exactly what to do with that.
What kind of sense did it make for the Messiah to show up and change everything God had told them about how to live.
So a storm was brewing.
Chapter 15
But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” Acts 15:1-5
Some Christian Jews show up to the church in Antioch and say:
“You have to be circumcised to be saved.”
They weren’t saying Jesus wasn’t necessary—they were saying He wasn’t enough.
Jesus plus circumcision.
Jesus plus law-keeping.
Jesus plus effort.
Jesus plus all the religious ideas that we think are so important and that we like.
This wasn’t a small debate. Paul and Barnabas pushed back hard.
They knew what was at stake: either salvation is by grace through faith alone—or it isn’t.
So the church sends them to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles and settle the matter once and for all.
The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Acts 15:6-12
There’s a big church meeting—apostles and elders—Paul and Barnabus are there—and after much debate, Peter stands up and says:
“Why are you trying to make God angry by putting a burden on the neck of the Gentile Christians that none of us Jews have been able to bear? This is the whole point of the Gospel of Jesus—that everyone who believes will be saved by grace alone.”
Peter drops the mic. He already had this conversation with these guys after the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. The Circumcision Party was back for another round.
This wasn’t just a theological argument. It was a pastoral one.
Peter’s like: “Look, we couldn’t even carry the weight of the law—why are you trying to dump that weight on new believers?”
God has made it clear: He gives His Spirit, He saves by grace through faith—not law-keeping.
I mean, it makes perfect sense why they would feel this way. For centuries, God’s people had been commanded to live a certain way, abide by certain rules, eat certain foods, worship a particular way in a particular place. Most of the Jewish Christians hadn’t changed much in how they live—they just added faith in Jesus to the mix. Pharisees are just Christian Pharisees now. But now the Gentile Christians are starting to outnumber the Jewish Christians, and they haven’t grown up with all the Jewish traditions and laws. You can see why this would be a problem, right? Plus, most of the churches met in synagogues—Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians all sitting around the same table at the church potluck.
This is a very important moment. How Jewish do you have to be to be Christian?
Peter doesn’t have the final say. He’s the head Apostle but he’s not the leader of the whole church. Paul and Barnabus also talk about what they’ve seen on their mission to the Gentiles. Then all the eyes turn to the top leader in the church—the half-brother of Jesus, James—to give the final verdict.
After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon (Simon/Peter) has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’ Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” Acts 15:13-21
If anyone was the first pope of the early church it was James. He’s the one everyone turns to and waits for an answer.
He connects what’s happening with prophecy—from Amos 9:
“God promised He’d rebuild David’s fallen tent and include the Gentiles. That’s what’s happening now.”
The tent of David is the kingdom of Christ, which welcomes all nations.
Then he gives his ruling:
“Let’s not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Let’s write to them and ask them to avoid things polluted by idols, meat that’s been strangled, and eating blood—and of course to abstain from sexual immorality.”
That list isn’t about salvation—it was about fellowship. Unity.
We’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus. But then what? How are we supposed to live our lives? Jesus said the whole point of the Law was to love God and love people.
So, how are the new Gentile Christians supposed to love their Jewish neighbors? By not grossing them out at fellowship meals. How are the new Gentile Christians supposed to love the people in their lives? Well, not by getting naked and freaky with them—which was a big part of Roman and Greek culture and worship. Sex was a celebrated part of normal life and built into their religious practices. This was more than table manners, it was about God’s design for sex from the start. Plus, Jewish people dressed very modestly, Gentiles not so much—ever noticed what Greek and Roman statues are wearing?
So, James says, “For the sake of unity in the church, the Gentiles need to stop bringing blood sausage to HangTime. They don’t need to be circumcised, they don’t need to act like Jews—but they still need to recognize basic right and wrong, basic morality and common decency—still, they are Christians, not Jews.”
They weren’t told to obey the entire law of Moses—just to be sensitive to things that would destroy community and destroy their lives. It was a start, the rest of the New Testament is going to go into a lot more detail about food and sex and how the church is going to deal with those things.
Here’s the hard truth: We’re still tempted to think we have to act a certain way, look a certain way, worship a certain way, in order for God to accept us—in order to be a “real Christian.”
Some of us still want to add rules to the gospel. Setup hurdles for people to jump over that God hasn’t required.
We judge people’s faith by how they act, how they dress, what music they listen to, whether they smoke or drink or whatever, how many tattoos they have, or piercings, or their political opinions—God forbid they didn’t vote the same way we did! Ooo, or what kind of church they go to! What if their ideas of worship aren't the same as ours? What if they prefer different things? Traditional liturgy, pipe organs, vestments—all the smells and bells. Or guitars and drums with video screens and conversational sermons? Because none of those things have anything to do with salvation.
We build walls Jesus keeps knocking down.
On the other hand, we’re tempted to subtract from God’s Word—toss out anything that doesn’t fit our lifestyle—anything we don’t like. Jesus told us to be kind. Gentle. Patient. Are those the first three words we think of when we think about the church? Christians? Do you wonder why so many people have stopped going to church? Stopped trusting in Jesus?
James had a bunch of angry Jews in his face who thought all these new Gentile Christians were ruining everything they loved about their culture and traditions. He basically told them to get over it, invite the new believers in, and don’t try to force them to be like you.
Nobody has to be like you. And you don’t have to be like them. We’re all supposed to be turning away from our selfish opinions and desires and trying to be more like Jesus. Following Him.
But we make up a version of Jesus who’s more like us and try to impose that on everyone else.
We need to stop judging people by our own stupid standards and start showing them grace according to the standard God has revealed to us in Jesus.
Anything else is pride. Either performing and thinking we can save ourselves by acting a certain way, or by pretending God doesn’t have any standards and sin isn’t real. We either think we’re our own savior or we don’t really need one. Neither of those are the message of Jesus—the Gospel.
So, what is the Gospel? What is the message of Jesus?
And what does the Old Testament have to do with it?
The Old Testament needs to be understood in the light of the New Testament. That’s the purpose of the New Testament—it’s the lens to understand the Scriptures. It’s a living and active divinely inspired commentary on the Old Testament.
So what do we do with the Old Testament Law? Let’s rightly divide it and understand it:
What do we do with the Ceremonial Law — Everything about the sacrificial system, the tabernacle, the temple, the feasts, the laws of clean and unclean? All of that is fulfilled in Jesus. It all pointed to the cross, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, resurrection, baptism, communion, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Ceremonial Law is not required to be in the church and follow Jesus. It pointed to how Jesus was going to save us. The kingdom of God that Jesus brought. This is where we are now. We don’t go backward.
We don’t offer sacrifices anymore because He was the sacrifice.
We don’t go to the temple to pray and worship because He is the temple.
We don’t avoid eating certain things, dressing a certain way, or wearing our hair a certain way—all of the clean and unclean, holiness rules—because He declared all foods and all things clean. Nothing is unclean in itself. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law.
What about the Civil Law — The laws that applied to Israel as a nation? We need to learn from them. Not to reenact ancient Israel—but they contain timeless principles we should still apply in our day with wisdom and discernment. How to treat the poor, the vulnerable, foreigners in our land, how to govern with fairness and impartial justice, rules of war—even financial principles. How to make laws that are good for society. Western civilization is built on the foundation of Biblical precedent taken from the Civil Law.
All Scripture is to be understood through the Gospel and the clarifications of the New Testament. Scripture interprets Scripture. Especially concerning right and wrong.
There is still such a thing as sin. The Moral Law of the Old Testament is built into the fabric of reality—all those commands still stand. They’re God’s standard. They’re the wisdom of God for how to live in this broken world. The definition of good and evil.
So, what do we do with the Moral Law? — We keep it. These are the commands that reflect God’s character—truth, justice, sexual purity, love. They show us how to live—how to keep from hurting ourselves or others.
The good news for all of us is Jesus kept the moral law perfectly—then gave His righteousness to us. No one else has even come close. None of us are good enough. Jesus is the only human who ever lived a perfectly moral life. I’m not able to do it. You’re not able to do it.
Then He died for our failure to do what’s right.
So, no matter what unbelievers might accuse us of, we’re not picking and choosing.
We’re reading the Bible the way Jesus told us to read it. With understanding. With humility.
We’re honoring the Old Testament by recognizing it was always pointing to Him.
So now we live under grace—not condemnation of the law. We respond to that grace by living the way Jesus told us God wants us to live, now that He saved us and fulfilled the law for us—He wants us to focus all our energy on loving people.
Galatians 6:2 says,
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Instead of thinking about whether we’re being good enough—the law of Christ is focused on serving others.
Being a Christian doesn’t put you outside the law or above it—it’s not anarchy—Jesus still has commandments and a standard He wants us to follow.
1st Corinthians 9:21 says,
“...not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ…”
Which, for our salvation, Jesus perfectly fulfilled that for us, too. This isn’t about salvation, this is about how to live as a saved person—as a Christian.
Remember James? The leader of the early church? Jesus’ brother? In his letter to the church, he says, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.” [James 2:8]
The “royal law of Christ.” I love that. The law that comes directly from Jesus, our King.
By the way, when Jesus gave us that royal law, He was quoting from one of those books of the Old Testament we sometimes don’t know what to do with. Leviticus 19:18 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The Bible is God’s word. The whole thing—Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is the words of Christ, too. We just have to understand it through the New. If the New Testament repeats and endorses it, then it stands. If it says to disregard it, like all the dietary rules, then we disregard it. But it’s the New Testament that tells us how we’re saved.
You’re saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law—He’s your temple, your sacrifice, and your purity. He lived the moral law perfectly, then gave His righteousness to you. God’s not mad at you because Jesus took care of it.
So yeah… bacon. I think Waffle House is my favorite. And there’s a Mexican restaurant by my neighborhood that has this amazing dish with a chicken breast smothered with shrimp and crawfish. I love to sit there in my cotton blend T-shirt, with the cream sauce getting in my well trimmed beard, washing it all down with a margarita or a Shiner Bock. On Sunday after church! Like a pagan!
And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with any of that.
But we also still believe in holiness, sexual integrity, and the truth of God’s Word.
And there’s no contradiction in any of this—because we’re not picking and choosing.
We read it all. We believe it all.
But only because of Jesus.
He fulfilled the law.
He freed us from condemnation.
And we follow Him—not because we have to or else—but because we get to and it’s the only way life works.
So, don’t add to the gospel.
Don’t subtract from God’s Word.
And don’t make it difficult for people who are turning to God for life and salvation.
Follow the Law of Christ.
Love people deeply.
Stand on truth boldly.
Live in grace daily—for yourself and for others.
And when people ask why you follow some Old Testament commandments and disregard others—tell them you’re not being inconsistent.
You’re just doing what the Apostles did. What Jesus taught us.
You’re rightly dividing. Amen.