Delivered June 17, 2007
by Pastors
It was the first time I heard God's ultimate purpose for our world explained so clearly and concisely. The Sunday School class of which I was a member used a video series as the basis of class discussions for a quarter the year. These videos featured Bible lessons taught in the place where the Biblical event had taken place and how those events all were a part of God's purpose and plan for all nations. The name of the series was "That The World May Know."
About the same time I was talking to a young Romanian woman. Her sister was a member of our congregation and she had brought her brother and his family and her parents to Lancaster county as immigrants. The sisters talked of their dreams - that Raluca would be able to get a student visa and eventually a permanent visa. As we talked, I sensed God's nudge. After praying about it, I realized that God was telling me to get involved in this situation. I had absolutely no idea what was ahead, but Eric and I decided I should become Raluca's advocate.
For the past number of weeks Eric and I have been going over a timeline of the history of God and people. We have been reminded over and over, as we hear this history, of God's faithfulness to all people who choose to live righteous lives before God. We have also been reminded of God's over-arching purpose in calling Sarah and Abraham and all their descendants into a lasting and transforming relationship with God in order to be God's Light to the nations. These passages from the Old Testament express God's desire for God's people in the world from the very beginning.
1 Chronicles 16:24 (AMP) Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples. Isaiah 60.1-3 Amp Bible: Arise from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you - rise to a new life! Shine! Be radiant with the glory of the Lord, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness all peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you, O Jerusalem, and His glory shall be seen on you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
God's desire, from the very beginning, was twofold. First of all, God has always desired to have a personal relationship with each and every person created by God. God wants this relationship to be close, intimate, life-giving and transforming. Through this personal relationship God's heart-felt desire is for people to be transformed into the people they were created to be - part of God's family who have a strong family resemblance to the Head of the family.
Second, God desires all his relatives, as they are being transformed, to love each other. God wants all his relatives to become unselfish lovers of each other and of all people, to become just and merciful and gracious. God wants us all to become peace-makers and joyfully obedient to God's ways.
This was God's intention for the descendants of Sarah and Abraham. The Israelites were to be so in tune with God, so transformed by their relationship to God as individuals and as a group of people, that other people would be attracted to the God who was the source of it all.
God placed the Israelites in Canaan, through which, in ancient times, passed the major trade routes from the north, south and east. God positioned the Israelites in Canaan so that they could be a light to the nations, showing the nations the way to become what they were created to be. The Good News of God would be taken to all nations by the people who passed through Canaan and experienced this nation ruled by the God of justice and peace, grace and mercy, love and joy.
But God had given people freedom of choice and the Israelites did not choose God and God's plan. While they were defeated and their country was completely destroyed, God never completely abandoned Israel. Ezekiel, God's prophet, believed there was hope.
Ezekiel 39:7 (AMP) And I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name any more; and the nations shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
The Israelites never completely understood God's desire for all the nations to know and be in relationship with God. They never understood their role in God's plan to be reconciled with all people. So God went to plan B and the Son of God left his home with God to personally establish God's Kingdom and God's way for all people. God became personally involved by sending Jesus to establish the God's Kingdom on earth.
Gabi, Raluca's sister, and I decided to approach the congregation about being Raluca's sponsor for a local Bible college. We went to the church cabinet, where Gabi and I both presented our case. While Raluca was eligible for significant financial aid, the congregation still needed to supply additional funds. The congregation graciously took on this challenge.
Jesus himself expressed his Father's desire for all nations to know God. In Matthew 24.14 Jesus said, " ... this good news of the kingdom [of God] will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations ..." In fact, Jesus' parting words to the eleven disciples included the following: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. God therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commended you ..." In the 1st ch. of Acts Jesus leaves the disciples with the words, "And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem" - here in this town - "in Judea and Samaria" - in this region - "and to the ends of the earth." In other words, everywhere and to everyone!
This story of God proclaiming to the nations his glory, light, compassion, sovereignty and his holiness through the family of Sarah and Abraham is the background against which Acts 10 is cast. Until this moment the Church of Jesus has been composed mostly of Jewish Christians, people who were descendants of Sarah and Abraham. These Christians worshiped Jesus as their Messiah and still practiced Jewish religious customs. But Jewish practice was exclusionist. Any devout Jew who even spoke to someone who was considered "unclean" became ceremonially unclean. And all non-Jews, whom the Jews called Gentiles, were considered "unclean."
Cornelius, a Gentile or non-Jew, was a Roman officer in Caesarea. It was well-known in the Jewish community that Cornelius not only gave generously to the poor but was a man of prayer. While he hadn't converted to Judaism, Cornelius devoutly practiced Jewish piety and sought to honor and reverence the Jewish God in all ways.
It was this devout Gentile through whom God chose to reveal God's desire and purpose for all people as well as God's purpose for the Church. Cornelius had a vision while he was praying in which an angel of God told him to send for a man named Peter. After being reassured by the angel, Cornelius obeyed God and commanded and sent 3 men to Joppa.
I was privileged to witness Raluca's faith grow and deepen as she learned to live in a new country. Fear, corruption and abuse were difficult parts of life in Romania, and her discovery that she could have some trust in public services was fun to witness. It was sometimes hard to watch as she struggled to study and write papers in a language she was learning, but it was pure joy to hear her talk about the things she was learning about herself and about God through the struggle.
In our story the action shifts to another pious man, the Apostle Peter - a Jewish follower of Jesus. Peter was on the roof of the house where he was staying, spending some time in prayer. He was hungry and as he prayed and waited for lunch, God gave Peter a vision.
It was a strange vision that challenged Peter's understanding of who could be in and who was out of God's special family. This vision challenged the root understanding that only the Jews were God's special people. Peter not only saw all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles that are considered unclean in this vision. A voice said, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." Well, Peter was hungry but he wasn't totally stupid! Being a good Jew, Peter refused to do so and reminded God that he had " ... never eaten anything that is profane or unclean" (Acts 10.14b). Then God said, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." To emphasize the point, God repeated this 3 times.
While Peter didn't have everything figured out right away, when the time came, he was ready to welcome Cornelius' 3 messengers as the Holy Spirit had directed, even inviting them to have supper and stay overnight. Through these simple actions we can understand that Peter had already begun to allow God to transform his thinking and understanding. What Peter had always thought about who could be God's Chosen People was being broadened and deepened and heightened and lengthened. God's Chosen People was a much bigger group than Peter and the other Jewish Christians had always believed.
We discover the extent of both Peter's and Cornelius' transformations when they finally meet. Imagine the pious Jew's horror when the Roman falls at Peter's feet in order to worship him!
25As Peter arrived, Cornelius met him, and falling down at his feet he made obeisance and paid worshipful reverence to him. 26But Peter raised him up, saying, Get up; I myself am also a man.
Don't you think it's a little humorous to think of the cosmopolitan Roman officer being told what to do by the uneducated Jewish fisherman? Talk about role reversal! Talk about transformation of a Roman officer from a posture of power to one of humility! V. 28 & 29 indicate how far Peter has come since he began praying on the rooftop. He began his teaching session with all the people Cornelius had brought together with the following:
28And he said to them, You yourselves are aware how it is not lawful or permissible for a Jew to keep company with or to visit or [even] to come near or to speak first to anyone of another nationality, but God has shown and taught me by words that I should not call any human being common or unhallowed or [ceremonially] unclean. 29Therefore when I was sent for, I came without hesitation or objection or misgivings.
As if that isn't enough confirmation, Peter's response to Cornelius' story of the events leading up to this meeting begins with the following:
34 ... Most certainly and thoroughly I now perceive and understand that God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons. 35But in every nation he who venerates and has a reverential fear for God, treating Him with worshipful obedience and living uprightly, is acceptable to God and sure of being received and welcomed [by Him].
Peter concludes his sermon about the Good News of Jesus to those assembled: "All the prophets testify about him [the Messiah] that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." And as Peter was proclaiming the Good News to these Gentiles, the most incredible thing happened. The wind of the Spirit blew in and among all those assembled, and the Jewish Christians all witnessed the Holy Spirit of Jesus himself fall upon all who heard the word. It was Pentecost all over again! The people were speaking in tongues and praising God! Luke says the Jewish believers with Peter were astonished and astounded that God's Holy Spirit was poured out "even on the Gentiles." It must have been an amazing and awesome experience.
It was also a definitive experience. There was no longer any question in the minds of anyone at Cornelius' house that God's intention was that all people, regardless of ethnicity or nationality, who embraced Jesus and his way were to be welcomed into this new expression of God's family called the Church. No longer was there to be a distinction between Jew and Gentile, clean or unclean, circumcised or un-circumcised, slave or free, male or female. The Kingdom of God - the grace of God - is equally for all people.
While Raluca had grown up in the Romanian Orthodox Christian tradition, she was experiencing God's love for her in very new ways in our congregation. Her image of God - her understanding of God's nature - was changing. And she was learning to think of herself as God's beloved child, a woman called to do God's works in the world. Raluca had many things to overcome, but the tools she needed to become healthy and whole were now available to her. And she was now a part of a community that cared about her and in which the Holy Spirit of Jesus ministered to her in life-affirming and life-giving ways.
The Kingdom of God Jesus established is to include all who believe in Jesus, the Son of God. And it is this kingdom that will be a lamp shining God's Light and Life for all the nations to see. All who come as followers of Jesus will be accepted. All who come will be fully involved in God's kingdom, continually being transformed into the people God created them to be. And the purpose of this kingdom is so that all nations, all people will know and worship and walk with the God who created and loves us all.
It is exciting to both Eric and me to witness how Petitcodiac Mennonite Church has acted on your belief that God's people are to care for each other and for all people. Through Ten Thousand Villages last year how many Third World families did you enabled to live better lives? There was the Coal and Potato Fund for the Ukraine. And there was OPAL, a ministry to disabled adults in this community. And there are numerous ways you care for people in the communities in which you live. And in spite of the distance at which some of you live, you manage to care for each other in significant ways.
You know that we are here today SO THAT THE WORLD - ALL NATIONS - MAY KNOW AND EXPERIENCE GOD. First of all, let's ask God to reveal to us what in our personal lives needs to be transformed. Secondly, let's ask God to reveal to us what in our congregational life needs to be transformed so that we are better able to extend God's justice and mercy, healing and peace, love and joy to others - SO THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW.
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church