Scripture: Act 10:1-48
Have you ever wanted God to speak loudly and clearly to you, to let you know without a doubt His desires?
God does speak to us, but usually in very subtle ways.
Have you ever had an experience that you thought was just a coincidence but later realized that through that experience you became closer to God or gained a better understanding of some part of the Gospel?
This is one of the methods that the Holy Spirit uses on all people. We call this Prevenient Grace. Prevenient literally means "coming before". This is any experience of grace that comes before a profession of faith or before any conscious growth in faith. Any time we are awakened to sin in our lives or awakened to new challenges and opportunities we have experienced Prevenient Grace.
When we get into the scripture for this week, we will see several instances of the Holy Spirit working in peoples lives prior to a change in belief or attitude. The Holy Spirit’s presence in this story of Peter and the Cornelius is obvious. This presence is not always so obvious in events in our lives, but many times looking back we can see that obviously the Spirit was at work on us or in us.
This lesson is in a way a coincidence of the Holy Spirit teaching some of us in this church, especially me. As we will see the main point of this passage is of Peter overcoming a personal and cultural prejudice and opening the Gospel to everyone. This is not the first lesson I have had this week on this very topic.
Our Wednesday night book study group has been reading What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. Yancey is a journalist who writes a column for Christianity Today magazine and has also written about a dozen books. This week we read chapter ten, "The Arsenal of Grace". This chapter tells of several instances of grace overcoming prejudice, some as dramatic as Peter in today’s lesson.
From page 123 of What’s So Amazing About Grace:
Walter Wink tells of two peacemakers who visited a group of Polish Christians ten years after the end of World War II. "Would you be willing to meet with other Christians from West Germany?" The peacemakers asked. "They want to ask forgiveness for what Germany did to Poland during the was and to begin to build a new relationship."
At first their was silence. Then one Pole stood up. "What you are asking is impossible. Each stone of Warsaw is soaked in Polish blood! We cannot forgive!"
Before the group parted, however, they said the Lord’s Prayer together. When they reached the words, "forgive us our sins as we forgive...." everyone stopped praying. Tension swelled in the room. The Pole who had spoken so vehemently said, "I must say yes to you. I could no more pray the Our Father, I could no more call myself a Christian, if I refuse to forgive. Humanly speaking I cannot do it, but God will give us His strength!"
Eighteen months later the Polish and West German Christians met together in Vienna, establishing friendships that continue to this day.
Can you see in that instance how the Holy Spirit spoke to these people through the words of a prayer taken directly from scripture?
That is an instance of grace preceding a reconciliation. Prior to reconciliation some bitter prejudices had to be eliminated.
How do cultural and religious barriers hinder growth in our faith?
Who are we most likely to witness our faith to, or invite to share our faith, or invite to church?
Those who are most like us and have the most in common with us.
Let’s get into this weeks scripture:
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius." And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
(Act 10:1-8 ESV)
What can we know about Cornelius from this passage?
- He lived in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judea.
- He was a centurion, the commander of a century, a group of one hundred Roman soldiers.
- His century was part of the "Italian Cohort". A cohort was six hundred soldiers, one tenth of a legion.
- He "feared God with all his household, gave alms generously...., and prayed continually."
With just these few facts, what do you think the average Jew in Palestine would have thought of Cornelius?
- They probably would not have had very much respect for him. They may have shown respect out of fear of Cornelius’ position, but probably would have inwardly despised him.
- As an officer in the Roman army, Cornelius represented those who forcefully occupied the Jewish homeland.
- As a gentile, Cornelius was considered impure and any type of relationship between Jew and Gentile was off-limits according to Jewish interpretation of the Law.
What does it mean to say that Cornelius "feared God"?
- He believed the Jewish tradition of "One God". He probably accepted the Mosaic law and participated as much as was allowed in Jewish worship.
- Cornelius "feared God, ..gave alms, ..and prayed", obviously very devout and religious.
But what did his religion lack?
His religion did not offer salvation. Many people, even today, are confident that their character and religion are the way of salvation. While everyone who truly seeks out the Lord will not receive a visit from an angel, if they truly seek they will find. Grace is at work in all people, but sometimes is applied more readily on those who place themselves in it’s path.
Cornelius was not at this point a Christian, as he had not yet even heard the gospel.
How do you know when God is speaking to you?
- Cornelius was visited by the angel.
- The Polish man in the other story knew that God was speaking through a prayer from scripture.
- I am pretty certain that God has spoken to me by giving me two lessons in one week on the same subject.
When you know that God is speaking to you, when should you act?
Without hesitation. This angel did not give Cornelius any explanation as to who Peter was or the purpose for summoning him. He was spoken to and responded immediately.
The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
(Act 10:9-16 ESV)
"By no means, Lord...."
How often do you think the Spirit is answered with something similar?
Should we wait for understanding before obeying?
Even when what we are asked to do is totally confusing and contrary to popular beliefs?
On first observation what seems to be the message in Peter’s dream?
It could be understood as God repealing the dietary laws of the old covenant, but in actuality this message goes far beyond the diet. God has made clean all that was considered unclean under the old laws. Those laws were not intended to literally declare lists of clean and unclean. Those laws were intended to establish an identity for God’s chosen people. God’s people could be recognized as different from all others because of their ritual practices. God now declares that all who are saved by grace through faith are His chosen people.
How easy is it in today’s world to recognize God’s chosen people?
Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them."
(Act 10:17-20 ESV)
Did Peter immediately recognize the significance of his vision?
Here is one of those Holy coincidences that sometimes help one to understand that grace is working in one’s life. Peter was shown in a vision, now he will be shown in reality.
How do you think Peter felt when told to kill and eat unclean food?
How do you think Peter felt when asked to accompany "unclean" Gentiles to the home of another Gentile who also happened to be a Roman Centurion?
What are some reasons that we avoid or reject some people?
So Peter accompanies them back to Caesarea:
And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me."
(Act 10:28-29 ESV)
And Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.' So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
(Act 10:30-36 ESV)
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
(Act 10:44-48 ESV)
The Body of Christ was changed by these two men who responded to their respective visions. Cornelius, a God-fearing man, learned of Jesus, received the Holy Spirit, confessed faith and was baptized into the Body. Peter, who prior to this event despised the Gentiles, rejected the Jewish purity laws and opened the Gospel to the Gentiles. This story tells the beginning of the Body of Christ as we know it today.
How should the church treat visitors or seekers who are different from the rest of the congregation?
How can we show or prove our acceptance of those who are different?
Another excerpt from What’s So Amazing About Grace:
I grew up a racist. (Yancey is speaking of his own experience.) Although not yet fifty years old, I remember well when the South practiced a perfectly legal form of apartheid. Stores in downtown Atlanta had three rest room: White Men, White Women, and Colored. Gas stations had two drinking fountains, one for Whites and one for Colored...
(In speaking of his childhood church)....it was there I learned a twisted theological basis for my racism.
In the 1960's the church deacon board mobilized lookout squads, and on Sundays these took turns patrolling the entrances lest any black "troublemakers" try to integrate us. I still have on of the cards the deacons printed up to give to any civil rights demonstrators who might appear:
"Believing the motives of your group to be ulterior and foreign to the teaching of God’s word, we cannot extend a welcome to you and respectfully request you to leave the premises quietly. Scripture does NOT teach "the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God." He is the Creator of all, but only the Father of those who have been regenerated....."
(Yancey goes on to tell how the South and the Nation changed. There are many African-Americans involved in all levels of business, culture, and politics. Even folks like George Wallace asked forgiveness for former acts and attitudes....)
Even my childhood church learned to repent......The church seemed cursed, blighted. It had tried new pastors and new programs, but nothing worked. Though the leaders sought African-American participation, few in the neighborhood responded.
Finally the pastor, a classmate of mine from childhood, took the unusual step of scheduling a service of repentance.......publicly, painfully, with African-American leaders present, he recounted the sin of racism as it had been practiced by the church in the past. He confessed- and received their forgiveness.
Although a burden seemed to lift from the congregation after that service, it was not sufficient to save the church. A few years later the white congregation moved out to the suburbs, and today a rousing African-American congregation....fills the building and rattles its windows once more.
All people, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, culture, age, socio-economic class, gender, or other man-made divisions must be told the truth of the Gospel. The truth that God loves them. Peter had a vision sent by the Holy Spirit to help him overcome his cultural prejudice. How can we overcome whatever prejudices that may be holding us back from sharing the Good News with people who are different from us?
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