Stand in God S Way? No Way! (Discussion of Sermon Following)

Sunday, April 23, 2006 – Sermon Discussion Sunday

Stand in God’s way? No way! (Discussion of sermon following)

Acts 11:1-18

“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?” Acts 11:17

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Let me start with a question. What do you make of a writer who restates two stories three times within a rather brief chapter and a half? Specifically, what do you make of Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, telling his readers three times the story of Peter and the vision of the great sheet of animals and three times the story of Cornelius and the visit of an angel within Acts chapter 10, verse 1 and Acts chapter 11, verse 18. Within a total of 66 verses we hear the same two stories three times. And, maybe not so coincidently, Peter was told three times, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

Would you agree with me that God is driving a point home in the heart and mind of Peter?

Do you recall a previous time when Jesus came at Peter with a triple dose? It was in John 21:15-17. In those three verses we are made aware of two kinds of love, “agape” love, a self-giving love, totally unselfish love, most descriptive of God’s love. And “phileo” love is friendship love, brotherly love.

Jesus asked Peter, “Do you ‘agape’ love Me?” and Peter replied, “You know Lord that I ‘phileo’ love You.” A second time Jesus asked Peter, “Do you ‘agape’ love Me?” and Peter replied, “You know Lord that I ‘phileo’ love You.” The third time Jesus asked Peter, “Do you ‘phileo’ love Me?” and Peter was grieved when he replied, “You know all things, Lord. You know I ‘phileo’ love You.”

I guess if we were doing a study in learning styles, we might start to think that Peter needs things repeated three times before he gets the message. And I guess I can relate to that.

But, certainly, for us to read and reread and read yet again about the vision of the sheet of animals that Peter saw and the visit of the angel to Cornelius, we must be saying to ourselves, there is a message here that God does not want us to miss.

Before I highlight some of the strong messages we have already discovered since chapter 10 of Acts, I would like us to hear and view the entire section. Let’s watch Acts 10:1-11:18.

(DVD – Acts 10:1-11:18)

Probably the first lesson that has come through strong and clear in these repeated stories is that when a person genuinely seeks after God, we can be assured that God has been and is seeking after that person. Cornelius was genuinely seeking after God. And God sought after Cornelius by preparing His servant Peter to communicate His message of love and forgiveness to him. That’s one lesson.

Another lesson we see clearly being learned by Peter is that we may have some important lessons that we need to learn before some doors will open so we can help a particular person connect with Christ. Peter needed some barriers broken down before he could do what God wanted him to do. Those barriers were lodged deeply in his soul and would take a powerful pressure to move those barriers out. But, God did it and Peter cooperated. Peter was willing to learn a new lesson to make him ready for a new assignment. That’s a second lesson.

Yet another lesson from this section is that the telling or preaching of the Gospel opens the door so that Jesus Christ is accessible to anyone who would believe in Him. Cornelius and his family and his friends needed to hear the Gospel message. That was all that was missing. They had the longing to know God. They just needed someone to tell them how. And the Gospel opens that door. That’s a third lesson.

There is yet one more lesson that we need to learn from this passage. It shows up in three short verses in chapter 11. Verses 1, 2 & 3. It goes by fast, but verses 4-18 are a response to the conflict evidenced in verses 1-3. Thus, we need to understand the first three verses of chapter 11.

Acts 11:1-18 (NIV)

11 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.”

Maybe we need to read those verses one more time to feel them.

11 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.”

Peter is in “hot water.” Peter is being “called on the carpet” for evangelizing Gentiles. Peter broke the rules. He entered the house of an uncircumcised man and even ate with him.

Very likely they were standing at the gates of the city with fire in their eyes and their hands on their hips looking squarely in Peter’s eyes and greeting him with the words (if you can call this a greeting), “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Peter!” And they likely didn’t expect Peter to be able to talk his way out of this situation.

You see, Peter himself had referred to his actions as illegal according to the Jewish interpretation and application of the Old Testament laws of ceremonial cleanness. Recall back in Acts 10:28 (NIV) 28 He (Peter) said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him.”

You need to try to catch the full weight of this. Peter wanted to be a righteous man. It had been stamped like a branding iron on his soul that he should have nothing to do with anything that was “unclean.” Gentiles were “unclean.” Thus, staying away from Gentiles was a righteous act. And Peter was not the only one who deeply and sincerely believed this. There was a cavernous divide between the Jews and the Gentiles and it had the potential of keeping the gospel away from the Gentiles forever.

As far as these circumcised believers in Jerusalem were concerned, Peter was wrong. He had no business going into the house of a Gentile, even if it meant that the Gentile would hear the gospel and turn to Christ.

So, in these first 3 verses we have the charge of misconduct leveled against Peter by his brothers in Jerusalem.

Look again at these verses. Who is included in the criticism? Is it just the group identified as the circumcised believers?

So, where are the apostles and other brothers while this criticism is going on? Are they standing by, keeping quiet, shuffling their feet? Or, worse yet, are they simply letting this group of circumcised believers do the dirty work for them and voice concerns and objections that they too were feeling?

But, also notice that these critical believers were waiting for Peter as he arrived in Jerusalem. The word had spread ahead of Peter. What verse 1 tells us is that the rumors were that Gentiles had received the word of God. And somehow this was received as bad news.

Now, we know that by the time we get to verse 18, we will discover that what was at first received as bad news was transformed into good news. Something happened between verse 3 and 18 that changed the minds of the critical believers in Jerusalem.

What happened? What made the difference? Had anything that Peter had done been altered or changed? Did he apologize for doing something so that the believers in Jerusalem could forgive Peter? What changed so that these criticizers of Peter became his supporters?

Verse 4 and the third time we hear these same stories.

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?”

Peter simply tells the story of his obedience to God. And, in the midst of his obedience, God does a startling work in the lives of “unclean” Gentiles. Four days earlier, Peter would have been just as critical of his own actions as the apostles and brothers are in Jerusalem.

So, what was missing from the rumors that had caused the believers in Jerusalem to be filled with anger when they should have been overjoyed that Gentiles were coming to Christ and being saved? Tell me, what was missing?

In the famous words of Paul Harvey, it was “the rest of the story.” These believers in Jerusalem only had fragments of what really took place in the house of Cornelius in Caesarea. And yet, on the basis of those fragments of information, they had jumped to a conclusion that it was right and proper to be angry and critical and judgmental.

Now listen, if a sinner is being saved and our focus is on the color of his skin or the tattoo on his arm or the cigarette in his mouth or the language of his lips, our focus is way off. Yet, this, in essence is what the circumcised believers in Jerusalem were doing when Peter arrives in Jerusalem.

And, keep in mind that they had come to this conclusion and were convinced they were doing the right thing based on limited information.

It was a wise man who said a long time ago, . . .

Proverbs 18:17 (NIV)

17 The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.

O how easy it is to let a few pieces of a story shape our attitude toward a person. Here in Jerusalem, believers in Christ, likely those who had been baptized with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, who had shared the gospel message with many of their Jewish family and friends – here in Jerusalem these believers were angry with Peter because he had entered the house of a Gentile and led him and his family to saving faith in Christ. They were angry, but, they didn’t know the whole story.

But, when they heard the rest of the story, they put away their anger.

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.”

So, a fourth lesson from this section is this, withhold judgment until you know both sides of the story or the whole story.

Now, as important a lesson as it is that we get the other side of a story before pronouncing a judgment, there is yet one more lesson I would like to highlight from this passage. And it’s this: God has given us stewardship of the gospel, not ownership.

Let me explain. Ownership of the gospel would convey that the gospel belongs to us and we decide who gets to share in it. If there are some people we don’t like, then we simply chose to not give the gospel to them. That’s the ownership mentality of having the gospel.

Stewardship of the gospel is an understanding that the gospel has been placed in our hands to share and no one should be overlooked.

I’m afraid we would have to conclude that the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem at the time of Acts 11 had an ownership view of the gospel. They acted as though salvation belonged to them and was not available to the Gentiles. But, since they didn’t like the Gentiles, they were all the more at peace with writing them off as potential receivers of the gospel.

But, even if the Gentiles did receive the gospel, it would be with the understanding that the Gentiles would become proselytes. They would place themselves under the Law of Moses and be circumcised. In essence, they would become Jews. And this fit the Jewish Christian’s understanding of owning the gospel. Gentiles were only accepted and acceptable to Jews as Jews, but never as Gentiles.

If a select group owns the gospel, then they can become gate keepers of the gospel, determining who gets to hear it and who doesn’t. The worst case is when that select group begins to think that salvation is for them alone rather than to be offered through them. And, you can see how easy it would be to develop a superior attitude as the exclusive possessors of such a wonderful thing. I’m afraid that was the attitude of many Jews, even when they became Christians.