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Acts 10 Fear and Ignorance vs. Faith and the Gospel Core
We’re going to pick up our series in Acts this morning in Acts chapter 10, page 918 in the pew Bibles. Buckle in because we are going to do the whole chapter!
Jeff Reed once said that “theological education is a discipline that all men need regardless of their lifework.” I agree with that sentiment and so I would like to help facilitate some of that theological education this morning with my favorite chapter in the whole Bible.
Let’s pray.
Let me ask you a few questions before we get too far.
Does the church have a mission? What is it? How do we accomplish it?
Jesus gave us the mission in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 and it is to preach the gospel to everyone, make disciples of those who believe, baptize them and teach them to obey all of Jesus’ teaching.
The way we paraphrase this around here is: to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ together as a family.
So, let me ask you: How are we doing?
I’d like to have you turn to Acts 10 and we’re going to read an account that addresses the mission of the church and gives us an example of how the early church participated in that mission.
Acts 10:1-48
1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"
4Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.
The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."
7When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 18They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. 20So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."
21Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?"
22The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." 23Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. 24The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself."
27Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. 29So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
30Cornelius answered: "Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.' 33So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us."
34Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. 36You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47"Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
I wanted to read this whole account, not only for the sake of context but to point out the potential blank spot we as a church family may be suffering from and offer some suggestions on how to fix it.
Until this event happened with Cornelius the gospel had not been shared with the Gentiles. Paul said in Ephesians 2 that God has made one new man out of the two, Jews and Gentiles, and his purpose was in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.
In this account in Acts we can see the beginning of that unity taking shape even though it takes an act of God to get it started.
We don’t naturally want to be united, we allow all kinds of cultural stuff and preferences divide us, it’s almost like we prefer it that way. But Peter had the same struggle, look at verse 13...
Now remember that in a vision from God Peter sees a big sheet lowered from the sky full of animals, non-kosher animals, animals that were called unclean in the Law, like pigs and lobsters.
13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
Those words are in red! This is the voice of the Lord Jesus speaking to Peter!
And what does Peter say? (NO)
14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
The Lord tells Peter three times to get up, kill and eat. Crossing a cultural barrier that Peter had never crossed in his whole life. Jesus figuratively invited Peter to step through the barrier that had separated the Jews and the Gentiles for thousands of years, a barrier that Jesus had destroyed by his death and resurrection.
This is exactly the mission the church family is supposed to be on for the glory of God.
Those cultural barriers still exist, maybe they are not the Jew/Gentile barriers of Peter’s days for us but there is still a barrier, there is still a line that we get warned over and over not to cross, it’s the old “keep your religion to yourself” line, “you want to be religious, that’s fine but I don’t want to hear about it.” Or maybe even “That may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.”
Here in this passage from Acts we can clearly see the inauguration of the United Gospel Family and an opportunity for Peter to participate in the Mission to All People for the Glory of God, and there is also the part of the solution to our weak spot, the gospel core.
I truly believe that there are two reasons for this weak spot, our failure to be active in sharing the gospel, one is fear and the other is ignorance.
FEAR
Fear keeps our mouths shut. Fear keeps us from asking spiritual questions of our friends. Fear keeps us from inviting our friends to church or Bible study. Fear keeps us from sticking our necks out for the sake of the gospel.
We are afraid of rejection, we are afraid that people will make fun of us, we are afraid that we’ll damage relationships; we are afraid we won’t know the right words, or that someone will ask a question we can’t answer. Mix fear with a little laziness and pinch of procrastination and you have a deadly combination for our mission to make disciples.
Now fear is a funny thing. Proverbs one says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but that’s not the kind of fear that I’m talking about. That fear is reverence and respect, that’s good. This fear is the opposite of faith, that’s bad.
Fear is the opposite of faith.
Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Fear keeps us from asking the mountain to move, fear keeps us from even thinking about it.
Fear instead asks “What if I ask and it doesn’t move?”
Peter had to deal with the fear of rejection from his people, up till now the Way of Christ was still considered a part of Judaism, but associating with Gentiles was crossing a line.
How does Peter respond in this situation?
28He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. 29So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
Peter says, this is what God has asked me to do and I’m going to do it and he shares the gospel with these folks and they receive the Holy Spirit and are baptized into the family of God.
IGNORANCE
The second influence that keeps us from actively sharing the gospel is ignorance. That’s not ignorance in general but ignorance of the core of the gospel. We just don’t know the facts that well.
So, why was Peter so effective in sharing the gospel? Because he walks on water and glows in the dark? Well there was that one time… No, he is just a man, he said so himself. So what were the keys to Peter’s success in bringing people to Christ?
Number one, his experience with Cornelius and his family was Spirit led. I don’t want to downplay the significance of the Holy Spirit’s involvement in every opportunity to share the gospel. It takes a work of the Holy Spirit for anyone to come to faith in Christ. And that work combined with Peter’s knowledge of the gospel is what leads Cornelius’ whole family to faith in Jesus.
That’s the second key; Peter knew the core of the gospel. He was confident enough to share it and by the power of the Holy Spirit those people believed and were baptized.
So what is the core of the gospel? I believe that the more comfortable we are with that core the more confident and ready we will be to be used by the Spirit to bring people to Christ. If you are comfortable with the core of the gospel you won’t have to bring your friends to church to have the gospel explained to them, you can do it yourself!
Let’s look at verses 34-48 and see if we can boil it down to a skeleton we can remember and work with.
If you haven’t been taking notes … start now.
34Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. 36You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
Point one: JESUS IS GOD, SENT BY GOD
37You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Point two: JESUS WENT AROUND DOING GOOD
39"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day
Point three: HE WAS CRUCIFIED BY CERTAIN JEWS – BUT GOD RAISED HIM UP
God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people
Point four: HE APPEARED TO CHOSEN WITNESSES WHOM HE COMMANDED TO PREACH THIS MESSAGE
42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
Point five: HE HAS BEEN APPOINTED THE JUDGE OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
43All the prophets testify about him
Point six: THE WHOLE OLD TESTAMENT POINTS TO THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST
43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Point seven: ANYONE WHO HEARS THIS MESSAGE AND PUTS THEIR TRUST IN HIM WILL HAVE THEIR SINS FORGIVEN
44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47"Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
What happens when Cornelius and his family come to faith? The Holy Spirit comes on them and they were immediately baptized into the family.
The simple core of the gospel:
JESUS IS GOD, SENT BY GOD
HE WENT AROUND DOING GOOD
HE WAS CRUCIFIED BY CERTAIN JEWS – BUT GOD RAISED HIM UP
HE APPEARED TO CHOSEN WITNESSES WHOM HE COMMANDED TO PREACH THIS MESSAGE
HE HAS BEEN APPOINTED THE JUDGE OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
THE WHOLE OLD TESTAMENT POINTS TO THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST
ANYONE WHO HEARS THIS MESSAGE AND PUTS THEIR TRUST IN HIM WILL HAVE THEIR SINS FORGIVEN
This simple gospel core mixed with the work of the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to bring my 89 year-old Grampa to faith and simple enough to bring my kids to faith.
It’s not a matter of parroting these words but being familiar with the essential facts one needs to know in order to really believe in Jesus and be saved. This is what Peter communicated to Cornelius and his family. In fact in all five of Peter’s sermons in the book of Acts he follows this basic outline.
If we will let go of our fear, step out in faith armed with a solid knowledge of the gospel core, we can storm the gates of Hell and the gates of Hell will not prevail against us.
Let’s pray.
