Acts 11

Introduction

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It was not too long ago I was watching this video of two men in an argument. I believe one man was drunk and he was yelling at this other gentleman. The drunk man became more and more angry. Eventually, the drunk man punched the other gentleman. At this point, a women got in the middle of the two men. The man that was punched clearly knew ju jitsu; however, the women kept grabbing him by one arm to pull him away from the drunken man. This clearly limited his movements and caused the man to suffer a few more blows from the drunken man.

Need

I do not pretend to know the whole situation. The man that was not drunk probably should have just walked away and never got into this situation. However, what I do know is that this woman did not fully grasp the situation either. She inserted herself into an interaction that was not her own. In doing this, she also caused more damage and danger for everyone involved.

Saints, let us be very careful to recognize our limited vantage point. Let us not insert ourselves into matters that our not our own. Even more so, let us never insert ourselves as judges over a situation that the Lord himself is moving in. Let us not assume that we know more than God!

Referent

Acts 11:1-30

Organization

The Lord’s Way (vs. 1-18)

The Lord’s Provision (vs. 19-30)

Sermon in a sentence:

Get out of God’s way.

The Lord’s Way (vs. 1-18)

It appears that just a select group of the circumcision party was not happy about these events. (v. 1)

The apostles and brothers also heard of these events, yet they do not appear to criticize Peter.

It appears that they didn’t handle this the Lord’s way. They didn’t know all the facts of even ask questions to better understand before they attack Peter and the other brothers. Saints, often is it that Christians will form opinions about things they heard second or third hand? How easy are we to form an opinion or critique when we don’t even know the whole story?

The Lord often teaches us the same lesson numerous times.

(v. 10) This vision happened to Peter 3 times.

These events took place during Peter’s regular time for food as a medium to Peter’s lesson.

God’s way is better than our way. (v. 17)

Peter recognizes that he (nor the party of the circumcision) could not stand in God’s way.

The response of silence is beautiful. They don’t have a response or any defense. Instead, the only response is to worship God because his way is better than ours.

Saints, how pleasant would it be for us to truly use the spiritual disciplines of silence and worship? Just last week, I introduced a silent moment of confession to our confessional prayer. We also have a moment of silence each week as we partake in the Lord’s Supper. How are you implementing silence in your own spiritual workout routine?

How about worship? We have weekly corporate worship. Are you actively participating with your heart, mind, and soul? Do you have private personal worship? Do you seek any type of family worship?

The Lord’s Provision (vs. 19-30)

The Lord used the death of Stephen as the means of dispersing his people into the nations.

The Lord used unknown men to accomplish his task.

This is the first time the gospel is going to the Gentiles without any formal apostolic or diaconate genesis. The Lord provided some unknown men.

Luke 23:26 “26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.”

The Lord used gifted and willing men.

Barnabas is sent by Jerusalem.

Barnabas encourages the believers.

Barnabas was able to go and find Paul.

Barnabas and Paul trained and discipled the believes for an entire year.

The Lord used Barnabas’ gifting and his character to be such an asset to the church, even if some people didn’t like it. The Lord used Paul and Barnabas as disciple-makes in the 3 largest city in the world at that time.

The Lord used a prophet to warn his people.

The Lord used rejected saints to bless those that initially rejected them.

These churches are now sending back these men and money to bless those that initially criticized them.

The Lord used the apostles with the money. Today, the Lord uses his elders to carry out leadership.

Conclusion

There was another video that I saw not too long ago that reminded me of this other video I mentioned. There was a father that was recording his family without them knowing it. The family was leaving their home and getting into their car. Husband walked around the back of the car to open both passenger doors. As he opened the doors he told his wife and two kids to get in the car. He was very serious and rushed. He then stepped in front of the car. What did all three of them do? All three of them proceeded to get out of the car, start asking him what’s going on, and try to come to the front of the car.

Saints, sometimes we don’t need to know all the details. Sometimes we don’t need to know what our heavenly Father is doing. Sometimes, we need to just follow in silence and respond in worship.

Application

Repent and believe in Jesus Christ! It is by faith alone that the Holy Spirit comes!

Practice suspended disbelief through silence and worship.