Well,
there certainly is a lot to digest and take in within these verses. What’s odd (at least a little bit) is that
the primary figure in all of them is the apostle Peter. You would think that on the heels of what we
saw last week (the conversion of Paul) that we would be kicking off Paul’s
apostolic ministry. However, we find
that for a little while (chapters 9-12) Luke’s focus is on the apostle Peter
and his ministry. If you recall, much of
the first part of the Book of Acts contains references that indicate that Peter
was “first among the apostles.” Over the
course of the next few weeks, we will see a changing of the guard so-to-speak
from the “old” apostolic leadership to that of the “new” one with Paul at the
helm. Now, merely as speculation, I
think that Luke gives us a glimpse into the lives of so many different people
and apostolic regimes (if I can use such a title) because he wants readers to
understand that sharing and spreading the gospel isn’t just for a handful of
people, but for all believers. It’s the
same sentiment that we find today where so many Christian authors and pastors
have to fight the mindset that evangelism and sharing the gospel is only for
those called to ordained ministry or in some sort of paid ministry role. Instead, it is the calling and mission of all
those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
However,
for today our focus is upon Peter and the ministry that he had after his
assisting Philip in Samaria that we saw a few weeks ago, and after his teaching
and training of Paul that took place in Jerusalem. Now one thing that we know about Peter that
wasn’t necessarily true of all of the other disciples turned apostles was that
he was very outwardly focused, he was a “go-type of person”. He was always willing to leave the confines
of Jerusalem and take the gospel message out into the world. He wasn’t really one to go and focus on one
specific area, but was willing to go wherever he was needed. As a result, his fame (so-to-speak) never
reached the level of someone like Paul, but his impact upon the world for the
sake of the gospel was still great.
In
our text for today, we’re first told of him going to visit “the
saints” (or we might could call them just simply church members or
congregants) in Lydda. We find in our
text a story of Peter healing a man named Aeneas who had for the previous eight
years been bedridden and paralyzed. The
people of Joppa, a town roughly 10 miles away from Lydda heard about what Peter
had just done. The people of Joppa had
just suffered a great loss with the death of a woman named Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek). She was a wonderfully charitable person and
really a cornerstone and pillar of her community. Hearing of what Peter had just done only a
few miles down the road, some people sent for him and had him come to
Joppa. Once there, Peter prayed over her
body and commanded her to rise and she did; she was raised from death and
brought into life once again. Now, it’s
worth noting that back in Mark’s gospel (5:41), when Jesus commanded that
Jairus’ daughter rise from the dead, the Aramaic words that Jesus spoke to her
were “Tabitha cumi”, which in English means “little girl rise
up.” It’s startling that here Peter uses
virtually the exact same phrase to bring life back into this woman. We can’t look at this and think that it was
just a coincidence. Luke is drawing a
very real link here between what Peter had just done and what Jesus had done
prior to that, and that link is the Holy Spirit. Remember that one of the keys to the book of
Acts is the power of the Holy Spirit now working through all believers. We even said when we started this look at
Acts that some have titled this book “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”. I have to imagine that Peter was pretty
amazed, seeing as how he had never raised anyone from the dead before this
moment, at what the Holy Spirit did through him. We see the power of God working through him
first in the healing of Aeneas, and now in the raising up of Tabitha from the
dead. The Holy Spirit is on full display
in Peter’s ministry, and he knows that it isn’t a power that comes from
himself.
While
Peter was still in Joppa, an angel of the Lord told a man named Cornelius to
send men to find Peter and bring him to Caesarea where he was. Meanwhile, Peter was given this vision that
unfortunately we don’t have time to go into today, but ultimately he was taught
that nothing that God has made should be called common. This lesson will come to a fuller light in
just a moment. But after hearing
Cornelius’ men tell him why they have come in search of him, Peter left with
them the following morning and headed for Caesarea. After they arrived, Peter finally met with
Cornelius. Cornelius told Peter that an
angel (or as he put it “a man in bright clothing”) appeared to him and told him
where to find Peter. Then, Cornelius
said to Peter, “Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that
you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Peter was given the floor to present the gospel to these people who were
there. Now, it’s worth noting that
Cornelius and most likely some of his men were not Jews. They were seekers and followers of God, but
not believers in Jesus Christ either.
So, they’re outside of the Jewish circle (nationally speaking), but not
considered people of the Way. Cornelius
and his men were, as they’re commonly called throughout the New Testament,
Gentiles.
Peter,
in verses 34 through 43, gives a beautiful presentation of the gospel. He used words and phrases like “God
shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is
right is acceptable to him.” He
speaks of Jesus going about “doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the devil.”
Finally, that “all the prophets bear witness that everyone
who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Then, even as Peter was saying these things,
we’re told that “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” We’re told that the Holy Spirit was falling
upon both Jew and Gentile, much to the amazement of many of the Jews there that
day. The popular thought was that God’s
love was something that everyone could enjoy, but the gift of the Holy Spirit
was something that was reserved for the Jews, the people of Israel, God’s
chosen people.
Now,
I don’t want to get too bogged down in some of this, and I realize that I have
taken a very quick and in some aspects overly so approach to our text for
today. I’ve only barely even scratched
the surface of what’s there, but my reason for doing so is that I’m afraid we
might miss the forest because of the trees.
I don’t want us sitting down and analyzing each of these three accounts
of Peter’s ministry (in addition to both his and Cornelius’ visions) and miss
what’s happening here on a larger scale.
The account of Peter healing of Aeneas was in an area that was largely
Jewish in religion, but mixed greatly in terms of nationality. The same was true of both Joppa and Caesarea,
the two other regions visited by Peter in our text. This is emphasizing the point that the gospel
isn’t just for a select group of people, but for all people, regardless of
nationality or location. Now, this
doesn’t mean that everyone is going to hear and believe in an instant and it
doesn’t mean that no one is outside of being saved, but it does call us to go
to everyone, regardless of what we may think their stance with Christ might
be. So, we’re left ultimately asking
what it all means when we look at the overall context of these narratives and
how it relates to the overall story of Acts and thusly to us as the Church
today.
The
past few Sundays, I’ve spoken ad nauseum
about stepping outside of the area commonly referred to as our comfort zone;
outside of those topics, people, places, and situations that give us
comfort. Well, as we’ve seen, there are
great things that happen for God’s kingdom when we are willing to do this. We’ve seen several Biblical examples of this from
the lives of Philip, Ananias, and Paul.
Well, the accounts today about Peter give us a little deeper
understanding as to the need to step outside of our comfort zones. You see, if you have one of those Bibles that
puts the words of God in red, then you can see that one of the two phrases in
red are the words that God spoke to Peter in his vision when He said, “What
God has made clean, do not call common.” What God has made… Well, we’re what God has made; He made us in
His image. You see there’s nothing
common about us. And that doesn’t just
go for Christians; it doesn’t just go for Americans or any other
nationality. It goes for all people.
As
I mentioned a moment ago, the Jews that were there were shocked that the Holy
Spirit would descend upon the Gentiles.
After all, they thought that the Holy Spirit was just for them. Well, I don’t think that in our world today
that we view things so narrowly in terms of the Holy Spirit or even the gospel
as a whole for that matter. However, the
application of that view is another matter.
What I mean by that is that we would never say (or more accurately
admit) that the gospel isn’t for certain people or places. However, our actions and efforts in the field
of spreading the gospel are confined to only a select group of people; most
often, people who look just like us in one form or another. We believe (rightfully) that the gospel is
for our neighbor, but when we say neighbor, we most often mean the people just
like us. We don’t think that the gospel
is for all people. We discriminate based
on skin color, nationality, location, or (dare I even say it) current religious
faith. You see, the gospel is for all
people. It’s for the non-Christian just
as much as the Christian. Notice that I
didn’t say that it means as much in terms of its viewed importance to the
non-Christian, but that the non-believer is just as much in need of it as the
believer. As I’ve challenged you to go
outside of your own comfort zone over the past few weeks, you’ve probably
realized how poor of a job many of us do at witnessing to those around us. Well, it becomes increasingly difficult when
we look to people that we have nothing in common with. However, that doesn’t diminish the need for
reaching out to these people. I don’t
possess the ability to witness to those of the Muslim faith, but that doesn’t
make their need for the gospel any less; my inability to witness to them doesn’t
relieve me of that burden placed on me by Christ. When it comes to witnessing to these folks,
that’s where I’m thankful for the efforts of those who are called to such a ministry. But what I can do is pray for them. I can seek out people in my own “mission
field” to witness to and in turn get them to pray for them. The important thing is that I (or any of us)
never place a limit on the gospel.
That’s what the Jews did in this account with Peter and Cornelius, and
that’s what many times we do without even realizing it. The gospel is for all people, and it cannot
be stopped, unless we stop it. It doesn’t
take much effort on behalf of Satan to stop the gospel when we allow ourselves
to become comfortable in our own situations and stop witnessing to those around
us. Be an instrument of gospel progress,
and not a roadblock or dead end. Be
someone like Peter, who sought for all to hear the gospel. Don’t be like some of the Jews and this think
that we are somehow we are the keepers of some gift that only we are worthy of,
because I can promise you that we are no more worthy than anyone else of such a
gracious and merciful gift. The gospel
is for everyone. Glory be to God; in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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