Sermon for Sunday May 6th, 2007

One Family Under God by Marc Axelrod

Acts 11:1-11:18

Do you remember when the Berlin Wall came down? I still remember the speech President Reagan gave while he was in West Berlin: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Two years later, the wall came down. People were climbing over to the other side. Loved ones who were separated for 40 years were embracing. And kissing. And crying. It was one of the most beautiful scenes of the 20th century. It was deeply touching to watch a fractured German nation become one people once again.

In Acts chapter 11, the same thing is beginning to happen in the church. And Peter is the one who is going to teach us that we are all equal at the foot of the cross! Peter is the one who is going to show us that we are one family under God. I want to share his story with you. And then I want to talk about how we can promote unity in our own congregation.

In Acts 11:1, all the Christians in Judea heard that the Gentiles had accepted the word of God. They heard about how Peter went to Cornelius’ house. They heard about his message, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all! They heard about how he said in Acts 10:43 that “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name!”

And they should be happy! They should be saying “It’s fantastic that all these people are getting saved! Thank God that people’s lives are being changed! Thank God that the power of the Holy Spirit has fallen even upon the Gentiles!”

But instead, they say in verse three, “Peter, you went into a Gentile home! You ate with those people! Shame on you! You are a poor example to the Jewish people!

And Peter could have said, “How dare you talk to me like that! I’m one of the Twelve Apostles! I know Jesus better than all of you! If you don’t like the way I do things, then go find yourself another church!”

In this life, you are going to be tested by the criticism you receive. Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to appreciate the way you do things. And as a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to say, “Lord, help me to love the people who criticize my every move. Help me to respond in a way which encourages dialogue rather than dissension! Help me to share what God is doing in my life with compassion and grace.”

That’s what Peter does. In verses 1-3, we see the accusation of Peter. And in verses 4-17, we see the explanation of Peter. He says, “Before you guys pass judgment against me, let me explain what happened. I was praying on the top of my roof. I fell into a trance. I saw a large sheet being let down from heaven with all kinds of animals on it. I heard a voice from heaven say, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!”

I replied, Surely not, Lord! “I’ve never had barbecued pork in all my life! No unclean food has ever entered my mouth!”

The voice spoke a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times.

Right after that, three Gentile men came to me from Caesarea and asked me to go with them. At first, I thought to myself, “I can’t go with you guys! You’re Gentiles! If my fellow Jews find out about this, they’re going to let me have it!”

But then the Spirit reminded me, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Then I realized that God wasn’t just talking to me about food. He was talking to me about people! These men have been made clean by the grace of God!

“So I went with them to the house of Cornelius. I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. And just as I was getting into the sermon, the Holy Spirit came on the Gentiles just like He did for us! So then I figured, “if God did the same thing for them as He did for us, then who was I to think that I could oppose God?”

In other words, “if God wants the whole world to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, then who am I to stand in His way? He can save anybody He wants!”

In the Potter church, we pray every week for the United States of America. That’s good! God tells us to do that. He wants us to pray for our country.

But I also think we need to pray for the other countries on the earth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 says that “I urge then first of all, that prayers, requests, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants ALL MEN to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth!”

God loves the people of Wisconsin. We can’t stop praying for them. But God’s love is so great that it goes beyond the borders of our state, beyond the borders of our country, to the uttermost parts of the earth.

We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will fall upon the people of Iraq just as it fell upon the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10 and 11. We need to pray that the Spirit of God will move through the ministry of Don Shire so that the people of Cuba may turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we need to pray that God will raise up missionaries like Peter from this congregation, people who are willing to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to cultures and communities who have never heard anything like it before.

So far in Acts chapter 11, we’ve seen the accusation of Peter, the explanation of Peter, and now we see the VINDICATION of Peter! Once the Jewish Christians heard what God was doing in Peter’s life, we’re told in verse 18 that they had no further objections. Well, what more could they say? How could they complain about all these people getting saved? It was a huge miracle!

But if you know the Bible, it comes as no surprise. In Isaiah 49:6, God tells the servant of the Lord, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

In other words, even as far back as the Old Testament, it has been God’s desire for ALL the peoples of the earth to be united in Jesus Christ.

And in Galatians chapter three, the apostle Paul is reflecting on what Jesus did for us on the cross. And beginning in verse 26, he says that 26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In other words, even though we come from different backgrounds, even though we come from different churches, even though some of us are men and some of us are women, it is God’s desire for ALL the peoples of the earth to be united in Jesus Christ.

And then in Revelation chapter 22, the angel of God gives John a vision of what the world will be like when we are living with God in the new heavens and the new earth. Beginning in verse three, the scripture says “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” There will be no more partitions between the Protestants and the Catholics. No more divisions between white people and black people. No more conflicts between men and women. We will all be one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, and we will reign with God forever and ever. It is God’s desire for ALL the peoples of the earth to be united in Jesus Christ.

I was reading about the Rev. George Whitefield. He was the greatest preacher that the Church of England ever had. But he also worked well with Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and anyone else who believed in the gospel. One day, a colleague asked him, “Why do you do this? Why do you work with people who are not part of the official Church of England?”

And Whitefield said, “Because God broke down the walls of segregation that were in my heart a long time ago. Now I can truly say that whoever loves the Lord Jesus Christ is my brother, and my sister and my mother.”

Today, I want you to pray for unity in the Christian community. Pray that the pastors in Calumet County will be able to emphasize the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us. Pray that Christian people everywhere will be able to love one another even though we don’t all belong to the same denomination.

And even though some of us are Lutherans and some of us are Catholics and some of us are Evangelicals, pray that we never forget that we are all one family under God.

Some of you are here today, and you are part of a large family. You’re a member of the Behnke family, or the Fischer family, or maybe you’re even a member of the Peace Church family.

But you’re not sure if you’ve ever been a member of God’s family. You’ve never asked Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life.

2 Corinthians 6:2 says that “Now is the appointed time. TODAY is the day of salvation.” If you ask Jesus to take over the leadership of your life, you will be instantly adopted into God’s family. Together at the communion table, we can be one family under God. Let’s pray.