FIRST READING Acts 11:1–18
1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
PSALM Psalm 148
1 Hallelujah! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise God in the heights. 2 Praise the LORD, all you angels; sing praise, all you hosts of heaven.
3 Praise the LORD, sun and moon; sing praise, all you shining stars. 4 Praise the LORD, heaven of heavens, and you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, who commanded, and they were created, 6 who made them stand fast forever and ever, giving them a law that shall not pass away. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps; 8 fire and hail, snow and fog, tempestuous wind, doing God’s will; 9 mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars; 10 wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds; 11 sovereigns of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the world; 12 young men and maidens, old and young together. 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, whose name only is exalted, whose splendor is over earth and heaven. 14 The LORD has raised up strength for the people and praise for all faithful servants, the children of Israel, a people who are near the LORD. Hallelujah!
SECOND READING Revelation 21:1–6
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me,
“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
GOSPEL John 13:31–35
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
On God’s Side or in God’s way?
If I were to ask for a show of hands, I bet many of you either grew up watching, or had kids that watched, the hilarious Roadrunner cartoons. For the younger folks here today, these cartoons featured a very ambitious desert dog by the name of Wile E. Coyote. Wile E. Coyote’s virtually endless quest in life, was to capture his nemesis, the Roadrunner. The coyote was stubbornly persistent in this quest, despite the fact that not only did he fail time after time after time, but did so by repeatedly plummeting off high cliffs, being blown up, or was continually getting flattened by numerous large, heavy falling objects.
On one occasion, the coyote pursued the roadrunner into a long, dark tunnel, so dark that all that was visible of him were his eyes, shining in the blackness. Unable to see the roadrunner, the coyote paused, uncertain. Then he would see a light at the end of the tunnel and head for it, only to discover at the last minute, that the light he faced belonged to an oncoming locomotive. So the coyote got plowed down and flattened, again, and the object of his chase, yet again, eluded him. Perhaps the Roadrunner cartoons gave us the humorous expression about realizing, that the light at the end of the tunnel, just might be an approaching locomotive.
Today I’d like to change this metaphor a bit and apply it to a comparison of us and the oncoming locomotive, to the coming of the kingdom of God. And the question I’d like to pose is this, are there times when we find ourselves, like Wile E. Coyote, standing in the way of God’s oncoming kingdom? In our lesson today from the book of Acts, the early disciples of Jesus are confronted with a critical turning point.
All the members of the early Christian community had either been Jewish or Jewish converts and this was important to many of them. The Jewish faith had drawn much of its strength from its uniqueness and exclusivity. Unlike the nations that surrounded them, the Jewish people viewed themselves as set apart, singled out to be a holy people. Even the Jews who had become Christians, clung to the belief that Gentiles, those outside their community and faith, were in some way unclean, unfit to belong to the body of Christ. The words of Christ, that we read last week, about gathering the sheep of another fold (John 10:16) seemed to have escaped them. They saw Christianity as the Jewish faith evolving; that Jesus was sent exclusively to them. And if by some chance an outsider was to become a part of the Jewish/Christian faith, then they had to fully embrace the Mosaic customs and laws as well. But something quite unsettling occurred.
Word was spreading, throughout the community, that Gentiles were being accepted into the faith. Worse yet, it was also being whispered that even the Apostle Peter, the most influential of the first Apostles, was somehow involved with this movement. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those Christians who prided themselves on their Jewish backgrounds, criticized him. They heard, through reports, that he had not only entered the houses of uncircumcised Gentiles, but he had actually shared a meal with them. His fellow Jewish Christians had hoped that the reports were somehow wrong, but they were true. Peter, in the eyes of Mosaic law, had defiled himself. But there was more to the story than what the prejudicial reports were saying. And confronting his accusers, Peter began to explain.
Starting from the beginning, Peter explained how he had come to this position of accepting Gentiles. “I was in the city of Joppa praying.” I’d like to stop here for a moment and take note of something very important; note of how Peter begins his defense. I was praying. This I think is one of the best ways to begin a theological discussion! I bet if we entered into all our discussions this way, I bet we’d have far fewer differences. Anytime we justify our thoughts and actions from either a position of prayer or sound Biblical teaching, then agreements would be much easier to reach. It’s how Peter quieted his accusers.
Basing his enlightenment in revelation through prayer, he said, “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. I looked into [this sheet] and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ Being a good Jew and knowing the dietary laws found in Leviticus chapter 11, Peter replies, “Surely not, Lord!” Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
“Right then,” Peter continues, “three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the house of Cornelius. Here is another interesting thing to note. Peter took witnesses with him. It wasn’t simply his word or opinion. Six other Jewish brothers were there to witness and communicate this event. Peter continues; Cornelius told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
“As I began to speak,” Peter concludes, “the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us [on the Day of Pentecost]. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” So, Simon Peter says with finality, “if God gave them the same gift [of the Spirit] . . . who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
For you and me this is an important passage of scripture. It’s a passage that you and I should be mighty thankful for, or else we, who are from non-Jewish backgrounds, wouldn’t be in the church today. “Who was I,” said Simon Peter, “to think that I could stand in God’s way?” Peter understood that it was God’s will to throw open the doors of the church to all who would be saved, including Gentiles, and he wasn’t going to oppose God or, in his words, “stand in God’s way.” This here is the next statement that we need to pay attention to. Sometimes we have a tendency to stand in the way of God’s kingdom. Whether it’s out of a lack of motivation, fear, busyness, misguided intensions, prejudice or wanting to maintain the status quo, at times we allow our personal agendas to hinder God’s work more than we help.
Think of possible times in our history when Christians actually stood in God’s way. Throughout church history, there have been, and still are times, when God’s people have behaved more like Wile E. Coyote, than disciples of Christ. The human factor in churches is such that God’s vision may threaten our perceptions of what God is calling us to do. The coming kingdom may seem like a threat to the current power structure of a church. Or, it could threaten our comfortable routines; inhibit our ability to maintain the status quo. It might force us step out of our comfort zones and expend the extra effort needed to reach out to others. Or it could challenge the old attitudes and stereotypes that prevent churches from genuinely being open to the not so gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit. Or, it might simply highlight our fear of change. In our first reading for today, Peter is accosted by the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who say to him, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” (Acts 11:3).
Is it any wonder why churches struggle to reflect vitality? In so many ways we seek to guard the status quo. We want to remain where it’s comfortable and this limits the work of the Holy Spirit and it impairs our ability to be effective witnesses within the community. The good news about all of this is that, in spite of our fears, our reluctance or our lack of trust, we cannot completely restrict the Holy Spirit’s work in the church. In spite of the human factor, there’s also the divine factor at work in the church. The criticism expressed to Peter certainly didn’t keep the early church from growing. The same is true for us. God will have His way with the church, despite our fear or hesitation.
In spite of our personal agendas, it’s God’s purpose that will be fulfilled in the life of His church. And in an effort to become effective disciples, there are some things we can focus on that will enable our church to be more effective. Today’s scripture passage can lead us to the right objectives. First, we need to pray and seek a vision from God.
Everyone who comes to the church has his or her own idea of what the church should be or what one wants the church to be. The challenge is to derive unity in a church with people who have such divergent views regarding the church’s mission. That unity comes from our relationship to Christ and a desire to please God. If each one of us genuinely prays and seeks God’s purpose for the church, our vision of what the church should be, will come from God. By allowing God’s Spirit to work in our lives and to shape our understanding of what God wants to accomplish, we can work together to develop one vision, a vision that comes from God.
Peter had a vision from God of a sheet containing animals, reptiles, and birds. The clean and unclean animals represented circumcised and uncircumcised people. The sheet represented the church which should include all people regardless of their class or their race. During his vision, a voice came to Peter, saying, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common” (Acts 11:9).
The message was from God, and the vision of what a church should be and who it should include came from God. It is God alone that will guide the Church. It is God alone who is worthy of determining that which is appropriate in the Church. It’s not up to you or me to decide what’s right or wrong or to rewrite the Bible to include or exclude people. We must constantly ask ourselves what is our motives or what is that that motivates what we do.
A young woman was eight months pregnant and had a two-year-old son as well. Her son locked himself in the bathroom and the young mother became frightened. The woman got a screwdriver and tried to take the door knob off. She got most of it off, but she still couldn’t get the door open. She could see in the bathroom, though, and it scared her. Her son was trying to turn on the water in the bathtub. So, she talked him into coming away from the bathtub. Then he started climbing up on the sink, trying to get in the medicine cabinet. Finally, she was able to get him to sit still on the stool while she went to call her husband.
Her husband frantically raced home from his office. He rushed in the front door to find his wife laying on the couch exhausted and his son sitting in the rocking chair, rocking away as nonchalantly as you please. He turned to his wife and said, “What happened? I thought he was locked in the bathroom.” His wife said, “Well, when I hung up the phone, I had a good idea. I got an Oreo cookie, I held it up for him to see through the hole, and he opened the door just like that!”
The boy had the ability to open the door all along. All he needed was the proper motivation. The same is true of the Church. We have the ability to fulfill Peter’s vision of a Church that draws all people together in unity, but we must be properly motivated. Our goal and motivation should be focused on pleasing and serving God alone. This will require that we set aside our personal agendas and seek God’s agenda for the Church. If we can work together to determine God’s vision for the Church, there is no limit to what we can accomplish for the good of His kingdom. Next we must be willing to set aside our agendas and be willing to respond to God’s leadership.
An intriguing aspect of this scripture passage is the way in which Peter responded to God’s leadership. Despite the criticisms, he received and any misgivings he might have had of his own, Peter followed God’s lead. Peter went with the three men who came to him from Caesarea, because the Spirit told him to do so. As a result of this faithfulness, Peter witnessed and experienced things he would otherwise have missed. Ultimately, he recognized that the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles in the same way it had come to the Jewish Christians. So he asked, “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17).
Who are we to stand in the way of God and God’s desires for the church? So often our biases prevent us from opening our lives to the renewing presence of God. We’re fearful of changes that might be required so we close our hearts. Out of fear of the unknown or a stubborn refusal to grow in new directions, we refuse to risk the vulnerability that is required if we are to be truly open to God.
I wonder how many blessings we miss out on because we stubbornly refuse to hear the messages God sends our way. Instead of seeking to determine God’s will for our lives, we seek God’s approval for what we want to do. We limit God’s purpose for us with our lack of vision and our lack of expectancy about what God can do in and through us. Remember what Peter said? He asked, “Who am I to hinder God?” We could ask the same question of ourselves. Who are we to stand in God’s way?
When we’re truly open to God’s leadership, the Christian way of life becomes exciting and unpredictable. As we learn to trust in God’s direction for our lives, we will discover blessings and new meaning for our lives that far surpass our greatest expectations. Which brings us to a final thought; anytime we open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit we can expect God’s blessings.
We must learn to live with expectancy and hopefulness about what God has planned for us. If we genuinely trust in God’s provision, we’ll be excited about what the future holds for us. Regardless of the circumstances of our lives, we can look to the future with great anticipation about the things God will teach us and the ways in which God will sustain our every need.
A child growing up in a loving and a supportive environment doesn’t worry about what the future will bring. His parents provide for all his needs — physical, emotional, and social — and they always have. So life is a joyous adventure to be shared with his loved ones as he eagerly anticipates the new experiences each day will bring. As children of God, we can take great comfort in the fact that God’s desire is to supply all our needs; physical, emotional, social, all we have to do is place our trust in Him.
One of the blessings for Peter was seeing the way God brought him and Cornelius together in such a masterful way. He heard Cornelius tell of the angel’s appearance to them, preparing them for Peter’s visit. God had been working in both of their lives, bringing them together at the moment that was right according to God’s plan.
When you have experienced God’s hand in your life in such a way, planning for the future can never be the same. God’s unexpected ways and God’s impeccable timing leave us wondering why we were ever reluctant to relinquish control in the first place. And God has a way of bringing two unsuspecting individuals together who turn out to be a mutual blessing for each other. Such a reciprocal blessing could never be orchestrated apart from the hand of God.
A couple of years ago a group went on a mission trip to Honduras. They traveled to a remote village in the hills. They took medical teams to provide medical care for people who normally were not able to receive any. They also worked to put in a clean-water system that would provide good water for several villages. Clean water was the thing they identified as having the most dramatic impact on the people’s health. They dug ditches and laid PVC pipe to carry water from a running stream to the local villages. The work was difficult but it was very gratifying. And the people were extremely grateful.
On the last day, all the people of the village gathered together to honor the group in a special ceremony. People came from miles away to be in attendance. The leaders of the village got up one by one to express their appreciation. Even with interpreters, they didn’t understand all that was said. Finally an elderly gentleman stood up to speak. He was not an elected official. He was not a dignitary scheduled to appear in the program. He was simply a man who had lived all of his eighty years in that village. But when he spoke, everyone listened. The respect of the people was readily apparent.
He began by expressing appreciation to the group of Americans for coming to his village to help. He spoke about how the government had talked about developing programs to help. The president had talked about helping his people. But that’s all it ever was — talk. Then he expressed how special it was that this group of Americans had not talked about helping his people. They simply had come and done their very best for them. He concluded by saying, “You have come in the name of Christ. You have acted in love. And you have given to us what we could never earn. Because of that, we have seen in you the grace and the very spirit of Christ. Because of that, you are the most important people to ever visit our village.”
The entire group was moved by those words. Anytime we open ourselves up to the leading of God’s Spirit, we are able to reflect the spirit of Christ’s grace to another. As one of the doctors would later say, “That is one of those rare nights that I went to bed feeling within my soul, ‘I know the Lord is pleased with me on this day.'” We must expect the unexpected with God.
We too will receive unexpected blessings if we can develop God’s vision for the church, if we will respond to God’s leadership, and if we will have a high level of expectation regarding what God can do in and through us. With these objectives, our experience in the church will be meaningful and fulfilling. And we can work together to build a Church that fulfills Peter’s vision of unifying all people in the body of Christ.
What if the ones we would exclude from the fellowship of the Church are the very ones with whom God intended to bless us? God isn’t calling us to simply maintain the status quo. We’re not called to simply sit here week in and week out and never reach out to our neighbors. We are being sent out, told to go and make disciples, to spread the good news of God’s love and grace.
What is God calling us to do? To answer this question we first need to start with prayer. Then setting aside our agendas, we need to seek and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Who knows, if we do, we just might be surprised at what God has in store for us and what blessings are right around the corner.
Amen