Acts | Chapter 11

 

Acts Chp. 11:1-18 

“Uncommon Peter” 

Vs. 1-18 It’s God’s fault

Intro.

One of the interesting side notes to Acts is the way God develops the people He desires to use. For years now the Church has seen fit to make sure that the people they use will be qualified in professional schools. Yet in Acts that is not what we see, in fact it is quite the opposite. You remember the words of the Rulers and Elders of the people in Acts 4:13 as they heard and saw the disciples? They, “perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, and they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” That is what qualifies the servant that God chooses, “they have to have been with Jesus!” At the end of David Vaughan’s book on Patrick Henry entitled, “Give Me Liberty”, the author gives a short list on lessons of leadership among the list are these gems:

• Providence chooses the leader who has prepared to be chosen.

• The best leaders always educate themselves.

• A leader knows that adversity is the handmaiden to maturity; therefore, he will not shrink from difficulties.

• The unseen source of a leader’s courage is faith in God and His justice.

• Conviction is worthless unless converted into conduct.

• Humility is essential to leadership because it makes a leader a servant.

Luke will again bring up the controversial conversion of Cornelius and then move to Antioch as even more gentiles are added to the Church so much so that they send the big hearted Barnabas to them. He in turn hunts down Paul to help in the new ministry. Folks, every work that God desires to do will require His children, (you and I) to do it. The question is not will He do a work or even where He will do the work. No, the question is will He find any workers? We ought to be not only praying, “the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” We need to be preparing to be chosen! Folks, school is in session!  

Vs. 1-18 It’s God’s fault

Vs. 1-3 The news of Peter’s work among the gentiles appears to have beat Peter to Jerusalem. As there was a group of Jewish believers ready to question him about what had happened. In fact the word “contended” appears 22 times in the New Testament where it means to “separate thoroughly, to withdraw from, or (by implication) oppose or discriminate”. Peter comes back to his buddies excited at the work of God and faces judgment as the Jewish believers doubt the work and perhaps begin to waiver in their friendship with him. Christianity was becoming much more than a Jewish sect; it was available to all. All of this reminds me of childish school-yard behavior, “How come you were talking to so and so?” “If you’re going to be their friend, then you can’t be my friend!”  

         Now look at verse 3 and you will see what really bothered them, “You went in with uncircumcised men and ate with them!” Do you see that? It was not the salvation that bothered them, it was “salivation”. What? You see eating in that culture was a big deal; in fact they considered it tantamount to becoming one with a person. There were no forks, spoons and knives, people ate with their hands. Furthermore there was a common bowl that every one ate out of and dipped their bread or meat into. Don’t see a problem yet? Hey, there were no rules against “double dipping” or back washing. Now don’t get all-high and mighty on me because I’m willing to bet that with your family members you let each other double dip and you will drink out of the same straw. Why do you not mind with some people and you do with others? Well it’s because some people are family and well others are just gross! I mean who wants to share spit and saliva with people you are not close with? Now aside from health issues I find it interesting that Jews would eat with other Jews who were strangers. My point? Well I think our sharing has a lot more to do with how we feel about a person then we would like to admit. We like certain people so we tend to not mind a little spit.

Vs. 4-17 Can you just picture Peter here before his friends acting this way? How can he defend what took place? Well we shall see that he will retell the story and present four pieces of evidence to show that what happened was God’s fault not his.

Vs. 4-10 VISION: The first thing Peter does is to show that he was nothing more than an instrument and in fact he was not too keen on the idea to start with either. God came to him three times (verse 10) with the same vision to convince him. I’m amazed, as I look at this section of God working that the first thing God has to do is change the heart of the servant. I can’t help but wonder what more God could do through me if I was more open to Him working in me? So Peter’s first argument is, “Hey it’s not my fault God changed my VISION, my perspective, I did everything I could to resist Him but after the third time I decided to yield!”

Vs. 11-12 VOICE: Now Peter says God not only changed my vision He told me to go. In other words the Holy Spirit was obviously working in the situation. Now notice that Peter mentions that six other Jewish believers accompanied him. You see, seven witnesses were necessary to prove a court case. Simply put Peter says, “These six guys here can testify that I was not all that excited about going with the three gentiles that Cornelius sent.” The only reason I went was because the voice of the Spirit told me to Go! Again I wonder how many times I would, apart from my bias, still follow God’s leading? How seldom it is that God’s people actually ask or listen to what God wants for us. Take finding a Church to attend, do we stop and ask God, “Where would you have me go?” And if He said to go to the Church that did not have a building and all the programs would we still go?  

Vs. 13-14 VISIT: To recap Peter says, “God was working on my heart and then He told me to go. “ Now he says when he and his buddies got there it was obvious that God had already visited Cornelius’ house. You see the Spirit of God was at work in the servant of God, but He was also working on the sinner. As you compare the story you will see that God had a far easier time getting Cornelius to respond then He did Peter. Notice how Peter drops that little phrase, “words by which you and your household will be saved.” Peter is setting them up to say that the Spirit of God was working in the servant of God by way of the Word of God.

Vs. 15-17a VIEW: Finally Peter says, “As I began to preach the Word of God the Holy Spirit just touched their hearts.” In other words it was in plain view of all seven of them. This was no secret conversion. No, in fact all of them were “astonished”, (10:45) a word which means beside themselves. These six guys had an out of the body experience at seeing the conversion. So Peter says that as he was seeing the whole thing God brought to his remembrance the words of Jesus about the gift of the Holy Spirit being given to all that believe on the Lord Jesus.

Vs. 17b-18 Peter’s rhetorical question, “Who was I that I could withstand God?” The word “withstand” appears 23 times in the New Testament and is the second time that Peter uses it. The first time was in verse 10:47 where he asks, “Can anyone forbid water..” The word literally means, “not capable of preventing.” You see it was God’s sovereign work in the human heart and Peter was a somewhat willing participant. Look at their response to Peter’s four fold evidence, their worry turned into worship! Peter’s defense reminds me of a long ago Elton John rock album, “Don’t shoot me I’m only the piano player!” 

Acts 11:19

“Open doors”

Vs. 19-26 There goes the neighborhood

Vs. 27-30 Do you need a cup of sugar?

Vs. 1-11 I’m sleeping don’t bother me!

Intro.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why some people have success and victory and others don’t? I have often thought about the events of my life as some sort of proving ground of God’s favor. We even have a phrase that seeks to describe this, “Our ship has come in!” The section of scripture we are looking at today starts off by looking at great victories won for Christ as the Church begins to reach the Gentiles. In fact the hated Gentiles actually became a blessing to the Jewish believers during a time of hardship. Yet in contrast to that Luke tells of the death of one half of the “Sons of Thunder”, James the brother of John. Then the arrest of Peter and his marvelous deliverance by God. 

The question comes to mind, “If we are God’s chosen people and He loves us, why the hardship? Why, allow James to die and save Peter? Was Peter somehow favored and James not? Why was the Church at Antioch blessed enough to help with food and the Church at Jerusalem forced to go through hard times?” Now I’m not sure that today you will have any better answers to these questions but perhaps they come from a wrong premise altogether. I mean when you stop to think about it based upon our sin who are we to ever have a great day? Furthermore who is to say that Peter was the one that was blessed and not James? Or that the Church in Antioch was more loved than the Church in Jerusalem. Is it not all a matter of our perspective? I’m certain that when I’m in the presence of Jesus all the things in my life that I’ve questioned will be much  clearer than they are now. So until then I will have to continue to remind myself of Who my God is and that, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)  

Vs. 19-26 There goes the neighborhood

Vs. 19-21 To recap from last week, the Gentiles were really only a handful, a point well made by the statement of the Jewish believers in verse 18, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life.” Luke tells us that it all started around the persecution that arose over Stephen as Greek speaking Jews were scattered abroad.

Vs. 19 Now look at this, it is very plain that the early practice was to preach the word only to the Jews, and that was going well until some un-named men from Cyprus and Cyrene came to Antioch and spoke to the Greeks about the Lord Jesus. In the other great evangelistic works of God it’s Peter, Stephen or Philip that are mentioned as being instruments of God but not here. No, this was a work of God just as the others but God used ordinary men and women. You know what? God only uses ordinary folks! I think when God uses them and their names become known to us we begin to think of them as extraordinary. So God doesn’t let us know their names so that we will realize that God desires to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things!  So the gospel was moved outside of the borders both geographically as well as culturally. Hey, brothers and sisters I think that is what the Church is to be as well don’t you? We are always without borders. 

 As I said last week Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman empire (Pop. 500,000). It had all the bright lights, gambling, prostitution, kind of a Las Vegas. I mean this would be a massive undertaking don’t you think? But you see these ordinary people were not looking at it that way, they were just living their lives for Jesus and started telling others about what it was like to have Jesus in control of your life instead of the things of the world. And the gentiles said, “I don’t know what you got but I want it.”    

Vs. 21 Look at this statement of Luke, “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” The ministry of these un-named evangelists touched a wicked prosperous city because God was working. Now I should not have to say this but look again at what Luke reveals here in verse 21. The Hand of the Lord was with them and this was seen not because lots of folks showed up to church or they had a big offering and lots of programs. No, the hand of the Lord was with them as seen in the great number that believed and TURNED to the Lord! Folks, this is one of those verses that often gets overlooked because of its simplicity, but the truth is:

• You can turn people to a cause, without the hand of the Lord.

• You can turn people to an event, without the hand of the Lord.

• You can even turn people to Church, without the hand of the Lord.

• But You can not turn them to THE LORD, apart from the hand of the Lord!

Now today when the Church has an evangelistic event they will often tell you how many folks came. Some will even tell you how many signed a card, but what I want to know is how many turned to the Lord and we will know that number a year or so later because they will still be in the local Churches! 

Vs. 22-24 As the news of Gentile faith spread to Jerusalem they sent Barnabas (the “son of encouragement”) to them. Now before we look at his ministry while there, lets note three specific things said about him in verse 24:

A good man: This means more than that he behaved well. It rather speaks as to his overall disposition. Perhaps today we would use the word “laid back” to describe his disposition. Barnabas was an easy going kind of a guy, big-hearted, you always felt as though he was on your side! Now this was very important to any new work in which others would question its validity. Barnabas would be the kind of guy to look beyond whether or not they had all their ducks in a row and rather to where their heart was!

Full of the Holy Spirit: Literally he was “covered over” with the Holy Spirit. He was a man in whom all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit was evident in his life. He was filled with love, patience, joy, and self control. A man who lived upon drawing his breath from the breath of life!

Man of faith: He was a man who was reliant upon the Word of God. He believed what God said and acted upon it.

That’s who they sent to see what God was up to, a man who upon seeing it would notice the “grace of God” upon their lives. Hey, I don’t know about you but I think the body could do with a lot more of these fellows and why not start by asking God to make us one?

Vs. 23 We are told of three aspects of Barnabas’ ministry while he was there.

Glad: That is to say JOY. His ministry was one in which you looked forward to being part of. Barnabas saw the “grace of God” and he just kept it going. Hey, why is it that Christians don’t laugh? Don’t we have more to laugh at than any other group of people in the world? It was God’s grace that showed Barnabas that these folks at Antioch were for real. 

Encouraged them: He told them and helped them to keep on keeping on! When they felt down he picked them up. Sometimes we all need a cheer leader don’t we?

With purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord: No legalistic trips, instead, “Hey just stay at it brothers and sisters”. Man is that ever an important thing today. Folks, you and I have received everything we are ever going to need to make It through this life the moment we became believers all we need to do now is “purpose in our heart to continue” the same way we began by faith! In our physical bodies the moment we are born we get all the muscles we are going to need to function and all that happens as we mature is they get further developed. Now how are they developed? Well by being pushed beyond where they are comfortable. That is the same way in our spiritual life!

Vs. 24 Now look at the outcome of sending the right man with the right ministry, “A great many people were added to the Lord.” Now the word “added” here is a really interesting one. It’s the word we get our word “prosthetics” from. That is a term which means artificial limbs such as legs, arms, hands and the like. What a great word picture for what the body of Christ is. You see as God adds to His church He is adding more arms, legs, hands, eyes and feet.

The Church was never meant to be a place where people go to get all warm and fuzzy. Now think of it, all of these prosthetics are designed to facilitate action and motion. There are no artificial bottoms, “I’m just called to sit and watch!” No, it’s to be a place where people become the hands and feet of the Lord! Let me be on record as saying that you never add to the Church apart from this! Adding to the Church only happens as people are added to the Lord and if they are added to the Lord then they become His hands and feet!

Vs. 25-26 Well so many folks are added that Barnabas heads down to find Paul who is in Tarsus. Six to Ten years have passed and Paul has been preaching the word of God in his own region (Gal 1:21) but still it takes Barnabas a great deal of effort to find him according to the Greek. Now look at the over all ministry in Antioch starting with the un-named folks and ending up with Paul:

Vs. 20 EVANGELISM: Preached the Lord Jesus. Before you can do anything people need to hear about the Lord so you have to have evangelism.

Vs. 23 EXHORTATION: After they respond they need to be encouraged and discipled with loving care. Barnabas told them that he rejoiced with them and that they should hang onto Jesus.

Vs. 24 EXPOSITION: Finally they need to be taught so they can be equipped in the Word of God. Frankly if a Church is not involved in these three things then they are not a healthy Church!

Vs. 26 Now notice it only after the exposition, (teaching) of the Word that they are first called Christian. The word was meant to be a put down as it means belonging to the party of Christ. These folks became synonymous with the One they spoke about all the time, Jesus. They were Jesus folks! Notice they were not called by a denomination, why do folks identify church going folks with the place they attend? Could it be that they spend far too much of the time talking about the Church and not enough time speaking about Jesus? 

Vs. 27-30 Do you need a cup of sugar?

Vs. 27-28 Man is this something? Here are these dirty old Gentiles who nobody wants around and time gets hard and guess who comes to bail you out? The question was, “Can Gentiles come to know Jesus apart from being Jewish?” The answer was seen in their action towards their Jewish brothers and sisters in a time of need. Folks, again it is interesting that when the Christians began to take the Word seriously, then generosity naturally flowed. Simply put, they were strong in love because they were strong in the Word! I don’t believe you can be a loving Church apart from the Word of God, neither do I think that you will be a strong Church in the Word if you are not loving! The two go hand-in-hand.    

Man that must have made the Jewish believers feel real small based on how they treated them. Here they would not eat with them but they would eat the food they sent! Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, But we make a life by what we give!” Times were tough, things got tight and the Gentiles believers said, “Hey lets do with less so we can help our brothers who don’t much care for us!”  Hard times were coming and the decision was made by each of them according to their ability to help out those who had treated them so poorly. How about it? When you see times are getting tougher things are going to get tight do you say, “Hey, lets help out those in need?” I’ve got to tell you that this verse is one that convicts the tar out of me.  

Vs. 29 Here then you have the pattern of New Testament giving, “each according to his ability, determined to send”.  Now the word here “determined” is the word that we get horizon from and it means a “fixed point of reference”. Some gave a little and some a lot based upon the ability that God had given them, but as far as sending relief to their brothers and sisters it was a fixed point of reference.

Vs. 30 Paul and Barnabas the teachers of the Word of God in Antioch now become social workers at the Church in Jerusalem. Again, how ironic that God would use the man who persecuted the Christians combined with the funds of those that the Jewish Christians didn’t like to take care of their needs. God surely desires to break up our prejudices does He not?