Peter: Openness - Acts 9:32 - 11:18

As we start looking into the life of Apostle Peter beginning with the 32nd verse, there can be no doubt about his sincerity and security in Christ. He is already doing missionary work for he is visiting the saints in Lydda. He has Holy Spirit power because he uses it to heal the paralytic man, Aeneas and to restore the life of Dorcas. However, Peter still had a serious problem and it was simply that he was still a Jew at heart. He had been with Jesus during his three years on earth, and after the resurrection he was fully convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, the Jewish Messiah they had awaited so long; but he still was not convinced that Christ’s death was also for the Gentiles. He had not fully accepted the fact that the Jewish Law only identified sin and had no saving power. It may be that I am being a little hard on Peter; [however at this point in time] at least he had not given up the idea that it was not necessary to abide by all the thousands of Jewish laws.

Specifically, he still believed that certain foods were unclean and should not be eaten and he felt uncomfortable visiting, and especially eating at the same table with a Gentile. There were certain meats that he would not eat, pork is a good example, and it is still on the list of foods that Jews today will not eat. Note: To his credit, Peter later was shown a vision that changed his mind and caused him to accept the teachings under the new covenant. This will be discussed in this lesson.

I want to be open and above board with you who read these lessons. I am a Christian and that simply means that I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and try in my feeble way to be as much like Christ as it is possible for a sinner [saved by grace] to be. Yes, I am a Christian first and foremost! However, I believe that the bible teaches that I should be a member of His church—the one that Jesus died for and established at Pentecost. I realize that He did not name the church with a specific name such as Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Pentecost, Catholic, or any other such name. However the Forerunner was called John the Baptist. The Baptist doctoring, as I understand it, is based upon the Great Commission that Christ gave the church just before he ascended. I personally believe that Southern Baptist beliefs and practices are derived from the instructions given to the early church and that is why I am a Baptist.

It must be emphasized again that Peter was a Christian, with great potential to be one of the greatest leaders in the new church movement. His sermon at Pentecost was a powerful witness for Christ. He demonstrated the power of God at the Gate Beautiful and in the name of Christ he commanded the cripple to arise and walk. Both he and John proclaimed their faith in Christ even while Stephen was being stoned. In other words, he was willing to risk his life in proclaiming Christ during dangerous times.

He was living in Jerusalem and his first great work was in his home town as he furnished the leadership to make Christianity flourish there among the Jews that were being converted. However he also traveled to various cities including Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea preaching Christ, therefore he was one of the early missionaries doing as instructed by Jesus in the Commission to go into the world and preach…not just to those in Jerusalem. Even so, his message was focused on the salvation of Jews. He proved to be open to change and he became willing to preach to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

The lesson title is PETER; OPENNESS and it is to let us know that we too must remain open minded so that we can receive and believe the new instructions we are given throughout the NT. Peter was in Joppa where he raised Tabitha or [Dorcas] from death. Joppa is the modern Jaffa that is now a part of Tel Aviv and is located on the Mediterranean coast. After Dorcas was restored to life, Peter resided in the home of Simon the tanner of leather for a time. This is the first act that showed that he was becoming open to new teachings. You see, a tanner had to handle the skins of dead animals, and under the Jewish law, tanners were considered unclean and Jews were not to associate with them.

If you want this lesson to become alive and relevant to you as a member of this Sunday school class, you must realize that you would have been considered ceremonially unclean. Most of us have killed and dressed a dead squirrel, deer, cow or hog or cleaned a chicken or duck and we did not go through a Jewish ceremonial cleansing; therefore under law we are defiled.

In chapter ten Cornelius enters the life of Peter. He was a Roman Centurion, that is, he was a Roman officer in charge of 100 soldiers. Below is a comparison of Roman troops and American armies.
USA Roman
10 men in a squad
100 men in a company…..centuries [each man called centurion]…Cornelius
600 men in a battalion……cohort
6000 men in a division…..Legion

Cornelius was on duty in Caesarea, 32 miles north of Joppa, the largest city on the Mediterranean Sea, and the capitol of the Roman Province of Judah. It was the first city to have Gentile Christians and a NON-Jewish church. Cornelius was a converted Christian that drew the attention of Jesus, who caused him to witness a vision in which he was directed to send Peter word that he was to visit Caesarea. He obeyed the Lord and sent messengers to Joppa to invite Peter to visit him.

At approximately the same time, Peter went up on the roof of the home of Simon in Joppa where he saw the vision of the huge sheet coming down out of heaven loaded with all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. God spoke to Peter and told him to kill and eat. Peter declined saying that he did not eat unclean meat. The voice came back saying to him that he should not call unclean anything that God had made clean. Through spiritual discernment Peter was able to interpret this vision to mean that all Christian men are acceptable to God whether Jew or Gentile. Peter accepted this new insight and his mind was opened to the truth of Scriptures that state that Christ died for all men…who-so-ever will accept Him.

Using his new insight, Peter welcomed the visitors from Caesarea and went with them on their return to visit with Cornelius. Knowing how Peter had been in the past, Cornelius was surprised when Peter arrived and was willing to meet and associate with him and his followers. The action of Cornelius proves the scripture to be true when it tells us that he will visit those who diligently seek Him. If you will turn to 10: 34-43 you will find the very heart of the gospel which teaches us that;

· Jesus was the Son of God, sent to earth equipped with the Holy Spirit and the power there-of. Jesus is God’s gift to man and was sent because of God’s love for us.
· Jesus wanted to banish pain and sorrow from all people as witnessed by his ministry of preaching and healing.
· Jesus was crucified by the Jews, died a horrible death simply because that is what sin can do.
· Jesus arose, conquered death, sin and the grave and proved that his power could not be defeated.
· Preachers and teachers of the Word are witnesses of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The Word is proof that Christ is not a figure or object in a book but He is a living being that man meets in a personal relationship.
· When man believes and repents the results are complete forgiveness and a new personal relationship with God the Father, and Jesus the Son which should have always existed but was cut off by that first sin of disobedience in the Garden.

When Peter finished preaching the sermon outlined above, a revival broke out, and many were saved and received the Holy Spirit. Then Peter suggested that they be baptized. To me this is proof that we receive the Holy Spirit at the time we are saved.

In the first 18 verses of chapter 11 we find that Peter faced some problems when he returned to Jerusalem and the Jewish Christians confronted him accusing him of visiting and eating with the Gentiles. Peter explained what had transpired and in the end these people accepted him and they too became open-minded. This incident proved to be a major step forward for the early church and made it much easier in the future for others that ministered to the people. However, this problem was never completely solved during the first century of the church as Satan continued to work against the early church by every means he could muster.

There is relevancy in this story for us today. The reaction of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem toward what Peter had done in Caesarea should teach us a lesson about problems that arise in our churches. When disagreements arise with other Christians it is important that we hear them out…get their side of the story…before we completely close our minds and break off fellowship. The Holy Spirit may have a special lesson to teach us through our open-mindedness.