Four Restrictions

Why would overcoming four specific temptations strengthen a congregation in the Faith and make it grow? Let’s consider again the four prohibitions which, when obeyed, strengthened churches in the Faith: 

1.   not to eat food sacrificed to idols

2.   to abstain from sexual immorality

3.   not to eat the meat of strangled animals

4.   not to drink blood

Does the same list of four prohibitions apply to us today? At least three of them seem foreign to the modern Bible reader (food sacrificed to idols, strangled animals, and drinking blood). Each of the four prohibitions was common in Paul’s day in the regions where he ministered, but people today don’t relate to them—except for sexual immorality.

Diametric Opposition

The four prohibitions do, however, have one thing in common: Each is diametrically opposed to the New Covenant. If you can see that, you’ve found the key to applying this Bible passage to us today:

As they [Paul and Silas] traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So, the churches were strengthened in the Faith and grew daily in numbers (Acts 16:4-5).

Although we must avoid every sin, the key to becoming strong in the Faith and numerical church growth is that we must vehemently refuse those sins which are diametrically opposed to the New Covenant. That’s the key to understanding the restrictions the Apostles placed on the churches and it's also a key to church growth--as the passage says, the churches ‘grew daily in numbers.’

Again, we recognize that all sin opposes the New Covenant. However, what we mean by sins that are diametrically opposed to the New Covenant is sins that demonstrate blatant contradictions to the New Covenant. To know what those are, we need to define the New Covenant first. So, let’s do that. Let's define the New Covenant.

The New Covenant Defined

Our Lord defined the New Covenant the night before he gave his life. In the Upper Room he summarized the New Covenant in one concise sentence: ‘This cup is the New Covenant in my blood’ (Luke 22:20). So, the cup from which we drink the blood of Jesus during the Lord’s Supper is the New Covenant. The cup that holds his blood is the Covenant—according to Jesus!

If you can believe that the cup is the Covenant, then you’ll see why a huge sin, one that diametrically opposes the New Covenant, is consuming blood. What we mean to say is that for someone whose covenant with God is the blood of Jesus, consuming any other blood which is not Jesus’ blood is a very grave offense. That’s why two of the four Apostolic orders are about not consuming blood—half of the commands the Apostles published specifically prohibited blood!

The Source of Life

So, the last two restrictions prohibit the consumption of blood because anyone who has entered the New Covenant has made Christ their food and drink. Jesus is our life, and since ‘the life is in the blood’ (Leviticus 17:11, 14a; Deuteronomy 12:23) it’s Jesus’ blood and his lifeblood alone that we should consume. The consumption of animal blood has always been prohibited by God (Leviticus 17:14b; 19:26) from long before Jesus came.

Christians share communion at Christ’s Table. It's one of the handful of traditions that we have. We do it to be nourished spiritually. Taking the Lord’s Supper is up there with prayer, Bible reading, Bible study, and fasting as one of our main spiritual exercises. If we participate in the Lord’s Supper rightly (that is, we do it while in the fellowship of the righteous and we do it with a clear conscience), then we maintain our covenant with God.

Are you interested in maintaining your covenant with God?

Jesus: Bread of Life

Jesus’ body has become our spiritual bread—and it’s not because we said it. He said it! The Lord’s Supper is not a contrivance of the Church. It’s not a tool for pastors to wield as they exercise control over God's people. The Lord’s Supper is not a human invention. Jesus established it as the fulfillment of the Passover celebration established by God.

Here’s a portion of Scripture where our Lord explained the meaning of the Lord's Supper in detail:

‘I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from Heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the World.’

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the Living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from Heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever’ (John 6:48-58).

Cherish the New Covenant

Once someone is baptized in Christ, the Lord’s body and blood become their spiritual food and drink. They renew their baptismal pledge--to not go back to sin again--every time they eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Of course, we could never again partake of food dedicated to an idol if we've turned from idols. After participating in the Table of the Lord, nobody should ever again return to sit at the table of demons. That's what Paul was talking about when he wrote this:

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21).

So be clear on this: If we eat food offered to an idol, or eat meat that hasn’t been properly butchered, or drink any blood, we ‘cannot have a part in… the Lord’s Table.’ We've severed ourselves from communion. We've denied ourselves fellowship.

Why is this so serious? It’s because anyone who participates in any of the four sins the Apostles specifically prohibited has contradicted the New Covenant. They have done more than violate the terms of the New Covenant. They have done worse than not keep a clear conscience. They have participated in something which diametrically opposes the Covenant!

We conclude that through their edict, the Apostles in Jerusalem were essentially encouraging believers everywhere to cherish the New Covenant.

Sexual Immorality

We’ve looked at three of the four prohibitions, but what of fornication? Yes, sexual immorality is another sin which diametrically opposes the New Covenant. Someone who does not honor marriage dishonors the bond between Christ and the Church. Any man who dishonors the foundational principle of a covenant relationship between a man and a woman disqualifies for ministry.

An overseer, then, must be… the husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:2).

He will likely also disqualify for eternal life! Certainly, if he becomes an adulterer, he will not qualify for the Kingdom of God.

Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Luke 16:18).

As you can see, Jesus and the apostles were very strict on matters regarding marriage.

Since the only pure way to put our sexuality to use is through marriage (to clarify: that’s the union of one man and one woman for one life), any other deviant sexual behavior dishonors marriage. Therefore, deviant sexual behavior also dishonors the covenant which marriage represents—the New Covenant Christ has established with his Bride, the Church.

Temporal vs. Eternal

Marriage is temporary. It’s only for this life. It’s temporary but it represents something eternal: the New Covenant between Jesus and us. So, marriage is important due to what it stands for.

‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32).

Marriage is a revelation of a mystery long hidden: the covenant that will exist between Christ and his Church forever. Because it’s God’s most powerful revelation of the Covenant between Christ and his Bride, anyone who dishonors it, dishonors the New Covenant. He who dishonors marriage has committed a grave offense.

Now you know why the Apostles made it a point to prohibit sexual immorality!

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral (Hebrews 13:4).

The New Covenant

At this point you should be able to see the common thread between ‘the decisions reached by the Apostles’ that believers should refrain from four sins and the churches being ‘strengthened in the Faith.’ The common thread is that believers needed to uphold the New Covenant. They needed to be sensitized to it.

Faithfulness to the New Covenant is keeping holiness and a clear conscience, and such faithfulness is a key component of the Faith. It’s not enough to have sound doctrine. Keeping the Covenant is also a necessary component of keeping the Faith. We serve 'the Lamb who was slain from the Creation of the World' (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20).

So, strengthening churches in the Faith happens when church members are free from the sins that counteract the New Covenant—there are at least four cardinal sins that are diametrically opposed to that Covenant. Strengthening of churches happens when church members participate in the Table of the Lord—breaking bread and drinking from the cup of the Covenant, having confessed their sins to keep a clear conscience.

Remember that the passage we’re focusing on says ‘churches were strengthened in the Faith’ (Acts 16:5). A reverent regard for the New Covenant, and the fear of God in our hearts so that we never desecrate it, will strengthen churches in the Faith. To honor the Covenant, we must feel a deep hatred for all sins that are opposed to it.

You can't love God and the World at the same time. You can't have both Jesus and sin. You must decide where to invest you affections.

A Fearful Thing

Look at what the author of Hebrews says about people who violate the New Covenant:

Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who… has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the Covenant that sanctified them… (Hebrews 10:28-29)?

Did you notice that he contrasts what happens to those who violate the New Covenant with what happens to those who violate the Old Covenant? You’d be much better off violating the Old Covenant (which has the death penalty) than you would be violating the New Covenant. That’s the point!

We’re in a Covenant—a new one in the body and blood of Jesus. You must do all you can to keep this Covenant, or you can expect a most severe punishment. So fear God! This is not a game, it's your eternal destiny.

Just a few verses after the warning we just read in Hebrews, the Holy Spirit reminds us:

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God (Hebrews 10:31; NKJV).