Spread The Word Despite The Odds Sermon Ix: Change Of Direction Epitomized By Peter Series

PETER EPITOMIZED CHANGE OF HEART AND MIND . . . (Acts 11:1-18)

If all church leaders today were like the Apostle Peter, there is no telling what kind of churches our churches would be. A lot would depend on which aspect of Peter’s personality they personified. He has variously been described as boisterous, overbearing, impetuous, narcissistic and cowardly; yet, he has also been thought of as loyal believer, dynamic leader, bold preacher, commanding officer and faithful follower of Christ.

The short of it is that Jesus knew who Peter was and what kind of personality he had . . . but he saw in Peter the potential for reshaping his rough edges and molding him into a new person – in Christ - who could take charge of a relatively small band of believers and build it into a bold new brigade that would be the basis for a worldwide movement.

Would you agree that all worldwide movements began with a small number of adherents? This has been true through the centuries – and many of the movements witnessed in our lifetime started in the heart and mind of an individual who went through a change of heart and mind – both for good and for bad!

Christianity has won the historical battle for longevity due to the strong personal commitment of a few who expanded their number and branched out into the whole world – but not without the willingness on the part of persons chosen by God to get out front and lead.

When you factor into that formula for survival of Christianity the fact that the early leaders of the Church and their followers were united in their core belief that the resurrection of Jesus proved that He was the Son of God who came into the world to be the Savior of the world!

Most of the leaders of the Christian movement became leaders after they changed their minds and hearts as to who Jesus was. Peter, for example, at first denied that he even knew Jesus; so nothing short of a total re-making of this man was necessary before he could be entrusted with the leadership of the early Christian Church.

John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus restored Peter to useful service and, we are told by Luke in the Book of Acts that, on the day of Pentecost, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and preached the gospel.

Nevertheless, there were some things about Peter that God had to straighten out. This fisherman of Jewish heritage and upbringing still clung to some notions that are unacceptable within the Christian Church; and I suppose the most difficult change of mind and heart that Peter needed to undergo was his adamant refusal, at first, to include anyone outside Jewish tradition as legitimate Christians.

In his own words, Peter tells how it came about that he changed his mind and his heart about the inclusion of non-Jewish believers into the fellowship of the church --- Acts 11:4-10 . . .

As the result of a vision, God led Peter to the home of a Roman believer who had been preaching the gospel to Gentiles, and at that time, Peter had no problem with their conversion to Christ, but he insisted that the new converts be baptized.

HOWEVER, when Peter returned to Jerusalem, he was confronted by some Jewish Christians who criticized him for not insisting that the converts he had baptized also be circumcised – submit to Jewish custom! Well now, you can see that already there were groups in the early church vying for power – political power within the church – and, of course, not much along that line has changed over time.

Due to the hard-liners’ challenge of Peter’s authority, he had to go into detail about how it was that he came to change his position about insistence that all Christians adhere to Jewish customs.

Notice that the vision of the sheet, and the command to eat, had to be repeated three times before Peter’s resistance to the notion of inclusion was broken down. Isn’t it true that oftentimes barriers to the gospel must be broken down over and over again because men tend to resist changing their rigid position?

Perhaps you have known, during your lifetime, folks like Peter, who tended to be hard-headed if not hard-hearted when it came to changing their mind about something, even if they were obviously wrong?

To his credit, Peter recognized in the vision that God was teaching him something about the gospel that had not yet occurred to Peter but that was to be so very important to the spread of the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

The truth Peter learned – and we all need to learn – was that people are far more important than religious regulations and customs. All people matter to God! “What God has cleansed, do not call common.”