Thursday 22nd May

Introduction

This morning we are particularly looking at the passage in Acts 11 where we see a significant change in the early church.

Up until chapter 10 in Acts, we have only seen the good news of Jesus being announced to Jewish believers. On Pentecost there were Jews in Jerusalem - they had gathered for the festival, and 3000 came to faith. After that there are different encounters with the Jewish people in Jerusalem and outside. Even the Ethiopian eunuch was a worshipper and came up to Jerusalem to worship.

So everyone we’ve encountered up until this point have been Jewish believers.

But at this point there is a huge shift.

Background

If you think about the New Testament, often there are issues in the early church about food and about circumcision. This is because of the Old Testament and all that God had done through the people of Israel.

The Israelites were called by God … if you think back to Abraham … God called him and told him to travel to a new land. God made his covenant with Abraham, and one of the signs of the covenant was circumcision - it was a marker commanded by God that was a sign of membership of the people of God. And there were many laws that God gave his people - and all of these were part of the covenant. It was huge that the God of the universe, the one God, the LORD, would choose a nation, and choose to save the entire human race through them, and to set them apart from the other nations, he gave them laws to live by, and he promised to dwell with them. Other laws included the food laws - which told them which food to eat and which food not to eat - and the reason was that eating some foods would make them unclean.

Peter even says in the previous chapters in Acts that ‘it is against our law for a Jew to associate with Gentiles or visit them.’

And I guess we might not think much about it if we’ve grown up in non-Jewish households - circumcision is not a thing and the only food and drink we might be told not to eat is something that we can’t because of allergies or because it might be not suitable for children - like alcohol. But it is a huge thing to say that one of the symbols of being part of the covenant people is not needed anymore.

What happens

And Peter needed a vision from God to tell him that this was ok.

And it happens step by step … Peter receives a vision about food … but the food is more than just food, it is symbolising the two different peoples - Jews and non-Jews. When God is saying ‘Kill and eat’ I guess it could be saying that there is no limit to what the people of God can now eat … so that could be part of the meaning of this passage, but I think the main thing is that it relates to the non-Jewish people that God was bringing to Peter at that moment.

God was saying, don’t call these people unclean whom I have called clean - because God already knew their hearts, he knew that they followed him, he had decided that they were righteous - and that is why he had spoken to them and told them to go to Peter so that they could hear the good news of Jesus for themselves.

And so, what happens is:

God speaks to Cornelius through an angel

God speaks to Peter through a vision

As Peter is trying to understand his vision, the interpretation comes through the arrival of Cornelius’ servants, and they share what God has revealed to Cornelius through an angel

So Peter goes to Cornelius’ house, and other circumcised believers go with him … and whereas before the vision, he would have not even entered his house, now Peter goes in because God has revealed to him that it is not the law that makes things clean or unclean, it is God. And God is telling Peter that these people are clean because they have faith in God like the Jews - so what makes you righteous is not observance of the commands of the law - i.e. what foods you eat or whether you are circumcised or not, but faith in God and in his son, Jesus Christ.

And then the Holy Spirit confirms this through coming on all those who were gathered in Cornelius’ house … and they spoke in tongues and praised God.

And what Peter and the other Jewish believers saw was that the Holy Spirit came on the non-Jews in exactly the same way as with the Jews - which meant that God was meeting with and saving both Jews and non-Jews in the same way. And so Peter said for the new believers to be baptised - which was the new sign of membership of the people of God.

It must have been fascinating seeing all of this play out in front of your eyes. Imagine if you were one of those

Conclusion