Who Are We to Stand in God's Way?

Acts 11:1-18 The apostles and brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who insisted on circumcision criticized him, 3 saying, “You went to visit men who were uncircumcised and ate with them!” 

4 So Peter began to explain everything to them, point by point. He said, 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision in which an object like a large sheet was let down from heaven by its four corners. It came right to me. 6 When I inspected it very carefully, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’ 

8“But I replied, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 

9“A voice spoke from heaven a second time: ‘What God has made clean, you must not continue to call unclean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up into heaven again. 

11“At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them without any hesitation. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he saw an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and call for Simon, the one called Peter. 14 He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’ 

15“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as he came down on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered how the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try to stand in God’s way?” 

18 When they heard these things, they had no further objections, and they praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted repentance that results in life also to the Gentiles!” 

Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34, 35) Amen.  

When I was in college, I had a friend whose father was a missionary in Japan. His parents regularly sent him care packages from home. In those care packages was food we Americans don’t normally eat – green tea, seaweed, and pickled frogs. Others from overseas might receive care packages containing crickets, grasshoppers, and chicken feet. 

We Americans might think, “Eww, yuck!” 

Peter seemed to have a similar reaction to the vision God sent him at Joppa in Acts 10. While he was praying on his rooftop, he saw a vision of a sheet coming down from heaven filled with many different kinds of animals. He was told to kill and eat. Peter was disgusted. As a Jew, he had never eaten grilled snake or boiled lobster or the savory goodness of bacon-wrapped anything. 

All these animals he was told to eat had been forbidden for Jews to eat according to their religious laws. Peter’s answer was, “No, thanks!” Or, “Eww, yuck!” 

God added something cryptic, “What God has made clean, you must not continue to call unclean” (Acts 10:15). Then the vision was repeated two more times. Peter was left scratching his head. What was the point of this vision? 

Just then several men came to the front door asking for Peter. They were Gentiles. But for Jews to talk to Gentiles it was like, “Eww, yuck!” 

But it was even more than that. The men were taking Peter to the home of Cornelius – a Gentile centurion. Gasp! It was bad enough to speak to Gentiles. But to enter the home of a Gentile was a big, gross, “Eww, yuck!” 

In Acts 11 St. Luke reports how the Jews in the Christian Church – “those who insisted on circumcision” – had a hard time realizing the Good News of Jesus was for all people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. The Jews criticized Peter for going to the home of Cornelius. That was a big no-no in their mindset. 

That’s when Peter recounted the events of chapter 10 and the vision that God gave him. Peter explained the vision meant that God’s Old Testament food laws that had separated Jews and Gentiles no longer applied in the New Testament. The vision was about more than giving Peter permission to discover that bacon makes everything better. The vision was more than that pork chops and shrimp cocktail could now be on the menu. They were no longer considered unclean and unholy. More importantly, Gentiles were no longer considered unclean and unholy.  

The leaders of the early church were scandalized that Peter had gone to the home of Cornelius and then baptized Cornelius and his entire household. But then Peter said God gave his divine stamp of approval on the event. Peter said, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as he came down on us at the beginning. Then I remembered how the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try to stand in God’s way?” 

Thankfully, St. Luke reports: When they heard these things, they had no further objections, and they praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted repentance that results in life also to the Gentiles!” 

That’s a great story … and a greater response. But what does that have to do with us today? 

Do you ever notice tension inside the church where there are people different from you? 

Maybe it’s a tension between older and younger members; those without children and those with squirming little ones; various skin colors, ethnicities, and languages; life-long Christians and new converts; those who dress up for worship and those who dress comfortably for worship; those who are wealthy and those who struggle financially; those who are active with lots of gifts and those who have limited time and talents; those who like to move around to find seats in the sanctuary and those who have their favorite family pew.  

Phew! That’s a lot of reasons for tension! And I’m only scratching the surface. 

When we are in the middle of these tensions it’s important for us to hear Jesus’ command, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34, 35).  

We need to stress – especially to ourselves – that Jesus loves us, so we are to love others. It’s easy to love and be comfortable with those who are like us. It’s more difficult and out of our comfort zone to love those who are different from us. 

The problem is that we like to hang around with those who look like us, speak like us, and behave like us. We feel uncomfortable being with those who are different from us. Partiality is rampant in the human heart. It’s the sin of showing kindness to one’s own kind and loving only those whom we find lovely. It’s a sin that not only affects our world of sinners … it also infects every church filled with sinners.  

God is challenging us in this text to trust him in stepping out of our comfort zone, to overcome the false boundaries the world creates, to defeat the fears differences produce, and to unleash the love of God in our lives toward others. 

When I teach about homosexuality in Catechism class, I ask the students, “Should you be friends with someone who is gay?” We’ve already talked about how the Bible calls homosexuality a sin against God’s 6th commandment and his plans of populating the earth. Every year, every class answers the same way. “No. We should stop being their friends.”  

Then I always give the same answer. “No. You should remain friends with someone who is gay. Your friend won’t listen to me. But he or she will listen to you. They know you love them. And when you share God’s truth and call them to repentance, they may not agree with you. But at least they know you’re doing it out of love.” 

When your family member is struggling with an addiction, you intervene out of love. When your co-worker has bought into all the woke paganism, you speak up out of love. When one group of people are promoting violence against pro-life churches today, you calmly defuse the situation by humbly and boldly standing up for the life of the unborn infant. 

We admit we have not always loved others the way Christ loved us. We haven’t always opened our arms and homes to those who are different from us. We haven’t always had meals with those who vehemently disagree with us. Today we learn the lesson of Peter and the early church. Who are we to stand in God’s way?  

God is no respecter of persons. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God loves us enough to send his Son to live to take our sins upon his holy body, to die to pay for our “little” and “infrequent” sins and our “big” and “addicting” sins, to rise for forgiveness of our looking righteous and our obviously unrighteous lifestyles. God’s love in Jesus is available to all. For all who accept Jesus’ love are accepted in into Jesus’ new heaven and new earth. The forgiven, blood-bought sinners are streaming to Jesus’ throne from every nation, tribe, people, and language. From every skin color, economic status, personality, and even political affiliation. 

As we apply Peter’s vision, we are reminded that being in the Christian Church – either the 1st century church or the 21st century church – is hard. 

It’s hard for the new person walking into the church doors for the first time, afraid of judgment. 

It’s hard for the prodigal son returning home broke and broken. 

It’s hard for the teenage girl who looks like she has it all together … but doesn’t. 

It’s hard for the older couple who fought on the way to worship this morning.  

It’s hard for the widow and widower whose pew seat next to them is empty. 

It’s hard for the younger couple who is having trouble getting pregnant when they see all the children at the children’s devotion. 

It’s hard for the single man or single woman praying for God to give them a marriage partner. 

It’s hard for the person who is addicted when every one else looks like their lives are all together. 

The Christian Church is hard for so many people for so many reasons. That’s why love is so important. Repentance and restoration are needed. Fear that is overcome by faith. Burdens that are given to the Burden-bearer. Confrontation that leads to invitation. Unholiness that is covered by Christ’s holiness. Getting out of our comfort zone to welcome others to find their comfort in Christ. Less judgment and more understanding. Fewer criticisms and more patience. Love that covers a multitude of wrongs. Love that never fails. Love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).  

There may be numerous things that make us go, “Eww, yuck!” By the grace of God, the love of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome our objections. Let’s go out and share God’s love with those who are different from us. Then we can join in rejoicing with the early church in saying, “Who are we to stand in God’s way.” Amen.  

So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13). Amen.