SERMON: GOD’S FAVORITE (Acts 10:1-48)

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Acts 10:1-8

 

Acts 10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

 

4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

 

The angel answered, “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.”

 

7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

 

            -- in 2007, there was a big controversy in Christian circles about a new book that had come out from William P. Young, “The Shack” – it was a fiction book – later made into a movie – where the main character, who has experienced a horrific trauma in his family, is called to come to a shack in the middle of the wilderness, where he comes face-to-face with God

            -- the book does cross some theological boundaries in its handling on the Trinity and the relationship of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – and it does push people against a religious wall in many ways

– it’s not a book I would recommend to a new Christian – it can be confusing to someone new in the faith -- but I have recommended it to folks who I knew had a strong faith in Christ and who could handle challenges to their faith presented in such a novel

-- I don’t believe it is sacrilegious or blasphemous, although many put forth that argument – but it’s like anything else – there is truth there – and a mature Christian can glean new understandings about God and forgiveness and healing from its message

-- just read in caution and understand that it is not Scripture – it does not claim to be – it is simply a novel

 

            -- there were a couple of moments in the book that really resonated with me and that have stuck with me over the last 20 years – the first is when the main character is introduced to the figure of God the Father, who actually is a woman in the novel

            -- he is trying to feel his way in the conversation – and he starts calling out people and asks, “Do you know John?” – and God responds, “Oh yes, John is my favorite” – and then he says, “What about Tammy?” – and God responds, “Oh yes, Tammy is my favorite” – and each person he names, God responds, “They are my favorite”

 

-- the second moment that really stuck with me was God’s conversation with the main character, Mack, in response to another question he had

– God says, “Honey, you asked me what Jesus accomplished on the cross, so now listen to me carefully: through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world.”

-- “The whole world? You mean those who believe in you, right?”

-- “The whole world, Mack. All I am telling you is that reconciliation is a two-way street, and I have done my part, totally, completely, finally. It is not the nature of love to force a relationship, but it is the nature of love to open the way.”

 

– the author is trying to make the same point in both of these passages – as Mack struggles with forgiving the person who did something evil to his family – God is letting him know that He loves everyone – Mack – Mack’s daughter – and the man who did the evil act against her

-- He doesn’t approve of what was done – He can’t bear evil or sin – but He sees past the sin to the sinner and offers His love to them – the same as He offers His love to us

-- everyone is loved by God the same – and we are all His favorites – and if God had a refrigerator, He would have our pictures on it for all of creation to see

– and this is a hard truth to accept for many of us – especially for those of us who find ourselves in the same place as the main character in this story – having to forgive someone who wronged us or a family member

-- and it was a hard truth for the Jews and the Jewish believers to accept – when they  were being called on to believe that Gentiles could be loved by God the same as them --  even when they had been taught their whole lives that Gentiles were beyond redemption and grace

 

-- this morning, we are continuing in our sermon series in the Book of Acts – we are still in the second part of this study -- Unexpected Gospel Growth

-- in this section, we are starting to see how God is beginning to move the message of the good news of salvation through faith in Christ beyond Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria into the Gentile areas and the ends of the earth

 

II.  Carrying the Gospel to the Gentiles

-- last week, we were introduced to Saul – the zealous persecutor of the Way – the first Jewish disciples of Christ who became convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah and who put their faith in Him for the forgiveness of their sins and eternal life

-- on the way to Damascus to arrest Jews who belonged to the Way, Saul had a dramatic encounter with the risen Christ – and he was saved through this experience – after having his physical and spiritual blindness lifted through the Holy Spirit, Saul became a true believer

-- we are told in the Scriptures by God Himself that Saul – who later changed his name to Paul – the Roman form of his Jewish name – was God’s chosen instrument to carry the gospel to the Gentile nations and their kings – but when we left off last week, that had not yet happened

– Paul began preaching the good news in the synagogues in Damascus, to the astonishment of the Jews who gathered there every Saturday – but when we left off last week, Paul had not yet started his ministry to the Gentiles that God had called him to

 

-- so, while we’re waiting for this to happen, there’s a pause in the action -- Luke shifts his attention in the Book of Acts from Saul to Peter – and in Acts 10-11, we see Peter become the first of the original disciples to accept God’s calling of Gentiles to salvation through Jesus and the first believer to carry the message to Gentiles, as directed by the Holy Spirit

-- this section is all about sharing the gospel with the Gentiles -- God is moving the hearts of His believers to spread the gospel from Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the Gentiles – and He is using both Saul and Peter to accomplish His purpose

-- before we turn to this passage, I want you to fully grasp the immensity of what is going on with these new Jewish believers – especially with people like Saul, who were trained as Pharisees and who were groomed to be the religious leaders of Israel

 

-- when Jesus came on the scene, He completely broke the rigidity of the Jewish laws and traditions and rituals that were a part of Jewish life – beginning with the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brought the people of Israel back to the true and original meaning and purpose of the Law – He showed them how the Law was given to convict the people of sin and to point them to a Savior – and through His life, death, and resurrection, He confirmed that He was that Savior – the Messiah that God the Father had promised to Israel in the days of Moses and even before, to Adam and Eve

-- this was the first momentous event that occurred when Jesus came – for He turned the popular religious understanding of who the Messiah was and what the Messiah would do, upside-down – the religious leaders and the Jewish people were looking for a Messiah who would be an earthly king – who would overturn the Roman rule and re-establish the throne of David in Jerusalem – setting up an earthly kingdom that would reign in Jerusalem and Israel forever

-- and that is part of what the Messiah was going to do – but the kingdom in Jerusalem is not going to be fully realized until the end of days, when Christ returns and completely destroys sin and death and all His enemies once and for all – and when He sets up His kingdom and reigns in Jerusalem as our God and King forever and ever, Amen

-- but what the religious leaders and the people missed was the other purpose and ministry of the Messiah – how the Messiah would fulfill the Law through His sinless life and how He would offer Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world – that He would be the final sacrifice that would be required – and that there would be no more need for animal sacrifices that could only temporarily cover the penalty of sin

 

-- so you can see how this redefinition of the Messiah – Jesus’ clarifying what God the Father meant in the Old Testament about who the Messiah was and what He would do – the full picture of the Messiah

-- and the realization that this man Jesus was God in the flesh – the very promised Messiah – how these two things would have shaken the Jews to their core

– this meant that the new believers in Christ – the members of the Way – of His Church – had to abandon what they previously believed and had been taught their whole life – and they had to adopt a new understanding of who the Messiah was and what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection – this was literally earth-shaking

 

-- Kim and I went to go see the movie “Disclosure Day” a couple of weeks ago – and I’m not giving away any of the plot by saying that the whole movie revolves around a very similar principle

– the movie asks what will happen – how will people react – if they learn that everything that they had believed about earth and man and man’s place in creation – was wrong

– most of us assume that earth is the only inhabited planet – that people are the only intelligent life in the universe

– but what if we are shown that these beliefs are wrong – and that there are other beings in our universe who are intelligent and who have visited Earth in the past

– what if the truth got out that there were other planets that were inhabited by intelligent creatures that looked nothing like us, but who had the ability to travel across space to visit us?

– the movie revolved around how the world would react if that happened -- if everything we knew and thought and believed was proven to be wrong

 – that is basically what is going on in the Book of Acts – that is what is happening to the Christians

 

– first – remember that these are Jews – and when they come to realize that Jesus is the Messiah – and they realize that the Messiah didn’t come to overthrow the Romans and be the king during their day -- but that He came to be the sacrificial lamb on the cross

-- and when they make that change in their thoughts and beliefs and begin to put their faith and trust in Him as their Lord and their Savior, this is massive

– this is an enormous change from what they previously believed and how they had lived and functioned as Jews their whole lives – it was earth-shattering – and I want you to see that – to understand what has happened in their lives

 

-- and now, God is getting ready to introduce another earth-shattering, massive change in their beliefs and their understanding about religion and their relationship with God

-- and while the new Christians could wrap their head around Jesus being the God-Man and make that fit in a new understanding of the Old Testament scriptures, there was one thing that both the Jewish Christians and the Jewish members of Judaism couldn’t change – that they couldn’t even imagine

– the entire Jewish existence was based on the fact that they were the chosen people of God – that out of all the people in the world, they were the only people – the only nation – that God had chosen to be His

– and that truth meant that only the Jews could be saved through the Law and through the promised Messiah – in their minds, the truth of the matter was that they were the only ones that God cared about

-- at the end of time, the Jews would be saved and everyone else would be cast into the outer darkness of Hades

– but that truth – that belief – that all Jews held in their hearts and their minds -- is about to be shattered

– because God is going to show them that the Messiah did not just come for the Jews – that Jesus didn’t just die for the Chosen People – but that Jesus died for everyone

-- and He was going to use Saul as His chosen instrument to carry the good news to the Gentiles – and He’s about to show Peter in a dramatic way here in Acts 10 and 11 that the Gentiles are included in the Kingdom of God

-- this is going to be a hard lesson for the Jewish believers to take in – it is going to be extremely difficult for them to understand this and to accept this and to move forward with this – for it goes against over two thousand years of religious understanding and teaching in Judaism

 

-- so, keep that in mind as we go through this – it’s not just as simple as believing that someone – anyone – can receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Christ – this isn’t the same as us knowing and believing that Muslims can come to true faith in Jesus – this means that the Jews are coming to the point where they are going to be told that someone completely foreign and separated from God is going to be saved through Jesus

-- in essence, what we are going to see happen in this part of the Book of Acts is an event as earth-shaking as an alien spaceship coming down and the church being told, “Jesus died for these aliens, too – and He wants you to share the gospel with them”

– that’s what’s going on here – and this is going to be mind-breaking for these Jewish believers

-- so, with that, let’s dig in and see what God is doing in these chapters to change Peter’s heart and mind and soul so that he can reach the place where he can accept that Jesus died for the Gentiles, too

 

III.  Scripture Lesson (Acts 10:1-48)

-- as Acts 10 opens, we are given a short narrative about a Roman centurion named Cornelius – Cornelius lived in the town of Caesarea – which was about 35 miles directly north of Joppa – which is where Peter is staying

 

-- Cornelius was not a Jew, so that makes him a Gentile – anyone who is not Jewish by heritage is a Gentile – you and me – everyone in here – we are all Gentiles

-- but Cornelius and his family had apparently become believers in God – it says that he and his family were devout – God-fearing – they gave generously to people in need – and prayed to God regularly

 – now understand, this is probably talking about Cornelius believing in the God of the Jewish religion – he was not a full convert to Judaism, but believed in God

-- but don’t misread this – Cornelius is definitely not a Christian – he does not know the gospel – he does not know about Jesus or what Jesus did, except as much as anyone in the area would have heard about the events in Jerusalem concerning Jesus’ death and claimed resurrection

– in other words, he may have known about Jesus, but he did not have faith in Jesus – his faith was in the Jewish God and he was probably a familiar visitor to the local synagogues in Caesarea

 

-- here in the opening of Acts Chapter 10, we are told that one day when Cornelius was praying, God sent an angel to him in a vision – the angel told him to go to Joppa and seek out Simon Peter, who was staying there in the house of Simon the Tanner – so, Cornelius sends three of his servants off to find Simon Peter and to ask him to come to Caesarea with them to meet with Cornelius

 

-- so, let’s catch up in the story starting in Acts 10:9-16

 

Acts 10:9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and 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 to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

 

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

 

            -- Peter is up on the roof of Simon the Tanner’s home – their roofs were flat and usually covered with an awning of some kind, and people would go up on the roof – especially early in the morning or late in the evening – to relax in the shade and to be cooled by the wind that would have been blowing in off the Mediterranean Sea – this would have been like us sitting out on a deck in the shade in the summer as night falls

-- Peter is up there praying, and he fell into a trance and had a vision – and three times in this vision, Peter sees this large sheet filled with all kinds of unclean animals – four-footed animals and reptiles and birds – and the sheet lowers before him and he is told to get up and kill and eat of the animals on the sheet

-- Peter may be a Christian, but he is still a Jew – he is still holding on to the Jewish religion, at least in part – he may have changed his understanding of the need for animal sacrifices – he may have changed his understanding of who the Messiah was – but he is still a Jew and still holds to most of the Jewish traditions and rituals and the Law that he had been taught since he was a boy

-- and part of that Law said that Jews were not to eat anything that was unclean – the animals on that sheet were unclean – and even though the voice told him to get up and kill and eat, there was no way a good Jewish boy like Peter was going to do that – he would never dream of eating anything unclean

-- and when he protests that he would never do this, the voice said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean”

 

-- okay, what in the world does this have to do with God trying to get Peter to understand that the Gentiles are part of His chosen people, too?

            -- remember what we just talked about – not only did the Jews consider some animals unclean because the Law prescribed what they could and could not eat – the Jews considered all the Gentiles unclean – to be in the presence of a Gentile – and especially, to eat with a Gentile or to touch a Gentile – would cause a Jew to become unclean, as well, until they could go through a cleansing ceremony in the Temple

            -- that’s why the Jews wouldn’t go into Pilate’s court when they were taking Jesus in there – they didn’t want to be made unclean with the Passover coming up the next day

            -- so, the way the Jews looked at it, getting close to a Gentile gave them cooties – it made them unclean – the same way eating those animals on the sheet would have made Peter unclean, if he was still holding to a strict interpretation of the Jewish Law

            -- Peter is up there on the roof trying to figure all this out – what this vision with the unclean animals and the voice telling him to not call anything impure that God has made clean – when, suddenly, there is a knock on the door

 

            -- verse 17-27

 

Acts 10:17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

 

19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

 

21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

 

22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

 

The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day 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 and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

 

27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.

 

            -- Peter is sitting there, pondering clean versus unclean and what God was trying to get him to understand about this – when the doorway of Simon the Tanner’s home was filled with unclean Gentiles – asking to see him and asking him to come with them to Caesarea to meet with Cornelius

            -- Peter has them put up overnight in Simon’s home as his guests, and when morning rolls around, he has made up his mind that he is supposed to go with them – he takes some of the Christians from Joppa with him and they journey together from Joppa to Caesarea

– it took them a couple days to get there – 35 miles on foot is a good way – but Peter gets there and is taken to the house of Cornelius – and he finds a large gathering of people inside, waiting to meet him and to hear from him – all Gentile – all unclean – as far as Peter knew and understood, people that were distant from God with no hope for salvation

-- but God’s been working on Peter – he hasn’t stopped thinking about those animals on the sheet and the voice saying, “Don’t call unclean what God has made clean” – and he hasn’t stopped thinking about that big coincidence of the Gentiles showing up at Simon the Tanner’s house right after he had that vision – and something is changing inside Peter – in what he thinks and believes about who God has come for and who God has saved through Jesus

 

-- verse 28

 

Acts 10:28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

 

-- Bam!  There it is – this is a mike drop

-- Peter starts off telling this large gathering of Gentiles, “I’m not supposed to be here – it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile” – and they knew this – they knew how the Jews thought about them – they could see it in their eyes – they could hear it in their voice – they could feel it in the way the Jews recoiled from them and rejected them and looked down upon them – even if they were the Roman overlords over Jerusalem and all of Judea, they knew the Jews looked on them with disgust

-- and then Peter says it – “But” – “But” – “But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean”

 

-- this is ground-breaking – this is earth-shattering – Peter says, “God has told me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean” – and for Peter and all these other good Jewish Christians and good Jewish believers – this means the Gentiles are no longer impure or unclean – this means the Samaritans are no longer impure or unclean – this means everyone has been made pure and clean through Jesus’ atoning death on the cross

-- this is opening your front door and seeing a spacecraft there and an alien walking in and you going up to them and hugging them and saying, “Come in!  You are welcome here!  You are part of our family!”

 

-- this is a massive mind shift that we miss when we read this because we take it for granted – we are the beneficiaries of this statement – of this vision of the sheets and the voice that spoke to Peter – of the blinding light on the road to Damascus that struck Saul blind

-- even though we are Gentiles, we are no longer enemies of God – hostile to Him – separated from Him because we are unclean – impure – unholy – we are one with the Jews – and together, we are all the children of God

 

-- as it says in John 1:12-13, “Yet to all who did receive Him – to those who believed in His name – He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent”

– in other words, not children with the right heritage or the right genes or the right ethnicity – the Jews were not the only ones who could become children of God

 

– “Yet to all who did receive Him – to those who believed in His name – He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will – but born of God”

 

-- Bam! – this is paradigm shifting – and I want you to understand this – to realize -- not only what this meant to the Jews and the Jewish believers in Christ when they first heard these words – but what this verse means for us today

-- “Do not call anyone impure or unclean”

– that means the Jews – and the Gentiles

– that means the Republicans – and the Democrats

– that means the native-born citizen – and the immigrant

– that means the Muslims, who haven’t found Christ yet

– that means the people in Iran and Cuba and Russia and China

– that means everyone

 

-- remember the children’s song, “Jesus loves the little children?”

 

Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Red and yellow, black and white

They are precious in His sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world

 

            -- did you know there’s a second verse to that song – one that we never sing? – listen to what changes in this verse:

 

Jesus died for all the children

All the children of the world

Red and yellow, black and white

They are precious in His sight

Jesus died for all the children of the world

 

-- “Do not call anyone impure or unclean”

-- how is everyone made pure and clean in the eyes of God? – through the blood of Jesus

-- we are pure and clean because Jesus died for us all – for the entire world – for Jews and Gentiles and any other category you might want to come up with

            -- that’s what this verse means

 

            -- skip down to verse 34-43

 

Acts 10:34 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 to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 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 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. 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. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

 

            -- Peter has changed – Peter now understands – Peter now knows that Jesus didn’t just die for the Jews – that He died for everyone – even the Gentiles – these hated, unclean Gentiles who lorded it over the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea

– and since he now knows this, Peter shares with them the good news of the gospel message – he teaches them about Jesus – about His life – His death – and His resurrection

– and he tells them that anyone who believes in Him – even the Gentiles – will receive the forgiveness of sins through His name

-- and just so you’re clear here, when Peter says that we have to believe in Jesus – that word “believe” means more than just knowing the facts – it means more than just believing the facts about Jesus and His death and resurrection are true

-- in the Greek, this word includes confession and repentance – it means that you’re putting all your faith and trust in this belief – that you are standing on this truth as the only foundation under your feet – knowing that your eternal life rests on this truth

-- this is not belief as head-knowledge – this is belief as faith and trust in Jesus in your heart

-- and Cornelius and all the Gentiles there in that room heard that message – and the Holy Spirit moved within them and convicted them of their sin and led them to turn to Jesus in faith and trust and belief

 

-- verse 44-48

 

Acts 10:44 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.

 

Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

 

-- remember that at this point, the giving of the Holy Spirit had only been done in miraculous ways – in visible ways – so that the new believers were aware that something miraculous had happened – that the old had passed and the new had come

-- and so far, the giving of the Holy Spirit had only been to Jews – to Jewish believers

 

-- but when Peter gets done talking and the people start believing in their hearts in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes in power and comes upon all who heard the message – where “heard” means they received it and believed in it and acted upon it

-- and all these Gentiles who had just heard about Jesus from Peter and who had just believed in Him and put their faith and trust in Him – every one of them became filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues and praising God

 

-- Peter and the other Jewish believers who had come with him were astonished – for they could see with their own eyes that God had sent the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles in the same way that He had sent the Holy Spirit to the Jewish believers

-- Peter called for water and he baptized them in the name of Jesus Christ as a visible and physical sign of their belief in Jesus as their Lord and Savior – but understand that the act of baptism here goes beyond just a sign of belief and a public confession of faith

– it is a sign of acceptance – it is the act that brings new believers into the family of God – into the community of faith – baptism means that you are one of us

 

-- what we are seeing here is that Peter has gone beyond merely accepting that Gentiles are no longer unclean and impure, but that they can also be saved through Jesus and even filled with the Holy Spirit

– he has even reached the point where he tells the world and the other Christians there – through the act of baptism – “they are one with us and one with Christ – together, we are the church”

-- this is just an amazing moment in the early church – for what we are seeing here in the Book of Acts for the very first time is that the church of Christ on earth – that the Jewish Christians – now understand that everyone can be saved through Christ and brought into fellowship with one another

– this is what led the Apostle Paul to proclaim through the Spirit in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

 

            “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean – that Jesus made clean through His very body and blood”

 

IV.  Closing

            -- as we come to Acts 10, we see the gospel of Christ going to the very ends of the earth – reaching the very people that the Jews thought were irredeemable – the very people that the Jews thought were too far from God to be saved

            -- this event in Peter’s life and in the life of the church changed the church forever – for the church came to see and to know and to act on the truth that anyone could be saved through Jesus – Jew – Gentile – alien in a spacecraft visiting earth – anyone

 

            -- this is important for us to know and to believe and to act on – for this means that our calling as the church of Christ in this place is to reach out to everyone we meet – to share with all the good news of the gospel – regardless of who they are – what race they are – what ethnicity – what political or social or cultural class – everyone

            -- for Jesus died for all of us – and He has called us to go in the power of His Spirit and under His authority to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit – and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded us to do

            -- so, your homework for today is to go and do that – be like Peter – be like Paul – be like Jesus

            -- let us pray

SERMON: CHANGE (Acts 9:1-22)

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Acts 9 – we’re going to be spending our time this morning in this chapter, but while you are turning over to that chapter, let me share with you 2 Corinthians 5:17:

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here!

 

            -- right before Christmas, a family who had spent their whole life in the country decided they wanted to take a vacation and go see the big city life for themselves – so, they made their way to the city and spent the whole day just walking around, amazed at everything they saw – they went from store to store and just gawked at all the merchandise for sale – at how the people were dressed – and how everyone was always in such a hurry to get where they were going

-- when evening came, they took a cab to a hotel and the father and the son went inside to rent a room while their mother stayed outside with their bags – as they were standing there, taking it all in, they noticed something strange on the wall of the hotel -- there were these two shiny, silver walls that would move apart and then slide back together again

            -- after standing there looking at it for a few minutes, the boy asked, "What is this, Father?" -- The father, never having seen an elevator before, responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don't know what it is"

            -- about that time, an overweight old lady hobbled up to the elevator with her cane and pressed the button – the walls opened up and she walked into the little room that the father and son could see – a moment later, the walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially

-- They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order – finally, the walls opened up again and a gorgeous young, statuesque blonde woman stepped out

            -- the father stood there for just a moment and then turned to his son and quietly said, "Son, go get your mother – hurry!”

 

            -- this morning, we are continuing in our sermon series in the Book of Acts – we are in the second part of the Book of Acts that we started last week -- Unexpected Gospel Growth – where we are looking at how the apostles changed the world as they shared God’s Word in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit

           

II.  Change

            -- change is the one constant in this universe – life is not static – like the commercial says, “Life comes at you fast” -- it is always moving and changing – sometimes for the good – and sometimes for the bad – but nothing in life stays the same – it is always changing – and it’s up to us to direct the change in the right way in our lives and in this world

-- that’s why we make New Year’s resolutions – it’s because we know that we are not who we are supposed to be – something about us needs to change – and so we make resolutions to change something for the better – our health – our weight – our attitude – our emotions – our finances – our jobs – we are always seeking to change so that we can be better

-- and it’s not just our lives that need to be changed – it’s our homes – our family – our country – our relationships with others and with God

-- the plain truth is that no matter how things are, we all know that they could be better – and so we have this desire deep in our hearts to see things change for the good

-- I think this is something that God put in all of us from the very start – so that we wouldn’t be satisfied with where we are and who we are, but that we would seek to change – to grow in grace and to become more like Jesus every day

– so, God made us with an innate desire to change – to learn – to grow – to mature – to become whole and complete people – physically – spiritually – and emotionally

-- God is in the business of change – we see that in His word

 

            -- in 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read that if anyone is in Christ, then they have become a new creation -- the old has gone – the new has come – literally, this verse tells us that we have been changed through the power of Christ in us

            -- here in the Book of Acts, we see God changing the church, as the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers on the day of Pentecost – changing them from being timid followers of Christ, living in fear of the Jews – to being bold witnesses for Him in the world with bold messages, bold prayers, and bold hearts

            -- in Acts 8, we see God moving and changing the hearts of the people in the areas around Jerusalem, as God allowed persecution to scatter the believers in Jerusalem so that His word and the good news of salvation through Christ would be shared with people in all of Judea and Samaria

            -- this morning, we are going to look at how God chooses to reach down and change one person’s life, so that he might be empowered by the Spirit to change the Gentile world and to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth as Jesus told us to do in Acts 1:8

 

III.  God Changes Saul to Paul (Acts 9:1-22)

            -- if you would, please look with me now at Acts 9, starting in verse 1 [

 

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

 

            -- when we looked at the stoning of Stephen in Acts Chapter 7, we were introduced to a young man named Saul – we read in Acts 7:58, that when the Sanhedrin dragged Stephen out of the city and began to stone him, they laid their coats at the feet of Saul – and in Acts 8:1, we are told that Saul approved of the killing of Stephen

            -- this is the same Saul that we read about here in the opening of Acts Chapter 9

 

            -- Saul was a Pharisee – just to remind you of who they were, the Pharisees were the religious right of their day – they were very conservative and extremely pious believers – they put an emphasis on holy living – and came up with rules upon rules to help people live what they considered a holy life in the eyes of God – they held the Scriptures and the Law in the highest regard – and truly tried to live out what they preached

            -- so, this was Saul – this was how he lived – and this was what he believed – so, when the Christians appeared and began proclaiming that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that He had risen from the dead, Saul would have taken this as blasphemy, just like all the other Pharisees in the Sanhedrin

– he would have felt like they were intentionally spreading fake news – that they were telling lies that were disrespectful to God and His temple and the Jewish religion – and he felt like their message was something that needed to be stopped so others would not be harmed

-- and so Saul took this upon himself as a holy mission for God -- he went to the High Priest, and obtained permission to go to synagogues in Damascus, chasing after the Christians who had fled Jerusalem and scattered to other areas, so that they might be arrested and brought to trial in Jerusalem before the Sanhedrin so they could be put in prison or killed

            -- if there was anyone who ever needed a change in their life, it was Saul -- and that's exactly what's fixing to happen

 

            -- verse 3-9

 

Acts 9:3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

 

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

 

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

 

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

 

 

            -- as Saul was making his way to Damascus, intent on finding and arresting the Christians in that place, the Lord Jesus appeared to Him on the road in the midst of a great light

            -- Saul was literally blinded by the Light -- in the presence of the risen Christ, Saul's very existence was stripped away -- all that he was -- all that he knew -- changed in that moment

            -- when we are confronted with the presence of God – when we come face to face with the truth of the gospel and the Word of God -- we are forever changed -- sometimes that change comes in an instant, as with Saul -- other times, change comes slowly, as God works in our lives to mold us and to shape our characters and our personalities into the men and women He wants us to be

-- but, regardless of how it happens, one fact remains -- God changes everything -- and when God changes us, He changes the world through us

           

            -- verse 10-16

 

Acts 9:10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

 

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

 

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

 

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

 

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

 

 

            -- when Saul was struck blind on the road to Damascus, the men that he was with carried him into the city to the house of Judas, who lived on Straight Street – we don’t know a lot about Judas, but we can assume that he was not a Christian, because Saul and the men he was with did not know who the Christians were in Damascus and would not have been on a friendly basis with them, even if they did

            -- they were going there to arrest the Christians, so they certainly didn’t bring Saul to the house of a Christian when they finally got him to the city

            -- Saul is in the middle of a change, but the men around him haven’t been affected, yet

 

            -- while Saul was sitting there in the house of Judas, the Lord spoke to him in a vision and told him that a man named Ananias was going to come and place his hands on him and restore his sight

            -- healing would come – change would come – through the very Christian that Saul had come to persecute

 

            -- Jesus spoke to Ananias in a vision, and told him to go to Saul and lay his hands on him – to heal him of his blindness – both his physical and his spiritual blindness

            -- Ananias objected – and reminded God that Saul was the same man that had come to harm the Christians and arrest them in Damascus

            -- but God had a reason and a purpose for Saul – He told Ananias that Saul was His chosen instrument – that Saul was the person that God had selected to proclaim His name to the Gentiles and to their kings and to the people of Israel

            -- and then in verse 16, God tells Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name” – change doesn’t come easy – change always comes with a cost

            -- if you are going to lose weight, there is a cost – you must eat less and eat better and move more – if you are going to change your life, you may need to give up some things that you have been holding onto, so that your life can be changed and you can get something better

            -- change always comes with a cost – but the cost is always worth it

            -- Saul was going to experience the very persecution that he had once inflicted – but in exchange, he was going to be changed into the person that God wanted him to be – the very man who would bring the word of God to the Romans and the Gentile nations around Israel

 

            -- verse 17-19a

 

Acts 9:17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

 

            -- Ananias was a man who had been changed by God – who had come to know the truth of the gospel and put his faith in Jesus as his Lord and Savior

            -- and with that change, came boldness and faithfulness – when God told him to go, Ananias went – he entered the house of Judas and found Saul there, just as the Lord had told him

            -- he laid his hands on Saul and shared with him the truth of the gospel – and Saul believed -- the Holy Spirit came in power and filled Saul with His presence – and Saul was changed forever

            -- the scales fell from his eyes – both physically and spiritually – and he could see again – Ananias baptized him, and Saul was changed from a persecutor of Christ to a believer, filled with the Spirit, and called to be Christ’s instrument to reach the Gentiles with the gospel

 

            -- but Saul was not the only one who was changed that day -- when God first spoke to Ananias in a vision, Ananias could not believe that God was actually sending him to see Saul -- Ananias knew that Saul had come to arrest the Christians -- he knew that Saul was directly responsible for the death of Stephen and probably more Christians -- he knew what type of man Saul was -- he didn't believe that Saul could change

            -- we sometimes think the same, don’t we? – we look at people and we think they’re beyond God’s reach – that even God can’t save them – that even God couldn’t change them – and so we don’t even try to reach out to them

 

– several years ago, I was a member of a local church, and we were going out and inviting people to come to church for a special service that we were having

            -- we  took a map and started dividing up the city into sections and assigning people to go to each area – when we got done, we realized that there was one road that we hadn’t covered – and our pastor said, “We need someone to go down this road and invite the people to come to church”

            -- another member spoke up, “I know the people that live down there – they’re not going to come – they’re not good people” – they didn’t believe that God had to power to change the people that lived down that road

 

            -- that’s the way Ananias was – he didn’t believe that Saul could change – but God told him to go, so he went – and when he prayed for Saul and laid his hands on Saul, Ananias watched the scales fall of Saul’s eyes and he saw that Saul had truly been changed through the power of the Holy Spirit

            -- on that day, Ananias was changed, too – for he came to believe that anyone could be changed through the power of God – if God could change Saul, then God could change anyone

 

-- no one thought Saul could change -- but God changed him – this passage makes it clear – God changes lives -- and He delights in taking those people that everyone else has given up on and making them into something special

 

-- look back at the second part of verse 19-22

 

Acts 9:19b Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

 

-- when God changes someone, everyone sees it – when God changes you, you will know it and the people around you will know it

-- Saul’s change on the road to Damascus was not temporary – it was not an emotional moment followed by a return to his old life – it was a permanent change

 

-- apparently, Ananias took Saul from the house of Judas and introduced him to the disciples in Damascus – the very people that Saul had come to find and arrest

-- he spent several days with them, and then went out and began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God – the people saw him and heard him and were astonished

-- he had changed completely from who he was to a sold-out evangelist for Christ

-- there will always be evidence of the change when God is working in your life and in the lives of those around you

 

            -- a few years ago, I went to my high school reunion -- there were a few people there that I truly wanted to see again after all those years -- but there were a few I didn't care to see at all -- one of them was Phillip

            -- Phillip was the bane of my existence -- he was big and he was mean -- he would hurt you physically just for the fun of it -- if there was a fight at school, you could bet that Phillip was part of it

            -- when he graduated, he joined the Army -- and we all knew it wasn't because of any sense of duty or honor -- it was because he wanted to hurt people for a living

            -- so, when I went to my high school reunion, Phillip was the last person I wanted to see -- and when I got there, I was actually relieved to see that he wasn't there -- as the night went on, they started to run through a list of what the various people in our class had done with their lives after graduation -- they said that out of our class of 120 people, five of them had gone into the ministry and were either preachers or missionaries -- and guess who was one of those five? -- yep -- Phillip

            -- when his name was called, there was a low murmur that went through the room -- no one could believe it -- no one thought Phillip could change –but God had changed him, just like He had changes Saul into the man we know as the Apostle Paul

 

IV.  Application

            -- so, what does this all of this mean to us? -- well, let me leave you with a few points to consider as you go about your week

 

            -- first, keep in mind that change, in and of itself, is good -- God put this desire for change in our hearts from the very moment He created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden

            -- God wants us to change -- that's what the whole Bible is about -- God wants us to turn away from the old and to embrace the new -- He wants us to become new creations in Him -- to no longer be sinners and enemies -- but to be saved by His grace and grafted into the Tree of Life

 

            -- second, know that change is possible -- it doesn't matter how many times you've failed at your New Year's resolutions -- it doesn't matter how many times you've failed at trying to bring about change in your life -- each failure is just a stepping stone to success

            -- Edison tried over 1,000 times to create the light bulb before he ever got it to work -- before he ever got it right and made the first working light bulb

-- a reporter asked him one time how it felt to fail so many times -- Edison replied, "I didn't fail -- I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways how not to make a light bulb"

            -- failure isn't final -- it's just a step along the way to success -- another opportunity for Christ to make a difference in your life

 

            -- third, real change only comes through Christ -- it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that real change comes -- it wasn't Saul's good nature that changed him from Saul to Paul and made him the world's best evangelist

-- it wasn't just a matter of willpower that made Paul author most of the New Testament -- it wasn't just remorse that caused my high school classmate Phillip to turn from a person who hurt others to someone who healed their hearts and souls -- no, it was the Holy Spirit working through them that changed their lives forever

            -- you can't wish yourself better -- you can't will yourself better -- you can only become a new creation through the Holy Spirit living and working in you -- change is possible, but only through the Spirit

            -- think for a moment about your sin -- not your sins in general -- but that one sin that you just can't seem to get rid of -- that one sin that all of us have that haunts us -- our thorn in the flesh, if you will

            -- how many times have you given in to this sin and prayed to God and turned from it to just pick it back up again? -- how many times have you failed to master this sin in your life?

            -- the reason is that you have been trying to master it on your own -- you've been trying to conquer it through your own will -- through your own strength -- and that doesn't work – that’s why most people fail to keep their New Year's resolutions – they’re trying to make a change in their own strength

            -- if you want to see real change in your life, then you've got to lay that burden down and give that sin to Christ once and for all -- you have to truly release it and let Christ handle it for you -- for true, lasting change only comes through Him

 

            -- and, finally, don't limit yourself when it comes to change -- don't think small -- our God is a big God -- and He wants to do big things through you

            -- when God changed Saul into Paul on the road to Damascus, God didn't just change one man -- God changed the world

            -- when the people at my high school reunion heard that Phillip was a preacher, God changed our thoughts about who was outside the reach of God

            -- when God changes something in your life, He has more in mind than just making you a better person -- He wants to change the world through you

            -- don't limit God by telling yourself that He could never use you like a Paul or a Phillip -- you just have to believe that it is possible and allow Him to change you and make you into the person He wants you to be -- and then just hold on and live the adventure

 

            -- let me close by leaving you with a final illustration of yet another life that was changed through the power of God

 

            -- Fernando Aranda was sentenced to prison for 25-years-to-life because of a lifetime of violence, drug use, and theft, and even after he went to prison, he continued this lifestyle -- one day, his 70-year-old mother came to visit him -- she broke down in tears and said, "I don't want to die seeing you in this condition."

            -- Aranda was broken and offered a simple prayer to God: "If you'll get me out of this hellhole, I promise I'll serve you for the rest of my life." -- one year later, Aranda was unexpectedly released from prison.

            -- unfortunately, Aranda didn't change -- he fell right back into his old lifestyle of violence and drugs -- one day, as he wandered through the city high on drugs, he saw the Drug Task Force making a sweep -- and he knew that if he was caught with drugs in his system, that he was going to go back to prison for the rest of his life

            -- he noticed a crowd of people in a nearby park, so he made his way over to them to try to hide in the crowd -- no sooner had he hidden himself in the crowd than a young man came up to him and said "What are you doing here? Don't you remember the day you prayed in your prison cell that if God would release you from that hellhole, you'd serve him the rest of your life?"

            -- Aranda was stunned -- how could this man know anything about his prayer? -- before he could reply, the man pointed a finger right between his eyes and said, "You know what you have to do"

            -- This was enough to make Fernando Aranda fall to his knees there on the grass -- he began to weep and cried out to God to forgive him and change him as the power of God drove this tough criminal to the point of full surrender

 

            -- Aranda became part of Victory Outreach Ministries and began to impact the lives of other men with similar problems by discipling them -- his mother eventually came to see him at the ministry, rejoicing that her prior glimpse of him in prison was not her final view of her son -- despite what the world thought possible, Aranda had been changed through the power of God

            [modified from: Brian Lowery, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; source: Jim Cymbala, You Were Made for More (Zondervan, 2008), pp. 54-57]

 

            -- Change is good -- God wants us to change -- He wants to see real change in our lives -- and it can happen -- if you let Him work in you and through you

            -- if God can change someone like Fernando Aranda -- if He can change someone like the Apostle Paul -- if He can change someone like my classmate Phillip -- then He can certainly change you and me, as well

 

            -- the Book of Acts is all about change – how God used ordinary men and women to change their world as they shared His word and lived out His commands daily

-- as we look at their example in Scripture, our goal should be to follow them – to open ourselves up to the change that is possible through the Holy Spirit – and to live out our lives for God to the full

-- so, as we close in prayer, let me encourage you to ask God to help you change – to ask God to fill you with His Spirit and His power so that you can change for the better and so you can change the world through Him

-- let us go to God in prayer now, and ask Him to change us and to change our church, so that we might be the men and women that He has called us to be in this community and that His name might be lifted up because of us

            -- let us pray