The Gospel For All

5.15.16

In Acts chapter nine we read about Peter and his travels. He visits believers throughout Israel to encourage them, pray with them, and in one case raise them from the dead. He is on a high in his ministry. He is a rock star of sorts, traveling and in demand. He is requested in Joppa where he stays with Simon the tanner. While he is there, God is moving in the heart of another man, Cornelius the Centurion. Acts chapter ten opens with Cornelius in prayer and a visit from an angel. The interaction between Cornelius and Peter provides a number of valuable lessons for us.

1. God initiates the spread of the gospel.

One day at about three in the afternoon he [Cornelius] had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
Acts 10:3

This angel directs Cornelius to send for Peter who is in Joppa staying at Simon the tanner's house. God's directive begins a shift in focus for the early church - from Jewish/Jerusalem focused to Gentile/world focused. Cornelius obeys and sends for Peter.

2. New covenant, new rules. 

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” 
Acts 10:11-13

Meanwhile back at the tanner's house...

Peter is tired and goes to lay down as he waits for supper to be prepared. While he is laying there he enters a trance and is challenged with a vision from heaven of previously "impure or unclean" animals to eat. The animals are presented on a sheet that is lowered into Peter's view from heaven. The voice from heaven tells Peter to not be so quick to judge these things as unclean, and that since God created them, they are now permissible. God is preparing Peter for a paradigm shift in his theology. The vision concludes with verification that he is to travel with the men coming to invite him to visit Cornelius. 

3. God can use even our reluctant obedience. 

You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. 

Acts 10:28-29

Peter, filled with some sense of self importance perhaps, and a sense of Jewish superiority in spiritual matters, reluctantly visits at the home of this Gentile. He announces this to the people waiting for him at the house of Cornelius. In this exchange, where Cornelius explains why he called for Peter, a directive from an angel, Cornelius is expectant of a word from God. Cornelius is so confident, that it says he called all of his household to hear from Peter.  These two men could not be more different. One, a Jewish fisherman, the other a trained and cultured Roman Italian Centurion. But it is the Roman, the pagan, the gentile, that is expectant of God and what He will do. The apostle, the follower, Peter, is reluctant to come and has apparently little to no expectations for the exchange. 

4. Peter realizes that the gospel of Jesus is for everyone. 

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 

Acts 10:34-35

Peter is humbled. It's not the first time. Sure not to be the last. His eyes are opened to the thing that God was showing him at the house in Joppa with the sheet and the directive to not call things (or people groups) unclean. It changes the game so to speak. Peter, a disciple of Jesus and founding father of the church is breaking new ground with this visit. 

Takeaway From Today

We must be prepared to accept others who are different into the church. 

We will interact with people that are similar to us. We will interact with people who are vastly different. In all, we will have to learn that the church is not for just us "saved" people, but for the broken, socially challenged, culturally different lost people of the world. We must be open to the idea that not everyone in the church or in heaven will act, look, and be like us. God is a god of diversity (look at nature), and his church will be too.

We Cannot Be Quiet

4.24.16

Acts chapter four presents a conflict between the apostles and the Jewish leaders of the day. The conflict consisted of three parts.

1. The Apostles were teaching contrary to the culture of the day. 

“They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus 

the resurrection of the dead.” 

Acts 4:2

The Sadducee did not believe in a resurrection. That had a difference in opinion and were threatened by the teaching of the apostles. 

2. There is opposition to the teaching of Jesus.

“Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

Acts 4:16-17

The leaders were also being threatened for their position of authority and this would impact their livelihood as well as upset their ideology. They desired to stop the spread of truth.

3. The Apostles were told to stop teaching the truth of Jesus.

“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”

Acts 4:18

The result of the first two conflicts gave rise to the third: threats to remain silent. Rather than engage in discussion or exchange of ideas, the authorities and power players of the day simply sought to stop the apostles with threats. 

In 2016 we face a conflict similar in nature: 

1. We hold to a truth that is different than the establishment.

2. There is an active effort to silence the truth.

3. Those who proclaim the truth are politely 

and sometimes not so politely told to be silent. 

I am of course speaking from a perspective as a resident of the United States. Other countries have face opposition and oppression of religious freedom for a long time. Whether the topic is abortion, gay marriage, transgender identification, or other current culturally accepted sin, the truth of God has not changed. True, we should speak the truth in love, but speak the truth we must. Which places us in conflict with the culture and on some level with the powers and authorities of the United States and specific state and local leadership. Not to mention verbal demonstrative statements from celebrities, athletes, and others who influence millions across the U.S. and around the world. We are bedeviled in the arena of public opinion and collectively labeled with often incorrect derogatory names like bigot, close minded, hateful, idiot, and other names not worthy of repeating.

We can look to the apostles in Acts 4 to find three ways in which they met the conflict and prevailed.

1. The Apostles had courage.

“ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people!’”
Acts 4:8

Peter did not back down. he stood up to his oppressors and challenged their thinking and ideology with scripture, God's own words. Verse 13 tells us that when the powers that be saw the courage of these men, they were astonished! 

2. The Apostles knew their foundation.

“Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:11-12

When one takes a stand, it is good to know the foundation on which your argument is laid. In the case of the apostles and for us, the foundation is firmly and squarely on Jesus - the cornerstone of faith. We can stand knowing that we are not building our faith on unknowns or suppositions, or simply our own opinions, but on the solid truth of Jesus and his word. 

3. The Apostles knew who to obey.

“But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!’”

Acts 4:19

The apostles perhaps were thinking at this moment in their reply of the teaching that Jesus had given them in Matthew 10:28 - "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." regardless of their motive, their answer was proof of their maturity and understanding that we are truly aliens or visitors here in this world, and that we must obey our true King above all else. 

So let us join with the apostles and echo their answer to the world who would silence them:

“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:20