Acts, Part 5 Acts 10:1-23 07/10/2011

Ben will be here to speak about Joplin

Sermon 7-10-11 acts pt 5 Acts 10:1-23

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” 4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Peter’s Vision9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” 14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. 17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. 19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” 21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” 22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

The series
The ongoing saga
The story of chpt 10 and 11

The rest of the story
Peter goes to Cornelius house
He enters it
He tells him the story of Jesus
Cornelius believes

The setting- background
The centurion – in charge of a hundred men
Man of deep character – not to charge into battle, but to be willing to stand and fight to the death
He is an invader, an occupier, here without the consent of the jews. Most jews wanted them out.

Peter- the gentiles are hated. You don’t help on in child birth as it will only add another gentile to the world.

Yet peter is staying with a tanner. This is an unclean place for jews. Simon is probably a Christian. So you can see that peter is already open to the religious law being superceded by the law of love

A good jew did not hang with gentiles. They did not hang with jews that did not obey the law. This is why the men stopped at peters door.
And when peter got to cornelious house, would he step across the threshold?

Take away one
Real Christianity works to bridge divides, not separate
The overwhelming evidence of scripture is that God heals wounds
His desires is that all will come to faith 1 timothy 2

Take a way two- the law can be dangerous
The roads back into the law are legion.
The purpose of the law is to show that everyone sins. But the jews used it to show their superiority
So religious actions can sometimes drive people away
Brian McLaren
Do you know people that act this way?

Take away three- even the most devout can be mistaken
Let him that thinks he stands, take heed less he fall – 1 cor 10:12

Peter is living out his religion. He is doing this based on the rules of the bible as he understands them.
But he has forgotten gods people
In fact, his entire religion had turned its back on Gods mission to the people
Think of how they treated the Samaritans……lepers…

Imagine this happening to Billy graham…..

Take away 4- we need to be continually converted
He has had a conversion but still doesn’t get it
Rejecting classical Judaism, peter is still stuck in many of the forms of religion that look and sound religious but are not caring for god’s people

Peter moves toward God at least 4 times
1. Leave your nets, come follow me
2. Get thee behind me satan
3. 3 denials
4. Vision of the unclean lunch

From glory to glory he’s changing me 2 cor 3

Take away 6- we need to have some friends who do not look like us
What is tragic is that we have friends that look too much like us. If you don’t have friends or acquaintances that are not Christians, how are you reaching or influencing anyone?

What would you think of a religion that taught rules, but also taught that its followers should stay away from lepers, the poor, the undesireable?

I saw ann Humphreys eating with someone that did not look like a Christian. Ummm. Im telling.
How tragic

When jesus said, go make disciples, he wasn’t meaning just among the Methodists. In fact the disciples themselves did not need to be made into disciples. Jesus expected them to go, just as he did, to the blind, the poor, the prostitutes and sinners.

In 11:3 – the others are upset with what peter has done –

1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

criticized. You ate w sinners - So did jesus
luke 5: 29 then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

luke 7:33 for John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Is your work place, the restaurant, the store where you shop a hostile environment or an opportunity for you to love others?

Imagine the thoughts in the minds of such folks when they expected to be looked down on again, but instead, you embraced them. The least of these.

Take away 7 – careful with your biblical proof texting
Peter is quoting the bible when he is arguing with God
What does this mean? Does it mean that revelation is progressive? Maybe
It certainly means that we need to be very careful with bibilical interp
Lead from the whole, not the parts. Follow the core the theme, not the individual

Judas went out and hung himself. Go thou and do likewise. What thou doest, do quickly

The bible is not a hammer

Max lucado describes the scriptures as a wooden fence with holes in it… you can go and look thru the holes and see some of what is on the other side, but we will never in this life grasp the entire mystery.
Don’t get stuck on the fence- don’t settle for your interpretation of the fence

Conclusion
We cannot use the scriptures to paint us into a corner of our comfort. The tone of scripture sends us into the neighborhood with hearts filled with love
And isn’t this the root problem? We don’t love the centurions. We don’t love the hells angels. We don’t love the oppressors. When we love them, and see them as people, everything changes. And we begin to live the life that God intended.

Are your ideas about Christianity holding you back or are they sending you out into the world to love others.