Folklore says that somebody once asked Michelangelo, the brilliant Renaissance artist, how he sculpted his difficult masterpiece, “David.” He smiled unassumingly and said, “It was easy. I just chipped away the stone that didn’t look like David.”

The same technique can and should be applied to sculpting the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. To reveal the essential gospel, just chip away any hint of religion that doesn’t look like Jesus. What remains is a breathtaking masterpiece that beautifully portrays the grace of God.

That’s what church leaders did in Acts 15 at a meeting known as the Jerusalem Council. They chipped away the large chunks of Judaism on the slab of white marble salvation, leaving nothing but the essential gospel of the grace of God.

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“Every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

Romans 8:28 MSG