The Right Road? Acts 10

It was something new for the Church. It was a new time, not just a time of peace, but a time of opportunity. It was a time that Peter was about the region preaching the Gospel message. He had relied on the Holy Spirit to preach to the Jews along the Mediterranean Sea about Jesus. He was healing those who needed healing. Though his preaching and good works were nothing new for Peter, he was even beginning to act a little different.

For Peter, a devote follower of the Law himself, is now found in Joppa staying at another Simon’s house. This man was a tanner. He dealt with hides and critter skins. He was an unclean man because he was in an unclean business. Or maybe Simon Tanner had the right of it, of understanding the Law. Anyway, it was new territory for Peter.

It is understandable when something new comes along. A new thought, a new method, perhaps even a new theology is hard to accept initially. (Of course, it wasn’t really a new theology, but The Theology cleared up. All the Law and the Prophets pointed toward Jesus. Peter’s message did bring clarity to what was known, or at least to what was understood.) A church comes around and does things differently. That’s ok. It doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. It means that it is new and should be looked at. It should be weighed.

When I was in my Church of Christ youth ministry, it was something indeed new. This branch of the Restoration Movement, was struggling. Was having a youth minister an asset to the outreach of the church, to the discipleship of the church, or was it wrong, too conforming to the pattern of “worldly churches”? That was what the congregation and the eldership struggled with. After a year of ministering there, the question was still unsettled. I am not sure if even today that that question has been or will be settled for that congregation.

Something else new happened for the Church. No longer were people coming who had a passing familiarity with Judaism and the Law. Now people are coming in and have no clue as to what exactly a Christian believes. The world for Peter was changing, just as our world is changing today. For Peter, until this morning, Samaritans were the closest he got to non-Jews. They were at least somewhat familiar with the church culture.

To prepare him, however, God also challenged him with his core beliefs. As I’ve said, he was staying at an “unclean” home. Now in the middle of the morning, he is praying and has a vision. It’s a sheet coming down. “Kill and eat!” he hears commanded. Can you imagine what you’d see on it? You’d see pigs, horses, squirrels, rabbits, iguanas, snakes, turkeys, ducks, even perhaps dogs and cats. (Notice what’s not there: Catfish and crawfish!) Here Peter is in a crossroad. He knows that this vision is from God, but what should he do?

[He is willing to be challenged.] When a person is confronted with the new, it is natural for a person to fall back on what he already knows and has accepted. “Never!” you can hear him say. He’s denied himself pepperoni pizzas. He won’t change now. Or will he? “Go with the 3 men seeking you,” he then hears the Spirit telling him. He does. He leaves his comfort zone. He’s going with Gentiles on a mission for God.

He goes where he hadn’t really given thought. He’s forgotten the commission, to make disciples of all nations. It wasn’t to proclaim the Messiah to the Jews in all nations, but to proclaim Jesus as the Savior to everyone. Peter has learned that all need God’s love and grace. Everyone needs a hope for tomorrow, a hope that only comes by Jesus Christ.

And it is indeed everyone. Cornelius would be a man that many would see as being a moral man. He does good. He gives to the poor. And his heart was seeking. This is something of an insight we do not have with our neighbors. I wish we could. I have hurting friends. If I could read their hearts, then I could better effectively minister to them. Yet even here, the most moral of men still need to hear the Gospel. So Peter, directed by the Holy Spirit, is sharing the Good News with someone he would not have picked. Not because the man is moral and we sometimes see that as a hindrance. Often moral people are harder to reach mainly because they fail to catch the difference between doing good because you love God and doing good so that you can be good.  Another reason Peter would not have chosen him, if left to Peter is that this man is not only a Gentile, or non-Jew. He is a Roman Centurion. He is the icon of all that Jews hate. After three years with Simon Zealot, Peter surely could share his disdain for all things, or people, Rome.

Then that is how we are. We more times than not cheer when we hear someone we don’t like has suffered. Well let’s not be soft. Perhaps we don’t cheer about people we don’t like. We perhaps cheer because of someone we hate has suffered. For example, not too long ago, Seals took out public enemy numero uno. Osama was executed by a hit team. What was your reaction? Can you remember the day? News reports showed Americans everywhere rejoicing. Few of us thought, “There went his last hope of salvation.” But that is common, to rejoice when your enemy suffers. It’s why Jesus told us to be different by not just merely dealing with our enemy, but to go beyond, to love our enemy as if he were our dear brother, our best friend. Pray for him, give graciously to him.

[He is open to reaching.] Peter was gracious; going to someone God has directed him to. Then while preaching Jesus, the hope of a better tomorrow, the restoration of fellowship between man and God, God poured His Spirit on them, the Gentiles. Why? Mind, you, here we see the charisma poured out. That’s the Greek word for gift. It is not the same Greek word that Peter promised in Acts 2.38. This is a special gift that has been poured out at a particular time, or by the touching of the Apostles. Not even the early Deacons could impart the Charisma as did the Apostles.

This is important to understand because this is new territory. Did God truly want non-Jews to come to Christ? Was he truly calling the whole world?  This sign God provided wasn’t so much for Peter’s sake as it was for those who came with him from Joppa. They needed to know that God was indeed accepting of all men, of all tribes and nations. I ponder here about the order of things. Did the Apostles have heavier weight on baptizing people? Not so much as people being baptized, but the holiness of the rite itself. It is this time that the new believer is being washed of his sins and being given the gift of the Holy Spirit. John would write in the Revelation that those who believed in Jesus were sealed by the Holy Spirit. “Yes, Peter, I favor all who would accept Christ. Baptize them.”

We are in a new time, in a crossroads if you will. Everything seems to be changing faster than we can comprehend. New things are coming faster than perhaps we can handle. I never thought 20 years ago, typing away on my Apple IIe that I would one day be able to hold my sermon notes on this tablet, that there would be a site like facebook that would literally change the way we communicate with one another. It is amazing to see, to think about.

Like Peter, we will be directed to do something different, perhaps even new, if we are willing to be used. And in the storm of new, it would be so easy to be misguided. How do I know that I am on the right road? Peter’s journey, God had continually given him signs to say that he was on the right road. But can we see those signs today?

[We need to check the map.] Not necessarily so. Perhaps we might. Yet in all things, God still has given us something by which we should use. Peter tells us in his letter that we should test the spirits to see if this is indeed from God. But what shall our standard be? What will be the answer key for our testing? First, the Word of God, the Bible. If we are being led to do something new, to make sure we are on the right road, we need to be spending time in His Book to us. This is our road map.  Peter was at a crossroad, and God guided him to the right road. We, too, are at the same crossroad.