Acts 10 - Peter's Paradigm Shift!
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[b] and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
This is a great story on how God intervened supernaturally to help Peter see that, like Paul, he too was called to preach to the Gentiles. While Paul was a zealous Jew who persecuted Christians, we see Peter's Jewish piety as well. In his dream he saw many unclean animals dropped down through a sheet from heaven and a voice that said, "Get up Peter, kill and eat."
Three times (a popular number for him) Peter refused to do it saying, "I am have never eaten anything unclean or impure". There was no more separation of Jews being clean and Gentiles being unclean. All people are unclean as a result of sin, and clean because of what Jesus did on the cross.
So eventually Cornelius, a Roman leader of 100 soldiers, receives a vision to send three of his men to call Peter to come to his home. Peter welcomes the men into his home and he goes back with some other Jews to meet Cornelius and family. Peter for the first time is given an opportunity to preach the message of Jesus' love to those who were God-fearers. This means that although they had not yet come know Jesus they were seeking God and their lives showed it. As Peter sharest the gospel, the Holy Spirit falls on Cornelius and his family and they start "speaking in tongues". Speaking in tongues was an evidence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, usually accompanied by speaking in other languages not known the speaker. Because it was so dramatic and so matched the experience the apostles had on the day of Pentecost, they realized that these people were being filled with the Holy Spirit just like they had.
Because it was so clear these men had been born again by hearing the gospel and receiving the Spirit, it made sense for Peter to order they be baptized in the name of Jesus. This was a unique situation. It was not often that a person is instantly born again and operating in the power of the spiritual . This was an evidence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. So they were baptized after they received the Holy Spirit.
What we might call this scene "messy spirituality". Meaning God acts in many ways to draw people to himself which we cannot explain. There is no order of conversion that happens in a linear fashion every time. This encounter broke many stereotypes. Peter preaching to the Gentiles. The Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit before they repented. Being baptized by water after being baptized in the Holy Spirit. What does this story mean for us today?
We need to be careful not to put God in a box. Peter had his paradigm of how God was supposed to act shifted dramatically. He realized that God's plan all along was not just for the Jews but for the Gentiles. Once God broke through Peter's prejudice, God used him in a powerful way to spread the gospel regardless of a person's background. What paradigm does God need to shift in our lives so we might be more like Peter?
Maybe God is calling us to reach to people not like us. Maybe God is calling us to love people we would deem as unclean. Maybe Jesus really meant it when he said, "Go and make disciples of all nations (ethnicities)".
God help us to be like Peter and listen to your voice and go to those you have called us to despite our differences. Break down our stereotypes and paradigms that come from human pride and send us out to reach more people like Cornelius who fear you and just need to hear the Good News of what you have done in Christ!
Comments
Post a Comment