"You Mean They Can Be Saved Too?"
Acts 11:1-18
Acts Chapter 10 and 11 tell a story that is one of the major turning points in Christianity; really it's like a seismic shift!!!!
It is something so radical that it causes the early followers of Christ to readjust their entire worldview.
If it weren't for this experience, Christianity very well might have remained just another Jewish sect.
Imagine if, all your life, you have been taught--beginning with your parents, grandparents, great-grand parents, your religious leaders, your community--everyone you know and love that some foods are clean and good, and some are unclean and bad.
And if you do eat the bad foods, this will make you bad...
...not only in the eyes of other people but also in the eyes of God.
Also, there are some people who are clean and good.
These are your people.
This is your group.
You are a part of this group.
This is the group that God has chosen.
This is God's group.
Every human being outside of this group is bad.
They are not part God's group.
There is no hope of salvation for them.
They are dirty.
They even eat the unclean or bad foods that, it has been ingrained into you, are not to be eaten.
They spit in the very face of God by disobeying His laws.
So, the very thought of intermingling with the people outside your group is a horrible sin--perhaps one of the worst sins imaginable.
You should have nothing to do with these people.
As a matter of fact, because of how you have been taught and programmed from an early age, you have a natural dislike, disgust, and maybe even hatred toward these people.
This is how the Jews were taught to think and live.
When you are taught something like that from the time you are just a babe; it is nearly impossible to shake that kind of thinking--it has become so ingrained.
And so, this is how Peter and the rest of the early Christians thought.
They were Jews.
When Jesus came to save people--the people He came to save were Jews.
So, imagine that this is the way you think.
Imagine that this is also the way you believe.
This is how you understand God to think.
This is your "worldview."
You have never questioned it, and have never felt a need to question it.
And then, everything you have always held near and dear--your very identity is thrown out the window in one huge event!!!
What had happened?
What was the huge event?
That is all recorded in Acts 10, the chapter before the one we just read.
A guy named Cornelius, a Roman army officer, no less, has a strange vision.
An angel comes to him and tells him to send some messengers to summon Peter and have Peter come to him.
In the meantime, Peter is having his own strange vision.
Peter is up on the roof of a house praying, and he's hungry.
And he sees "heaven open up and something like a large linen sheet" lowers toward the ground.
Inside this sheet are "all kinds of four-legged animals, reptiles, and wild birds."
Animals that were unclean to eat.
And then, Peter hears this voice: "Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!"
Peter responds, "Absolutely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
Then the voice speaks to him two more times and says: "Never consider unclean what God has made pure."
So we are told that Peter is absolutely bewildered by all this.
And just when he's trying to figure out what that strange vision meant, the messengers that Cornelius--the Roman Officer sent--show up at where Peter is staying.
And to a Jew, these guys would have been major outsiders.
For us, it might be like having the mafia come to call.
And we are told that the Holy Spirit instructs Peter to go with these guys.
But first, Peter invites them into the house as his guests.
He's already intermingling with unclean and dangerous people, welcoming them, feeding them, eating with them--giving them a warm place to sleep.
We are told that the next day he "got up and went with them, together with some other believers..."
This script, this drama is being written by God isn't it?
God is speaking to Cornelius, God is speaking to Peter.
Both are baffled, but still willing to be led.
It's been said that "disciples are those who at times say, 'Lord, I don't know where you are leading me, but here I am."
Sometimes, most times, that's the best thing we can say.
So, at Cornelius's place, the excitement is brewing.
He had called his relatives and close friends and gathered them together to greet Peter.
And when Peter gets there and finds a big gathering of people--"He said to them, 'You all realize that it is forbidden for a Jew to associate or visit with outsiders.
However, God has shown me that I should never call a person impure or unclean."
Cornelius goes on to tell Peter about his own vision and why he sent for Peter.
"A holy angel directed me to summon you and to hear what you have to say."
So, Peter goes on to share the Gospel with this group of non-Jewish outsiders, to tell them about Jesus.
And we are told that while Peter was speaking "the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who heard the word."
And the Jewish believers who had come along with Peter were absolutely astonished "that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles."
Peter then baptizes these non-Jewish persons in the name of Jesus Christ, and stays with them for several days.
And so, when the other apostles hear about this--they are shocked, outraged, and demand an explanation from Peter.
He tells them what happened, "step by step" and they are speechless and eventually have a change of heart.
They all agree that God's saving love and power is for everyone!!!
And so a seismic shift takes place in the church!!!
And the real "hero" of the story is not Peter; it's not Cornelius--the real "hero" is God!!!
God is the One Who makes bold promises and keeps them.
God is the One Who finds a way, even in the midst of human prejudice and ingrained thinking, to bring human beings together in love.
God is the One Who doesn't show partiality to one group of people over another.
Gentiles are included into the household of God, not because they are basically nice people or whatever--but because they, like the Israelites are loved by God regardless and they are able to repent like anyone else.
And repentance, contrary to some misconceptions, is not some heroic first step we make toward Christ...
...nor is it us feeling sorry for our sins.
Repentance is the divine gift from God of being able to be turned toward the truth.
It is being turned toward the truth about ourselves, our situation and realizing that, on our own, there is nothing we can do about it.
Like Cornelius, I cannot repent--I cannot turn around on my own.
In Christ, God has turned toward us and repentance is our joyful human response to God's turning.
It's an act of God's grace.
It is a gift.
"Everyone who believes in Jesus," as Peter says in Acts 10:43, "receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
It is God Who enables all people to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.
And that new life is found in Christ!!!
There have been at least nine shootings in Chattanooga since last Saturday, and at least six of those are likely part of the ongoing gang war, according to police.
Two pregnant women were shot in two days.
The chief of police said that "This was perhaps the most violent week this city has experienced since" he's been here.
Some Hamilton County public schools in areas near the violence kept kids inside during recess and physical education classes, said acting superintendent Lee McDade.
Students will return outside only if the situation calms down, he added.
It's easy to look at what is going on, throw up our arms and say: "It's a hopeless situation."
Or, "those people are so bad, so unclean, so lost--they are beyond redemption."
But, what God commanded Peter to do while he was in "the city of Joppa," God now commands us to do here in East Ridge, Ringgold, Rossville, Chattanooga and beyond today!!!
God commands us to erase any boundary lines of negativity we might have toward any other human beings.
God commands us to turn our ideas and worldviews upside down and inside out by reminding ourselves and our world that every human being: red, yellow, black and white is equally loved by God.
For when we are cut we all bleed.
When we are tickled we all laugh.
When we are hurt we all cry.
When God looks at us God loves everyone of us.
We are called to do the same.
That might sound easy, until we really start thinking about it.
Lest we become too self-righteous let's all think for a moment about the person we cannot stand to be around.
If you are poor, maybe it is the rich person who drives down the street in a shiny sports car.
If you are rich, maybe it is someone who sits in their old supped-up junker at the traffic light with their radio pounding.
Maybe it's the person who does meth. and walks around all day asking for handouts.
Perhaps it's the foreigner who can't speak very good English.
Perhaps it's the person who has tattoos and piercings all over their body.
Maybe it's someone who brags all the time, or whines all the time.
Whoever it is, try to feel your irritation when you are around those kind of people.
Now as you have them in your mind, hear these words of Jesus: "This is my commandment: Love each other just as I have loved you...so you must love each other."
What does that do to you?
Does it make you uncomfortable?
Does it make you angry?
Does it cause you to draw a blank?
Again, disciples are those who at times say, "Lord, I don't know where you are leading me, but here I am."
Jesus is relentlessly in love with you, me and every person in the entire world.
And thank God for such love!!!
Where would you be, where would I be without such love?
Where would the world be if everyone knew how much Christ loves them?
How will they know unless we heed God's call to go to those who we do not know, those outside our inner circles, the lost, the marginalized, even the rich and the over-stuffed--and tell them by our words and actions and invitations that there is enough room in Jesus' arms for everyone.
There is plenty of room.
And praise God for that!!!
Amen.
