The Book of Acts: The beginnings of the Jesus Movement

The good news for everyone this morning: ALL are invited into God's family

Two details to notice:

1. Cornelius is a ROMAN SOLDIER
-Caesarea is a vital trade city to the Roman Empire
-Being stationed here implies trust and status

2. Cornelius is DEVOUT and GOD-FEARING
-Many Gentiles (non-jews) came to acknowledge the Jewish God (Yaweh) as the only God
-Perhaps due to the beautifully captivating lives of those following Jesus

Greek word for 'good' is 'kalos'

Kalos = beautiful and captivating, or a good that inspires others to embrace what is lovely, beautiful, and praiseworthy.

The Gospel on display in your life may be the reason that someone steps out of darkness and into a life with God

Three important details to notice:

1. Peter is praying in the afternoon
-praying in the morning, afternoon, and evening was a normal prayer rhythm for the Jewish community. This is called 'The Daily Office', and millions of Jesus followers engage with this prayer rhythm to this day.

2. Peter normalizes getting distracted in prayer

3. Peter PUFFS UP at God's invitation to eat foods that he wouldn't normally touch

"and these food laws…served to mark out the Jewish people from their non-Jewish neighbors, a rule reinforced by the prohibition on Jews eating with non-Jews, sharing table fellowship. The reasoning was clear: the people you sit down and eat with are 'family', but the Jewish 'family' has been called by God to be separate, to bear witness to his special love and grace to the world, and must not therefore compromise with the world."
-N.T. Wright

Peter has MORE than a dramatic dietary preference

1. food is connected to 'those' people
2. to eat that food is to associate with 'those' people
3. to associate with 'those' people is to welcome them into God's family

Peter has an apocalypse moment

-NOT a Hollywood apocalypse

apokalypsis is the greek word for apocalypse

Meaning:
-something previously unknown, now known
-something previously hidden, now unveiled

Example:
-Dorothy and Toto realizing that there is no Wizard of Oz, just a tiny man pulling levers when the curtain is pulled back

When we're faced with reality, we're provoked to reconsider what we once thought was true

When the curtain is pulled back, Peter sees that God's plan all along was to include ALL nations in the blessings of belonging to God's family

Two important themes from Peter's sermon:

1. PEACE being accomplished through Jesus
2. NO requirements to join God's family other than FAITH

Acts 2:
-The Apostles (Jewish men) received the Spirit
Acts 10:
-Roman Gentiles (men and women) received the Spirit

Acts 2:
-The Apostles began speaking in other languages
Acts 10:
-The Roman Gentiles began speaking in other languages

We can be offended, but the truth remains:

1. ALL are invited into the family of God
2. Faith in Jesus, through grace, is the only requirement
3. Our assurance of belonging to this family is the Holy Spirit's work of redemption in our lives

God does MORE than just tolerate Peter and Cornelius in their brokenness, He transforms them.

1. Peter has to give up his status as God's ONLY chosen people
2. Cornelius has to trust that JESUS, a Jewish Rabbi, is the true Lord, King and Messiah, NOT the Roman Emperor or dozens of gods in Roman culture

Don't settle for God just tolerating you. Give into the transformation that is knocking at the door of your heart.

The invitation for First B:

1. Find your prayer rhythm
-where is your rooftop? (where will you pray?)
-what is your rhythm? (when and how will you engage in prayer?)

Prayer on the rooftop is our path to joining in on what God is up to downstairs!

“The aim is not to get God in on what I think he should be doing. Rather, the aim of prayer is to get us in on what God is doing, become aware of it, join it, and enjoy the fruit of participation.” -Tyler Staton

The rooftop should MOVE us toward PARTICIPATION with God.

Do you feel like Cornelius?
-on the outside looking in
-others keep blocking you from a chair at the table
-never experiencing belonging in the family of God
-unseen, unknown, and unloved

God IS nudging someone on the rooftop to go downstairs and assure YOU that God's family is for you.

When God sends someone downstairs to be the visible love of Christ to you, ACCEPT IT.

Do you feel like Peter?
-confident in your knowledge about God
-nothing new to learn or unlearn
-resistant to what God might be up to

Keep going to the rooftop

Move beyond information and experience transformation when you step into participation

Take the step downstairs! There is a Cornelius desperate to be invited by you.