IN DEFENSE OF GRACE
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 23, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: November 23, 2022 from Acts 11:1-18
Theme: When God extends His grace to unworthy sinners, what can we do but rejoice?
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
That may seem like a strange question … especially considering that the word ‘grace’ refers to God’s free favor toward an undeserving person—given as a gift. All of us who have believed on Jesus Christ have been beneficiaries of ‘grace’. As it says clearly in Ephesians 2:8-9;
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
There is no other way that we can be saved than by God’s grace. As redeemed sinners, we know this personally. We’re grateful for it. But sometimes, the discomfort shows itself when we see that grace extended to someone else—someone that we would ordinarily think of as outside the reach of that grace.
That discomfort characterized the earliest years of the history of the church. At that time, the first Christians were Jewish. And for the pious, devoted Jewish Christian—having been raised in the atmosphere of reverence toward the covenant promises of Israel, and in strict obedience to the ordinances of God given through Moses—it wouldn’t have ordinarily been expected that Gentiles could also be the recipients of God’s grace through Jesus. The Gentiles were, as Paul had put it in Ephesians 2:11-12, “called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands” … and were “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”.
But as Paul went on to testify;
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:12-18).
This was something that had been brought powerfully to the heart of the apostle Peter. In the tenth chapter of Acts, we saw how God had guided Peter through a remarkable transition of understanding—showing him how God’s grace now extended to the Gentiles, and how his own heart needed to be changed before he could bring the good news of the gospel to them. And as soon as Peter’s heart was transformed on this matter, the hearts of the rest of the Jewish believers also needed to be transformed. We’re told the story of their transformation in Acts 11:1-18.
This has a very important lesson for us today. As followers of Jesus—mostly Gentiles who have been the recipients of God’s grace—it may be that we have forgotten how unexpectedly the grace of Jesus reached even us. We may still hold on to the idea that there are others who are beyond the reach of God’s grace. Maybe they hold to different political commitments than ours. Maybe they are of a different language, or a different culture, or even a different skin color. Maybe their lifestyle or experiences or behavioral practices make us think that they are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And it may even be that such a belief holds us back from bringing the gospel to them.
It may be that we, too, need to experience the transformation of our hearts in this matter.
The story that we find in the first half of Acts 11 teaches us that, when God extends His grace to unworthy sinners, what else is there that can we do but rejoice—and become partners in God’s grace toward them?
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It helps to see this transformation in the early Jewish church through a series of stages.
In verses 1-3, we see …
STAGE 1: THE CONTROVERSIAL NATURE OF GOD’S GRACE TO OTHERS (vv. 1-3).
The story picks up after Peter’s trip to the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius. Peter, along with six other Jewish brethren, went in obedience to God’s command to expound the message of the gospel to them. The Gentile household of Cornelius believed on Jesus. And verse 1 begins with what seems like good news …
Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God (v. 1).
So far, so good—or so it would appear. The good news—as Jesus had promised in Acts 1:8—had gone out, by the power of the Holy Spirit, from Jerusalem unto the regions of Judea and Samaria. And it was now beginning to extend even into the remotest parts of the earth. But that’s when the controversy arose. Verses 2-3 tell us;
And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” (vv. 2-3).
As we read on through the rest of the story, it seems apparent that these Jews “of the circumcision” were believers. They were called “of the circumcision” because, as devoted Jewish followers of Jesus, they believed strongly that in order for a Gentile to be right with God, they needed to first be brought under the covenant sign of Israel. They would have been like the believers we read of in Acts 15:5;
… some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5).
What’s more, they had a serious problem with Peter himself. He had violated the standards of Jewish separation; and had gone to the home of the Roman centurion Cornelius—a house filled with uncircumcised Gentiles—and even ate with them.
It might be easy to look down on these Jewish believers for this. But consider their viewpoint. They were faithful Jews who were seeking to maintain their devotion to what they had always understood—at that time—to be God’s standard for holiness. “How could anyone,” they would have thought, “draw near to the holy God of Israel unless they observed the covenant signs and observances necessary for that approach?” We should remember that even Peter struggled with this … and had to, himself, be brought to the ‘new covenant’ place of understanding where he could say;
“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:34-35).
This reminds us that the grace of God through Jesus Christ truly is a controversial thing. It reaches people that we might think cannot be reached. It welcomes people into God’s presence—through faith in Jesus—that we might ordinarily think could not draw near. It transforms hearts that we would have thought could never be transformed. It makes acceptable in His sight those that we would have thought never could have been made acceptable.
We should learn to be patient with one another in all of this; because the controversy of grace takes time to be resolved in many of our hearts.
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One way that God brought about that resolution was through a credible eyewitness of that grace. Peter—who held a high position of esteem among the apostles—once believed as those concerned Jewish Christians believed. But he had no choice but to go where God had commanded him to go; and to also see for himself the extent of the grace of the gospel.
And so; that’s when, in verses 4-14, we find …
STAGE 2: THE TESTIMONY OF GOD’S GRACE TO OTHERS (vv. 4-14).
Peter recounted the story that we find in Chapter 10.
But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me” (vv. 4-5).
When Peter pointed out that this sheet “descended” … and was “let down from heaven by four corners”, as if held by one divine hand … he was making it clear that this was a vision from God. It had great authority.
“When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat’” (vv. 6-7).
Hearing this would have probably stirred up the controversy all the more. Those devoted Jewish believers who had heard Peter describe this vision would—no doubt—have responded to it in the very same way that Peter had once responded. They would have been astonished and appalled at the idea of eating the kinds of foods that had been forbidden to the Jewish people in the law of Moses. They would have done as Peter said he did in verse 8;
“But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth’” (v. 8).
No doubt many of them would have heard Peter say this, and would have nodded their heads in agreement. And it’s then that Peter told them the word he heard from God:
“But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven” (vv. 9-10).
And it was then that Peter helped those Jewish believers to understand what he himself had been made to understand. God’s concern was for much more than simply food. This had all been a lesson to Peter that helped him to accept the extent of the grace of God to the Gentiles. He went on to explain;
“At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved’” (vv. 11-14).
There’s a lesson for us in this also. It may be that there are times when, in order to have our hearts transformed toward those to whom God wishes to show His grace, we need the help of someone else who has had their own hearts transformed. Sometimes, it may even be us who helps another believer overcome their hurdles. Think of the story of Barnabas—the Son of Encouragement; and how he helped the believers accept Saul of Tarsus—the former persecutor—into the household of faith. We’re told in Acts 9:27-28
And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus (Acts 9:27-28).
Sometimes, we need a Barnabas. Or sometimes, we may be called upon to be a Barnabas to someone else. In any case, may God help us to be open to the testimonies of God’s grace; and to have our own hearts transformed, so that we can rejoice in His grace to others.
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Now; it wasn’t all simply Peter’s experience that brought about the change. It was the clear testimony of the Lord Himself. We’re told in verses 15-17 about …
STAGE 3: THE DIVINE DEFENSE OF GOD’S GRACE TO OTHERS.
Peter when on to explain what happened after—in obedience to God—he opened his mouth and declared the message of the gospel to the household of Cornelius;
“And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning” (v. 14).
When they heard the gospel and believed, the Holy Spirit filled them; and they spoke in other languages—just as the apostles and the Jewish believers did in Jerusalem at Pentecost. God had intentionally and visibly given these Gentiles the same sign of the Holy Spirit as He had given them—and all to show that the Gentile believers were now as accepted by Him as those Jewish believers were. Peter even pointed to the words of Jesus about this:
“Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit’” (v. 16).
Those were the words that Jesus had spoken to the apostles, in Acts 1:5, about the promised coming of the Holy Spirit. Peter had now been made to understand that the promise wasn’t just for the Jewish believers. It was for the believing Gentiles also. Later on, in Acts 15:8-9, Peter told the leaders of the Jewish church;
“So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8-9).
What a powerful testimony this was to Peter! And what a powerful testimony it was—through Peter—to the other Jewish believers who heard about it. Peter struggled with it. It was uncomfortable for him. But he ended up accepting it. As he told those Jewish believers;
“If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (v. 17).
* * * * * * * * * *
And that leads us to verse 18; and to
STAGE 4: THE ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S GRACE TO OTHERS (v. 18).
We’re told;
When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (v. 18).
This became an important moment in the history of the church. It began the great adventure of bringing the gospel of Jesus to the Gentile world. It would not be long afterward that the Lord would call forth His appointed ‘apostle to the Gentiles’—the apostle Paul—in Acts 13.
Praise God that the good news has reached even to us—we who are so unworthy! Are we willing to accept that His grace goes on to reach even those that we think of as unreachable?
AE
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