EPISODE 55 ACTS Chapter 10 "Keys To The Kingdom"

Welcome to Share the Word. We've reached chapter 10 of Acts that's entitled Keys to the Kingdom. In chapter 10, we see those who are utilized to spread the gospel and the unique meetings and purposes that take place. So, let's see who the spotlight shines on in this chapter. Paul. Acts chapter 10, Keys to the Kingdom.

Welcome back to our journey through the book of Acts, the history of earliest Christianity. I ran out of time last time to talk about this during the lesson on chapter 9, but I wanted to make a point about the key people who God used in Saul's life just after his conversion. It interests me to realize that man Ananias, who appears in the Bible only briefly here in Acts chapter 9, was used by the Lord in such a pivotal way in Saul's life at a critical time. Why? Because he was in the right place, and he was a person ready to respond when the Lord prompted him to. He may have been at first hesitant when the Lord asked him to meet a man with Saul's reputation, but he went.

Because he did, this otherwise unknown man of God had the privilege to hear the story about Saul's astonishing Damascus Road conversion. At that very vulnerable time, he was then used to encourage Saul by accepting him as a brother in Christ and see God lift his blindness. He also had the privilege of baptizing Saul and then introducing him to the other followers of Jesus in Damascus. Most of us who are Christians have had a couple key people early in our spiritual life as well. By the way, have you thanked them lately? And shouldn't this challenge every one of us to be sensitive to the Lord's promptings, that is, when you sense in your heart You should message that person.

You should go see that person. You should reach out to that person. Do you ever sense that's the Holy Spirit of God urging you that way? Ananias represents any of us who is available and courageous enough to respond to God's promptings and who knows in whose life we may be used. Similar things could be said about Barnabas. When Saul first returned to Jerusalem and those leaders there were understandably wary of meeting with him, it was Barnabas who bridged that gap.

Barnabas, by the way, was a nickname and the name we have come to know him by. The name means actually encourager or son of encouragement. His real name was Joseph. We don't know him by that name because the Christians called him Barnabas, the son of encouragement, and it was given to him for obvious reasons. The first time we met this man in chapter four, he had sold valuable property, remember, and shared all the proceeds to take care of the needs of others in the early church of Jerusalem that were in need. Then the next time he's mentioned in chapter nine, we find him connecting this one-time persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus, to the leading apostles in Jerusalem and vouching for him.

What if Barnabas hadn't been there or hadn't been willing to get involved and take that risk? As the story continues to unfold, we'll see Barnabas again continue to be a key mentor who encourages and enables Saul of Tarsus to become the greatest missionary and church planter the world has ever seen. So remember, while we like to shine the big spotlight on the great men and women of God over the centuries who have changed their world, there are always people far less noticed whom God has placed in positions around their lives to encourage and enable them, especially early on. It's the courage, obedience, and availability of people like Ananias and Barnabas that made an apostle Paul possible. We're not all able to be great leaders, but we can all be available to God. We can all be encouragers.

We can all respond to His promptings in our lives and play a positive role in the lives of others around us. Early on, during that visit to Jerusalem, which Luke mentions at the end of chapter 9, Saul was also able to spend time with Peter, one of Jesus' original disciples, and a leader among them. And also, he said, with James, Jesus' half-brother. We learn this not from Acts, but again from Paul's own writings later. He wrote in Galatians chapter 1 at verse 18, Then after three years, referring to those three years we just talked about in Arabia, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas, that's Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles there except James, the Lord's brother.

Cephas was a nickname Jesus had given to Peter. So what do you imagine Saul, the famous apostle Peter, and Jesus' half-brother James talked about during that visit? Just ask yourself, if I had a two-week vacation to Jerusalem with Peter and James in the first century as my guides, what would I do during that time? I can imagine those couple weeks were spent trying to satisfy the eager Saul, who'd want to hear everything those two could remember about the years they had spent with Jesus Christ. Saul would have wanted to know everything Jesus said, everything Jesus did, what he was really like, and any and everything those guys could remember. I'm sure he had a million questions.

I imagine they took a few field trips too. Don't you imagine Peter and James showed him some of the places that were important in the events that shaped their faith? Don't you think they would have taken Saul to the empty tomb? Don't you think they would have hiked together up the Mount of Olives and spent time praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, or breaking bread in the upper room, or maybe even taken a time of worship on Calvary itself? Imagine that. Those couple weeks with those two special people who knew Jesus closely was no doubt a key foundational experience for Saul.

Now as chapter 10 opens, Saul was returned back to his native Tarsus for his own safety, in the spotlight for a while returns to the apostle Peter. This is the same Simon Peter we know from the Gospels we've already studied. He was one of the fishermen from Galilee who had become a leader among Jesus' disciples, often their spokesman. The original disciples, now called apostles, and by the way, that's because disciples means learners and followers, which they'd been for three years with Jesus, while now apostles means sent ones. When we get to Acts, the Great Commission has now been entrusted to these men. Now they are the sent ones, the apostles.

But apparently they were pretty tentative at first about taking the gospel beyond Judea. Some time earlier, remember, Peter had gone with John to Samaria, a adjacent district, when Philip was evangelizing there, and he saw the Holy Spirit fill the new believers who Philip had won to Christ there. Now when chapter 10 opens, we find him still in Joppa, a coastal town northwest of Jerusalem. He was staying at the house of a man named Simon, who was a tanner, a leather maker. Up the coast north of Joppa, about 30 miles further, was the Roman provincial capital, the city of Caesarea. A Roman officer who was stationed there by the name of Cornelius now drops into our story.

He was a centurion, we're told, an officer over a hundred Roman soldiers. Cornelius was also, spiritually, what we would call a seeker. In Acts, these kinds of people are often referred to as God-fearers. That means Cornelius, a Roman who was stationed in Israel as a peacekeeper, was not a full-fledged proselyte to Judaism, but he did believe in God, admired the ethical, moral tenets of the Jewish faith, and tried to live in light of them. One afternoon, as Cornelius was praying, he had a vision of an angel from God. The angel told him that God heard his prayers and saw his acts of devotion.

Then he gave Cornelius an instruction: Send to Joppa, he said, and bring back a man who is called Peter. He's staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea. Cornelius, believing that this was a message from God, told a couple of his trusted servants about it and then sent them with a military aide on the mission to locate this Peter. About noon the following day, as those men were en route to Joppa, Peter was up on the flat roof of Simon Tanner's house. While he was waiting for lunch, he had a vision of his own. He saw what appeared to be a giant sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners.

As it lowered and lowered and lowered until it finally came into view, what Simon Peter saw was that it contained all kinds of four-footed animals and also birds and even reptiles. Sounds like some crazy dreams I've had. But in Peter's vision, a voice with authority commanded him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. Looking at this odd variety of animals in the sheet. Peter realized many of them were unclean to Jews, not considered fit to eat. Jewish dietary laws held that many kinds of animals were taboo and should never be part of their diet.

And so he protested, No, I can't do that. I would never eat anything unclean. I think Peter must have recognized the voice because he called him here Lord. It was the voice of Jesus. And the Lord Jesus spoke to him again and said, Never call anything unclean that God has made clean. That same bizarre scene played out three times, and each time Peter protested and said, Lord, I don't want to eat these things.

And God would say, Do not call anything unclean that I have made clean. Almost like the three times Jesus had asked Peter, Do you really love me? by the lake. Remember that? Then suddenly, the sheet was pulled up into heaven again, and Peter was wondering what in the world to make of all this. While he was thinking on it, those messengers from Cornelius had actually arrived at Simon the Tanner's house asking for him.

Someone called or climbed up the stairs to the roof and said, Peter, a soldier and a couple guys are at the gate asking for you. Yikes, that's not what someone in Israel ever wanted to hear. The Roman occupying forces were like military police. They didn't normally pay casual, friendly visits to people. So Peter, I'm sure, was concerned about why they were there for him. But God prompted him to not be afraid because they were there for a good purpose.

When he came down and met these men, they explained about Cornelius' vision, and you can imagine this captured Peter's attention. It was getting late in the day, and so these men were invited to stay for the night. I'd be willing to bet that night, as he considered all this and considered whether he should go meet this Roman, Cornelius. Peter remembered another Roman centurion, one who was stationed in Galilee during the days back when he was following Jesus as a disciple. That soldier had also been a man of faith and had come to their village of Capernaum after hearing of Jesus' reputation as a healer. He begged Jesus to heal his seriously ill son.

Remember that account? It's in Luke chapter 7. Jesus asked that man, Would you like me to come and heal your son? And the centurion answered him, I'm a man of authority, just like you. When I tell one of my soldiers, 'Go here, do that,' they obey me. You don't need to come to my house.

All you need to do is speak the word, and I believe my child will be healed. Jesus was so impressed. Peter remembered he turned to him and to the other disciples and said, Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. But then he added, I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. Hmm. Interesting and relevant.

The next day, Peter and six other Christians from Joppa accompanied these men back to Caesarea to the Roman centurion Cornelius's home. When Peter and the others arrived there, he was welcomed by Cornelius, and he found out the man had gathered a number of his friends and relatives together. As Peter entered, he said, You know, it's against our law for Jews to associate with or actually even enter the home of Gentiles. But God has told me not to call anything unclean, recalling his rooftop vision. So why have you called me here? Then Cornelius recounted for him that he believed it was an angelic messenger who instructed him to send for Peter, even telling him where he could be found.

And he said, So, we're all here gathered in the presence of God to listen to anything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. Wow! Has any preacher ever had a better opportunity? Cornelius and those friends and relatives gathered there were eager for Peter to share with them the gospel message. Acts chapter 10, verses 34 through 43, are an excellent example of what theologians call the kerygma, a summary or outline of how early Christian preachers and missionaries presented the gospel. Peter began by saying, I most certainly know now that God is not one to show favoritism.

That word translated favoritism comes from a Hebrew idiom that means to lift up one's face. The idea behind it was that when people came before a ruler for an audience or for a judgment in ancient times, they were usually bowed low or even prostrate on the ground, demonstrating their submission. A ruler who would show favoritism might have them lift up their face before deciding whether to give them an audience or to pronounce a judgment, to show them favor. Someone he recognized, he might say, Hey, you're okay. I don't need to hear your case. Someone he found attractive, he might let go.

So what Peter is saying is he now realized that the ultimate judge of the universe is not at all like that. God does not play favorites. He realized this had to be what the crazy vision about the sheet full of animals was all about, what Jesus meant when he told him not to call anything unclean that he called clean. It was about the fact that God was going to make no distinctions going forward between Jews and Gentiles when it came to the offer of salvation. He was not going to show favoritism any longer. So Peter shared the good news of the gospel with this assemblage.

By the time he got to the part about the significance of the cross and the necessity of our believing into what Christ did for us there, his audience had already totally bought in. Luke says, As Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on those who were listening to him. The way Peter knew that was that some of the signs demonstrating the Spirit's arrival at Pentecost were also displayed in Cornelius' courtyard that day. Luke notes that the Jewish Christians who accompanied Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit was being poured out on Gentiles. I don't think Peter was quite as amazed. He had long had the same prejudices as other Jews in his day, but this had to be what Jesus was showing him by the vision he'd seen three times on Simon's rooftop.

He said, I see no reason why these people ought not be baptized. And they were. In the final verses in this chapter, Luke tells us that Peter stayed on there at Cornelius' place at his friends and family's request for a couple days. I would have liked to have been privy to those discussions and felt that vibe, because what we take for granted now, we can't possibly overstate the significance of then. This was the very beginning of a paradigm shift with huge implications. A very high and strong wall between Jew and Gentile has now cracked and soon will come crashing down.

What was seen as an impossibility for 2,000 years prior throughout the history of God's people dating back to the time of Moses began occurring during those days at Cornelius' home. Jews and Gentiles, now fellow followers of Jesus Christ and therefore spiritual brothers and sisters, were fellowshipping together as equals. The prophecy of Jesus about the many who will come from the east and the west and so on to join Abraham and the patriarchs in the kingdom, that's begun to be fulfilled. This recognition and inclusion of Gentiles as part of the family of God was a monumental step forward for the early church, and with it, the stage is now set for what is coming. That is, the gospel going out to the great cities of the empire and the exponential expansion of Christianity among the Gentiles.

Before I finish today, I want to share one more thing that may be a little conjectural, but hey, I want to give you my best understanding of the New Testament after years of studying it, so here we go. We haven't gotten to the Gospel of Matthew yet, but when we do, we'll hear a lot more about this man Peter. Have you noticed in the Book of Acts that it seems that every time a new group of people are introduced to the gospel message, Peter seems to be there, maybe even needs to be there? On Pentecost, just weeks after the resurrection, when the Holy Spirit came on the apostles in the upper room, they, empowered by Him, emptied onto the streets of Jerusalem near the temple and began boldly testifying.

When a large crowd had gathered, it was Peter who preached the sermon, a gospel message, and issued the first gospel invitation, and at that point, to an all Jewish audience who were in Jerusalem. About 3,000 people accepted Christ that day and were baptized, remember? And then next, when Philip preached in Samaria, that adjacent community of mixed-race people that the Jews considered unclean. Many of them received Jesus as their Savior. But remember, he called for Peter and John, and they came up to see what was happening. And it wasn't until Peter and John were there that the Samaritan believers received the Holy Spirit, according to Acts chapter 8.

And so were joined to the expanding body of Christ we call the church. Interesting. Now once again, in today's chapter, God has gone to special lengths to be sure that when the Romans, Gentiles, at Cornelius's house heard and responded in faith to the gospel message, once again it was Peter who was there to witness the signs that proved God included them in the body of Christ. Peter was there to witness that, even to facilitate that. God made sure that Peter was there. Why?

Well, I think it likely has to do with a promise that Jesus made years before during his earthly ministry when he was talking to his disciples one day about what would come in the future. It's recorded for us in Matthew chapter 16. In that serious conversation, Jesus told his disciples about his coming death and also, for the first time, foretold something new God was going to do after that time, which was build his church. Then he turned to Peter and said, And I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What an interesting thing to say. We will get into Matthew's Gospel chapter by chapter at a later date.

But I only mention this now because I believe this may well be what we're seeing play out with Peter time and again here early in the chapters of Acts. So, question for you: what exactly are keys for? It's not a trick question. I think just heard one of our smarter listeners say, They open things. Bingo! So isn't it possible, maybe even likely, that Jesus meant he would give to Peter the great privilege of opening the doors to the gospel to different people, as the Great Commission put it, first in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria, and then to the people of the rest of the world.

That is, first to Jews, then to Samaritans, and then to Gentiles. I think so. That's interesting, isn't it? We'll talk about that passage in Matthew's Gospel more later, but undeniably, we see Peter here unlocking these doors as the power of the gospel begins radiating out from Jerusalem, expanding to the people of the rest of the world for which it was and is intended. Because remember, God loves the whole world, and the gospel message is for all of us. This is Paul.

Thanks for listening today, and please help us share the Word by passing along our podcast to your friends and family. It might be the easiest and best way to learn the content of the New Testament as we explain its biggest ideas one chapter at a time. And remember, when we do that, when we share it with others, we are actually fulfilling Jesus' Great Commission. Well, thanks, Paul. Well, there is nothing more that I can offer at this time except from all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.