This Is Love

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Ash Wednesday evening, the 26th of February, 2020 at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Look for the video of our services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Our scripture this evening looks back at a time after Jesus returned to heaven, during the days of the early church and the inclusion of Gentiles into the holy family of God.  Paul was at work starting churches among the Gentiles with the help and companionship of his friends such as Barnabas and Silas.  Peter had already preached to the Gentiles, baptizing them and watching as the Holy Spirit came into them.  But like I mentioned, these were the early days of our Lord’s church and some of the details were still being worked out, including what was expected of new converts.

Listen and follow along to a critical point in our church, especially as regards us Gentiles.  This comes from the Apostle Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15 verses 1 through 12, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them — much to everyone’s joy — that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.

4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. 5 But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”

6 So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and He confirmed that He accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

12 Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

--Acts 15:1-12 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, early in His ministry, Jesus proclaimed that He did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it, to give it meaning.  You knew that man could not keep Your law because we are sinners.  That is why You sent Your Son into the world, to give us a chance of salvation that we would not have otherwise.  This is love, Father – undeserved mercy, love, and grace.  Father, help us be more worthy of Your love.  Help us love as Jesus loved, and live more closely as He lived.  Help us turn from our sinful ways and give ourselves fully to You and to Your Son.  Forgive us and save us, please, O merciful God.  In the name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


I think it’s kind of in our nature to resist change.  Even when it is a change we want or need, we still tend to hang on to the old ways as long as we can.

This is what we see happening in the early church of our scripture reading.  Many of the Pharisees realized the truth, became believers and followed Jesus.  But they just couldn’t give up the old rules and regulations, the rituals they had known and followed all their lives.  They seemed to think it was great that all these Gentiles were coming to Christ, but they needed to be just like the Jews first or they couldn’t be saved.

Paul and Barnabas vehemently disagreed.  So everyone got together in Jerusalem and had a long talk, trying to come to a resolution.  Finally, Peter stood up and said, “Look, we Jews weren’t able to fully keep the Laws of God handed down through Moses, and we’ve known them all our lives.  Why should we expect these newly converted Gentiles, who haven’t a clue about the Law, to all of a sudden follow it?  Why are we challenging God when He chose to accept the Gentiles just as they are?”

You see, Peter could speak with authority on this subject, because God had already chosen him to open the door to the Gentiles, beginning with the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius.  Peter witnessed God’s Holy Spirit come to all those Gentiles in Cornelius’ house there in Caesarea, the city named after Caesar.

We can read about this in Acts chapter 10, when Peter hears the voice of Jesus telling him, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”  In verses 34 and 35, Peter tells the household…

34b “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him."

--Acts 10:34b-35 (NKJV)

God is not partial.  Jew, Gentile, black, white, red, yellow, brown, man, woman, child, rich, poor, educated, ignorant…  none of that matters.  What does matter is to fear God, respect Him, and live righteously, doing what is right in God’s eyes as best we can.  What God has cleansed is no longer common.


God chose to accept us, and to cleanse us, just as we are.  He chose us not as we should be or as He wants us to be, but just as we are.  Jesus chose a tax collector by the name of Matthew to follow Him and be a disciple.  As Jesus and His new followers sat together at a table, a number of other tax collectors and sinners joined them.  Some Pharisees took notice of this and scoffed that Jesus would sit and eat with the likes of them.  Do you remember what Jesus told them?  Matthew recorded it for us in his Gospel account, chapter 9, verses 12 and 13…

12b “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

--Matthew 9:12b-13 (NKJV)

Jesus didn’t come to earth seeking the righteous, those already fully right in God’s eyes.  He came to us sinners, calling us to repentance.  He came to us just as we were, lost in darkness, drowning in our sin.  He came to us with the love of God, to save us from ourselves.  And we are all saved the same way, we who believe.  No matter who we are or what we were, we are all saved the same way: by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.


There’s just one more point I’d like to quickly touch on.  Actually, both Jesus and Peter touched on it.

Peter noted that God shows no partiality, no favoritism, if you will.  And the main distinction he is trying to make at that time is between the Jews who now believe and the new Gentile believers.  The Jewish tradition was steeped in ritualistic observance of the Law, even though no one could completely keep the Law.  In truth, the Law and all their rituals had become their god, their idol.  The Gentiles had mostly been idol worshipers before they heard the Gospel and believed.  They had their own set of rituals, too, although somewhat different from those of the Jews.  And both groups included sacrifices in their rituals.  Ritualistic fasting, if we engage in it, is a form of sacrifice, as is giving something up for Lent.

But Jesus reminds us that God desires mercy, not sacrifice.  Our rituals are meaningless if we do not show mercy and forgiveness to others.  And yes, here tonight we are observing a ritual, that of our Ash Wednesday observance.  But we are not obsessing over the ritual, but rather over what Jesus did for us, His sacrifice for us.  We have been forgiven and shown mercy even though we’ve done nothing, nor can we ever do anything, to deserve it.

This is love, unconditional love.  This is how God loves us.  Let us love others in the same way.


Tonight, I don’t have ashes to give you.  Instead, I have a small symbol of God’s love.  It is a small token, like a coin, that you can carry in your pocket or purse.  On one side it reads, “This is love”, beside our Lord’s cross.  The other side has one of the verses from our reading this evening, Acts 15:11.  It speaks of our salvation through the love of Christ Jesus and the grace of our Father God.  God loves us so much that He gave us His own Son.  Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life for us.

Carry this little token with you all the time.  Maybe you’ll have a chance to show it to someone, to tell them how much God loves you, how much God loves them.  Give something up for Lent, something meaningful, in remembrance of Jesus giving up everything for us.  Let us confess our disobedience to God and repent of our sin, so that the sacrifice Jesus made will have meaning.  In the name of our Master and Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for loving us so much as to send Your only Son to atone for our sins.  May we observe this season of Lent by examining ourselves, by confessing and truly repenting of our disobedience and sin, by prayer and fasting, by works of love and service, and by reading and meditating upon Your word.  We repent of our sinfulness, O Lord, and seek Your forgiveness.  This we pray in the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, who gave His all for us.  Amen.