January 25, 2008 Acts 10:1

01/25/2008

Acts 10:1 - 16 (HCSB)

¹There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. ²He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the _[Jewish_] people and always prayed to God. ³At about three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius!” ⁴Looking intently at him, he became afraid and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have come up as a memorial offering before God. ⁵Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. ⁶He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household slaves and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him. ⁸After explaining everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop at about noon. ¹⁰Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something he went into a visionary state. ¹¹He saw heaven opened and an object coming down that resembled a large sheet being lowered to the earth by its four corners. ¹²In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. ¹³Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!”

¹⁴“No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything common and unclean!”

¹⁵Again, a second time, a voice said to him, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.” ¹⁶This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into heaven.

Peter, although now a believer in Jesus as the Messiah, was still a devout Jew. (Remember that Christianity is an extension of Judaism, not an adversary) Peter still held to the Judaic dietary laws. Certain animals, including pigs and camels were unclean and any who ate them had defiled themselves and must be made ritually clean before they could enter the Temple.

But is this passage really talking about food?

Remember also that the Jews would not associate with anyone who was not a Jew – specifically, they detested the Samaritans who were half Jew and half Assyrian.

So why did Peter have this vision about food? How did God answer when Peter said he had never eaten anything unclean? “What God has made clean, you must not call common.”

At the conclusion of this vision, the people from Caesarea were at the gate to the house asking about Peter and Peter immediately went with them to the house of a gentile to share the Gospel.

We too are called to break down the barriers that cause us to avoid certain people. Now don’t get this confused with “tolerance.” Tolerance has to do with accepting other’s cultural and religious ideas. But what God wants of us is to accept other PEOPLE.

The ways we avoid people can be very subtle and we can come up with all kinds of reasons to justify it. But the fact is, Jesus died for ALL people and if we passively avoid any one person or any group, then we have failed to answer the Great Commission. When Peter had this vision, he too thought it was about food, but as soon as the men came asking for him, he understood that the barrier between Jew and Gentile was to be broken forever. The Gospel is for all people regardless of race, background, or culture.

Who do you avoid? What cultural group do you distance yourself from?

Break down your barriers and look at others not as “those people” but as Gods lost children.

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