We have, as you know, tried over the last three weeks to allow God to rebuild our faith and to help us rediscover our first love. We started, of necessity, at the foot of the Cross. We started with the message by which we are all saved. We started with Peter preaching the Gospel to Cornelius and his household:
“We are witnesses of everything [Jesus] did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Acts 10:39-43.
It was a reminder that we are saved by grace, through faith. It was a reminder that we bring nothing to the table -- that Jesus accomplished on the Cross what no amount of work on our part ever could have accomplished. And, it was a reminder of the power of the Gospel message:
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Acts 10:44-46.
When Peter saw that the message of the Cross was for all men, he immediately commanded that Cornelius and his household be baptized. Peter knew the importance of this essential next step -- in order for Cornelius and his household to experience the new life Jesus promised they would also need to experience spiritual death. They needed to die with Jesus on the Cross and be raised with him in His resurrection.
After this point, we know little with certainty about the faith journey of Cornelius and his family. The Bible is silent on the rest of the story. All we know is that Peter stayed with Cornelius for a few days after the dramatic conversion and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
So, at this point I am asking you to indulge me with a little uncharacteristic speculation. I doubt seriously that Peter spent the next few days teaching Cornelius about some of the finer points of theology -- the nature of the godhead or predestination and election. Indeed, these ideas may well have been unknown and foreign to Peter.
Rather I suspect that Cornelius had a few more pressing questions on his mind. Not in any particular order, but I suspect the first thing he wanted to know was what it was like for Peter to have walked with God incarnate -- what must it have been like to a have had a personal, face-to-face relationship with the living God?! I also suspect that Cornelius would have wanted an explanation of what had happened when he, his family and his friends heard the message (clearly, no one told them in advance that they would be speaking in tongues!). Finally, I suspect they wanted to know what would happen next.
The truth is that these three questions are intimately related. When you think about it, these are questions that any new believer should have: (1) what is it like to have a personal relationship with Jesus; (2) what happened to me spiritually when I first believed; and (3) what should I expect the rest of the journey to look like?
In my mind's eye, anyway, I have this vision of Peter talking somewhere during those few days about how confused he and the other apostles where during much of their time with Jesus. I have this idea of Peter talking about how much they misunderstood simple things like what Jesus meant by many of the parables, that to be first in the kingdom of God you had to take on the life of a slave and, most of all, how the physical life of Jesus on earth unexpectedly came to an end -- how Peter himself denied three times knowing Him.
I have this idea of Peter telling Cornelius that a time came when Jesus said that he would be leaving, but another would be coming. And more than that, that the disciples should be glad, for this other -- the Holy Spirit -- would be the one to lead them for the remainder of their earthly journey. The Holy Spirit of God would "teach them all things" and remind them of everything Jesus had said.
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
“You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
John 14:15-31.
True to the word of Jesus, about fifty days after Jesus was raised from the dead (or nine or ten days after he ascended to heaven) the promised Holy Spirit was poured out over the apostles. Only then did the things the apostles learned while with Jesus make sense. Only then did these mere men -- men with no education and no worldly status -- suddenly have to power to change the world and the course of history.
Its funny, but we often think of the Christian journey as being in two phases. The first phase we call "justification" -- the events leading to and including salvation; and the second being "sanctification" -- the process of maturing in our faith. It is a useful construct to remind us that we are saved by "grace" and not by "works." But I think it can also be confusing.
In fact, I think there is only one phase of the Christian journey. Yes, it is the grace of God that saves us. But it is that same grace of God that matures us. When God's Spirit comes into us, spiritual growth is not an option -- God loves us too much to leave us as He found us once we made the decision to follow Him.
This true consequence of spiritual death and rebirth is something the teachers of the law could not understand. Consider the encounter Jesus had with Nicodemus.
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done through God.
John 3:1-21
Who knows whether Nicodemus ever understood what Jesus meant when he said that in order to enter the kingdom of God one needed to be "born again." I doubt at the time Jesus uttered those words the disciples understood them either. But, by the time he met Cornelius what it meant to be "born again" was crystal clear to Peter. He not only knew what it meant intellectually -- he had experienced it for himself. And, it was not simply about the power to save, but it was about the power to live life to the fullest. It was a about a power to change the way we live and indeed the world around us!
In the last couple of verses quoted from John 3 above, Jesus talks about darkness and light. In the very last line He says "But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done through God. I don't often refer to the King James version, but for some reason I felt compelled to do so this time. Here is the way it is stated there: But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The word "wrought" there is as in "wrought iron." It is the type of iron produced by a craftsman -- hammered, molded and polished. The good things we do we do not deserve credit for -- they are actually the handiwork of God. Nor do we need to worry about the speed of our own transformation -- it is in the timing of the master craftsman. Just something to think about.
Finally, I want to close with this. I know its a bit of an aside -- but significant nonetheless.
There is one thing that really jumped out at me as I read and reread both Acts Chapter 2 and Acts Chapters 10 and 11. Have you ever noticed how the writer of Acts (Luke) never talks about the impact of the Holy Spirit on those who were speaking in tongues -- but only on those who heard?
In Acts 2 we read nothing about how the apostles felt or where impacted when Jews from many nations heard what they were saying in their own languages. But we do know how those who heard were impacted -- they stuck around to hear Peter preach the gospel, and 3000 were saved that day!
Likewise, in Acts Chapter 10 the Bible says nothing about how speaking in tongues impacted Cornelius, his family and his close friends. But we do know how Peter and the circumcised believers with him reacted -- they were convinced that the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross was for the benefit of all mankind -- and not just the Jews (PRAISE GOD)!!
My point is this. I think that there are many who think that speaking in tongues is evidence that they have spiritually arrived. In truth, speaking in tongues is just evidence of the power of God. Its not actually primarily for us -- its primarily for the kingdom. It is evidence of the power by which God changes the world through those who believe. Again, just something to think about.
Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. In the Law it is written:
“With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.
1 Corinthians 14:20-24There is so much more to say about this week. But, I suppose this will have to be enough for now.
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