What makes you glad? (Acts 11:19-30)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon June 8, 2008

I am very glad to have Shannon and Carol back with us for a while from the mission field. I remember vividly the time you stood before us to give us your testimony from the mission field. Carol, I especially remember how hard it was for you to hold your tears back. I wonder if it was when you thought of the faces of the students who were being transformed from Muslims to Christians, and the village children and the adults who have yet to believe in Jesus; I wonder if it was because your heart was aching for the lost souls and yearning for more workers to go to the mission field to make disciples of Jesus. I think it was something along this line that made it very difficult for you to hold your tears as you shared.

And, Shannon, few days ago you when I asked you what you have learned about yourself having served two years in the mission field, you shared with me couple things. The first thing was how you realized you could live anywhere. Whether in the States, in Africa, in Bosnia, wherever it may be, you feel that you can adapt and live anywhere.

And, the second thing you shared with me about yourself was what it was like having to depend on God to provide for you guys to be in the mission field in the means of finance, prayer and moral support.

What I cherish from you guys is how your hearts beat after what makes God’s heart glad that is for people to come to know Jesus. I think the reason Carol you cry when you think of the faces of the people you got to know in Guinea, the reason Shannon you feel that you can live anywhere is because in deep level you’ve been awakened to what makes God glad. Having to depend on God radically for two years, you know little deeper what it is to experience God’s grace personally and to see God imparting his grace to others. What I will say is that you are now addicted in the healthiest sense to God’s grace.

My prayer is that as long as you remain with us until God moves you again to where he wants to send you, you cherish what makes your heart really glad that is when you see the evidence of the grace of God and continue to allow this being glad by God’s grace motivates you to remain true to the Lord with all your hearts. And, somehow this deepened capacity to be really glad for God’s grace rubs on us as we rub our shoulders again.

Today’s story asks this question. What makes you glad? What makes you happy? What we see in the passage is the picture of a man who was at his best in terms of being most happy and glad when he saw the evidence of the grace of God and how this became the drive, the motivation to encourage others to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

When it comes down to it, we all want to be happy, we all want to be glad and delighted. And, what makes you happy is what you are going to invest most of your precious resources, your time, your effort, your talent, your money. Another word, to see what makes you happy, or to understand what you think that makes you happy, all you have to do is to evaluate what preoccupies your attention, your time, your human resources. Then you know what is that you think would make you happy.

• The ordinary you and I in preoccupation with telling the good news about Jesus Christ can find true happiness.

The key verse for today’s passage is Acts 11:23. “When he [Barnabas] arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” This verse plainly states that what made Barnabas glad, happy and what motivated him to encourage others was seeing the evidence of the grace of God.

But, what this verse doesn’t tell us is what the evidence of the grace of God was. For this we have to look back to 19-21 and consider what actually happened.

What we see in these verses is the ordinary people whose names aren’t mentioned by Luke preoccupied with telling the good news about Jesus Christ. There were two groups of the same. They all fled the persecution in Jerusalem which was ensued after the Jews killed Stephen for preaching the good news. The major differences was that one group of people telling the good news to other fellow Jews only, while the other group who originally came from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and told Greeks the good news about the Lord Jesus.

Now, these people weren’t missionaries commissioned by Jerusalem church. These were simply unnamed ordinary people doing what the Spirit was compelling them, to share the good news.

The evidence of God’s grace in this scene is captured well in verse 21. “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” When we say someone’s hand is with so and so, we are talking about how this person is helping others. We are talking about a person empowering others. One of the ways the word grace is used is this aspect of God empowering. In this case, God empowered the unnamed ordinary Jewish Christians who were simply fleeing for their lives. They fled in weakness, but God empowered them to use them exactly where they fled to.

The implication should be very obvious to us. It is not just the missionaries who were commissioned, sent by our church like Shannon and Carol, it is not just me the official pastor of our church, but it is all of us ordinary Christians who can experience God’s empowering help to spread the good news. Jesus’ command to make disciples in Matthew 28:19 and his promise in verse 20, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the ages,” these command and promise aren’t just for the select few to follow and experience. Fernando says, “Some of the most significant work for the kingdom has been done by unknown witnesses who are obedient to Christ right where they are and where they do not attract much attention.” You may say, “I am no Shannon, I am no Carol,” implying the false belief that somehow only the officially recognized or select gifted individuals of our church can tell the good news to others. The truth is that God wants to use you. God wants you to get excited by this truth, it is not about what you can do, but it is about what God can do through you. When you gripped by this truth, that’s when you are going to get really glad.

• Character of goodness is what will drive your appetite for the things of God and make you truly happy.

Few weeks ago we learned little bit about Barnabas. Here was a man who got excited and happy for seeing the evidence of the grace of God and how this motivated him to encourage others.

How do you become like that? If you have heard about Barnabas in the past, understood what he stood for, I won’t be surprised to find all of us desiring God to shape us like him. But, again the question is how does this happen? How does God shape us so that we get excited for God’s business, we get really happy whenever we see God at work in power?

The answer is character. Character speaks to who you are. In Barnabas’ case, his character defined him as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. That’s who he was. What naturally happens to a person who is a good man, who pays attention and follows the leading of the Holy Spirit, and trusts in God? This person finds happiness not in happenings, not in material possession, not in what he or she can do, accomplish for his or her own gains. This person doesn’t find happiness in making himself or herself happy, but when he or she is preoccupied with what’s in God’s heart.

 In what ways, was Barnabas a good man?

I am sure he was a morally outstanding person. He was a good hearted person. But, more than that what really made him a good man was because he stood on the shoulders of Jesus Christ who paid the price for Barnabas sins by dying on the cross for him, who was raised from the dead to overcome the death, the sin for him. Barnabas was a good man because he precariously lived his life through Jesus Christ’s ultimate righteousness, Christ’s goodness.

Living precariously through Jesus’ life is the ingredient to living a truly happy life. This requires the conviction that we do not stand on our own merit, but only on the merit of our Savior who died for us, who is resurrected for us, who is sitting at the right hand of God interceding for us. When we stand of Jesus’ shoulders for all that he has done for us, does for us and will do for us, the one who promised that he will never leave to the very end of the age, only then the true happiness, true gladness is possible.

 Another character formation that I see in Barnabas is that he was a man full of the Holy Spirit and faith. John’s gospel in chapter 3 describes the Holy Spirit as the wind that blows where it pleases. As wind cannot be controlled by any of the best of the best human technologies, the Holy Spirit cannot be controlled. As the one who cannot be controlled, he calls us to yield to his control.

This is a key to experience real happiness. When your life is about you being in control, what you discover is that all your effort to be in control won’t float you when you try to walk on the water. As Peter walked out the boat on to water toward Jesus, the Spirit of Christ calls us to step out of our own boats on to the water. Being a Christian means having a completely new set of DNA. God changes us so that we are wired radically in different shape. People walk on the solid and safe ground where there is no risk of falling, hurting, sinking. But as Christians we will not find true happiness unless we walk on water where there is the real risk of sinking into the ocean, where you will be out of control unless you are controlled by the Holy Spirit.

And, this giving up the effort to control our own lives, but allowing the Holy Spirit to control us requires us to take a leap of faith.

When Peter stepped on to the side of the boat and saw the water, his human emotion and logic, all that he knew about life told him, “Don’t do it, stupid! No body walks on the water!” But, then he saw Jesus standing on the water, he remembered how he fed thousands out of few loaf of bread and fish, he saw him healed impossible diseases, could he enable me to walk to him on the water? What got him off the boat and did what was considered really a foolish thing was he saw Jesus, he remembered what he did, what he taught, he trusted in him.

His trust in Jesus wasn’t perfect, since he took his eyes off of Jesus and sunk like a rock. When he realized in the split moment, he was going to drown deep into the lake, when the crisis brought on by taking off his eyes off Jesus came on him, he called out for help. And, Jesus was right there, never having left him. I don’t know if that doesn’t build trust what will. I bet Peter was really happy guy for having experienced what it was to walk on water as he fixed his eyes on Jesus.

You can walk on water too and be happy if you fix your eyes on Jesus, if you would trust in him.

 The last thing I would like to mention is the character of encouraging and empowering others to do God’s ministry.

Barnabas being a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith had contributed greatly to the growth of the Antioch church. God used him and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. At this point, if he was about building his own little empire of his spiritual legacy, well he would have stayed there and enjoyed the glory of the growth.

But, what he did was to leave to Tarsus to look for Saul. Even before he left, what he did was as seen in verse 23, encouraging others to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was encourager.

When he left the church of Antioch and found Saul and Tarsus, he brought him to Antioch. And, for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.

His character was such that he wasn’t interested in building his own little kingdom. He was all about empowering others so that they too can be full participants in building God’s kingdom. He wanted others to experience the happiness in doing God’s work with his empowering Spirit and seeing the evidence of God’s grace.

He was a kind of person when it was time to walk on water, he would look around for a person to bring along with him so that he could share the great happiness of walking on water toward Jesus.

So, if you want to experience the death of happiness, then look around for that person, the people whom you can journey together and be known as those who walk on water.

Conclusion

Verse 26 says, “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” When Christians were first called Christians, it was understood very well that they were ordinary people who found true happiness in telling others about Jesus Christ, who possessed unique character of walking in the robe of Jesus’ righteousness, not controlling their own lives, but yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit in trust so doing crazy things like walking on water.

We have diluted the richness in being called Christians. My prayer is that we rediscover the true meaning of being Christian as one who get really happy for seeing the evidence of God’s grace and encourage others to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

We serve God who initiates, orchestrates and invites all people to accept the good news. (Acts 10:1-11:18)

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.

1. 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.

2. 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

We serve God who initiates, orchestrates and invites all people to accept the good news. (Acts 10:1-11:18)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon June 1, 2008

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.

1. 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.

 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.

2. 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

 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

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