Dr. Hugh Hamilton
Trinity Presbyterian Church, Pensacola, FL 
May 19, 2019   5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

UNEXPECTED ACTS OF GOD:  2. How God Changes Our Thinking 
Acts 11:1-18 

Sometimes it takes a smack in the face with a two-by-four to get our attention and make us see things anew.  In Acts 11, God smacked Peter with a 2x4 to prepare him to go visit Cornelius, a Roman official, a Gentile, a non-Jew.  Luke tells this story in Acts chapter 10, repeats it Acts 11, even has Peter explain how what happened has changed his thinking and his approach to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Peter does an about face on his pride, racism, and religious intolerance.  This is the story of the early church struggling to come to terms with change and facing issues that could tear it apart.  Sounds like the battles of church and culture today, does it not? 

God smacked Peter with three shocking surprises. 

Peter receives orders to eat foods he thought off-limits. In Peter’s vision, a sheet lowered from heaven holds various animals deemed unfit for Jews to eat; Jews would be defiled, unclean, impure if they ate these animals. To eat these animals would be a sinful as lying or adultery or murder.  For Peter to accept these changes and to tell his companions that these items on the sheet are now clean and acceptable to eat, was unthinkable.  But the voice from heaven told Peter, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  This is life changing!   Not only are these foods OKAY to eat, equally shocking is that you can eat them at table WITH GENTILES!   In Peter’s day, Jews did not eat with Gentiles, believing that if you did so, you would become spiritually and culturally polluted!  Peter’s companions are shocked to hear that the menu has changed, so have their table companions, so now they must change their thinking!  

Peter is shocked when he is told to go to the house of non-Jews and preach the gospel about Jesus Christ.  Jesus had clearly told the apostles to go into all the world to preach the gospel to all people. But in their centuries-old Jewish way of thinking, the disciples thought that Jesus meant for them to go and preach to Jews who were scattered all over the world. The thought of preaching the gospel to pagan Gentiles and of those Gentiles coming to salvation without first becoming religious Jews was simply unthinkable.

Peter is then shocked that Gentiles are filled with the Holy Spirit just like Jews.  The Holy Spirit filling the new Gentile believers is what convinces Peter’s that you don’t have to follow Jewish law in order to follow Jesus. If God accepts these believers as worthy of the Holy Spirit, who is Peter to pronounce these believers profane and unworthy?  Peter relents and baptizes these Gentile converts into the body of Christ. 

Peter and his companions must accept that Gentiles are acceptable to God too, and that everyone, all converts, Jew and Gentile alike, are fit for God’s love and grace.  God loves every one of us – and we are called to do the same. The issue for us is, who out there have we deemed unworthy, unclean?   

Lest we be too self-righteous, think for a moment about the persons we resent, who we can’t stand to be around.   Is it foreigners? Is it people whose political views we abhor? Is it someone rich who we envy and resent…or is poor people, and we resent their welfare checks?  Maybe it’s someone who brags all the time…or whines all the time?  Whatever causes it, try to feel your irritation and resentment when you are around those kinds of people. 
	Now with them in mind, hear the words of Jesus: “This is my commandment: Love one another even as I have loved you… so you must love one another.”  
   Does that make you uncomfortable?  
      Does that make you angry?  
        Do you draw a blank?  Are you confused? 
           You’re in good company, Peter.  

Peter and his companions had to change their thinking – and Acts 11 shows how God began that process, and how God changes our thinking too. 

God does change us.  But HOW?  How does God change our thinking?  Preacher Steven Cole offers a helpful outline. 

God changes us when we spend time with him.  Peter received God’s life-changing vison as he was praying. If Peter had skipped his prayer time, he might have missed what God wanted to do through him.  If you neglect spending time with God, it will be hard for God to change your thinking.   Be faithful in prayer, in Bible study, in worship, in serving, in fellowship with other Christians, …so that God may speak to you. 

God puts us in uncomfortable circumstances to jar our thinking.  When we’re comfortable we don’t feel any need to change.  But when we see something that disturbs us, or hear something we can’t forget, if we’re hit with a situation outside our comfort zone, we realize that our old way of thinking and acting won’t do anymore. God makes us wrestle with the situation and learn from it. 

Sometimes God changes us by repeating the lesson until it finally sinks in.  God repeated the vison and lowered the sheet three times for Peter, and Peter repeats this story twice to make sure we get the point.  Then the group of Jewish Christians debate Peter’s conclusions, and ultimately it took two meetings of the religious leaders in Antioch and in Jerusalem to work through this complex issue that Gentiles need not be circumcised and follow the law of Moses to be saved.  Read about it Acts 15.  Years later Paul had to write to the Galatians to settle the matter again (Galatians 2:11-15).  Sometimes God has to whop us on the head us again and again until the truth sinks in.  Often, I’ve looked back on some issue or decision and wondered, “Why didn’t I see that sooner?”  … How about you? Do you ever do that? 

God changes us as we encounter his Word, his Truth, in the Bible.  Through Bible verses and stories, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our errors and convinces us of God’s forgiveness and renewal of our hearts and minds in Jesus.  Lasting change comes when God’s Word changes our thinking and empowers us to obey, to share with others what we have learned and applied.  

God does not change our thinking without purpose or intention. God changes our thinking so that God can use us in greater ways to further his kingdom work. Our fresh thinking opens new avenues for missions, for witness, for service to our community and world, for social justice, and works of compassion and fellowship with other people.  God’s Spirit moves us out in greater circles of influence for the good others and the glory of God!

Sadly, the Jerusalem church and leaders did not catch Peter’s vison and reach out to the Gentiles. For years the gospel was still bottled up among the Jews.   Phillip had success spreading the gospel among the Samaritans and to the Ethiopian eunuch, but the apostles were still confined to Jerusalem.  For the gospel to reach the Gentiles, God had to jar Peter out of his complacency and allow some persecution to scatter Christians out among the Gentiles.  Maybe the Christians in Jerusalem figured Cornelius was a one-time thing, because they didn’t reach out to the Gentiles.  In time the church in Jerusalem waned.   The rest of the Book of Acts is taken up with Paul’s conversion to Christ and his missionary journeys around the Mediterranean ocean, to Greece and to Italy. The church at Antioch, not at Jerusalem, became the mission base for ministry to Gentiles.  The scary thought is that if we don’t respond to the opportunities God gives us, he will set us aside and use others.  

Peter’s vison and his encounter with Cornelius overcome barriers to spreading the gospel.  We put up barriers between ourselves and other people.  Barriers like racism, sexism, ageism, religious barriers, socio-economic barriers, cultural barriers.  But our barriers are offensive to God who loves without favoritism or partiality and accepts all who repent and believe the gospel.  

How did Peter overcome these barriers? How may WE overcome these barriers?

We can Engage in Dialogue rather than argument. 
Peter did not get drawn into a heated argument with his critics in Jerusalem.  Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  Rather than argue and defend himself, Peter simply describes what happened.  He tells about the vision from God, and his own initial opposition to the vision; how God challenged him about this, and what happened when he visited the home of Cornelius.  Peter’s audience can begin to understand the reason for Peter’s actions. 

We maintain barriers when we’re not willing to understand more about a person or a situation.  We make assumptions about people and dismiss them.  I’m disturbed when I see our church members post on Facebook articles and videos and remarks that denounce people of political or religious persuasions they resent, or denounce the rights of people they oppose, or seek to silence the voices they don’t want heard.   When we are open to dialogue, willing to listen and to share, we open the possibility of greater understanding and this is turn can lead to healing and reconciliation. Steven Covey used to say, “seek first to understand before seeking to be understood,” and that listening to someone is like giving air to some suffocating.  

Engage in dialogue not argument, and then follow the leading of the Holy Spirit
In Acts 11, verse 12, Peter says he acted at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who told him to go with the three messengers who had arrived at his house. Peter goes onto explain in verse 15 how the Holy Spirit came on the people in that house, just as it had done on the day of Pentecost, which demonstrated both to Peter and to the others that he had heard the Spirit correctly. The Holy Spirit is working, prompting, pushing, and Peter is responding. 

The Holy Spirit unites us in community, and helps build up community, and therefore breaks down the divisions that would otherwise separate us. If we as individuals and as a church, allow the Holy Spirit to work in us we should see the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those things that promote and encourage unity.

Engage in dialogue not argument, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and submit to the Word of God.
In Acts 11:15 Peter says, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'  So, what is the difference between baptism with water and baptism with the Holy Spirit? 
•	John’s baptism was a baptism of preparation – preparing the people for the coming of 
	the Messiah. 
•	The Holy Spirit’s baptism was a baptism of identification and empowerment – identifying those who have placed their faith in Christ and equipping them to do God’s will.  
Peter remembered the word of the Lord and realized that it was the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had been witnessed on the day of Pentecost. Peter realized, “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 stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:17 NASV).  Peter submitted his will to the word of God. 

The issue of how the church was to respond to the inclusion of Gentiles into the Christian faith, could have ended very differently. But because Peter entered into dialogue, because both he, and the church in Jerusalem were open to what the Holy Spirit was doing, and because they submitted to the word of God, they were able to avoid a potential split.

As the church and as individuals we can help break down the barriers that divide people. If we will follow the example of Jesus and obey his command that we love others the way God loves us, not only will we prevent barriers being erected in the first place, but we will help break down those barriers and help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ! 
	Lord, what do I need to change in my thinking, my attitudes, my practice? 
		Show me, Lord…and help me to change, to the glory of your name! Amen.
SOURCES

Cole, Steven. https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-27-how-god-changes-our-thinking-acts-111-18
Hyde, Randy L. “Explaining One’s Self.” 
	https://www.sermonwriter.com/sermons/acts-111-18-explaining-ones-self-hyde/
Sauer, Kenneth. "You Mean They Can Be Saved Too?"  April 24, 2016
	https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/you-mean-they-can-be-saved-too-kenneth-sauer-sermon-on-	clean-vs-unclean-201542?page=2&wc=800
Simon _____. source unknown. Acts 11:1-18 Breaking Down Barriers SUNDAY, MAY 06, 2007

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