You Even Ate With Them!

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18

1 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said. 4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened…15 “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” 18 When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.” (Acts 11:1-4, 15-18 NLT)

The news that the Gentiles had received the Gospel of Jesus Christ traveled faster than Peter did. And when he arrived back in Jerusalem after spending some time with the Gentile believers in Caesarea, the first thing the Jewish believers did was criticize him for entering the house of Gentiles and “even eating with them”!

So Peter told the story all over again: The prayer on the roof, the animals in the sheet, The voice from heaven, Peter’s refusal, the voice saying “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” The trip to Caesarea with the three men, God’s message to Cornelius, and then, as Peter got the message of the “pigs in a blanket” and began to preach the Jesus Gospel, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles just as on the Jewish believers! Peter said, “Who was I to stand in God’s way?” This satisfied their objections and they stopped criticizing Peter and began praising God.

You know, this same kind of thing happened around me in the Jesus People days, in the 60’s and 70’s. As thousands of unchurched young people were coming to Christ, so many of the Christians I knew objected and criticized: “They have long hair! They wear jeans and sandals! They don’t look like Christians!” And yet they believed the Gospel, they received the Holy Spirit, they were being baptized, their lives were being transformed!

I wonder how many personal comfort zone issues, how many dead religious rules and expectations, we’ll have to deal with and overcome to be able to recognize the next move of God’s Spirit? Are you ready? After all, who are we to stand in God’s way?

Prayer:

Father, Please help us recognize your grace and mercy at work in people who are different from us. Help us to rejoice in your mercy and not object to you grace! Amen!