Peter explains his actions (Acts 11:1-18) // On mission with the risen Jesus

The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the

Gentiles also had received the word of God.

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.

Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story.

I was in the city of Jopa 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. I looked into it and saw 4

footed animals on the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds.

Then I heard a voice telling me Get up Peter, kill and eat.

I replied. Surely not Lord, nothing impure

or unclean has ever entered my mouth.

The voice spoke from heaven a second time.

Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.

This has happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to

heaven again. Right then, three men who had

been sent to me from Caesar stopped at the house where I was

staying. 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. He told us how he had seen an

Angel appeared in his house and say, sent to Jopa for Simon,

who's called Peter. He'll bring you a message

through which you and all your household will be safe.

As I begin to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as He had

come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what 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 he gave us who believed in

the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in

God's way? 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. So we're looking at Acts 11-1 to

18, which, for those of you who were here last week, you'll find

very, very familiar. But I just want to start with an

introduction. So we live on planet Earth.

Yeah. And planet Earth is spinning

through space, and the moon is spinning around the Earth.

And the planets, Mars, Venus, Mercury, they're spinning around

the Earth as well, aren't they? Yeah.

And the sun, that's spinning around the Earth as well.

And the Earth that's at the centre of the solar system.

That's right, isn't it? And all the other solar systems

and galaxies are spinning around the Earth and the Earth is in

the middle and the Earth is at the centre of the universe.

That's correct, isn't it? No, no, Hopefully you know that.

But 1000 years ago that probably would have been that, that that

was kind of accepted scientific thinking about the solar system,

that the Earth was at the centre of it and that the sun and

planets orbited around the Earth.

It's sort of like a geocentric kind of model.

And so an accepted way of thinking about something.

We call that a a paradigm and that was the accepted way of

thinking about the solar system and the Earth 1000 odd years

ago. But sometimes the accepted way

of thinking about something, it can be wrong and slow.

Actually through the work of scientifically like Copernicus,

Galileo, Kepler, it was shown by I think the late 1600s and then

generally accepted after that, actually the Earth wasn't at the

centre of the universe. The Earth wasn't even at the

centre of its own solar system. The sun was.

So the scientific model, the way of thinking about things, it

shifted. We call that a paradigm shift.

The way of thinking shifted and moved to something that was

actually true and correct. And this is important because

actually, if the sun is at the centre of the solar system on

the Earth, that changes a lot of things about how you think

about. Now this is at the limits of our

knowledge, gravity and stuff and travelling in space and, and all

that sort of stuff. But your fundamental assumptions

shift, don't they? And they open up new ways of

understanding things. And we can think of loads of

examples of paradigm shifts in human history.

You know, for instance, the infectious diseases aren't

spread by bad air, but by germs, by microbes, by viruses,

bacteria. That kind of those shifts in

understanding really, really change things.

Why am I going on about paradigm shifts?

Why am I going about changes in thinking?

Because actually what we heard about in Acts 10, does that come

up right? Yeah.

OK. What we heard about in Acts 10

last week and is repeated in Acts 11 this week, it's a

paradigm shift. It's the Jewish Christians of

the of the day undergoing a change in their thinking and

recognizing that the way they were thinking was wrong.

And it's summarized in verse 18. When they heard this, they had

no further objections and praise God saying so then even to

Gentiles, Gentiles being someone who's not a Jew, so everyone

else, God has granted repentance that leads to life.

So this change of thinking is that anyone, not just someone

born Jewish, can be saved and can become a Christian.

And so one of the things I want to make sure that we do this

morning is that for us as Christians here today, we really

understand the implications of what Luke has recorded in Acts

10 and 11. I do want to make one thing

clear before we go any further, though, which is that God's way

of thinking does not change. His paradigms don't shift.

So even when we were 1000 years ago thinking that the earth was

at the center of the solar system, God knew that wasn't the

case. He's a creator.

He knew the sun was at the center of the solar system.

Of course he did. And God's always known that

infectious diseases have been spread by bacteria and viruses

and so on. So it's also true that God has

always intended that all peoples know forgiveness and salvation

through Jesus. It's always known that it's

always been true, and it's there in the Bible as well.

We promised Abraham as have put up there and all peoples on

earth will be blessed through you.

Jesus is the descendant of Abraham.

So Acts 1011 is really just everyone else catching up with

what God has already known and has been saying but wasn't fully

understood. So just that's just by way of

introduction. And I've got three main points I

want to go through today, but I just want to make sure we all

understand what's going on in the passage.

Probably if you're here last week, you've got a really good

understanding, but I just want to split it up into three trunks

and we'll go, we'll go through it.

So the accusations. So this, we see this in verses

one to three. So the events of of Acts 10 can

be summarized in very simple terms.

Cornelius, a Roman centurion, not a Jew and his household,

they become Christians. That's that's what happens,

isn't it? And news of this got out to the

believers in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, Judea, and

these believers would all be Jewish Christians, bought up as

Jewish, but then trusting in Jesus and becoming Christians.

Camillius and his family of Gentiles and historic household,

not Jewish. So when Peter comes back to

Jerusalem, the believers there don't greet him with kind of

praise and joy. Well done.

Great. And they agree with an

accusation. Basically what it boils down to

is what were you doing going into that Gentiles house?

He's unclean. He doesn't follow our laws while

he is eating with him makes you unclean.

Peter, you know what's going on there.

Why are you spending time with these unclean Gentiles?

And so their way of thinking that the paradigm they operated

under even now, even though they're now Christians, is that

there's, there's still a separation, there's still a, a

difference, a barrier between those who follow the Jewish law

and those who don't, don't ring God's family and those who are

not. That's their accusation.

They're asking for Peter to account for his actions,

essentially. And so in, in the main body of,

of the bit we've just read in verses 4 to 15, Peter basically

explains what happened. It's a little recap of chapter

10 that we heard last week. And, and there's two key points

I just want to emphasize from this just to jog our memories.

So the first is, if you remember, Peter had a vision and

it was a sheet with animals on it, all sorts of animals, wild

animals, all sorts. And some of those animals will

be animals that would be unclean, animals that Peter

should or any Jew should not eat.

But in the vision, God says to Peter, get up and eat.

And Peter protesting, no, I'm not going to eat anything that's

unclean. I'm not going to eat anything

that's unpure. That's never happened.

That won't happen. But look at God's response in

verse 9. Do not call anything impure that

God has made clean. We're going to keep coming back

to that verse. This isn't just about food.

God declares what is clean or unclean.

God declares what is impure or pure.

God declares what is holy or unholy.

Not just declares God makes clean what is unclean, makes

pure what is impure, makes holy what is unholy.

And so after the vision is finished and there's a knock,

there is then a knock on the door and Peter's asked to go to

a Gentiles house. And he goes, because this

vision, which happened three times to get the message across,

he's now on some level understanding that this vision

was not just about eating, but about something much bigger.

Which brings us to the kind of second point, which is that

Cornelius and his household become Christians, the unclean

Gentiles, if you like, remember Gentiles, someone who's just not

a Jew become clean Peter and verse 1415 he tells them about

Jesus. You can read the longer version

of that in Acts 10. That's his message.

We know we know that's what his message, simple message and even

before he finished speaking, the Holy Spirit came on those there

on Cornelius in this household, just like in almost exactly the

same way it came on the 1st believers at the time of

Pentecost. It's very similar.

And so there's no doubt for Peter and the other those are

the Jews that are with him that God has saved this household.

He's given them the Spirit. So they're Christians just like

people turn this fellow travelers off.

It's not in doubt. So he explains this to his, the

people who are sort of accusing him, saying what you're doing.

Oh, sorry. And then in the last couple of

verses, we see understanding and resolution.

So Peter then wants to summarise what this means to the is, is

Jewish Christian hearers. And we see that in verse 16 and

17. He says seeing Cornelius in his

household, filled with the Spirit, he says that's exactly

what Jesus promised to his disciples, to his followers, to

those who believe in him. And so given that God is acting

in this way, sovereignly, graciously acting to save

Cornelius and these people, what am I supposed to do?

Say no, God, you've got this wrong standing God's way.

I said, no, you're not supposed to save these people.

Of course not. It's like a Pebble trying to

prevent a tsunami. Peter makes clear this is God

acting to save, and he saved those people in exactly the same

way as he saved the people who are now questioning what went,

what went on. And so the outcome is a good

one. The accusers, as we see that in

verse 18, are satisfied, more than satisfied.

They turn to praise God and say so.

Then even to Gentiles, God has granted repentance.

Turning back to God that leads to life, meaning really simply,

God can save anyone. You'd have to be Jewish or

follow special laws to know that you need salvation.

Turn from your sin, put your faith in Jesus and be saved.

And so we see that this this way, this change in this way of

thinking, this paradigm shift for these early Christian

believers is well underway. And this shift of thinking, this

true understanding of God's purposes, is what will be

driving us forward through the rest of the book of Acts as we

see the good news of Jesus being spread out far and wide with

everyone, no matter their religious background, because

God can make anyone clean. So what are the implications of

this? What is God trying to show us?

From this passage, I want to suggest three things.

You are clean. We are clean.

Anyone can be clean. So you are clean.

And a Christian is clean. A Christian is pure, is holy and

is blameless. If you're a Christian here

today, believe it or not, I am describing you and you may not

feel that that like that, but it is true.

Verse 9 is true for us. Do not call anything impure that

God has made clean. So I mean, this is fundamental

to our Christian faith. But we've got to understand from

this passage that as a Christian, no matter your

background, your faith journey, your current struggles or sins,

you are clean and right before God.

But we get this wrong. I'm going to try and explain

this by way of a picture. So this is Montague Chewbacca

McKinnon, also known as Monty, my dog.

He is filthy in this picture. He has rolled in mud, frankly,

has rolled in fox poo. He loves it.

He stinks. He is unclean and filthy.

Now if I was to try and let Monty clean himself it would not

go well and that's for two reasons. 1, he quite likes the

smell of fox poo I think. And secondly, when we give him

Sophie's, Porsche just can't hold it and he just can't scrub

himself, you know, he just, he just can't clean himself.

He just was not going to be able to clean himself at all.

To get clean he needs someone else to clean him.

Usually that's me or Jenny, and sometimes we even take him to

the groomers and he gets all fluffed up and he even smells

nice. So once he's cleaned properly,

we've had a really good go because it takes a lot of work.

He ends up like this, nice and fluffy and clean.

So just as Monty can't clean himself, we can't clean

ourselves of our guilt, our sin, our shame, or make ourselves

right with God. God has to do that.

God does do that. God does make us clean.

But the problem is we sometimes keep trying to make ourselves

clean even though we are already are.

And we rob ourselves of the joy of the gospel.

We rob ourselves with the joy of the gospel.

We've got to remember what our true identity is, who we are.

We are in Christ, we are clean, as it says in two Corinthians 5I

put there. Therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, here's a new creation. The old has gone, the new has

come. So if you're Christian, if

you've put your trust in Jesus, you are clean and to paraphrase

some song lyrics, you're accepted, you're forgiven,

you're a child of God. You are chosen, not forsaken.

God is for you, not against you. God says you are clean and you

are. So if you're a Christian here

today, please don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to

do this thing or stop that thing to be clean, to be acceptable to

Jesus. Don't think by your own efforts

you can remove that stain of sin that you still see in your life.

Come to Jesus in repentance, turning to Him, and in faith.

Remember who you are. Christ is in you.

He's given you His Spirit, just as He gave it to Peter, to

Cornelius, and to all Christians.

I think being a Christian is miserable if we fall back or get

into habits of doing things. To make yourself clean, to make

yourself right with God. Have you fallen into that trap?

Have you forgotten the joy of the gospel that God has made you

clean, forgiven your sins and declared you right with Him,

adopted you into His family? Rejoice in His boundless grace.

It's made you clean. Don't call yourself impure, what

God has made clean and yes, you know, good deeds, turning away

from sin. All these things should be a

result of who we are. They're driven by our identity

in Christ, not by us trying to make ourselves clean.

We are clean. So the question that Acts 11

starts to raise and we'll see again in Acts, In fact, it's

addressed multiple times in Paul's letters to the early

churches. This are all Christians equal?

Is there a 2 tier system of salvation?

Are Jewish Christians or certain Christians more special than

other Christians? Well, verse 17 makes this clear.

So if God gave them the same gift he gave us, who believed in

the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in

God's way? Peter and his fellow early

Christians now recognize that God is saving anyone, bringing

them into the church family. So what does this mean for us?

Well, if I'm clean, that means a Christian sitting next to me is

clean. If I am pure, that Christian

sitting on the other side of the room is pure too.

If I'm right with God, that Christian has way different to

me is also right with God at church.

Finally, we're all clean before God because God's made us clean.

There's no gradations of that. I'm not more clean than you.

You're not more clean than me. You're not more right with God.

I'm not more right with God. We are all holy and all in

Christ as put it up in Colossians there Paul's letter

to Colossians in verse verse 11 from chapter 3 here there is no

Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian,

Scythian, slave or free. But Christ is all and is in all.

Now, I don't think we have any Greeks with us today if we do

Calimera, but we do have people who are born in different

countries from around the world. We have people of different

ages, different ethnicities, different neurodiversities,

different. We can say all sorts of

differences. And these differences are real,

they are important and they make us who who we are.

And God does rejoice in our identities, our differences, our

gifts and experiences. But the point of God making us

clean is that these differences are not 'cause division between

us. Have you ever maybe looked down

on a Christian because they're different to you in some way?

Or have you sort of unhelpfully worshipped another Christian,

put them on a pedestal because they're different to you, or

compared yourself to another Christian?

Do you associate with certain types of people?

Are Christians but not others? And if you have, you're not

alone. And so to overcome these biases

and prejudices, we need to get back to the gospel.

Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.

God's made you clean, whoever you are.

So we're equal and united in Christ.

We've all been given the same gift of the Holy Spirit.

He lives in all of us who are Christians.

There's no difference in that regard.

Praise God for our differences, but praise him also that we are

all in Christ. So let's joyfully treat each

other well, value each other highly, work with each other,

care for each other, encourage one another, pray for one

another, bear each other's burdens because we are all in

Christ. Final point, anyone can be

clean. So if God makes you clean,

anyone can be clean. So Cornelius wasn't Jewish, he

was God fearing, but he didn't know Jesus.

Peter told him about Jesus. He trusted in Jesus, he received

God's spirit and he became a Christian.

Peter, he was born a Jew, humble origins, he was a fisherman.

He spent three years with Jesus, but he denied him at the time of

Jesus death. But it was Peter who God chose

to make this initial public breakthrough, sharing the good

news of Jesus out to all people. He's a Christian.

Saul who became caught. Paul, born a Jew, schooled in

all the minute legalities of the Jewish law, was someone who

hated Christians, actively persecuted them, and pursued

their arrests and deaths. We saw a few weeks ago, didn't

we? He too was made clean by God and

became a Christian. So God made these three

individuals clean so he can make anyone clean.

No one's too unclean, no one's too sinful, no one's too bad,

too evil, too different to be beyond God's saving grace.

Anyone can trust in Jesus, repent and have new life and be

declared clean. So if you're not a Christian

here today, we can be, We absolutely can be Jesus who was

crucified and died on the cross that three days later rose to

life and is now the judge of the living and the dead.

If you believe in Him, you can receive forgiveness of sins

through His name. Those words are just what Peter

preached 2000 years ago to Cornelius.

I'm just repeating them. Turn to God, trust in Him,

receive his Spirit, be declared clean by God.

And for those of us who are Christians, well, let's remember

this good news message we have is for everyone.

It's not just for people like us.

It's not just for people we like, it's for everyone.

Let's be generous in getting the message out to all kinds of

people in all kinds of different situations.

Let's not be afraid of sharing it with the most unlikely person

because that might be the very person that God's been working

on through his Spirit. And let's not fall into the

mistake of thinking, thinking that people need to have achieve

a certain level of behavior or goodness or understanding before

they hear the gospel. They don't because they can't

make themselves clean. They don't need buffing up.

They just need to hear the message, the good news of Jesus,

and that's what's going to make them clean.

That's what saves them, and that's what's going to result in

real change. So let's not be shy about

sharing this amazing news that we have with anyone and

everyone. So just to finish, do not call

anything impure that God has made clean.

God says you're clean. So stop trying to clean yourself

up and remember your identity in Jesus Christ.

God says do not call anything impure that God has made clean.

Your brothers and sisters in Christ in this church have also

been declared clean and have the same spirit in them as you.

So let's care for each other well.

Let's not let our differences cause division between us.

Do not call anything impure that God has made clean good news of

Jesus. It is for everyone.

It can make anyone clean, so let's make sure sure we share it

with everyone we can.