If you have 5 minutes!
Read Acts
11:4-18
4 Starting from the
beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa
praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet
being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I
was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts,
reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and
eat.’ 8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever
entered my mouth.’ 9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call
anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and
then it was all pulled up to heaven again. 11 “Right then three men who had
been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The
Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers
also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had
seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is
called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your
household will be saved.’ 15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them
as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had
said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in
God’s way?” 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised
God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads
to life.”
If you have a bit longer :-)
At first glance it seems Peter’s justification for
breaking with previous Jewish norms was based entirely on his own experience: “I was praying…in a trance I saw a vision…I heard a voice telling me…I replied…The Spirit told me…”
Does this mean then that it is primarily our own
experience that should guide us today? Well, without wanting to negate the
importance of personal experience and whilst acknowledging its validity, we
must recognize that relying on experience alone can get us in bother! What, for
example, do we say to the person utterly convinced that placing their life
savings – and a second mortgage – on one particular horse was a divinely
inspired move? Or what about a more common phenomenon (and one I’ve personally
ascribed to many times) of the peace-test (in other words the belief that if
God is guiding us into something we will automatically have sense of peace
about it)? Not that our feelings don’t guide us at all – or that God doesn’t at
times grant us supernatural peace when we follow his leading – but when applied
absolutely such an emphasis on our feelings can be misleading. Jesus, for
example, was deeply troubled and anxious about going to the cross (as you would
expect) but did it anyway. Jeremiah was deeply disturbed by the things God was
asking him to do and yet pressed on (e.g. Jeremiah 15:10). So if experience can
throw us off at times why was Peter’s allowed to change the whole pattern of
the early church? Was it just that his experience was more fail-proof than
ours?
Well certainly Peter’s experience was more assured
than any I have had. However in verse sixteen Peter’s explanation reveals that
there was also more than just his personal experience at work here (again, though,
not to diminish the importance of this experience). For in verse sixteen he
says: “Then I remembered what the Lord had said…”
These few words are significant! They not only root
Peter’s experience (and the outcome of this experience) in Jesus’ teaching but
– as we’ll see – they actually cement its place in the wider story of
Scripture. This cementing is achieved through one simple word: “gift.”
You see “gift” here refers to the Holy Spirit and
the Holy Spirit is central to understanding the differences between the Old and
New Testaments, indeed Old and New Covenants as they are better rendered. For
some thoughts on this, here is an extract from an essay on the Spirit I wrote
whilst at college:
In Judaism (i.e. before Jesus came on the scene!),
receiving the Spirit was not essential to participation in the covenant
community; rather, ‘the ministry of the Spirit seems to have been limited, with
few exceptions, to the leaders and prophets.’[1] As such, it can be
referred to as a donum superadditum (additional gift).
However, the gift of the Spirit as donum
superadditum (additional gift) was not the anticipated role of the
Spirit in the ‘salvation’ of ‘the age to come,’ within which the created world
would be restored,[2] Israel would be
liberated from their enemies[3] and God’s covenant
would be restored.[4] On the contrary, it
was ‘hoped (especially on the basis of Joel 2:28-32)…that the Spirit of
prophecy would be poured out on all of the restored Israel at the
end’ (e.g. Numbers Rabbah 15.25).[5] This outpouring would
enable ‘ongoing obedience fulfilling the hope of Ezekiel 36:26’[6] thus enabling Israel
to be the hoped for ‘light to the nations.’ (Isa. 42:6)
In other words, before Jesus came, the Israelites
were looking forward to the time when God would restore the covenant he had
previously made with his people; a relationship currently dented by their
rebellion against him. Central to this new covenant would be the outpouring of
the Spirit empowering God’s people to walk in ways that pleased him. Further,
this outpouring of the Spirit would equip the Israelites to fulfil their
original mandate to be a “light to the nations” and see all the nations of the
earth blessed through them (Genesis 12). The early Christians believed that
Jesus had brought about the start of this new covenant. They believed that he
had not only taken away the consequences of their rebellion enabling them to be
forgiven but also that, in doing so, he had released the outpouring of God’s
Spirit and thus granted them the intimacy with God they had so longed for.
This is why when Peter notes that the Spirit has
been poured out on the Gentile believers, his critics are satisfied. Peter’s
experience, whilst startling, is not left field! It is in fact in line with
God’s intentions and promises from the start. This is why when we get to
chapter fifteen and the matter comes up again we see it settled through
Scripture. While Peter’s experience may controversially contravene particular
aspects of the law, it accords with the story of Scripture as a whole and the
direction in which God was heading (albeit few recognized this).
What light does this shed on the question raised
yesterday? How do we discern when God is
doing something unconventional and new and so, although we may feel challenged,
we need to go with it? Or when it is that error or falsehood is creeping in and
we need to stand firm? Should we organise joint healing services with
spiritualists? Is it okay for church to meet in a pub? How do we discern who to
go out with or not go out with? Is polygomy okay for today? And so on and so
on…
Well, some of these are perhaps simpler to deal with
than many of the other condundrums life throws up at us. However, in all cases
I would argue from Acts that the more immersed we are in the overarching story of
Scripture the better prepared we will be to deal with these kinds of
challenges. It does not mean we will always make the best call. However the
more we draw from the wisdom of Scripture and understand the direction in which
it moves the better equipped we will be to navigate the challenges we face
today. Similarly, it is through immersion in Scripture that we are best able to
weigh up our own feelings and experiences and offer insight into the
experiences and feelings of others.
So the application for today? READ THE BIBLE!!! (And
I urge myself in this as much as all of you since I am often poor at reading
the Bible devotionally on my own.)
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