The Gift of the Spirit for All Who Believe

Acts 11:1-18 Mary and Joseph and Jesus were Jews.  His relatives—Elizabeth and Zechariah and John were Jews.  Jesus’ disciples were Jews.  His earthly ministry—in large measure—was to Jews.  Pentecost was first of all a Jewish festival and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon the Jews who gathered for that festival. 

The story of the early church in the first few years after our Lord’s resurrection and ascension was in large measure a story that took place among the Jews.  But all of that changes dramatically with the events that take place in our lesson today from Acts. 

As we meditate upon God’s Word this morning, what I would like for us to do is to ask ourselves in all seriousness if there are individuals or groups of people that we would just as soon keep at arm’s length as see them come into the church—but then to recognize that God’s salvation is not just for some people—but for all people.

Our story really begins in the chapter immediately preceding our lesson today, where Luke tells us that Peter was sent by the Holy Spirit to a Gentile man named Cornelius—and his family. 

There in his home, Peter preached the Good News of salvation-- and Cornelius and his family were filled with the Holy Spirit, came to faith in Jesus Christ, and were baptized.  Luke goes on to tell us that Peter was “amazed” at this turn of events and remained for a time as a guest in Cornelius’ home.  That is where our story picks up.  The Bible says that:

The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party CRITICIZED him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

            The Jews heard what happened in Cornelius’ house (how they believed the Good News of Jesus and received the Holy Spirit and were baptized and saved) and they criticized Peter for entering their home and eating their food—for they were Gentiles.  Such is the power of the sinful distinctions we make among our fellow men.

We may be tempted to condemn the Jews for their narrow-mindedness and their legalism and their racism.  But that’s not entirely fair.  The concerns of Peter’s critics were perfectly legitimate given what they knew. 

All of the laws that they were concerned about were given to them by God.  No one had a right to set them aside except the One who gave those laws—and He did set them aside.  The Bible says that:

Peter began and explained it to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘BY NO MEANS, LORD; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.

            To the concerns of the scrupulous Jews, Peter says in effect:  “Hey, you’ll get no argument from me--I get it!  I know exactly where you’re coming from!  I had the same concerns!  When I saw that sheet that was filled up with pigs and lobsters and shrimp and oysters and heard the command to eat from it—I told the Lord:  forget it!”   

Such was the power of that scruple about eating forbidden food-- that Peter had to be told by the Lord again and again and again:  “What God has made clean, do not call common.”  

Peter was the one who saw this vision—but what he saw and heard and learned was really intended for the whole church—that is why the Lord providentially arranged that Peter would be accompanied by six brothers from the Jerusalem Church. 

Not just Peter, but all those early Jewish Christians needed to know in a powerful way that the old divisions that separated them from the world—that preserved them as a distinct people—had come to an end with Jesus—and now those same laws were making unnecessary barriers that hindered folks in coming to faith in Jesus.

What about us?  Do we have deeply felt scruples or prejudices that have the effect of keeping other people at arm’s length—that keep us from really seeing them as objects of God’s redeeming love-- and making a place for them in God’s family? 

Maybe it’s race.  Maybe it’s socio-economic status.  Maybe it’s tattoos and piercings and dreadlocks.  But whatever that scruple or hesitancy or prejudice is, it has the effect of keep others folks at arm’s length—and when they are at arm’s length from us—it’s just about impossible for us to reach out to them with the Gospel.

That’s the Lord’s concern in all this—that’s why he gives Peter and the early church this vision--so that the church in Jerusalem and the church in San Angelo would recognize and rejoice in the Good News that God’s salvation is for all people and set aside the barriers that keep us from sharing Christ with others.  The Bible says that:

At that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, MAKING NO DISTINCTION. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’

            There’s that word again that we’ve been hearing all Easter season from Easter morning til now:  GO!  Go to the Gentiles at Caesarea!  And there in that command is the purpose of the vision:  to go to all people with the Good News that God’s salvation is for them too—without exception—that there is no distinction between men that ought to keep them away from Jesus.

Luke tells us that it was at the very moment that Peter saw the vision and heard the Word of God that three men arrived to take him to the home of a Gentile family.

There was no time to second guess the Lord—no time to reason his way out of it—at the very moment he had a God-given opportunity to take the principle that God had taught him in the vision-- and apply it in his life and the lives of others.

This is an important point.  1. Oftentimes we learn something in Bible class or in a sermon and we know what we ought to do—we have a firm conviction to do it—and yet we hesitate to act on it and it’s lost.  2. Other times, we hear a bible study or sermon but the preacher never gets around to telling us what we ought to do with what we’ve learned and so we never do anything with it.

Peter was spared both of these problems:  there was to be no distinctions among people when it came to the Gospel and he was immediately given the opportunity to put it in to practice by taking the Good News to people who were very different than himself.

The same must be true for us sitting here today.  This congregation is very different than the community around us—ethnically and socio-economically and religiously.  That doesn’t make us (or those around us wo are different form us) bad or good—there is no moral distinctions in these differences at all. 

But it ought to make us particularly aware of what we’re learning from God’s Word today:  that the differences that keep us from reaching out to all people are wrong and we need a willingness to step outside of our comfort zones for the sake of other folk’s salvation.  That’s what Peter did.  He said:

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them JUST AS ON US at the begining. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 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?”

            No longer was there to be a distinction among foods and no longer was there to be a distinction among people—because there is no distinction in the love that God has for all people—no distinction in the salvation Jesus has provided for all people—no distinction in the Spirit’s gifts that are poured out upon all people. 

Just as salvation was for the Jews-- so it was for the Gentiles—the same gifts of God’s grace for all who believe in Jesus.

            This was Good News not just for the Gentiles but it was Good News for the Jewish believers too.  They needed to understand that their adherence to the law and their identity as Jews was not what saved them.  Their salvation-- just like the Gentiles-- rested completely upon what Jesus had done for them in his death and resurrection.

We need this reminder too.  We are not saved because we are Germans.  We are not saved because of the traditions of our church.

We all stand equal with every other person at the foot of the cross:  equal in our need--equally loved and redeemed by Christ’s shed blood.  The differences that exist between individual members of the family of man have no place there—not in our need for salvation—not in the salvation that God desires to give to all people.

Before his ascension into heaven, Jesus promised that disciples would be made of all nations through baptism and teaching—and in Cornelius’ home and our homes we know that promise is fulfilled. 

And now, rather than standing in God’s way as he goes about bringing people to Christ, he invites us to have a part in his saving work—rejoicing in the Good News that his salvation is for all & sharing that Good News with others.  Luke writes:

 “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.”

            It is very much to the Jewish Christians’ credit that when they heard the whole story of Peter’s mission to the Gentiles, their complaints were silenced and they praised God for his goodness. 

From that moment on, a major shift would take place in the life of the church as more and more Gentiles came to faith in Christ so that today we Gentile Christians are just as amazed when a Jew converts to Christ as was Jewish Peter amazed when a Gentile came to Christ.  It’s that unusual.  But not impossible!

In the study notes at the end of this section of Acts in my Lutheran Study Bible, there is a little prayer that really does capture what we’ve learned today and it goes like this:  “Lord, let my likeness to some, not be a barrier to others.  O Holy Spirit, draw everyone to you—even the unlikely.”  Even the unlikely. 

My prayer for us here today is that there would be fewer and fewer folks that we see as “unlikely” members of God’s kingdom, knowing as we do that God’s salvation and the gift of the Spirit is for all people.  Amen.