Advance The Kingdom | Acts 10

You know last week we had a guest preacher, LJ - and I think he did a great job. It was an amazing morning of worship - Katie led us through some really beautiful reflections on what the Psalms tell us about God. I walked away Sunday morning thinking, “we did a good job today.” But do you know what I was most proud of? It wasn’t anything that was done on this stage. It was you guys. You see, LJ used to be a pastor, he was in ministry for a lot of years, but he left the ministry and I don’t know all the details, but I think it had something to do with the pandemic. And so he left the ministry behind for years. But God wasn’t done with LJ’s ministry. He was hired as the discipleship pastor at Frontline back in January. But the discipleship pastor at Frontline doesn’t preach - that’s not in the job description. What he did last week was his first time preaching in years. His comment to me afterwards was that this church felt familiar. It felt like home. He used to lead a church plant that was VERY similar to our space, and this space became a comfortable re-entry into ministry for LJ. And I’m proud of him - I think he did a great job, but I’m also proud of you all. You created an environment where someone could reconnect to what God is calling them to do. A church that felt like coming home. 

And here’s the thing with that - I am starting to notice a trend. When people talk about Center Church there’s a few things that jump out, common themes people talk about. People usually mention the kids programming - how it’s so awesome that we have kids running around, they’ll mention awesome worship leading from Katie, we’re known for that. A commitment to helping kids through Hand 2 hand, a commitment to teenagers with student ministries, a pastor who needs a haircut - this is what we are known for. But there is a new thing that I have realized is a common theme in this community. You have created a place where people feel safe to come home. If you’re looking for a church that makes it look really good on the outside - where we hide sin and pretend we’re not struggling, where we draw lines on who is good and who is bad, who is in and who is out and judge those on the other side of our line - you can probably find those churches out there. We’re the church for everybody else. A house for sinners and saints to grow closer to Jesus. And the stories are starting to pile up. The man who grew up in the church, but his parents used religion as a bludgeon for his entire childhood, and so as soon as he was 18 he got out of that house and walked away from the church entirely. For decades. And then some stuff happened in life, and he started looking for answers about God - and so he walked through the doors of this church, and found a place where it was safe to rediscover Jesus. Or the person who went through a messy divorce, and the church they were attending said, “there’s no place for you here” - they drew a line and said get out. Maybe not with the words, but with the looks, the whispered comments. And they came here and found a place of healing. Or the parents with babies. Who bring their children into church and those children have the audacity to act like children. They’re noisy, and disruptive and they cry out and make noise - and they come through the doors of this church and find a family. A place where it is safe to parent. A place where we can celebrate and struggle, a place where we can share frustrations and failures, but also encourage and lift up and share good ideas back and forth. Where the most destructive kids in the church are probably the pastor’s kids. There are so many places in this world that expect you to be a finished product - but Center has become a church for everybody else, a church you can call home. 

And here’s why this is important - the world, the entire world, has taught you to build walls. To draw lines and separate. Maybe it’s politics - democrats, republicans, libertarians. Maybe it’s socio-economics, like money - we’ve got people in the 1%, the upper class, the middle class, people in poverty. We divide over how we school our children - homeschool, Christian school, public school. We even divide over our FOOD. Like the thing we put in our body - Organic, cage free, red dye, synthetic… antibiotics, whatever - the whole world spends all of its time finding ways to cut us up into separate groups, to divide us and put us into our little categories. But in this place we have a chance to be something different, to create something different. The life you have lived so far has taught you to put up walls. To put your shields up so that you don’t get hurt. And honestly, I get it - it’s a mess out there, it’s a good idea to live with your shields up. But in this place, we have a chance to create something different. To build a community where people are safe to come, to put down their shields, to erase the dividing lines and find healing for their souls. And I have seen it. Over and over I have heard those stories, and their not big testimony video worthy stories. They’re small things. People who expected judgment and walls come into this place and find a chance to rediscover Jesus. And I am so proud of you, for creating that space. Better than any worship song, better than any kid’s lesson plan, better than any sermon I could preach - to be the church for everyone else, to create a place where it is safe to come home to Jesus. I have seen it, and it is beautiful.

Today is the last sermon in our series called “Rooted” - for the last month we have been following this guy Peter on his journey to become more like Jesus, on his path to become a disciple. And what we’re going to see is that Peter lived in a world with a lot of dividing lines, a lot of walls built up between people - and God had a powerful message for Peter, and I think it’s exactly what we need to hear this morning here at Center Church. So if you want to grab your bibles, we are going to spend time in Acts, chapter 10, and while you’re looking that up let me set the table a little bit. When it comes to titles in the bible, the bible is maybe the LEAST creative book on the planet. The book of Luke written by a guy named Luke - simple, straightforward. Romans is a letter written to the city of ROME. Zero creativity, just simple titles. Acts is just the actions of the disciples after Jesus went back into heaven. The whole book is just narrative about what the disciples were up to after Jesus rose from the dead. And the book sort of jumps between two characters - Peter and Paul. And Peter, we’ve talked about this before, he stayed in Jerusalem and set up a church there. His congregation was basically 100% jewish heritage. Paul was traveling all over the world, but Peter stayed in Jerusalem. Peter’s church was a bunch of jewish people, who saw what Jesus did and converted to followers of Christ. And so we open up in Acts, chapter 10, and I want to mention i’m reading the New Living Translation. There’s a lot of good translations - but if you’re reading it on your phone, if you toggle it to NLT, the words will match exactly. 

Acts, chapter 10, verse 1, [read v.1-8]. So there’s this guy Cornelius. A Roman army officer, in charge of the Italian regiment. Now this guy, on paper, is a slam dunk for the kingdom of God. He’s devout, he’s giving generously to the poor, praying all the time - this is a good dude. He’s out here doing his best, and it sounds like he’s doing better than most of us do. But here’s what I want you to catch - even the best life you can live without Jesus is still missing something. Cornelius is a good person, but being a good person is not enough. He even prays to God, like generically. But then an angel shows up and says, “hey - you’re missing something, go find Peter.” Pretty much any time an angel shows up, it’s pretty scary - so he immediately sends his men to go get Peter. Now this is going to come up again in a minute - but I want you to pay attention to who visits who. Cornelius does not go. Cornelius sends men to go get Peter. And that’s exactly what the angel instructed. He didn’t say “go TO Peter” - he said “go GET Peter” - hang on to that, we’re going to need it in a minute.

The story continues in verse 9, [read v.9-12]. So let me just pause right there to say, “huh, weird.” Peter’s on the roof, waiting for lunch, and he has a vision - where a sheet comes down out of heaven with a bunch of animals on it. Weird! [read v.13-16]. You ever read something in the bible and then you’re just like, “what was THAT?!?” Peter’s on the roof waiting for lunch, which is already a little weird, I don’t spend a lot of time hanging out on MY roof but whatever. Then he has this crazy vision where there’s a sheet and it’s full of weirdo animals - reptiles and whatnot. But Peter says, “No, I won’t eat those - I’m Jewish and Jewish dietary rules say those foods are impure. So I don’t eat that stuff.” And then apparently this happens three times? What did THAT even look like? Did the sheet, like, rewind and go back up into heaven? ANd then come back down? Eat this. No. Sheet goes back up, sheet comes back down. Eat this. No. It’s a very strange vision, but verse 15 is the key. Verse 15, let’s put that on the screen. [read v.15]. I’ll give you a little foreshadowing - God is not interested in what Peter eats for lunch. We’re not talking about animals. 

One thing that might help us understand is to remember the Jewish context. Jewish people throughout their entire existence, ever since Moses, as a people they have always had a set of rules that keeps them distinct from their neighbors. They are only allowed to marry people from the tribes of Israel. They were certain clothes, they eat specific foods and avoid other foods, they even have rules about beards and tattoos and fabrics. And a lot of these customs were designed to keep them separate from the people around them. And to be honest, a lot of it was that they considered themselves to be better than everyone else. They were God’s chosen people. Jewish people would look around at the other people living in the land and say, “you’re not God’s chosen people. WE are God’s chosen people. God loves us, not you.” There were Jewish people and then there were gentiles. Gentile is sort of just a blanket term that means “not jewish.” Jewish people were closer to God because God chose them. They’re his favorites. An entire country that believed God loved them more than any of the other countries. And that’s what Peter grew up with. That’s the church Peter was leading.

But then God gives Peter this weird vision and right in the middle of it, verse 17 [read v.17-20]. So while Peter is pondering sheets full of reptiles falling from the sky - there’s a knock at the door. And I’m so glad that it says Peter was perplexed, because I was feeling the same thing. This is so weird, but then there’s a knock at the door. And there’s these guys who say, “hey, we’re from Cornelius’ house - he’s pretty cool, please come with us. So Peter goes to Cornelius’ house and we jump down to verse 28, [read v.28a]. Let me stop just right there. It was ILLEGAL for a jewish person to associate or even VISIT with a gentile. Do you remember that I said it was important that Peter had to come to him? Cornelius didn’t go to Peter - Peter had to GO to Cornelius, which apparently is illegal. I mean, wow. I always knew that Jewish people had these separate rules - can’t get married to other people, eat differently, but I never realized how strong those rules are. They can’t even go to someone’s house - if they’re not jewish. We are God’s super special chosen people and we only hang out with other super special chosen people. We wear pink on Wednesdays and you can’t sit with us. But look at the rest of the verse, I only read the first half. [read v.28]. Peter is connecting the dots. Peter is thinking about his vision, and putting that together with the knock on his door. Now I’m not going to lie to you - when I first read Peter’s vision, my first thought was that this was about food. Sometimes people will say, “well how come Christians don’t follow the Jewish dietary laws from the old testament?” and I used to respond, “because of Peter’s vision! It’s okay to eat this stuff now.” I thought that was the whole point of this story - but if you keep reading, it’s so much MORE than that. Peter realizes that this is not just about food. This is a message about the lines we draw between people. God says, “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” 

And then verse 34 is the bombshell. [read v.34-36]. God does not play favorites. God accepts from every nation those who fear him and do what is right. There is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is lord of all. This might sound like a normal teaching to you and me - to our modern ears we think, “well, of course God accepts people from every nation” - but this was a radical idea for Peter and all his Jewish buddies. God’s favor, God’s chosen people - it’s not about bloodlines or what country you are from. It’s not about what religion you were born in, or how much money you have. God accepts from every nation. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, what customs you grew up with. It doesn’t matter what type of house you have or even what mistakes you have made. God accepts from every nation. God accepts those who fear him and do what is right. Another phrase we use in the church is those who repent and are baptized. God accepts those who live the way he teaches. And here’s what I want you to catch - the key feature of the people of God is not skin color. The key feature of the people of God is not what country they are from, or whether they are from well respected families. No, the key feature in the house of God - the one and ONLY thing we all have in common is repentance. No matter who you are. No matter who you were before you came into this room - the one thing we who follow Jesus have in common is that we have all repented. There is peace with God through Jesus. We give up our sin to follow Jesus. We fear God and do what is right.

Here is why this matters. In the modern world, we obsess over our identity. If you go look at social media accounts - you’ll see a whole bunch of gibberish in the bio line that is designed to tell you who they are. There’s personality test gibberish - I’m an INTJ, or the enneagram - I’m a 6wing2. Horoscopes - I’m a sagittarius but I act like a Leo. There’s educational gibberish - I’m an M.Div, PHD, MD, MBA, DDS (I think that’s a dentist). You’ll the overly political ones. BLM, Free Palestine, MAGA, sticking their pronouns in the  bio. We spend an enormous amount of time presenting ourselves to the world, and then making sure the world respects the way we present ourselves to the world. We OBSESS over our identity. And if we are honest - we all find that stuff really helpful, because then we know who is in and who is out. We know how to draw the lines. I know people - I have some single friends who are on dating apps and I’ll hear stuff from them, “if they have anything pro-trump in their bio - I won’t friend them” or in the other direction, “if they have pronouns their bio - I don’t want anything to do with them.” And I think right now some of you are thinking, “well - yeah! Because then i know who is good and who is bad. Who is ON my team and who is on the OTHER team.” We are a people obsessed with the different categories and the different boxes that the world has given us to choose from. And into the chaos of our cultural fascination with ourselves Peter puts this line: “God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. There is peace with God through Jesus Christ.” For Christians, the only piece of our identification that matters, the only thing that needs to go in the bio line is Jesus. Your sins are different than my sins. Your background is different than my background. In this place the only thing that NEEDS to be the same is that we will kneel next to one another at the feet of Jesus. Repentance is the one universal feature of the Christian family. And I’m not going to read the whole rest of the chapter - but Peter baptizes Cornelius. And there’s a bunch of jewish leaders watching, and they’re baffled. Woah, i didn’t know we could do THAT!

The gospel is for everyone. The gospel is for everyone. The good news we have from the word of God today is that God erases the lines. God tears down the walls. First Jesus erased the line between you and God, then he erased the line between us and the person you are supposed to be reaching. I want to show you something really cool. This series that we’ve been doing, about how to be a disciple, for the imagery there’s a reason we didn’t choose a straight line. Each week has been the next step in following Jesus. First we Know God. Then we find freedom from sin. After we have been freed from sin we discover our purpose. Then we MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the world. And following all of that, when we’re making up visuals you might think footsteps on a path. Or maybe steps going up a staircase, or a trail or something. But we made it a circle, a tree trunk,

[picture of the whole circle] because the last step, after you have been through this whole journey, the last step is to lead someone else through the process. Advance the King

dom Our journey with Jesus leads us all the way back around to the beginning. If your faith is still just about you and your sin - you’re still a baby Christian. And that’s a perfect thing to be if you’re just starting out. But if you’ve been a baby Christian for 20 years, what is going on? Are you living your life like Peter? Just want to hang out with my super special group and everybody lives exactly like me and I put up big walls so i don’t have to think about the people who are still out there and don’t know Jesus. 

 And full confession - I’ll go first. This is me. As a pastor, it’s like a have a built in excuse. “I’m totally dedicated to sharing the gospel, the good news about Jesus. I even do it into a microphone, on a stage…in front of a group of people, the vast majority who already agree with me.” But if you take away my day job - and ask me how much am I sharing the gospel with people who are different than me? I’m probably worse than Peter. I love the safety of our church. I’m so thankful for the community I have found. I praise God that he brought me to Center Church. I’ve got young, impressionable kids - and I’m so thankful my kids get to grow up around your kids. I’m kind of hoping your kids will be a good influence on mine. I know you thought it would go the other way, but I’ll let you in on a secret, pastor’s kids can be a little … uh. [laugh]. But the truth is when you find a precious community, there is such a temptation to lock the door behind you. Can’t we just make faith about each individual person and our struggles with sin and leave it at that? Do we have to bring other people into this? But think about the story of Peter and Cornelius. Think about how much God intervened. There’s a lot of divine intervention in this story. He’s sending visions to Peter, he’s sending angels to Cornelius - he’s PUSHING them beyond their little bubble. And I want you to see the heart of God in this. God did not say, “find an awesome community and then build really big walls to protect it.” Peter says, “God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. THIS is the message of Good News - that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ.”

So here’s where I want to leave this. My challenge for you this week, I want you to hear the good news and I want you to share the good news. First - I want you to hear it. Especially if you’re a first time guest, I know this sermon is sort of a wild entry point. But if that’s you this morning - I hope you hear that God loves you so much, and he wants to connect with you so bad that he pushes us who already know Jesus, to tell you all about Jesus. God is ready to call you clean, right now - here this morning. God says, “don’t call unclean what I have called clean” - he wants to forgive every sin you have ever committed, he wants to wash you clean of every mistake, every wrong thing that has ever existed in your heart and in your life. The only thing you need is the same thing that saved me, and saved every Christian in the room - repentance through Jesus. If you will accept Jesus into your heart as your lord and savior - like Peter said, there is peace with God through Jesus, and you can have that. Please - hear that good news. 

The second challenge, which is for every single person who calls themself a Christian - share the good news. The only line we draw is repentance - so we need to get out there and start erasing the lines. God loves poor people. God loves rich people. God loves democrats. God loves republicans. God loves Lion’s fans. God loves… people who root for other teams - I think. [pause]. God erases the lines between people. There’s no one he doesn’t want to redeem, to wash clean, to save. Our mission statement in the Zero Collective is that we exist to see zero lives unchanged by Jesus. Everything in this series, this discipleship pathway, [put picture back on the screen] leads us back around to the beginning where you can take the good you have been given, and give it to someone else. And chances are there is someone in your life who does not know Jesus. Someone who is unchanged. I wonder who that is for you. Even just one person. Maybe it’s a family member. Co-worker. Your literal neighbor. Your kid’s soccer coach. The check out lady at your favorite grocery store. Ask yourself - how can you start tearing down the walls? How can you start erasing the lines between you and them? Maybe there is someone who you have been meaning to reach out to, and you could get out your phone and text them RIGHT NOW. I remember when I was living in Flushing, over on the east side of the state - they only had like 2-3 coffee shops. And I would hit them all the time, I knew every barista, most of them had my order memorized. I’d walk in, they’d give me my usual. And I remember at one point God convicted me that I had not shared the love of Jesus with anyone outside of my church in a long time - and so I wanted to reach out to my barista, but it felt awkward. I didn’t know how to start, and jumping right to “have you heard the good news about Jesus” felt a little cookie cutter. So at the end of the day, when I was packing up my computer, I just asked him. “Hey John, is there anything i can pray for you about.” It was like there was a line between us, and I got out my eraser. And he said, “Oh, nah - I don’t really have anything on the spot, but thank you.” And I said, “oh, that’s cool - hope you have a good day.” The line was still there, but maybe I erased a little bit of it. It became my habit. On my way out the door I would say, “Hey, any way I can be praying for you?” And he started to have answers for me. Yeah, I’m going through this - or sometimes he would have questions for me about Christianity. The walls got a little smaller, the lines got a little bit erased. Take a second right now. Think about your life. Who is your Cornelius? Who is the person or group of people that you could tell about Jesus? You could invite to church? You could invite to small group? The challenge today is to hear the good news, and share the good news. Let’s pray.