Acts 10_09-23 A Promise Kept (2)_Preparing Peter

Read Acts 10:9-23 – Our series is a promise kept – that being God’s promise to Abe way back in Gen 12:3 “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That promise was ultimately fulfilled when Jesus as died to save anyone regardless of race, color or creed. At that moment the promise was paid in full. But ten years into the church age, there is virtually no outreach to “all the families of the earth” – Gentiles! But that is about to change as God.

This requires huge changes in attitude. In Tom Sawyer, Tom informs the outcast Huck Finn he can’t join Tom’s gang. Huck says, “Now Tom, hain’t you always been friendly to me? You wouldn’t shet me out, would you, Tom?” Tom replies, “Huck, I wouldn’t want to, and I don’t want to—but what would people say? Why they’d say, ‘Mph! Tom Sawyer’s Gang! Pretty low characters in it!’ They’d mean you, Huck. You wouldn’t like that, and I wouldn’t’” Early Jewish Xns were like that! They didn’t want any unclean Gentiles in their club. So God by sending Peter to the Gentile Cornelius.

In Acts 9 we’ve just met Paul who is slated to be the special apostle to the Gentiles. So why not Paul going to Cornelius; why Peter? Well, Peter is the earthly leader of the church. Without his involvement Gentiles would never have been accepted, and even he gets resistance. Paul will eventually gain huge authority, but right now, he’s a newcomer. Peter needs to open the door.

But there’s an even more compelling reason. Jesus once said to Peter in Mt 16: 18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Many interpretations have been given to the “keys” here – some pretty convoluted and involving the church, in some way, having this extraordinary authority.

I think the simplest interpretation is that Peter alone was given those keys. When Jesus says, “I will give you the keys”, “you” is singular. It is said to Peter to the exclusion of anyone else. I think Jesus was giving Peter the awesome responsibility to ensure the gospel going to all people. That started at Pentecost when Peter was the first to preach to the Jewish people – those from Jerusalem, and other places who heard the gospel of JC in their languages – symbolic of the Lord’s intention. Later, as the gospel spread to Samaria – half breeds – the HS didn’t come until Peter and John showed up. What Peter loosed on earth was loosed in heaven. And now, tho he doesn’t know it, he is about to use the final key to open the door to the Gentiles. Jews to half-Jews to Gentiles. But God had to prepare Peter for that. Here’s how!

I. The Perplexing Vision

Houses often had an outside stairway accessing a flat roof for cooler sleeping on hot nights, and privacy and relaxation at other times. Peter goes up about noon to pray. As he waited for lunch he fell into a trance. He saw something like a great sheet was descending from heaven with all kinds of animals on it. and 13 “And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

Peter was horrified. Why? Bc the animals were a mix of clean and unclean, and Peter had been taught from childhood never to eat an unclean animal. It was part of God’s Law. Lev 20:25-26: “You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.” That was Peter’s training. Thus, 17 “Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean.” He can’t figure it out, but he is appalled by the suggestion that he kill and eat. Hungry as he is, this would not be right.

We know this was an object lesson. The 4 corners represent the 4 corners of the earth; the animals represent people – both Jews (clean to Peter) and Gentiles (unclean). We see where this was headed. Peter didn’t get it at all – but he should have gotten it. He just hadn’t been paying attention.

Jesus had lifted the OT food restriction. It was intended by God to teach the toddler nation of Israel that God is holy and His chosen people needed to be holy as well. The animals were a physical reminder. With Christ’s coming and a growing knowledge of the ways of God, the need for such picture book training was over. Jesus taught his disciples it is what is already inside a person that defiles him, not what he eats. Mark 7:18b: “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” It’s not food that defiles, but what is harbored in the heart. Peter heard all of this and should have known the restrictions on food had been lifted by Jesus Himself.

He was perplexed because he hadn’t listened. But it can happen to us as well. Who is it we wouldn’t touch? Who would be underserving of our help and love? I’ll never forget David Platt’s telling in Radical of being with some deacons at a church where he spoke, telling the leaders about his ministry in the inner city of NO where evil is rampant. One deacon said, "David, I think it’s great you are going to those places. But if you asked me, I would just as soon God annihilate all those people and send them to hell." Such an attitude can only come from not hearing what Jesus is saying. We must not go there.

II. The Puzzling Response

So, Peter is told “kill and eat.” His response? “By no means, Lord.” I like the KJV: “Not so, Lord.” It’s polite phraseology. But the intent is devastating. As Graham Scroggie wrote: “You can say, ‘Not so’, or you can say, ‘Lord’, but you cannot say, ‘Not so, Lord.’” Those words are an oxymoron -- like jumbo shrimp or lead balloon or random order. They can’t go together. We can either rebel at God’s commands: “Not so.” Or we can submit: “Lord.” But you can’t have it both ways, like Peter is trying to do. His is polite – rebellion!

We might say, “Perhaps Peter doesn’t know it’s God.” But even he addresses the voice as “Lord!” Further, the voice says, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This clarifies that it is God speaking and further clarifies that He has now declared clean what earlier had been unclean.

Peter had to know God legislated in 2 ways in the OT. Some laws reflected His character and could never change – universal moral laws – like the Ten Commandments. Other laws were temporary pixs, illustrating various aspects of salvation – God’s holiness; man’s sinfulness and the need for redemption. These ended when Christ came, fulfilling their intent in His own person as the ultimate Israel. This included the dietary laws, which Peter should have known. Peter was very likely the apostolic voice behind the gospel of Mark – the only gospel to include the passage we referenced earlier! Yet three times after the Lord says, “What God has made clean, do not call common,” Peter says, “No so, Lord.” Peter didn’t do anything by half measures!

Now, the vision was not about animals but people. Peter hadn’t yet grasped that. But that does not excuse his disobedience. “Not so” and “Lord” simply don’t go together. King Saul learned that the hard way. He’d been king for 2 years when he had to fight the Philistines. He was told to wait at Gilgal for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice prior to battle, but the people got restless, Saul got nervous, and despite knowing kings were forbidden to perform priestly tasks, we find I Sam 13:9: “So Saul said, ‘Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.’ And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul made his excuses, but to no avail. I Sam 13:13: “And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue.” Not only did he lose the kingdom, but this set a pattern for his life, later repeated with the Amalekites. Saul came to a pitiful end. “Not so, Lord”, is dangerous language. Peter should have known better; so should we!

III. The Pointed Clarification

So Peter is perplexed, but he gets clarification from two sources that God often uses -- circumstances and the Holy Spirit. 17) “Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18) and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there.” Just as the vision ends, Cornelius’s messengers arrive, and they not only arrive, they ask for him by name knowing he is just “lodging” there; it’s not his permanent home. They explain all that happened to Cornelius, leaving no doubt God is superintending things.

Here’s truth to live by. Every circumstance in life is a message from a very involved God. There are no wasted events. We may waste them by failure to listen, but that doesn’t negate God’s good intention. When Jonah was running from God and the great storm came up, he knew – it wasn’t happenstance. Joseph begged his brothers not to sell him into Egyptian slavery. But he later gained God’s perspective and told his brothers in Gen 45:7, “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” Circumstances are never just circumstances.

Now, circumstances can be misread. So Peter had the confirming testimony on the HS. 19) “And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20) Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” When perplexed, seek the guidance of God’s Spirit. How exactly Peter heard the HS we don’t know. Audible voice or vision? Possibly. But I suspect it was the same way we hear Him. Peter had the trance, which equates to the Word of God in our life. Then the men showed up. At some point he had to realize the vision wasn’t about animals primarily, but about people. And here stood a contingent of Gentiles at his doorstep, clearly sent by God. I don’t imagine it took a lot of prayer to get confirmation from the Spirit that this was all of God.

A young boy picked up an academic book that his father had just written. After examining some, the boy asked, “Dad, do you understand any of this?” Life can leave us feeling that way. But God assures us in I Cor 2:11, “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” So, being absorbed in the Word, and seeking the leading of the HS is the one way to know God’s guidance in our lives. Peter had that, and that’s why God urges, Isa 55:6: “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.” Honestly seek Him out. He’ll not leave you stranded.

IV. The Prompt Obedience

We don’t know when all this clicked in Peter’s mind. We do know against everything he’d been taught, and against every inclination of his heart, he was instantly obedient. He invited the Gentiles to stay as guests. And he is staying in the home of a tanner, considered unclean by Jews bc of their work with dead animals – an unthinkable act for a kosher Jew. The walls are coming down. And the next morning, off Peter goes, up the coast to Caesarea to see a Roman Gentile. Had he refused, he’d have failed to be part of God’s great plan to implement the promise made so long ago to Abe. But by obeying, even something this hard, he put himself squarely in the blessing of God.

Conc – And so the gospel is on its way to a Gentile audience. Peter’s learning, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” And we’re left with the question, have we learned the same lesson? Or are there those we look down upon – those we would find it difficult to welcome to our fellowship. What or who are we calling common that God wants to make clean?

I read once of a lady who lived on the “wrong side of the tracks”, but who wanted to join a fashionable church. She talked to the pastor who took one look at her and suggested she go home and think carefully for a week – clue one of a problem on his part. But she did so and returned still interested. This time he suggested, “Well, let’s not be too hasty. Go home, read your Bible every day and we’ll see.” Once again she returned assuring him she still wanted to join. So he suggested she go home and pray diligently about it all week. This time he didn’t see her again until he ran into her six months later at a store. He asked why she had not returned. She said, “I did what you asked. I went home and prayed and the Lord said to me, ‘Don’t worry about getting into that church. I’ve been trying msyelf to get into it for the last twenty years!”

It’s so easy to become elitist and not even know it. So, we need to ask, Who is it we don’ want in our club. What interests are we protecting? What walls have we erected that God is trying to break down? We must insure that God would never have reason to say to us, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Let’s pray.

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