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Beyond Expectation (6 of 9)
Series: Acts
Marion Clark
Acts 11:1-18
Introduction: Have you ever had an experience that was beyond your expectation? You had no preparation for the marvel that you beheld or the sensations that you felt. The divine music, the majestic sight, the profound book, whatever it might be, blew your mind, took it to heights, into territory that you did not know existed. That was about to happen to a group of church leaders who thought they had already experienced marvel and taken into new ways of thinking that could not be surpassed. As if the revelation of the crucifixion and resulting resurrection of the Messiah was not enough, as if the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not enough, now they were to encounter a new way of thinking they had never begun to expect.
Text
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 ''You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.''
The scenario presented in these verses is curious. ''The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea'' are the early church that we so far know-Jews and, of recent origin, Samaritans. Word has gotten around of Peter's visit to Cornelius. Note what they have heard-that Gentiles have received the word of God. People who had no claim to belonging to God's covenant nation have not only heard the gospel (that is what ''word of God'' refers to) but have received it, responded to it, and now appropriated its promises to apply to them. What belonged to the children of Abraham alone, they are now receiving as though it belongs to them.
So Peter knows he must give an account. But when he returns to the mother church in Jerusalem, what is the criticism brought against him? He, Peter, ate with Gentiles! Souls are being saved, and what the church leaders care about is who Peter had dinner with.
...
Series: Acts
Marion Clark
Acts 11:1-18
Introduction: Have you ever had an experience that was beyond your expectation? You had no preparation for the marvel that you beheld or the sensations that you felt. The divine music, the majestic sight, the profound book, whatever it might be, blew your mind, took it to heights, into territory that you did not know existed. That was about to happen to a group of church leaders who thought they had already experienced marvel and taken into new ways of thinking that could not be surpassed. As if the revelation of the crucifixion and resulting resurrection of the Messiah was not enough, as if the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not enough, now they were to encounter a new way of thinking they had never begun to expect.
Text
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 ''You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.''
The scenario presented in these verses is curious. ''The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea'' are the early church that we so far know-Jews and, of recent origin, Samaritans. Word has gotten around of Peter's visit to Cornelius. Note what they have heard-that Gentiles have received the word of God. People who had no claim to belonging to God's covenant nation have not only heard the gospel (that is what ''word of God'' refers to) but have received it, responded to it, and now appropriated its promises to apply to them. What belonged to the children of Abraham alone, they are now receiving as though it belongs to them.
So Peter knows he must give an account. But when he returns to the mother church in Jerusalem, what is the criticism brought against him? He, Peter, ate with Gentiles! Souls are being saved, and what the church leaders care about is who Peter had dinner with.
...
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