Acts 11:1-18

Father, as we open your word today, we pray that you would also open our hearts and our minds to allow your word to find entrance, to shape us, to mold us, to make us into the image of your dear Son. Father, we ask these things that your name would be glorified to your church. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, our text today is Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11 verses 1 through 18. Hear the word of the Lord. Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, you went into uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance, I saw a vision and an object descending like a great sheep let down from heaven by four corners. And it came to me when I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth while beasts creeping things in birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, rise Peter, kill and eat. But I said not so Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God has cleansed you must not call common. Now this was done three times and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment three men stood before the house where I was having been sent to me from Cessaria. Then the spirit told me to go with them doubting nothing more over these six brethren accompanied me and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. And as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God. And when they heard these things they became silent. And they glorified God saying then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to lie. This is the word of the Lord. So our text today, these first 18 verses of Acts 11, bring us to the end of the Cornelius narrative concerning the inclusion of the Gentiles. Like the Jews and the Samaritans, now the word of God in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit has come also to the Gentiles. Our text, these 18 verses divide into three sections, verses one through three, verses four through seventeen, and then verse 18. In verses one through three we see Peter return to Jerusalem with the news of what had transpired with the Gentiles in Caesarea when they received the word of God. The news that Peter went into the uncircumcised men and ate with them, preceded his arrival in Jerusalem. And upon arriving in Jerusalem, those of the circumcision were waiting to contend with him over this issue. Then Peter begins his defense as these men contend with him, and that's recorded for us in verses four through seventeen, makes up the body of our text. Here we have Peter's response to those contending with him over his or over this issue of table fellowship with Gentiles. Luke records that Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, laying out all that had happened in this interaction with the Gentiles. Luke records the detail of those events again. If you remember, we already had this detail much of the same detail in Acts chapter 10. Well here in Acts 11 Luke records in detail again making this the second detailed record of the same events. The first time in chapter 10 we have a Luke record of the events as they unfolded. Here in chapter 11 this second record of it, Luke records Peter retelling the events. And this indicates for us the spiritual significance of these events. We've already talked about that and covered that as we went through Acts chapter 10. Then in verse 18 the final verse of our text today we have the reaction and the conclusion of those of the circumcision after hearing all that Peter had to report specifically after hearing how the Gentiles had received the gift of the Holy Spirit from God just as they the Jews had. And so these are the three sections of our text today but today our focus is going to be on the bookends of these 18 verses. We will look at verse 1 and the words Luke chose as a summary when he wrote that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And then we'll look at verse 18 that records the result of Peter's retelling of all that had happened when the Gentiles received the word of God. So we're going to look just at the bookends verse 1 and verse 18. We've covered in quite a lot of detail verses 4 through 17 in the original account that we found in Acts chapter 10. So I'm not going to go through that again. I want to focus on the first and the last verse of our text today. We'll look at verse 1 and the words Luke chose as a summary. So let me read verse 1 again. Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. So this is Luke these are Luke's words as he's writing and recording these words in the book of Acts. And this verse Luke's words here are a summary of what happened in Caesarea with Peter and Cornelius and all the Gentiles. The apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. The reception of the word is the reception of divine presence. Let me say that again. The reception of the word is the reception of divine presence. In verse 1 Luke's summary of the events recorded in Acts 10 is conveyed with the utmost simplicity. Yet in no way does Luke minimize the power of what happened. Luke summarizes all that happened by stating the Gentiles had also received the word of God. In Acts 10 Luke described in detail the descent of the spirit upon the Gentiles and how that all came to be. Remember the vision of Cornelius, the vision of Peter, how God worked and orchestrated all that timing to intersect just the right moments. We have all that detail recorded for us in Acts chapter 10 and Luke records it again here in Acts chapter 11 but he summarizes it with this simplicity stating that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. In Acts 11 1 this summarizes the events surrounding the descent of the spirit and he just states it very simply the Gentiles received the word of God. Luke uses the same description of receiving the word of God in Acts chapter 8 verse 14 when he is summarizing the events of the Samaritans receiving the word of God, the spirit of God falling upon them. He uses the same phrase and he equates all that to receiving the word of God. It is significant that Luke equates the reception of the word with the reception of divine presence. This is not an omission on Luke's part. Luke does not distinguish the reception of the word of God with the reception of the divine presence of God. Luke is not minimizing the reception of the spirit by the Gentiles but he is emphasizing the reception of the word of God and he knows the word and the spirit are one. Luke knows the word made flesh is the word who is God and that word dwells in us by the Holy Spirit that same spirit empowers us to be witnesses. Your Bible is not Jesus and the Holy Spirit and Jesus and the Holy Spirit is not your Bible but the word of God contained in your Bible is the divinely inspired word of God that reveals to you the word made flesh who is Christ and that word is revealed by the spirit. Luke does not ignore the power of the word of God in fact he emphasizes its power. The divine presence and power of God is inherent in the divine word of God. When the word of God is preached, when the gospel goes forth, the power of the divine presence goes with it. Do you think God is not present with us here today? Some people might they might say, well I can't feel it, I can't see him, I don't sense him. Well that's not how we measure God's presence. Jesus told us in his word how we know God is present. He said we're two or more gathered in my name. I am there in the midst of them. Well why don't I don't feel it? What if I don't have any goosebumps? I don't sense him there. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. That's like saying, well I can't hear the sunset, I can't hear it, I can't hear it. Now you're trying to perceive it with the wrong faculty. Sunsets aren't meant to be heard, they're meant to be seen. You can know the presence of God is here today because his word declares it. He has promised it. Does it have anything to do with how you feel? But we do love our feelings. Humans do love our feelings. I love mine too. The divine presence and power of God is inherent in the divine word of God. And when the word of God is preached, when the gospel goes forth, it goes forth in the power of the divine presence. The word of God is more powerful than we know. Its power cannot be measured by how or what we feel or respond or in response to it. The seed of God's word is living and powerful. The same seed may fall on different soils, but the level of fruitfulness will be determined by the soil, not the seed. The difference is not in the seed, it's in the soil. God has prepared to receive the seed. The difference is not made by how you feel or your emotion or lack thereof. The word of God's own in our hearts will produce the fruitfulness the Father seeks in us. The word points us to faith, not feelings or emotions. We walk by faith, not by sight. We are justified by faith, not because we feel like it or don't feel like it. Faith in Christ, only the size of a mustard seed Jesus said will move the mountain of our sin. How much faith does it take for us to trust in Jesus for our sins to be forgiven? This much? Now Jesus said, a teeny tiny bit. Just a teeny tiny bit. Faith is a gift of God's grace that faith didn't come from you, came from God. It doesn't come from us, it comes from God specifically, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10, 17. If faith comes by hearing the word of God and it does because the Bible says so, then I think it's safe to assume people need more of God's word. We can build up people's emotions through sights and sounds and other forms of manipulation and we can call it preparing our hearts to receive from God, but according to the Bible, faith comes by hearing the word of God. Isaiah recorded God's own thoughts about his own word and Isaiah 55 11. Isaiah writes, so show my word, be that goes forth from my mouth. These are the words of God. So show my word, be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me, void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I send it. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 also teaches us about God's word. The writer of Hebrews pings these words for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God is powerful, the gospel is the power of God's salvation and that is true no matter the human response or the human emotion of those hearing God's word. God's word may evoke a strong emotional response in us. I pray it not only evoke an emotional response but a spiritual and eternal response because we can measure emotion more readily. It is not uncommon to see churches structure their services to evoke an emotional response. Sadly, what happens is people began to respond emotionally to elements of the service and in time just like a drug, you become numb to that emotional stimuli and need something different or something more to evoke the same feeling of satisfaction. The motivation behind that could be rightly placed but the method is misplaced. Faith does not come by emotion, neither does the presence of God. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. I believe our worship each week should inspire and motivate us. I believe it should evoke an emotional response in us as we consider the one who is the object of our worship and the fact that he has called us to worship him. It should move us to know that he pardons our sins through the blood of his only begotten Son. We should be moved as he consecrates us to ascend into his presence and extend an invitation to us to commune at his table. These realities should evoke more than emotion in us. These realities are to produce in us spiritual transformation. Then once we've been renewed, he sends us out into his world to fulfill our obedience to him, to proclaim his good news for all and to disciple the nations. We are not to resist emotion, yet we understand that our faith and our obedience is not founded on emotion. It is founded in the word of God. Therefore, the church must be a place where the unadulterated and unabridged word of God is preached and taught and proclaimed week in and week out. Again, too many churches today major in extracurricular activities while minoring in the word of God. The entertainment value and comfort factor of such churches may draw a crowd, but will it make faithful disciples? God knows. God knows. Here is a real church motto. Your comfort is our priority. Let me just tell you that will never be the motto of Christ's fellowship church. You come to my house for Sabbath dinner and I'll try to make you as comfortable as I possibly can. You come to worship on Sunday morning and it is not my goal to make you comfortable. It is my goal to give you the unadulterated unabridged word of God. If I do that rightly, it's very possible, if not likely, you will feel uncomfortable. Not because I made you feel uncomfortable, but because God's word may make you feel uncomfortable. And my duty is not making you comfortable. My duty is to give you the word of God, whether it makes you comfortable or very uncomfortable. As we preach and teach the living and powerful word of God, you and I should be convicted. Yes, you and I should be convicted of our sin and motivated to holiness. Your comfort will never be our priority, but your Christ likeness is. Thus when Luke summarizes the world-changing events in Cessaria as the Gentiles receive the word of God, it may seem he's ignoring all that happened there, but he is not. Nor is he minimizing or negating any of the spiritual experiences ad by the Gentiles. Rather, he's putting those experiences in their proper context. None of it would have happened apart from the word of God. Not only the word of God preached that day by Peter, but the word preached for centuries prior to that day. And this is why Paul writes concerning the church in Ephesians 2.20 with these words. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. In other words, the foundation of the apostles and prophets is the foundation of God's holy word. Jesus Christ who is the word make flesh is the chief cornerstone. The church of God is built on the foundation of the word of God, and Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. Unfortunately, in many modern churches today, the focus of the events transpiring in the book of Acts would be on the spiritual experiences, not the word. With subsequent efforts to recreate or replicate those experiences, yet the biblical record tells us exactly how those events happen. They, as a result, were as a result of receiving the word of God. Many church movements today are the result of trying to recreate spiritual experiences that came as a result of receiving the word of God. When our focus is transferred from the word of God onto an experience, you forsake the true and lasting power for something temporary, whether it's truly spiritual or not, whether it's rooted in truth or not, experiences are fleeting, but Jesus said the word of God will never pass away. If the focus on temporal experience persists over time, the result will be disillusioned and disappointed people who took their eyes off the prize in exchange for a cheap thrill. Every Sunday morning, homes are filled with people disillusioned from seeking spiritual experiences instead of seeking God, who is revealed to us by His Spirit in His Word. There is a difference between the spiritual and the spirit. There are many things out there that can accurately be described as spiritual, and many of those things have nothing to do with the spirit, as in the Holy Spirit. Not all spiritual experiences are Holy Ghost experiences. Therefore, we must be wise and that wisdom will come from, you guessed it, the word of God. We are not tasked to create an environment for the Spirit of God to move in each week. We do not need to welcome the Holy Spirit into a place. This is His world. We are blessed to be welcomed into it by Him. Such thoughts are backward from what is foundational in the Bible. In Genesis, it was the hovering Spirit that was working in conjunction with the Word of God that was creating the environment in which man would live and move and have his very being. God instructs us how to approach him, how to worship him. We are fortunate to be able to do that in this building, but we could be doing outdoors if necessary. What we do need to prepare as we come before him in worship is our heart. We do that through the Word of God, through the washing of the water of the word, with the attending Holy Spirit. The bride makes herself ready. Revelation 19 verse 7. Then Luke writes, the Gentiles had also received the Word of God. He is saying so much more than what we might see at first glance when he writes those words. And upon deeper reflection, we see that Luke is telling us that something amazing, astounding, even miraculous has happened when it happened that the Gentiles received the Word of God. I submit to you whether you know it or not, whether you feel it or not, whether you believe it or not, something amazing, astounding, and yes, even miraculous perhaps. Happens each week you receive the Word of God right here at Christ Fellowship Church. The Word of God you receive each week is no less powerful than the Word of God Cornelius and his household received that day delivered by Peter. The messenger matters not. The power is in God's Word. It takes faith to believe that, but it takes no faith to make it true. It's true whether you believe it or not in other words. Paul writes those words concerning the church, concerning our foundation and our foundation is the Word of God. And the Word of God is powerful. Do you have such faith to believe that powerful Word? If not, I would implore you to get down on your face before God and seek such faith to believe. Don't do it here right now, but when you get home, go to your prayer closet and get down on your knees and ask God to give you such faith to believe that His Word is just that powerful. It is powerful to save you and to grant to you repentance to live just as it did those Gentiles in Caesarea in so many billions since then. That is exactly what happened to the Gentiles gathered that day in the home of Cornelius. That is exactly what happens to us each week. We've gathered for worship. For the reception of the word is the reception of divine presence. So that very simple statement in verse one, that the Gentiles received the Word of God contains so much conveys so much power, power for you, power for me, power you experience every time you hear, you speak, you read the Word of God. That's the first book in the other book end of our text today is verse 18. From verse 4 through 17, Peter recounts all that happened with the Gentiles. In verse 17, at the end of that account, Peter ends his account with the all-important question that he had asked himself in Caesarea and asked his sixth brother and that were with him. Now he's asking these uncircumcised Jews who are contending with him because he went and had table fellowship with Gentiles. In verse 17, Luke records the question again, if therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? This reminds us of Peter and John when they are in the temple after they'd healed the lame man and they're forbidden to preach Jesus any longer. And they said to the Sanhedrin, is it better for us to obey you or to obey God? Here Peter asked this question and at the end he said, who was I that I could withstand God, not Jewish tradition, not what you guys think, who am I that I could withstand God because Peter witnessed with his own eyes the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit upon these Gentiles. Verse 18, when they heard these things, they became silent and they glorified God saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to lie. The reception of the Word is the reception of transforming truth. The reason we preach and teach the Word every week is because the Word is what will transform you. Yes, that transformation takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the power of the Holy Spirit doesn't work apart from his Word. Exactly what we're talking about here today, what Luke recorded in the book of Acts tells us that. Luke didn't say when the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, he said when the Gentiles received the Word of God, the Spirit and the Word work together. The reception of the Word is the reception of transforming truth. When these brethren heard these things, they became silent and glorified God. This indicates that their initial consternation about Peter going into uncircumcised men and eating with them had given way to a solemn reflection that gave way to glorifying God for the salvation that had come to the Gentiles. That does not mean it was easy for them to make that transition or that transformation, but they allowed the truth of God's Word to transform the way they viewed the world and specifically how they viewed the Gentiles. We also must allow the Word of God to transform us in the way we view the world in those in it. The brethren in Jerusalem came to understand the spiritual significance of all that had happened. Peter had given the Gentiles the Word of God and water baptism. By doing so, he was affirming that God had sovereignly moved to make them part of his covenant people. That was a paradigm shift for these uncircumcised Jews that the Gentiles were now brought into just as they were to be members of God's covenant people. From their baptism in the spirit to their baptism in water, the brethren in Jerusalem understood the significance of all these things that came upon the Gentiles. Truly, God had also granted them repentance to life. We do not simply change on our own. I mean fundamentally spiritually change. We who once were darkness did not wake up one day and decide to make ourselves light in the Lord. That's not how it works. Jew or Gentile, there is no way for that to just happen on our own. But thankfully, God makes a way where there seems to be or there is no way. You once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, Paul writes in Ephesians 5 verse 8, you didn't become light in the Lord from the Word of, you didn't become light in the Lord on your own apart from the Word of God in the Holy Spirit. And now that we are light in the Lord, we are commanded to walk as children of light. In other words, Gentiles could no longer live as they had always lived. Just as Jews could no longer live as they had always lived, we each are commanded now to walk as children of light. We have nothing to do with our transformation from darkness to light. We have much to do with walking as children of light. We did not in ourselves become light, but now that we are, we are responsible to walk in that light by God's grace. When the Jews heard these things, they became silent and they glorified God upon hearing the transforming truth of God's Word. Perhaps it closes our mouths and all of our arguments that we bring to God. And it brings us to silence. And in that place of silence, I think about the sign I have in my dining room from Psalm 46, be still and know that I am God. I think that's what happened here with these uncircumcised Jews when they heard Peter's report, the transforming truth of God's Word brought them to a place of silence where all they could do is be still and know. He is God. He can save whoever He wants. He can pour His spirit out on whoever He wants. He can grant repentance to life to whoever He wants. For we are all His creation. We all are made in His image. Remember what I always say. We are very guilty as human beings of creating God in our own image. But again, we get things backwards because it was God who created us in His image. We must conform to Him. He does not conform to us. And no doubt these uncircumcised Jews came to realize that the God of creation, their very creator, has chosen to save a part of His creation that they perhaps never believed would be saved. We are going to all experience that one day when we get to heaven because we are all going to meet people. We would never have dreamed should be there. But then we must look in the mirror and say, well, guess what? I shouldn't be here either. But here I am. God brings us to silence and in that place of silence with all our protesting quieted, we may glorify God. God's word and His transforming truth is not always easy to receive, but it is always worth receiving. It is His truth that sets us free. And we so often need to be set free from the things that hold us captive, the things that hold us in bondage. Those things that hold us in bondage are not always things we want to be free from, or even know we need to be free from. It is the transforming truth of God's word that reveals our true state. The word of God is like a mirror that reveals what we really look like and who we truly are. It is the power of that word that will transform us into the very image of Christ. As long as we continue to gaze into that mirror of His word, we will be transformed into that same glorious image. And this is exactly what Paul conveys in his letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 when he writes, but we all, with unveiled face, be holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord. For Peter and all the Jews who witnessed and then heard the Gentiles receiving the word of God and being brought into the church, having been granted repentance to God. This was a major, as major a paradigm shift as anyone could have. They did not make that shift on their own. It was the word of God with its transforming truth that compelled them out of the old paradigm and into God's new and living way that he had opened for the whole world. And this is how we will experience our own paradigm shifts. This is how we will be compelled out of our old sinful ways of thinking and doing in order to embrace the newness of life found only in Christ. That life is revealed to us in the word of God by the spirit of God. Do not resist the word of God and its transforming truth. Embrace it and be conformed to the very image of the Son of glory. Do this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Here's your charge, church. Do not underestimate the power of God's Word. Each week in our Lord's Day worship, we read the Word, we sing the Word, we pray the Word, we speak the Word, we preach and teach the Word and we hear the Word. That is all part of our liturgy. The power of God's Word powers our worship and builds our faith. In our Lord's Day worship, you engage the Word in every part of the service and you engage at whatever level of fervency and devotion you choose. The power of the Word you proclaim and here does not ebb and flow with your human weakness. The power of the gospel is the power of God's salvation and that power is not dependent upon you or me. That truth is not to encourage your laziness in worship. It is to encourage your faith as you worship each week and you speak the Word and hear the Word. Trust that your faith is coming to greater and greater maturity in Christ. Like children who often act and react according to their feelings and emotions, when we act as spiritual children, we can do the same things. Paul puts it like this in first Corinthians 13-11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things and that is what the Word of God helps us do grow up and put away childish things. As we mature, we are not seeking the same temporal and carnal experiences as part of our spiritual walk and worship as we did when we were childish. As we grow up into Christ and all things, we come to rest in the power of His Word and the work of His Spirit in our life by His never failing love and grace. Keep gazing into His mirror and keep being transformed into His image. Amen.

Acts 11 · chapter mention Acts 11:1–18 Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention Acts 11 · chapter mention Acts 8:14 Hebrews 4:12 Revelation 19:7 Ephesians 5:8 2 Corinthians 3:18