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
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