Sermon: Sunday, 7th April, 2024
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Acts 10 – Acts 11:1-18
Recently, I started going to a folk club in Kirkcaldy. I love the music. The last few times I went on my own, I don’t know anyone there. Usually there are around 50 people. Most of them have been going for many, many years. Before going along, I had a few thoughts. Will they be a friendly group? Will I be accepted? Will I make new friends? It’s not always easy going into a new place as an outsider, especially when those in the group know each other well. To be honest, I did feel a bit awkward and nervous. We all have a deep longing to be accepted by others.
It made me think about our church here. Who is welcome in Kirkcaldy Free Church? Are we good at accepting new people here? Do you have to attend for five years before you can get involved or can you get involved straight away? Are there barriers we put up which make it difficult for people to join in? It also made me think about what it means to be accepted by God himself. Who does God accept? Is anyone excluded? Does God accept everyone no matter what? What barriers are there which prevent us from friendship with God? Let’s explore these issues through Acts chapter 10.
1. A temporary barrier
In order to understand Acts chapter 10, we must appreciate just how large the cultural barrier was between Jews and Gentiles in the time of the apostles. It was God who had created this barrier in the first place, in order to stop his chosen people, the Jews, from assimilating with the nations around them. This was to ensure his people did not practice the evil false worship and immoral behaviours of neighbouring peoples. God called his people as his own to be a holy people. This was the reason for the dietary laws which God gave Israel; they underlined that God expected his people to be different. The barriers existed to preserve the moral and spiritual lives of his people. Sadly, sometimes this resulted in Jews looking down on the other nations. The added to God’s wise restrictions with unwise ones, and created man-made rules, such as Jews being forbidden to even enter the home of a Gentile or eat with them.
However, these barriers were always meant to be temporary. God had always promised that when the Messiah came, the blessing of God would widen, and be poured out to the whole world. The Lord promised Abraham that: ‘… all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’ (Genesis 12:3) The prophet Isaiah received a vision of what would happen in the ‘last days’ which are the days after Jesus’ arrival: ‘In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it’ (Isaiah 2:2) God’s plan for broken humanity was never focused solely on one nation. We see this so explicitly in Ephesians chapter 2, where Paul speaks of God destroying the barrier between these two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles: ‘For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.’ (Ephesians 2:14-16)
Now, as we read Acts 10, Christ has already been crucified and raised again, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out on both Jews and Gentiles. This left the Jewish Christians with a huge dilemma: should they continue to be separate from Gentiles, even if these Gentiles have become followers of Jesus? Or should they integrate with them normally. After hundreds of years of separation, you can imagine they instinctively desired to remain apart from the Gentiles. It’s what they’d always done. But they were wrong. So, God is going to give them a massive wake-up call, to make sure they change their mindsets completely. Using visions, God orchestrates a meeting between a prominent Jewish Christian, Peter, and a well-respected Gentile soldier called Cornelius.
Sometimes it takes a bit of work to bring people together. Before going out with Sarah, our mutual friend Peigi arranged the circumstances so that we would end up going out on a walk together by ourselves. We needed a bit of help. That’s what God is doing here through the visions; he is arranging things so Jews and Gentiles come together, and will realise they are meant to be together!
Peter receives a vision not just once but three times. This underlines how big a shift is taking place here. God is abrogating the dietary laws laid out in Leviticus chapter 11. God is changing things big time. His people can now eat things which they weren’t allowed to in the past, such as pork, lobster, and birds. Peter is shocked. He says, ‘Surely not, Lord.’ (Acts 10:14) This is typical Peter, forgetting his place before God. The Lord has to rebuke Peter, reminding him that he alone is the only lawmaker: The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ (Acts 10:15)
But it would have been shocking and hard to take in. Imagine we went to our local restaurant and now dog and cat and horse and frog was on the menu. It might well turn our stomachs. You just don’t eat these things. Even though he receives it three times, at first Peter does not understand what it means: ‘While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision…’ (Acts 10:17) Understanding comes later.
But God will use Cornelius to help Peter to understand, and when he does understand, he will see just how important this vision is. It’s not just about what you can eat. Peter knows it has been God who has brought him into Cornelius’ home. He now understands the full import of the vision: ‘Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.’ (Acts 10:24-35)
We read in Acts 11:1-2 that the Jewish Christians criticise Peter for meeting with Gentiles. However, when Peter explains the respective visions which he and Cornelius had received from God, they too begin to understand that God has now removed the barrier between Jew and Gentile: ‘When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.’ (Acts 11:18)
Imagine the joy in Germany when the iron curtain came down in 1989, and they could be one nation again. This is something much more significant and joyous. They praise God because they now see that the church is an international family, no longer focused on one nation.
What are the main lessons for us today?
2. Race is no barrier to God
In other words, God’s attitude to you has nothing to do with your nationality or the colour of your skin or your gender or social class. God does not judge us on the basis of such external things. ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. God shows no partiality.’ (Acts 10:34-35)
Peter is part of the church of Jesus Christ. But so is the African eunuch we were introduced to in chapter 8. And so is Cornelius, who is a Roman soldier of all things! He is the first European convert we read about in Scripture. We don’t need to have two separate churches, one for Jewish Christians and one for Gentile Christians. God has ripped that barrier down completely.
Who is welcome in Kirkcaldy Free Church? Well, if God welcomes those of every nation and language, then we must do the same. And we do! And we are thrilled to have people from so many countries coming together each week, united in our love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Scots are not more important than Romanians. Slovaks are not more important than Nigerians. We are the same in the eyes of God. We are equally welcome.
This is actually something enormously refreshing in our dark world, where so often there is favouritism based on looks, race, gender, class, occupation, and age. God’s church is inclusive. In fact, the church is the most inclusive place in the whole world. Everyone is welcome.
Rebecca McLaughlin describes the church as: ‘the greatest movement for racial diversity in all of history.’ Christianity is not something for white westerners, but for them, and the Chinese, and Australians and South Americans and so on. Looking at current trends, Rebecca McLaughlin says: ‘It seems that by 2060, forty percent of all Christians will live in sub-Saharan Africa, and China could be a majority Christian country at that point with far more Christians than the US.’ Race is no barrier to God and it is no barrier to his church. The doors of KFC must be open to all.
So, let’s not take the international flavour of this church for granted. Let’s celebrate and guard the unity we have. It is a beautiful thing.
If race is no barrier to God, this also means that the church must engage in mission all over the world. Again, I’m glad that we don’t just take an interest in our own ‘patch’ here in Fife, but care about what is happening to the church all over the world. We pray for and financially support those in need around the world.
3. Look out for unnecessary barriers we erect in the church
What do I mean by that? Well, it’s fine to say that we should welcome everyone and we should. But the truth is, we are all still sinners, and continue to have certain prejudices. We must pray that God would show us these. James teaches about the way money can still be a real barrier in churches: ‘My brothers, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?’ (James 2:1-4)
Here’s a challenge for us all. Do you have favourites in the church? Do you tend to talk far more to people from your own kind of background or culture? If so, that is wrong. Do you treat people who are more like you with greater love and greater enthusiasm? That too is wrong! People from Free Church or presbyterian backgrounds should not get special treatment. Nor should young people, or wealthier people, or those successful in the workplace.
Do you have prejudices against certain kinds of people, and do you tend to avoid becoming friends with them? Do you avoid praying for them or being kind to them? If we think about this deeply, I am confident that we all need to repent of wrong attitudes here. God welcomes all and so must we.
4. There is one true barrier between God and all human beings
What is that barrier? Sin. It’s not true to say that God just accepts people no matter who they are or what they have done. Listen to Peter’s words; ‘And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’ (Acts 10:42-43)
Peter clearly states that all people will be judged by God – the living and the dead. This means everyone. You are accountable to God for how you live your life, whether you want to be or not. This is his world, and he made you. That’s the way it is. Peter also clearly states that what we need from God is his forgiveness. Religious people need God’s forgiveness because they have still broken God’s rules. Secular people need God’s forgiveness. You need it. I need it. There are many things God has told me to do, and I have not done them. There are many things he commands not to do, and often I have rebelled and done those very acts. This is what causes the barrier between us and God.
5. God has provided a way for this barrier to be removed
God has provided a way for us to be accepted by God, even though we don’t deserve it. The solution to this barrier is to believe in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. Not everyone goes to Heaven. It is only those who receive by faith Christ’s free offer of forgiveness. You need to give up trying to be good enough yourself. You need to give up thinking that if you are ‘spiritual’ enough or keep the rules often enough you can save yourself. You cannot. Only Jesus through his blood shed on the cross can cleanse us from our sin. Only Jesus can remove the barrier between us and God and bring us eternal peace with God.
If you are drowning, you need to stop thrashing around in the water, and allow the lifeguard to pull you to safety. Why not admit to Jesus today that, morally speaking, you are drowning. Ask Jesus in prayer to pull you to the shore and he will. He invites everyone to call out to him promising to save.