Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:34 - 43 (NRSVA)
Frances Roberts said, Confusion is the dust raised by the feet of the devil.[1] You can get a lot of definitions for confusion; I looked them up. There’s a lot of confusion out there. One wise man contends you can define confusion by observing kids; he said: The first real confusion in a child’s life is when he decides girls are better than frogs but he isn’t sure why. [2]
One look at our culture tells you that people are confused about a lot of things!
If you really want confusion try understanding church committees. A church cemetery committee was discussing at some length the price of lots. The chairman, wishing to bring the thoughts together, summed things up with one of those statements that need to be taken the way they are meant, not the way they are said: “We should have two prices—one for those local and another rate for those from out of town. The people buried there from out of town never come back to help maintain the grounds.” [3]
(Well, I hope not!)
The apostle Peter had a confusing vision one day. Peter was waiting for dinner to be ready; he was praying on a second story open housetop in Joppa. The vision was of a sheet being let down from heaven by its’ four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals – but all of them forbidden for Jews to eat. A voice said, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” Now some folks might attribute that kind of experience to a simple Methodist desire for the sermon to be over and the pathway to the buffet table cleared. Peter tried to refuse on the grounds that he never ate what the Lord had forbidden. The voice told him he needed to rethink – because whatever God has cleansed should not be thought to be unclean. It took three tries, but God finally got through to Peter.
Whatever Peter actually thought about his vision he could not have had a clue as to what God was up to. The day before Peter’s vision, in Caesarea thirty miles to the north, a Roman military officer named Cornelius was also having a vision. Cornelius saw an angel who told him to send for Peter.
Cornelius was obedient, sending servants to go get the apostle. After a night’s travel they arrived just after Peter has his vision. After an explanation, and a prompting by the Spirit of God, Peter swallowed his Jewish nationalistic pride and went with the Gentile soldiers. When they arrived in Caesarea he swallowed even more pride and entered Cornelius’ house – something that was also forbidden; a Jew was never supposed to enter a Gentile’s residence.
After a brief exchange of what’d-you-see, why’d-that-happen, what’s-next and who-said-what…God’s Spirit took over the meeting and Cornelius’ whole family and household servants got saved.
The key to understanding truly what God was “up-to” in this event is found in the first verses of our text where Peter says to Cornelius:
I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. Acts 10:34b-35
What a revelation for Peter; what a blessing for the house of Cornelius. It certainly was a big day for Cornelius and for Peter; however, I believe it was the biggest day of all for you and me.
The incredible significance for you and me in Peter putting aside his personal and national pride in being a Jew, and allowing God to lead him into the Gentile’s house is that, if the Bible is always relevant for every age (as we believe it is), we can ask the relevant questions; we can get to the heart of what this means to us, and how this changes the way we are to live our lives.
The significance is all about pride. In both the minds of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, and the Jewish fisherman Peter, neither one was supposed to lower themselves to have anything to do with the other.
But God gave them almost simultaneous visions that contradicted their thinking and the traditions of their cultures. They had to act radically to obey God. Both men put aside their pride and as they did so, the inclusion of Gentiles into the early church happened.
Salvation came to the Gentiles on the wings of two obedient men who would rather break tradition and the bounds of their comfort zones, rather than risk offending Almighty God! Now….there’s a relevant lesson!
And so….to the pertinent question;
What does that feel like?
What happens when you obey god radically?
#1 Your Eyes Get Opened
Peter had his eyes opened in the experience; it happened a lot in those early days of following Jesus around. The disciples followed and misunderstood everything Jesus did. But they found that as their obedience grew, so did their understanding. And so can ours.
The reason the apostles were all willing to die for Christ (and most of them WERE martyred) is they had a clear vision of the cross. They knew God had been crucified on Calvary, and He was alive. The vision of a Lord who not only ruled life but death as well, gave them the power to live and die as conquerors.
• It was a clear vision of living in freedom that caused a ragtag bunch of slaves to follow a former murderer named Moses out into the desert.
• It was a clear vision of God’s holiness that caused Isaiah to fall on his knees and cry out, Woe to me...I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty" (Isa 6.5).
• It was a clear vision of an irresistible call of God that caused a young shepherd-boy named David to stand against Goliath.
• It was a clear vision of the need of grace in the life of each one of us that caused Jesus to set Himself towards Jerusalem, submit to the emotional pain of Gethsemane, the evil purposes of a sham trial, and the excruciating penalty of judgment for all our sins on that old rugged cross.
My friends, if you can get ONE CLEAR VISION of what your life is to stand for, your days will never be the same. In Christian circles we call that finding God’s will.
I’ve been told so many times by sincere, seeking people, I’m certain God wants me to do SOMEthing. I just wish I could know what His will is. Beloved, you’re no different than anyone else who’s ever wanted to know God’s will. The fact is God Himself wants you to know it. Often we are so less willing to DO God’s will than He is willing to share it with us, so that we aren’t in a position to hear His will if He shouted it in our ear. There are conditions to knowing God’s will, but...
YOU CAN HEAR AND UNDERSTAND GOD’S DIRECTION FOR YOUR LIFE IF YOU WANT TO; and it will open your eyes![4]
When your eyes open you can see more clearly; you can begin to see the direction God is opening for your life….and so…then…
#2 Your Mission Becomes Clear
Peter had to get past his blindness towards Gentiles in order to see the mission which had been entrusted to him. God’s whole mission is to bring forgiveness to the world – everyone in the world. Like Peter, we can forget that.
One look around tells us that man stands in need of forgiveness. Our world stands in great darkness of unbelief. I read one source this week that put it in perspective:
The goal is that people might be released from sin. The Greek word usually translated "forgiveness" is aphesis, which literally means "release." A pattern of sins often brings people to a point where the sins define the present and limit the future. For a person to have a different life, the sins must no longer define the person’s situation. This is what forgiveness means. It means that the grace of God brings release from the pattern of sins that have been committed, so that there can be a different future. Forgiveness does not mean accepting the situation but changing it through a word of grace. People need forgiveness precisely because they are accountable. And Jesus holds them to account precisely to awaken in them the sense of the need for change and a readiness to receive the grace that is offered. [5]
The mission snaps into focus when you consider accountability for sin, and a free grace that depends on the sacrifice of Christ. It’s my belief that the Lord allowed Peter to be involved in this incident with the Gentile Cornelius for at least this one reason – Peter still had some leftover pride in him that had to go in order for him to be as useable as God needed.
You cannot begin to be involved in the work of God, which is the calling to tell others – to share His glory – with pride in your heart.
Last week you had a pink slip in your hand, and I told you to put your burdens and your dreams for the new year on the face of that slip; we said to write them on the paper, then come forward and lay the burdens and dreams at the foot of the cross. We did that; then we went to the table and filled-up on His grace.
This week we have something else, something very relevant to lay on an altar…our pride. How about it? Are you harboring anything that gets in the way of serving the Lord? Are you proud of your accomplishments? Are you proud to live in a free country? Are you proud that you aren’t a freeloader?
How about your spiritual life – proud of that?
What about that record at work – pride?
Friends, if there is any pride of self in you, it is a certainty that there is something else in you that you know is true – you are dry! You don’t have that vital relationship going on with Jesus;
• When you pray you can hardly concentrate
• When you come to church you go away empty
• When asked to contribute time, talent or tithe your first thoughts are if it will interfere with your life
• If someone were to ask you about your mission, your ministry in the name of Christ you would probably try to fake some kind of spiritual churchy-sounding answer, because you have no clear vision of serving God.
Now, listen…if that sounds condemning, it is! But you are the only one who knows just how dry you are inside. The question is, do you want to stay that way?
Been dry? Want a clear vision of mission and meaning back in your life? Answer the call..lay that pride down like Peter did. God is calling, Arise…lay that pride on the altar and put it to death!
There’s a prayer of Wesley’s that can help us put that pride on the altar. If you will – if your heart cries out to have the dryness quenched, let this prayer take you back to when God’s grace and your mission assignment came to you at your baptism. On this Sunday we celebrate the baptism of the Lord. It is a good time for us to pray this prayer of covenant and also remember why we are in covenant by remembering and reaffirming our baptism.
I wonder if you’re ready to lay it all down…If you are, pray with us, and then come, remember your baptism, and be thankful!
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low by thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
And may the dryness depart, washed away by the river of the water of life…in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen!
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ENDNOTES
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1] Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World, © 1992 by Edythe Draper
2] Illustrations Unlimited © 1988 by James S. Hewett.
3] Pastor Glenn Swanson, Mallaig, Alberta, Canada. Christian Reader, “Lite Fare.”
4] Russell Brownworth, Learning and Doing (a sermon)
5] Craig R. Koester, TheWorkingPreacher.org
