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Peter and Cornelius - Part 6

Epilogue

Acts 11v1-18

15th April 2011

In obedience to God, Peter visited a Gentile home and preached the gospel there. As he preached, the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles who were listening to him. For the first time, Gentiles found faith in Jesus Christ and were born again into His wonderful kingdom. Peter insisted that they be baptised there and then. He understood that the Good News was for people of all races, not just for Jews.

He then returned to Jerusalem, to find that the news had got there before him:

Acts 11v1-3
The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticised him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."

Marvellous, isn't it? Whenever God does something new and wonderful, there are always some Christians waiting to complain about it! Peter had received revelation from God (10v11-16) that what had previously been considered unclean was now declared clean in God's sight, and had understood that this didn't just mean food, it also meant Gentiles. Other Christians had not been given the same vision, and their understanding had not changed as Peter's had. In industry, there's something called "not invented here syndrome". It's the idea that if we didn't think of something, then it can't be any good. When Peter saw God do something new - and they weren't there, experiencing it with him - they chose to be negative about it.

Of course, not all innovations are good. But not all are bad, either. How sad it is when we assume that something that God is doing is a bad thing.

Peter realised he'd better explain:

Acts 11v4-16
Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened:
"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.-
"I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.-
"The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.- This happened three times, and then it was pulled up to heaven again.
"Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man-s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.-
"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.-

This is a simple recapitulation of the story in Chapter 10. But Peter then asked a REALLY good question:

Acts 11v17
"So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

It shouldn't come as a total shock to us that God will sometimes do things that are beyond our own experience. Let us not be too hasty in condemning something just because we haven't experienced it ourselves.

To the great credit of the early church, they were open-minded enough to acknowledge that God can do what they don't expect.

Acts 11:18
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

Are we?