The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also
had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised
believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised
men and ate with them.” 4 Peter began and explained everything to them precisely
as it had happened: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I
saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven
by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and
saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the
air. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ 8 “I
replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that
God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled
up to heaven again. 11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea
stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation
about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered
the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house
and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you
a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’ 15 “As I
began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.
16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized
with a water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if
God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to think that I could oppose God?” 18 When they heard this, they had
no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even
the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
- Acts 11:1-18, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
In Christ:
Every once in awhile, I hear a person describe witnessing as nothing but pure joy. I don't know about you, but I have trouble with that. That hasn't been my experience. Often telling others about Jesus is hard work. Frequently it's painful. Sometimes it even involves agony especially when you see people who have rejected your witness die in their unbelief.
A missionary one time said mission work was similar to searching for survivors after a major disaster. You come across corpse after corpse before finding someone who can be saved. As he shared this, his pain over the lost was obvious.
But he and I also talked about the exhilaration of being used by God to rescue some. Witnessing is not pure agony. Sometimes it is pure joy. There is no greater joy than watching someone, because of the powerful message you delivered to them, come to life right before your eyes! When that happens, you can't contain yourself. You feel like spiking your Bible and giving high fives to everybody in sight.
The point is: mission work has its highs and lows. It involves riding an emotional roller coaster. Today's text illustrates that but from a slightly different angle. Here we see Peter experiencing agony - not so much agony over the plight of the lost. Rather we see how he agonized as he left his comfort zone to reach people for Jesus. But we also sense his ecstasy over bringing people to Jesus. As I now read this somewhat lengthy text, be on the lookout for both his agony and ecstasy. Look for it. Learn from it. Then be encouraged by it to...
RIDE THE ROLLER COASTER OF MISSION WORK
If you want to ride the roller coaster of mission work - and we really don't have a choice do we since that is Jesus' great commission to us - then we need to experience, like Peter, the agony of leaving our comfort zones.
To better appreciate what that entails let's examine Peter's agony. Look first at verse 8, at his reaction to the Lord's command to eat the animals in the vision. "I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’" Talk about agony! The Greek here couldn't be stronger. "By no means! Absolutely not! Never!"
Franzmann, in his excellent commentary on Bible History, says that Peter did not act merely with surprise or even shock. "Nothing less than revulsion took hold of him." Talk about being ripped out of your comfort zone. Peter said nothing like that had ever even entered his mouth. Now the Lord had prepared a literal feast of such food for him. The Lord was really challenging him.
The Lord is still doing that. Scripture often challenges our preconceived notions especially in the areas of how to do ministry. Often we need to do more than study Scripture; we need to wrestle with it. I especially wonder if we have wrestled enough with the fact that in those "how to" areas, the Lord has usually given us a remarkable degree of freedom. Have we come to grips with the fact that if he has granted us that freedom, he wants us to use it? Or have we been content to remain safe in our comfort zones and not make use of our Christian freedom?
Cornelius, the man whose house Peter went to, was not in Peter's "zone." But Peter might have thought he was. Earlier Cornelius is described as God-fearing. That meant that, although he was a non-Jew, he was a follower of Judaism. But not all the way. He was what was called a proselyte of the gate. That meant that he was not circumcised. Therefore Peter could have easily thought that Cornelius could come the rest of the way into Peter's comfort zone; that Peter wouldn't have to go out to him.
But that's not what the Lord thought. Note how the Lord rips Peter out of his comfort zone, and not just in the privacy of his thoughts either. Look at verse 11. "Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying." The Lord didn't give Peter a chance to catch his breath. The Lord didn't say: "This is a huge change for Peter, I better work slowly. I'll talk to him for a few months; let him get use to the idea; then I will give him a little taste of it. Maybe in a year from now he will be ready." No way. He didn't let Peter sit around and think about it. He threw him in immediately.
As we see in the fuller account of chapter ten, Peter was quick to point out to Cornelius that it was unlawful according to Jewish law for him to enter his house. It's obvious that he was not comfortable being there. But that's not all. Chapter ten also informs us that Peter stayed with Cornelius for a few days. Think of how strange that had to be for Peter. Not only did he do something he had never done before - enter a Gentile's house - he actually stayed with a Gentile! Talk about being ripped out of your comfort zone
Spreading God's Word also requires us to leave our comfort zones. One thing that I think we have to realize is that almost all mission work is cross-cultural work. When I say that, I'm not just referring to the obvious opportunities the Lord has given us to reach people of other nationalities. I'm also thinking of our reaching average unchurched white Americans. Not many of them are like us. The unchurched are operating with a completely different value system. They have a totally different mindset. To reach them we need to leave our comfort zone and go to where they are.
It's quite apparent that relatively few will come to us. Why should they? From their perspective, we are pretty weird people. In order to reach them, we need to learn their language and address their concerns. Out of love, we need to remove any unnecessary obstacles blocking their way to Jesus, even if those obstacles are things we cherish and love. We need to go into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory like Peter did. All this isn't easy. In fact, at times, it is downright agonizing. But all this is part of mission work.
Peter experienced that agony. But even after he returned home, his agony wasn't over. Look at verse two. "So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.’"
On the one hand, let's remember what a tremendously difficult transition those first Christians had to make. For centuries they had worshipped on Saturday; brought animal sacrifices to the Temple; and were circumcised. And they did that all by the direct command of God! But now, suddenly, they no longer have to sacrifice animals or be circumcised. In addition, they began worshipping on Sundays.
That would be similar to us suddenly switching our Sunday morning schedule to Monday mornings and saying baptism is no longer important. If that happened, I think there would be a few questions asked.
So, on the one hand, I think we can easily understand their criticism. On the other hand, however, notice that they make no mention of the fact that Gentiles were saved. It was like they had tunnel vision. No matter what, their criticism must have had to bother Peter. Painless criticism is a contradiction in terms. All criticism, even constructive criticism, stings to some degree. The point is that we shouldn't be surprised if we too are criticized if we start to make fuller use of our Christian freedom.
All this makes mission work difficult; yes, even agonizing. So much so that sometimes we might wonder if it is worth it. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. True, there's agony involved in leaving our comfort zones but that agony is nothing compared to the ecstasy of bringing people to Jesus. Mission work is about rescuing people saving people for all eternity.
Listen again to what the angel told Cornelius about Peter: "He will bring a message through which you and your household will be saved." Mission work is all about saving people.
That's extremely rewarding.
Why do people work as paramedics even though they witness horrible injuries? Why do others work with abused children even though they encounter horrifying circumstances? Why? For the joy and reward of saving some. The ones the paramedics save, the children the social workers salvage, make it all worthwhile. So much so that many people who work in such jobs, even though they encounter things that regularly tear their hearts out, would not think of doing anything else.
How much more we Christians, who have the message that saves people - ETERNALLY. How much more we Christians, who have the ONLY message that saves people eternally.
Just think of it. The Triune God allows you and me to be part of his rescue team. Here's God the Father who took out his fierce wrath against sin on his Son instead of us - who sacrificed his Son for us. Just think of the stake involved he has in this!
Then there's God the Son who didn't fight against that plan but agreed that it was a wonderful idea. Jesus willingly, not reluctantly, suffered and died as payment for our sins. That was after he had already sacrificed 33 years for us by keeping his law for us. He has a pretty big stake in this also.
Then there's God the Holy Spirit who now is working tirelessly to bring people to faith. Here's the Triune God who has sacrificed tremendously for us, giving us the honor and the privilege of being on their rescue team. Here's the Triune God allowing us to enjoy the ecstasy of bringing people to Jesus. Wow.
As Peter looked back on his life, I'm sure he got chills down his spine every time he thought about his visit to Cornelius' house. I have to believe that he and Cornelius became the best of friends - that whenever they saw each other they greeted each other like long lost brothers. None of that would have happened if Peter would have stayed in his comfort zone.
I feel confident in saying that the vast majority of Christians who have left their comfort zones to bring people to Jesus are extremely grateful they did as they think of their new brothers and sisters in the faith. As they think of the wonderful opportunities they have had to witness people come to life - eternal life - right before their eyes, they have no single thoughts. They wouldn't trade it for anything. Why? Because that is pure ecstasy.
Something else that brings joy is influencing others to help in bringing people to Jesus. Earlier we looked at how the Jewish Christians criticized Peter. But look at what happened after he explained the situation. "When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." Just as their criticism must have hurt Peter, their praising God must have thrilled him. Their support had to mean a lot to him. It was probably something he relied on in the months and years ahead.
The more people who are on the team working together, the better it is. When we are alone, our agony is increased and our joy is diminished. But when we are working arm and arm with others, the agony of mission work is greatly diminished and the joy greatly increased.
It's easier to ride an emotional roller coaster with somebody else; it's more fun to ride a real roller coaster with a friend sitting next to you. It's really fun to work together to spread God's Word. And the more you do it, the more you like it. Therefore, together let's ride the roller coaster of mission work. Amen.