We All Have a Story to Tell: Peter & Cornelius, 3/15/15

Mar 15     Acts 10:1-15         Title:  Transformation- Peter and Cornelius

10 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. ⁹ 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.”

Invisible dog fence.  Do you have one?

I have never had an invisible dog.

My neighbors saved greyhounds….. one time, their dog got away.

What do greyhounds do?........... they run.

Fast and far.  He said it was miles before they caught him

Sermon series on change and transformation

Real change is difficult.

We think of change as me choosing jesus

So we change our beliefs. And we become right with god

And we think we are right about everything

The world is filled with Christian know it alls

Jim shrieves story.  I was once the manager of a shop.

Insisted that they listened to Christian radio.

Sometimes the only way that you learn to stop judging people is to see how much you are hurting them.

The law and grace- its still around.  Many people still hold up the law – their law over grace

What if you are not right?

Who made me God

Jenny and being boss of the world

God invites us to change the way that we think

This is painful change

Cornelius

A godly man who does not know jesus.

Not a Christian.  Not a jew.

What?? How can this be?

God ways must be higher than our ways.

Wanting to be a part of a thing when you know you are excluded

Hoping for reconciliation with God

Seeking god.

An angel appears to him

Yet, He is being judged by peter.  His is a gentile.  He is not worthy

Isn’t that crazy?

The nature of judgment

Dualism……..our need to separate the good from the bad and make value judgments.

When we do this we can no longer love people

Love the sinner, hate the sin

Usually ends up feeling like hatred to the “sinner”

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”  Mt 11:18-19

Wisdom is proved right by her deeds

In life there are two paths.  There is the natural human path.  It is the way of self.  Self protection, self centeredness, and self importance.  It ultimately is the way of complaint, retribution, anger and rage.

The other path is the way of grace.  It is the path of forgiveness.  It is the path of love.  It is the path that calls us to see life through the eyes of another. Those who choose the way of grace are always glad that they did.

Dualism is antagonistic – you always have to choose sides – comparing one idea to another.

Jews in, gentiles out

Paul resolves the opposition.

Jews and Greeks, male and female – all are welcome

We should take a lesson from Paul on this topic

Judging others is a sin.

When we see others who we think are sinning, there are several things that we don’t know.

1.   We don’t know how hard he or she tried to avoid the situation

2.   We don’t know the power of what they are facing

3.   We don’t know what we would do in the same situation

Judging others is a sin

Lets look at romans 1 and 2.

Romans 1. A long list of sins.  People use it to point out others faults.

That is not why paul wrote it.

Read chpt 2:1

2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

The point of the list of sins isn’t for us to judge others, it is so that in our smugness, paul can say,  look, you are just as bad.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

but we like to use such lists to point out the good ones and the bad ones.

Judging others is a sin.

One time a bishop was on a trip to the holy land.  He was randomly assigned a stranger as a room mate. After going to see the accommodations, he came up to the front desk and inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the hotel safe. He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that privilege, but he had been to his room and had met the man who was to occupy the other bed. Judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy person. The clerk accepted the responsibility for the valuables and remarked, 'It's all right, bishop, I'll be very glad to take care of them for you. The other man has been up here and left his valuables for the same reason!'"

I had a thought last week about helping homeless people and judging them.

When we help others, but judge them – we rob them of the greatest gift.

“here is a dollar, go get a job.  Here is a sandwich, go shave.”

What if we just helped the poor and didn’t judge them?

Jesus did not say, I was hungry or thirsty for reasons beyond my control, and you fed me.  He doesn't qualify the worthiness of the person who receives the help.  He simply says, I was hungry and you fed me.

Part of the holiness of helping the homeless is in the helping them.  The other part of the holiness is not judging them for why they are the way that they are.

But for the grace of God go I

Prayerful, Contemplative mind is non-dualistic

Dale dorst- lets just see how it turns out

These are the ones that do not judge

These are the ones who are turning the world upside down.

Who is in and who is out?  Here is a moment of awakening

Every pastor is asked.  Who is in and who is out?

I like to answer, I am not in charge of who gets in and who gets out

The world would be a kindler and gentler place if more people realized they were not in charge of who gets in

Odd………the very person that peter thought was out, was being talked to by an angel……….

Ramifications for us – judge a person w tattoos? A muslim?  Maybe god is talking to them……

Peter

Thinking we have it all right

We don’t have it all right

Being so arrogant as to fight with god over our ideas

Jews are not allowed to visit the homes or eat with non jews

King James Version……….

¹⁴ But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

¹⁵ And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

Imagine god saying this to you……..

How dare you!  What I have called clean, what I have loved, you will not call unclean.

3x the vision is given.

What will it take to get God idea through your thick skull?

Love is indiscriminate……..

The shade of a tree, the scent of a rose, the light of a lamp go out to all

So Gods love goes out to all

This is a great moment for peter.  He gets over himself and goes to Cornelius home.

Doesn’t preach a rousing sermon

God is already there.

The holy spirit falls upon them.

There is no record of Cornelius accepting peters message.

He is already accepted by god

The vision that God gave to peter is still around, and guess what.  God wants to give it to us.  What will it take for us to get over ourselves?