“To The Gentiles Also”

The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Rev. Cameron S. Smith
The Lord's Day, June 11, 2006
Psalm 117
Acts 11:1-18
     

Here are some momentous words: "Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles [that is to say, anybody not a Jew!] also had received the word of God." To your ears, it's no big deal. But, let me tell you, these are revolutionary words!
     These particular words are in response to an event recorded in the previous chapter: The results of a visit to the household of a man named Cornelius. You'll remember that I gave you the story line of the Book of Acts a couple of weeks ago - the summary is found concisely in Acts 1:8: The disciples would "receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The first part of that mandate was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Jews from all over the known world were in Jerusalem that week for the feast. Peter preached his first sermon there and "three thousand [Jewish] souls" were added to the heavenly roll.
     After deadly persecution was unleashed with the execution of godly Stephen at the conclusion of Acts 7; Acts 8 then records the spread of the Gospel into the neighboring countryside of Judea and into Samaria. The apostle Phillip cultivates a fruitful ministry within the region. They receive the Gospel gladly and so Peter and John are sent in to pray for them as the Holy Spirit, in Pentecostal fashion, falls upon the hated Samaritans -- just as it did on the Jews in Jerusalem! Jerusalem and Samaria have responded to the Gospel, and now God prepares to touch human hearts to the end of the earth. This is where our story picks up in Acts 11. As I said before, this chapter is an account of the controversy stirred up by Peter in the household of the Gentile, Roman centurion, Cornelius.

WATERSHED AT THE HOME OF CORNELIUS
     It all started when Peter was praying on the top of the house of Simon the Tanner in Joppa. Peter saw this strange vision: A huge sheet coming down out of heaven. The four corners are probably held by angels, though the text doesn't tell us that. On that sheet, there are all kinds of creatures - a re-creation of the scene on Noah's ark! Animals, clean and unclean; birds, insects and varieties of animals that scurry along the ground - all clean and unclean all right there under Peter's nose, mixing together!
     This was a scary scene for any good, self respecting Jew! When the Law was given to Israel, it was unique in that it spoke to every area of their life. There were legal provisions in the Law; there were moral mandates that defined behavior that was pleasing to God and of course, what was not. There were, what seems to you and I, a multitude of purity codes. And, of course, the brand of purity code that is referenced here in Acts 10 and 11: The dreaded dietary laws.
     Leviticus 11, in particular spoke directly to the dietary requirements of the Law: "You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud." (Lev. 11:3 NLT). Further, "Of all the marine animals….You may eat anything from the water if it has both fins and scales, whether taken from salt water or from streams." (Lev. 11:9 NLT). Even further, the Law speaks of clean and unclean birds, insects and "things that scurry on the ground" (i.e. rodents!). Leviticus 11:45 closes off the section with the rationale for God's particularity in dividing up the animal kingdom into clean and unclean: "For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." God gave these laws because he wanted his people to be set apart from the nations surrounding them - not so that they could get a big head and become stuffy. I think it was evangelistic in nature, but I'll have to defend that position in another forum.
     Getting back to the story of the mixing animals on the heavenly sheet, God called down from heaven and said, "'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'" (cf. Acts 11:7-10).
     That reminds me of some similar words from the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 4:12ff.) in a similar situation. God commanded the prophet, as a sign of judgment on Judah, to eat a ghastly concoction of various grains baked on human dung! And Ezekiel's response is the same as Peter's: "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth." God, in a flash of divine humor said, "Okay Ezekiel, make it cow dung instead of human waste!"
     But God seems to be a little more forbearing with Peter. The voice from heaven "answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.'" This dialogue repeated three times before Peter finally accepted the word from God.

THE GOOD NEWS FOR ALL PEOPLE
     What God was communicating to Peter was that the dividing wall of hostility was about to be broken down. The voice of the prophets was now finding fulfillment before Peter's wary eyes: The nations were about to be blessed. No longer would they be considered unclean. That is why Christians do not observe dietary laws as Israel once did. (cf. Mark 7:1-23). It was really an amazing story, Peter went to the household of Cornelius, who was a godly man - a "God-fearer" to be exact. A God-fearer was a Gentile who had converted to Judaism, but had not gone the whole nine yards by being circumcised and offering sacrifices at the Jerusalem Temple. But, Cornelius was a godly man with a good reputation. He was looking for the coming of the Messiah. His heart was ready. His heart was fertile ground. He just needed to hear the word from the mouth of the preacher. But, God had to prepare the preacher. The dietary laws; the laws commanding strict separation from the unclean Gentile world. To preach the Gospel in Cornelius' house, Peter would have to violate everything he had been taught from the time he was a little boy. Table fellowship with a Gentile! But that had to be overcome with a godly passion for the salvation of the world.
     I like how Peter defended himself before his pure and chaste brothers in Jerusalem: "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" I think the thing that amazes me from start to finish is that it is God directing the show. Salvation is God's initiative, and he shows himself exceedingly gracious to us! I get irritated when I hear people criticize the Church as a "man-made" institution: "The apostle Paul invented the Church." or "Man made God in his own image." Such abject disregard of God's ways as revealed in Scripture is truly sad!
     Fortunately, the response of the brothers in Jerusalem is one of praise to God: "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." As I said at the beginning of this message, this is revolutionary! God's eternal will is being carried out, just as he had promised all along!
     I love hearing stories about the difficulties involved in the birth of the modern missionary movement. I am astonished at the resistance that good Christian people exhibited to these men and women who wanted to go to foreign soil with the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is all the more amazing given the blatant missionary heart of the New Testament; the passion for the eternal well-being of people of all nations. It seems to me that the Christian Church, particularly here in America, seems to think that Christianity is our personal possession, not to be shared with anybody who may have a different skin color or speak in a different tongue.
     But, let's bring this closer to home. Don't we have the same resistance? The same resistance that Peter displayed as an observant Jew? The thought of mixing with somebody different? Think of our churches today, we are still segregated by race, social status and economic status. Should this be our reality in the light of the Gospel as it is revealed in the Book of Acts? May it never be!
     Parenthetically, I must make mention of the fact that this passage with Peter and Cornelius has become in recent times, a popular Scriptural proof text in the Progressive wing of our Church that we shouldn't discriminate in the Church on the basis of sexual orientation. But, again, lacking the time to address this contention; let me say simply and quickly for now that this is clearly an example of what is called eisegesis; that is to say, a reading into the Biblical text what you want it to say. It is an amazingly short and simple answer to a vexing issue in the PCUSA today; but the New Testament is in every place unanimous and with one united voice that human sexual mores haven't changed with the coming of Christ.
     The reality is, our reality is, that the main thrust of this Word from God from Acts 10 and 11 is that the Kingdom is extraordinarily large, and it envelops all of God's creation. I ask you to consider that Word today. It wasn't coincidental that I included Psalm 117 in the Call to Worship this morning. Besides being the shortest Psalm in the Psalter, it is, more significantly, the only Psalm that speaks directly to the Gentile world. It is our word this morning, and hereafter: "Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!" Go and enjoy some jelly beans in the name of Jesus this afternoon!