The Spirit Breaks Down Walls

The Initiator of Expansion

Tater tot casserole

Diet Mountain Dew

Stephen McWhirter

Red Rocks Worship

Butter pecan ice cream

the music of Hans Zimmer or John Williams

Snow blowing videos

The color blue

My Chili

My favorite things, inconsequential in the grand scheme.

The Spirit directs Philip to the desert road and prompts him to approach the Ethiopian eunuch. This shows divine initiative in crossing cultural and geographic boundaries. Philip doesn’t wake up thinking, “I’ll go evangelize an Ethiopian eunuch.” The Spirit sends him to a desert road—an unexpected place.

This man wanted to know God more fully. God saw his heart hunger and found a way to satisfy it. Notice the variety of means that God used to enable the conversion of this Ethiopian eunuch.

God used the means of divine miracle and human effort, and we must acknowledge them correctly.

At least twice, God gave Philip supernatural instructions toward the chariot (see 8:26, 29). At the end of the story, God miraculously whisked Philip away (8:39). There’s no doubt that God was at work in this situation. God, not Philip nor the Ethiopian, initiated this encounter. Yet, Philip needed to use his own power to walk from Jerusalem toward Gaza (8:26–27). He even needed to run to approach the chariot (8:30). God reached out to the Ethiopian, but gave Philip the opportunity to participate in the miracle. Philip could have refused. He could have seen the desert road as a waste of time or he could have rejected the risk of approaching the eunich, a person of higher social rank and class.

God’s servants must be ready to reach up for spiritual fruit as well as down.

In Acts 10:22 we hear the echo - Acts 10:22

Acts 10:22 HCSB

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.”

In the immediate text following verse 22, Peter and Cornelius go to Caesarea, there’s a weird exchange with Cornelius falling at his feet and worshipping, and then we read verses 28 and 29 Acts 10:28-29

Acts 10:28–29 HCSB

Peter said to them, “You know it’s forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner. But God has shown me that I must not call any person common or unclean. That’s why I came without any objection when I was sent for. So I ask: Why did you send for me?”

In both narratives, the Spirit is the active agent dismantling human boundaries and expanding the circle of inclusion. And in both narratives the people - Peter and Cornelius - are obedient to this leading. Are you? Am I? Are we? Are we the people who add seats to the dinner table? To the friend group?

The Focus of Inclusion

The Holman Christian Standard Bible Chapter 10

33 Therefore I immediately sent for you, and you did the right thing in coming. So we are all present before God, to hear everything you have been commanded by the Lord.”

The story of Cornelius opens our eyes to the focus of the early church on what belonging, acceptance, and inclusion are all about. In Acts 10, Cornelius’ prayers were heard and his acts of charity remembered by God. But then he is called to send someone to Joppa, the same shipping and transport city referenced in the book of Jonah to invite Simon Peter to come. And he does.

And then Peter preaches another sermon it seems. His message contains one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament regarding the character of God. Part of the problem is people don’t read it across and within the rest of the text, and sometimes they substitute words that aren’t there. We read in Acts 10:34-35

Acts 10:34–35 HCSB

Then Peter began to speak: “Now I really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him.

This favoritism business needs to be understood rightly because it impacts every area of our Christian life. You can have favorites, but not show favoritism. You can have long-standing relationships, and not show favoritism. As Lt. Amanda has shared multiple times from this pulpit in this series, there is no limit to God’s reach. The concept that Peter was speaking of in these verses in Acts 10 are derived from a phrase that means possessing an earnest but continued inspection, to look with wide-open eyes, and to look upon with intention, as if to say the person with this quality would have every reason to have favorites because they’ve been watching. So, God does not distinguish faces. God possesses this quality, and yet Peter says, He doesn’t show partiality or favoritism.

Why? Because to do so would require that the person being shown favoritism had done something or possessed something that would earn them something, and this would be an afront to the Biblical explanation of grace.

Peter, James, and John had a conversation with Jesus about who was the favorite disciple in John’s Gospel

A workman approved language -

My most important identity is not my name but my being loved by Jesus the Son of God.

The enduring question of inclusion is not if we’re acceptable to others but if we are acceptable to God.

These men would have been anything but favorites in God’s eyes if such a thing existed. Instead, Peter reminds us that the Ethiopian eunuch, the marginalized foreigner from Africa and the Roman gentile centurion with status outside the covenantal bond of Israel are accepted by faith.

Do you fear God and walks in righteousness? This is the command for us to follow in this text as a demonstration of God’s acceptance of you and I.

Visible Signs of Belonging

Are there? Are there signs of belonging that are exhibited by both the person being welcomed in and the ones doing the welcoming. Yes. There’s four of them.

Crowds don’t matter. In the story of Philip and the eunuch, there’s a baptism without a temple, a crowd, a ceremony, nothing. Just getting baptized and continuing on. We musn’t associate the requirement of a crowd or body to determine that belonging happens. One on one is sufficient.

There is a further outreach of Gospel. Acts 8:39

Acts 8:39 HCSB

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing.

Belonging creates a rejoicing spirit, and especially a spirit that rejoices in the proclamation of the Gospel and greeting new believers. Maybe you have a heart to go to a certain place to share the Gospel. Philip was confident in his going to Caesarea and because of his experience, he proclaimed the message of salvation.

3. God’s acceptance before human ritual. When we move into this space on Sunday mornings, it may feel like a ritual. I mean everyone has a system on Sunday morning in order to get here. You finish Sunday school, you get a bulletin from Jack, you find your seat. I’m talking about your heavenly perspective and your eternal understanding of belonging. God’s Holy Spirit moves before any of our rituals, traditions, or systems with the purpose being for us to recognize Him and do what He leads us to do.

4. Belonging is God’s gift, not human gatekeeping. Acts 10:43

Acts 10:43 HCSB

All the prophets testify about Him that through His name everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins.

The secret’s out, it’s been out, and it isn’t up to determine who is or isn’t worthy of hearing. If there was a table being prepared, and there was enough food and accessories, and someone showed up unexpected, what do you do?

There is a heavenly table already prepared, there is plenty of everything. But, nobody shows up at that table unexpectedly. Everyone there believed in the name of Jesus for salvation.

We are not the gatekeepers who determine who is worthy of entering God’s eternal kingdom.

My challenge to you is this:

Are you prepared to bring out more chairs to welcome someone new to the table?