SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2018
10:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Groundwork
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 11:1-18
Message of the
verses: “1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were
throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2
And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with
him, 3 saying, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them." 4 But
Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence,
saying, 5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a
vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from
the sky; and it came right down to me, 6
and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the
four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures
and the birds of the air. 7 “I also heard a voice saying to me, ’Get up, Peter;
kill and eat.’ 8 “But I said, ’By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean
has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 “But a voice from heaven answered a second time,
’What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ 10 “This happened three
times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. 11 “And behold, at that
moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been
sent to me from Caesarea. 12 “The Spirit told me to go with them without
misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s
house. 13 "And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his
house, and saying, ’Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter,
brought here; 14 and he will speak words
to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 "And as
I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the
beginning. 16 “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ’John
baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 “Therefore
if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?" 18 When
they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then,
God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.’”
It looks to me like the news traveled very fast from
Caesarea to Jerusalem as to what happened to Peter, and of course not all of
what happened was reported by these people, and so Peter takes the time to
report exactly what had happened in the case of the first Gentiles coming to
know the Lord as their Savior and Lord.
The problem with the Jewish people who were believers
when it came to what should happen to a Gentile who became a believer was that
they thought that they first had to become a proselyte, that is become Jewish
and then become a Christian afterwards.
However this is not the case as a Gentile could receive Christ in the
same way that all of the Jewish believers received Him, and that is by grace
through faith.
Peter did not want to get into a heated debate with these
believers and so he simply recounted exactly what had happened from his vision,
to the vision of Cornelius and also mentioned those who accompanied him when
they went to Caesarea. He concludes his
defense with verse 17 “17 “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He
gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I
could stand in God’s way?’”
I have to admit that one thing that I am not sure of,
which is new to me as I studied this passage is the kinds of animals that Peter
was told to kill and eat. Perhaps the
animals that he saw were both clean and unclean according to the Jewish Law,
and if that is the case then it makes sense to me as both Jews and Gentiles can
receive Christ as Savior.
After Peter’s accusers heard this account they calmed
down, especially after learning that the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentile
believers in the same way as the Jewish believers at the beginning. Not only did they calm down but were
rejoicing that the Lord had saved Gentiles too.
John MacArthur concludes “This was the beginning of the
divine effort to lay the groundwork for the first Gentile church. At least seven years elapsed from Pentecost
until the founding of that church at Antioch.
There were several reasons for that delay. First, apostolic authority had to be
established. It took time for the
believers to become grounded in the apostles’ teaching (cf. Acts 2:42) and for
the development of leaders. During those
seven years, the apostles laid the doctrinal foundation for the church. Second, individual believers needed to be
brought to a sufficient level of maturity before they could be sent out. Immature believers would not make effective
missionaries. Third, it took time to
tear down the long-established walls of prejudice. That was startling to be achieved (cf. Ga.
2A:11-14), so the time was right to give birth to the church in a Gentile land
and to move to the last phrase of our Lord’s plan for evangelism—‘to the remotest
part of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Patience is
something that was needed as far as all of this process to take place, and
patience is one of the most difficult things to have, that is why the statement
“Patience is a virtue.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to cause me to trust His
timing for what He is doing in my life, and not be in a big hurry.
Memory verse: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, for
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Cast not your pearls before
swine” (Matthew 7:6).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Am I not better to
thee than ten sons’?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/26/2018 11:26 AM
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