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5th Sunday in Easter, 2010
Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier
Acts 11:1-18
Christ is risen! He is risen in deed!
Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth,” (John 16:12, ESV) This statement was given to the apostles before the resurrection. As the conversation went on, it was made clear that the apostles couldn’t bear what Jesus was telling them. They kept stumbling over His statement that in a little while they would not see Him and then again in a little while they would see Him. They weren’t quit getting it. From this passage we are taught how important it is to continue to hear the word of Jesus and grow in our understanding of it. It is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth.
Of course, this understanding is directly related to the reality of the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. After Christ was crucified they did not see Him for a little while. Then after a little while He was resurrected and they saw Him again. The world rejoiced in His death and His disciples mourned. Then the disciples rejoiced in His resurrection and that joy was to be brought to the world. That joy continued to increase with the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
As we put together our reading from the Gospel According to St. John and the one from the Acts of the Apostles, we get a before and after picture. Here the disciples are listening to the word of God before the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. In our reading from Acts, we have an account of the disciples listening to the word of God after the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Like those before and after pictures of a person who goes on a diet, there is a huge tangible change.
In the Acts of the Apostles, we have a record of this change. The disciples are learning what it means that Christ is risen indeed. In Him there is eternal victory and joy. He has defeated death. He has made full atonement for the sin of the world. This is not only true for the Jew but also for the Gentile. Death at one time held humanity in captive. Now death is held in captivity. It has been conquered in the resurrection of Jesus. As disciples we continue to learn to believe that Jesus is making all things new.
For the first twenty-five years of my life, I lived in New Mexico. Then my wife and I moved to Houston, Texas. Like they say, Texas is a whole other country. We had to learn what it meant to live in a completely different reality. The climate was totally different. It didn’t cool off at night like it did in New Mexico. We began seeing Texas size insects everywhere. There were Texas size snakes in our front and back yards. There were geckos on our walls of our house. We ate strange foods like kolaches which are a fruity pastry or a sausage in a biscuit type of a food. We ate calamari which is little fried squid nuggets. And we ate Tex-Mex which is not New Mexican cuisine. Our whole point of reality was changed and we were constantly learning and growing in our understanding of that new reality.
In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the reality of all of creation has changed. Just like the first disciples in Jerusalem were learning to believe in that changed reality so too we as disciples here in Los Alamos learning to believe what it means that Jesus lives. In today’s text from Acts chapter eleven, we are given an account of how the disciples were learning to believe that the Lamb of God who was slain now lives and reigns. He takes away the sin and gives life to the world. Of course we have an advantage, because we have read the rest of the story. We know that the Gentiles were brought in to the church. But, try to put yourselves into the shoes of the first disciples for whom this was not a very easy step. Rather than circumcise the new converts and sealing them to the Old Testament, Peter baptizes them and seals them to the New Testament.
Our text from Acts opens with this statement, "Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God." (Acts 11:1, ESV) To get a taste of how much of a shock this report was to the early church, look at the response in the next two verses. "So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”" (Acts 11:2-3, ESV) Note that this circumcision party is a group of believers in the resurrection of Jesus. Like us they were in the process of learning what it means that Jesus was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification.
Like us they were quick to speak and judge a fellow believer and slow to listen. Too often we find ourselves being concerned with critiquing the actions of others. Rather than assuming that Peter, as an apostle, knew what he was doing, they jumped to the conclusion that Peter must be wrong. Rather than rejoice in the report that the Gentiles had received the word of God, they focus in on a detail of procedure: Peter ate with the unclean. He didn’t ask the rest of the group first before he acted. Yet, here is where these critics outshine us… …they went to Peter to confront the issue instead of talking behind his back.
But like us, they quickly showed forth their Bible knowledge by referencing Leviticus eleven in which the distinction is made between clean and unclean animals. Yet, they missed the central teaching of the Bible that we are all justified by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ alone.
We too have a tendency to think that we know it all. We quickly jump to conclusions and speak our mind rather than listen with our ears. Yet, the Holy Scriptures continue to put us in our place as students. We are to humble ourselves under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit and continue to listen to the voice of God that comes to us in the teaching of the Apostles. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’" (Revelation 3:6, ESV)
So, in His Apostolic Office, Peter teaches them what the Spirit says to the church. He explains that in a vision he was told that the old distinction between clean and unclean foods has been removed. Animals such as pigs, calamari, insects that call on the ground, snakes, and geckos are no longer unclean. They have been declared clean by the word of God.
Next, Peter went on to tell them that he heard a voice from heaven say, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’" (Acts 11:9, ESV) Then he explained that the Spirit told him to make no distinction between the Jew and Gentile. (Acts 11:12) Then the Holy Spirit guided Him in all truth and brought to memory the words of Jesus. Peter recounts, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’" (Acts 11:15-16, ESV) The role of the Holy Spirit is to teach us what the words of Jesus mean. The Spirit does not speak on his own authority, but whatever He hears from the Father and the Son. He takes what belongs to Jesus and declares it to us. He glorifies Jesus. He opens our eyes to understand what we are to believe. He uses the word to achieve this goal. He does not act apart from the written word or contrary to it.
Our text from Acts concludes by saying, "When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”" (Acts 11:18, ESV) Here we see the example of the saints of old who continued to grow in their understanding of God’s word. Just look at the rest of the book of Acts and the epistles of Paul and you will see. The teaching of justification was and still is an ongoing struggle in the church. We are learning what it means that it is God who makes us holy by declaring the holiness of Jesus to be our own. God makes us holy through the power of the gospel. Holiness is declared and not achieved.
When we moved to Texas, we did not become Texans because we acted like Texans. We were declared to be Texans because that is where we lived. The longer that we lived there, the more we began to act and talk like Texans. In baptism, we have been brought into the Christian church. We do not become Christians because we act like Christ. We are declared to be Christians because we live in Christ. The longer that we live and abide in Him, the more we begin to resemble Him. Amen.
