The Church and Gentiles: God Breaks Down Barriers

Sermon Text: Acts 11:1-30

Intro

Hook: What was your favorite part of the Christmas Concert? One of mine was this: (Every tribe and tongue and nation)… tie into Cornelius and Peter.

Context: Last week, Stanley preached about a man named Cornelius. Cornelius was a devout man (sincere and committed to what he believed) who had not yet believed in the Gospel. But after praying, God sent Peter to his home. Peter shared the Gospel with Cornelius and he and his household were saved. He shared with us about the Gentiles receiving the Gospel and the Spirit. He also spoke to us about baptism, the sign which declares to everyone around you that you are in fact a believer. The big idea from last week was the salvation of a non-Jew and his identification with Jesus Christ. And that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Thesis: For tonight, the big idea is this: God breaks down barriers. And he will remove or change anything that gets in his way to accomplish his will. Whatever stands in God’s way will be changed or removed. Tonight, we see how God does this with cultural barriers. God is going to show us all that the most important thing about us is not our ethnicity, or our skin color, or our performance in school or life, our achievements. The most important thing about you is whether or not you have received forgiveness for your sins. This matters more than anything else you could ever receive or achieve in life. If you don’t have God and his forgiveness, you have nothing. And God desires that you would know Him and love him for all your days, and so we will read tonight about what God did to make it possible for us to know Him.

Body

MP#1 - The Mental Barrier Broken (vv. 1-18)

Assertion

God breaks down the mental barrier between Jew and Gentile to create one, unified church. This mental barrier is broken down through God’s vision to Peter.

Evidence

Read vv.1-18.

Commentary

What was the mental barrier?: The Jews say, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” This mental barrier is one of cleanliness or acceptability before God. The Gentiles did not have the promise of God (as circumcision would demonstrate). Circumcision was a sign given to the Jewish people so that they would know that God would be with them and give them land and fruitfulness. So in the Jewish man’s mind, they would consider anyone who was uncircumcised as outside the promise of God and that God was not with them. Therefore, the Jews did not associate with Gentiles. Gentiles not only were uncircumcised but they also ate foods that were considered unclean. Peter’s vision makes this clear: God lowers a sheet from heaven with all kinds of animals on it and says, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” And what does Peter say? “I’ve never eaten anything unclean!” And God responds, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Peter is a Jew and he thinks it is unclean to eat certain animals. That’s because God gave the Jews a law of cleanliness which ruled out certain animals for food. But now God was breaking down this barrier and calling all foods clean. But God was doing more than this… God was changing Peter’s mind about something else he considered unclean: the Gentiles. Not food, but people. How Peter once viewed this ethnic group, God is changing to be in line with God’s way. The Gentiles, God shows Peter, are no longer to be considered unclean.

How was the mental barrier broken down?: The mental barrier between the Jewish people and the Gentile people was beginning to be broken down. Through this statement: “If then God gave the same gift (the Holy Spirit) to (the Gentiles) as he gave to (the Jews) when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” God gave the Holy Spirit to the Jews (Acts 2). This demonstrated his faithfulness to the Jewish people, despite their unfaithfulness. Now, God gave the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles (Acts 10). If God does not think the Gentile people are not worth saving, should the Jews? If God chooses to associate with the Gentiles by giving them His Spirit, should the Jews avoid the Gentiles? If God befriends the Gentiles, should the Jews hate them? The God of the Jews is the God of the Gentiles, and God brings his people together. If He is the God of both people groups and he chose to love both groups undeservedly, then should they hate one another? No. They should welcome each other just as God has welcomed them.

Any other thoughts?: The Jews recognize that Peter’s vision is meant to reorient their minds about the Gentile people. Then, the Jews accept the truth that God has given salvation to the Gentiles as well.

MP#2 - The Physical Barrier Broken (vv. 19-30)

Assertion

God first changed the way the Jews thought, and now he changes the way they act. First God changes their mind and then their hands. God breaks down the physical barrier between Jew and Gentile to create one, unified church.

Evidence

Read vv19-30.

Commentary

What is the physical barrier? Jews and Gentiles did not associate with each other. See Acts 10:28 “28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.”

How was the physical barrier broken down? Through the formation of a church. The Jews start to understand that the Gentiles are also included in the church. In the city of Antioch, a church is born. Some of the Jews who were scattered after the persecution of Stephen (the first martyr) spoke to Greeks/Gentiles of the Gospel of Christ. And the Gentiles were converted. I love what someone said about this passage, which is insightful for us: “If the gospel was so good for Jews, might it not be good for Gentiles also?… although the term Messiah would be meaningless to the Greek people, they had their own words for Lord (kyrios) and Savior (sōtēr).” That’s Greek for you. “These two words were widely current in their ancient religious world. Many people were trying to find in various religions a divine lord who could guarantee salvation and immortality to his devotees. But now the people in Antioch finally had an assurance of salvation and immortality through the Son of God, Jesus Christ of Judea, who had recently become man, suffered death, and conquered the grave. So as the Jews spread this message to the Gentiles in Antioch, the Gentiles took to the message as the very thing they had been waiting for, and a large number of them believed.” Before this, the church was only made up of Jewish people, but now the Gentiles were entering. And the church in Antioch expressed this ethnic unity perfectly. Then Barnabas and Saul came to teach the church more about God and his ways.

Any other thoughts? Lastly, I want you all to see the extent of this newfound church unity. This physical barrier that had existed for so many years between Jews and Gentiles was being torn down by God himself. A prophet comes from Jerusalem to Antioch and foretells a famine to come upon the world. And this does end up happening, where a famine hits Judea and the surrounding countries. And what does the church in Antioch do for the church in Jerusalem? Remember, the Antioch church has Gentiles, and the Jerusalem church is made up of Jews. Now that the Jerusalem church is experiencing a famine, will the Gentiles laugh at them because they are two separate ethnic groups? No, read vv. 29-30.

Conclusion

Restate

Review

Reflect / Apply

What will heaven be like? A bunch of white people? A bunch of Asians? Australians? Hondurans? Jews? Yes. It will be them all. People from every tribe, tongue, nation will be saved from the wrath of God and enjoy eternal life with Him as He reigns over us forever.

In light of all of this, enjoy the freedom that the Gospel provides. In a state where there are so many distinctions made between skin colors and hatred is stirred up within one ethnic group and another, don’t be like the world. Be like Christ. Be like God. Don’t avoid people who don’t share the same background as you or ethnicity. There is beauty in God-honoring diversity, as we saw at the Christmas Concert. Where the world tries to divide, God has united people together. And this is God’s plan: to save all tribes of people through the faith in Jesus which gives the forgiveness of sins.