Acts 15:22-41

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers 22Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. 23With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. 24We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. 30The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. 33After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.35But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas 36Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." 37Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Devotion (by Jana Goebel):
So often when I’ve read the list of restrictions in verse 29, I think about the specifics of each item. For the people in the church at Antioch, I think the specifics were important. The apostles knew that they couldn’t focus on a huge list, so they chose a few of the most important things that were personally and culturally relevant to their readers.
For us, I think we can look at these restrictions in a much broader sense. To me, they show that as sinful people we are far too often ruled by our physical appetites- both for food and physical pleasure. It is not the specific food that is unclean, nor are sexual desires in their proper context wrong; however, when we allow our physical desires to control us or to become more important than our desire to follow God’s will, we have a problem. So I must ask myself, what physical appetites do I allow to control my actions and decisions? Do I place greater importance on these appetites than I do on Christ?
How would you answer those questions? How can you (and I) begin to take steps to allow God to control me instead of my physical appetites?

Prayer: God in heaven, help me to submit my life to your will and to control my physical appetites. Help me to see when those physical appetites take on greater importance than you, and help me commit to a plan that will diminish their control in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.