WHEN PETER GOT HUNGRY
Acts 10:1-48
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Things are going badly for Israel. The economy is in a tail spin, inflation is getting higher and immigrants are flooding in from all over. Problems, problems, problems, but what to do?
2. So the Knesset holds a special session to come up with a solution. After several hours of talk without progress one member stands up and says “Quiet everyone, I've got it, the solution to all our problems. We'll declare war on the United States.”
3. Everyone is shouting at once; "You're nuts! That's crazy!" "Hear me out!" says the minister. "We declare war. We lose. The United States does what she always does when she defeats a country. She rebuilds everything; our highways, airports, shipping ports, schools, hospitals, factories, and loans us money, and sends us food aid. Our problems would be over.
4. "Sure," says another politician, "that's if we lose. But what if we win?”
B. TEXT
10 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion…2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing…3 One day…he had a vision….an angel of God, [said]…4 “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 9 About noon the following day as [Cornelius’ servants] were …approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” 14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” 15 The voice spoke, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”16 This happened three times...17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius…stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. 19 The Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” 23 The next day Peter started out with them…24 [and] he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him…27 Peter…found a large gathering of people. 34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent… 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39…They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.” 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
C. THESIS
1. In the past we’ve had a couple of times where we had a “Wildlife Buffet,” where hunters brought in specimens of a wide range of things they’d killed while hunting, for us to eat.
2. Examples: deer, wild boar, snake, fish, duck or turkey, raccoon, armadillo, etc.
3. This is the kind of dinner we see put before Peter, a Jew, in this morning’s passage, but God had a special message for him & He does for us too!
4. The title of this message is, “When Peter Got Hungry.”
I. THE MAN CORNELIUS – UNUSUAL CHOICE?
A. THE PROBLEM OF PREJUDICE
1. It was an abomination to the Jewish believers in Acts 11, that not only were Gentiles taken into the church, but that the first Gentile who was taken in was an uncircumcised Roman soldier!
2. His job/profession had been war, fighting and killing people, including Jews. His rank of Centurion meant that he was good at killing & commanding. To a Jew he was an abomination to God.
3. We all have people we don’t like, people you don’t think are pleasing to God or worth fooling with. It’s called prejudice and it’s been around for along time. And it’s pretty well universal.
4. The Japanese phrase for foreigners is “stinking of foreign hair.” What is called the “French Pox” in England is called the “English Pox” in France.
5. In Czechoslovakia, to drink too much is to “drink like a Dutchman,” but in Holland it’s to “drink like a Pole.”
6. In Hungary and Austria, the cockroach is known as a “Swabian,” in Poland as a “Prussian,” and in Germany as a “Frenchman!”
7. Of the 30,000 genes we have, only 12 are responsible for the racial differences between us. The Bible teaches that we’re all brothers & sisters, all children of Adam & Eve (Acts 17:26). All distinctions are removed in Christ (Gal. 3:28).
8. Prejudice is called a sin by James (2:1, 9a). The devil wants to divide, but Christ Jesus wants to bring unity! We need to ask God to make us colorblind, but aware of souls!
9. No drug people, or alcoholics, or down-in-outs are excluded. God wants them all to hear the good news!
B. GOD’S VIEW OF CORNELIUS
1. Just looking at the outside, we can be totally wrong! God loves all people and He can see past their exteriors, in ways we can’t.
2. “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” 1 Sam. 16:7. What did God see in Cornelius?
3. A man who was devout man and feared God. He fasted, prayed, and gave to the poor. He had genuine faith that moved his whole family to become believers.
4. CORNELIUS VISITED BY AN ANGEL. The Angel called him by his name, Cornelius. He told Cornelius that his prayers & alms had come up as a memorial before God.
5. Seeing & hearing an angel was impressive, but he was told he needed more. He needed to send to Joppa & get the full revelation.
6. How often we stop with one revelation and don’t go on to the next step in God’s fullness for us!
II. PETER’S VISION
A. CIRCUMSTANCES
1. Cornelius had received orders from heaven to send for Peter, but would Peter come to Cornelius? Cornelius is a uncircumcised Gentile, a hated Roman. For a Jewish man, even an involuntary touch of a Gentile was to be made ceremonially unclean, Jn. 18:28.
2. Peter knew nothing of their approach, and they knew nothing of his praying. God was working on both ends!
3. So Peter became hungry, asked for something to eat, and went on the roof to pray. God used hunger as the medium to communicate to Peter by vision.
4. God showed him a bunch of potential food, which was off-limits for him to eat. Kind of like being on a diet and being shown a lot of food you can’t eat. But God told Peter to eat anyway.
5. He saw heaven opened, signifying the opening of a mystery. He saw a great sheet full of living creatures, which descended from heaven. It is knit at the four corners, signifying all the different peoples of the world.
6. Command: "Rise, Peter, kill and eat”: without putting any difference between clean and unclean.”
B. PETER REFUSED TO EAT THE UNCLEAN
1. Peter refused to obey God’s voice because he knew what the Bible said on the subject. Be skeptical of any new revelation you hear, that contradicts what the Bible says.
2. Paul said, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” Gal. 1:8.
3. If someone comes to your door and tells you they have a “new revelation” that contradicts what you’ve heard before, refuse to accept it.
4. Deut. 13:1-3 says that you’re being tested to see if you will obey God’s Word as your final authority. Stick to the Word!
5. This same vision was repeated 3X, v. 16. The trebling of Peter’s vision, like the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream, was to show that the thing was certain.
6. Peter was uncertain what the vision meant, until the men from Cornelius arrived at the house, and the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
7. Why was God doing all this? Because the Early Church had gotten off track with its primary mission – Mk. 16:15.
III. NOT FULFILLING GOD’S MISSION
A. DISTURB US LORD! “A Prayer For the Future”:
1. “Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.
2. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim. - Bible.org
3. Complacency keeps us inside the church walls. The danger is that the church will keep the gospel to ourselves. Peter & the early Christians hunkered down in Jerusalem and didn’t move out to share the Gospel with the masses.
4. God told Peter to GET OFF THE ROOF, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, & GET ON THE ROAD with the vision of salvation for the lost again!
5. God went to great lengths to bring together Cornelius and Peter. On this meeting hinged the salvation of all the world. Peter didn’t understand the magnitude of his mission. With the “keys” of his Apostolic ministry, Peter opened the gates, not realizing that billions of people who would enter there.
6. Salvation was never intended to be the sole possession of the Jewish people. This sheet full of unclean animals revealed that EVERY person is dearly loved and sought out by God the Father. No person is excluded.
B. PETER’S MESSAGE (vs. 34-43):
1. Peter didn’t try to be a theologian. He stuck to the simple message that God sent His Son to live, love, and change lives. That He died on a cross was buried and rose again and that He’s alive today.
2. When we lose sight of the lost, we let down God. Consequently we let down all those who will never hear the gospel and die in their sin to spend eternity in a Devils Hell.
3. It’s pretty normal to think; “God, are you sure you want me to reach out to them?” “Really…they’re pretty ornery and they’re so different. They’re nothing like us and I just don’t think they’ll fit in.”
4. Perhaps like Peter we too need to get a new great commission vision!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A little girl treated her mother badly because she was ashamed of her. Her mother had a big, ugly scar on her face. She looked horrible.
2. The little girl would never bring her friends around because of the scar on her mother’s face. She would never invite her mother to school functions because of the scar on her face.
3. Her mother finally asked her, “Honey, why don’t you ever bring your friends around? Why don’t you ever invite me to anything?
4. She said, “Mama, it’s the scar on your face. I can’t bear to introduce you to others.”
5. Her mother said, “Darling, sit down. Let me tell you something I’ve never told you about the scar on my face. 6. One day I went out to draw water when you were a little girl, and when I looked back from the well, I saw the house was on fire.
7. I rushed back in, dropped my water, and came and grabbed you, my little baby, out of the crib. The fire was engulfing you, but I got there just in the nick of time.
8. On my way out of the house, one of the beams of the house collapsed and hit me across the face. It knocked me to the ground and burned my face for a period of time before I could get it off, but I was able to throw you to safety.
9. I just wanted you to know darling, the next time you don’t want your friends to see me, remember that the only reason I have a scar on my face is because I was saving your life!”
10. Jesus has some scars on His hands. He’s got scars on His feet. He’s got a scar on His side. Let me tell you how He got those scars.
11. You and I were on our way to hell. We were on our way to be separated from a holy God forever. But Jesus Christ looked down and He didn’t want us to suffer the consequences of sin. He told the Father, “I’ll go.”
12. He came down and stretched out on a cross. They drove nails through His hands and feet. They stuck a spear in His side.
13. So the next time you don’t want to tell somebody about Him, remember how He got His scars. The next time you don’t want to be a disciple, remember how He got His scars. The next time you don’t want to live for Him, remember how He got His scars.
14. When you remember, get on your knees & tell Him you’ll follow Him for the rest of your days. [Tony Evans]
B. THE CALL
1. The results of Peter sharing Jesus? People were saved & people were amazed. When was the last time you were awed/amazed by something God accomplished through you?
2. “Listen I need to see that happen again in my life.” What about you? When Peter got hungry, it was really the hunger of God for the lost to be saved. The Spirit “fell on them greedily.” They spoke with tongues, magnified God.
3. God gave him a hunger to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that those hunger pains might rumble within the church again.
4. “Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.”
5. How many want to let God do a new thing in your life? How many would say, “God, give me a hunger for lost souls?” [Salvation call]
[Idea derived from Kyle Blanton message of the same title]
