After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 
Acts 15:7-11

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How well do you do with change? When something familiar gets challenged or comes to an end, how do you respond? Maybe you play it off as fine but feel disappointed inside. Maybe you speak out against what’s shifting and try to stick with the status quo. I mean, “If it’s not broken, why fix it, right?!” With practice, it’s possible to embrace change well. But it’s hard for most people to welcome what’s new if it disrupts their comfort zone. It’s why we have a hard time reporting to a new boss, dealing with detours during construction season, or building relationships beyond our current set of family and friends.

I’ve been discovering a lot as we go through the book of Acts this summer. I’ve read it before, but this time I’m noticing how much change the early church faced. Can you imagine thousands of unknown people showing up on Sunday at the worship service? 120 followers of Jesus jumped to 3,000 in Acts 2 and then to 5,000 in Acts 4. God grew the community by adding new people from all walks of life EVERY DAY. That’s exciting to read, but if I had to live it, I’m not sure I could handle that much change. Could you? That’s a whole lot of personalities, backstories, worldviews, and opinions to navigate, especially if what they believe and do calls into question what I’ve already decided is best.

You may not realize this, but the Apostle Peter started expanding the message of the Gospel to non-Jewish people seven years after Jesus ascended to Heaven. And 10 years later, the early church was still struggling with including Gentiles. It took a long time for the truth to sink in that salvation—for anyone and everyone regardless of upbringing or ethnicity—is by grace alone through faith in Christ (Acts 15:11; Eph. 2:8-9). This big change took a long time to take root in the church, and it still does today. But holding people to human preferences and religious performance standards is always wrong in God’s eyes. And anytime I’m clinging to a superficial list of these over the person and way of Jesus, that’s the signal to me that it’s time to change.

Next Steps

When was the last time you met someone who was new to church or Christian faith? If it’s been a while, choosing to join a Rooted Group could really stretch you. You’ll meet people from various walks of life who are interested in what it means to follow Jesus together in unity not conformity.

If you’ve been through Rooted already, the Willow Groups Finder can help you get out of your comfort zone and into a community fueled and formed by grace.