Title: It’s Complicated Date: 11.16.2014 Series: The Acts Series Text: Acts 11:1-18 Synopsis: Consider this, when Peter set out to meet with believers in Joppa, he had no idea that his journey would lead him to the house of a Roman centurion several miles north in the port town of Caesarea. He certainly had no idea that those within the house, friends and family of the Roman centurion and Romans themselves, would all become saved. On the other hand, the Roman centurion, Cornelius, had no idea that when he prayed one afternoon as he always did, that he would receive a vision of an angel telling him to send for Peter who would tell him the message of salvation. Yet Cornelius has his vision the day before Peter has his. In fact, as Peter is trying to sort it all out, he sees Cornelius’s men at the gate asking for his whereabouts. Peter goes to Cornelius’s house and preaches the Gospel to his friends and family and all are saved and baptized. Peter was a good Jew. Cornelius was respected Roman. They didn’t hang out together. Rome was an occupying force. Caesarea was a Roman town. Neither belonged in Judea. Certainly Peter didn’t belong in Roman house, in a Roman town, speaking the message of salvation to a Roman family. Yet, there he was. The leader of the apostles and of the church, in the house of a man whose emperor had recently declared himself a god and demanded that his statue be placed in the Jews’ beloved Temple to be worshipped. In fact, this meeting raised so many concerns that the circumcised believers within the church in Jerusalem questioned Peter. Their concern was not so much that Peter baptized these Gentile believers but that he went into their house and ate with them in the first place. Good Jews didn’t do that…particularly good Jewish leaders. Peter recounts the entire remarkable story including how God poured out the gift of his Spirit on the Gentiles just as he did them. His critics can do nothing but praise God saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles life to repentance.” For a moment all seemed right, but only for a moment. Those circumcised believers within the Jerusalem church would form an organized movement that would insist that new Gentile Christians must adhere to Jewish law including observance of the dietary law and circumcision. They would become known as Judaizers and would plague the church for decades to come. Even Peter would retreat under the pressure of this group and would refrain from meeting with Gentile believers, bringing with it a strong rebuke from Paul. Meanwhile, the tensions between Rome and Jerusalem would escalate to the point that in a little more than 20 years, the Jewish people would revolt in 66AD leading to the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD and the deaths of over 1 million Jews by some estimates. In other words, it was a complicated world. It was complicated for Peter as it was for Cornelius. Yet in the midst of all the complications, both men found a single purpose that would unite them and cause them to leave all they knew. That single purpose was Jesus. It’s not so complicated really. https://youtube/watch?v=JsvarOCySR4
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 17:10:13 +0000
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