Glimpses of God’s Kingdom

Acts 11:1-18

May 2, 2010 – ©Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes

Introduction

As I studied Acts 11 this week, I was reminded of an old story, that I’m sure you have heard about a pastor who died and as he stood at heaven’s gate, St. Peter asked why he should be admitted. He said he had been a faithful pastor for 47 years. St. Peter said, “1 point.” The pastor said, “I started a food pantry that fed thousands of homeless and hungry people.” “One point,” St. Peter replied. “How many points do I need,” the pastor asked. “100.”  “Well, I sent money to missionaries in several countries.” “One point.” The pastor was in a panic. “Oh my, how in the world will I ever get into heaven, apart from the grace of God?” “St. Peter proclaimed, “grace of God, 97 points; come on in.” 

Only the grace of God opens the door to heaven for all of us. However, grace is not as easy to deal for us as it is for God. Peter found that out in Acts 11.

Peter’s Story

Peter was in trouble. He had broken the rules. “The news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, some of the Jewish believers criticized him. ‘You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!’ they said.” [Acts 11:1-3].

So they arranged a meeting so Peter could tell them exactly what had happened. In his defense, Peter said that Cornelius, a Roman centurion, had a vision from an angel of God telling him that God had heard his prayers and seen his compassionate service. The angel wanted him to send some men to Joppa to get Peter and bring him back to tell them more about God.

Peter also told them of his vision of a large sheet with all kinds of animals and birds in it, and of his being told to kill them and eat them. Peter couldn’t imagine eating anything unclean. Yet three times this vision appeared. Then the Spirit told him that the three men who were coming to his door were sent by God and he should go with them. So Peter and six companions went with them men to the home of Cornelius. Peter went into Cornelius’ home and told all who had gathered about the Good News of Jesus Christ.

As Peter was speaking, “the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on [Peter and the other apostles] at the beginning [Pentecost].” [v.15].

Peter ended his defense saying, “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” [v.17].

Peter’s Problem

Hearing this story from a 21^st century perspective, we may not understand why this was such a big problem. Peter only did what God told him to do, so why were these Jewish believers so upset?

We need to remember that the Jewish people who had accepted Jesus Christ and believed in him were still Jewish. They didn’t change their patterns of living, their traditions, their basic life because they believed in Jesus.

·        They still ate kosher food, foods they had been taught to eat by their parents and the Law of Moses.

·        They still kept themselves separate from those who were unclean – sick people, non-Jews, the outcasts and sinners.

·        They still celebrated Jewish holy days.

·        They still practiced circumcision of their baby boys when they were eight days old.

They didn’t know any other way to live. They now knew that these things didn’t save them. They had been saved by Jesus’ death on a cross and would inherit eternal life because of his resurrection.

When Peter went into the home of a Gentile and ate their food, he broke with the traditions established for centuries for the Jewish people.

Everything that gave meaning to their lives was at stake. Most of you understand this in ways I never will since I have never immigrated.

Immigrants to a new country need to hold onto the things that give them an identity. They don’t want to lose the things that give their life meaning and a sense of belonging. The traditions, the customs, the food, the friends, the language, the holidays are essential to keeping some balance in a strange, new place.

That is why this church was established. Swedish immigrants needed a place to worship with people who were just like them. They needed a safe place that kept them in touch with the things that gave them an identity. Their worship also was much like it had been in their home country.

Our Christian faith, wherever we were born and first came to faith, is tied to the traditions of our first church experience and ethnic roots. It’s what we think Christianity should be for everyone. 

It is no wonder that the Jewish Christians thought Peter was wrong in entering into fellowship with Gentiles. Jesus, the Messiah, was Jewish. He was one of them. The Jewish believers must have wondered what Jesus would have to say about this.

The issue of hospitality with non-Jews was the first issue that brought Peter criticism. However, this wasn’t the only issue or the most important issue.

N. T. Wright suggests that the bigger issue, “which if allowed to stand would blow a hole right through the worldview of the ‘circumcision group’, [the Jewish believers] was that these Gentiles had been admitted as full members of the new and rapidly developing Jesus-family without having had to become Jews in the process.” [N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part 1 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) 173].

They not only believed in Jesus when Peter told them the Good News of Jesus Christ and his saving grace for them, they also received the Holy Spirit. They even began speaking in other languages. At first they criticized Peter’s “table fellowship,” but their “real anxiety was over sharing the Holy Spirit with unholy Gentiles.” [Robert W. Wall, The New Interpreter’s Bible, Acts (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002) 168].

To the Jews, God was their God. So access to God had to come through obedience to Jewish Law.

God’s Kingdom Plan

However, God’s plan was bigger than this. God wanted them to know that “God does not show favoritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” [Acts 10:34].

Peter also struggled until he saw what God did with Cornelius and friends. Peter could confidently say, “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” [v.17]. Peter told them everything that had happened so that they would know that this was God’s doing.

The Gentiles received the Holy Spirit just as the apostles had. The Holy Spirit was the evidence that God was working to make it this happen.

The fact that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit when they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, God’s Son, did not fit their theology, with what the Law said. However, it was sufficient evidence for them to be persuaded. Perhaps you also have a hard time understanding how God could welcome certain people into his kingdom. God’s acceptance of “some” people may not fit your picture of God’s kingdom. We would prefer that God not extend grace to some people we don’t think are good enough.

It’s hard for us to see why God would offer grace to all. Yet, when we look at the Bible, we see that God has given us glimpses of his kingdom plan from the very beginning. Starting in Genesis 1:27, God tells us that we are all created in God’s image. He tells us that we are a part of God’s plan to be blessed through Abraham in Genesis 12:3.

Isaiah 56:6-7 reminds us that God will bring even the foreigners (non-Jews) to his holy mountain and to his house of prayer for all nations.

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 28:19 to “go and make disciples of all nations.” And in John 17:21 Jesus prayed for all who would believe in him through his disciples’ message so “that all of them may be one.”

God was reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ by making peace through his blood shed on the cross, Colossians 1:20 tells us.

And God will accomplish his plan to bring all who believe in Jesus together in his heavenly kingdom where a great multitude of people from every nation, tribe, people and language will stand before the throne praising God, it says in Revelation 7:9.

God never planned to make us all the same. God did plan to make us all one – one people of God, one family. God doesn’t play favorites. God invites all people. God wanted the Jewish believers of Peter’s day to understand that God had blessed the Gentiles with the same Holy Spirit they had received.

It is still hard for people today to accept the fact that in God’s eyes, we are all equal, all his children, all sinners in desperate need of God’s grace.

We look at people from a worldly perspective that sees the differences and judges people based on our own set of standards. God looks at all people from his standard and sees that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” [Rom.3:23].

God looks at the church, the family of believers, and sees each of his children as his special creation. He loves each of us more than we can imagine. God wants each of his children to love all his other children. That’s how the world knows we are God’s sons and daughters: they see our love for one another.

Conclusion

At some point in the early 1900’s a young teenage girl in Austro-Serbia decided to leave home. Her father beat her regularly and finally she couldn’t take it anymore. So she ran away from home and caught a boat to America. When she arrived at Ellis Island in the New York Harbor, the main port for immigrants entering the United States, she had no papers, no family, and no sponsor. So as she stood in the long line, the authorities, realizing she had no credentials, put a white X in chalk on her arm. This meant that when she arrived at the official desk of entry, she would be deported immediately. As the official moved away to interview others, a young man next to her in line reached over and wiped out the X on her arm. When they arrived at the desk and the authorities asked for her papers, the young man put his arm around her shoulder and said, “She’s with me.” Together, they were welcomed to America, and a few weeks later they were married! [James W. Moore, Faith Is the Answer, but What Are the Questions? (Nashville, TN: Dimensions for Living, 2007) 37-38].

Each of us will one day be immigrants standing at heaven gate. God will ask to see our credentials, our papers. And we will realize that we don’t have the right papers. Then Jesus will put his arm around us and say, “He’s with me; she’s with me.” And we will be welcomed into our eternal home, into God’s kingdom. Jesus is our only hope.

We get a glimpse of God’s kingdom each time we gather to worship.

We also get a glimpse of God’s kingdom when we come and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

As you come forward to receive the bread and wine, remember that each person here is your brother or sister. The one in front of you and the one behind you is loved by God as much as you are.

·        Here we don’t need any papers or credentials other than our faith in Jesus.

·        Here all are sinners saved by grace.

·        Here we find the body of our Lord Jesus broken for us and his blood shed for us.

·        Here we find the evidence of God’s love for each of us.

·        Here we rejoice that God has made it possible for each of us to be a part of his family.

Look around you: get a glimpse of God’s kingdom. Amen.

Return to the Sermons Page

 

Return to the Immanuel Home Page

 

To email Pastor Carnes or Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church office@immanuelcov.org

 

This sermon is copyright ©2010 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes, Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church , Chicago , Illinois .