Text: Acts 11:1-18
16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in.
Source Unknown.
The circular life of the Christian is one of daily repentance. Dying and rising with Christ in baptism, remembering our sin and the comfort of our savior who has washed us clean in the blood of the lamb. It is the circular life of sanctification, and God by the working of His Spirit, that we return each week to worship confessing our sins and receiving the Lord’s comfort and forgiveness.
In Christ all are granted forgiveness
The Law of God was given to Moses on the mountain to show how we are to love God and love our neighbor. These 10 commandments, three pertaining to our relationship to God and 7 pertaining to how we live with each other, show who we are, as sinners in a broken world, curb how far off the rails we go in our sinful activity, and guide us as to how we are to live.
They are a mirror of our brokenness not a means to our righteousness.
11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
The Jews here, or as they are called, the circumcision party were seeing a very different distinction between Jew and Gentile or the work of the law and the work of Christ Jesus our Lord.
God here gives Peter a vision – a strange one to be sure – or a sheet from heaven and animals of all kind, clean and unclean and a directive ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ Answering to Peter’s ‘By no means, Lord; referring to clean and unclean animals … and God’s response:
‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
Ill.
Last weekend new members were received into fellowship here at Peace not because they had met some requirement but because they confessed Christ. They gave answer to what Jesus had done for them and what he continues to do by his spirit in them.
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”
That is how God worked in bringing Jew and Gentile into his fold. The Good Shepherd calls, gathers and sustains or as my friend Pastor Monson said, “He feeds, cares for, and chases after lost sheep.” And he does this through his means of word and sacrament and through those who have been entrusted with the care of the sheep where they have been called as under shepherds.
Ill. Baptism of the Barbaric Tribes
Centuries ago, when missionaries went among the barbaric tribes of Western Europe and converted whole nations, baptisms of thousands of people at one time was a common occurrence. One thing the missionaries found was that many of these barbarians insisted on keeping their right hand out of the baptismal water when they were plunged beneath its surface. They were willing to become Christians in every aspect except one; they wanted their strong right arm left free to kill enemies and to use as they please.
Encyclopedia of Illustrations
This is an interesting illustration if the water or the mode of baptism was of significant importance. If my right arm remains free they thought, I can go and do as I please. Again, placing trust in themselves and their own righteousness verses placing trust in a God who is all sufficient.
Again, John baptized with water … a baptism of repentance but baptism instituted by Christ in the name of the Father, Son + and Holy Spirit gives faith, life eternal and the gift of the Holy Spirit connected to the waters of baptism.
True repentance and true faith are God’s gifts and his working. We can’t remain unbelievers and remain his children. The hope in the Law brings death.
Having just completed a study in Galatians with our midweek group we see that even Peter – yes the one with the vision - was led astray. When the circumcision party arrived Peter separated himself from the gentile believers. The apostle Paul had to oppose him to his face, to stand up to him – even an apostle – that the gift of God consists of Christ plus nothing!
Saying:
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” Gal. 3:11 ESV
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal 3:26-27 ESV
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. Gal.5:4 ESV
But Paul leaves them with this exhortation:
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict [or opposition] with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. Gal 5:16-17 NIV
… So much for leaving your hand out of the waters of Holy Baptism., huh?
Trust in the Law brings only death because it is opposed to Christ. Trust in Christ brings life because he fulfilled the Law on our behalf.
Faith is not our work but God’s work in us. Through the word proclaimed and through the means he has provided in baptism.
What did Peter understand?
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”
If we come to faith it is all of God work. If we remain in sin, it is all our own fault.
And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
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