Acts 11:1-18 Breaking Down Barriers

Introduction

The autumn of 1989, was a momentous time in history, as the Berlin wall which had separated West Berlin and East Germany for 28 years was torn down. Although I was only 12 at the time, the images of that event remain firmly in my memory. It was a great moment in history, a moment of celebration as a symbol of division and separation was destroyed.

The Acts passage is about the destruction of another terrible wall built of pride, racism, and superior attitudes. What we find in this passage, is a church struggling to come to terms with change, and facing issues that could threaten to tear it apart – does this sound familiar?! We see the barriers that can so easily be put up between people, and also how we can overcome these divisions.

Background

The early church was a Jewish Church. Jesus was a Jew, his disciples were Jews, and Jesus’ ministry had been spent amongst the Jewish people. And although Jesus’ commission to his disciples in Matthew 28:19 was to “go and make disciples of all nations,” up to this point the followers of Jesus were mostly Jewish.

But now the church was beginning to see Gentiles, non Jews, coming to faith in Christ, and this posed some significant theological and practical problems. For example, the Jewish Christians continued to observe the Old Testament food laws and circumcision, and one question that arose was should Gentile Christians observe these same laws or not. If not, how were Jewish believers to maintain their own obedience to food laws when fellowship in Christ involved eating with unclean Gentiles? And how would close association with Gentile believers affect the relationship of Jewish believers with other Jews who did not share their faith in Christ? These issues were dealt with in more detail at the Council of Jerusalem which you can read about in Acts 15, but in this passage these issues remain unresolved.

And what we see is potential divisions emerging between Jewish and Gentile Christians.

In Acts 11:2 we read, “when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers (i.e. Jewish Christians) criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them." In the previous chapter we learn that Peter, after receiving a vision from God, had visited the home of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who lived in the town of Caesarea. Whilst Peter was with Cornelius and his family, the Holy Spirit came upon them. This event was a turning point for Peter, because he realised that the Holy Spirit, which had been promised by Jesus, and had been poured out on the day of Pentecost, was for all people, and not just the Jews. But now back in Jerusalem, Peter comes under attack by members of the Jewish Christian community for eating with ‘uncircumcised men’ in other words, Gentiles. Although these were fellow Christians, who preached the gospel, who had themselves received the Holy Spirit, they were also still very legalistic in their Jewish practices. If they felt bound by the Jewish food laws, then there could be no fellowship with Gentile Christians, unless the Gentiles were circumcised and observed the Jewish food laws themselves. And so what we find, is that legalism, and fear of what this change meant, was threatening the very mission of the church to carry the message of Jesus into the entire world. What in affect was happening was barriers were being built along religious, racial, and ethnic lines.

And the same can happen today. There are all sorts of barriers that we can build between ourselves and other people. Barriers built along racial, religious, or social grounds. Barriers based on age or sex, upon education, or political affiliation, social or cultural barriers. Whatever the barrier is, it draws a distinction between us and other people. But barriers built on the grounds of racism, ageism, sexism, religious or social and cultural grounds are totally unacceptable, because it is offensive to human dignity, and because it is offensive to God who accepts without discrimination all who repent and believe. What Peter came to learn when he met Cornelius is that God does not show favouritism.

There are also some striking parallels between the church in Jerusalem and the church today. Today the church nationally and locally finds itself in a time of change, and transition, and it we can be left feeling threatened and vulnerable. For example, the church which was once at the very heart of our society, now finds its self on the margins. We are living in an increasingly pluralistic society, where people are interested in spirituality, but reject institutional forms of religion. The church finds itself in a culture, where once it was respected, but now it has to fight to make its voice heard. And the culture of the church and the culture of society can feel so at times very different, and in these situations it can often feel easier to retreat into our church buildings, and stick with what we find familiar, comfortable and safe, rather than engaging with a society we don’t always understand. This in effect builds a barrier which people find hard to cross.

So how did the church overcome these barriers?

1 Dialogue

Notice that Peter did not get drawn into an argument with his critics in Jerusalem. Proverbs 15:1 says, A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.

So Peter describes in great detail what had happened. He relates the vision from God, and his own initial opposition to the vision, and how God challenged him about this, and what happened when he visited the home of Cornelius.

Peter could have easily been drawn into an argument about the law, but it would have been futile. But by explaining what happened, his audience is able to begin to understand the reason for Peter’s actions.

So often the barriers that we create are as a result of not understanding enough about a person or a situation. It is very easy to make assumptions about people, but if we are open to dialogue, it opens us to the possibility of these allowing these assumptions to be challenged and changed, and this is turn can lead to healing and reconciliation. This is one of the reasons why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in South Africa after the end of apartheid.

Constructive dialogue requires a willingness to listen, as well as to be heard, and to allow our perceptions to be challenged. The importance of listening to someone in the midst of a conflict does at least three things:1. it obeys God’s word (James 1:19,20)2. It shows honour to the other person (Phil 2:3)3. It may be God’s way of teaching us something about Himself (as in this text).

2 Following the leading of the Holy Spirit

What we see from this passage in Acts, is that Peter, follows the leading of the Holy Spirit. In verse 12, Peter relates he acted at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who told him to go with the three men who had arrived at his house. Peter goes onto explain in verse 15, how the Holy Spirit came on the people in that house, just as it had done on the day of Pentecost, which demonstrated both to Peter, and to the others that he had heard the Spirit correctly. What we see is the Holy Spirit moving and working and Peter responding.

The Spirit of God is the one that is meant to lead us, as a church and as individuals. But for this to happen, we need to be open to the Spirit, to hear and respond to the leading of the Spirit. To recognise the movement of the Spirit, we need to grow in our intimacy with God. When you go sailing, if you try to sail directly into the wind, the boat comes to a standstill, to get movement you need to set your sails with the wind, and the same is true with God’s Holy Spirit, if we try to go against the Spirit of God, we get no where. Instead we need to go in the direct that the Spirit is leading.

The Holy Spirit is the source of community, and helps build up community, and therefore breaks down the divisions that would otherwise separate people. If our lives as individuals and as a church, are filled by the Holy Spirit, then we should see the fruits of that spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Those things that promote and encourage unity.

3. Submit to the word of God

The third and final point, is that Peter submitted to the word of God. Acts 11:15 Peter says, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with[a]water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' Peter recalls the words that Jesus spoke about baptism, just before he ascended into heaven.

So what is the difference between John’s Baptism and being baptized by the Holy Spirit? John’s baptism was a baptism of preparation – preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah. The Holy Spirit’s baptism was a baptism of identification – identifying those who have placed their faith in Christ into the body, i.e., the church. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, and realised that it was the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had been witnessed on the day of Pentecost. And so Peter realised, “if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" (Acts 11:17) Peter submitted his will, to the word of God.

Conclusion

This issue of how the church was to respond to the inclusion of Gentiles into the Christian faith, could have ended very differently. But because Peter entered into dialogue, because both he, and the church in Jerusalem were open to what the Holy Spirit was doing, and because they submitted to the word of God, they were able to avoid a potential split.

I think we also can draw lessons from this passage both as a church, and also as individuals on how we can help break down the barriers that cane divide people. And Jesus is the example that we follow, because it comes down simply to one command, and that is to love people, the way God loves us. If we are committed to living this way, not only will it prevent barriers being erected in the first place, but it will help break down those we find, just as God has broken down the barriers that once separated us from him.