Psalm 136; Acts 15:1-21

Psalm 136
I have heard some modern praise choruses criticized for being repetitious. The next time I hear this, I'm going to refer the critic to Psalm 136! Talk about repetitious! But we know this is God's Word, and so it's not "vain repetition."

Psalm 136 was apparently a song sung by two groups (or even a chant or responsive type reading) in which one group would sing or say the first part of each verse, and the other would answer with the refrain "His faithful love endures forever." (Older versions translate it "His mercy endures forever.")
The repetition of "His faithful love endures forever" is intended to drive home the beautiful truth that His faithful love does indeed endure forever.

And so how exactly, according to this psalm, has God revealed His faithful love or mercy to us?
He is good. v.1
He is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords. vv.2-3
He alone does mighty miracles. v. 4
He made the heavens and the earth; He made the sun to rule the day and the moon and stars to rule the night. vv.5-9
He revealed His love and mercy throughout Israel's history, remaining faithful to her even when she was unfaithful to Him. vv.10-22
He remembers us in our weakness when we need Him most. v. 23
He saves us from our enemies. v. 24
He meets our physical needs, giving food to every living thing. v. 25

"Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever."

Acts 15:1-21
Anyone who has been in church for more than a month and a half knows that conflicts inevitably arise. Often these conflicts are petty, but sometimes they are serious. Acts 15 presents a church conflict that brought into question the very heart of the Gospel message--that salvation is a free gift given by grace and received through faith. It cannot be bought or earned.

What happened here was that in the church at Antioch of Syria some men from Judea came in and began to teach that unless the believers were circumcised as required by Jewish law, they could not be saved. In essence they were saying that in order to become a Christian, the Gentiles must first become Jews. Paul and Barnabas disagreed strongly with this teaching. They realized that the Jewish religious system, though given by God in the Old Testament, had been fulfilled in Christ and so was now obsolete regarding salvation. We will learn more about this as we work our way through the New Testament.

To solve this doctrinal issue, the church at Antioch decided to send Paul, Barnabas, and a delegation of other believers to Jerusalem to try to solve this question. At the meeting Paul and Barnabas told of all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles. And Peter gave a powerful testimony ending with these words, "We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus." v. 11

In the end they concluded that it should not be difficult for the Gentiles who were turning to God. The truth remained that everyone can be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And in return, the Gentiles should be careful not to deliberately offend the Jews. After all, old beliefs die hard, and the laws of Moses had been preached in the synagogues for generations.

This was not a compromise doctrinally, but it was a lesson in considering the feelings of others. This basic principle of love and consideration will be repeated in the teaching to the church at Rome and Corinth. (Romans 14-15 and 1 Corinthians 8-10).