Untitled Sermon (19)

A Commitment to Unity

The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the roof about noon. 10 He became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. 12 In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. 13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything impure and ritually unclean.” 15 Again, a second time, the voice said to him, “What God has made clean, do not call impure.” 16 This happened three times, and suddenly the object was taken up into heaven. 

One of the most famous speeches of a president took place at the Bradenburg gate in June 1987—then president Reagan delivered one of the most famous lines which is considered a defining moment of the cold war.

Reagan’s speech was a direct challenge to the soviet leader—Michail Gorbachev where he said: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall.

Two years after the speech, in November 1989 the wall came down and over the years, although there is still much work to be done—we have seen walls of division and separation fall.

Some of the walls are symbolic like racial and social separation. The end of Jim Crow laws in the mid 20th century. The end of Apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990’s represents the dismantling of legal and social wall that enforced division.

There are walls of religious and cultural hostility—the Bible is clear about breaking down walls of hostility, pride, bitterness and fear that divide us as individuals and communities.

Disunity is not new. When you read your Bible you will discover there was deep hate—and walls were put up to keep certain people out. Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Romans did not care for Jews and the relationship between Jews and Gentiles was marked by both significant differences and periods of tension as it related to religious and cultural practices. 

The Jews viewed Gentiles as unclean due to their different practices. And one thing I have discovered is we are not that different—we have more in common than we do different, but a lot of walls are put up based on perceived otherness—and historical animosity, but I believe if the church gets back to the Bible—together we can tear down walls of separation.

We have come a long way, but Sunday is still known as the most segregated day of the week—there are still walls that the church ought to be actively tearing down. Umm, Jesus in His High Priestly prayer—prayed that we might be one as He and the Father are one.

Over in 1 Corinthians Paul said unity is achieved through love, humility and striving for peace. The church needs unity among the body because we are stronger together. Unity is a witness to the world and if we are going to grow spiritually there must be unity.

I also believe the Great Commission is the means by which walls can be torn down—the Great Commission emphasizes the creation of a new unified community in Christ. A community of followers of Christ that transcends old boundaries like race, culture, or social status.

The Great Commission is interesting in light of Acts 10 because this episode takes place after the Risen Lord commissioned His disciples to go into the all the world and make disciples. Jesus told them go into all the world—which is inclusive of everyone and let me say this—there will not be unity among the body of Christ until everyone is welcome at the table.

The table analogy fits here because our tables are by invite only—everybody does not get to sit at our tables—it’s by invite and invites are only extended to select folk and that is what is happening in the church there are folk who are made to feel unwelcome.

This is why the text is so important in the time we are living in—with so much division, hatred, and prejudice toward the ones Jesus said go and make disciples.

God does the selecting—you can read that in verses 1-16 and the way Peter responds to God’s selection is indicative of there condition of the church that still exists today.

Look at the text—it is important to note in the first chapter the Risen Lord says: You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria. Already mentioned is the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch—the conversion of Saul which extend the scope of the Gospel and also anticipates the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus would be a light for revelation to the Gentiles.

And in the text before us—Luke narrated both the revelation of the light to a Gentile household, but also Luke includes how the church resists that development. The text shows how the church resists change and diversity. The text unfolds with the first scene with Cornelius’s vision verses 1-8.

The second scene Peter also has a vision verses 9-16 and in Peter’s vision Luke says Peter became hungry and wanted to eat—just then he saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet toward the earth. In it were all the four footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the sky—a voice said, Rise Peter, kill and eat.

1st we need to see the container lowered offered both clean and unclean animals. Peter could have easily chosen from the clean animals, but the text is suggestive and as it unfolds we discover Peter’s rejection of the animals parallels his rejection of Gentiles. And let me say this cause it is difficult to grasp the gulf between Jews and Gentiles.

Even in the Old Testament we can see God had a purpose even among hostile nations. By choosing and blessing one family God intended to bless all the families of the earth, but what happened was Israel twisted the doctrine of election into a doctrine of favoritism—and they became filled with racial pride, hatred—they despised Gentiles as dogs and they developed traditions that kept them apart.

And it is against this backdrop that God is at work and it is not difficult to see in the verses how disturbing it is for something like hatred to be named among God’s people.

John wrote in his epistle asking a basic, but logical question: If you cannot love a person you have seen, how can you claim to love God whom you have not seen.

It is a contradiction—the two are incompatible. You cannot love God and leave room for hating others. If we are going to be conformed to His image the we must recognize what is incompatible with Jesus—and if we are to love like Jesus we must see people as Jesus does—because it is our oneness that makes our witness believable.

Here is something else I want us to see that loving like Jesus and seeing people as Jesus does is an ongoing lesson. Peter had walked with Jesus. He witnessed Jesus compassion—Peter saw how a touch from Jesus changed lives. He saw how Jesus’ love extends to everyone—and still, Peter is still learning to love like Jesus, but what is so good about the text—Peter is willing to learn. He is willing to have his worldview challenged, because what the Lord desires to accomplish happens through us and we cannot accomplish His will or desire for people to be saved until we change our views of the people we are called to minister.

There’s a second thing: in verses 23-29. Unity Must be Pursued

Notice with me, after Peter’s resistance he invites those from the other side of the tracks to lodge with him. This is huge—it’s a step in the right direction of tearing down a long standing wall between Jews and Gentiles.

Unity requires us to actively participate—the goal is unity not uniformity—it is not forced conformity, but unity is achieved through a commitment to a common goal.

Again, when reading Jesus’ prayer in John 17—you will discover unity is the goal. Jesus prayed that we might be one and I want us to imagine how important this goal is for Jesus to include it in His prayer. It is important because Jesus also said we are to be salt and light—distinctively different. We are to be His hands and His feet striving side by side for a common goal—umm, working together toward shared goals—striving for the faith of the Gospel:

Philippians 1:27 he said: Just one thing: As citizens of heaven live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the Gospel. 

I want to mention to us that Unity is Oneness of Purpose—if we are to have an impact in the community there must be a spirit of unity—and that is important: Walking in the Spirit is how unity is achieved because it is the Spirit of God that empowers us to overcome division.

Over in 1st John again: one of the things John says about unity is that to pursue unity is to walk in the light. Unity will not be achieved by walking in darkness—John reminds the reader that our Salvation and fellowship with one another are greatly tied together—if we are walking in the light, we should also be unified with one another.

Notice in the text Peter has already put a crack in the wall by inviting Gentiles to lodge with him. Peter’s example is one of humility. Unity will not be achieved without humility.

Peter’s example is one of humility. Humility recognizes our own limitations and places value on others and in a basic sense—in order to pursue unity Peter must recognize that he is not better than any other and that he has his own faults and failures.

Umm, humility will bring us to the recognition that we can’t do it all on our own—and we need each other—Cornelius sends for Peter who is a Jew—they both had to humble themselves—cause if we are going to do the work of the church then we must humble ourselves—walk in the Spirit and pursue unity.

The world is in a mess—the devil is having a field day and here we are too often pursuing only what interest us, but this text teaches much about pursuing humility with the coming together of Peter and the Gentiles. And notice in verses 28-29 you see the wall coming down further—On one hands Peter regards association with these Gentiles as unthinkable, but on the other hand he said God has shown him that he must mot call anyone profane or unclean and what Peter does in these verses is connect the vision with the situation cause it is God who decides what and who is clean.

I like this cause if we are going to reflect God’s divine purpose then we must recognize—put into practice Unity—because unity is part of God’s plan for us—I told us already Jesus prayed in John 17—that we might be one just as He and the Father are one. Umm, it’s a goal—Unity is a goal. A common goal we are to be pursuing everyday.

You recall in the movie, Pursuit of Happiness. The movie based on the life of Chris Gardner—the movie centers around one goal—success. The movie chronicles his journey from homelessness to becoming a successful stockbroker and when I watched it I got tired of seeing him running around with those gadgets, but I discovered he wasn’t just running around he was running toward a goal and he didn’t care how his pursuit of his goal looked to anyone else.

That’s another reason this text is important because Peter must do what the Lord has said for unity no matter how it may look to others who don’t feel the same way.

Well, I’m done: My last point A Commitment to unity requires seeing everyone the same.

This last point is extremely important—We talked before about the challenge of walking with Jesus and one of those challenges is seeing people the way Jesus sees them. Because if we are to minister—if we are to go into all the world making disciples it can only be done through living and loving like Jesus.

John 3:16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall everlasting life. God proved His love by sending His Son and when Jesus was raised He commissioned His disciples to go into all the world—which is a testimony of our love for Him.

Look at the text—I want us to notice some of the words and phrases Luke uses to describe what takes place when Peter arrives.

This is no light matter—Jews and Gentiles have come together. Depending on your translation beginning in verse 28—they accompanied each other. They were called together—they talked with each other and they were together cause when walls come down—people that just previously couldn’t stand each other are now together—talking with one another—enjoying each others company together in one place.

This is accomplished when we rid ourselves of prejudice. They are together and no one is looked down on—they have come together for a common goal and Cornelius says in the latter part of verse 33: So now we are all in the presence of God to hear everything you have been commanded by the Lord and this is where it really gets good cause Peter doesn’t sugarcoat—preaching is not about comfort it’s about conviction.

Preaching must be convicting in order to persuade and challenge hearers with the truth of the Scripture and I just believe that perhaps preachers who steer clear of convicting messages is they have probably yet to be convicted of the truth of Scripture.

Peter preaches with conviction. Peter preaches with conviction cause he believes the message and when you believe the book you preach with the authority of scripture.

When Peter begins…he begins with a personal statement of what he had learned through his experience of the previous few days in both positive and negative ways.

First he said I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. Peter realizes that with God there is no injustice or partiality. Peter means that God’s attitude to people is not determined by any external criteria such as appearance, race, nationality or class—none of these are barriers to Salvation.

I’m done but read it when you get home—Luke summarizes Peter’s sermon in verses 36-43 and here is where I want to close cause although the sermon is addressed to a Gentile audience—the content is the same as what he had preaching to Jews.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power to save—the same Gospel that worked on him is the same Gospel that can save anybody who says yes to Jesus.

A wall of separation has been torn down. Peter gives an example of loving beyond the borders we have erected to keep us away from certain types. Here is one more thing—he listened to the Spirit. The Spirit told him Get up, go downstairs and go with them with no doubts at all, because I have sent them.

This is the last thing—there will be no unity unless we are obedient to the Lord. We wouldn’t have this example were Peter not obedient—he didn’t want to do it at first, he didn’t understand what the Lord was doing, but he went because he had been sent. And there are a lot of people waiting on us to do what the Lord has told us to do—a household was saved and baptized because Peter went where he was sent.