Sermon on Acts 11:1-18 By the Dean

May 13, 2001 - Easter 4

For us the celebration of Pentecost is virtually around the corner; for Peter and the others in today's passage from Acts, it was an event that had taken place in the recent past. Peter clearly recognized that the life and presence of the Holy Spirit was part of being a follower of Christ, part of being a Christian but Peter and the others thought that this good news was only for those with a similar Jewish background. In contrast, God intended that the message of Christ should be for all people regardless of background. For those early Jewish converts this intention of God turned out to be a major and revolutionary concept.

The breakthrough came when through a vision and through what he saw in Caesarea, Peter could not avoid the work of God. He knew that Christ was not just for people like himself and his friends, but was for all people.

The early Church nonetheless had Peter up on the carpet. He had socialized with Gentiles - this was the issue. From their perspective they were not wrong to question him. Anyone from a Jewish background, who was circumcised, was not to associate with those who were not circumcised. Yet, the message of God, as we read in this passage, was that he was "not to make a distinction between them and us." Peter was to

go with the Gentile men from Caesarea who had come for him. His understanding of the vision was a clear message from God, and so off he went.

The messengers from Caesarea had come at the bidding of another individual who also had heard from the Holy Spirit. He was to send to Joppa for a man called Simon Peter. This Peter would share the message of salvation, for the man and for his household. Then we hear about what happened as soon as Peter began to speak which was that "……the Holy Spirit fell on them as he had upon us at the beginning."

That beginning was Pentecost.

On the Day of Pentecost, when all of the apostles and a number of others were gathered together in one place, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, baptizing them and giving them power to speak in such a way that all those who heard could understand what was said in his own language. That day, as a result of the preaching of the gospel and the outpouring of the Spirit, thousands came to faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

Now Peter was reporting that he has seen a smaller manifestation of the same Holy Spirit in Caesarea.

This coming of the Holy Spirit is intimately tied in with Christ. Peter continued by telling his critics that he remembered what had been said about Jesus, how John the Baptist was to baptize with water but that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

So, if he saw this baptism of the Holy Spirit taking place how was he to argue with the work of God? God the Son had done what he said he would do, and God the Holy Spirit had clearly come upon the believers in Caesarea. Peter saw happening before him what he had gone through on the Day of Pentecost. Clearly this was God at work.

It convinced Peter's critics. A major gap had been bridged.

God intended those who were historic enemies to live together as part of one new society, a society grounded in faith in Jesus Christ. God wanted peace where none had been known before. He wanted enemies to be friends. He wanted those formerly opposed to live together with the same purpose and the same hope.

Pentecost had been the defining moment for the early Church. God the Holy Spirit had come upon the early disciples and a few other Christians in fulfillment of Christ's promise that they would be clothed with power from on high. The same Holy Spirit who had fallen upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan River had now come upon and filled these early Christians. There now was a direct and ongoing link between the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the Church. Importantly, the reality of Jesus Christ in the Christian's life would be a living relationship with Him through the constant presence of the Holy Spirit in each Christian's life. They were not left to their own resources and strength to continue the work of Christ. God, in the name of Jesus Christ, and by the presence of God the Holy Spirit, would continue to be with them, to guide them, to empower them, to equip them and to assure them that they do belong to him as his people.

Startlingly, God the Holy Spirit was not to be confined by religious convention, even religious conventions that had been held for many centuries. People who historically had been enemies were now to be friends.

Paul writes about this in Ephesians, chapter 2

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Paul continues in chapter 3:

¹⁰ His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, ¹¹ according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

To get this started God had to break through prejudice that had been held for hundreds of years. He had to do it in a tangible way. So, right before his eyes, Peter encountered God the Holy Spirit doing in the lives of these Gentiles whom he had gone to see what the Holy Spirit had done at Pentecost.

Peter then presented to his critics this living reality of God at work. Miracle of miracles, his critics believed him and the work of peace between enemies could continue in this new society of the followers of Jesus.

Yet it is a life one has to be committed to. It's an intentional way of living.

Paul writes in Chapter 4 of Ephesians:

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called--⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We are to heed the call to peace, to unity, to love for one another in contrast to division and cultural animosity, because it is meant to be a tangible expression of the Oneness of God. It is meant to be a living reality within the Church of God. And, as this reality is known in the life of the Church we are to encourage and stand for peace in the world, between nations, amongst diverse cultural groups; we are to seek the breakdown of prejudice and hatred.

Though the Church's corporate life has not always exhibited the substance of this call of God, it does not remove from us the challenge to strive for peace both within the Church and in the world. The question that gets put to us, though, is a personal one. Is there peace in our hearts? Is everything we do and think grounded in him who is the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord? [As the impact of his peace in our lives strengthens then it will be easier] As we know Christ's peace deeply in our lives we will more easily be able to express and strive for peace in the Church and in the world.

And this is the work of God the Holy Spirit - to instill and make real, deep within our souls, the reality of the risen Jesus Christ who has conquered sin and death and enmity and prejudice on the cross. It is a call to be ever more open to the presence and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the life of the Church. We cannot do it simply in our own strength and wisdom; we need the work of God to stir us, to change us, to give us the will and desire for his peace to be experienced in our hearts, and in the Church and in the world.

So let us use this Easter season to prepare for Pentecost. May it be a new but ongoing Pentecost in our lives, because there is only the one Holy Spirit, so that increasingly we know what it means to be His people, living and breathing "the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace." This is what the world is looking for, this is what God offers the world in and through his Son Jesus Christ. In turn, it is what God offers the world in and through his Church today. It is a high calling to be an instrument of God's invitation to the world.

Let's grasp it, let's grapple with it, and then let's go, as Peter did, where we would not dream of going on our own if we were left to our own prejudices and fear and conventions. We can only do this by keeping in step with God the Holy Spirit.