Acts.11.1-18; Fifth Sunday of Easter; May 19, 2007
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN
Now the apostles and the brothers who
were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles
also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem ,
the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men
and ate with them.” But Peter began and explained it to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa
praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet
descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to
me. Looking at it
closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the
air. And I heard a
voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means,
Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a
second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and
all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were,
sent to me from Caesarea . And the Spirit told me to go
with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and
we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send
to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a
message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy
Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of
the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with
the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things
they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also
God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:1-18, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Once in a small-town church on a
Sunday morning as the worshippers were gathering almost ready to begin there
was a huge roar outside the church. It
was the deafening and unmistakable sound of machinery, motorcycles. The windows of the church rattled as the
engines roared, and then there was silence.
The congregation all looked at the pastor who was standing in front
ready to begin. The silence was very
loud. It seemed to last for a
lifetime. The doors of the church opened
and in walked two bikers. They were
dressed in leather, unshaven, dark bandanas on their heads. The usher froze. He didn’t know what to do. One of the men grinned at him and took two
worship folders. Still in shock the
usher moved aside, and the pair found a seat near the back of the church. For everyone the service felt odd. They did everything just as they had always
done, and yet, it seemed different. When
everything was finished, the bikers left greeting the pastor on the way out the
door. “Thanks,” was their only
comment. The others waiting to greet the
pastor stood still until the sound of engines roared again and began to fade in
the distance.
“Well, what do you think of that?”
said one of the faithful, lifelong members.
She was an elderly woman.
“Pastor,” she said, “why do we let people like that into the church?”
“Well,” came the answer, “we let you in didn’t we?”
This is exactly what St. Peter is
describing to the Christians in the church at Jerusalem .
“Peter, why do we let folks like
that into the church? Those are
gentiles! They are unclean. They do things that we don’t understand. They don’t bathe like we do. They ride scruffy donkeys. They wear weird cloths.”
Peter gives a simple answer. “When I preached the Word of God to them and
told them of Jesus life death and resurrection, they received the Holy Spirit. They believed it. They trusted in Jesus for their
forgiveness. They have faith. I had to baptize them.”
To understand this completely I
think we could think a bit about another account from the bible. Way back in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old
Testament, there was a prophet named Jonah.
He was called by God to go and preach to the Ninevites. Now, in case you’ve forgotten, the Ninevites
had a problem and it was more than just sinful behavior. They weren’t Jews. They were Gentiles. Oh, they were sinful alright, and very much
so. They were blood thirsty warriors who
piled up the dead bodies of their enemies at the city gates so the body could
be witnessed by everyone passing by.
They defiantly had that strike against them. But more to the point, and probably more
important to Jonah, they were Gentiles. They
didn’t deserve God’s love and forgiveness; they only deserved his wrath and
anger. He didn’t want them to be
saved. So, he jumped on a boat in Joppa
and headed out to sea as far from Nineveh as he could possibly get. God had other plans. He sent a storm to sink the boat. When the sailors found out it was Jonah’s
fault the prayed that God wouldn’t hold them accountable and tossed Jonah overboard. I think it’s important to note that Jonah
agreed with them. He would rather die
than go to Nineveh . A great big fish (probably created for this
very purpose) came and swallowed Jonah whole.
And after three days in the belly
of a whale, Jonah had a change of heart… mostly. He agreed to preach. The fish spit him out near his destination
and he reluctantly walked into the city.
“Forty days and Nineveh
will be overturned.” It was a very
Lutheran sermon. It had both law and
gospel. The law: Nineveh will be overturned. The Gospel: forty days. In other words,
God’s giving time to repent. And repent
they did. From the king right down to
every dog, cat and rat. They all dressed
in mourning clothing and pleaded with God to forgive them. And that’s just what He did. He couldn’t way to forgive. In fact, as Jesus says, God answers our
prayers even before we are finished asking.
Nineveh
wouldn’t be destroyed after all. No just
to show how deep the distrust of folks who are different can go, Jonah wasn’t
so sure. He sat outside of town waiting
for the earth to open and swallow it whole.
It didn’t happen and Jonah wasn’t happy.
A tree grew up over night and gave him shade while he waited, but he
still wasn’t happy. The next day the
tree died, and Jonah went into a tirade.
But God put him in his place.
Jonah! You care more for that
tree than you do the people of Nineveh …
who I died to save…
Wait a minute! Hold the phone pastor; I thought you said
this was in the Old Testament? Jesus
didn’t die yet. How could God have said
that? Well, of course you are
right. He didn’t say that exactly. What he said was that they were children who
didn’t know God. But I think it is very
telling they way God saved them. Jonah
dies for three days. After he rises, he
brings salvation to the whole city. Sound
familiar. That’s Jesus and us. Jesus died his death on the cross, stayed in
the belly of the grave for three days and rose again to bring us
salvation. It’s a great story. It’s a great story of God’s love and
forgiveness. Jesus died to take away our
sins. And through the water of Holy
Baptism he brings you into the church… or should we say He “lets you in?”
The Jews in Jerusalem had a
Nineveh problem
with the Gentiles. They were shocked
that the Holy Spirit came to them. It
took God’s vision to Peter while he was on the roof trying to take a nap to
turn even that great disciples mind about them.
Peter had to see their faith. He
had to see that they had received the Holy Spirit before he was completely
convinced. In the end he said he simply
had not choice. He had to baptize them
because God had opened the door of salvation through Jesus life, death and
resurrection even to Gentiles. And
aren’t you glad He did? You and me
sitting here, well there’s not a Jew in the pew. We are all Gentiles; people who were lost
until faith in Jesus was planted in our hearts through God’s Word, water and
the work of the Holy Spirit. And we’d be
lost too if that same Spirit didn’t come to us every week right here in God’s
Word, preached into your ears. Our faith
would die of malnutrition if that same Spirit didn’t use the bread and wine,
and the body and blood of Jesus to make it grow. When you look around the room here you can
glorify God and say with the church at Jerusalem ,
Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. (Acts 11:18, ESV)
Ah, but there’s
always just a bit more isn’t there. In
fact, we began today with a story that may have come at you in a way you didn’t
like. We think we are open to have the
Good News of sharing Jesus with other folks.
But I think, in reality, we have a Nineveh
problem. Well, it’s only natural. There are folks out there who are
different. In Sioux Falls the racial
fabric is changing quickly. How many of
you have thought to yourself that you’re glad we don’t have to deal with all
that kind of change? How’s your Spanish? Or even closer to home. There are people right here in Grand Marais,
that you’d rather would just get up and walk out. “Why did we let them in here anyway?” And that’s the city we’re talking about, not
to mention 2017 W Hwy 61, Grand Marais, MN, 55604. How would you react if someone like that
walked into our church? Do you have a Nineveh problem?
Of course, you
do. It’s called sin. It comes from a sinful nature. It lives and breathes death into you every
day. It’s not just the Nineveh issue either. That three-letter word with “I” in the middle
is part of everything you do. You try to
tackle it, but you can’t. You try to
ignore it but you can’t. You want to do
better but you can’t. When you see that,
that’s when you know you need a Savior. That’s
when you rejoice that God “let you in” to the family through baptism. The water connected with God’s Word through
the work of the Holy Spirit
…indicates that
the Old Adam [that is the sinful nature] in us should by daily contrition and
repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new
man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and
purity forever. [Luther’s Small Catechism]
…to quote the Small Catechism. It’s about Jesus and what He as done for
you.
he saved us, not because of works done by us in
righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom
he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The
saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those
who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
These things are excellent and profitable for people. (Titus 3:5-8, ESV)
In that life-giving water, God created a New Man that is
devoted to good works. It rejoices in
the spreading of the Good News of Jesus to everyone. So, what about those Nineveh people out
there? Well, Jesus shed His holy and
precious blood for them, too. Faith in
Jesus come by hearing (Romans 10:17). They belong here. You might ask the question; how do we get them
to come? The answer is, we don’t. The Holy Spirit does. He uses you, He works through you, right where
He has plopped you down to be His inviting voice. Pray that He would open your heart to the
opportunities. Invite a biker to church,
that’d be a good start. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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