What to do with those Gentiles!?
Acts 11 records when the doors of the church swung wide open to every nation and Peter was called on the carpet for taking the first steps. We look at this today and wonder how they could have missed it. Did not Jesus himself commission them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Did not Jesus tell them to make disciples of all nations? What’s the big deal here?
As we looked last week at Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10, we noticed that this was not easy for Peter, but God used three visions, a direct statement from the Holy Spirit and then as he was preaching to a crowd of Gentiles in Cornelius’ house, God poured out the Holy Spirit on all who heard the gospel so that these Gentiles looked like a de j’veux of Acts 2. The circumcised Jews who were with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been given even to the Gentiles! The Gentiles! Peter asks, “Can anyone forbid water that these might be baptized? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have!” Then Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Acts 11 records when Peter returns to Jerusalem, how he is met with a group within the church who contend with him about this. Peter! You broke the law! You went into the home of uncircumcised men and ate with them!
Is anyone else surprised about how they are confronting Peter here? I mean, Peter is an apostle! Peter is the one who preached the first gospel sermon on Pentecost that resulted in 3000 baptisms. Peter is the one who performed amazing miracles and who rebuked Ananias and Sapphira and they dropped dead. How did these men dare to confront Peter like this?
Notice Peter’s response. He humbly tells what happened and basically says, “This was not my idea! How could I resist God?” In other words: God made me do it!
What was God doing there? Listen to Peter’s words later in Acts 15:7-11.
God’s word tells the truth. But not everyone listens. When we read the Bible together today, we see how God has always been actively working to bring us to himself. He has even gone so far as to send Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son to come to us to seek and save the lost.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the reason you and I are here today is because God has worked to bring us here. God has opened the door of faith for us and you and I have answered His call to come. We Gentiles have been invited into God’s family the church.
The Bible reveals to us that salvation starts and ends with what God does. But it also involves something else. It involves our making a choice. While we Gentiles are called into Christ without circumcision, that does not mean we can enter without baptism, as so many evangelicals teach today. Nor does it mean that we may bring our worldly ways into Christ along with us.
Listen to God’s word! Look at Acts 11:18. What God has granted us is priceless. God has granted us repentance that leads to life in Jesus Christ. God did this for us even though Peter and many of the Jews in Jerusalem had a hard time with it. God did this for us even though it caused a stir in the church at Jerusalem that was not settled until Acts 15. God granted us Gentiles REPENTANCE unto LIFE!
Get that down. Repentance is a grant from God. He does not owe you and me salvation. God grants you and me repentance so that we can choose salvation in Christ. Therefore let us receive this granted opportunity for eternal life with thanksgiving and faithful obedience to Jesus Christ as our Lord.
Listen to Jesus own words:
Revelation 2:10 Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life. In other words, God has chosen to save, to give eternal life, to every faithful Christian. God calls us to trust his grace and submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ who will work in us making us into faithful Christians. We MUST NOT resist His will, but submit to Him in faithful obedience.
What does the Bible tell us a Faithful follower of Christ looks like? Faithful Christians are not to judge the hearts and eternal destinies of others, but we can at least make some distinctions. Based on what the Bible says let me give you a true of false test: Ready? Ok, true or false:
Faithful Christians follow Jesus Christ and obey his teachings. Matthew 7:21
Faithful Christians seek to be like Jesus Christ and share him with others. Matthew 28:19-20
Faithful Christians have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
Faithful Christians do not forsake the assembling of the saints together. Hebrews 10:25
Faithful Christians share in the communion with Christ through the bread and cup of the Lord’s supper. 1 Cor. 11:23-26
Faithful Christians love their enemies and pray for those that despitefully use them. Matthew 5:44
Faithful Christians do not lie, do not walk in darkness or commit immoral acts. Neither do they have fellowship with those that do so, though they reach out to them and attempt to bring them to Christ. 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1.
Faithful Christians keep their hearts pure. James 4:8, 1 John 3:3
Faithful Christians repent and pray for forgiveness of sins and are forgiving toward those that sin against them. Acts 8:22, Matthew 6:14-15
Faithful Christians crucify the flesh with its passions and desires and walk according to the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25
Faithful Christians do not love the world nor the things in the world. 1 John 2:15
Faithful Christians worship in Spirit and in Truth. John 4:23-24
Faithful Christians devote themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42
Faithful Christians are united in one body, one church, with one Lord, one faith and one baptism, one God and Father of all. Ephesians 4:1-6
Faithful Christians do not lie, steal, or cheat. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Faithful Christians fix their eyes on Jesus and put to death the fleshly lusts. Colossians 3:1-6
Faithful Christians confess their sins to one another and pray for each other. James 5:16
Faithful Christians obey the laws of the land as long as they do not conflict with God’s laws. Romans 13:1-7
Faithful Christians are not prideful, selfish, stingy or greedy, but humble, unselfish, generous, and sharing. Colossians 3:6-14
Faithful Christians do not gossip about others but go to them and work things out. Matthew 5:23-24
Faithful Christians do not let unwholesome words come out of their mouths, but only what is beneficial to those that hear. Ephesians 5:29
Faithful Christians do not turn the grace of God into a license for sin. Jude 4
Faithful Christians strive to be perfect just as the Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
Above all else, faithful Christians love God with all their hearts, all their souls, and all their strength and the love their neighbors as they love themselves. Matthew 22:36-40
Faithful Christians keep the faith!
Jesus once asked this question: When the Son of man comes will he find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8
We must not think of the grace of God in a way that compromises faithfulness to God and submission to doing his will. We must not water down the will of God by looking for excuses either for ourselves or others. God’s word never does that. We must not either.
We must strive to be a church that follows the will of God in our worship, fellowship, discipleship, service, evangelism and doctrine. We must strive to be a church that practices what we read about in the New Testament concerning baptism, the Lord’s supper, giving, singing, prayer and the ministry of the Word of God. We are governed by elders and served by deacons and teachers, like we read about in the New Testament. Our goal must continue to simply be Christians according to the teachings of Jesus and his Apostles. We must never compromise these things. We must constantly take care that what we do in worship reflects and respects obediently what we read about in God’s word.
Listen, Jesus Christ paid for his church with his own blood. When Jesus died to satisfy the debt of sin, it was not so that you and I could go on sinning so that grace might increase. We dare not take for granted the precious relationship God has worked for us through the cross to give us and offers to us.
