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This is the last message in a brief three=part series on themes in the book of Acts.
We have already looked at the theme of the church being reborn as a new community of believers, and we have looked at the theme of the church being recommissioned with a purpose to be witnesses of Jesus.
Today we wrap it up by looking at the theme of the church being renewed, considering what it means for us to be people who are being embraced and transformed into the image of Jesus.
Renewal is something we all need from time-to-time.
Vacations are a time of renewal to get away from work routine for a little bit.
Summer break is a time of renewal for students to take a break from school.
Renewal is not about creating something brand new or turning in a completely new direction.
Renewal is about catching fresh energy and new perspective to continue building upon what we have already been doing.
Maybe sometimes we think of renewal in terms of the things we subscribe to.
Every year I must choose if I want to renew my subscriptions to the various newspapers I like to read.
If I choose to renew my subscriptions it is because I want to keep going with something I have already been doing.
But often I find that the renewal comes with a fresh set of options—admittedly because the newspapers are always looking for ways to get more money out of their subscribers.
Either way, renewal presents us with fresh options and new perspectives even though at the same time it is a continuation of something we have already been experiencing, something with which we have already been involved.
Let’s consider that theme in Acts through this story featuring the apostle Peter.
Here is the context.
Peter has just had a vision in which deli platter comes down from heaven and he is instructed to have a snack.
But included on this platter is food that is forbidden by Jewish kosher eating laws.
Peter responds by saying that he will not eat anything unclean.
But God replies that nothing is unclean once God has made it clean.
Peter comes to realize that this vision was not just about foods and dietary laws.
The meaning of this vision embraces a much larger sphere of God renewing his creation and expanding his church.
Here is Peter’s response in Acts 10.
Acts 10:34–43 (NIV)
Let’s talk for just a bit today about the way that renewal works through our lives.
There are two ingredients to renewal that show up all throughout the stories in the book of Acts, and we see both of those features here in this passage today from Acts 10.
There is something that remains constant as a foundation, and there is something that is fresh and new and changed.
Let’s start today with the new.
Look in this passage and consider what Peter identifies as the change which sparks this church renewal.
Peter hints at it right in the opening words of his reply to Cornelius.
I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.
This is new for Peter; it is something in Peter’s life that has changed, that has been renewed.
For thousands of years in Jewish history and tradition prior to Jesus, every Jewish person understood that YAHWEH is the God of Abraham and his descendants.
In other words, before Jesus came, every Jewish person would have accepted that God does, in fact, have favorites.
The Jewish people who are the descendants.
Of Abraham are God’s favorites.
I am not sure we today can appreciate just how stunning that line is coming out of Peter’s mouth for other Jewish people to hear.
What do you mean Peter that God does not show favoritism?
Of course God shows favoritism; every Jewish person know this!
Peter realizes that God does not show favoritism
We cannot pass over those words from Peter too quickly.
Don’t think for a moment that this issue had been a toss-up in Peter’s mind.
It isn’t something that could have gone either way.
Peter—like other Jewish people—would not have waffled in the middle on this.
No. these words from Peter mark out a radically significant change.
This is something new and different.
the change that renewal brings
Although this is a new change for Peter to realize, let’s also be aware that this is not something new or different to God.
It is not God who changes here.
It had been God’s plan all along ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden that Jesus would come and be the savior for all people who come to Christ, not just a select family-line from one nation.
It is not God who is changing things here.
It is Peter who is being changed as he now realizes what God’s heart has been all along for the salvation of the world.
It is Peter’s heart that is changed and renewed by what God has done and is doing.
It is not God who changes course, it is the renewal taking place in Peter’s life by the Holy Spirit which causes his life to change course.
renewal is personal
That is how renewal works here as we see it in the life of Peter.
God is not the one who changes.
The situations and circumstances in the surrounding world are not changed.
It is Peter who is changed.
Do you want to know how renewal works?
It is not God changing the community around us; renewal is not rearranging details of church programs or structures or buildings.
Renewal is God changing you!
Renewal happens when God’s Holy Spirit changes something inside your heart.
not about tweaking programs & structures
Our church renewal lab team began its work this week here at Fellowship.
And here is something I am stressing for our team and for all of us.
Renewal does not begin with changing strategies and plans and organization.
That is not what renewal is.
Renewal begins with a prayer.
God show me what needs to change in my heart in order to be renewing.
That’s the first thing.
Renewal begins with us; it begins with people; it begins in our hearts as God changes us.
renewal is ongoing
The second thing is that renewal is ongoing.
I picked just one story here today from Acts 10.
But if you took the opportunity these past weeks to read through the entire book of Acts along with us, then you know that there are so many more stories that connect together in a continual trajectory.
Renewal is not just a one-time event.
Renewal is an ongoing process.
This is what that means.
It means the title of this message needs a little more clarity.
This is not a snapshot of a church that has been renewed.
It is a snapshot of a church that is being renewed.
The Bible says elsewhere in the New Testament that we are being transformed into the image of Christ, that we are in this continual process of being made holy through the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
The big church word we use for that is called sanctification.
One of the people I chatted with this week is a church planter up in Canada over in London Ontario.
He has been the pastor at this church plant for 29 years.
It struck me that in all the time he has been there from the very beginning of that church, he still considers it 29 years later to be a church plant.
He refuses to use the language of being known as an established church congregation.
He does not want this church to see itself as being established.
He wants this church congregation to see themselves as being planted.
This church has found that to be a helpful way of always remembering that the people in their community are continually on a path of renewal, always being renewed.
This is what we see in the book of Acts.
That renewal is personal; it beings with you in your heart.
And that renewal is ongoing; it is a continual working of the Holy Spirit in your life.
the constant that renewal brings
But I mentioned at the beginning that we see in this passage something that changes and something that remains the same.
I think many of us would affirm that change just for the sake of change does not accomplish much of anything.
There absolutely must be a grounded foundation which gives us clear purpose and focus and direction as people who are being renewed.
This passage in Acts 10 shows us that too.
And, again, it is not just here in this passage, but we see it again and again all throughout the stories in Acts.
Renewal is not just about change.
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