DAY 270 - How Inclusive Should We Be

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Acts 11:1-18 (NIV) 11 The apostles and the believers 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 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 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. 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 water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ 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?” ¹⁸ 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.”

Does it make any difference how inclusive we are? It does, and here is why: who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way? Do we, individually and as the church, help or hinder the work of God? God gave Peter a vision, not an argument or an opinion, and did not ask for a vote. God gave Peter a vision, and it happened three times. And at the very moment of the vision there was a knock on Peter’s door and three strangers, all Gentiles and servants of a Roman officer were standing before him. They had been sent to Peter to both give something Peter needed and to receive from him something they needed, and with that Peter understood the vision was not about food that was unclean, but rather about people he had always thought were unclean. God gives the vision. God gives people to help understand and implement the vision.

When Peter spoke of Jesus and saw the response of the people, he remembered scripture and the Word of the Lord slid some solid conviction under his feet. The vision was not just about food. It was about people he had always thought were unclean. The invitation from the men sounded so much like God’s invitation to take and eat that Peter then understood.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 13, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell