Intro
Some of us meet new people often. We’re in settings that lead to that. I hate to break it to you, but most of those meetings probably won’t make a huge difference to you. You might have a superficial interaction and never see them again. But what’s fascinating is how some first time encounters, though totally innocuous at first, end up having a huge impact. After all, you don’t know when you might be meeting a future spouse, a future close friend, or a future adversary. We were watching The Incredibles as a family this week, and (spoiler alert) Mr. Incredible meets a kid who is a huge fan of his. Mr. Incredible dismisses him. 15 years later that fan becomes a superhero-slaying supervillain! You never know!
Wouldn’t it be something if every time you met someone, you could fast forward 5 or 10 years and find out what your relationship with that person became? When I began my graduate studies at Regent College, I came into contact with around 100 people my first week. Lots of names, lots of little conversations. In one seminar about the degree program I was enrolled in, I struck up a conversation with a guy who wasn’t even in the degree program but was merely interested. He was a California pastor’s kid. Out of the 100 people I met, this guy ended up becoming my best friend. We still video call every couple of weeks even though we haven’t lived in the same city for 9 years. He’s the one friend I can be completely honest with about every aspect of my life. Huge impact. You never know!
In Acts 10, God has been setting up a meeting between two men named Peter and Cornelius. Peter met a myriad of new believers in those early years of the church, but I don’t think any of them made an impact on him like this one. Through this meeting, their perspectives on humanity and God were going to be transformed. But the reality is that this meeting wasn’t just going to change Peter and Cornelius individually. It was going to have massive global significance. This meeting was about as consequential as any meeting between two people has ever been. In fact, the meeting of these two men has directly impacted your life. Have I built it up enough? Let’s get into it.
1. How to see people
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” 27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” 30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”
Acts 10:23-33
Let’s talk about how a right perspective on humanity is illustrated in this meeting. From the start, we see two extremes that are avoided. On the one hand, when Peter enters Cornelius’ house, Cornelius falls at his feet in reverence (v.25). Actually, the Greek word here is often translated as “worship”. Cornelius is treating Peter like a semi-deity. That’s not completely surprising, since this meeting has been orchestrated by God. In the passage we looked at last week, Cornelius, a God-fearing Gentile, has a vision of an angel of God who tells him to send for Peter. It makes sense that in his mind, Peter is pretty high up there on a pedestal! Peter, however, won’t have any of that. We saw this with Philip in Acts 8 as well. While Simon Magus soaked up the attention, Philip continually pointed everyone to Jesus. These disciples of Jesus, while filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and performing incredible deeds, are extremely clear on their own status. They are just men. Sinful men, saved by grace, imbued with power because of God’s goodness. Therefore, unlike some others in the world, even some who claim to be followers of Jesus, they refuse to be worshiped. I am just a man myself, Peter says.
Have you ever met someone who you idolized? Someone larger than life? I was once playing some pickup basketball at UBC and a guy named Shad showed up. Now, Shad isn’t an A-list celebrity. Most of you probably haven’t heard of him. But CBC named him the second greatest Canadian rapper of all time! And you know how many Canadian rappers there have been…at least six! I had some of his albums. Carolyn and I had even been to a concert. I was a bit star-struck! However, it quickly became apparent that his basketball skills were not the quite the same as his rap skills. I scored a few baskets on him and realized, ah, he’s just a man. See, we deify and idolize people for various reasons. And when we idolize them, it makes their fall that much more devastating. I’m not talking about finding out someone isn’t great at basketball, it’s way more serious than that. This past week, I learned about two very prominent megachurch pastors who have lived on those pedestals for decades and have resigned over sexual scandals. That’s going to be devastating for those churches and even for the church as a whole. It is crucial that leaders keep check on their hearts and establish clear boundaries. It is also crucial to avoid worshiping people. Let’s not base our faith on people. We need to keep it in Christ. People are people. At the core, we all share this human weakness and vulnerability.
Peter refuses Cornelius’ worship of him, but he also goes against his own natural inclination to treat Cornelius as unclean. He says in v.28 that “you are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.” There was this enormous gulf that existed between Jews and Gentiles in the first century world. It was a gulf that was confirmed in various ways by Israel’s Scriptures. It was embodied in the dietary restrictions of the Jews, which were a picture of Israel’s status in the world. Some animals are clean, some are unclean, and don’t have anything to do with the unclean. So it wasn’t so much that the Scriptures actually said “never go into a Gentile home.” However, it was a natural extension of what they had been taught. You get a sense of how big of a deal this was to many Jews in John 18. The Pharisees and some Roman soldiers have arrested Jesus and brought him to the high priest for questioning. They then take him to the Roman governor, but there’s an issue. Verse 28: “By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.” Here’s what’s so deeply ironic about that: they are engaged in a sham trial with the aim to kill an innocent man. Not only an innocent man, but the Son of God, the Messiah, the truly righteous one! That’s pretty twisted. But what are they concerned about? That going into the palace, the residence of a Gentile, might render them ceremonially unclean!
I wish this was more remote to our own experience. I wish we didn’t do this kind of thing anymore. But we do. We were taught and encouraged to do it by our own leaders this past year. We encouraged people to sever themselves from any unvaccinated person. To deny them entry to our homes. Here in progressive, enlightened Canada, we rendered a group of people as unclean, cut them off from society, based on a medical decision they made.
We are not to see people as gods. We are not to see them as unclean. We are to recognize that we are all humans, sinful and yet also made in God’s image, loved by Him. That comes out clearly in what Peter says next.
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.
Acts 10:34-35
Let’s clear a couple of misconceptions out of the way. What Peter says here is not to lead us to universalism, the belief that all will be saved no matter what. Just because God doesn’t show favoritism doesn’t mean that there is not a choice to be made by humans to either accept His grace or reject it. We all have the choice. Some make one choice, some make another, and there are consequences to each. In fact, in verse 35, Peter explicitly says that there are certain choices and mindsets that do lead to acceptance by God in contrast to others.
The other misconception we might arrive at, especially from verse 35, is that salvation comes through works. What do you need to do to be accepted by God? Fear him and do what’s right. Do good things and you’re in, no grace required. John Calvin, the Protestant reformer from the 16th century, had strong opinions about that interpretation. He called it an “exceedingly childish error”. That’s because the consistent message in the Scriptures is that our own good acts could never be enough to save us. Paul says the same kind of thing in Romans 2:11. He writes that God does not show favoritism, but goes on in Romans 3:23 to declare that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. After all, if Cornelius’ good actions and God-fearing heart were enough, why did he need Peter? Why did he need the Gospel at all?
So how are we to understand what Peter says here? First of all, notice the relational aspect of what Peter says. Those who fear the Lord. I would argue that good acts, truly good acts, are good because they are done out of reverence for God. In fact, biblically, the best act is the decision to trust God and live by faith in Him. Over and over again in the Scriptures we read that the righteous live by faith. That’s what’s good. There are lots of people in the world who do good deeds as a way of elevating themselves and improving their status in the world, or they do it because they think it will save them, or for other reasons that have nothing to do with pleasing and serving God. That’s very different from what Peter is talking about here.
Second, as I said, Cornelius’ heart and actions could not save him, but it did indicate an openness in his life to what could. One of my mentors, Bruce Milne, says “Cornelius had responded to what light had been given him, and hence was given more light” (Bruce Milne, Acts: Witnesses To Him). God is responding to Cornelius’ responsiveness to God.
And besides all that, remember Peter’s main point: God does not show favoritism. Peter now realizes (and would have to be reminded of it a few times) that God does not only have an interest in the people of Israel. He does not restrict His grace to Israel. His desire is for all to know Him. This, actually, was the point of God’s calling of Israel from the very beginning. In Genesis 12:1-3, God singles out Abraham and says that he and his descendants are going to be blessed. It doesn’t say it there, but we know that they were blessed by receiving the Law, witnessing God’s mighty acts, and having a knowledge of God that other nations didn’t. But why did God bless Abraham’s descendants, the people of Israel, in this way? To make them a blessing. So that the nations would be blessed through them. This is all now coming together for Peter. God called Israel not for its own sake only but also for the sake of the world. He called them so that His character and salvation would be known through them. God is not the God of one nation. He is Creator of all mankind.
No matter where you come from, no matter what language you speak, no matter what color your skin, no matter what your status is, no matter how much money you make or what education you have, the ground is level before the cross of Jesus. People care much about those kinds of things. Maybe you’ve been told, implicitly or explicitly, that you are worth less because of one of those factors. I want to tell you that’s a lie. God does not put any stock in that. As God says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Empowered by God, Peter was able to see beyond what he naturally thought about Cornelius’ status and ethnicity and recognize a heart that longed to know and honor God. May the same be true of us today. May the Lord break down any ways we judge others by worldly means and deem them either unclean or worthy of worship.
2. How to see Jesus
There is, however, one man who is worthy of worship. He is especially worthy of worship because he became unclean on our behalf, to make us clean. Let’s look now at how a right perspective of Jesus is given in this passage.
36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Acts 10:36-43
Let’s walk this through piece by piece. Peter explains the Gospel, telling the good news of Jesus, in seven verses. The summary statement is in verse 36. There are two important and related aspects of Jesus’ identity that we find in that verse: first, He is the Christ. That’s not his last name, by the way. It is a word that means anointed one. Christos is the Greek word that translates the Hebrew word Messiach, or Messiah. He’s the one sent by God to accomplish a particular task. He’s the central figure in God’s plan of redemption for the world. Second, Christ also has connections with kingship, and you get that in the other identifier: Jesus is Lord of all. He has all authority in heaven and earth. King of the universe. How many people can you make that claim for?
Verse 36 says that through Jesus, who is the Christ and Lord over all things, peace is available. This is fundamentally about peace with God. People are at odds with God. They are in rebellion against the one who made them and loves them. We may not think about it like this, but in our sin we have declared war with God. Not only that, but in our sin we are also at war with others. However, for reasons Peter will give, Jesus has won peace. He’s won our peace with God. He’s won peace between people like Peter the Jew and Cornelius the Gentile and between people like Matthew the tax collector and John the fisherman. And that peace is obviously good news. The word translated good news is the Greek word for Gospel. Same thing. The Gospel is all about peace and reconciliation between us and God, and between us and others, in Jesus.
How did that happen? In this passage, Peter begins with the life and ministry of Jesus. He assumes Cornelius and others in Cornelius’ house have some basic knowledge about this. They might be aware that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and power, presumably at his baptism. They might know he went around doing good and healing those who were under the power of the devil. Peter and other disciples were first-row witnesses to all of this.
By the way, there’s another misconception that can emerge here. This touches on some really heavy duty theology. Let’s deal with some huge questions that took the church hundreds of years to hammer out and do it in a couple of paragraphs. Easy, right? Seriously, what was wrong with those other guys? Here’s the issue: does the fact that Jesus was anointed by the Spirit and did what he did “because God was with him” mean that he was not, in fact, God? Or does it mean that maybe he stopped being God while he was human? There’s a very influential pastor down in California who claims that Jesus “laid aside his divinity”, and he seems to draw that from passages like this and Philippians 2:7 which says that “Jesus made himself nothing” (another translation is “emptied himself”)…”being made in human likeness”.
But I think a better understanding is given by A.B. Simpson, who echoes some of the early church councils: “Jesus was truly the eternal God, very God of very God. But when He came down from yonder heights of glory He suspended the direct operation of His own independent power and became voluntarily dependent upon the power of God through the Holy Ghost…He purposely took His place side by side with us, heeding equally with the humblest disciple the constant power of God to sustain Him in all His work.” (For this quote and more on this issue, see https://www.samstorms.org/all-articles/post/kenotic-view) By the way, a clear tell that you’re reading someone from the 19th century is when they use the word “yonder”. But the main point is that Jesus did not lay down his divinity. He did not stop being God. Instead, somehow, he laid down the operation of His own independent power and chose to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit who had anointed him. In this, Jesus becomes an example to the rest of us, who need to rely on the power of God to sustain us and work through us. Like I said, easy, right?
Then Peter moves on to the death and resurrection of Jesus. On his death, he’s pretty brief. Cornelius already knows that Jesus died on a cross and Peter will explain later on what the death of Jesus accomplished. Here he’s focused on the facts, and the major fact that Cornelius needs to understand is that Jesus rose from the dead. Over and over again in the book of Acts, this is where the emphasis lies. How big of a role does it play in our own faith? In our own witnessing to others? Jesus rose from the dead. That means that Jesus, while having died an apparently shameful death, has been vindicated by God. It means that death has been overcome. It means that Jesus is the one you need to put your trust in. I’m not saying don’t talk about how Jesus died on the cross for people’s sins. Obviously that’s crucial. But in Acts, over and over again, the resurrection of Jesus is what’s especially pointed to. The resurrection tells us a myriad of things about the character and work of Jesus. People need to know this. And Peter is able to say, “Cornelius, I saw him. He wasn’t an illusion, a phantom, a warm feeling in my chest. I ate with him and drank with him after he rose from the dead, it was him.” Peter could even have told Cornelius, I am so sure about this I am willing to die for it. Because one day, he would, along with almost every one of those witnesses of the resurrection!
Finally, Peter tells Cornelius what came of all of this. Peter and others have been instructed to do exactly what Peter has just done: bear witness about Jesus. Like we said last week, when God makes Himself known, it’s not just so you can keep it to yourself. It’s to share. If I send my daughter to school with a birthday cake on her birthday, I’m going to be disappointed, and frankly a little worried, if I find out she ate the whole thing herself. There’s nothing better in parenting than sugar highs and vomiting, amen? No, that cake is meant to be shared! That’s Peter’s calling with the Gospel. Peter’s just joining in with the prophets of old in this task. And notice there are two primary things Peter, along with the prophets of old, testify about.
First, that Jesus has been appointed judge of the living and the dead (v.42). This is not what we normally talk about, is it? We modern Christians usually downplay any talk about judgment. We perceive that it’s been overemphasized in previous generations with preachers who were only fire and brimstone. We’re also concerned about our perception in the world today. We don’t want to seem judgmental, so we press the mute button on elements of Jesus that might not be entirely “nice” or otherwise easy for our culture to swallow. We do that because this is exactly the thing that many people find most objectionable about biblical faith: the conviction that God will actually judge me. That He will hold me accountable to the life He has called me and instructed me to live.
Modern Western people tend to be allergic to any authority. The only authority many people in our culture submit to is the authority that tells us exactly what we already think and believe. And so it is with God. Many people don’t believe in God not because of intellectual reasons but because of the implications for moral accountability. Aldous Huxley, the guy who wrote Brave New World, said he subscribed to a philosophy of meaninglessness- by which he meant his atheism- because it “was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was…liberation from a certain system of morality” (Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means).
However, this liberation from morality is also the cause of the evil and sin in the world. If you don’t have a judge, you don’t have true, ultimate accountability. If you don’t have accountability, you’ve got little reason to resist what is wrong and evil. I’ll never forget reading the theologian Miroslav Volf, whose native country Croatia had experienced the evil of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the ‘90s. Volf believed in non-violence, but said that only worked if you also believe in a God who will judge evil. He said that it takes the quiet of a suburban home to think that a non-judging God was good news, but that in a scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, that belief will invariably die (Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace). I imagine that for Ukrainian Christians, the news that perpetrators of the evil in their land will be held accountable by Jesus is a source of hope right now as well.
The New Testament, including right here in Acts 10, tells us that Jesus will judge, that we will come before him and give him an account of our lives. But Peter tells Cornelius something else. This is the second thing that he testifies about: that Jesus is not only Judge, He is Savior. He is the one who can forgive the very sins that would lead to our judgment. “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (V.43)
We will all stand before Jesus, the judge of the living and the dead. But for those who have trusted in him, the judge will declare a sentence of “innocent”. We will be acquitted. We will be told that the penalty for our crimes has already been paid in full. How and by whom? By the judge himself. Because of his great love and through his death on the cross, the judge himself has paid the penalty. Therefore, the judge himself can declare that those who receive him are innocent and righteous.
Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead. He will be your judge, regardless of your personal beliefs or preferences. His resurrection from the dead sealed that. But you have a choice: will he be your savior as well? This is for you today. As Peter now realized, Jesus does not just forgive the sins of Jews who trust in the Messiah. Jesus forgives the sins of all who believe in him, because all are on level ground before him. We are all humans, created and loved by God and yet mired in sin. He is the Christ and Lord of all, the risen one, the judge of the living and the dead, and the Savior of all who believe in him.
When you understand that, let me tell you, the blessings start flowing.
3. The result
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[b] and praising God. Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Acts 10:44-48
We’ll be a lot briefer here because we’ll talk about this more in the next section. Peter’s going to have to explain himself to the leaders in Jerusalem. People won’t be happy about what’s happened here. You went to a Gentile’s house! Gasp! You told a centurion about our good news? Double gasp! Here’s the scandal, though as Peter’s going to tell them, it’s not a scandal he initiated, it was God through and through. The scandal is that Cornelius and his household didn’t need to become Jewish to receive the same blessing that the Jewish believers had: the infilling of the Holy Spirit and the baptism into a new life in Christ. They didn’t have to change the way they dressed, or the language they spoke, or their circumcision status, or what animals they ate. They received all the same blessings, became full and equal participants, on the basis of faith in Jesus. That’s it.
And that’s what ties this all together. As a result of Peter and Cornelius meeting, the Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentiles. You may very well be a Gentile, and you are welcomed in! You have access to the blessings of God in Christ! That’s what the meeting of Peter and Cornelius led to! And in the outpouring of the Spirit, these transformed perspectives on humanity and God come together. Jesus, Christ and Lord, is the judge of all mankind and the savior of all who trust in him. Humans are on level ground, all equally in need of this salvation and equally invited into the same blessings of the Gospel.
So as you have entered into this meeting between these two men today, as you have met God in His word, may your vision of both humanity and Jesus be transformed as well. May you see yourself, see others, and most fundamentally see God not by the standards of the world. May you see not by what you wish to see or how your culture sees. May you see in accordance with the Scripture. May you see truly. May you see as God sees.
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