Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are picking back up in our study of the book of Acts.

If you’re new to MCF, it would be good for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible, and then studying them from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse in order to not only understand what God’s Word is saying, but what it means in our lives as well.

With that said, while we took a break during the Holiday Season, for the last year we’ve been going through the NT book of Acts.

A book that was written by a 1st century disciple named Luke for two primary reasons:

Number 1 - To give us a history of the church.

How it started and who was involved.

Number 2 - To give us a template for how Jesus intends for us to take the message of the gospel to the rest of the world.

So, if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to www.mcf.life

where you can listen to several of those messages leading up to today.

You may or may not recall, but when we were last in Acts, we had just finished , which in many respects, represents one the most important chapters in the book of Acts.

Important because in chapter 10 God clarified that salvation through faith in Jesus wasn’t just meant for the Jewish people.

The whoever being anybody that would call on His name.

Because as we’ve learned so far, up until , many of the Jewish Christians had made the assumption that Jesus had come primarily to save the Jewish people.

But God turns that assumption on its head as through a series of events in , He makes it abundantly clear that Jesus offers eternal life not just to one group of people, but to all people.

That being said, through chapter 10 we learned a lot about who salvation is for, how a person can be saved, and what the signs of salvation are in ones life.

Now, if you weren’t with us through chapter 10, you might be thinking, “Wow, that sounds like good information.

Wish I would have been here for that.”

And so as we come to chapter 11 today, we are going to get basically a recap of what

Well, here’s the good news.

As we move into chapter 11 today, Luke is going to recap chapter 10.

In fact, he’s going to devote the first 18 verses of chapter 11 to retelling the entire story of chapter 10.

Now, a good question would be, “Why is Luke repeating himself?”

For a couple of reasons:

First, when it comes to the Bible, in order to drive a point home or reinforce a teaching, Biblical writers would often employ a powerful teaching tool called “repetition”.

And as a teaching method, repetition does a couple of things for us:

#1 - Repetition reinforces what we just learned by restating it.

Reason #1 - One of the teaching tools that the Bible continually uses is the tool of repetition.

Teachers do this all of the time.

In fact, I often to do this in a sermon.

I’ll make a statement, and then I’ll repeat the statement a couple of times in order to reinforce it.

Why?

Because I want to make sure you remember it.

#2 - From a Biblical standpoint, repetition is always an indicator that this is something really important to God.

Something He wants us to take to heart and implement into our lives.

We see this throughout the Bible.

For example, when Joshua is getting ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land in , God uses repetition to encourage and strengthen Joshua.

Check this out in :

Notice the repetition of the term “Be strong and courageous”.

This is God’s way of reminding and reinforcing to Joshua that as long as he keeps his eyes on the Lord, he has nothing to fear.

And so to reinforce it, God repeats it three times to him.

And so God has the writer retell it in order to reinforce its important and make sure we get it.

And so God has the writer retell it in order to reinforce its important and make sure we get it.

It’s kind of like when your instructing your kids about something important, and so you repeat it several times in order to get your point across and make sure they understand.

That’s what God does with us.

In order to reinforce something really important, He repeats it.

And is one of those cases.

And it’s one of those cases because who can be saved, how they can be saved, and what the signs of salvation are, is an important subject matter, wouldn’t you say?

So that’s one reason Luke retells this story.

But there’s a second reason as well.

Because outside of God wanting to reinforce this important theological subject matter, there is a practical matter at hand.

And it’s one of explanation.

And so just to make sure we all understand, God has Luke retell the story from chapter 10.

Which means, we need to listen up and make sure we fully comprehend what God is saying to us about this important subject matter.

But while that’s the main purpose in retelling this story, it’s not the only purpose.

Because outside of God wanting to reinforce this important theological subject matter, there is a practical matter at hand.

And it’s one of explanation.

Here’s what I mean by that:

Question - Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you made a decision or took an action that got you in some hot water.

A decision that led to questions, criticism, and disbelief from others?

Causing you to have to explain and justify the decision or action you took?

Anybody ever been there?

For example:

Example #1 - Maybe you told your wife you were going to Best Buy to just look around, but then you came back with a 65” Smart TV.

And as you arrived home and walked through the door with TV in hand, the look of disbelief and confusion on your wife’s face was a definite sign that things were about to go south.

In fact, before you could set the TV down, the barrage of questions had begun.

And now you have some explaining to do in order to justify such a large purchase.

Example #2 - Or maybe you made a decision at work without talking to your supervisor or your boss.

And now the decision has come back to bite you as your boss calls you into their office to question and criticize your decision.

And now you have some explaining to do.

I think we’ve all probably been there, right?

In a place where we made a decision that didn’t set well with others, requiring us to explain, justify, and defend our decision.

As we come to chapter 11 today, along with a recap of chapter 10, that’s what Peter is now facing.

Because if you recall from chapter 10, Peter made a decision that wouldn’t have set well with his religious friends.

Acts 11:1

A decision that would cause disbelief.

A decision that would create criticism.

A decision that would require Peter to give some explanation.

And what was true for Peter will be true for anybody who takes a Biblical stand for faith in Jesus.

Because the fact of the matter is, putting your faith in Jesus is a decision that will often cause disbelief, create questions, invite criticism, and require some explanation.

What was the decision?

To discover that and reacquaint ourselves with what we learned in chapter 10, let’s pick back up in as Luke retells the story.

Luke writes:

Luke says the decision the Apostle Peter made , was to eat with men who were uncircumcised.

And it apparently had upset the group known as the circumcision party.

Seems kind of odd, right?

Odd because what’s the big deal with Peter having lunch with these guys?

And Odd because, why do we need to know these men were uncircumcised.

Seems like a little too much information.

Thanks Luke, not sure we needed to know that.

But what we have to remember is whenever the Bible refers to somebody that’s uncircumcised, it’s meant to be a form of identification and association.

Identification, because in the bible, it’s what designates a Jewish person from a Gentile.

WE see that throughout the Bible beginning in Genesis 17.

Because in Bible, Jewish people were circumcised and Gentiles were for the most part not.

Acts 11:1

Not only that, but it represents religious association.

Acts 11:

Because for the Jew, circumcision is more than a physical act.

Circumcision represents a spiritual act representing the covenant promise that God made to Abraham concerning the promised redeemer.

When facing criticism, show them what God’s Word says.