I
want to start my message this morning by asking the older members a question,
and the answer might take you on a trip down memory lane. How many of you
remember the TV series “I Love Lucy?” Ricky Ricardo always had a line he used
when Lucy did something wrong. It was “Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do.”
It was a humorous way of saying that Lucy did something illegal or
embarrassing. Today when we tell someone that they have some explaining to do
it’s also a funny (or not so funny) way of telling them that they did something
illegal of embarrassing.
In
the reading we heard from Acts 11:1-18 earlier in this morning’s service, the
disciples told Peter that he had some explaining to do. The disciples in
Jerusalem had heard that Peter ate with and associated with the Gentiles. In
their eyes, that was illegal and/or embarrassing because the Jews always kept
themselves separate from the Gentiles. Jews considered the Gentiles to be
“unclean.”
Acts
11:1-18 is a summary of the events in Acts 10 with a few additional details. In
Acts 10, Peter received a vision telling him to spread the Good News to the
Gentiles. In chapter 11, he gives the disciples an explanation of why he
associated with the Gentiles.
Instead
of debating his accusers, he told them the remarkable story of all that had
happened. Peter made sure that they knew he went to Caesarea in direct obedience
to the Holy Spirit, and the six Jewish believers who accompanied him to
Cornelius’ house saw the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles. There
was to be no distinction or discrimination between Jews and Gentiles. Cornelius
and the other Gentiles who were in his house received the Holy Spirit without
having to follow the Jewish laws, including circumcision. That was God’s answer
to the debate and settled the matter as far as Peter was concerned. No one was
to refuse to allow any new believers to be baptized. No one was to prevent any
new believers from becoming members of the church.
The
Gospel is God’s provision for making peace between sinful men and God and
between hostile races. God’s plan was for the Gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit,
and it is better to be on God’s agenda than to have him on our agenda. He
prepares the steps we have to take to follow his agenda. He will move us on in
our spiritual growth. He will never allow us to stay where we are. God’s love
overrides any man-made requirements such as circumcision. In fact, nothing can
stand in the way of God’s love. He demolishes the barriers, and he asked Peter
to do the same. The result was and is characterized by compassion for everyone
and not compliance to a code of purity. It is also characterized by radical
inclusivity instead of hierarchical exclusivity, and inward transformation
instead of outward ritual. God is the god of everyone.
The
discussion between Peter and the rest of the disciples was really a difference
of opinion. They represent the differences of opinions that Christians often
have. The reason why so many different denominations exist today is because of
differences of opinion about what beliefs are essential to Christianity. Some
individual churches have even broken up because of differences such as whether
or not to install microphones or use overhead projectors or install kitchens or
the type of bread to use during Communion. Some of these differences do need to
be discussed, such as the one between Peter and the disciples. Sometimes way
too much time and energy is spent on these discussions. There is too much to do
for the Kingdom. God wants us to join together and serve him-which is what the
disciples and Peter eventually did.
The
greatest task for the church is to find out where God is already at work in the
world and take part in that work as God directs. Sometimes the church has
missed the new work God is doing because it was waiting for something to happen
in its own corner of the world on its own terms, when God was already doing
great things in another part of the world.
Imagine
what it would be like if all the churches agreed to change their names to
simply “church”? What if all references to denominations were removed and we
were all just Christians? When people chose which church to attend, they
wouldn’t do so by the change outside…they would do so by the hearts of the
people inside. When people asked what church they attended, their answer
wouldn’t be a label but just a location. Then we as Christians wouldn’t be
known for what divides us. We would be known for what unites us-our heavenly
Father.
When
God gave Peter a vision in Acts 10, it was a reminder of what Jesus said in
John 14:26: “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said
to you.” God blessed Cornelius and his companions just like Peter and the
apostles were blessed at Pentecost. All of them were blessed with the gift of
the Holy Spirit. God made it perfectly clear that he loves both the Jews and the Gentiles. Refusing to accept
the Gentiles would be the same as hindering God. Peter could not do that, the
apostles were not to do that, and God doesn’t want us to do that either.
Peter
leaned that holiness was a matter of being cleansed from sin by Christ’s blood
and of being like God in thought, word and deed. Repentance and confession are
therefore fundamental elements of Christianity. Peter emphasized the gift that
both Jewish and Gentile believers share-the gift of the Holy Spirit, repentance
to life, and salvation. To receive one is to receive all. The important thing
to remember is that God took the initiative to give us that gift. This gift is
an experience of God-an experience that draws us into confession and
glorification of God. God wants us to bear witness to what he has done in
Christ. He urges us to tell the story of God’s act of reconciliation through
the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The
phrase “The status quo is not an option” certainly applies here. Our ideas of
what is proper and what is not proper can’t restrict the message of salvation
no matter how valid or how well-conceived they are. Labelling people by various
categories based on our own standards violates the standards of the Gospel by
excluding people for whom God is working to take the message. In addition, our
standards are not perfect, but God’s standards are perfect. People who might be rejected by our standards might be
perfectly acceptable by God’s standards and vice versa.
Who
are the Gentiles among us? Who are the people who we consider to be “unclean?” Labelling
others as unclean and impure, drawing boundaries between “us” and “them” is
easy. Loving others like Christ loves us is hard. God gives gifts to others who
may not believe or practice faith in the same way that others do. In other
words, he gives the same gift of the Holy Spirit to all who believe. Their
gifts and experiences, along with our own gifts and experiences, need to be
shared within our churches and within the entire world.
The
admission of the Gentiles to the body of believers marked a change. Change is
not easy. We often resist change, but Jesus wants us to accept and even promote
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone. He wants us to drop all barriers to the
cause of Christ. He wants us to welcome everyone who is saved. He wants us to
leave a place of security and identity and launch out into unchartered
territory with nothing but God’s Word to guide us.
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1506)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
6.
Ogilvie, L.J.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 28: Acts (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1983,
pp. 187-189)
7.
Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010, pp. 1519-1521)
8.
Kyle Fever,
“Commentary on Acts 11:1-18.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1617
9.
William
Loader, “First Thoughts on Year C First Reading Acts Passages from the
Lectionary: Easter 5.” Retrieved from www.staff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CActsEaster5.htm
10. Daniel Clendenin, Ph.D., “Any Person, Every Nation:
Even the Gentiles.” Retrieved from www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/2007043033.shtml
11. Dr. Jan Love, “Encountering Other Religions.”
Retrieved from http://day1.org/1940-encountering-other-religions.print.
13.
Jeremiah, Dr. David: A.D. The Bible
Continues: The Revolution That Changed the World (Carol Stream, Illinois:
Tyndale House Publishers; 2015, pgs. 195-196, 201-203)
14.
Evangelectionary for Sunday, April 24, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.evangelismconnections.org/evangelecitionary-for-sunday-april-24-2016/
17. Dr. Randy L. Hyde, “Explaining One’s Self.” Retrieved
from http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/NT/05-Acts/Acts-11.01-18-ExplainingSelfHyde.htm
18. Pastor Daniel W. Brettell, “Law and Gospel.” Retrieved
from http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/NT/05-Acts/Acts-11.01-18-Law&Gospel-Brettell.htm
19.
Richard
Neill Donovan, “Biblical Commentary-Acts 11:1-18.” Retrieved from http://www.lectionary.org/EXEG_Engl_WEB/NT/or-Acts-WEB/Acts.11.01-18.htm
20.
“Lucy, You’ve Got Some ‘Splaining to do.” Retrieved from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Lucy%2C+you+got+some+'splainin'+to+do!
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