Trusted Servants

Pete Kersker - Aug 25, 2026

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:22a NIV).

Paul and Barnabas left their home church in Antioch to go to Jerusalem. Men had come to Antioch from the area around Jerusalem and stirred up trouble. They told the church in Antioch that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised to be like the Jews. Otherwise, these men said, the Gentiles weren't really being Christians.

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1 NIV).

The trip to Jerusalem was to find out the source of this teaching. If Jesus taught the apostles and the other elders of the church to follow this practice, the Christ-followers in Antioch would need to follow this practice themselves. If this teaching has a different source, though, they wanted to find that out.

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5 NIV).

As it turned out, Jesus never said the Gentiles needed to become Jews in order to follow him. They just needed to follow him. This is the message Jesus gave to Peter when he met Cornelius. This is the message they needed to deliver to Antioch. Men from the area around Jerusalem had gone to Antioch to stir things up with false teaching. It made sense, then, to send trusted men from among their number in Jerusalem to set the record straight. Gentiles didn't need to become Jews in order to be Christians.

They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers (Acts 15:22 NIV).

Have you ever had someone stir things up in your church with false teaching?
How did you check things out and find the truth? Who did you trust to help you figure it out?