Peter Explains the Good News to An Outsider
Acts 10:34-48
“God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. . . . ."
“Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too”
Acts 10:34 (NLT)
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Peter discovered that there were no ethnic, geographical, cultural or moral barriers anymore in the way of anyone who wanted forgiveness and new life. He and the other Jews were astonished that God found the new gentile believers fit vessels for His Holy Spirit.
This is NOT easy, laissez-faire, 21st century tolerance. This is does not mean that God simply validates everyone’s opinion about everything or that He validates everyone’s chosen lifestyle. Cornelius (the gentile highlighted in this portion of scripture) did not want tolerated. He wanted welcomed, forgiven, healed and to be transformed. And he was.
It is a fascinating thing we learn here. Everyone is invited “in” just as we are. Yet no one is accepted in without some sort of response of the heart that issues in allowing the Lord to take leadership one’s life. It’s a bit paradoxical yet very, very simple. Does not the cohesion of every family rest on trust and reciprocity?
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The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThe New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.