You're not God's favorite

Intro

“During Peter’s time, Jewish midwives were forbidden to aid a gentile woman in childbirth, for they would thereby help propagate Gentile scum” (Preaching the Word: Acts. p. 142)

“six years after the cross the Christian movement remained distinctly Jewish” (p. 142)

In Chapter 10, we see God helping Peter develop a proper attitude toward the world- the whole world. This scripture has just as much to say about us as it did Peter- How we look at those around us is crucial.

Peter, despite all of his love and devotion for Christ had an attitude that the Gospel was for Jews only. Even though Christ made it abundantly clear…he missed the point. Peter ran the risk of strangling his ministry and reducing Christianity to just another sect of Judaism (p. 142) if God hadn’t intervened. And likewise, we run the risk of having Christianity reduced to simply Americanized religion or patriotic christianity unless God intervenes…which he does, in this text.

Open up your Bibles to Acts 10, lets read verses 1-23…Are you up for reading a lot of scripture? Jake, are they up for it?

Content

There are a few things I want to unpack from this, first, I want to talk about where Peter was staying. It says, “Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea” (Acts 10:5-6 CSB). Why is this important?

A tanner’s place of business was anathema, or cursed (they believed literally). It was high unpleasant and smelly, and animals were slain there (Preaching the Word: Acts. p. 143). Tanners were ostracized and had to live fifty cubits outside of town (a cubit is measured by the average adult man’s forearm). Rabbinical law even stated that if a betrothed Jewish women discovered that her fiance was involved in tanning, she could break off the engagement. However, Peter had met a Jewish tanner who loved Jesus, and he was willing to associate with him (p. 143). Peter’s old biases were beginning to crumble. But this was only the beginning of the change to come in Peter’s bias-calloused heart, a Centurion was on his way and he was going to rattle Peter’s biases even more.

Acts 10:1,2 CSB - “There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God.”

As a “Centurion,” Cornelius was an officer of the Roman army. They weren’t crazy high ranking, but they did a ton work and were the backbone of the Roman legion, commanding from 300 to 600 men (Preaching the Word: Acts. p. 144). So Cornelius was a fairly-high ranking Roman officer, but there was something about him that contradicted what Peter would have presupposed about him…he was a “devout man who feared God…and prayed continually to God.”

As a typical roman he would have been exposed to the Roman gods- Jupiter, Augustus, Mars, Venus, esc- but he found that they were not real and could do nothing for him (p. 144). While stationed in Palestine, Cornelius was exposed to the concepts of Judaism and had become devoutly monotheistic…but not Christian. So what happened?

Cornelius, a sinner. A gentile outside of the Jewish covenant. But a swine, like Jews believed? Not at all. He was a noble and spiritual-minded Roman army officer who was longing for the true God (p. 144). So, in response to all of the yearnings of the Roman Centurions heart, God met him in a vision.

Acts 10:3-6 CSB - “About three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius.” 4 Staring at him in awe, he said, “What is it, Lord?” The angel told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

And naturally, as a soldier was trained to Cornelius obeyed. Little did he know, God had choreographed something amazing to happen (p. 144).

Acts 10:9-16 CSB - “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.

The sun may have been reflecting off of the Mediterranean Sea, and perhaps Peter’s thoughts traveled across the sea as he wondered about the remotest parts of the earth that Jesus had called him to. He fell into “a trance,” and just as he did so, Cornelius’ messengers came to the outskirts of the town. What Peter saw was bizarre,

Among the variety of animals Peter saw were approved animals such as oxen, sheep, and doves, but also livestock forbidden to his people. There were swine, a buzzard, an owl, a seagull, reptiles, lobsters, and four winged insects. All of these creatures were forbidden. Peter found the picture revolting- and the command to kill and eat shocked him even more (p. 145), because he had always observed the basic dietary laws.... “No, Lord! For I have never eaten anything impure”

I think we misunderstand what Peter’s reaction would have been. This was not a dream, it was a nightmare! How could things that have been unclean for thousands of years suddenly become clean? And this vision didn’t just come once, it came two more times after! Peter probably became anxious, maybe even scared of what the Lord was trying to say. Now, what does Luke, the author of Acts, say about this sheet? “He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth” - Acts 10:11 CSB.

This sheet corresponds to the four points of the compass— north, south, east, and west. The sheet’s contents indicate the millions that populate the earth. Cornelius, all his soldiers, all his servants, the disciples, their enemies…everyone. All nations and peoples on the face of the earth. “All mankind were bound up together in one loathsome bundle” (pp. 146). And what was Peter’s response? Rejection…By no means Lord!

What about us? How does Peter’s experience apply to us? Well, I think it is best explained by Alexander Whyte, who was a Scottish pastor in 1898. He said this, way back then,

“All so like ourselves. For, how we also bundle up whole nations of men and throw them into that same unclean sheet. Whole churches that we know nothing about but their bad names that we have given them, are in our sheet of excommunication also. All other denominations of Christians in our land are common and unclean to us. Every party outside our own party in the political state also. We have no language contemptuous enough wherewith to describe their wicked ways and their self-seeking schemes. They are four-footed beasts and creeping things. Indeed, there are very few men alive, and especially those who live near us, who are not sometimes in the sheet of our scorn; unless it is one here and one there of our own family, or school, or party. And they also come under our scorn and our contempt the moment they have a mind of their own, and interests of their own, and affections and ambitions of their own.(Preaching the Word: Acts. p. 146)

We too write off whole churches simply by what we have heard about them. We too shut out whole ethnic groups because of a bad experience with one person or family. We too mentally excommunicate and exile those who do not aree with us on one secondary issue or another. Our sheets easily fill with educational, racial, cultural, and spiritual rejects, and we cry, “BY NO MEANS LORD— THEY ARE NOT MY TYPE!”

What is the result? Well it is a Christianity that grows solely to look like us. We seek only to win our own kind.

The tragedy is that this can easily become us, even if we are genuinely in fellowship with Christ. Peter did! He was praying when he had this vision. He had a beautiful attitude toward God and a lousy attitude toward the world! Peter was at a crossroads, and some of us (most of us!) are too. The question is, will we come through like Peter did?

The word continues,

Acts 10: 17-23 CSB - 17 While Peter was deeply perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, right away the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions to Simon’s house, stood at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon, who was also named Peter, was lodging there. 19 While Peter was thinking about the vision, the Spirit told him, “Three men are here looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and go with them with no doubts at all, because I have sent them.” 21 Then Peter went down to the men and said, “Here I am, the one you’re looking for. What is the reason you’re here?” 22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.” 23 Peter then invited them in and gave them lodging.

I like to think that the angels were watching Simon the tanner’s home carefully that night. How would the apostle respond to the heavenly vision? And thank goodness, he obeyed! He took the first step and did what? He invited the visitors in. Thus the Jewish phase of the Church came to an end, and a new attitude began to sweep throughout the Church. The sheet of the four corners of the world had unfolded, and all those within it were invited in!

So I have one single question for you- Do you see those around you as potential heirs of grace Do you view those who are different from you and who do things we do not approve of as candidates for the Kingdom? Or do you respond like Peter, “By no means, Lord!” I love how C.S. Lewis says it,

“Next to the blessed sacrament, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses” - C.S. Lewis

Did Peter ever regress? Of course. But it is also true that Peter died in Rome— the center of Gentile power. He never again sheltered himself amongst his own people or his homeland. God changed him, and God can change us!

When you get home tonight, take a napkin (hold a napkin up with names/peoples/denominations written down) much like the sheet that was rolled out to Peter and write on it all the names, the groups, the denominations, the nations, and the fellow Christians— all the people you dislike, and despise, and do not and cannot and will not love. Write all their names on your napkin, and then look up and say the prayer of Alexander Whyte,

“Not so Lord, I neither can speak well, nor think well, nor hope well, of these people. I cannot do it, and I will not try.”

Do we dare write down the names of individuals and groups to which we have in affect said, “By no means Lord!” Only God can give us the grace to love them. So lets start by admitting that we have, like Peter, filled for ourselves an unclean sheet.