Acts 15 forces the early church to answer a question at the heart of the gospel: What does it take to truly belong to God’s people? Their answer clarifies how we are saved by grace and how that grace shapes the way we live together.

The call to Macedonia and the church plant in Philippi remind us that the gospel can go anywhere and change anyone.

Athens was a city made up of many different belief systems, but beholden to none of them. And into this pluralistic city, filled with many ideas and many gods, steps the Apostle Paul, a man who had staked his life on one idea and entrusted his life to one God. We can learn a lot from Paul about taking the gospel to a pluralistic culture.

When Paul and Barnabas come to Antioch in Pisidia, the first place they take the gospel is the synagogue. This is in keeping with Paul’s belief that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. This encounter in Antioch reveals several things about the gospel: It’s a fulfillment, it’s an offer of forgiveness and freedom, and it’s a fork in the road.

The gospel changes the world by changing people. In Antioch, we see the good news of Jesus transforming lives, forming communities that reflect Christ, and sending ordinary people into God’s mission.

God brings together diverse people through faith in Jesus and makes them a family.

If you want to talk about Jesus with people who are not familiar with the Bible or the gospel story, you have to ask two questions: 1) What story do they live in? 2) How does the gospel reframe that story?

How could the man who was the most ruthless enemy of the church become the most famous advocate for Jesus. The answer is: Jesus totally transforms him. And if Jesus can do that for Saul, he can do it for anyone.