On God's Side Or In God's Way?

Acts 11:1–18 ESV

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.”

I want to go back for a few moments into TV history. It used to be that kids couldn’t wait until saturday morning because that we cartoons came on. We didn’t have “on demand” tv or recorded cartoons. If we wanted to watch Elmer try to shoot a rascally rabbit we had to wake up at a certain time, turn on the TV, even watch commercials!

Well, I’m sure you remember the Roadrunner cartoons. Poor ol’ Wile E. Coyote’s lives mission was to capture his nemesis, the Roadrunner.

The coyote was stubbornly persistent in this quest despite the fact that, not only did he fail time after time after time, but he repeatedly plummeted from high cliffs, was blown up, and was continually getting flattened by numerous large, heavy falling objects. It was really sad!

One episode coyote ran after the roadrunner into a long, dark tunnel, so dark that all we could see of him were his eyes, shining in the blackness. Obviously to us he was not even close to getting the roadrunner. The coyote just stood there in the tunnel until saw a light at the end of the tunnel, only to realize at the last minute when it was too late that the light actually belonged to a choo choo train!

So the coyote got plowed down and flattened, again, and the that Roadrunner not only got away again, but he was the one driving the Train!!!

I remind you of that cartoon Roadrunner because today I would like to apply the metaphor of the oncoming locomotive to the coming of the kingdom of God.

And the question I would like to ask is, are there times when we find ourselves like Wile E. Coyote standing in the way of God’s oncoming kingdom?

In our scripture today from the book of Acts, the early disciples of Jesus are confronted with a critical turning point.

All the members of the early Christian community had been Jewish. This was important to many of them. The Jewish faith had drawn much of its strength from its exclusivity. Jews viewed themselves as set apart to be a holy people.

Even those Jews who had become Christians clung to this belief that Gentiles were in some way unclean, unfit to belong to the body of Christ.

Then something happened that freaked them out! Word was spreading throughout the community that Gentiles were being accepted into the faith. It was being whispered that even the Apostle Peter, the most influential of the first Apostles was part of this movement.

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those Christians who prided themselves on their Jewish backgrounds criticized him. They had heard reports about him. They heard that he had not only entered the houses of uncircumcised Gentiles, but he had actually eaten with them.

“Tell us, Peter,” they cried, “that it’s not so!” But it was so.

So, starting from the beginning Acts 11:1-18, Peter explained how he had come to this position of accepting Gentiles.

“I was in the city of Joppa praying,” he said, “and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into [this sheet] and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. “Right then,” Peter continues, “three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.

The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered [a man’s house, named Cornelius. Cornelius] told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’ “As I began to speak,” Peter concludes, “the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us [on the Day of Pentecost]. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” So, Simon Peter says with finality, “if God gave them the same gift [of the Spirit] . . . who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

Isn’t this a great passage of scripture? It is a passage that you and I should be thankful for, or else we who are from non-Jewish backgrounds would not be in the church today.

“Who was I,” said Simon Peter, “to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

Peter understood that it was God’s will to throw open the doors of the church to all who would be saved, including Gentiles, and he wasn’t going to oppose God or, in his words, “stand in God’s way.”

I want you to think of possible times in our history when Christians actually stood in God’s way. Are there times in the church when we have behaved like Wile E. Coyote?

Think about this, maybe when Christians persecuted Galileo for his scientific discoveries? Or when some Christians opposed the Civil Rights movement in this country?

I’ll leave it to you to fill in the blanks of all the places we as an church institution or as individuals might have been standing in God’s way.

I don’t know why some religious people have such a love for the status quo why do we have such fear of change? I should say that not everyone is afraid of change.

The church has been at the forefront of many of the positive changes that have occurred in society.

However, to be fair, I don’t know of any significant progress that has taken place in human society that some religious group or another hasn’t been against it.

Over two hundred years ago, in England, a man named Robert Raikes started a movement which would have such a far-reaching impact that it probably impacted most of us in this room. Certainly those of us in the kids room. He began the Sunday School movement.

He selected four women who gathered a group of children together on Sundays to instruct them in reading and in the church doctrines. Believe it or not, the Sunday School movement was strongly resisted by the established church.

The ruling classes, who had much influence in the church of that day, feared that such a program would lead to popular education which in turn would lead to revolution.

And then there was a legalistic wing of the church that believed strongly that the Sabbath day was for worship and rest only, not for recreation or for school.

One Scottish preacher feared that such Sunday Schools would “destroy all family religion.”

Imagine that. Sending children to Sunday School would destroy family religion.

Every progressive step that has ever been made in human society has first of all been opposed by somebody in the name of Christ.

During the early days of the Salvation Army, General William Booth and his associates were attacked in the press by certain religious leaders. Can you imagine religious people opposing a group that has no other reason for existence except to help the down and out?

When his son Bramwell showed General Booth a newspaper containing an attack on the Salvation Army, the General replied, “Bramwell, fifty years hence it will matter very little indeed how these people treated us; it will matter a great deal how we dealt with the work of God.”

Some of you saw Steven Spielberg’s movie on the life of Abraham Lincoln. There is a story told on Lincoln that reminds me of General Booth’s words. In the midst of the Civil War a certain minister told Lincoln, “I hope the Lord is on our side.” The president responded, “I am not at all concerned about that . . . But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”

It is absurd to think you can defeat God. Jesus taught us that there is a kingdom at work in this world. A kingdom that will someday result in all people living freely and joyfully as God’s own people.

We can fight it by the strength of our sinful natures, we can delay it by our lack of faith, but we cannot stop it anymore than we can stop an oncoming locomotive by standing in the middle of a track. And so, you and I have a decision to make are we on God’s side or are we in God’s way?

God is at work in this world anytime someone is willing to be used of God. If we will be used of God, we can see miracles occur. The way will open in front of us and we will see God’s victory. God is able. And God will do what he has promised.

A church that stands in God’s way will be flattened like Wile E. Coyote. No insurance policy in the world can protect a church or a nation that chooses to ignore the oncoming locomotive of God’s Kingdom.

In this church we want MORE of God’s kingdom. We are going to march forward in this community to be a light in the darkness. This church was established in the 1940’s and is here today as a testimony of the grace of God and the authority of God.

Matthew 5:16 King James Version (KJV)

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

You know what I think? Our best days are in front of us. We are currently working on the building here. Why? Because the kingdom of God is growing. We are going to experience More here. More men, women, and children coming to this place to hear from God. To experience what Love is for the first time. To be washed in the precious blood of the Lamb. To understand what grace is for the first time.

We will not be flattened like that ol’ coyote. We will be on the train moving forward. God’s kingdom will not be stopped.