Meeting Human Expectations
In the beginning of Acts 11 we hear
Peter’s conversion experience. And you
know, something really hit me hard today.
If we look at Peter’s explanation we hear something really neat –
something that clues us in to how God works throughout the whole Bible,
although especially in the New Testament.
If we read what Peter says, he basically says this:
Yes, I
did something that at first seems contrary to the Law (eating with
uncircumsized Gentiles). But God sent me
a vision, preparing me to understand that He is the one who makes someone
clean, not their actions. And then I
went to the house of a few Gentiles and found that the Holy Spirit was already
there! Listen, folks, if God is the one
that makes someone clean and God is actively in their life, then what are we
worried about? If God sends His Holy
Spirit to them, what cause do we have against them anymore?
Now, why is this important? Okay – you who have been reading this blog
regularly – prepare for me to beat a dead horse. But I’m going to beat it again, and this time
with a little more force and conviction.
If someone truly has the Holy Spirit, who do we think we are when we
stand in their way? If someone has the
Holy Spirit, who are we to say “Nope, you’re not meeting my human expectations.”
I think this is a great point to stop
and pause to ponder the arrogance of humanity.
Why did the Jewish leaders miss Jesus?
Jesus didn’t meet their expectations.
Their interpretation of the Law misguided them! They missed God’s work and paid the
price! They didn’t miss Jesus because
they were dumb, incapable of seeing Him, or otherwise uninformed. The missed Him because they were so stuck on
their own expectations that they quit looking for the presence of the Holy
Spirit. Not only did Jesus not meet
their expectations; they weren’t even open to looking for the Holy Spirit
anymore!
We are no different. How many times do we prohibit the work of the
Holy Spirit because the person God sends to us doesn’t measure up to our
expectations? How many restrictions do
we place on people – or conditions we make them meet – before we “allow” them to
do ministry in our midst? I would think
that God’s people – especially the church founded on the principles of the New Testament
– would be more adept at looking for the presence of the Holy Spirit rather
than looking past the Holy Spirit to see if people match our needed credentials.
By now you would think we would have
learned from Peter and the rest of the people who made the same mistake. But then again, what’s that old saying? Those who do not know history are doomed to
repeat it. Here is the history of the
Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, people: those who place restrictions
upon who is allowed to do ministry in their midst are usually the ones who miss
out on the ministry that God desires to be done in their midst in the first
place.
Antioch
We see this principle playing out in
the rest of this chapter. Who are first
called Christians? Not the followers of
Christ in Jerusalem but the followers of Christ in Antioch. It is Antioch that is lifted up as the true
home of the origin of Christianity – well, outside of the fact that Christ was
crucified in Jerusalem, of course. But
until Rome adopts Christianity as the state religion it is Antioch that becomes
the center of the Christian Church – especially the Gentile Church. Sure, Jerusalem is still where the good
Jewish boys and girls gather and it is where Paul goes to prove the Gentiles
are accepted. But it is Antioch that
becomes the core and center of Christian mission to “the world.” It is Antioch that becomes the stepping stone
for the ultimate fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Danger
You see, this chapter has a very
important message for us. The Jerusalem
church rebukes Peter for his action and through such rebuke they stand in God’s
judgment. While they repent of their
mistake, they show that they are not ready to really see what God is
doing. A few chapters from now we’ll
read about the letter they send with Paul making requirements of the Gentiles
in order to be “truly accepted.” Of
course, they show us that they are still missing Peter’s point in this
chapter. Nothing we do ever makes us
“truly accepted.” What makes us accepted
is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life!
That’s the only necessary credential!
Unlike the Jerusalem church, the church
in Antioch understands this point. It is
the church in Antioch that welcomes Paul and understands that in spite of what
he has done in the past he does truly have the Holy Spirit within him. It is Antioch that commissions him and sends
him out with Barnabas. It is Antioch
that proclaims and believes that the only qualification necessary for ministry
is that the Holy Spirit be present.
Antioch understood that and embraced
it. Do I? Do you?
Or do we force other qualifications upon people and make them adhere to
our human standards? If the Holy Spirit is
present and He desires to use a person – who are we to ever stand in the way?
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