The Spreading Flame
- Mark Lauterbach
- Apr 5, 2008
- Series: Home page
God gave us the Book of Acts to humble us and to exalt His Son. It is the record of the continuing work of Christ to build his church. He is in the lead. We follow. There are no strategic planning sessions mapping the path. The Lord directs. Of course, there is wisdom, but Christ leads his people.
Nowhere is that more obvious than the story of Cornelius and the expansion of the Gospel to the world of the Gentiles. While the earliest believers were convinced of the finished work of Christ, it had not dawned on them that this meant the Gentiles could come to Christ by the singular condition of faith. In Acts 9-11 the Savior gently leads and teaches them so that the Gospel may be unleashed to the vast world of non-Jews.
First, at the end of Acts 9 Jesus positions Peter near to Caesarea. It is clear that God is at work powerfully in Peter as he ventures from Jerusalem to the coast, healing the lame and raising the dead.
Second, God has already been at work in Cornelius. The Spirit of God has awakened his heart. Now an angel tells him to send for Peter in Joppa to come and speak the truth to him.
Third, as the messengers head to Joppa, God gives Peter a three-fold vision. He is presented with unclean meat still on the hoof, and a command to eat. Peter refuses, only to be told that he is not to call unclean what God has called clean. He is perplexed by this. Is he supposed to go have a BLT for lunch?
Fourth, the vision is applied. Just as there is a knock on the door by the messengers of Cornelius, Peter is told they are there, and he is to go with them without asking questions, or making evaluations.
Fifth, he arrives in Caesarea to find a whole house full of anxious listeners. He speaks to them about Jesus. He asks them to do nothing. He tells then what God has done through the life, death, and resurrection of the Christ. He proclaims that Jesus is now Lord of all, Judge of all the living and the dead. He offers them forgiveness from the Judge.
Sixth, God interrupts Peter. Before Peter can get on to the bit about circumcision for the Gentile and keeping the law of Moses, God regenerates the hearers and gives the Spirit to them in a visible manner. Pentecost repeats, but now with uncircumcised gentiles. The mark of God’s favor and full acceptance rests upon these new believers. The Gospel of the free grace of God based on the finished work of Christ requires nothing of any convert but faith.
This story is all about the activity of Christ to advance the Gospel. Yes, Peter responds, welcomes the messengers into his home overnight, goes to Caesarea and to Cornelius the next day, enters the home of an unclean man, proclaims Christ, and then sees the work of God and concludes that baptism must occur. Peter welcomes him into the body of Christ as a full equal.
Yes, Peter has his part, but it is the Lord of the church, leading his people, who is the main actor in this story. And so we believe that our calling is to trust the Lord of the church to go before us, to prepare us for new Gospel advance, to open doors of ministry to us. And as we trust him, we trust the power of the Gospel to bear fruit.
At Grace Church in San Diego, we want to experience the continuing work of Christ as he leads the church to new Gospel advances.