Sermon Brief
Date Written: May 13, 2009
Date Preached: May 17, 2008
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Are We Ready to Love – Reaching Out?
Sermon Title: How Stubborn Are We?
Sermon Text: Acts 10:1-48 (ESV) entire chapter
28 And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me."
Introduction:
I once heard this said about Christianity in America…
“American Christians no longer desire to be fishers of men, but have resigned themselves to be keepers of the aquarium…”
What a sad, sad commentary on the outlook of Christianity in our country. However, as I began to look at the numbers and the trends that have been going on for the past 20 years, I have come to see that this quote is not far from the truth…
For sure there are many, many churches who are on fire for the Lord and growing, but for every growing church there are 10 churches that are dead or dying. Did you know that in America today 90% of churches are considered to be plateaued or declining… which is actually just kind language for dead or dying…
Did you know that in 2007 Southern Baptist churches baptized less people than in any year since 1987… and the numbers continue to decline…
There are many people who say that SBC churches are declining because they show what they are against but rarely speak about what they are FOR…
There are those who will say that in the post modern/ post Christian era in America today that church has become irrelevant…
There are those who would say that Southern Baptist are too rigid in their beliefs and need to be more progressive…
But I can tell you why Southern Baptist churches have declined almost every year for the past 20-30 years… the problem is sitting in our pews… the problem is our members!
I know that statement sounds harsh, but I want you to know that until we reject the ‘keeper of the aquarium’ mentality and take up the mantle of ‘fishers of men’ once again… we are NEVER going to reach our community.
Until we take up the mentality that people are dying everyday in our world and going to hell because they do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior… we are NOT going to reach our community.
It almost seems as if we either don’t believe the lost need Jesus or that we just cannot seem to ‘find’ any lost people in our lives! Well all I can do is tell you that there are lost people out there… there are lost people who are hurting and seeking for something to hold onto!
This morning I want to share a story from Acts 10 about a lost soul who was seeking God and a believer who was willing to step out of his prejudice and tradition to reach out…
When it comes to this whole Christian ‘thing’ there are several FACTS that we need to come to grips with… and when we do, we can begin to move forward and be effective followers of Christ in our community…
The 1st fact I see is that…
The LOST are out there and many are seeking! v.1-8
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius." 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea." 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
Just who was this Cornelius? Well we know he lived in Caesarea Philippi which was the center of Roman activity for Palestine. We know that he was a centurion which translates to a soldier of the Roman army entrusted to lead 100 men. He was a leader, a military man, a powerful man in the Roman Army.
We can also see that Cornelius was a seeker, he believed in God and prayed and gave to those in need. He would have been considered to be a God-fearer, but we can see that he was beyond mere ritual in his desire… his prayers were sincere and his giving was from his heart.
That made Cornelius different from most Romans, and his prayer to God had been heard and God sent a messenger to him. We can know that Cornelius recognized this messenger was from God and he submitted to what the angel said…
Now what makes this such an interesting story is that for the entire book of Acts up to this point we see the church being spread to the Jewish population and if any Gentile were added it was not a matter of focus… but here the focus changes and we see Scripture diving into a very DIRECT focus on evangelizing the Gentiles…
For the Jewish believer this would have been a radical departure from their normal mindset. Jesus had called 12 men (all Jewish) and now we find Scripture focusing on a Gentile…
Cornelius was a different sort of person than the disciples had dealt with on a regular basis. For the Jewish people, their outlook had been the same for 1000’s of years… they were the chosen race and others were NOT!
Now as a church, many of your here know and remember the days when 700 or more showed up on Sunday’s to worship… anyone remember that? Those are wonderful memories and God used this church in a great way during those times…
But things have changed quite a bit since then. Today our community has changed and our church’s face has changed. We no longer see 700 or so here each Sunday… as it is more like 100 or so…
Our community is no longer filled with oil executives and oil company employees and their families who look like us… it has changed! The families in our community are ethnically AND economically diverse… let’s face it people our community is different than it was…it has changed!
But even tho’ our community has went thru many radical changes in the past 20 or so years, there is ONE constant that we must realize and accept as believers… There are still lost people who need God in our community…
Today I believe there are many in our community who are seeking that special something that is missing in their lives… they really don’t know what it is… they just know that something is missing in their lives!
There are many seeking after spiritual things…there are many in our community who cry out to God to answer their prayers. I can tell you today that there are people who are seeking God, but don’t know where to turn… these people are different from us… these people may look and live differently from us… but these people need God!
This leads me to the 2nd fact we cannot overlook and that is…
The lost are out there and WE are in here… v.-9-16
9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." 14 But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
When we look at Peter we can see that he was very devout follower of Jesus by he was still steeped in Jewish law and tradition. Peter’s focus for sharing Jesus was other Jews simply because Jews were the chosen race…the chosen people and Peter had proclaimed Jesus as Messiah… the deliverer of the Jewish nation… a JEWISH savior.
Around noon time Peter decides to go to the roof and pray while lunch is being prepared. Now we have to understand that going up to the roof in the 1st century was NOT like us going up to our roof today… it was more like going out to our patios in the back yard, it was a place of privacy and solitude and Peter went there to be alone with God and pray.
Scripture tells us that Peter fell into a trance… he had a vision… he dreamed a dream… however you want to say it, God spoke to Peter that afternoon on the roof! And the message God gave to Peter was a message that I bet he NEVER would have rec’d from God.
What was it that God told Peter? Well this vision used food as an illustration of a much broader and deeper point. This dream was not focused on the dietary habits of the Jewish people but it was focused on changing the attitudes of the Jewish hearts.
Now Jewish dietary laws were very strict and there were all sorts of animals that one could NOT partake of… they were forbidden things… one could not even touch them…
This dream that Peter had revealed to Peter the ‘untouchable’ things and encouraged him to not only touch but partake of them. To which Peter stiffened in defiance as he could not bring himself to change what had been ingrained in his head from a child!
To Peter’s horror the voice from heaven on 3 separate occasions told him to rise, kill and eat things that were considered unclean and Peter was afraid to do so… this was asking Peter to do something uncomfortable… something out of the ordinary… something that took Him far beyond his comfort levels.
Peter did not like being outside his comfort zone, and in this particular area Peter knew that he would be ridiculed so he submits to God’s request reluctantly… Peter willingly stepped out of his comfort zone to become obedient to God’s calling, even tho’ his actions would have been seen as detrimental to the traditions he had been taught…
The message of the dream can be found in v.15 where the voice says to Peter, “What God has cleaned (made clean) you are NOT to call that thing unclean or common”
In other words God is opening up His supper table to all of humanity and His command to Peter was NOT to eat forbidden food… but it was to NOT exclude anybody from the Gospel of Christ!
Now ask yourself the question, how much like Peter (pre vision) are we? Well let’s just be blunt and honest about it, this community has drastically changed and the demographic of who lives in this community has changed quite a bit.
There is a large portion of our community now that is African American… black… but when we look out at our congregation, we don’t see a large portion of our fellowship as being a large percentage black… can you tell me why that is?
We like Peter (B4 the vision) we have our reasons and traditional excuses that prevent us from reaching out to our community. Well just look at the top 3 excuses why we should not reach out to the black community here in our neighborhood…
Their worship style is too different, they wouldn’t want to worship with us and I don’t want to worship with that sort of worship style…
Well 1st of all worship is NOT about you, it is about God and for us to lose sight of that by placing the focus on the style of music or worship means that we are coming to worship for the wrong reasons
Another excuse I hear is their culture is too different from ours, we can’t relate to them!
WOW! That may seem like a legitimate ‘excuse’, but we have over 6,000 Southern Baptist missionaries today who are reaching across cultures to share the love of Christ with the lost…
Another excuse I hear is, “I am just not comfortable around them…”
For a believer and follower of Christ to say that they don’t want to do something because it is uncomfortable is abandoning all of who we are and what we stand for… Christ left heaven, shed His glory to be clothed in flesh FOR US! We have to be willing to leave our comfort zones if we TRULY want to see souls saved and our community touched with the love of God!
Jesus issued the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20 when He commissioned His disciples to “GO” and to “make disciples of all nations”
The word used for nations in that verse is actually a word that is better translated as ‘all peoples’ because it means people NOT countries! Like the children’s song says, Red or yellow, black or white… they are precious in His sight!
The love of God is for everyone. Now this command from Christ to these disciples was a change from what they had learned earlier in their lives. They had been taught that the Jews were chosen and if someone came and wanted to join then that was fine, but reaching out was not part of what they knew and understood… this was a new perspective!
This dream that Peter had on the roof top while waiting for his lunch revealed to him that HE was an agent of change… change from the old to the new… from the past to the future… and just like Peter we are also called to be agents of change in our community!
We need to be willing to step out into our community and share the love of Christ and accept the responsibility that comes with the privilege of serving Him… BE the agent of change we are called to be!
We are called to change the way we live, the way we act, the way we think… we are called to make disciples for Christ and to change lives, change outlooks, change hearts… we are called to change a culture of sin!
WE… OAK PARK BAPTIST CHURCH… WE the members of our fellowship are the change agents! If we desire to see our community won to Christ… it is up to US to make it happen! I have often heard it said, “…if it is to be… it is up to me…”
Now as believers we understand that we can do NOTHING without Christ and it is only THRU and IN Christ that we can be the change agents we have been called to be… but what I am stressing here today is that even though we have Christ and all the power of heaven at our disposal… NOTHING is going to happen until we decide to MAKE it happen!
In a culture that says ‘stay away from me’ I call on our church to be the agents of change that shares with that culture and that community that Jesus loves them, we love them and we want them to be a part of our fellowship…
This church has many wonderful and loving members, but our culture is out of touch with our community… are we willing to change what is needed so that we can reach our community? Are we truly willing to reach out to our community?
Let me ask you something this morning… answer this question in your heart today…
Are you willing to have a black family, an asian family, a Hispanic family sit by you in church? Join your Sunday School class? Take part in the fellowship of the church?
Are you willing to see a black man serve on staff? An asian lady serving on a committee? A Hispanic man serving as a deacon? Are you willing to be the agent of change to reach our community and become a force FOR God’s love!
Peter was willing to change… are you? Peter was willing to go… are you? That is my 3rd fact…which is actually a question this morning…
Are We Going to Listen to God? (We must go…they are not going to come) v. 23-29
Peter was willing to be that agent of change because he was willing to act on his calling let’s look at v.23-29
23 So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man." 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection…"
We can see that God called Peter to go… and Peter went. I am sure that Peter wondered what others would say… I am sure that Peter thought to himself that this was too uncomfortable… but I want you to listen to what he says in v.28-29 “…but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection…”
Translation: “God has revealed to me that His love is for all people and I am to share that love with any and all God places in my path, and I am willing to do this because it is the right thing to do…”
We must be willing to go as Peter went, we must be willing to surrender as Peter surrendered and we must be willing to change as Peter changed!
We have to be willing to reach out to any and all in our community…regardless of their skin color, or any other factor that may make us feel uncomfortable. We are to reach out with the unchanging message and undiluted word of God.
Peter reached far beyond his normal boundaries for his Savior… Peter reached out beyond the boundaries set by tradition and comfort levels… he reached out with the uncompromising message of the Gospel that says:
God sent His Son Jesus to save the world from sin
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sin and died to take our sin away
Jesus and Jesus alone can bring salvation, there is NO salvation thru any other name
Only those who accept Jesus and believe on Him as Savior will be saved
Now let me ask the question to you again? Are you ready and willing to open up your heart as Peter did? Listen to v.47 one more time:
47 "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"
But the fact of the matter is that this is far deeper than mere baptism… this was an open invitation by Peter that signaled his TOTAL acceptance of these new believers… acceptance as equals and his desire to truly fellowship with them!
Now for many of you sitting out here this morning… what I am about to say could be considered a big NO-NO [culturally speaking] but I have to tell you what I feel God has laid on my heart…
1st I believe that as a fellowship we have to reach beyond our comfort level if we are going to reach this community for Christ
2nd I believe that we can NO longer be satisfied with the status quo or what WE want or desire…
3rd I believe that we must be will to make radical changes in our way of thinking… and in the way we see church and how we see our community… and how we see those who are different than us…
How stubborn are we as a fellowship? Are we going to continue to stand in God’s way? Or are we going to join Him in reaching this community with His forgiveness, love and salvation?
Are you ready and willing to serve Christ “outside” your comfort zone? Peter was… Peter DID and as a result many were added to the kingdom!
We must be just that willing… we must be just that obedient and we must have the same attitude as Peter!
I don’t want any of you to do this because the preacher told you that you had to do it…
I don’t want any of you to feel guilty or compelled to do this out of some sense of obligation or shame…
I don’t want any of you to do this to avoid looking ‘unspiritual’ to others…
If you choose to follow me in this matter… and I am going ahead with this full bore… you are going to do so because you believe it is the right thing to do, it will be because you have settled it in your heart that God is moving and you want to be a part of that movement.
Do we know how to love by reaching out? Truly reaching out? Well in 10 short days you will have a great opportunity to reach out to the people of our community at our 2nd annual Block Party… it is going to be big and it is going to be different!
But you can reach out with your actions, with your words and with your life… Are you ready to make a difference?
But preacher, what can I DO to make a difference? What can I DO to be that agent of change you are talking about?
1st you can begin to talk with others about your faith and invite them to come to church with you…
2nd you can offer to pick someone up to come to church and even offer to take them to lunch afterwards…
3rd you can open up your lives to those God has placed around you, open up your heart and life and share what God has done for you…
But I am going to warn you, when you step into the realm of change agent, the enemy will come after you full bore… so be ready!
Be ready to be inconvenienced
Be ready to ‘lose’ money
Be ready to be ridiculed and misunderstood
Be ready to experience the heartache and heartbreak of rejection
Be ready for failure
Be ready for resistance
Satan will not sit idly by and allow us to do God’s will, but like the old song says, “Greater is He that is in me… than He that is in the world!” God is greater than the enemy and in Him we can overcome anything he brings into our lives! Are you ready today?
If you are ready to be an agent of change for the Love of God in our community today… I want to encourage you to stand up, come forward and let me pray with you… come and dedicate yourself to God’s plan and His direction. BUT If you are here today and do not know Christ as Savior…
