Breaking The Norm

INTRO

Our one word for the book of Acts is Authority. Everything in the book points to how the church as the body of Christ, the Apostles, and the Holy Spirit all work in the Authority of Jesus Christ. Acts 9 records the conversion of Saul, and up through this chapter, the story line of the church was all through the Jewish converts. But in Acts 10, the gospel was taken to the Gentiles. As the gospel went to the Gentiles, it caused friction with the Jewish believers—the Gentiles did things differently and ate different things; they were different from the Jewish believers. However, if you want to see a movement of God, you have to do things differently. Sadly, we haven’t seen a national movement of God in our lifetime. Maybe our prayer should be to ask God how we should do things differently.

TEACHING

Acts 10:1–8: A Gentile man named Cornelius served as a Roman centurion. Cornelius was devout and feared God—as did his whole household. He did charitable deeds for the Jews and prayed to God (vv. 1–2). Cornelius was one of sixty officers who was in charge of a cohort of six hundred men. A legion of soldiers was made up of ten cohorts or six thousand men.¹Caesarea was a city located approximately 30 miles north of Joppa, a place that will become important in the story of Acts later, and about sixty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem.²MacArthur explains that “God-fearers” was a term “used by Jews to refer to Gentiles who had abandoned their pagan religion in favor of worshipping Jehovah God. Such a person, while following the ethics of the Old Testament, had not become a full proselyte to Judaism through circumcision.”³These God-fearers worshipped the same God and observed the same laws as the Jews but remained God-fearers rather than proselytes because they had not been circumcised or baptized.⁴Acts 8, 9, and 10 continue the story of those coming to find truth in Christ—the Ethiopian eunuch, the persecutor Saul, and the God-fearer Cornelius. For each, God sent someone to walk it out with those who were searching for the truth. What would have happened if they had refused to go and instead insisted God bring those individuals to them? Sadly, this is often the situation in the church today—we’re waiting for them to come to us.

About three o’clock in the afternoon, Cornelius saw a vision of an angel who called to him and told him his prayers and acts of charity had been accepted as a memorial offering before the Lord (vv. 3–4). The prayers of all sincere seekers are effective. The angel told Cornelius to send to Joppa for Peter, who was staying with Simon in a house by the sea, to come to him (vv. 5–6). Visions played an important role in the book of Acts. MacArthur identifies that God spoke through visions in Acts: Paul was converted to Christianity through the vision of a blinding light (9:3–9); Ananias was sent to minister to Paul) (9:10–16); Cornelius was told to send for Peter to come to him (10:3–6); Peter was told to eat unclean animals (10:9–18); Paul was called to missionary work in Macedonia (16:9); Paul was assured of God’s presence (18:9–10); and Paul was given the promise of God’s presence while he journeyed to Rome (23:11).⁵Cornelius responded to the vision by sending two of his household slaves and a devout soldier to Joppa with instructions for Peter (vv. 7–8). Peter had already begun to break down barriers in Joppa by staying with a tanner, “an occupation despised by Jewish society because the tanner dealt with the skins of dead animals. The local synagogue probably shunned Simon.”⁶

Acts 10:9–19: While the men traveled toward Joppa, Peter went up on the house’s flat roof to pray (v. 9). He became hungry and wanted to eat, but as food was being prepared, Peter went into “a visionary state” (v. 10). Peter saw heaven opened and a large sheet was lowered by its four corners. On the sheet were all four-footed animals, all the reptiles, and all the birds of the earth and sky. A voice told Peter to kill and eat from these animals (vv. 11–13). The Lord’s command went against every dietary guideline Peter had been taught and followed (Leviticus 11:25–26), and he cried out, “No, Lord!” (v. 14). The voice told Peter what God had created as clean should not be treated as common (v. 15). This exchange happened three times, and then the sheet was taken back up to heaven (v. 16). Peter was perplexed by the vision, when the men sent by Cornelius stopped at Simon’s house seeking Peter (vv. 17–18). Even as he thought about the vision, the Holy Spirit told Peter to go with the men who were there to see him because the Spirit had sent the men to Peter (vv. 19–20).

Peter asked the men why they were there, and they explained that an angel had divinely directed Cornelius to call for Peter to come to his house (breaking the cultural barrier of Jews not entering the homes of Gentiles) (vv. 21–22). Peter invited the men into the house to stay the night (which broke down another cultural barrier), and the men left the next day for Joppa with Peter and some of the brethren from Joppa (v. 23). As we’ll see later, these brethren were six believers, who accompanied Peter to Joppa.

Peter arrived the day after, where Cornelius waited with his relatives and friends (v. 24). What great faith Cornelius had; waiting with a roomful of people who were eager to hear Peter’s message. Peter entered the room and Cornelius fell at his feet in worship (v. 25). Peter helped Cornelius get up and told Cornelius he (Peter) was only a man (v. 26). Peter found many had come to meet him (v. 27). Peter explained that Jewish law forbade or made it illegal for him to come into Cornelius’s home, but God had shown him he could call no one unclean or common (v. 27). MacArthur defines “unlawful” as “breaking taboo.”⁷Peter then asked why they wanted him there (v. 29). In verses 30–33, Cornelius told his story to Peter. He concluded with, “So we are all present before God, to hear everything you have been command by the Lord” (v. 33b).

Acts 10:34–48: Peter began to share the good news with the Gentiles, pointing out that God did not show favoritism based on any nation. God’s message was not just for the Jews (vv. 34–35). Peter told the story of the message given to the Israelites of peace coming through Christ—the Lord of all (v. 36). He told of the events in Judea when John the Baptist preached, when God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit, and when Jesus taught and healed all those under the power of Satan (vv. 37–38). Peter was testifying as the witness he was called to be in Acts 1:8. Peter told them Jesus had been hung on a tree but raised to life on the third day and seen by many witnesses (vv. 39–41). Peter explained the apostles had been commanded to preach and testify that Jesus was the One who would judge the living and the dead, and that all prophets testified about Him (vv. 42–43). Peter preached the entire message that the Old Testament pointed to Jesus as the Messiah and Lord of all.

Acts 10:44–48: Even as Peter spoke; the Holy Spirit came down on those who heard Peter’s message (v. 44). This is the Gentile Pentecost. Wiersbe describes this as a time of “vindication” and a point of approval within the Gentile community because they embraced the gospel.⁸The believers who had come with Peter witnessed the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles as they heard the Gentiles speaking in other languages and praising God (vv. 45–46). Peter pointed out that no one could “withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized” who had already received the gift of the Holy Spirit (v. 47). The Gentiles were baptized that same day in the name of Jesus Christ, and they invited Peter to stay with them for a time (v. 48).

CLOSING

All of this happened because the people involved broke the norm. They broke what had been seen as normal by pushing at the religious, cultural, and social barriers between them. It all happened because Cornelius sought God and wanted his family to know Him.