Bring on the Bacon!
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Big Idea for the Series: In the book of Acts, we see God advancing his Kingdom by his Spirit through his Church.
FCF: The message of the gospel is that we do not have to make ourselves clean in order to come to Jesus, but rather that by coming to Jesus we are made clean.
Introduction:
The passage that we’re going to be looking at today is the first 18 verses of Acts 11. But, the story actually starts in chapter 10, and if you’re not familiar with this story, it can be a bit confusing. So, we’re going to take a few minutes and catch up on the backstory to set the stage for what’s going on here. So, turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 10.
Who was Cornelius?
Who was Cornelius?
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
Chapter 10 starts off with a Roman soldier named Cornelius. Cornelius was a military commander in the Roman army and belonged to an elite unit called the “Italian Cohort,” which was comprised of all natural born Romans—meaning they were all literally born in Rome. (We actually have found inscriptions in the region that mention Cornelius’ regiment, which provides good archaeological support for this aspect of the story.)
Cornelius was a Roman Centurion, a commander over 80-100 soldiers.
Cornelius was a Roman Centurion, a commander over 80-100 soldiers.
Cornelius was a centurion, which means he was in charge of a “century”—roughly 80-100 soldiers—and he was stationed at Caesarea Maritima, a Roman port city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
One of the first things we find out about Cornelius is that he was a “devout man who feared God.” Now, most natural-born Romans would follow Roman religious practices, which means they would ordinarily be pagans. They would worship the Roman deities, and as a soldier, they would normally have a particular affiliation with the Roman god of War, Mars.
Cornelius was a “God-fearer,” not a Jewish convert.
But not Cornelius. For some reason—and we're not told exactly how—He had come to the decision that the Jewish God was the true God. Cornelius was what Jews often called a “God-fearer,” which means that he believed in the Jewish God, went to synagogue, prayed, gave money, and did everything he could do to follow God short of fully converting to Judaism.
And this is important, because for Jews, there were only really two types of people in the world—Jews, and Gentiles. If you were not a Jew, then you’re a Gentile—a non-Jew. They had a term for people like Cornelius, “God-fearer,” but a God-fearer at the end of the day was still a Gentile. There were still a lot of aspects of Jewish worship that were not open to them.
Cornelius was a Gentile—a non-Jew.
As a Gentile God-fearer, Cornelius could attend synagogue, and he could enter the outer courtyard at the temple—the court of the Gentiles—but he could go no further. He could not go in where the sacrifices were offered and there were quite a few other restrictions.
So, you might ask, “Why not just convert to Judaism so he could fully participate?”
Why not just convert to Judaism?
Why not just convert to Judaism?
Conversion (for men) required circumcision.
Well, converting to Judaism was not just as simple as saying, “I believe Judaism is the right religion.” Converting mean, first and foremost, getting circumcised. This was a requirement for all Jewish men and anyone who wanted to become Jewish. Since circumcision is a repeated theme in Scripture, and since I don’t want you to have to go Google this later, I’m going to explain what that means very briefly. Circumcision is the cutting off of the outer layer of skin, the ‘foreskin,’ on the end of a man’s “part.” It had been commanded by God to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 17:9-14 as a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendents, the Israelites.
Circumcision was the sign of Israel’s covenant with God.
9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
Normally, by the grace of God, circumcision was done when an infant was 8 days old, so he couldn’t remember it. But, for servants, employees, or those wishing to convert to Judaism, they might be an adult. Abraham himself was an adult when he was circumcised.
Now, the obvious question is, “Why in the world?!?! What does this have to do with God’s covenant?!?!” Well, it was symbolic. In the ancient world where there was no paper and pen, you didn’t sign a contract like we do nowadays. People would ratify a covenant by literally cutting animals in half and then walking together between the pieces (this is the background of Genesis 15).
Ancient covenants were signed in blood.
The idea was that covenants were signed in blood—the implication was that if you break the covenant, you would become like the animals. In fact, the Hebrew word for “making” a covenant is actually “cutting” a covenant.
So, when God makes his covenant with Abraham and the Israelites, he makes Abraham put the sign of the covenant in his own body:
14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Circumcision was a permanent reminder of the severity of breaking God’s covenant. You would be “cut off.”
Why was it that particular body part that was cut? Because part of God’s covenant with Abraham was that God would make him and his descendants fruitful:
4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
Part of God’s covenant with Abraham was to make him fruitful.
How do you make a plant grow and produce more fruit? You prune it.
I promise there’s a reason we’re diving into all this so deeply—it will make sense in a few minutes.
So, the point I want you to get for now is that circumcision was an indispensable aspect of being a Jewish man. It meant commitment, dedication, sacrifice.
Circumcision was a marker of identity for Jewish men.
And if Cornelius wanted to be a Jew, he’d have to undergo the knife.
That would have been bad enough on its own, but as a Roman commander, it would have been even worse. Romans abhorred circumcision and saw it as emasculating. In a culture that prized masculinity, being circumcised would have lost Cornelius a great amount of respect from his subordinates and peers.
But, even if he had swallowed his pride and endured circumcision, there were other barriers to Cornelius becoming a Jew. There were constantly Jewish rebellions popping up that the Romans had to put down.
Becoming a Jew would have brought his loyalty to Rome into question.
Becoming a Jew would mean that he would be required under Jewish law to observe the Sabbath—absolutely no work on Saturday.
But his job demanded that he was on call 24/7.
Becoming a Jew would also bind Cornelius to follow Jewish dietary restrictions, laid out in Leviticus 11.
These forbade eating pork, rabbits, lots of different types of seafood, various birds, etc. Food had to be prepared in a certain way, and Romans were far less picky in their food choices. Cornelius would have had a very difficult time following those restrictions as a soldier.
Now, as difficult as it would have been for Cornelius to convert to Judaism with all those restrictions, there were some Jews—especially Pharisees—who made up even more laws that they imposed upon their fellow Jews. So, technically, there is no law in Scripture preventing a Jew from entering a Gentile’s home or eating with them, provided that the meal is Kosher. But, the Pharisees had added laws that DID forbid this.
Jews in that day were forbidden to sleep in the home with a Gentile or eat with them.
Becoming a Jew would also mean that he could no longer sleep under the same roof or eat with his Gentile peers and his soldiers.
(That fact is why some of the Jews were so upset with Peter when he gets back from visiting Cornelius.) Gentiles were considered unclean—ritually impure. If Cornelius became a Jew, he could no longer associate with his soldiers.
It was practically impossible for a Roman soldier to convert to Judaism and remain a soldier.
So, Cornelius was in a tight spot. He knew that the Jewish God was the true God, but he couldn’t get close to him. He prayed diligently, gave money, went to synagogue, and even lead his whole household and some of his soldiers to do the same—but that was as close as he could get to God. Because by Jewish standards, he was still a Gentile. He was still uncircumcised. He was unclean.
God cares for those the world calls “unclean.”
God cares for those the world calls “unclean.”
Cornelius’ Vision (Acts 10:3-8)
3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
But, then Cornelius has a Vision. God takes pity upon Cornelius and sends him a vision and tells him to summon this guy named Peter. So, he does.
Then Peter, who has never met Cornelius, has a vision. He’s getting hungry, and like I often do, he begins to daydream about bacon.
9 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. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth.
12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
So, Peter’s dreaming about bacon, and God tells him, “Eat some bacon.” But Peter says, “I’d love to, but I can’t. I’m a Jew, I don’t eat bacon.” And God says, “Peter, eat the bacon.” And Peter says, “I really can’t, I’m on the Kosher diet.” And God says, “Peter, eat the bacon! It’s Kosher!” And Peter says, “Well, alright then!”
And then Peter wakes up and realizes there’s no bacon. So, he’s sitting there trying to figure out what this dream means when Cornelius’ servants show up and knock on his door. And the Spirit tells him, “Go with these guys, they’re going to get you some bacon.”
19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.”
So, Peter goes to the door and these three men are Gentiles. But, by now, Peter is beginning to realize that this dream isn’t really about bacon, so he goes along with the men to Cornelius’ house the next day.
By the time Peter gets there, he’s realized the dream definitely wasn’t about bacon, it’s about all things that used to be unclean. God was telling Peter that the Jewish laws about cleanness and uncleanness were being done away with. Not only is bacon now clean, but Gentiles can be, too.
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. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
Cornelius tells Peter about his dream, and then Peter shares the gospel with Cornelius. He tells him all about Jesus, how he died for him, rose again, and how if Cornelius just believes in Jesus he will be forgiven and saved.
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
And before Peter is even done sharing the gospel, Cornelius and his whole family have believed and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them and they start speaking in tongues and praising God.
46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
Peter realizes that these bacon-eating Gentiles have just been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. They aren’t Jews, they haven’t been circumcised, they haven’t been following all the Torah, but it’s obvious that they’re saved now. And so, he baptizes them and stays a few days with them, and probably tries bacon for the first time.
But, word spreads quickly, and when he gets back to Jerusalem, he has to answer to the circumcision party (which, of course, is not a party where a bunch of people get circumcised!)
The party of the circumcision—as it is frequently referred to in Scripture—was a group of Jewish believers in Jesus (Messianic Jews) who believed that Gentiles could only be saved if they converted to Judaism first.
So, that’s where we pick up with our text for today in Acts 11:1-18...
1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.
7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.
13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.
16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
You do not make yourself clean in order to come to Jesus, you come to Jesus in order to be made clean.
You do not make yourself clean in order to come to Jesus, you come to Jesus in order to be made clean.
Many people think that they have to get clean first—get their act together, get off drugs, fix their marriage, be a better parent, be a better spouse, etc.—before they can come to church or come to Jesus.
But when Cornelius came to Jesus, he was an unclean, uncircumcised Gentile.
He was respected in the community it seems, but no self-respecting Jew would have let him into their home or shared a meal with him.
There were all kinds of purity laws in the OT—women were considered unclean during and for a few days after their cycle, you were unclean if you touched a dead body or animal carcass, if you had certain skin infections, if you had intercourse or a bodily emission, if you had contact with something or someone who was unclean, and so much more.
And when we read those, sometimes we think that God was just being mean. But all of these laws were given as a reminder of the fact that...
We are all, by nature, unclean before God.
We are all, by nature, unclean before God.
An honest, practicing Jew would have found himself unclean numerous times throughout the year. This is why there were ritual cleansing baths at the entrances of the temple. Becoming unclean was so common that they installed baths at the entrances so you could purify yourself before entering the temple.
The point of all these laws wasn’t to say that women are more unclean than men, or that people with disabilities are especially sinful. The point was to show us that we are all marred by sin, we are all unclean before God.
This is why when Isaiah has a vision in Isaiah 6 and he is ushered into the throne room of God and he sees God sitting on his throne and the angels flying around God’s throne singing he falls on his face and says:
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
When confronted with the holiness of God, Isaiah immediately realized how unholy and unclean he was.
Peter’s initial reaction to God’s instructions to eat in chapter 10 are an objection because Peter thinks that he’s clean and those animals are unclean:
14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
And the circumcision party in Acts 11:3 criticize him because they think they’re clean and the Gentiles are unclean:
2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
And they were half-right—the Gentiles were unclean. But, what they didn’t understand was that they were too before they believed in Jesus. We’re all unclean without him. Jesus taught us that...
11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
It’s not eating bacon that makes you unclean, it’s what comes out of your mouth.
17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?
All the cleanness and purity laws—not eating pork and all that—were just symbols to remind us of our need for purification. It was never eating bacon that made someone unclean in God’s eyes, it was sin. So, eat all the bacon you want!
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
So, eating bacon doesn’t make you unclean in God’s eyes, nor does abstaining from it make you clean. Impurity doesn’t come from the food we eat, but from the sin in our hearts.
What that means, then, is that in God’s eyes, anyone who has ever had an evil thought, told a lie, gossiped about someone, looked at someone lustfully, hated someone—if you’ve done any of those things then you are unclean in God’s eyes. And we have all done those things.
That also means that purification, then, can’t come through not eating bacon. Purity comes through confessing our sins to God.
And what we learn through Cornelius’ story is that when we come to God with our dirty rags and soiled clothes, we don’t make God unclean,
God makes us clean.
God makes us clean.
But God says,
9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
God didn’t say that Cornelius was already clean. He says God “made [him] clean.”
The Greek word there is katharizo—it’s one word, it means to cleanse or purify.
Some of you feel dirty today. Your sins in the past, or perhaps the present, have made you feel dirty, unworthy before God. And it’s true—our sin does defile us before God.
But, when you trust in Christ, he cleanses you. He makes you clean.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I want you to memorize that verse. Recite it with me.
9 If [I] confess [my] sins, he is faithful and just to forgive [me my] sins and to cleanse [me] from all unrighteousness.
And if you have done that—if you have placed your faith and trust in Christ and confessed your sins to him, he has cleansed you. You are clean.
When Isaiah was in the throne room of God and was convicted of his sins and fell on his face in repentance, this is what God did:
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
And that’s a picture of what happens when we confess our sins to God and believe in Christ, just like Cornelius did. He and his whole family and some of his servants and soldiers, they all believed. And in that moment, they miraculously went from lost to saved, from sinner to saint, from dirty to clean.
God adopts us into his family.
God adopts us into his family.
Remember the promise God made to Abraham in his covenant with him?
4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
Circumcision pictured God’s promise to make Abraham into the “father of a multitude of nations.” So, when you got circumcised, you became a son of God, you became part of God’s family.
The Hebrew word for ‘nations’ in Gen. 17:4 is goy. That is the same exact word that is used in Hebrew for ‘Gentile.’ You were either an Israelite, or from ‘the nations.’ So, when God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, he promised, literally, to make him the ‘father of a multitude of Gentiles.’
That promise was fulfilled when Cornelius and other Gentiles—like you and me—began following the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Under the Old Covenant, the Law, you had to become a Jew in order to be a son or daughter of God. That meant following all the rules, getting circumcised, following the Sabbath, following all the purity laws, etc.
But now, in Christ, that’s no longer true. A New and better Covenant is here.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a slave or free man, man or woman, Jew or Gentile—anyone who believes in Christ is adopted into the family of God and becomes a child of God and part of the family of Abraham.
The penalty for the New Covenant was paid for by the blood of Jesus.
The penalty for the New Covenant was paid for by the blood of Jesus.
Remember, circumcision was a picture of the blood that was needed to establish a covenant, a picture of the penalty of breaking the covenant. Well, in the New Covenant, that blood was shed by Jesus himself. So, circumcision becomes irrelevant.
By the time that Peter finishes his story, the Jewish believers realize this.
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
No longer was circumcision a requirement to be a fully participating member of God’s family, because the blood of Jesus was sufficient to cover anyone. The payment for our sins, for our breaking God’s covenant, has already been paid.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
And the payment for your sins has been paid, if you simply accept it. You do not have to go through a bunch of rituals, you don’t have to become Jewish, you simply have to trust that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that you could never have lived, that he died the death that you deserved, and that he rose again the third day and offers you forgiveness. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
