The Holy Spirit Bridges the Gap (Sermon)

Here’s the video (below) and the manuscript (below below) of a sermon I preached at my church, Grace Evangelical Free Church of La Mirada, on July 28, 2024. We’re preaching through Acts, and when my turn came up in our team-preaching plan, the assignment was to open up Acts 9:32-11:18. It’s a long section (77 verses?) but it’s easy to see how it all goes together.

The Holy Spirit Bridges The Gap (Fred Sanders) from Grace EV Free on Vimeo.

I. The Word and the Spirit

There is a great moment I want to direct your attention to this morning.
It’s a dramatic moment in Acts when the apostle Peter
preaches the message about Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit falls on the listeners.

That’s the moment: the word goes out, and the Spirit descends.
–Out it goes, down it comes, and when they meet,
   –people are saved,            –lives are transformed,          –the world is changed.
This is the whole thing, right here: word goes out, Spirit comes down.
These are the hand motions: word goes out, Spirit comes down.

One great moment, and all I want to do is show you where it happens, and then explain what it means.
Turn with me to Acts chapter 10, let’s start at verse 34.

Acts 10:34. Our scene is the house of Cornelius the Centurion in Caesarea. The little half-verse right before where we’re going to start has Cornelius saying to Peter, “we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” And here we go:

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

If you’re using the ESV, it has these little summary headings to help you follow the big ideas. Look at the ESV headings here: At v. 34, it summarizes, “Gentiles hear the good news,” and then at vs. 44, “The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles.” (44) That perfectly sums up the great moment, they key event I told you about: Word goes out, Spirit comes down.

What’s the word that went out? Well, it’s a sermon that Peter preaches. He is invited to preach salvation in the house of Cornelius, and he comes right in and gets it done. Look at the front of your bulletin, at the guy on the left, with his back to us: That’s Peter, making his “listen to me” gesture. I’m not sure which crowd he’s preaching to–we could ask the artist; she’s here with us—it might be the Pentecost crowd in Jerusalem in chapter 2, or for all I know it might be this crowd in Cornelius’ house in chapter 10. And he might also be symbolically pointing to the Holy Spirit there, symbolized by a dove of peace, coming down on the word. Maybe? At any rate, what is this word that Peter brings?

It’s a great sermon. Ten verses, about 175 words, and tightly focused on Jesus as the savior. If you outline it, it’s basically a little tiny version of the Gospel of Mark: God sends Jesus preaching; he is filled with the Spirit and does good deeds; he dies, rises, is Lord of all, and forgiveness is through him. We could say a lot more about every part of that, but what we’re hearing here in Peter’s sermon is the seed of what would grow into Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So let me just say, read the first half of the New Testament if you want a deeper dive.

But Peter sets up his sermon this way: (v 36): “As for the word that [God] sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened…”

Peter introduces Jesus as “the word that God sent to Israel.” God “preached the good news of peace through Jesus Christ.” You know the Gospel of John says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and here Peter says God sent a word to Israel that he preached peace through: Jesus Christ, Lord of all. He’s God’s word. And now Peter is saying 175 words about that word, and I’m saying 45 minutes of words about Peter’s words about that word, “the word that God sent to Israel…Jesus Christ.”

Now when God sent out this word to Israel, this comprehensive, saving, incarnate word, guess how he did it? The word went out, and the Spirit came down. When did the Spirit of God come down on the incarnate word of God? Well, you remember the story of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan: The Spirit came down with the blessing of God the Father, saying “this is my beloved Son; listen to him.” But we don’t have to flip back to that story, because it’s right here in Peter’s sermon, verse 38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” This is the story of the four Gospels: the Word goes out, the Spirit comes down. And “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

That’s the good news: everyone who believes can have peace with God, the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. And the whole book of Acts is about that message spreading and growing. How? The word goes out, and the Spirit comes down.

That’s how the book of Acts starts: the disciples of Jesus are waiting in Jerusalem; these are the ones who had really received the word that God had sent out, and suddenly the Spirit comes down. Then all heaven breaks loose; Peter preaches, “this is what the prophets promised.” In a very large sense, this is a major outline of the New Testament: the Word went out (book of Luke), and gathered disciples, then Spirit came down (book of Acts).

And now here in Caesarea, the same thing happens: It’s Pentecost all over again, or better yet, it’s not another Pentecost but the same Pentecost making its way to Caesarea. Back in Jerusalem it was Jews; here in Caesarea it’s Gentiles. But it’s conspicuously the same rhythm and the same blessing: the word goes out, the Spirit comes down, and people receive peace with God.

Now that’s big. And while we’re thinking big thoughts, I want to tell you one more thing about it: The reason salvation works this way is because it’s how God is. God’s the Trinity, and the path of the gospel is trinitarian. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and God saves us when the Father’s word goes out, and the Father’s Spirit descends. Do you see that? The word of peace-with-God is: the word of God the Father about his Son, and then it’s their Holy Spirit glorifying the Son and the Father, and BOOM. Every time the word goes out and the Spirit comes down, we are in the middle of an event where the Trinity is being the Trinity for us and for our salvation.

Here’s the thing about the word and the Spirit: they don’t disagree. They don’t compete. They don’t even divvy up the project; they do it all together. Word and Spirit are on the same mission to bring about the same salvation.

One reason I need to say that is, Acts 10 is a strange story where the word goes out in Peter’s sermon, but then the Holy Spirit seems to interrupt that word and take over. Did you notice that? Look at 10:44, “while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” Later on, Peter re-tells this story in Jerusalem, and he says (this is 11:15), “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them.” It kind of seems like Peter was just getting started. Part of me wants to hear the end of the sermon. And I bet Peter was all set to bring it to a point, maybe make his third point or do an altar call and sing a final song… something to round off the sermon and stick the landing. Who knows? We will never know, because the Holy Spirit has entered the chat. He takes over. He steps in and does the supernatural work of suddenly making believers out these listeners.

It does read like an interruption. And while I’m sure Peter was perfectly happy to be interrupted by God, it does seem almost rude for him to be cut off in this way. But the more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve come to see that interruption isn’t quite the right way to think of it. What I mean is, the plan was always for the word to go out, and then for the Spirit to come down. The words are there for the Spirit, not instead of the Spirit but for him; and the Spirit is there not to stop the words but to energize and apply exactly those words. There’s one thing happening here, and it’s a word-and-spirit thing. What I’m trying to say is that the content of Peter’s sermon, the burden of his word to these people, is Jesus living, dying, and rising for them, and that is a reality that takes hold of them and changes their relation to God. When it takes hold of them, that’s the Holy Spirit making the reality of Jesus and his name present and active among them and inside of them. If the work of Jesus happened long ago and far away, and when you hear about it you only hear it as something distant and external to you, then you haven’t really heard it. The Spirit bridges the gap and brings you into the word, brings it into you as a reality and not just a report. It always takes the Spirit of God breathing through the Word of God to deliver peace with God.

Now I know what you’re thinking: You’re thinking, “Gee, thanks for the comprehensive overview of how the word of God and the Spirit of God bring about salvation, and I especially liked that part where you grounded it in the eternal life of the Trinity. But how does it apply to my life today?” Good question!

One good application is that Word and Spirit always go together in our lives. We’ve focused on this Great Moment when the Spirit fulfills the Word, and we’ve flirted with the idea that one kind of interrupts the other. But if it turns out it’s not really an interruption, but that Word and Spirit say the same thing, then we’ve really learned something. God’s Word and God’s Spirit are not in disagreement.

What if I asked everybody here to Vote on whether they were Word people or Spirit people? Show of hands, let’s divide this room up and see who’s on which side. If I did that, you should anathematize me. That’s fancy language for saying “boooooo.” And you’d be right, because Word and Spirit say the same thing. Not everybody knows this, and not everybody can stick to it with real conviction. We’re always running into believers who get into tight spots, where obedience is costly and the pressure from the world around is intense, and they start forming ideas like this: “I know what the Bible says, but I feel the Spirit leading me to a different conclusion.” No no no. Listen: if the Spirit is leading you beyond the Bible, that ain’t the Holy Spirit. It’s a Bible-denying Spirit of deception. In Acts 10, the Holy Spirit didn’t fall on these listeners and say “Never mind what Peter’s jabbering about; I’ve got a different, weirder less Jesus-y perspective to invite you into.” No, he brought the exact same word home to their hearts and made it living and active within them. The Word was always Spirit-guided and the Spirit is Word-centered. I almost want to say that the Spirit is not some wild bird flapping around in big swooping circles doing things we’ve never heard about in the Bible. Again, people who talk that way are deluded. The Holy Spirit is more like a dove descending on the beloved word of God than like some kind of wild goose honking at a burning man festival. People say irresponsible things about the Holy Spirit because they think they can get away with it: compared to Jesus, the Holy Spirit seems so vague and nonspecific and open to reinterpretation. But guess what? If you take a long car trip with the Holy Spirit, he’s going to be talking about Jesus the whole time. These two are thick.

A couple of the Protestant Reformers were excellent on this application. Martin Luther once ran into a teacher who was making all sorts of wild claims about what the Holy Spirit was telling him, and how it went beyond the Bible. Luther said, “I believe you’ve swallowed up the Holy Spirit, feathers and all!” I’m afraid I’ve met people who seem to have swallowed the Spirit feathers and all. With a more serious attitude, whenever John Calvin noticed somebody was trying to sever the word and the Spirit, he would quote Isiah 59:21, where God promises “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.” In God’s plan, Spirit and Word go together. The word in your mouth and the Spirit upon you; that’s the fulfilment of God’s promise.

II. The Spirit Takes the Lead[1]

So the Word and the Spirit go together. But I want to circle back to that great moment in the house of Cornelius and point out something else. What we see in this great moment is the Holy Spirit taking the lead to help the church catch up with what’s already in the Word. There’s a kind of a gap between what God has told his people, and how ready they are to receive it and live into it. And this story shows us the Spirit bridging that gap.

You probably remember this from when we did our reading service and went through the whole book of Acts in one gulp: this whole middle section is a long, slow turning of the gospel message outward from its original setting in Judaea (right around Jerusalem), to the broader Gentile world. It is a very, very, very important turning point, and the scene we’ve just looked at is the pivot inside the pivot: what’s so dramatic about Peter’s sermon in Acts 10 is that these are Gentiles hearing the word and receiving the Spirit!

Question: Did the apostles know that the good news should spread from Jews to Gentiles? Answer: Yes. Jesus dropped numerous hints about this throughout the Gospel of Luke, but just to skip over those and take the most direct and explicit statement, remember that in Luke 24 he told two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”  Luke 24:46-47. So there it is. What part of “Go” don’t you understand? And of course the little verse that sort of outlines Acts for us is in chapter 1 verse 8, where Jesus says “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” So the word is clear. But the implications are counterintuitive; they don’t come natural. And the early church needs help getting across that gap.

This is why the Holy Spirit steps in and starts making things happen. You might remember the Carrie Underwood song “Jesus Take the Wheel.” Well this section of Acts is sort of “Spirit Takes the Lead,” because there is a tight corner coming up, and the Holy Spirit takes a very hands-on approach to making sure the church turns that corner.

Let’s look at the details; they’re important and also fun. But let me give you two things to watch for in these details, two things about the character of God as he bridges this gap: He is tender with his people, and he is sovereign in his authority. We’ll see the tenderness in the special care he constantly shows toward the weaknesses of Peter and the uncertainty of the leaders in Jerusalem. It’s as if he slows down and matches their pace until they can catch up; he speaks their language; he just hands out encouragement. “Fear not, little flock.” And second, he is sovereign: he intends to get the gospel to all people, that is what will happen. “This is the way; walk in it.”

Peter is led to take three steps. Briefly, they go with the names Aeneas, Tabitha, and Cornelius. Let’s look at Aeneas. Acts 9:32:

32 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

This is an easy step; it just gets Peter out of Jerusalem and on mission to the coastal plain by the sea; Lydda and Joppa were towns with plenty of Jewish believers (that’s who he’s ministering to), but also lots of Gentile traffic. So it’s just a little nudge out of his comfort zone as Peter goes out to serve. And he heals a guy who we don’t know much about except for his ailment and his name: Aeneas. Now this might be subtle to us, but back in the first century, the name Aeneas was super duper Roman. It’s the name of the legendary founder of Rome from all the ancient stories, and the name of the main character of Virgil’s Aeneid. So a lot of the commentaries point out that to the original reader, healing Aeneas is kind of a wink that we’re getting into the territory of pagan Rome, that is, gentile circles. It would be like saying Peter went and healed “Uncle Sam,” that would make us think American thoughts, even if Sam your uncle wasn’t American. “Uncle Sam, Jesus Christ heals you, arise.”

A second step: Meet Tabitha:

36 Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37 In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics[e] and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

I wish we had more time to study Tabitha in her own right. She is one of these Christians with the gift of practical generosity who is just a fountain of good works. I mean, the widows line the streets waving clothes she made them; come on! She specializes in these quiet, humble, time-consuming works of service that are easy to overlook, and does them so well that they are transfigured into something she actually becomes famous for! Just… just be like Tabitha. Tabitha makes me think of the church’s meal train system: have you been part of this? Somebody has a special need and some Tabitha kind of woman in the church starts a meal train, and food flows freely. It’s amazing. Anyway, we have to rush past this sister in Christ to show how God was preparing Peter here: Tabitha’s so beloved that the request is urgent, and the urgency gets Peter from Lydda to Joppa, where (as we learn a bit later) he stays with a tanner. Now a tanner deals with dead animals, and lives right by the sea, and so while nobody makes a big deal out of it, Peter is sort of accepting edgier and edgier situations. I mean, everybody’s still Jewish, but they’ve got funny names. And it’s possible to be a tanner, or live with a tanner without totally forfeiting ritual purity, but it’s hard, and really strict interpreters of the law might look down on you. These are baby steps. Peter hasn’t crossed any bright lines yet. But God is leading him to something. And that something is the encounter in the house of Cornelius. Suddenly the story jumps from Peter to Cornelius:

10 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

A Gentile, but one who understands Jewish faith and has attached himself to it somehow: he “feared God” and lived righteously and generously. God gives him a vision:

3 About the ninth hour of the day[a] he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Now we’ll come back to Cornelius in a bit; the story is about to switch back to Peter. But just think of what we’ve learned here about the Holy Spirit’s tenderness and sovereignty. Peter doesn’t know about this yet, but we do: Peter is going to be called to go meet somebody named Cornelius, and meanwhile God has been directly preparing Cornelius for the meeting. Do you see that? God has prepared Cornelius, guided him morally, preserved him from corruption, drawn him to be interested in the God of the Jews, and then on top of all of that God gives him a vision with direct, specific angelic instructions.

Think of it: Peter has no idea. He’s about to be sent to Cornelius, and for all he knows it’s going to be a cold call. But in fact, God is hard at work on the other side of the relationship, preparing Cornelius step by step to hear exactly what Peter is going to say.

Can I stop here to make one application point? When you have a chance to tell somebody about Jesus and salvation, you should take it… and God may already be at work on the other end of that conversation. He may have been putting meticulous preparation into the life of the person you’re about to talk to, crafting a situation that you are about to walk into from your side, without knowing the whole story. You don’t need to know: it’s not mainly your story. Be alert, be prepared, be sensitive, but don’t be tricked into thinking it’s all on you. God may well be already cooking up something and you’re just one of the ingredients.

Okay, speaking of ingredients, here comes a fun part about food. Cut back to Peter:

9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour[b] to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Now Peter is about to encounter Gentiles, and one of the things on his mind will be the purity laws around food, and especially meat: which meat is kosher, which meat is ritually forbidden, and so on. And God is giving him a vision about food to prepare him to understand. But the vision isn’t directly food, is it? It’s not a cornucopia of bacon bits and shrimp cocktail and chicken nuggets; it’s animals. All kinds of animals, all jumbled together in a tarp, and the primal command is to kill and eat because God has declared them clean. I think it matters that the great sheet is not full of prepped food, but of a whole zoo of animals. After all, the lesson Peter is supposed to learn has more to do with accepting people than it does with food as such. So a basket of animals is a good in-between, or a nudge to get him thinking about what living things are connected to food laws. Again, baby steps. But pretty spectacular ones in this case: a trance, a vision, a voice from heaven, repeated times three.

So you can see God moving around behind the scenes here, orchestrating things that not everybody can see, but always operating to get the right people to the right place at the right time for the big moment. The Holy Spirit is maneuvering Cornelius from one side and Peter from the other, and they are on a collision course.

And then it comes together: At that exact moment the messengers from Cornelius show up and start shouting for Peter. He is sitting there scratching his head wondering what the animal net thing meant exactly, when the other team shows up.

Skip ahead to when Peter arrives at Cornelius’ house, Peter says something that’s a little standoffish:

28 “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

Quick question: is it in fact unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation? Peter appeals to it as common knowledge; if Cornelius has studied the customs of the Jews, he must know this. But in fact the answer is no, it is not actually unlawful “for a jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation.” That very strict extrapolation from purity laws was imposed by custom, by the strictest interpreters of the law, to create a wider and wider zone of playing it safe. We can’t tell for sure how much Peter has figured out yet, but he makes a contrast here: You’ve heard it said that Jews can’t associate with anyone of another nation, but “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” So Peter may not be steady on his feet yet, but he puts his foot down on what he’s coming to understand.

That’s good enough for Cornelius, who is also operating on divine orders. He says, “Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

ALL OF THIS is going on as background and setup. The Word was already clear, but now the Spirit has taken the lead. Visions, trances, divine coincidences, definite guidance, Bible interpretation, and so on. But all toward the goal of getting God’s people into full alignment with his word. It takes the Spirit of God bringing us into alignment with the Word of God to get the people of God on the mission of God.

You might almost imagine the Holy Spirit wiping his brow and saying, “Whew, that was a lot of work!” But that’s not how he talks. There are a lot of moving parts, but God got it done. In fact, God gets the real work done here and then Peter spends a few dozen verses just doing the paperwork: filing a report, getting signatures, sending memos to make sure the whole team is up to speed. It’s a little more exciting than that, but it really is as if Peter’s there to do some tidying up and being responsible after God did the work.

But the big moment happens right here. Let’s run that tape again, and you can hear what Peter has learned:

It begins: “34… Truly I understand [NOW I get it] that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Skip forward to verse 42, the same universal note is sounded:

42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

And suddenly in the house of Cornelius, there were a thousand tongues to sing our great redeemer’s praise; the glories of our God and king, the Gentile triumphs of his grace. The Holy Spirit bridged the gap and brought the word home.

III. God’s Big Unchanging Plan

Now the church was lagging behind the word up until now, lagging so much that the conversion of Cornelius’ household and the inclusion of Gentiles came as a shocking surprise to them.  But remember God had not changed his plan, and the inclusion of the Gentiles should not have been a surprise.  though. When the Spirit takes the wheel here, it’s not to switch to another track, but to get back on the one track.

Here’s how we know it came as a surprise: Chapter 11:

11 Now the apostles and the brothers[a] 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[b] criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [He repeats a lot of the story, then concludes]

15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 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.”

It’s a good argument, and at least for now the leaders in Jerusalem are satisfied. We can assume there was also quite a bit of Bible study going on as they followed up on this. When these guys figured out that they’d been reading things wrong, you know they must have gone back and re-read some things. And when they did, we know what they must have found. A little Bible drill here real quick, because we don’t want to believe something just because Peter had a private vision. I believe God showed Peter that vision, but I also believe it needs to line up with the word of God that preceded it, and that we need an intelligent understanding of how it does so. Let me give you three examples, and then I’ll wave my hands at the rest.

First of all, Peter began his own speech with the statement (10:34) “Truly I understand [NOW I get it] that God shows no partiality…” That statement about God’s non-discrimination policy in salvation is from Deut 10:17.[2] “17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.”

Second, Peter doesn’t give us a lot more biblical argument, but waiting in the wings is Paul, and he gives us plenty. A couple chapters later in Acts, in chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas face Jewish opposition, and they say:

“It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, [Isaiah 49:6]“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”  48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

There it is: Isaiah 49:6 in Acts 13:47.

Third, Acts 15, James is going to review and consider this whole Cornelius incident and test it by Scripture. Listen to what he says, Acts 15:13:

13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins,     and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant[b] of mankind may seek the Lord,     and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,     says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’ 19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God…” 

That’s Amos 9:11-12 in Acts 15:16-19.

Okay, those are my three proofs that the Apostles came to understand that God had always had in mind the inclusion of the Gentiles, and that God had said so in the Old Testament. I’m sure the Apostles sat around with open Bibles saying, “Man, I should have seen this! How did I miss this, it’s right here!” And as the lights came, Peter was probably saying, “Oh, remember when I said Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel 2, the Spirit being poured out on all flesh? Mannnn, I ddidn’t know that mean like, “all flesh.” But then I saw that giant sack of animals and I got to thinking … maybe Gentiles. What a dummy! I got a rock for a head. And then James jumped in with “Oh right, and way back in Genesis it says that in Abraham “al the families of the earth will be blessed,” but I didn’t know it meant, like, ALL the families.

And then all together they probably said in unison, “Mannn, remember when Jesus said we would be his witnesses and spread the word of forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ to all the Gentiles” I guess he really really meant, like, ALL the Gentiles. (Luke 24:46-47)

And of course there’s the progress that Jesus sketched out for them in Acts 1:8, where he said “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” It seems so clear that this little expanding map (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, end of the earth) is so much more than a plot outline for the book of Acts. It’s the fulfilment of God’s comprehensive, unchanging plan for all the nations of the world. It seems obvious to us that the mission gets bigger and bigger, spreading and spreading, bringing in more and more people from more and more nations. And it seems obvious to us now that that expansion necessarily involves the inclusion of Gentiles, all kinds of Gentiles, mostly Gentiles, until the church was one unified body of Christ that was numerically speaking mainly non-Jewish. That seems obvious to us now partly because well, here we are. But it also seems obvious because in Acts chapter 10, the Holy Spirit took the lead, stepped in, and brought Peter to the house of Cornelius. Otherwise, what would have happened? Have you ever stopped to think, if there were no inclusion of the Gentiles, what did this group of Jewish early Christians have thought Acts 1:8 even meant? Well, it would have meant a big, exciting start in Jerusalem (Acts 2), followed by some missions to Judea and Samaria to bring all the Jews there to faith in Christ, and then, and that would be about ninety per cent of the story. Without Gentile inclusion, “the end of the earth” would just mean the scattered remnants of a few Jewish people who happened to live elsewhere; not an especially significant number, but nice to have it all tidied up. The church’s greatest days would have been long since behind them: several thousand in one day in Jerusalem, quite exciting, never saw anything like that again.

Think what nearly happened here! Without even knowing it, Peter and the Jerusalem party were on their way to totally inverting God’s plan, trimming it from the great expansion down to a dwindling, one-ethnicity club and ignoring the Bible’s witness from Genesis on down to the full purposes of God. And there’s an even greater cost: not just the purposes of God, but the very character of God was at stake. To misunderstand God’s plan at this point would have been to portray God as one who in fact does show favoritism, whose plan is narrow because his character is narrow and confined to partiality. May it never be! A disaster! Unthinkable. But for a few moments here in Acts 10 and 11, we see it almost happen: without even being aware of it, the progress of the Gospel was momentarily balanced on a knife’s edge. The church’s leaders were lagging behind what the Word says, living in the gap between all that God has actually said and the little that they understand. But the Holy Spirit bridged the gap and caught them up. The Word had gone out; the Spirit came down. Sinners were forgiven; lives were saved; the world was changed.

Now I know what you’re thinking: Thanks for explaining the unchanging will of God and his cosmic plan for gentile inclusion based on his steadfast and impartial character and the clear revelation throughout the entirety of scripture. But what’s that got to do with me?

Well, I’ve got three brief points.

Point 1 is gratitude: I and most of my listeners are mostly Gentile. So this story, with all its tenderness and sovereignty, is our story. It’s the details of how God so loved the Gentile world too, that he gave his Son and got the word of peace to us, so that also among us as gentiles, whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. I’m saying that in English in California to a big mixed gathering of all kinds of people because of how the Spirit led the church into the fullness of the gospel. This is your origin story.

Point 2 is world mission. We may not all be actively involved in cross-cultural evangelism, but collectively as a church, we are a mission-focused church. As Kenny pointed out in the sermon prep email this week, “Over the last 25 years, God has led us into partnering relationships with over 25 households of gospel ministers and missionaries who serve around the world from our own backyard to some of the remotest places, to bring this good news to those who have yet to hear it. In Japan, Thailand, North Africa, Central Africa, China, and the Netherlands. In mountain villages in the Caucuses and the Andes and the Himalayas, and to majority Muslim nations in the Middle East.” Why? Acts 10. It explains us, and keeps us solidly anchored to God’s priorities.

Point 3 is to pray for God to open our eyes and deliver us from blind spots. We need the Holy Spirit’s help to shine on the Word of God and show us its depth, its expanse, its fullness. The scary thing about blind spots is that you don’t know you’ve got them. The problem with not paying attention to something is that you don’t know you’re not paying attention to it because you’re not paying attention to it. Who can deliver us from partiality and from repeating the words but missing the point? You know the answer: God can deliver us, when the word goes out, and the Spirit comes down.

Pray with me:

God, catch us up with your will. By your Holy Spirit, guide us gently and sovereignly to see all the truth in your holy word and to be faithful to what we see. May your name be glorified among all peoples. May we sing your praises with the tongues of every tribe and nation, all together, as one great company of the redeemed.

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[1] Joseph B. Tyson, “The Gentile Mission and the Authority of Scripture in Acts,” NTS 33 (1987), 619-631, argues that the Cornelius story bases Gentile mission on miraculous intervention rather than on scriptural warrant. Elsewhere, Acts appeals to OT texts to justify Gentile mission. So part of what I’m doing here is harmonizing the overall witness of Acts (appealing to OT passages) with the unique Cornelius story.

[2] and shows up ethically in Eph 6:9, Col 3:25, James 2:1