God has already expressed his desire to not only save us but to revolutionize us from the inside out. He’s just looking for somebody to believe, to come expectant, and to say, “I’m desperate and I need this. My life depends on this. I have to meet God or I’m doomed!”
The phrase, “Dance with the one who brought you” actually originated in an old song that came out in 1920 but was popularized in 1971 by U.T. football coach Darrell Royal, and was also a common phrase used by Ronald Reagan throughout his presidency. It means “Don’t get fancy – don’t change the recipe – keep doing what brought the win in the first place,” or “Stick with the one who got you where you are.”
That’s the application for us as believers right there. Sometimes we understand that Jesus gets us in the door of salvation, but then we say, “Well, I’ve got it from here, Jesus!” But, we’re to dance and keep dancing with the One that brought us – not just dance for the One that brought us. God didn’t call us to be a trained monkey to entertain him with our little dance. He called us to do life together with him – to walk with him – to be led by his Spirit – to co-labor with him in his work – not to get him to join us in our work.
Acts, Chapter 15
Fifteen to twenty years into the Church, a bigger threat than their physical safety, persecution, or Paul being stoned came from within – it was a distorted Gospel where Jesus isn’t enough. That’s what prompted the first church-wide ecumenical meeting, where they had to make a firm and lasting decree. What we should be scared of today is the same thing. It’s not what will they do to us, but it’s what we are going to forget that matters. That’s what will distort and lead us away from the One who saved us and wanted to transform us from the beginning.
This is also the reason why forty million Christians in America have walked away from their faith since Covid. Not the threat of persecution, but it was the threat of an altered recipe of salvation – the dynamic between us and God – who Jesus is versus who we are.
Acts 15:1,2 NLT
“While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: ‘Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.”
Those men from Judea were believing Jewish Pharisees – Judaizers – and this was a major turning point in the Church. They had to have this meeting because the Gentiles coming into the faith with Jesus forced a reckoning about what really saves a person and makes them right with God – the Law of Moses or something else entirely that Jesus brought about. They were saying, “Unless you have Jesus plus this, you cannot be saved.” But, Jesus plus nothing is everything, and the moment we add something into Jesus, we diminish his role, his authority, his being God, and we begin to put ourselves into his place, taking his role in our own life.
That’s the most dangerous thing a Christian can do, and it’s the quickest way to get ourselves out of the presence of God and back into our own flesh and under the tyranny of law, sin, and death, and then we become a real target for Satan. Salvation is only by faith and believing in Jesus Christ which leads us to repentance – bowing our knee, humbling ourselves before the Living God, submitting all that we are to him and saying, “God, I am completely and totally helpless to fix, change, redeem, or save myself, and, if You don’t have mercy on me, my goose is cooked!”
When a person repents, it accesses the mighty grace of God. Jesus said, “I will send you my Holy Spirit who will live inside you,” which produces a radical and permanent change in their life that’s not attributable to anything except the mighty power of God. It’s by this that people will know that we’re his disciples.
Acts 2:37,38 AMPC
“ ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ And Peter answered them, ‘Repent [change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it] and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ ” (The mark – the evidence is transformation of heart through the Holy Spirit)
Acts 16:30,31 AMPC
“ ‘Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved?’ And they answered, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well.’ ”
The hardest shift to make coming into the Kingdom of God is to switch power sources from flesh to spirit – from works to grace – from us to Him – from control to yielding and submission by faith to His presence, power, and grace. But this is the Gospel – He lived the life we should have lived but couldn’t, and in our place died the death of judgement that we should have died.
Acts 15:4,5 NLT
“When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”
Circumcision started with Abraham and signified that the removal of sin had to come by blood and pain. The cutting away of what was unclean was necessary, and it symbolically set apart God’s people. There’s no point in symbolizing something that has been actualized. It’s the same with sacrifices – we can wear a cross or we can carry our cross. The Judaizers had failed to realize the full implications of Jesus and the New Covenant.
Romans 2:29 AMP
“But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and [true] circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by [the fulfillment of] the letter [of the Law].”
Colossians 2:11,12 AMPC
“In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts). [Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.”
Galatians 1:6 AMP
“I am astonished and extremely irritated that you are so quickly shifting your allegiance and deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different [even contrary] gospel…”
Galatians 3:1-3 AMP
“O you foolish and thoughtless and superficial Galatians, who has bewitched you [that you would act like this], to whom – right before your very eyes – Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [in the gospel message]? This is all I want to ask of you: did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying [the requirements of] the Law, or was it the result of hearing [the message of salvation and] with faith [believing it]? Are you so foolish and senseless Having begun [your new life by faith] with the Spirit, are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh [that is, by your own works and efforts to keep the Law]?”
Acts 15:7-10 NLT
“At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: ‘Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and He confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?” (This was difficult and offensive to the Jews)
The Law of Moses was a series of constantly-repeated rituals, requirements, and sacrifices designed to expose the impossibility of living at God’s standard of goodness, righteousness, and holiness apart from a supernatural transformation. Literally, no one could do it all in their own strength. There were more than six hundred regulations in the Law! The law didn’t save people, it condemned them, exposing a vast chasm between our filthy rags and the righteousness of God. Christ saves by becoming and fulfilling the law and requirements, and offering to “clothe” our nakedness in His righteousness.
The old way was being yoked to a burden to demonstrate our need for God’s help. Only he can bear that burden, and he did. This doesn’t excuse us, but opens door to Holy Spirit driven empowerment as we reject our fleshly attempts to prove ourselves, and instead humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he can exalt and lift us by His power.
Matthew 5:17 AMPC
“Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them.”
Matthew 11:28-30 AMP
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.”
We are so tempted to saddle ourselves and others with burdens that aren’t from Him. The plan is for Him to bear the brunt of the weight with and for us as He lives with, in, and through us! Legalism, rules, sacrifices, and rituals exist to restrain an old unredeemed nature – like a child. A relationship with God unleashes His grace, allowing Him to produce a new nature in us where He is able to live in and through us, producing what we are incapable of ourselves! It’s backwards to approach God by doing something for Him rather than out of relationship with Him because of love! Christ died for us, to give His life to us, so He could live His life through us – it’s our only hope.
There’s still the load – it hasn’t changed, but Jesus says, “I’m bearing the weight, and you get to walk with Me.” The moment we uncouple ourselves from him and go do our own thing, the full weight falls back on us, and we’ll then wonder what happened and where God went. Some of us are laboring under a burden God never designed us to carry. There’s only one Gospel – Jesus plus nothing is everything.
2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
The evidence that these Gentiles had been accepted by God as the “real deal” was the presence and power of the Holy Spirit being manifested in and transforming their hearts and lives. When Jesus rules our heart we’ll find that the need for endless laws and commands becomes unnecessary.
Acts 15:11,12 NKJV
“ ‘But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.’ Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.”
Matthew 21:31,32 NLT
“I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.”
It’s a damning attitude to think “I’ve got this – I’m a good person,” Also, we’re deceived if we compare ourselves with others rather than to Christ. We have a choice to make – we either live by the power of the Holy Spirit from an overflow of deep fellowship with God, or we attempt to do good, even Godly things, in our flesh to our own misery, failure, depression, anxiety and destruction as we realize that we can’t. The more religious our background, the harder this is to grasp. The more “good” we are, the harder it can be, but Jesus can even save “good people”.
Dance with the One that brought you – The way we get saved is through surrender, and the way we continue in the transforming power of God is through daily surrender – over and over yielding to His Spirit – embracing His powerful grace by faith and marveling at His work in and through us. By faith alone, through grace alone …in Christ alone!
Prayer
Father, in Jesus’ name, realign our hearts and our perspectives with who You are. Lord, come in and circumcise our hearts and do what only You can do. You not only forgive us, but You remove sin from us. Lord, right now, by faith, we choose to yoke ourselves with You. Connect us to You, deliver us, and save us as we come to You by faith.
Lord, we renounce and forsake all efforts to do it in our own false righteousness. God, it’s only You that can help us. Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, displace any darkness in our hearts and bring freedom from any bondage as we seek Your face by faith. Visit us right now by Your Holy Spirit. Fall on us. Lift burdens and bring freedom. Lord, we welcome You and we love You. In Jesus’ name. Amen
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on The Bridge
Featured Image by Mattias Bergman from Pixabay
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