The Full Measure of Redemption
Jeff Holcomb
Because He Lives • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsRedemption of the common is one of the most unexpected consequences of Christ’s resurrection. Under the jurisdiction of the resurrection, there is nothing that is beyond grace.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Let verse 15 of the weekly text serve as the focal point for the passage: “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Other translations say “profane” instead of “common.” Preceding this portion of the text, Peter defends his holiness (a very Hebrew behavior) by saying that he could not, of course, eat the unclean animals, which would defile him. It was no wonder then why he was
befuddled and stubborn toward the voice from heaven instructing him to the contrary.
Peter’s focus here is on the outward act that shows holiness. His focus iis on the law and the look of the things rather than on the truth of the thing.
Put this in the context of what is going on with Gentiles vs Jews and Jesus pouring out His spirit upon people, not just the jew.
“The vision speaks not of abrogating rules but of cleansing … by pouring out the Spirit on Gentiles later in the narrative, God cleanses them” (Donald Juel, Luke– Acts: The Promise of History [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983], 105) There is this notion that there is a contradiction here, much like Jesus working healing on the Sabbath. But, just as Jesus then had a higher understanding, so here does the Spirit of God. There is no contradiction if the forbidden materials are no longer unclean and, therefore, no longer forbidden. Just as Jesus laid his hand on the untouchables of society, the Spirit now lays claim to the untouchables in all reaches of the earth.
For Peter, and for many converted Jews, this additional measure of cleansing was highly unexpected. Even up to the point of Jesus’s ministry, it seemed that God’s focus was on the Law. The disciples would have known—and Peter chiefly among them—that Jesus’s coming was “the children’s bread” and not for “dogs”
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
The concept of a kingdom of God that encompassed a redemption of the gentile alongside the Jew might have been difficult for many to conceive of—though hints of it exist throughout the Old Testament—but Jesus came for the whole world.
Earlier in Matthew 15, in verses 10–11,
And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
Jesus was already laying the groundwork for this understanding of holiness, telling the people that it isn’t what we eat that defiles us so much as what comes out of our mouths. Jesus’s focus is on the heart.
For example,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
his focus was less on the extreme step of sleeping with someone’s else spouse, but on the prior step of whether they harbored a covetous lust to do so (Matthew 5:27–30).
He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it (5:17).
This is the essence of this particular great change in our lives as a result of the resurrection. The burden is not upon us to act out the Law; the burden is on us to let God change our hearts, which will change our behavior (Romans 12:1–2).
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For those before the resurrection, holiness was found in acting out the Law. For us, holiness is found in fellowship with the one who is greater than the Law. Jesus now reaches to the very depths of creation, offering up redemption for the things, the people, the places that were previously viewed as “outside.”
We’ve probably all broken something before: perhaps a coffee mug, a plate, or our mother’s prized crystal swan. The general notion is that these things are beyond repair. What’s more, they’re dangerous! They have sharp edges and potential to injure us. As such, they aren’t just useless; they are a hazard and must be disposed of carefully. There is, however, an art of repair in Japan, called kintsugi. Artisans will take shattered objects and repair them using gold, silver, or another precious metal. These objects, then, are not just made useful again but made exceptionally more valuable. This is what God does with us and with all of creation, once thought “profane” (Sophia Smith, “The Japanese Art of Recognizing Beauty in Broken Things,” Make, August 17, 2015, https://makezine.com/article/craft/kintsugi-japanese-art-recognizing-beautybroken-things/).