Tuesday, March 5, 2019
So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa. They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled. Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.” Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God! Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’ So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.” Acts 10:23-33(NLT)
We left Peter yesterday receiving impure,
untouchable, undesirable Gentiles into his home; now we find Peter at the door
of a Gentile’s home, telling the humble God-fearing Gentile Cornelius that God said
Peter’s thinking was what was undesirable.
The question I often had – and get questioned about as a Pastor is: Why did God label Gentiles impure in
the first place, and then change His mind?
The whole issue centers in one
word: CHOICE.
Consider these few basic assumptions
about our relationship with God:
1.
All humans
are created in the image of God (we don’t choose humanity), and therefore
are endowed-with (given) intrinsic worth.
2.
All humans
sin, and therefore choose to disfigure (sin-away) that image and our relationship
with God; we choose our impurity.
3.
Everything follows
the pattern of the first two and needs restoration.
Returning to the Methodist fracas
du jour for the moment as an example, God never ordained, never
said a single word in favor of today’s aberrant sexual depravity, but has much
strong condemnation of it. Setting aside
the argument of genetic predisposition – being born a woman in a man’s
body, or vice-versa[ii],
homosexuality, bi-sexuality, trans-sexuality, as opposed to heterosexuality is
largely a matter of choice of behavior. We act how we choose
to act.
Sin is very much that way, a
matter of choice. People are not impure
or unclean in God’s eyes (and neither should they be in ours) because of birth,
genetics, race, or defect or any kind. We
make ourselves unclean with sin by rebelling against the bond of relationship
with God. Rebellion in sexual matters is
no different for a homosexual or any of the other aberrations, as it is for a
heterosexual who violates fidelity in marriage, or abstinence in
singleness. Heart rebellion is the
center of the issue; when we choose to separate ourselves
from God’s will, our free will accomplishes the task…and we know it. Our eyes are no less opened by our sin than
Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened when they rebelled.
So, why did Peter tell Cornelius
he’d concluded that he should not think of any man as impure or unclean? Simple; Peter had watched a woman brought to
Jesus for condemnation because she was caught in the act. Jesus told her accusers, ok, stone this sinner…whoever
among you doesn’t have any sin on his card, step forward and throw the first
stone.[iii] They all slinked away. It’s not a question of if we’re all
guilty; we just can’t be proud of the fact that we might be less-guilty
than the next guy. We’re all sinners!
For You Today
Ash Wednesday is tomorrow; it’s a great
time to put pride where it belongs.
Go to VIDEO
[i] Title Image: By Illustrator
of Henry Davenport Northrop's 'Treasures of the Bible', 1894 Public Domain
[ii] I do
not set this aside entirely; gender is not an identity, it is chromosomal; and
that from conception. Anything less is subjective
science digging for excuses.
[iii] John
8:1-11
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