Intro
At The Bridge, we have been going through the biblical book of Acts piece by piece. This is the book of the Bible that tells us the most about the early church and the work of the Holy Spirit in those first Christian communities. It’s probably my favorite book in the Bible and a major source of inspiration for us today. One reason is because the way forward, in the case of the church, is to continually be called back to the “first things”. It’s to be true to our origin story. It’s to be brought back to the same kind of mindset and the same kinds of commitments that characterized the early disciples. It might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the way forward is to go back. And whenever that’s happened in church history, whenever there has been a recovering of what set the early church apart, there has been renewal and growth.
Zooming in a bit, the last couple of weeks we’ve been talking about a particular element of this “origin story”: the interaction between Peter and Cornelius. If you missed it, you’re in luck, because Luke, the author of Acts, spends a lot of time on this. Chapter 10 (first part here and second part here) tells in detail how God brought about this meeting and then what happened at the meeting itself. In chapter 11, which we’re in today, Peter recounts everything that happened in chapter 10. In other words, I don’t need to give you much of the context, I don’t have to summarize everything, because Peter’s going to do it for us.
The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:5 “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. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ 8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. 11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesareastopped at the house where I was staying. 12 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. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a messagethrough which you and all your household will be saved.’ 15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 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?” 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Acts 11:1-18
1. New features in this telling
First off, let’s take note of a few elements here that add to the story of chapter 10.
The big one is obviously the setting. At some point after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his household, Peter travels to Jerusalem. The believers there have got wind of what’s happened. And they’re not sure what they think. Some are sure what they think, and it’s not good. They’re critical of Peter and his seemingly reckless embrace of Gentiles.
This is yet another good reminder that if God is at work and things are moving, there will always be opposition and pushback. I know I’ve said it again and again. If you’re like me, you want everyone to like you. You want things to go smoothly. You don’t like conflict and you try to avoid it. From a church perspective, though, just about the only church scenario where this happens is in a dead church. In a dead church, nobody cares enough to fight for anything. The passion has been sucked out of the place. And Satan’s quite happy with that. He doesn’t need to stir anything up because his job is already done. So as a student of church history and specifically the history of revival, I know that there is always, always, a countermovement. There are always people within the church who are frightened and try to stop a revival in its tracks. What you and I need to do is resolve to move with God, not against Him. There are some movements that are not of God and end up leading people astray. We need to discern that and rightfully push against them. But many other times, people resist and attempt to squelch something not because they’ve discerned that God is not in it, but because it violates their personal preferences or cultural traditions.
That’s the case here. What are the believers in Jerusalem hung up on? That Peter went into the house of an uncircumcised man and ate with him. As we said last week, there wasn’t even a direct command from the Scriptures about that. The taboo about eating in a Gentile’s home was based on distinctions made in the Old Testament. It was drawn from that, but there was nothing directly prohibiting it. And by focusing so much on what was essentially a cultural practice, the Jewish believers were guilty of the same thing Jesus had criticized the Pharisees of his day for: they were straining gnats and swallowing camels (Matthew 23:34).
Again, may we beware of this in ourselves. May we keep the mission of God so forefront in our minds that we are willing to lay down our personal preferences and cultural traditions if it better allows us to make Jesus known to those who don’t know him. May we be devoted to holiness without becoming legalistic. May we keep the main thing the main thing. And if you struggle with this, take heart. By the end of this text, God has done a work in the hearts of these believers. They are able to see that the Lord is in fact directing this movement and they are able to embrace it and celebrate with Peter. If your heart is open to change, the Holy Spirit can bring about transformation.
At the same time, take note that while the Jewish believers’ initial criticism turns out to be ill-founded, the early church was not a dictatorship. Just because Peter was with the Lord from the beginning and was probably the church’s foremost leader in those days doesn’t mean he had carte blanche to do anything he wanted to. It was shared leadership, and it was accountable leadership. I have heard many stories, including from some of you about previous church experiences, of pastors who abused their power. One of the things I appreciate and value in a Baptist church is that there is a system in place that mitigates against that. I am accountable to our board and our elders, who are elected by the membership of the church. Major decisions are not made by me, but by the membership of the church. I’m not saying Baptists have got everything right, just that we’ve gotten it more right than everyone else! (Just kidding!)
That’s the setting. Peter also adds a couple of interesting details I want to touch on before we ask what I think is the big question. One is that Peter tells the believers that he wasn’t alone: he traveled to Cornelius’ with six other men. This is important because through the Scriptures, the principle of having multiple witnesses is emphasized. In 2 Corinthians 13:1, Paul quotes Deuteronomy: “every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” This is also probably why Jesus sends the disciples on a short-term mission trip in pairs- the multiplicity of witnesses is important (Luke 10). In Acts, the groundbreaking Gentile mission is so important that we don’t just have 2 or 3 witnesses, we have 7!
I cannot make the point often enough that we are not to follow Jesus in isolation from others. We are created to do this in community. If you are not a believer but are asking questions and interested, it might feel overwhelming to need to figure this out. You might feel terrified about attempting this Christianity thing. There’s a lot to say about that, but here’s one thing: you’re not in it alone! In Christ, you become part of a family of brothers and sisters who come alongside you, pray for you, encourage you, teach you, and so on. And if you are a believer, you might feel overwhelmed at the prospect of serving the Lord and making Jesus known. It’s intimidating! But you’re not in it alone! You weren’t meant to attempt this by yourself. You are called to serve together, to witness together, to make Jesus known together. Christian faith, and human life in general, is meant to be done in community.
And the final thing to note before we talk about the big question is a phrase the believers use at the very end of the text. They praise God that even to Gentiles He “has granted repentance that leads to life.” I want to touch briefly on the word “repentance”, especially in relation to Cornelius. Cornelius is portrayed in chapter 10 as pretty much the best. This was not some down and out trainwreck. He was successful in a worldly sense- the guy was a Roman centurion with 100 men under his command. But instead of letting that get to his head, he devoted his life to prayer. He gave generously to the poor. Every indication is that this man was a humble, loving, open-hearted man who people admired and respected. His heart was soft towards God. And yet his faith in Jesus and reception of the Holy Spirit is described as “repentance”. When we think of repentance, we usually think of someone who has been doing bad things and they stop doing bad things. But that’s actually one or two steps downstream from repentance. Repentance starts with a change of thinking, and specifically with a change of thinking about God. Repentance for Cornelius started with a change in how he thought about God, because he now understood that God’s purposes and plan for salvation had been fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus, who is Lord over all, the judge of the living and the dead, and the one in whom is forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:42-43).
You can try to repent all you want. But if it’s not grounded in a change of thinking about God, so that your thoughts align with what the Scriptures say about the full revelation of God in Christ Jesus, it’s not going to lead to real, abundant life.
All right, with those considerations in mind, let’s ask the big question about this text. Why is it here? Is that your question? It’s mine! Remember, parchment in the ancient world was expensive. Writers had to be economical with what they wrote. So why does Luke spill so much ink on this one story, giving us so much detail and then essentially retelling the story here in chapter 11? And of course if the Scriptures are inspired by God, which I believe they are, why does God emphasize this encounter to such an extent?
2. Why? Because it’s so important
I think there are two reasons. The first is obvious, but it deserves exploring: clearly Luke, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us so much about this story because it is that important. What this story represents is that central to the story of the early church.
And what does this story represent? It represents a Gentile Pentecost. When we talk about Pentecost, we’re usually talking about what happens in Acts 2. The disciples had witnessed the resurrected Jesus. They had been taught by him for 40 days after his resurrection. He then ascended to the Father in heaven, but not before telling them that they were to wait in Jerusalem until power came on them from on high. They go to Jerusalem, spend 10 days in continual prayer, and suddenly there’s a sound like a violent rushing wind. Tongues like fire descend on them and they are filled with the Spirit. They boldly begin speaking to the crowds, who are curious about the sights and sounds. The disciples tell them about Jesus, but what comes out of their mouths are different languages that they’ve never learned before, but languages that those crowds speak. This leads to an explosion in the early church as many believe their testimony about Jesus and are baptized and filled by the Spirit.
Pentecost in Acts 2 was something that could have been anticipated by readers of what we call the Old Testament. Especially passages like Joel 2:28-29: “and afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Peter quoted that text in Acts 2. He and others believed that was the fulfillment of God’s promises. And that was probably the only Pentecost they expected. Evidently, most of the early Christians believed that if the Spirit was going to come on Gentiles or Samaritans, it would be because they first became Jewish. They had to cross that barrier first. Then they could get the blessing of the Spirit. After all, the text says “your” sons and daughters and “my” servants- to Jewish ears, that means Jewish.
But as I said last week, what happens in Acts 10 destroys that idea. After all, Joel 2 starts by saying God will pour out His Spirit on all people. So Cornelius and those in his household don’t have to become Jewish. They don’t get circumcised, they don’t pledge to stop eating non-kosher food, they don’t take Hebrew lessons. The Spirit is poured out on them right then and there on the basis of faith in Jesus. And what’s really, really clear from the text, especially in Acts 11:15, is that this isn’t a different Holy Spirit experience than what the disciples got in Acts 2. It’s not like when you get a game on your phone for free, and it comes with 2 basic levels, but if you really want the full version then you need to pay up, you need to put some skin in the game. Spoken from the experience of a father of a five year old.
The Gentiles don’t get a “basic” version of the Spirit that could be upgraded if they put some skin in the game and become Jewish. The same Spirit, the same outpouring, evidenced by the same sign– speaking in tongues.
By the way, a bit of a side note: this doesn’t mean that being filled with the Spirit inevitably means that you will speak in tongues, whether that’s in other previously unlearned languages or a kind of heavenly dialect. That’s what some have believed, that true filling of the Spirit results in the gift of tongues. Which has led to some awkward prayer sessions where someone is determined to get you speaking in tongues, otherwise your faith is almost null. We’ll talk more about that in our series on spiritual gifts after Easter. The point here, historically, is exactly what we’ve just been saying: in Acts 10, the Gentiles speak in tongues just like the Jews did in Acts 2 to show that it’s the same Holy Spirit in both cases.
And because the divine marker of the Holy Spirit comes equally on the Gentiles as He did on the Jews, Peter gives them the same human initiation into the body of Christ as the Jewish believers had received: water baptism. That’s what Peter says in Acts 10:46-47. If they’ve received the Spirit on the basis of faith, we may as well baptize them on the same basis! No hoops to jump through, just saving faith in Christ. That’s the pre-condition for baptism!
I really think it’s hard for us to understand how revolutionary this moment was. We take it for granted that the Gospel is good news to all on the basis of faith, with no regard for ethnic or cultural background. But maybe it helps to think about the state of affairs if this wasn’t the case, if God hadn’t broken this barrier.
“What ifs” have limited use, but they can help us grow in gratitude for what is. I’ve been thinking something similar recently in relation to our church, The Bridge. I think a lot of us have taken for granted the blessings we have received as a church in this place over the last year. I think most of us sense this excitement and momentum in our church, we think God is doing good things and we see growth in all kinds of ways. But I’ve wondered recently what would have happened if we hadn’t moved into this new building last summer. What if we were still meeting at CapU, where we were before the pandemic? Tucked away with little visibility, no home of our own? Most churches have seen people leave, people who were on the margins disconnect, many people staying at home and watching online. We’ve had all that too. And if we didn’t have a major influx of new people, I think we’d feel very much like a church in decline. Our children’s ministry may have felt decimated. Our giving may have been significantly down. It’s not hard to imagine a situation where there would be little excitement or joy in coming together. Again, I think that is the case in some churches.
Instead, by God’s grace, we are in a completely different place. There is growth, there’s momentum, kids are taking over this place! We’ve had so, so many people connect with us and become part of this church over the last year. And many of those people have come, at least at first, because they saw the building. They recognized that there was a church rooted in their community. In my perception, God has used this building in ways that I frankly did not dream of or anticipate. So we take these blessings for granted. But when you consider what could very well have been the case if we hadn’t had this new building to move into, it fills you with awe and gratitude.
The point isn’t that this is some new Pentecost on the scale of Acts 2 or Acts 10. But I do believe if you think about how things could have been, it gives you perspective on how things actually are. If the status quo hadn’t changed in terms of Jew-Gentile relations, the Gospel would have spread beyond the Jewish world very slowly. There would have been all kinds of barriers erected, all kinds of cultural and ethnic hoops to jump through even if someone heard the news about Jesus and believed. It would almost certainly not have become the dominant faith in the Roman Empire. You almost certainly would have had far less missionary zeal, Gentile converts happening almost more by accident than anything else. And hey, many people believe that Christian faith has been responsible for much evil in the world, and it’s true that people have done stuff in the name of Jesus that is reprehensible. But it’s also true that hospitals, universities, human rights, abolition of slavery, and modern science itself can all be traced in various ways to Christian faith. Christian faith transformed a Roman world that exalted death and brutality. None of that likely happens unless Acts 10 happens.
Obviously, that’s not what God intended. Thank God. Thank God that you and I were not stuck in our sin, without hope and without God in the world, but that because the word was preached to us, we have been brought near to Him. Thank God that because of what He did in Acts 10, believers have gone to every culture, every tribe, every people group, every language, and told them about salvation in Christ. Acts 10 is a huge landmark in that development. It’s of monumental significance. That’s why Luke focuses so much on it.
3. Why? To show it’s from God
And there’s a second reason connected with that. Luke, inspired by the Spirit, retells the story a couple of times not only because it’s so important, but because it’s important to show that this was a God thing all the way. This wasn’t a human innovation.
This is Peter’s emphasis. First, he talks about the vision he received on the roof regarding the sheet with the animals. Who gave him the vision? God did! It was the voice of Jesus telling him to kill and eat, instructing him that he was no longer to call food impure or unclean. Then he talks about the invitation to visit Cornelius. Who arranged that meeting? Not Peter! He wasn’t seeking this out! Neither was Cornelius! The Spirit told Peter to go with the men Cornelius sent, and an angel had appeared to Cornelius and instructed him to send for Peter.
Then he talks about how the Holy Spirit came. I love this. Peter says “as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them”. As I began to speak. As in, Peter was going to say more but the Holy Spirit interrupted him! Same thing in 10:44, “while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message”. You’ve maybe witnessed people trying to manipulate the Holy Spirit. They attempt to create an atmosphere and a mood and get people to feel something. There’s nothing wrong with dimming the lights and playing good music. But as Jesus says in John 3:8, the wind- and the word there can also be translated as Spirit- the wind blows wherever it pleases. This wasn’t Peter’s plan, it wasn’t something he was trying to make happen, he just told them about Jesus and bam! They were baptized with the Spirit!
And then Peter reminds them of what Jesus himself had said. In retrospect, as we mentioned from the prophet Joel, this could have been anticipated. Jesus told them that people would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and evidently he has now seen fit to do this with Gentiles too. In other words, Peter tells them, if you want to be upset at someone because your sense of propriety and cultural privilege have been violated, be upset at Jesus! It was His idea!
And this is what persuades the believers in Jerusalem. They are not persuaded because Peter has shown them a bunch of bar graphs that display projections for future growth now that the Gentiles are in. Guys, we can increase giving 75%, come on! We could build a huge cathedral in Rome and name it after me! They are persuaded because they see that this is God’s will, that He is being glorified, that this is all His initiative, not Peter’s. Luke tells the story in detail, and retells it here through Peter, because it is so important that we understand that. That the early believers understood this. This important, monumental movement has been prompted by God Himself.
The bottom line is this: things go better when they are prompted by God. This is true of the church and it is true of individuals. We all tend to develop our own plans and visions and push, push, push to make them a reality. But if those visions are not initiated by God, they will come up empty. It’s going to be tough. I don’t mean that if you are faithful to God’s initiative, there won’t be any hurdles or hardship. What I mean is that if it’s your thing, those hardships will destroy you. If it’s God’s thing, those hardships will strengthen you and bear fruit in and through you.
When I finished grad school at Regent College, I wanted to become a lead pastor. I have no doubt that the desire to preach and lead was from God, but I had my vision of where and when that would happen. So I applied for a bunch of opportunities, but no doors opened. Instead, a church in southwest Vancouver was looking for a half-time youth pastor for one year. I reasoned that even though I couldn’t picture myself doing youth ministry anymore, I could pass the time for one year. Even still, it was a tough pill to swallow that this was what God wanted me to do, which it seemed to be, and I fought him all the way. I believed I was to take on a more “senior” role!
Regardless, I was hired on, and pretty quickly the position became a full-time associate role. This church had an interesting structure for their services. They had three Sunday morning services, and two of them were at the same time. There was a bi-lingual English/Mandarin service in the sanctuary at the same time as a contemporary service in the gym, usually made up of 40-50 Filipinos. That’s one thing I miss: every Sunday was basketball and Filipino food. We’re playing basketball these days at the Bridge, but it’s been a while since I had pancit! Anyway, you always needed two preachers, and so as a young associate pastor, I preached almost every week. Who gets that opportunity? To have that many opportunities to grow as a preacher without having the load and responsibility of being a lead pastor? I got a lot of bad sermons out of the way!
Then the pastor of that church retired, and I applied to be the new lead pastor of the church. Because that’s what I wanted. I was going to make this happen. The problem was that the leadership of that church didn’t agree! It was a very traditional and in some ways complex church with an aging population and they saw, wisely, that I wouldn’t be a good fit. Another door closed! And then I saw an opening at a church called The Bridge in North Van. When I saw it, I remember clearly that it was like my heart leapt up into my throat. It was an undeniable sense of calling. I had always imagined that I would end up in a place with more sun, even Tsawwassen or something. However, all the way through the process with the search committee, it was clear to me God was bringing this about. As I’ve shared recently, it wasn’t always easy! But now, 5 years later (my first Sunday as pastor was April of 2017), I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Again, the desire I had was from God. But I was trying to push my own agenda and timing on Him, and that is never a recipe for success.
Things go better when it is not us initiating things and asking God to respond, but when it is God initiating and us responding to Him. What’s clear in Acts 10-11 is that this is exactly what happened with the Gentile believers.
Conclusion
Let’s wrap this up by saying that what I’ve just said about life in general is especially true of salvation. The reality is that when we try to save ourselves, there is no fruit. But God has taken initiative, and has done something none of us could have imagined: Jesus has paid for our sins by laying down his own guiltless, sinless life on the cross. And so forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit and entry into God’s family is not by ethnicity. It doesn’t come by good works. It doesn’t come by worldly status. It comes by faith in Jesus. This is the good news that came to Cornelius, and it is the good news that comes to you today. Christ has done it all, your call is to respond to His loving and saving initiative by faith.
