Acts 10:34-43
This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on January 8th, 2017.
What are the words every preacher wants to hear before his/her sermon? “Now we are all here in the presence to God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” That is what Cornelius said to Peter when Peter obeyed God and went to see him (Acts 10:33). If our congregations listened like Samuel saying, “Speak Lord your servant is listening,” (1 Samuel 3:10) or like the Bereans, nobly, receiving the message with great eagerness (Acts 17:11), what would we say to them?
How did Peter get to this place? If we can answer that question well, we may be able to access the power which characterized Peter’s preaching. Peter had healed Aeneas and revived Dorcas leading many to believe in the Lord (Acts 10:42). God was not finished with Peter. In two different cities, two different men prayed. Cornelius, a devout and God-fearing centurion, gave generously and prayed regularly. Meanwhile, Peter, a one-time vile fisherman who acknowledged his sinfulness to Jesus, prayed on a rooftop. As they prayed God worked. First, he told Cornelius to send for Peter. Then he told Peter that Cornelius was coming. When Peter arrived at Cornelius’s house, the soldier said what every preacher wants to hear: We are here to hear! What did Peter say? What would we?
Peter not only had to say something. He had something to say. God had vanquished his prejudice. Jesus Christ, Lord of all, is Lord of all people, both Jews and Gentiles. Notice Peter’s pattern: he started with what his hearers knew, and then he told them what he had seen and heard.
What basic knowledge do our hearers bring to church each Sunday? Our hearers may not be as literate biblically as their parents or grandparents were. But Peter knew that the hearers knew something about Jesus Christ. Following the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus came in the power of the Holy Spirit doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. Once again, Luke shows us that Jesus is Christus Victor, atoning by defeating the forces of evil in the world. Jesus did this because God was with him. Peter knew who Jesus was so he also knew who he, himself was: a witness. Jesus had predicted that his disciples would become witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). The gospel went forth as Jesus predicted, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria . . . Now God-fearers like Cornelius were also interested.
Peter knew what we must know. Not everyone wants to hear. When asked about how they healed a lame man in Jerusalem, “By what power or name did you do this?” Peter and John explained, “By the name of Jesus whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:7-10). They went on to say, “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). When the authorities commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus, Peter and John answered, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Time had passed. Still, all Peter had was the gospel: the good news of Jesus Christ. Notice the content of his kerygma. What was the irreducible minimum in the early sermons of the church? Peter tells us Jesus’ opponents turned him over to the Romans who killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. God then appointed Jesus as judge of the living and the dead. All who believe in him receive forgiveness of sins through his name. Crucifixion. Resurrection. Vindication. Salvation by faith. All Peter needed was the gospel. Pastors must continually preach this gospel story to ourselves and others, lest we forget what God has done for us.
Someone may say, “Shouldn’t we go beyond this simple gospel message?” May we never get beyond the gospel. We only go deeper into it. This is still our message: “We are worse off than we knew and more loved than we ever imagined.” From this text, we may remind our hearers that God shows no favoritism. In our day when xenophobia and nationalism prevail for some, we remember that God still accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right. From the time of the Great Commission and the fulfillment of the promise at Pentecost, the church has always been an international organization. We may also invite our hearers to join the long line of witnesses who have told what we have seen and heard about Jesus. In the two words, “but God,” (10:40), we find the hinge of history. People were at their worst, killing the King on a cruel cross. But God was at his best. Many in our congregations may be wringing their hands over what the world has come to. Tell them about the One who has come to the world. As many continue to promulgate intolerance as the one intolerable sin, we may remind them that God will judge all people. We know for sure that we and our hearers need to be saved. So we tell them that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness through his name.
Duane Brooks
Pastor
Tallowood Baptist Church, Houston, TX
Dbrooks@tallowood.org
Tags: great commission, gospel, peter, deeper