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Acts 11:12-17: Walk This Way

Peter, who is not only a good synagogue-going person but also a devout follower of Jesus, has a dream. One day he dreams of all these foods he is not supposed to eat - now I am not talking about chocolate or cake or things that were bad for his diet. I am talking about things that in his day good people who followed God wouldn't touch because they were good, God-following people.

Peter has this vision: the Lord asks him three times to eat this food. Now Peter isn't daft and he, not long ago, has already been caught denying Jesus three times and so he is not going racing to any rash decisions; he shows the Lord that he is faithful to his Jewish covenant and declines the invitation three times. This is not what is wanted here though and this is not what the dream, it turns out, is even about.

This passage is not about dietary laws and what foods a good follower of Jesus will or will not eat and Peter should know this because he was there when Jesus fulfilled/abolished the dietary laws by declaring all foods clean (Mark 7:19). Peter knows this is true that he should not call anything impure that God has made. He catches on that there is something else here.

What the resurrected Jesus is talking about is something much more profound than diets. Jesus is discussing the salvation and role of Gentiles. Jews had not thought to this point that Gentiles, as they were, could be saved. They knew that salvation was possible for Gentiles; Ancient Israel always had proselytes. There were always people converting to YHWH-worship but here in Cornelius' household, we have God-fearing people who are not like the regular synagogue-goers. They are different.

Up to this point, Gentiles who converted to worship YHWH, all started to dress like Jews, pray like Jews, talk like Jews, eat like Jews and the men were even circumcised like Jews - they joined in the worship of YHWH by becoming Jews.

Now something is different. There are people who do not eat like them, do not look like them, do not act like them and who are already in a relationship with God. How can this be? They don't dress like Jews, pray like Jews, talk like Jews, eat like Jews, and the men aren't even circumcised like Jews and yet they have already received the gift of repentance through the Holy Spirit. God saved the Gentiles without the Gentiles having to become like the good synagogue/ church-going people.

My question for us today: who are these 'Gentiles' in our society that don't dress like us, pray like us, talk like us, eat like us, and otherwise act like us and do we accept them? How do we ensure that we are following God's Spirit in extending His mission to everyone as is commanded in Peter's dream?
More articles, sermons, and papers at
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www.sheepspeak.com[1] Based on the devotional by Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 10-11: Chocolate Cake.  Presented to TSA Nipawin Leadership Team and Tisdale Corps Council meetings on the week of September 2,2007. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/09/acts-10-chocolate-cake-devotional.html
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