Making Tough Decisions

In the Old Testament we have the Law which was given to Moses.  The theory was if the Israelities knew what God wanted, they would do it.  Unfortunately, this was seldom the case and the Old Testament is riddled with tales of sin and disobedience by the people who had God’s Law.  Jesus began the New Covenant and He resisted the rules and regulations model and talked more about love and truth and guidance.  To seek a Christian model of help with tough decisions we will have a look at the contentious issue of circumcision throughout the Bible.

• Abraham was the father of all Israel and GENESIS Ch 17 outlines the God-given command for circumcision.  It was called the everlasting covenant in the flesh.
• There were times where Israel forgot this, but to this day Israelite boys of Jewish descent are circumcised on the eighth day.
• Circumcision was a huge issue in the early Christian church.  Some Christians preached that to fully accept Jesus the male needed to be circumcised in accordance with the Law.  Paul referred to these people as the circumcision group (TITUS 1 v 10).
• ACTS Ch 15 retells the council meeting in Jerusalem which was prefaced in v 1 by this statement; “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."”
• After much discussion a letter was written and it began “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (v 28).
• Paul felt more strongly on this issue.  GALATIONS Ch 5 v 12 says in reference to circumcision; “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”

There are many contentious issues facing the church today.  In many ways, Jesus could have made things a lot easier by giving us clear rulings on things like circumcision, homosexuality, women in leadership, alcohol consumption etc, etc.  Jesus, however knew that lists of laws were destined to fail and be abused.  He instead gave us His Holy Spirit and one of His roles is to “guide you into all truth” (JOHN 16 v 13).  When it comes to tough decisions lets be open to His guidance.