Acts 10:24 The following day Peter arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
The more I read about the centurion Cornelius, the more I like him. He’s had an amazing spiritual experience. He’s been sought by God and given a special vision. He’s a man who’s used to power and authority. He understands the need for structure, command, and hierarchy. No one else in Caesarea has been given this divine vision. No one else has been approached by God in such a holy, sacred and powerful manner.
The reason that I really like Cornelius is because of his response to all of this. He could have let it all go to his head. He could have lorded it over the people around him by declaring that he was specially chosen by God. Cornelius could also have kept this deeply personal and profound spiritual experience to himself. The centurion could have convinced himself that he was highly favored by God and kept himself aloof from those around him. But Cornelius didn’t make any of those choices. Instead, he sent for Simon Peter as he was instructed and while he was waiting, he gathered together his relatives and close friends.
His family and friends must have been really important in Cornelius’ life. He goes through this remarkable life changing event. He knows that it comes from God and he feels that something new, something wonderful, something important is about to happen. He wants to share these blessings with the people who are closest to his heart. He doesn’t want all of God’s goodness for himself. He wants his loved ones to experience these blessings too.
So, even before Cornelius hears the Gospel from Peter, he has already begun the process of evangelization. He has reached out to his family and friends so that they may also be attracted to and blessed by God.
This is something that we should all take note of today. We all come to church on Sunday mornings to be forgiven by God for all of our sins; to be cheered and challenged by His word; to be blessed by the presence of His Holy Spirit and to be deeply loved by Jesus Christ. We receive all of these blessings of grace and goodness, holiness and healing, but what about the family members that we’ve left at home? What about the good friends that we love dearly? If we had a heart like Cornelius, we would be inviting them to fellowship and faith all of the time. Why should we be the only ones in our families and circle of friends to be offered salvation? Why are we so fixed upon getting everlasting life for ourselves, that we forget or neglect or reject the opportunities to invite our loved ones to be with us?
Cornelius wanted to get his life absolutely right with God, but he just didn’t want for himself. He wanted all of his loved ones to receive the bounty of blessings that were coming his way. He didn’t see himself as being one of God’s personal favorites. He saw himself as one of God’s joyful servants and he sought to bring his loved ones to that bliss.
Acts 10: 28 He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
Simon Peter has also had an epiphany. God has changed his heart about who can be chosen by God for salvation. When Peter sees the crowd of folks gathered in Cornelius’ house, he immediately tells them that he is breaking with the traditions of his people. Jews were not supposed to enter into the home of a Gentile. So many impure and unclean objects, people, and practices inside a Gentile home would have polluted any God-fearing Jew for a long time.
But Peter’s vision from God has opened up his heart and mind to new possibilities with God. He is no longer bound to the kosher laws or Jewish ways. Peter is beginning a new ministry to the Gentiles which God has initiated. The Gospel is not just meant to be heard by back-sliding Jews; Christ’s message, which has been laid in Peter’s heart, is for everyone who is willing to hear it whether they be Jewish, Greek, or Roman.
Sometimes I have to drive my daughter Lauren’s car. You know that she’s in Boston studying for her Master’s degree in international social Work at Boston College. Anyway, she couldn’t take her car, so it’s left at our house and every couple of weeks or so, I have to drive it in order to keep it running and the batteries charged. I must admit, I’m really embarrassed to do it because of the hippy type bumper stickers that she has on the car. But there is one that really impresses me, which simply reads: “God Bless every nation.” Lauren is such a global person and a world citizen that she does not say “God Bless America” like her Daddy does. She believes that God’s blessing is not exclusive to our nation and so she prays for the whole world to be blessed.
This is what Peter had to learn from God so long ago. As a Jew, Simon Peter his people and nation were specially chosen, blessed, and embraced by God. He believed in their exclusive access to God and that because they were His Chosen people, they were His favorites on Earth. But through the rooftop vision, Peter was told by God that all people on earth were His. As Peter expressed it to the crowd in Cornelius’ home: God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.
Now it could be said by some people that this statement of Peter’s means that everyone is categorically a child of God’s grace, no matter who they are. I would entirely agree with that interpretation. The fact that we are all called by Christ to be part of His worldwide church proves that beyond a doubt. But notice this: this is about who we are as human beings; this is not about what we do as human beings.
God recognizes us as being created beings who are His children; but just because we’re created by God and can claim to be His children does not give us the absolute right to be given salvation. That is not something that we are entitled to because of who we are; that is something sacred that only Christ can give to us when we recognize that we are not just created beings, but also sinful beings who have separated ourselves from God by the wrong choices that we make, the selfish lifestyles that we lead, and the defiant deeds that we do.
Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
The recent riots in Britain may be the birth pangs of a whole generation that neither fears God nor does what is right. Humanism, secularism, and universalism – of people believing what they want, doing what they want and getting what they want – have engulfed the hearts and minds of an entitlement generation that turns to savagery and violence, anarchy and defiance when they don’t get what they want, when they follow their own ways instead of God’s, and when they are truly ignorant of what is right and what is wrong because those who raised them gave them no boundaries, no manners, and no faith.
When Peter talks to Cornelius and his people, he states that God does not show favoritism but accepts people from every nation who fear him and do what is right! Peter does not say God accepts people from every nation. He qualifies his statement with two boundaries that need to be kept. To be accepted by God, we need to fear, revere, be in awe of God and then we need to do what is right.
This is the message of the Gospel to the gentiles. This is the message of Christ to us. We cannot live our own way and expect God to turn a blind eye to what we sinfully do. There is no where in scripture that states that God tolerates sin. If that was the case, then Christ need not have gone to the cross because His crucifixion was demanded of God as the price for our sins. Jesus did not die for us; He died for our sins.
The right thing to do with that information is to humbly realize that we have caused the death of Christ. And in that act of humility, we need to turn away from our sinful choices and turn towards God’s righteousness. If we fail to do this, if we think that we can live like those rioters in Britain with no respect and awe for God, if we believe that we can freely live as we like and not as God wants, then we are no better than those stupid rioters in the UK.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous German theologian, who was tortured and executed by the Nazis towards the end of World War II wrote from his secret journal in jail on August 14, 1944 'God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill all His promises ... leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.'
Peter may not have wanted to give up on his traditional Judaism, but God led him along a new path.
Cornelius may not have wanted to give up on his original Roman beliefs and lifestyle, but God changed everything for him, his family and friends.
We may not want to give up our worldly ways, our cultural choices, and our free and easy lifestyles, but if we want to be saved from our sins, forgiven our mistakes, and granted everlasting life than we must repent in order to be restored, fear God in order to be found, and do what is right by Christ in order to be redeemed by Him. As always, the choice is left to us.
Prayer
