Year 1, Day 243: Acts 10

Keeping Track of Time

For the record, if anyone is curious about a timeline, this chapter takes place about 10 full years after Pentecost and Christ’s death.  I give this for a little perspective.  It takes Peter 10 full years of growing in the Lord before he is really ready to change his perspective on the Gentiles.  This is not insignificant.  It takes time to change perspective.

Cornelius

This chapter opens with Cornelius: a good man.  He was a soldier and God spoke to him.  This kind of destroys the ‘God only loves pacifists’ movement.  He was a God-fearer, which was a title used to describe people in faith who are committed just below the level of proselyte, who were people committed to a level just below a full Jew.  However, being a Gentile and not having been converted fully into Judaism means that Cornelius is in a neat position.  Cornelius is in a position of still seeking salvation.  Cornelius may have been a God-fearer, but he was smart enough to know that simply fearing God doesn’t save him!  Cornelius is actively looking for something more in his life.  Cornelius is the seeker, and I give him credit for that.

Slow to Change

Now we see Peter’s vision.  Clearly God is preparing Peter.  God is looking to Peter and saying quite bluntly, “It’s been a decade, Peter.  It’s time for you to get serious about changing who you are for my sake.  It’s time for you to get serious about doing my work.”

Now, I’ve been a little mean to Peter there and he doesn’t fully deserve it.  Twice we’ve seen Peter use the “keys of the kingdom” to open parts of the world to salvation.  Peter uses the keys in the temple and invites the Jews during Pentecost and the weeks/months following the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Peter uses the keys in Samaria a second time and opens the door to the “half-breed” Samaritans.  Now God is going to have Peter use the keys a third time to open the door to the Gentiles and thus the remaining portion of the whole world.  So Peter has been growing slowly over time.  I do him disservice when I speak so as to make a point about humanity in general and don’t really mean to insult him personally.

But seriously, how often are we slow to change?  How often do we miss what God is doing simply because we’re closed to doing something new?  How often are we dumb to what God is doing because it just doesn’t fit what we expect to be doing?

Peter’s Proclamation

Let’s move on to Peter’s proclamation.  Peter says to Cornelius “God shows no partiality.” 

If that’s true, why do we show partiality?  Why do we as people get so hung up on outside appearances?  Why do we get hung up on education, gender, rites, rituals, dress, tradition, and things like that?  I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here; but that’s the truth, folks.  God doesn’t care!  God doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, male or female, smart or uneducated, whether you dress in an alb to worship or come in your jeans, whether you say the traditional or contemporary version of the Lord’s Prayer (or don’t say it at all!), or anything else like that.  So long as we are faithfully and humbly listening to Him and living out obediently, God doesn’t care about the external things!

What God cares about is what Peter says next.  “Anyone who fears God and who does what is right is acceptable to Him.”  God doesn’t care how we dress; God cares that we dress in a manner that shows respect to Him and doesn’t lead other people into sin.  God doesn’t care what traditions we use; God simply cares that our worship is meaningfully done and inspires spirituality within us.  God doesn’t care what instruments we use; God cares that we fear Him and worship Him.

But remember, that is a change that took Peter 10 years to make.  Peter’s whole life he’s been told: “Jews do it this way, don’t be like the Gentiles.”  It took him some time to wrap his head around the fact that God was calling him to do something new.  It took time for him to be willing to loosen his grip on his own “ways” and let them go in favor of accepting God’s ways of doing things. 

This is not an easy position to hold in modern religion.  Everyone seems to have their idea of “Do it this way or I’ll go home and leave.”  Some want guitars and drums; other will leave if they’re brought in.  Some want screens and videos; others will leave if they are brought in.  Some want bread and wine; others want wafers and grape juice.  Some want suits and ties; others want jeans and T-shirts.  Some want hymns; others want praise choruses.  I think the hardest position to hold is actually the position of God: None of this stuff matters, because none of it is wrong.  All these things can be used to praise God’s name, so pick what works for you, be open to the other, and get started in the worship of God!

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that any old behavior is acceptable.  We are called to avoid sin.  We are called to rebuke sin when we see it.  We’re also called to forgive it when we see repentance.  So I am not trying to make the case that all behavior is acceptable in the church – because it isn’t.  What I am saying is that we need to learn how to distinguish between sinful behavior and behavior that isn’t sinful just because it is different.  We must absolutely reject sin; we must also be open to non-sinful differences.  That’s why I think it takes Peter so long to understand. 

True Righteousness

Having said that, part of it also is that Peter’s understanding of sinful behavior needs to change, too.  No doubt he was taught that Gentiles were sinful just for being who they were.  We see here that Peter now understands true righteousness.  The righteous one is the one who fears the Lord and does what is right is acceptable – whether they are different from us or not!

Holy Spirit

Then something amazing happens.  Peter’s declaration of Jesus Christ brings about the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Note that it isn’t their baptism since here we clearly see that in this case the Holy Spirit precedes baptism.  Peter’s proclamation of both Christ and true salvation opens the door for the Holy Spirit to come. 

God is at work.  The Holy Spirit not only comes to Gentiles but to unbaptized Gentiles!  Now there’s a twist, right?  Cornelius finds salvation in the promise and declaration of God, not the human act of baptism.  Can I get an amen here, please?  That’s the way it should be.  Salvation is made evident through the Holy Spirit, not some act performed at a particular time by a human being.  Salvation comes when the heart is rent, not when a certain number of prescribed steps are followed.

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