Acts chapter 10
Cornelius was a God fearing man. We are not told that he saved (that is a
debatable point)
We are told however that he prayed regularly and gave to the
poor.
He was a man of position in the Roman Army. A centurion, a commanding officer. He should have been thought of as the enemy
and hated by the Jews. Instead, he was
respected by them presumably because he was a God fearing and generous man who
cared for them
It tells us that he was a man of good character and well
thought of.
It was against the Jewish law as we are reminded in this
chapter for any Jew to visit or associate with a gentile. Yet in spite of this, he cared for them. He
looked after them. ( I wonder how many
of them broke the law because of the respect they had for him)
I think this law would have been heart breaking for such a
man. He did what he was able to do for
them, yet that law must have been a barrier in communicating with them
He prayed and gave to the poor which is the right thing to
do, but I wonder if we think of prayer and giving in the way that God does.
What does God think of Prayer and giving to the poor?
We see that in verse 4.
God saw them as a memorial offering.
Cornelius in his giving gave to the poor (and did not pocket
income as many would have or demand money with menaces as many would have)
REMEMBERED THE POOR
I think it logical that as he gave to the poor, so his
prayers were probably for him and for his efforts to give them at much relief
as he could.
I think he did it because he had compassion and it was the
right thing to do.
I expect he thought that life would go on like that, be a
centurion, carry out orders from above, give orders to your servants, pray and
help the poor.
One day, something he could not have expected happened. He
saw an angel, and was afraid. That sort
of fear comes from an awareness of our own impurity no matter how Godly we try
to be.
The angel delivered a message about calling Simon also
called Peter who was a guest of Simon the tanner, whose house was by the sea.
Notice that to find Simon Peter, we are told, almost as an
aside, whom Cornelius called to find him.
He called two of his servants and a DEVOUT soldier who was one of his
attendants. The soldier is not named,
but we are told that he was devout and one of Cornelius’s attendants. I think these two pieces of information are
significant. Cornelius could have given
the order to look for peter to any attendant. Any soldier under his
command. He chose that one, because he
was devout.
What made the soldier devout?
I think it was what that soldier saw in Cornelius that made
him devout. I think he saw great
character in Cornelius and sought to be like him.
Do you ever think that there are people, who look at you and
your life, and think, “I want to be like him or her”? I want what he or she has and they seek it
out.
I think in that soldier we see that Cornelius was like
that.
At the same time, Peter unknown to himself was being
prepared for meeting Cornelius
Peter was a devout Jew and would have nothing to do with the
Gentiles according to the law.
I think that God uses every aspect of our lives for his
glory, even what seems to be small insignificant ones.
For example, when I was on holiday, I had no plans to go to
Leominster, but it was the only place I could find that had a bed for the
night. When I was in the kitchen the
temporary manager came in and we talked about spiritual things. I was left with the feeling that God in is
providence brought about the circumstances that put me there that night so that
I would meet and talk with that young woman.
I will probably never see her again, but I pray that what I said would
be just right for her.
So likewise we see in this chapter, that in Gods providence,
Peter was on the flat roof and he was hungry.
Peter must have felt hungry many times as we all do sooner or
later. God used his hunger to teach him
something.
In a vision while his meal was being prepared, he saw a
vision., He saw a large sheet from
heaven descend full of all the foods that were unclean and forbidden to him and
the lord told him “Get up, Peter, arise Kill and eat”. Peter said surely not lord; I have never
eaten anything impure or unclean
The lord said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Note that God said ANYTHING,
not any food
Note also that it is what God has MADE clean, not what the law had said up until then.
You see the situation, God had sent a message to Cornelius
to get him ready and he sent a message to Peter to get him ready. Neither of them were involved in bringing
about the circumstances of their meeting or what was to follow.
When we pray, do we think that God is doing something with
them that is outside of our control that will bring about his will and his glory? Is God doing something with us now and with
others at the same time as a result of our prayers or what we are doing? Think about that.
Peter was thinking about the vision. What could it mean and once again in Gods
providence it was while he was thinking about it that the two servants and the
devout soldier arrived.
Have you ever had an inner prompting? I have and we see in this instance so did
Peter
In my case, I was living in Dunfermline and one day the mail
arrived and I set it aside to read later, However, I felt that inner prompting
to pick up the mail, tear it open and look for the word “DUNFERMLINE” I knew I would find it, and there was
something God wanted me to be involved with.
I tore open the mail and did some speed reading, and there it was
“DUNFERMLINE” YWAM were having a summer
of service in a Pentecostal church I knew and I applied. I knew the pastor and his wife, and it was
the first short term mission I ever did. It was that inner prompting that made
me participate.
Peter prompting was that there were three men at the gate
looking for you. Go with them, do not hesitate, for I have sent them. This was at least in part the fulfilment of
the vision as up until then Peter would not have gone with them because we can
assume that at least the devout Soldier would not have been a jew, and the
servants may not have been jews either.
At this point, Peter knew he had to go with them, but he did
not know why.
When I had the inner prompting that day, I knew what to do,
but I did not know why. God did not
reveal to me that day that Mission would be my life, and that one day It would
lead me to being in OM for what has so far been more than 17 years. I did not need to know that them. I just needed
to know that I had to participate in the YWAM summer of service for a couple of
weeks.
Peter did as the lord commanded and went with them.
I expect that was difficult for him, as in obeying the lord,
he was going against all that he had taught and believed up until then. He was associating with that which he had
thought was unclean and making himself in the process unclean.
Sometimes God expects us to do things that we find
difficult. Never the less we should do them if it is of the lord.
Notice this, although only Peter was commanded to go, some
of the brothers from Joppa went with him.
I think this was probably because of Peters Godly leadership. Just as
Cornelius was thought well of by the jews for his care of them and giving to
the poor, so these brothers from Joppa thought so highly of Peter that they
decided that if God has commanded Peter to go with these Gentiles, then this
must be good, God is doing something, so we will also go.
When Peter arrived at the house, Cornelius fell down before
him, but Peter told him to get up, for he to was only a man.
Just like Peter, I do not think it bodes well to think too
highly of ourselves. No one has ever
felt the need to fall down before me, but if they did, the temptation would be
there for me to think too highly of myself
Humility is often the characteristic that people see in us
that points them to the lord.
Gordon Jenkins was my minister for many years. He is a
highly intelligent man with an exceptional teaching capability, but his
approach to everything is that of a learner, and when I saw that in him, I
decided that in that respect, I wanted to be like him.
Jesus himself, was humble, so likewise should we.
So Peter is in the house, he tells them about the jewish law
that forbade him to do the very thing he was doing, but he still did not know
why he was there.
He did the sensible thing, he asked them why he was sent
for.
Cornelius told him about the angel who came to him and what
the angel said
Notice it was a large crowd that had gathered in Corneliuses
house, not just him or him and family or him and few others, but a large crowd.
It tells me that he was well thought of not only by the jews but by the
gentiles as well. They had been effected by his life and knew that God was
doing something special, so they wanted to see and hear all about it, so they
came. They seized the opportunity and
were there for Peters arrival and had decided to listen to all that Peter had
to say for the lord.
At church do we gather expecting like they did, to hear what
the lord has to say to us? Or has it become just something we do, and is
regular and mundane and we have no expectations? Can honestly say, I love it. I really love
it. I love it now just as much as I have always done since the day I was converted. A lot of what he has to say I have heard many
times before, but I often hear it in a new and for me a fresh way. Sometimes it is completely new to me and
exciting. And sometimes it is what I already know and have believed for many
years, but there is an additional bit for me.
If you are not able to say that, then you need to ask the
lord to re awaken that in you and if you are sincere I promise you, it will
happen.
Verse 34, peter says, that he now realises that God does not
show favouritism but accepts men from ever nation who fear him and do what is
right.
Peter had only just
discovered that because of his vision. However that had always been Gods plan,
because God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of MANY nations
and as people from all over the world trust in Christ, so God is still carrying
out that promise and we are by faith descendants of Abraham
Peter preached the gospel to them and while he was still
speaking the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard.
The brothers from Joppa who has accompanied Paul were astonished. They received the gift of the holy spirit,
they spoke in tongues and then they had
to spend weeks or months attending communicants classes after which it was
decided whether they could be baptised or not. Isn’t that what the bible
says? No it does not. When peter saw that they had received the
gift of the Holy Spirit the ordered that they should be baptised
immediately. There was nothing to stop
them being baptised. Peter then stayed
for a few days presumably telling them more of Jesus.
We see in this chapter that God accepts prayer and giving as
sacrifices pleasing to him.
Sometimes we do not comprehend what he is doing, but he is
doing something.
Sometimes God chooses and saves people that we on the face
of it would not think he would choose.
Cornelius and all who came to his house that day were such people
Sometimes our prayer and all our efforts may seem feeble. But
if we are seeking to honour the lord by doing them, they are good and pleasing
to him just as Cornelius’s were.
We need to welcome people into the family of god, whom we
would not have chosen. ( GV has a saying, we did not choose these people, God
did) Is the church ready for them,
people whos ways may not be ways that we are accustomed to. The Jewish believes did not naturally accept
the gentile believers. God had to show them by the outpouring of his holy
spirit that that he accepted them and because God had accepted them, they the
Jews had to accept them because God had made the Gentiles clean.
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