Congregational Reading

Acts 10:1–48 (ESV)

Cornelius’ Answered Prayer

10 ¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, ² a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴ And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. ⁵ And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, ⁸ and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Peter’s Vision

⁹ The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³ And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Peter’s Invited to Do a House Call

¹⁷ Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate ¹⁸ and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. ¹⁹ And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. ²⁰ Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” ²¹ And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” ²² And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.”

Peter Visits Cornelius

²³ So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴ And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” ²⁷ And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. ²⁸ And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

Cornelius’ Testimony

³⁰ And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing ³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. ³² Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ ³³ So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Gentiles Hear the Good News

³⁴ So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵ but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶ As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), ³⁷ you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ³⁹ And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰ but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, ⁴¹ not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles

⁴⁴ While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

 

• Will the culture wars from social media show up in our sanctuary?
• Will politics in the pulpit foster a particular agenda that only appeals to some people and offends others?
• Will we abandon our focus on the Word?
• Will our Christian light be dimmed?
• Is it even biblical to talk about politics from the pulpit?

Cornelius: A Devout Man

Acts 10:1–2 (ESV): ¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, ² a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

• While Cornelius was not a Christian in any formal sense, he was someone who feared God enough to pray
• Cornelius prayed continually

Cornelius Hears from God

Acts 10:3-4 (ESV): ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴ And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

• We know the sincerity of his prayer because God responds.
• Notice that both his prayers and his alms are mentioned.

Cornelius Sends for Peter

Acts 10:5-8 (ESV): ⁵ And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, ⁸ and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

• Peter is being put in motion because of another man’s prayers.

 

• Peter’s life is interrupted because of what someone else needed from God.

The Prayers of the Pure in Heart: A Sermon X-Factor

• Cornelius—who is not even really a Christain yet—influences Peter’s actions and eventually His words.
• The prayers of a member of the congregation or a prospective listener can shape the sermon— sometimes spontaneously

How Tongues and Interpretation Impacts Bible Teaching

• One of the ways the gift of interpretation gets expressed is through teaching from the pulpit.

 

• • 1 Corinthians 14:6 (ESV): ⁶ Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
    • Revelation
    • Knowledge
    • Prophecy
    • Teaching

Clergy as Spiritual EMT

• As we saw with Cornelius, another person’s prayers can reshape the spiritual direction of the man or woman of God, even if the person is praying in a human language.
• This is because God’s messengers also serve as spiritual EMTs:
  • Acts 16:6–10 (ESV): ⁶ And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. ⁷ And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. ⁸ So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. ⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
• There’s an Old Testament example of this:
  • Exodus 3:9–10 (ESV): ⁹ And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
• What if the reason there are competing positions on a political subject is because the subject is multifaceted?
• Competing positions on issues don’t necessarily have to conflict with each other. They can also complement each other.
• Consider the relationship between Dr. Robbie George and Dr. Cornel West, one conservative, the other liberal, one white, the other black
• They have deep disagreements on a number of issues and debate those issues around the country.
• But they’re both Christians, they’re close friends and value the fact that the other has a different point of view.
• They learn from each other when they debate with each other.
• Links to their debates and conversations on Video:
  • Cornel West and Robert George (PBS)
  • Truth Matters: Fruitful Disagreement
  • Cornel West and Robert George in Conversation
  • Book (Available on Amazon)
  • Truth Matters: A Dialogue in Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division by Robert P. George and Cornel West
• Consider this about the nature of God’s wisdom
  • Ephesians 3:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
• Consider that God’s wisdom is multifaced and may require that he draw out that wisdom through people articulating it from different points of view.
• In an age where people can access information, who knows who God is talking to through the screen?

Reasons to Reconsider Your Objections to Politics in the Pulpit:

• Reason # 1: The prayers of other people affect sermon content
• Who are we to say what a person needs to hear from God?
• God will customize messages to people and deliver that message to them when he wants and how he wants.
• Why would we think that God would not comment on political matters?
• Who are we to tell God how He can communicate?
• The Bible communicates to us through poetry, biography, history, law, prophecy, letters, parables
• Why would discussions of politics be excluded from his teaching methods?
• Reason # 2: There are no Scriptures restricting or even warning about political communication from the pulpit.
• Reason # 3: There are numerous examples of God’s messengers commenting on the behaviors and policies of political figures.
• Especially in the Old Testament
  • e.g. Most Prophets
• New Testament
  • e.g. John the Baptist
    • Corrupt Law enforcement officials
    • Corrupt heads of state (i.e. Herod)
• Reason # 4: Some biblical topics are inherently political.
  • e.g. Ephesians/Colossians: slaves obey your masters
  • e.g. Romans: Obey the head of state, obey law enforcement officials
  • e.g. James comments on rich people
    • James 1:9-11
    • James 1:27
    • James 2:1-7
    • James 2:15-17
    • James 4:13
    • James 5:1-6
  • e.g. Proverbs 31 Mother

 

• Reason # 5: Some political matters are impractical to avoid and provide no neutral position.
  • e.g. Covid
  • e.g. The persecuted church around the world
  • e.g. China
• State Run church or underground church
  • e.g. The historical black church
• Gatherings regulated by the government
• Reason # 6: The exclusion of political subject matter from the pulpit eliminates large categories of practical Bible application.

Accountability For the Pulpit

Naturally, this raises an important question:

• Can the preacher just say whatever he or she wants in the name of prophecy and spiritual gifts?
• Couldn’t the preacher be in error?
• Couldn’t someone take advantage of this to manipulate people and advance a personal agenda?
  • 1 Corinthians 14:27–29 (NKJV): ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. ²⁸ But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. ²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
• Here Paul is talking about a system for evaluating public communication, whether it’s spontaneous or communicated from the pulpit.
• All public communication in church is subject to the evaluation of wise judges.

Peter’s Day Is Interrupted

• Acts 10:9-10 (ESV): ⁹ The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance

Peter’s Served the “Wrong” Order

• Acts 10:11-12 (ESV): ¹¹ and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.
• Acts 10:13 (ESV): ¹³ And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
• A sermon is not an omelette made to order.
• The Lord is the chef. The preacher is the cook and server.
• God makes what he knows will nourish His people, not necessarily what His people think will taste the best.

Peter’s Personal Doctrine

• Acts 10:14-16 (ESV): ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
• What’s a personal doctrine?
• A personal doctrine is an individualized code of ethics reflecting what someone personally thinks is right and wrong.
• There’s nothing wrong with a personal doctrine until it clashes with what is truly right and wrong.

From Disorientation to Reorientation

• Acts 10:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate
• Being “inwardly perplexed” offers us vital information about ourselves.
• Inward perplexity as an invitation to learn and grow.
  • Acts 10:28-29 (ESV): ²⁸ And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”
• Across 12 verses, Peter goes from “inwardly perplexed” to “no objections”
• He went from confusion to clarity, from ignorance to enlightenment, and from being frustrated to being inspired.
  • Key Question: Am I inwardly perplexed because the preacher is in error or because God is challenging my personal doctrine?

Criteria for Evaluating a Concerning Message from the Pulpit

Determine Your Concerns

• Question # 1: Was it unbiblical?
• Question # 2: Was it un-Christlike?
• Question # 3: Was it untruthful?
• Question # 4: Was it unwise?
  • Luke 7:33–35 (ESV): ³³ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
  • Verifying the wisdom of something often requires observing its long-term effects.
• The immediate effects of something, while meaningful, are not necessarily reliable indicators of its wisdom or effectiveness.
• God’s top priority when communicating with people is not avoiding offense.
• He cares how people feel and instructs us to speak the truth in love.
• Speaking the truth in love does not guarantee that someone won’t be offended.
• You don’t control whether someone is offended with you—they do.
  • Jeremiah 1:7–8 (NKJV): ⁷ But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. ⁸Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.
  • Jeremiah 1:9-10 (NKJV): ⁹ Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. ¹⁰See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”
  • Jeremiah 20:7–9 (ESV): ⁷ O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. ⁸ For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. ⁹ If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot,
• Question # 5: Was the problem a matter of intent, execution or both?
  • Some offence is inevitable, but you don’t want to create unnecessary offences, misunderstandings or frustrations.
• Question # 6: Has the Holy Spirit made you uncomfortable about it?

Document Your Concerns

• Create three columns
  • Column # 1: Write down the specific words in the message that fit in each category.
  • Column # 2: Write down the Scriptures that correspond with each category.
  • Column # 2: Explain how and why the words in the message violate the related Christian principle.

Analyze Your Concerns

• The more Scriptures, explanations and quotes from the message, the more likely the message is in error.
• The fewer Scriptures, explanations and quotes from the message, the less likely the message is in error.

The Spiritual Fruit of Our Inward Perplexity

Acts 10:44-48 (ESV): ⁴⁴ While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

• God is not presenting pigs to Peter to get him to eat pork, but to get him to see the people who do.
• Some of us view politics the way Peter views pork.
• John 1:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. . .

1 Corinthians 9:19–21 (ESV): ¹⁹ For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

1 Corinthians 9:12–23 (ESV): ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

• Adapting our approach to the needs of the culture is not always a compromising move. It also has the potential to promote the gospel.

Consider the examples of Jesus:

• Luke 15:1–2 (ESV): ¹ And Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
• Here Jesus is breaking bread with people who practice condemnable behavior.
• And having read Peter’s story in Acts, we can understand why the Pharisees would be disgusted with what Jesus His doing
• Because in other versions of the story, the writer makes clear that Jesus is actually eating with them:
• Matthew 9:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
• But if we look at Jesus response, it explains everything:
  • Luke 15:3-7 (ESV): ³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Pastoral Voice vs. The Prophetic Voice