Something New
Acts 10:27-48
Today our topic is change. It seems like it is a subject that we are all focused on today. In general everything changes but there are parts of our lives that we like just like they are. Our homes, cars, favorite chair, or a favorite restaurant, we never want to see them change.
I read a story about Henry Ford. It seems that Mr. Ford had a man working for him in management named William Knudsen and he became convinced that it was time to update the Model T, it has been in production for 4 years. The competition was coming out with updates, changes and improvements.
But there was a problem; Mr. Ford would not even consider the idea. Ford loved his creation just as it was and was opposed to any changes at all.
While Mr. Ford was away on a vacation in Europe, Knudsen decided to put together a car to demonstrate his ideas for changes using a new design and color.
Ford returned from a European vacation, and he went to a Highland Park, Michigan garage and saw the new design created by Knudsen.
On-the-scene mechanics later revealed how Ford responded.
They say that the car had four doors, and the top was down, painted gleaming red and built on a new, low version of the Model T frame and wheels.
One eyewitness reported that "Ford had his hands in his pockets, and he walked around that car 3 or 4 times…. Finally, he got to the left hand side of the car, and he takes his hands out, gets hold of the door, and bang! He ripped the door right off!… He said he did not how Mr. Ford did it. The he jumped in the front seat, and bang goes the other door. Bang goes the windshield. He jumps over the back seat and starts pounding on the top. He rips the top with the heel of his shoe. He wrecked the car as much as he could with his bear hands.
For some unstated reason Knudsen soon left Ford for General Motors. It was some time before Mr. Ford started working on the Model A.
Henry Ford was one of the most creative men of his age. And yet… He - resisted the obvious need for change forced by the competition and times.
I think it is generally true that most people don’t like change. Not everyone will become violent at the suggestion or even when forced to do things differently buy rarely do they like it.
I read someplace that the only people who DO like change are "wet babies" … and even they aren’t too excited about it.
Churches are notorious for that kind of attitude as well. You’ll find many church boards and members saying things like
“we’ve never…………………………….done it that way before”
Someone once said that when it comes to change, the church is often like the snail riding on the back of a turtle
the church is often like the snail riding on the back of a turtle
…and do you know what a snail does when it rides on the back of the turtle?
It holds on tight and yells : "Whee!"
Many churches bulk at even the slightest change in their routine. Even when they’re fairly sure the changes would be something pleasing to God they still resist.
Now, things weren’t a whole lot different back in the days of the early church.
People back then didn’t like change anymore than people now do.
In our scripture today it is hard for us to imagine just how dramatic the changes described in the text are. We really don’t recognize how different our world is in comparison to the early church. We don’t even consider that what happened in our reading today did not become widely accepted until many years passed.
When Peter was invited to participate it was so big that the first half of the chapter describes how God prepared Peter. He gave him a vision that blew his mind. This big sheet comes down out of heaven and inside of it are all the unclean animals, the ones that every Jew learns from childhood are not to be eaten. And he also heard a voice, “Get up, Peter, Kill and eat.”
I think that you will recall that Peter is often a bit vocal and sometimes says things before he thinks them through. “No way God! I have never eaten anything unclean. “
God takes him through the vision and words 3 times. Peter knows who he is speaking to and yet he argues with the Lord about change.
None of us does that, right? We never question God about what is happening in our lives.
It seems that Peter would never have been open to visiting the home of Cornelius if he had not been prepared first.
What is holding Peter back? Why would he not even think about being open to Gentiles?
Is it because of the great success that the new church is having?
Lots of converts and acceptance within the community……I don’t think so.
I think it is much simpler than that, Peter is holding on to his traditions of Clean and unclean from the Law of Moses. These same laws of clean and unclean apply to people as well.
Gentiles are automatically unclean! Just hanging out with them will mess you up. It is like hanging around a smoker – you don’t have to smoke yourself before you smell like smoke.
So, being around unclean foods or people automatically made you unclean.
It is bad for a good Jew’s reputation. It puts barriers between yourself and other Jews that hold more firmly to the law. A bad reputation takes away opportunities to share your own faith with other Jews. So, it is important to keep in a right relationship…..
At the time of this event, the church is said to be someplace between 3 and 10 years old.
They have established rules and traditions.
The church at this point, is a group of Jews that believe in Jesus as the messiah.
They don’t offer sacrifices any more because they understand the sacrifice of Jesus as being the full atonement for their sins.
They keep a different Sabbath day than the traditional Jews, changing from our Saturday to Sunday to celebrate on the day that Jesus was raised from the dead.
But, in spite of the fact they believe differently than most Jews… the Christians in this early church were still - very much - good Jews.
--- Gentiles were not a part of that set of traditions.
They had changed a lot, but they had some limitations as to how far they would go and whom they would accept.
Generally, they still thought like Jews and so they still lived a life blending the law with their new understanding and traditions.
There was one loop hole in the Jewish tradition that would allow a gentile to be accepted.
A gentile could convert to Judaism, It was a fairly long process and there would always be limitations at the temple.
But a Gentile could be accepted into the Jewish community if they lived by the Law of Moses, following the rules for clean and unclean.
They had to come to the synagogue to study scripture and worship.
And that also meant that before they could be fully accepted into the Jewish community the men had to be circumcised.
However, God was preparing Peter to understand that God’s plan was bigger than Peter could have ever imagined.
The events that looked like change were a part of the plan.
God planned to bring the Gentiles into His church….into the covenant.
And He did not have a requirement of commitment to Judaism first.
So, to the Jews and to the followers of the Way (messianic Jews) and even to Peter it looked like God intended to bring about a major change in His church.
And God knew that people are no different than people now… they resisted and hated change.
So, He had to bring about this adjustment in the most shocking way He could.
He brought about a meeting between Peter and Cornelius. Peter being the leader of the church and Cornelius a Gentile and an important military a man that God had already drawn into a direct relationship.
Cornelius was a righteous God-Fearing man. He had power and wealth and did not abuse either. - He was known as a man of prayer and a man who gave to the poor
This was a Gentile that the Jews of Caesarea knew well and probably already respected. But, he had not taken the final step to become a full convert. He had not been circumcised.
God waited until Peter and his friends actually got to Cornelius’ house before He revealed what he was there for. A surprise party of sorts, where God would clearly demonstrate that He want not only accepting gentiles but calling them into a relationship with Him.
When Peter got to Cornelius’ house along with 6 Jewish witnesses, he preached about Jesus. How He had lived and died, and rose from the dead. And Peter preached about what God had done in the church since that day.
I don’t think that Peter and his Jewish companions had any idea or even expectations about what God was about to do.
They had arrived and Peter was going through the motions of teaching. Peter was obedient to the Spirit and he allowed the vision to influence….to open his mind to something new.
But, if these gentiles were to respond, I would think that they would be setting up a Judaism 101 class for the family and then giving the invitation to be circumcised.
But before Peter finished his speech, God moved and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the whole household. Family, servants and military aids and guards
They are speaking in tongues and praising God. (We might think that it was scary stuff if we had been one of the witnesses.)
Peter notices that this is God working and he takes the steps to receive them into God’s new church because of the obvious signs.
We live in a very changing world.
People age, eyes loose focus, cars wear out, restaurants change recipes and prices. We even know that mountains wear down and canyons are formed over time. It seems that almost everything changes for the worse.
The only thing that really does not change….. is God.
God has always offered mercy and grace to His people. His plan from the very beginning of the universe included salvation for His creation.
In Jeremiah 29:11-13, God explains,
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Change in this world appears to be total and constant. None of us can avoid being affected by the change around us. The only sound thing we can do is to seek God when we are uncomfortable with changes in our lives.
God is the unchanging constant in our changing world. We can’t get totally away from our situation. But we can be open to the change that God intends and trust that it is for the good of creation.
-- Ladies and Gentlemen, ( Brothers and Sisters) This morning we are at the peak of a mountain of change in the life of your congregation. The known and loved pastor is not here this morning. You are sitting there this morning and witnessing something new. Something that none of you asked for. And You are sorting our your first impression of my family and me.
It is a completely natural thing that happens in a situation like this.
This is a pretty big change in your lives.
On the other side of the mountain, my family and I have just left behind a family that we have known for 6 ½ years. A place where we knew everybody and every body knew us. Let me just say it was comfortable.
This morning as we meet you here in the presence of God, we feel a little out numbered. All of these new faces and names, smiling and welcoming, friendly but what are you really thinking?
We are also experiencing a pretty big change ourselves.
When change comes into our lives it is easy for us to emotionally land in one of two extremes.
We can decide that we don’t like the change without ever giving it a try.
Or we can totally embrace the change with no questions and just move ahead seeing no value in the past.
However, the right way to face change is never from the extremes.
We should start someplace in the middle.
Peter seems to have done his best to remain neutral. He took a bit of a risk as he went to the house of a gentile. He responded to God’s preparation and he witnessed God pouring out the Holy Spirit on an unexpected group.
Noone present at the event knew what was going to happen. Any of them could have jumped to an extreme end of the scale. However, they seem to have been willing in to accept that God was doing----- a new thing.
As a church, a body of Christ, we have to let God help us with change.
Today we are looking at pastoral change.
Tomorrow it could be a family problem or a new friendship or a deep loss.
We struggle in a world of changes big and small, it is important that we learn to adapt. That we trust that God is in control and be open to the idea that it is His plan.
If we are astonished, or shocked or disappointed, if we jump to any extreme response to change then we may not fully accept that God really is in control.
-- What it really comes down too, do you trust God enough to allow him to change your community, YOUR Church, Your Family ……you?
All Glory be to God.
There are a few things that we share this morning.
- We are all looking at a change of circumstances so none of us really knows what to expect.
- We share a little bit of shock at the United Methodist process when it comes to Pastoral leadership and change.
- But the most important thing that I hope we share is a common faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And from that faith comes the trust in the promises of God’s plans for us.
Church – I have no doubts that the changes we are living through in this place look dramatic and shocking, but are a part of God’s master plan. He plan is not always comfortable but it is always ultimately for our good.
What looks like dramatic change is simply something new…an opportunity to see what God will do next.
Our closing song today is Change my hear O God – over the past few weeks as I faces the changes that god was revealing I sang this song as my prayer. And I hope this morning or any time you resist change that you might use it the same way.
