Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon June 1, 2008
Scripture reading
1) 10:1-23 Cornelius’s vision & 10:9-16 Peter’s vision -- Sarah
2) 10:24-48 Peter’s sermon in Cornelius’s house & Gentiles received the Holy Spirit -- Joyce
3) 11:1-18 Peter explains his actions – Rachael
As I mentioned to you last week, today’s passage speaks to the very important events that propelled Christianity beyond the boundary of what was familiar to the Jewish Christians, further into the Gentile world.
Jesus’ promise back in Acts 1:8 was “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We see leading up to chapter 10 this progression of the gospel being carried outward.
Let me quickly trace back this movement of the gospel.
Back in chapter 2, you see the Pentecost in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came upon the Jerusalem Jews. This was the moment when the gospel was ignited. The gospel was set on fire and it transformed just a handful of followers into a fast growing Jerusalem church by the hundreds and thousands of people trusting Jesus. The growth was not without pain. Along the growth of the church was the growing hostility. We saw how Stephen paid the ultimate price when he proclaimed the gospel boldly; he was stoned to death in the hands of the angry mob.
When it seemed the church was being defeated by the growing hostility, it actually had the very opposite effect. The persecution didn’t slow or stop the growth of the church. Instead of being stifled, those who were running away from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria for safety took with them the gospel. As people fled, the gospel went out with them beyond the boundary of Jerusalem. This is when we are told about the ministry of Philip in Samaria and leading up to Caesarea in Acts 8:40.
After the story of how apostle Paul came to faith in Jesus Christ in chapter 9, we are now back to the stories involving apostle Peter. We also see apostle Peter making his journey away from Jerusalem first to Lydda, twenty five some miles away from Jerusalem and then to Joppa 10 miles further away. This is where we find Peter at the end of chapter 9. Verse 43 tells us Peter stayed in Joppa at Simon’s house.
Now, we are ready to consider chapter 10 & 11:1-18. What we see here is God at work to fulfill Jesus’ promise back in Acts 1:8 to push the gospel beyond the boundary that was comfortable for the Jewish Christians.
- God initiates and orchestrates fulfilling Jesus’ promise to spread the good news.
In chapter 10:1, we are introduced to a place called Caesarea. This is the city we are told in Acts 8:40 as a place Philip reached in his evangelistic journey.
Caesarea was in the center of the coastal Plain of Sharon in northern Palestine, on the shores of the Mediterranean, some sixty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem. It was named in honor of Augustus Caesar (Caius Octavianus, later called Augustus), the adopted heir of Julius Caesar.[1] The city was not an important place until Herod the Great took over and transformed into a finest port city. Herod the Great took a massive project to increase the harbor size, brought fresh water through aqueducts from miles away, and built public buildings like a huge amphitheater that could seat thousands of people. Here, Jews were no longer majority. Caesarea as built in honor of August Caesar was a foremost pagan city. Here, the history shows deep tension existed between the Gentiles the majority and the Jews the minority, causing frequent conflicts. To consider this city as a site for Christian missions was unthinkable to many Jewish Christians.[2]
In this pagan city lived a man named Cornelius. A good deal of description is given for us. He was a centurion of the Italian Regiment. A centurion was a noncommissioned officer who had worked his way up through the ranks to take command of a group of soldiers within a Roman legion. He would be about equivalent to a captain today. He was in charge of about hundred soldiers.
10:2 describes him and all his family as devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
This would make him a Jewish sympathizer who had a great affinity to the God of the Jews. He was not a Jewish covert though since this would have required him to be circumcised and follow the laws strictly. The modern term that you might have heard that describes him well is ‘seeker.’ Cornelius as a Gentile was drawn to the God of the Jews. Do you know someone like that? Someone who seeks to know God better? He was also what people nowadays might consider a really nice guy who does a lot of good things for others. Do you know someone like that? Someone who cares a lot about other people, and does the charity works, who believes in God and tries really hard to live a good moral life?
To this Cornelius, a Jewish sympathizer, a seeker, a really nice and caring guy, an angel of God showed up in a vision. Just like the description about him, the vision took place while he was praying. The angel told him that all his prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God in verse 4. God took notice of this man who was trying really hard to live a good life. When Cornelius learned that God wanted Peter to come to Cornelius, we see him responding without hesitation in verse 7 by sending three of his people to Peter in Joppa.
Just a day latter, Peter like Cornelius was praying. To pray on the roof seems odd to us, but the way the houses were constructed the roofs were readily accessible with stairs and provided quite place to pray. As Cornelius saw a vision of an angel visiting him, Peter saw a vision of all kinds of animals contained on a sheet. When the voice, perhaps it was the voice of Jesus, told him to get up, kill and eat them, both clean and unclean. Peter responded in repugnant to God, “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
I can imagine Peter’s response very similar to my wife’s response to what I sometimes make for lunch. I make Shin Ramyun in a fusion style by adding a table spoonful of Curry powder with frozen vegetables and egg dropped into it.
To Peter’s response, the voice spoke, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Now, this requires some explaining to understand what’s going on here. Leviticus 20:24b-26 says:
But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations. “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those which I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”
When Peter didn’t want to eat the unclean food he saw on the sheet, it was an appropriate response, doing what any good Jew would have done. After all, it was God who set a distinction between clean and unclean animals and birds. In the Old Testament, food laws were to help the Jews remember how they were called to live holy, differently than their neighbors, different in worshiping God who revealed himself to them, who chose them, who led them out of Egypt into the Promised land, who gave them the Law. They were to be set aside, to be holy to serve the God of Israel.
But, when Jesus came what made a person set aside was not about eating clean food and avoiding unclean food. What made anyone set aside for God’s purpose was taking a part in the New Covenant of Jesus’ blood and his body. That is what we did this morning. The communion that we took points us back to Jesus who died for us, who shed his blood for us, whose body was broken for us and who now stands in the midst of us as resurrected Christ. You can read Mark 7 where Jesus talks about how food doesn’t make a person unclean since it goes into one’s stomach, not into heart. And, in the same verse 19, Mark made an parenthetical comment about what Jesus was saying to his disciples “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean””
Acts 10:16 tells us that Peter heard the voice telling him to eat all the animals and the birds without calling any of them unclean, not just once, but three times.
Verse 17 gives us a picture of Peter in deep thought, wondering about the meaning of the vision. It wasn’t yet clear to him what the vision was all about.
A vision for Cornelius, three men sent by him according to the vision, a vision for Peter and the Spirit in verse 19 telling Peter about the three men looking for him and how he must get up and go downstairs and not to hesitate to go with them for he had sent them.
What you see is God initiating and orchestrating to fulfill his plan.
à Do you know this God who initiates and orchestrates to fulfill his purpose? Do you know that this God who initiates and orchestrates is also working in you to fulfill his purpose for you?
For Cornelius and Peter, what you see from their immediate positive responses to God who was initiating and orchestrating in their lives is that they knew this God. They experienced the God who initiates and orchestrates.
- The moment of clarity: God is impartial.
Now, as Peter wondered about the meaning of the vision of being told to eat all the animals and birds without calling any of them unclean, it still wasn’t clear for him.
But, this much was clear to him. For whatever reason that was beyond him at this point, God was initiating and orchestrating a divine moment when Peter could speak to Cornelius about the good news of Jesus Christ.
Now, here is another thing that I need to pause and explain. As there was a distinction to be made about what kind of animals or birds the Jews could eat as clean food verse unclean food, this call to make distinction about food was also understood by the Jews as a call to be separated from the Gentiles. So from the food laws, the Jews further expanded the restrictions upon their relationship to the Gentiles. This made sense to them since the likelihood of being served by the Gentiles the unclean food was high they would all together avoid eating with the Gentiles at their houses.
You see it was a stretching for Peter to have stayed with Simon the tanner earlier. This Simon, a Jewish Christian, who made leather, had to deal with dead animals. And, according to the Old Testament law anyone who touches dead animals would be considered unclean. Well, that was hard enough.
Now, the vision to Peter was to eat all animals and birds without calling any of them unclean. Well, that was really difficult.
Now, to walk into the Gentile’s house was even more difficult. What if Cornelius serves him Samkyupsal or Jockbal? The Gentiles who eat unclean food would be unclean as well was the logic.
But, the moment of clarity can be seen in verse 34-35, where Peter said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”
How as a Christian may practice the same kind of ethnocentric, superior-prideful, exclusive complex? Consider the road traveled from Joppa to Caesarea… where many cultures and races can be met. Peter who traveled the road couldn’t remain removed, indifferent, uncaring. The road led Peter away from the “original exclusivistic and protectionistic environment. The road led to the threashold of Cornelius’ house and the open door of faith for all nations. That journey lies before all Christians in all times and places.”[3]
Consider the story of Jonah who was a prophet to the Gentile nation of Nineveh, a prophet sent by God to forgive the sins of the Gentiles if they turn to him. “the Cornelius conversion is legitimized as the continuation of God’s merciful work at Nineveh, Simon-Peter is the bar Jonah, who is called by his ancestor’s God to convert the Gentile, and the people of God should do nothing but praise God and say, ‘God granted the Gentiles repentance unto life’ (Acts 11:18).”[4]
Impartiality of God c.f. Deuteronomy 10:17-19, “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.”
The word, “alien,” refers to “the non-Hebrew, the resident alien Gentile who lived in the Land of Israel”; this affirms “the LORD’s universal impartiality.”[5]
“The impartial nature of God which opens salvation to all is also the basis for fellowship within his body… Unity which supersedes external divisions comes from a common relationship with God in Christ. Such unity among God’s people is an extension and reflection of his nature.”[6] “Your unity which is rooted in the impartiality of God must supercede any secondary, potentially divisive factors. You must learn to live acceptingly of diversity, knowing “nothing among you except Jesus Christ, the crucified one.” To do other wise, as the Epistle to James implies, is to operate on a basis different from that which God used in choosing those who would be his own (3:5).”[7]
“My father spent a lot of time with his grandfather, the slave owner and Confederate soldier. I once asked Daddy if his grandfather had ever discussed his attitudes toward slavery with him. He answered, "No, and I always wondered how a man who was as strong a Christian as my grandfather could have owned slaves." I look back at my father, probably the strongest and most consistent Christian male I have ever met, and wonder how he could have lived out his life as a racial segregationist. Now, I wonder what blind spots my children do and will see in me.”[8] Christian growth after God’s nature of impartiality over generations
à Missional Implications for Christians:
- Recognize the scope of God’s invitation to his salvation. God’s call is for everyone. This should lead us never to limit who we take the gospel to.
- Facing the prejudice and impartial attitude that prevents us from going beyond what feels comfortable. We compromise God’s invitation to his salvation for all people if we act on prejudice of any kind. Confront ethnocentrism
- The story of Cornelius validates our effort to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
- The story of Cornelius also validates our effort to take the gospel to those around us.
- Driven by who God is and what he does (Jesus did only things that he saw Father does.)
- Know and talk about what really saves a person
When Christians understand their status in Christ, it is not difficult for them to apologize. Their identity does not depend on their performance but on the acceptance they receive from Christ. Sin can hinder that acceptance. Therefore if they think that they have sinned, they will be eager to apologize, so as to ensure that they have their identity and security in Christ intact.
Fernando, Ajith. “Contemporary Significance” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Acts. By Ajith Fernando, 328. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 1998.
“We have noted theological implications of the impartial nature of God in Acts 10:34, when this text is viewed in its historical cultural setting. There are other significant features in it. Let us note a grammatical one. In Peter's statement the verb translated "I perceive," "grasp," or "comprehend," katalambanomai is in the present tense, showing action in progress, with the middle voice indicating that the action is upon or for the benefit of the speaker. A better rendering would be, "I am just now in the process of coming to grasp for myself that God is not partial ..." Peter was certainly aware of the Old Testament statements about the impartiality of God; he had also heard Jesus' command to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28:19). Yet, the full impact of the implications of these realities had not registered in his mind. In the centurion's home the light finally dawned. His words attest that only then did Peter come to a personal realization of this truth about God and its consequence for the Christian community!”[9]
Peter’s openness to change was fueled by his being willing to do things he was uncomfortable with, such as living in the home of a tanner. There is a lot of talk about being on the cutting edge today. But for Christians cutting-edge ministry comes as a result of cutting-edge identification. Some great Christian advances are made not in the strategy meetings of our air-conditioned boardrooms but in the difficult and uncomfortable situations to which love for people takes us.
Fernando, Ajith. “Contemporary Significance” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Acts. By Ajith Fernando, 329. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 1998.
The role of prayer in Cornelius and Peter… for the Lord to have directed them to a complete unexpected and uncomfortable road according to his grand salvation historical plan.
[1] EBCNT
[2] http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/Cornel00.htm
[3] J. Julius Scott, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 34/4 (December, 1991), p. 475-484. http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/Cornel00.htm
[4] http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/Cornel00.htm
[5] J. Julius Scott, Acts 10:34, A Text for Racial and Cultural Reconciliation Among Christians,” The Gospel in Black and White. Deninis L. Okholm, ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 131-139. http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/ACTS10-34.htm
[6] Ibid. http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/ACTS10-34.htm
[7] Ibid. http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/ACTS10-34.htm
[8] Ibid., http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/ACTS10-34.htm
[9] Ibid., http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/ACTS10-34.htm
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