The Call To Courage

“My children, we should love people not only with words and talk,

but by our actions and true caring.”

1 John 3:18 (NCV)

The Church is meant to be the expression of God’s love witnessed through our demonstration of purity in thought, actions, and lifestyle. We cloud our witness when people see us live in ways that are antithetical to the gospel we proclaim. If we are to be effective witnesses for the kingdom, we must live out God’s design for the unity of the Church. Our witness will determine how the word sees Jesus.

Peter’s story can assist us in capturing Scripture’s vision of the church as a community that transcends barriers. In the book of Acts, the kingdom was initially made up of Jews who were believers in Jesus. When the first Gentiles came to faith in Chapter 10, led by Cornelius, it created quite a stir amongst the Jews. Fellow Theologians note, Jews were skeptical because they thought faith was a “God given right”, only for them. The prevailing Jewish thought was that God showed partiality towards the Jews and against the Gentiles. In essence, many thought that God loved the Jews and hated the Gentiles.

Cultural beliefs were so divisive that a basic part of the Jewish religion in the days of the New Testament was an oath that promised that one would never help a Gentile under any circumstance. Jewish daily prayers begin by thanking God that they were not a Gentile. If a Jew married a Gentile, the Jewish community would have a funeral and consider that Jew dead. Gentiles were seen as “unclean”. It was thought that even entering the house of a Gentile made a Jew unclean before God. Now that’s some serious hate! Perhaps out of comfort, fear or blindness; some Christians today have capitulated to similar ways of thinking.

Cornelius was a good person, yet he still needed someone to explain the gospel to him. He needed to understand that the only way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. Not through good deeds, being a good person or even because he prayed to God. God sent Peter to share the Good News with Cornelius, but first God prepared Peter for service. God revealed to him, in multiple dreams, the need to reach those believed to be ”unclean”. The cleansing of impure foods in his dream was related to the cleansing of the Gentiles. Peter came to understand that he should never think of anyone as impure because the foundation for unity of the Church was in traditional distinctions being dissolved. Ethnicity was no longer of any consequence. Peter answered the call to see the presence of God in a culture not his own.

In our next addition of The Journey, we will unpack Peter’s decision and learn the affect it had on the lives of others.