Ethnocentricity - my nationality is superior to yours
(A) Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
(B) The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
(C) Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
(D) Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
(E) Conclusion: Eat & drink what you like. It’s speaking English that kills you.
Christians spend too much time trying to figure out "who’s in and Who’s Out"
if someone went to heaven or is on their way there - without asking of course :)
Pope, funerals, natives - and not enough time figuring out what matters
There’s a technical theological word for that - it’s called self righteousness
Radical Reformission - pg. 74 shows we all have our "gentiles"
Acts doesn’t pose the question, "Will the Jews be saved?" - it hammers away at the faithfulness of God to keep His promises - from Abraham on down.
The real question is "Will the Gentiles be saved?"
Israel never got around to being a blessing to all the nations of the earth, what is God going to do about it?
So the Character of God is the real issue here, not the character of the Jews or the Christians.
It’s a mystery to me, how is it that the ones who taught the world to hope for a Messiah seemed to have missed out on Him?
Luke puzzled over the Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah, but he puzzled even more over the embrace of the Gentiles by God.
Chapter 11 begins with controversy. Peter is in trouble - as usual. The pork hits the fan!
11:2 contended/criticized - Without permission he crossed the line. EAT BAPTISM
The level of shock by the Jews was even greater than Peter’s over unclean food
(or yours) and yet we know who won the day.
This realization is what gets Peter and later Paul into really hot water.
Proclaiming a message that God is for all people!
What happens when your identity is threatened (Jews - Laws, Protestants - Doctrine)
Fight to the death - or lay down and die. Either way you end up dead. But by laying down to die, you can be raised in Christ.
Why is this story repeated, - central to the book of acts.
Acts 11:1-30 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
4 Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: 5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, `Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8 "I replied, `Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 "The voice spoke from heaven a second time, `Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11 "Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, `Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
15 "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: `John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"
18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
The key teaching here was not for the newcomers - but for the oldtimers!
The HS broke through their blindness in a moment (see vs. 16)
Why? The presence of the Holy Spirit both at Cornelius’ home and with Peter as he tells the story confirmed and sealed the decision. Today, the Jewish Christian church is extinct
Peter Acts 11:17 So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" (he did try 3 times)
Who was being converted - Peter, Cornelius, the church?
When was peter converted? Follow me? Step out of the boat? Feed my sheep, Rise, kill eat? He was a follower of the Way, we need to also
Eph. 2 God’s New Family
EPH 2:11 You who are not Jews by birth, here is what I want you to remember. You are called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "circumcised." But they have only been circumcised in their bodies by human hands.
12 Before you believed in Christ, you were separated from him. You were not considered to be citizens of Israel. You were not included in what the covenants promised. You were without hope and without God in the world. 13 At one time you were far away from God. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled his blood for you. That has brought you near to God.
14 Christ himself is our peace. He has made Jews and non-Jews into one group of people. He has destroyed the hatred that was like a wall between us. 15 Through his body on the cross, Christ put an end to the law with all its commands and rules. He wanted to create one new group of people out of the two. He wanted to make peace between them.
16 He planned to bring both of them as one body back to God because of the cross. Christ put their hatred to death on that cross.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away. He also preached peace to those who were near. 18 Through Christ we both come to the Father by the power of one Holy Spirit.
19 So you are no longer strangers and outsiders. You are citizens together with God’s people. You are members of God’s family.
Rest of the Story
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch (unknown but gutsy guys - any here?), telling the message only to Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
What do the Gentiles do with their new life? Blessing others who are suffering - in this case there is a mission to the gentiles and a collection to bless the church suffering from famine. Irony is that the blessing to the Jews comes from those rejected by Jews.
Is generosity still a trait of Christians
Agabus the prophet - so that they could be ready to help their new found brothers according to their ability
They realized that they were not their own, they were bought with a price -they were Stewards of life
Stewardship is possible when we understand who owns what
What if you managed an IRA for a guy who wants you to place 10% into City Mission and you don’t? You get fired
What if you hired someone to watch over your house and possessions while you were on an extended vacation. You told them that you were expecting a young couple to stop by to pick up the sofa and chair in the living room. What if you refused that couple, what if you said, I am going to take that sofa and chair to my home - who’s gonna miss it?
Agabus appealed to the church with legitimate needs
The church responds generously, joyfully, graciously
Because the gentiles were so grateful to hear the good news, that they were heirs of the promises God made to the Jews - they immediately responded with an offering to bail out the hungry Jews.
Tithing can be a tough step - (wallet and baptism cartoon)
Our decision never to spend more on a single thing than on God - even car or home
You can pull this off - cell phone, movies, meals out, vacations, car, etc.
The Question for all time has been:
What will the church do with all its gold? It is going to do something - idols, squander, invest
How did I tell if the love of money had a grip on my heart?
By the way I react or respond to someone who shares a legitimate worthwhile need
If you don’t give joyfully, it will taint the money,
How can you respond to this great news?
Embrace Christ - share this great news with others!
To rightly proclaim the Good News
1. Jesus demolished the sins that separate us from God - now we can connect to God through Jesus
Satisfies our spiritual hunger
2. Jesus took away the sins that separate us from one another - we can be reconciled - barriers down
Satisfies our social hunger
3. Jesus forgives the sins we personally commit - making filthy lives clean, no matter how filthy, they all become white as snow - no 1 cleaner than another
Satisfies our emotional hunger
4. Jesus cleanses us from the defilement that comes to us from others,
Satisfies our psychological hunger for healing and new life
