Change in Church

September 18th 2022

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: Change in Church

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 11: 1-18

Sermon Blurb: We all can get stuck in our ways. We all are jaded based on the way we were raised and the culture we come from. The early church was no different. In this message, we see God usher in so major change into the church and see how they responded.

Sermon:

Well, hello everyone!

Family Moment

Today we finally get to move out of Acts 10 after two weeks of diving deep into that chapter….

So, grab your Bible and open it up to Acts 11

New Person Bible Talk

App Talk

If you are new or newer to Family Church, we are so happy you are here today!

Let me catch you up just a little bit.

We are on a journey through one of the books in our Bibles called Acts.

The book of Acts is a GREAT one for churches to study because it is all about how the early church operated right after Jesus launched it!

Let’s backtrack, let me remind you of some important details from the last two weeks because it ties to what is going on in the Scriptures today.

And because we know we have some new people today.

And at Family Church, we never like anyone to feel like an outsider.

So, recently we saw this Roman guy named Cornelius have a vision from God and even have an angel appear to him!

They told him to go find a guy in a town like 30 miles away named Peter and bring him to their house.

And this guy named Cornelius did what God and the angel told him to do!

At the same time all that was happening this guy named Peter, who was one of Jesus’ best friends while Jesus was on earth, had a vision from God as well.

And Peter was confused by the vision and had a little debate with God about that!

Does anyone want to be honest and raise your hand if you have debated with God on what should be the priorities in life!

Anyone besides me?????

If your hand is not up it is because you just don’t realize it yet!!!

PAUSE

What Peter was struggling with was that God was calling him to break with the church traditions he was raised with.

And if we are honest that is HARD for any of us!

We all like what we like.

We all like stability.

We all like our church to be that place of stability in an ever-changing world…..

Peter was like that as well.

And last week we saw Peter take this MASSIVE step and be open to this NEW move of God….

This NEW move of welcoming in Gentiles into the church.

And for those of you who are new, or newer to church, understand that was a BIG deal….

Because the gentiles were the group of people that the Jews looked at as the people that were NOT accepted by God and NOT in His chosen people.

So…….

It is a BIG deal to say now they are NOT outsiders!

To say NOW they are welcome into God’s family is a BIG deal!

And……

Today….you are going to see the early church struggled through that issue as well…..

Literally, that is at the very start of this chapter….

Let me show you.

PAUSE

Acts 11 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Stop reading here church…..

Do you see it?

Look at verse 1……

The church throughout the region HEARD that the GENTILES.

AKA the people they did NOT like.

AKA the people they tried to avoid.

AKA the people they did currently ALLOW to even enter their churches…

That THOSE kind of people had received the word of God.

They HEARD that….

But look at verse 2 in your Bible…..

Peter goes to Jerusalem…

Peter goes to the place where the church leaders live.

Peter goes to where the GOOD circumcised Jewish people were…

And look at what they say about what they HEARD….because they did NOT like what they heard Peter was doing!

Look at verse 3….

“Peter….are you kidding me!!!!

You went into the home of an unclean person…

An uncircumcised man!

And not only that you ate with them!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PETER!

Peter did you forget everything your parents taught you!

Peter did you forget everything your pastor taught you!

PAUSE

Church hear me in this…..

If your parents taught you prejudice is good…. sorry, they are wrong.

If your teachers taught you judging someone based on the choices of their ancestors is GOOD… sorry, they are wrong.

If your pastors taught you to look down on other races of people…. Sorry, they are wrong…

All of us need to make sure what we believe or are taught aligns with the Word of God our Bibles…

And it is SO easy to be racist in small ways and NOT even realize it….because everyone around us thinks the same way!

And that is what you see here in the Bible!

They all think the people that are gentiles are NOT as good as they are!

PAUSE

So, Peter realizes he needs to explain to everyone what God did in him to change his view….

Let’s read that….verse 4….

4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:

5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, 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.

6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

Pause there for a second….

Again Peter tells God…

NO WAY GOD!

I have always done what I was taught was right and good by my parents and my church!

I will not do something my culture has defined as wrong!

That is LITERALLY what he is saying!

Verse 9….

9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

3 times Peter has to be told the same thing…..

Because Peter is like a lot of us!

We are hard-headed!

We are suborn!

We are set in our ways!

We all think we know how church should run!

We all think we know best what songs we should sing! We all think we know right and wrong!

And who is anyone to tell us to change!

Anyone want to be honest in church and admit that is you!

Come on raise those hands! Or raise your spouse’s hand for them because you know the truth!

LAUGH!!!!

PAUSE

Peter is honest about his struggle with the others in his church.

This is an area I think we all can grow in….

In fact, write that down.

To grow in our knowledge of God we need to be honest about our doubts and struggles.

Repeat

Peter is honest.

He is with the church leadership here.

He is explaining how he had the SAME struggle they did!

He is explain how God helped him process and change.

Let’s keep reading…..verse 11…

11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

Stop there….

Remember verse 2!

Look in your Bible…..

This is what they are talking about!

You went into their house!

Are you kidding me!

PAUSE

Here is Peter saying….yes I did…..and here is why…..

Verse 13….

13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

Stop there….

Peter says…

This guy who is not a part of God’s family.

He had an angel appear to him.

The angel from God told him to come find me.

The angel from God told him to have me come to his house.

And I HAD to go into his house because I needed to help them find Jesus and get saved!

PAUSE

I can imagine the room was silent…..

I can imagine some people were FUMING at the change Peter was ushering into their church!

But Peter plows along…..keeps talking…. Keeps relaying the power of God…..

Verse 15….

15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

Stop for a second…

He says….

He guys / gals…..remember Acts 2….

Remember Pentecost…

Remember when we were all filled with the Holy Spirit and God changed us all for good….

Well, the Holy Spirit came into this home in the same way and filled them!

I know it sounds wild…but it happened!!!!

PAUSE

And then Peter wraps his speak up with this…..

And listen in….

And I am going to show you how the church has applied this through the centuries….

PAUSE

Peter says in verse 17…

17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

Listen to that church….

If God did this…

If Jesus did this….

If Holy Spirit did this….

Who was I to think I could stand in God’s way….

I think would bet you could hear a PIN drop in the room….

PAUSE

Anyone want to amen that change is hard.

And I think change in the church is even harder….

And you want to know why I think change in the church is harder.

Because we cannot control change in most areas of our life.

We cannot control how Walmart sells its products.

We cannot control when our favorite chip company changes it’s flavor.

We cannot control when our boss changes our job description.

We cannot control when our customer stops buying from us.

We cannot control our kids, as much as we wish we could!

We cannot control the weather.

We cannot control how our coach calls the plays.

We cannot control most things in our life.

PAUSE

Life….is ever-changing…..

And we all want some place we can come that does NOT change.

And for many of us….

The only place that we feel we can control that is at church….

Because God does not change…..

So church should not change!

PAUSE

And it is true….

God does not change….

But it is NOT true that the church should NOT change.

And I promise you….as we keep walking through the book of Acts you are going to see this and write this down…..

Change in church is GOOD!

Repeat…..

Anyone want to be honest and say you do not want to write that down!

PAUSE

What you are seeing here is MAJOR change in the early church!

I mean up to this point this is a JEWISH movement.

This is Jew’s reaching out to Jews!

And now God is saying NO GUYS!!!! This is NOT A Jew only thing!

This is God saying Jesus was sent to save everyone!!!!!

This is God saying….

The church needs to CHANGE to reach more people!!!!

And this will not be the last time you see this in the book of acts!

You are going to see this happen again….and again….

PAUSE

And the church has applied this through the centuries….

I mean this is how Pastors use to have to dress!

Check out the guy in the middle….

The only thing I have in common with him is the bald spot!

And not one of you in the room EVER expect to see me dress like this….but generations ago they did….

Others of you grew up with your pastor dressing like this in Robes!

Or if you had a hip pastor maybe this one…

Or maybe you LOVE it when your pastor wears a suit!

The point is….times change….

Everyone use to wear different clothes and it is OK that we do in church as well!

PAUSE

Let me give one more illustration….

Probably the MOST contentious issue of change in the church is around MUSIC!!!!!!

Does anyone know what this is (Seville Organ)

This is actually one of the oldest organs in Spain. It is in Seville and I have played this organ believe it or not!

When I was an exchange student in Spain my Spanish family had a weekend house by this church and I got to go there and play one of the oldest Organs in the world!

But…..there are people that think we should always play the organ in church because that is what they grew up with….

But do you know the early church did NOT have any organs!

PAUSE

I think this will surprise many of you….

But anyone know what some of the OLDEST discovered instruments in the world were….

Check out this picture (drum and pipes)

The answer is this….here are some Pipes made from bones dating back 9,000 years they say.

And DRUMS!!!!

Gords…covered with animal skins!

I find that so funny because if you grew up in the 50’s and 60’s….

Drums in church were considered by many sinful!

In the 80’s electric guitars were the music of the devil and were banned from many churches….

PAUSE

Change is ok….

Even in the church….

The only thing that does not change in God and His Word…..

PAUSE

And look how the early church responded to this….

Verse 18….

18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Wow!!!!

What a Godly response!

They didn’t fight God.

They didn’t fight each other.

They didn’t say let’s have a congregational meeting to vote on if we will allow this.

They heard what God did in Peter.

They heard what God did through Peter.

And they listened to the movement of the Holy Spirit and CHANGED!

PAUSE

Change is good in the church!!!!!

Sometimes we have to change to reach more people for Jesus.

Write that down, and we will wrap this up.

Sometimes ________ needs to change to lead more people to Jesus.

That blank is intentional!

That blank if for you to put your name in!

Sometimes Adam needs to change to lead more people to Jesus.

Sometimes Mary needs to change to lead more people to Jesus.

Sometimes Paul, Karen, Bob, Jess….

Sometimes we are what needs to change to lead people to Jesus.

PAUSE

That is what we see right here in the Bible….

Look at verse 14 & 18….it makes it so clear!

Acts 11: 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

Acts 11: 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

PAUSE

The life they are talking about is ETERNAL life!

Peter had to change.

The early church had to change.

To lead people to being saved….verse 14….

So more people could make it to haven and eternal life with God….verse 18

PAUSE

Don’t miss the whole story is really about God miraculously connecting Cornelius and Peter together.

There was a message that Cornelius needed to hear to be saved…and Peter was the guy to deliver that message!

PAUSE

Let me close with this, yet again…..

Acts 11:18, When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

"Repentance unto life" what does that mean?

It means that their repentance led to eternal life.

They did not already have eternal life.

They received it when they heard the message about Jesus AND turned to believe and follow Jesus!!!!

PAUSE

Church this is so important to understand in our modern world.

Because there are so many people who believe something very different.

So many today that claim all religions lead to the same place.

So many today that claim all good people go to heaven.

So many today who think all people who go to church go to heaven.

So many today who think because my parents were Christians I get to go to heaven.

So many who think I was baptized as a child so I go to heaven.

And so forth……

PAUSE

The Bible DOES NOT TEACH THAT!

PAUSE

Christians should never look down on a person from any race or ethnic group and say: they are unfit to hear the gospel from me.

Or they are too unclean for me to go into their house to share the gospel.

Or they are not worth evangelizing.

Or they have too many offensive habits to even get near them.

PAUSE

Peter learned from his vision on the housetop in Joppa that God rules no one out of his favor on the basis of race

ethnic origin

mere cultural distinctives

or physical distinctions.

PAUSE

Church……..

Our hearts should go out to every single person whatever the color,

whatever the ethnic origin,

whatever the physical traits,

whatever the cultural distinctions.

Don't write off anybody.

Don't snub anybody.

Don't check them out like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan and then pass by on the other side.

Don’t be afraid of them.

Instead…

Love them.

And lead them to Jesus.

Your life application is a repeat of last week because the point is the same.

Life Application: Ask yourself, who around me have I not tried to reach for God yet? Take time this week to begin investing in that person.

Prayer!!

Offering!