Baptism and Community Service: Embracing God’s Mercy and Mission

This story is about reformation among the early followers of Jesus. It's a story that's so important. It gets told three times in the book of Acts. So why is it so important? What are the implications for you and me? If not for this story, you and I Gentiles would not be welcome in the church. [00:30:21]

Peter is a Jewish fisherman from north of Jerusalem up in Galilee by the Sea of Galilee. And Peter broke one of the fundamental Jewish rules as it says in verse two. So Peter went up to Jerusalem. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" [00:25:14]

Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them? Peter responds not with reasons for doing what he did. Peter responds by sharing the story of what happened, what he had seen. He says, 'I was in the city of Japa and I was praying and I saw this vision and there was something like a large sheath that came down from heaven and I looked closely. [00:26:03]

There were all kinds of animals on it and I heard a voice saying to me, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." Well, as a fisherman, Peter would have been used to killing and eating. at least killing and eating certain animals. Those animals that were considered clean, but the variety of animals on that sheet, they were not kosher. [00:26:24]

But a second time the voice answered from heaven. What God has made clean, you must not call profane. This happened three times and everything was pulled up again to heaven. What God has made clean, you must not call profane. This declaration that was repeated three times has been echoing in my mind. [00:27:09]

I think the spirit is propelling Peter to see things differently than he had learned as a faithful Jew. What God has made clean, you must not call profane. But this conversation and conversion about the animals still doesn't answer the question, why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them? [00:28:04]

And so Peter continues retelling the story of what happened. At that very moment, three men arrived at the house where we were. And the spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These three men are sent by Cornelius. And Cornelius is a Roman officer introduced at the beginning of chapter 10. [00:28:34]

He was a devout man who feared God with all his household. He gave alms generously. Giving to the poor was one of the things, one of the practices of Jewish folks. And although he wasn't Jewish, he was drawn to the Jewish faith. And he practiced giving to the poor. And he prayed constantly to God. [00:28:50]

Cornelius, he had his own vision happening at the same time Peter was having his vision. Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house saying, "Send to Japa and bring Simon who's called Peter. He will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved." [00:29:18]

And then Peter shares how while he was talking with Cornelius, the Holy Spirit came upon this gentile Cornelius and his household. And Peter shares how he remembered Jesus saying, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." And then Peter says, 'If God gave them the same gift as God gave us when we believed, then who am I to hinder God? [00:29:34]

So finally after retelling this whole story of what happened to Cornelius, Peter finally answers the question, why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them? He answers with another question. Who am I to hinder God? Well, today's reading has very important implications for you and me. [00:30:00]

In this story, the Holy Spirit propels Peter to see differently. And based on seeing differently, Peter's behavior and his relationships, the way he treats other people are all transformed. They're all reformed. You see, this vision of the sheet with all the animals isn't merely about seeing all of God's creation as good. [00:30:46]

This divine declaration reforms Peter's vision not merely of pork, but of people. Willie James Jennings, uh, a biblical scholar and theologian, writes this. He says, "Peter obeys, but now that obedience must take flight with the Holy Spirit into an uncharted world where the distinctions between holy and unholy, clean and unclean have been fundamentally upended." [00:31:29]

This is a moment of struggle for Peter to allow his vision of faithfulness to God and the covenant with Israel to expand. Peter's vision of faithfulness to God expands. This new word that God continues to speak to us is to accept new people, different people that we had not imagined that God would send across our paths into our lives. [00:32:14]

Whenever I'm preparing uh to preach, I always try to be open to to see connections between the scriptures and our present situations. And sometimes when I'm studying, I get interrupted and I I get frankly kind of irritated by the interruption because I'm trying to focus and I'm kind of like my brain can be like a pinball machine bouncing all over. [00:32:47]

And so, I went out and I met this member of the congregation and and he started to explain to me that he had brought his neighbor to come so that she could pick out coats for her kids. and his neighbor was learning English and and her native language was Spanish. And this member knew that I had lived in Mexico and South America and that I spoke Spanish. [00:33:24]