God's Unrelenting Pursuit

As I sit here, pondering the mysteries of Acts and and listening to Jared Anderson's song "Relentless Pursuit," I am struck anew with the beautiful complexities of the Gospel.

We find ourselves in Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council. Paul and Barnabas have been off on their first missionary journey, and contrary to what I've always thought, all the people who have turned to the message of Jesus prior to Acts 13 are either Jews or (in the case of Cornelius) God-fearers. It is in this journey that a Roman proconsul by the name of Sergius Paulus summons Paul and Barnabas to his court because he is curious about the message that they are preaching. God works a miracle in their midst, and we are told that Sergius Paulus, the first pagan Gentile, believes.

As is the case with anything oustide the status quo, people in the "established" church start to freak out. And all of a sudden, there is a rift in the church so wide that it requires a council of the pro-Gentiles-can-be-saved-by-faith and the pro-circumcision-is-required-for-salvation sects, mediated by the apostles. (What a job to have.)

And they work it out. But what gets me is what Dr. M. asked the class while we were discussing this passage. He queried, "What would have happened if the Judaizers had won? The Gentile mission would have fallen on its face. I'd like to think that God would have had another plan for salvation to be brought to the nations, but it makes you wonder if you and I would be sitting here if it were not for the results of this council."

That's just mind-blowing to me. I, who still wrestle with questions why we don't have to follow the minutia of Torah, why some things from the Torah's teachings are our fixed moral reference while others are not. I, a Gentile, who still can't comprehend why I shouldn't have to be a Jew for God to accept my worship.

But I'm eternally grateful. Because whether I am Jew or Gentile, Jesus has paved the way for God's covenant with Abraham to extend to me as well. "I have found the joy that will last" (thanks, Jared). "In the times when I'm without faith, You are in relentless pursuit of my soul."