WORSHIPPING STORIES 2
PETER AND THE GENTILES
-alright, so if you missed it last week, we have been having story time here at Drink Deep. Last week was the story of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant and how David returned the Ark to it’s rightful place among Its people.
-today we’re doing the same thing, no powerpoints, no notes, no bells and whistles, just plain old story time. But this story of worship comes from the New Testament.
-this story is about a man many of you have heard of, a guy named Peter, but first the story starts with someone different. A man named Cornelius.
-it’s been over ten years since Jesus had been crucified and risen and ascended. Stephen had been killed and the Church was scattered all through the land. As part of this, Peter was away from Jerusalem, he was living in the town of Joppa.
-back to Cornelius. This guy was a Roman army officer, the centurion of the Italian Regiment. The Italian Regiment is 600 soldiers working in an area divided into centuries, or 100’s. The centurion is the captain of one of these centuries. So Cornelius is a Roman who is captain of 100 of the 600 men stationed in a town known as Caesarea.
-it’s commonly thought that centurions were held in a really good light. They had earned their respect as captains of 100 soldiers, but in the Bible wherever a centurion is mentioned, it’s always good. Either they're always good people, or the guys who God inspired to write the Bible would not anything bad about them. Either way, just being a centurion, we can assume Cornelius is a good guy.
-but we know even more he’s a good guy. The Bible says he was a God-fearing man, and so was everyone in His household. He also gave to the poor and prayed regularly. So this guy, especially for a Roman centurion, really, really nice guy and someone who loved God, practicing Jewish faith traditions like reading the Old Testament, going to the synagogue, etc.
-the story starts with him performing the afternoon prayer, every day at three in the afternoon Jewish people prayed (they prayed in the morning too). As he’s praying an angel appears to him in a vision.
-the angel tells him that God has seen how he has prayed and helped the poor and now has a job for him. The angel instructs him to send men to Joppa to the house of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore. There he will find a man named Simon Peter. He’s to have the men bring Peter to Cornelius’ house in Caesarea.
-as soon as the angel is gone, like the next second, Cornelius goes downstairs, gets two of his servants and one of his best soldiers, the soldier who was basically his right-hand man, and sent them to Joppa to find Peter. Joppa was around 33 miles away, so they wouldn’t be able to make it that day, it was a two day trip.
-we pick up the story in Joppa the next day. It’s about noon and Peter is up on the roof praying. Notice, this is outside the normal time for Jewish prayer, so Peter, really a good Jew here.
-the story says that he was hungry, but lunch was still being prepared, so he stayed up to pray and fell into a trance. He saw the sky open before him and a large sheet or blanket came down from heaven by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, birds, all sorts of things. Peter sees these things and hears a voice say to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat them.”
-now Peter, even though he’s a Christian and following Jesus, he’s still a Jew. In fact, at this time, all Christians are Jews. Jesus came to Jewish people, had Jewish followers, all the disciples were Jews, the Christians met at the Temple and synagogues, everything at this time that’s Christian, is still kind of Jewish. And as a good Jew, Peter is kosher. He can only eat what the Law allowed him to eat, no bacon, no reptiles, no birds, no shellfish, Peter can only eat kosher food.
-so Peter calls back up to God, “No Lord. I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have called impure or unclean.” But the voice answers back, “Don’t call something unclean if God has made it clean.”
-this same vision, this same conversation, it happens three times. “Eat” “No” “Yes”. Suddenly the sheet was pulled up to heaven, disappears and Peter comes out of his trance.
-obviously, Peter’s a little confused. What was that? What did it mean? As he’s waking up and processing this, the people in the house are scurrying around. It seems there are three guys at the door, one of them a Roman soldier and they’re asking for Peter.
-but before anyone can tell Peter, the Bible says the Holy Spirit calmed Peter and spoke to him. The Holy Spirit tells Peter there are three people downstairs that have come for you. Don’t worry, I sent them. Go with them.
-so Peter goes down, says Hi, tells them he’s the guy they’re looking for, why are you here? This must have made everyone in the house kind of nervous, Christians are being hunted down, they’re hiding Peter and here’s a couple guys and a Roman guard specifically looking for him. And instead of hiding on the roof, Pete just walks downstairs, “Hey, looking for me? Why?” Not the best way to hide.
-they tell Peter who Cornelius is, a God-fearing centurion that is well respected by the Jews in Caesarea and an angel has asked him to get Peter so Peter can talk with him. Peter has them stay the night, then the next morning Cornelius’ two servants, the soldier, Peter, and a few of Peter’s Christian friends all go back to Caesarea.
-the next day (remember it took two days), they all show up at Cornelius’ house. He’s there with all his relatives, family and friends. He’s asked them all to come over to hear what Peter has to say. When Peter walks in, Cornelius doesn’t just say Hi, he falls at Peter’s feet, bowing down to him and worshipping him.
-now that must have made a real impact. A centurion, heck, just a Roman citizen is bowing down to this Jew. Mind you, it’s the Jew the angel from God told him to get, so I can see where the bowing comes from.
-but Peter pulls him up and explains he’s not a god, he’s just a regular guy like Cornelius. So Cornelius stands up and invites Peter inside.
-this is huge. Why? Jewish people did not enter the homes of Gentiles. Jewish people generally didn’t even associate with Gentiles, by law. Remember all the people that gave Jesus crap for talking with people that He wasn’t supposed to? Because in their Law, Jews don’t talk with Gentiles, and they definitely don’t go into their homes!
-and Cornelius, he would have known this. Remember, all the Jewish people liked him, he went to the synagogue, he read the Bible, he would know this law. He was asking Peter to break Jewish law.
-but Peter doesn’t even hesitate. He even says, You know it’s against the law for me to be here. But God showed me a vision that taught me something. I should not think of something as impure or unclean, God made it all.” After all, if God thinks that way about food, how could anyone possibly feel that way about people?
-so they go inside, everyone is waiting and Cornelius tells his story about the angel and sending for Peter. Then Peter says something absolutely life-changing. “I can see very clearly that God shows no favoritism, He accepts people from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. This is the message of the Good News for the people of Israel.”
-for thousands of years Jewish people had been the chosen people of God, God’s favorites, and here is Peter realizing and actually letting others know that the God who told the Jews they were His favorite, now wants everyone to be His favorite. It’s like that T-shirt I wear sometimes, God loves you but I’m His favorite. It’s true and here someone who has been told that his whole life is basically saying this T-shirt is for you too.
-so Peter looks at these people, some Roman, some Jewish, some believe in God, some don’t, some follow Roman traditions, some are following Jewish laws and lays it all out there. There is a way for us all to find peace with God together. His name is Jesus Christ. And Peter walks them through it. God anointed Jesus with His Holy Spirit to do things only God can do. He healed people and did miracles and all sorts of people like His apostles witnessed it. He was put to death on a cross and but on the third day He rose from the dead. He appeared to us, His apostles and ate and drank with us. Then He ordered us to tell everyone about Jesus and how everyone who believes in Him can have their sins forgiven through His name.”
-as Peter’s telling these things, the Holy Spirit falls on everyone listening to the message. One of the signs of someone receiving the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues, like back when the Holy Spirit first fell on the church in Acts 2. So all these people start speaking in other languages.
-now the Jews there who were Christians, now their minds are blown. Hold on, in one day Peter goes from being this ultra-Jew, he goes into a Gentile’s house, he says the Gentile can even know Jesus and be forgiven like us, then God sends His Holy Spirit on these people too, they can’t argue with Peter, obviously what he’s saying is from God.
-so Peter turns to the Jewish Christians and says, “Well, obviously they can be accepted by God, He just baptized them with His Spirit, anyone object if we baptize them with water following the example Jesus gave us to show our faith?” Of course, everyone’s like “nuh-uh” and for the first time ever, someone who is not Jewish was baptized and accepted in the Church, into God’s family.
-and that is the story of how we as people who aren’t Jewish were first accepted as Christians. In part thanks to Cornelius and Peter for their obedience, we are able to be a part of the Church today.
