Grace for the Nations!
Acts
11:1-18
Introduction: News travels fast. Today
with Facebook, and Twitter, and e-mail and text messages, news of what’s happening
with our family and friends, and news of what’s happening in the world, can
travel almost instantly around the globe, literally. However even before there was such a thing as
an I-pad or a smart phone, we see in the Bible that some news seemed to spread
quickly even back then. If it is news that challenges the status quo, especially news that seems shocking or offensive to us,
then and now it travels even more quickly. The news of Peter fellowshipping
with Gentiles got back to Jerusalem and he had some explaining to do. Essentially
they ask him, “What were you thinking brother!?”
For centuries the Jews
had maintained a strict practice of separating themselves from the nations. If
this was to be changed, there needed to be a good explanation! You notice in the reading (Acts 11:1-18) that
there is quite a bit of repetition of what happened in Chapter 10 of Acts in Peter’s
report on his return to Jerusalem in these verses. We will try to focus on the context of the
retelling, and the additional details that we are given here. It may be difficult for us to grasp the
significance of this expansion of God’s people to include the nations. After
centuries of separation, the dividing wall between Jews and the rest of the
nations (gentiles, i.e., non-Jews) was coming down in Christ (see also
Ephesians 2:11-22). In Jesus, the Son of God, there is hope for every son of
Adam. That brings us to…
The
Big Idea: The gospel of grace offers the
only hope for sinful humans. We are called to extend that hope to every
race and every nation.
I.
Our “religion” can limit our understanding of grace: People may find fault with what we believe God has
said and what He has led us to do (1-3).
“Now the apostles and the brothers who were
throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of
God. 2 So when Peter went up
to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 ‘You went to uncircumcised men
and ate with them.’."
First
we see that a report about what had happened had gotten back to Jerusalem, and
the leaders weren’t completely good with the news. The gentiles had received the Word of God? What did that mean? And Peter ate with them?
They heard, and so, for this reason, “Peter
went up.” Peter did not simply
ignore the rumblings of discontent, but he “went
up to Jerusalem,” to the others apostles and leaders of the church, with the
intention of speaking about what had happened.
He loved the Lord’s Church, and longed to maintain the unity of the
body, and so he was willing to take the risk of facing his critics about the
matter, speaking the truth to his brothers about what had happened, about what God had done. While
respecting their insights and the authority of the apostolic band he was
anxious to share his story and have it evaluated by them. He trusted them as
brothers in Christ and loved them enough to be willing to take a risk. Remember,
the church is the Church of Christ. We
shouldn’t want to build the church in our image and according to our limited
understanding. We need to be humble, and
teachable. The day came when Peter needed to be corrected on some of the implications
of this very issue. We read about that incident in Galatians
2:11-14 where Paul says,
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to
his face, because he stood condemned. 12
For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but
when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision
party. 13 And the rest of the
Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray
by their hypocrisy. 14 But
when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I
said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile
and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
If it happened to Peter it can happen to
us! We need to be “on guard” against slipping back into our prejudices, be it
culture, race, or country of origin.
Remember
what is the same about then and now, and also what is different. The apostles
were unique in authority and in calling. The New Testament was not yet written
and they had the authority as the representatives of Jesus to bring his Word to
the world. Even so, here in Acts 10-11, Peter did not run willy-nilly on his
own, forgetting to submit his teaching and his interpretation of what was
happening to the church. Many times I
hear people say, “The Lord has led me to
do this or that…” Well, maybe, but
let’s examine the Scriptures, the first step since God will never contradict
Himself. And let’s pray with the church, let’s seek together a consensus about
what God is calling us to do.
When we talk about
people forgetting the doctrine of Grace and replacing it with tradition, or
with what we are comfortable with, we immediately think of other traditions and
don’t imagine that as God fearing Baptists we could be susceptible. Yet we can have the same tendency to canonize
our understanding of doctrine or practice, forgetting that He is the Head and He
is building up the body. There was a lot
at stake, since the gospel of grace offers the only hope for sinful
humans. We must extend that hope to every race and every nation.
II.
Our testimony can be a powerful witness to the grace of God: We should carefully and respectfully share what God
is doing (4-18).
Peter
establishes a connection with his offended brothers by talking about how he got
to the point that he was at, starting with the thrice repeated vision he had received
(which we looked at last week), including his initial reaction: “By no means Lord…” (4-10, N.B. v.8). He
is not shocked by their initial skepticism; in fact he could honestly say that
initially he shared it! Think about our
witness to the unsaved: without glorifying our sinful conduct before trusting
Christ, we can identify with our unsaved neighbors in their unbelief because at
least for a time, we were there! Your
testimony is simply a statement of what you were “B.C.” (before Christ), the
story of how you came to believe in Him and trust Him for your salvation, and
finally the difference that He has made, what you are now, “in Christ.” Peter tells his story of how God sent him to
the gentiles, and he starts with his resistance to the vision he had received.
Next
Peter explains the timing of the arrival of the men, the Spirit’s explicit
instruction to go with them, their trip to Caesarea, and Cornelius’ testimony
about what the Angel had told him (vv.11-14).
Notice especially v.14, “…he
will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all
your household.” This
explicit prediction of salvation through the message preached by Peter is a
detail we didn’t get in Acts 10. We see
it happen, but now we know more about what was said in Acts 10:33, “Now
therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been
commanded by the Lord." Yes, they recognized God was working, He had
sent Peter and in fact He was present. They also understood that this message
was the Word by which they would be saved (11:14)! This is the precise
form of the verb used in Acts 16:31 and Romans 10:9…
“And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,
you and your household…’" (Acts
16:31).
“…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…”
(Romans 10:9).
The verb in all three contexts is a future indicative, it is something that
is going to happen to those who believe, and it is in the passive voice, it is
going to happen to you. No wonder
they were ready and waiting to hear!
Peter also understood more about the fact that God was receiving the
gentiles, but tells how God dramatically made the point that they were being
saved by grace through faith, that there was no need for a conversion to
Judaism first. He explains in Acts 11:15-17,
“As I
began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the
beginning. 16 And I
remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but
you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
17 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?"
First of all, notice the timing: it happened as
he began speaking. We read about it last
week in Acts 10:43-45,
“…everyone
who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." 44 While Peter was still saying
these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among
the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed…”
Peter
didn’t get very far apparently, he began speaking, they heard, they believed,
and the Spirit fell on them. There was no laying on of hands, nothing that they
did or had done to them, they heard and believed. Period. In 11:15
Peter testifies,
“…The
Holy Spirit fell on them just as He did upon us in the beginning…”
What is the beginning to which Peter is
referring? Normally when the phrase en arche is used in the New Testament it has an
expressed object, it’s the beginning of something specific. One of the only
other places where it stands alone is in John 1:1, “In the beginning, (en arche) was the Word…” In that context John is clearly referring
back to Genesis 1:1 (see also Proverbs 8:23), to the very beginning, to
creation. This was a “beginning” of that
magnitude. A “New Creation” has begun in Christ, a new age had dawned, and that
starts with the birth of the New Testament church on the day of Pentecost. It was such a fundamental, foundational
beginning that there was no need to give more detail. Everyone knew that the beginning to which he
referred, when the Holy Spirit fell, was the day of Pentecost. This may have been about six years (or so)
afterward, still it is to that day, Pentecost, that moment in history
that Peter points.
[A side point here, certainly not the main idea but
worth mentioning, is that Peter points back to the “beginning,” to Pentecost, an
event perhaps six years in the past, and does not mention what is repeatedly or
typically happening as people come to believe in Jesus and receive the indwelling
Spirit. On Pentecost, speaking in tongues was a sign that the age predicted by
Joel the prophet was at hand, the age of the Messiah, the last days. That
foundational, eschatological event is the beginning of a new presence of the
Spirit in the people of God. Samaria
(Acts 8) and now the house of Cornelius (Acts 10) confirm the breadth and the
unity of the new people of God. Pentecost was a unique, eschatological event,
and the ripples of Pentecost move outward in Acts to include the nations.]
He
also tells us that he remembered what Jesus had repeated the teaching of John
the Baptist about a future messianic ministry of baptism in the Holy Spirit
(Luke 3:16,17; John 7:38,39; Acts 1:6-8). The initial fulfillment of the
prediction of Jesus happened in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, and the ripples
of that event continue through Acts. The Samaritans are included in Acts 8 as
John and Peter (representing the Apostles) follow Philip into Samaria (though
Acts does not mention tongues in this context, it may have been the sign that
allowed the bystanders to “see” that the Samaritans received the Spirit) and
lay hands on the Samaritans. Again in
Acts 10 we see the expansion continuing as Peter goes to the house of Cornelius
and preaches Jesus. The gospel of grace offers the only hope for sinful
humans. We are called to extend that hope to every race and every nation.
III.
Our story of God’s Grace will resonate with those who have experienced
it (18). “When they heard these things they fell silent. And
they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted
repentance that leads to life."
They
fell silent. The testimony was compelling, God’s presence and handprints were
all over what had happened. Remember
when God spoke to Job after he had lamented his unjust suffering, Job replies, “…what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth…” (40:4). Here,
after hearing Peter’s testimony of what had happened, it rings true, there is
no more to say, the objections fall away, “…they
fell silent…” Peter’s testimony would
silence the skeptics again a few years later, as the church gathered in council
to discuss the question of the gentiles and he referred back to this event. We read about it in Acts 15:7-12,
“And after there had been much debate, Peter stood
up and said to them, ‘Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a
choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the
gospel and believe. 8 And
God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit
just as he did to us, 9 and
he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by
faith. 10 Now, therefore, why
are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples
that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be
saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’ 12 And all the assembly fell
silent…”
They recognized what God was doing and understood that it made no sense to
ask gentiles to obey the civil and ceremonial requirements of the Law. Here in Acts 11:18, their silence is followed
by praise, glorifying the Lord. This underscores an understanding of grace, it’s
not about Peter’s boldness or ingenuity or insight. “…they
glorified God…” The heart of the
doctrine of grace is that it expresses God’s unmerited favor. So He alone gets the
praise.
What
is God saying to me in this passage? The
gospel of grace offers the only hope for sinful humans. We are called to
extend that hope to every race and every nation.
What
would God have me to do in response to this passage? One conclusion that we have to draw is that since God
is no respecter of persons, since he extends the offer of salvation by grace
through faith to every people group, we need to have our Father’s eyes, we need
to see people, created in His image, desperately needing the only message that
saves, the Gospel of Christ. We need to be reminded that the whole world is God’s
world, and world evangelization is God’s work. Remember, first of all,
that God is with us and in us if we have believed in Jesus. As we yield to His
presence He will empower and guide our witness.
How can we be
more effective in doing our part to to bring the message of grace to the
nations?
·
It needs to start
with reaching our neighbors and family. They are our first “mission field,” the
one where we can have the most influence.
·
We need to
support those who God has called to go, especially those who are willing to
sacrifice their comfort and security to go long term and live among those who
need to hear. Emily is our newest missionary, and the Lord has burdened her to
go, currently helping a team working with Syrian refugees.
·
We need to be
sensitive to the opportunities at our door, as seasonal workers and summer
visitors come to our area. How can we reach out to them?
·
Jason has
reminded us that in the cities around us we have refugees and immigrants who
are open and hungry. How can we respond?
·
And we need to be
“on guard” against slipping back into our prejudices, be it culture, race, or country
of origin. If it happened to Peter, it could happen to us.
Let’s choose to be faithful in bringing the message of
His amazing grace to the nations! AMEN,
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