Sermon on the Acts reading for Easter 5.

Acts 11:1-18 (NRSV)

Peter’s Report to the Church at Jerusalem

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, ³saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ ⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ⁵‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. ⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” ⁸But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” ⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” ¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; ¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” ¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁷If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ ¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’ 

In this post Easter season, the Church recommends that the readings from Acts take precedence even over the Gospel readings, which hint at their great importance. Barclay points out that this particular passage is important because Luke, even though he was greatly limited in space, repeats it. At the time of writing, writers were limited to a roll of papyrus; the longest available was about 35 feet long – almost precisely the length used by Acts. Into this space, Luke would have had to face the challenge of what to leave out. Barclay adds: “He must have selected with the greatest care what he was going to preserve and set down; and yet he finds this incident of Peter and Cornelius of such paramount importance that he relates it in full twice.”

It was possible, in these early days, that Christianity would be just another small and rather minor sect within Judaism. All the first Christians were Jews and traditional Judaism would have made them keep this new revelation to themselves, as God could not have meant it for all people – especially the much despised Gentiles! Luke therefore stresses that this is not so, and that Jesus came for ALL people without exception – as Barclay concludes: “Luke gives this incident in full twice over because he sees it as a notable mile-stone on the road along which the Church was groping its way to the conception of a world for Christ.”

Strict Jews, as we know, would have nothing to do with Gentiles and would never have ever entered a Gentile house and would certainly never have shared a meal with them. By doing what Peter did caused an absolute outrage.

Peter defended himself, not by using argument; he simply stated some facts. Whatever his critics might say, the Holy Spirit had come upon these Gentiles in the most notable way – and here there was no argument.

Peter had taken six people with him so a total of seven made up his party. In Egyptian law, seven witnesses were necessary to prove a case. In Roman law, seven seals were necessary to authenticate an important document. Barclay suggests the following:

“… Peter is in effect saying, ‘I am not arguing with you. I am telling you the facts and of these facts there are seven witnesses. The case is proved.’”

The proof of Christianity lies in the facts. It is unlikely that anyone has ever been ‘argued into’ Christianity. Christianity is proven because it works – that it does change the lives of people – it makes bad people good; it brings to people the Spirit of Christ. Barclay argues convincingly that:

“… the duty of the Christian is not to talk about his faith but to demonstrate his faith. It is when a man’s deeds give the lie to his words that the gravest discredit is brought to Christianity; it is when a man’s words are guaranteed by his deeds that the world is presented with an argument for Christianity which will brook no denial.”

My own theology was transformed when those whom I thought I agreed with showed so little love and wisdom, and my then so-called opponents revealed to me the depth of insight and love and grace that made it obvious to me that they were filled with the Spirit of Christ.

I have been reading a lovely book entitled: Rebels and Reformers: Christian renewal in the 20^th Century by Trevor Beeson. As you know, I am a great fan of biographies, my only book of any significance being a work of biographical studies of African leaders. Why I find them important is that I believe the Holy Spirit makes it possible for people to have their lives transformed and in the process transform the world where they are, and so make the kingdom of God a reality in the here and now.

The Church in the UK is on its knees – not in the way it should be – being one with our Lord in prayer; but dying slowly but surely. I believe this is because people cannot see the relevance of the Church anymore because – in the main – being part of the Church seems to make such little difference. In Beeson’s book, those who are included are always there because their contribution made a difference, and in them the world experienced a glimpse of what it meant to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

In our reading from Acts, the yard stick was the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people – their lives were profoundly different – and bore witness to the fact that God was with them and within them – they were baptized with the Spirit. The following is the stunning example of George Tyrrell (1861-1909):

Tyrrell was a Roman Catholic theologian who was expelled from the Jesuit Order because of his beliefs and his criticisms of ecclesiastical authority … but I believe it was the Church that got things wrong – not Tyrrell.

Tyrrell made a sharp distinction between theology as embodied in abstract, static, doctrinal statements and theology as a dynamic, personal experience and response to divine revelation. Like the experience of Peter and the six in our Acts reading, Tyrrell believed that the truth of religious belief is to be tested by its effects on the believers’ way of life, not only in their ethical behaviour, but also in their spiritual lives. He claimed (rightly in my view) that it is a waste of time trying to fathom the intricacies of doctrine and stated that ‘… the refinements of Scholastic metaphysics on the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Real Presence were “even further from the truth than the simple faith of a peasant.”’ The truth of revelation cannot be conveyed in theological statements, but only in fact and experience and he contrasted living faith and dead theology.

It is only possible to live a godly life if one is enabled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; our faith is revealed – yes – but not as an intellectual assent only. Barclay reminded us earlier that few come to Christ through argument, but many are attracted to a transformed life. Earlier in our discussions I pointed out that the biblical notion of faith was not so much an intellectual assent to a set of doctrines, but a motivation to action.

We reflect on God’s Word, the Scriptures, which includes our minds, but more, it is a spiritual and not merely an intellectual exercise. It is important that we grasp things with our minds, but also that we allow God to commune with our Spirits. Jesus is alive and so speaks to us through the Word, but in the process touches us at the core of our being. Worship is real when we make contact: when the infinite God – the ground of all being – touches us at the core of who we are – our ‘being’.

We need to use our minds, of course, but in a different way. We must not commit intellectual suicide and therefore not confront the issues that come our way, because we are cerebral beings. Nothing is more off-putting than a rank mindless fundamentalism. But our minds are linked with our Spirits and we only realize true wisdom when, prayerfully, we are united with Christ in a living, vibrant relationship. When this happens, our thinking is translated into action because our believing is a cerebral thing and much, much more; it is deeply spiritual – as Tyrrell put it – it living faith and not dead theology. St Paul put it this way: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12.1-2)