A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

98

A Compe l l i ng Tes t imony

j. Wherever the Spirit truly dwells, so does freedom, 2 Cor. 3.17 – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

k. We are to use our freedom to love others, not as a license for sin, Gal. 5.13 – For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

l. We serve God by our freedom, not as a mask for sin, 1 Pet. 2.16 – Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

2. Practical insight: Because of Jesus’ payment of our sin debt and the elimination of all barriers between even Gentiles and the Father, all peoples are able now in Christ to express their walk in him with their own cultural adaptation of the disciplines (as long as they submit to the apostolic doctrine which gave rise to them).

3. Supporting commentary:

But the Holy Spirit must have caused uneasiness about this mandatory cultural change for church membership because the church leaders called the Council of Jerusalem to deter mine the propriety of forcing a Gentile to become a Jew in order to become a Christian (Acts 15). At Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit revealed to these Christian leaders that it was unneces sary for a Gentile to change cultures in order to become a Christian: a Gentile did not have to become a Jew in order to be accepted into the Church. God meets people in the culture in which he finds them. . . . This biblical principle of cultural neutrality, which encouraged indigenous leadership in every culture, allowed the gospel of Christ to become universally applicable. It set the stage for the Church’s worldwide missionary efforts. Soon Philip and Paul began to evangelize