March 29, 2009: “The Wall Falls and Three are Converted” from Acts 9:32 – 11:18

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If the gospel were to continue to advance to all peoples, the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles would have to come down. This wall had biblical basis, as God himself had chosen the Jews as his people and commanded them to live according to laws that would distinguish them from their Gentile neighbors. But the wall had become wider, higher and longer through the addition of extra-biblical and unbiblical rules that God had never intended.

God uses the vision of the sheet falling from heaven with both clean and unclean creatures on it as a means to teach Peter that the gospel was indeed to go to the Gentiles. With good intentions, wanting to protect truth and maintain purity, Peter initially rejects this idea. But just as Peter raised up the paralyzed and the dead in Acts 9, God raises up Peter from the paralysis of prejudice and the deadness of biblical dogmatism, radically reshaping his thinking.

God sends Peter to take the gospel to Cornelius, a Roman centurion. After Cornelius and many other Gentiles are converted, the gift of the Holy Spirit is poured out on them and they speak in tongues, providing visual proof of their full inclusion in Christ.

Perhaps the most astonishing conversion in this passage is the radical change in the thinking of a large institution—the church. Overlooking the fact that God has gloriously saved Cornelius and many other Gentiles, the Jerusalem Jews are angry simply because Peter has associated with uncircumcised men. But when Peter relates the story of the vision, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, the Jews are immediately quieted and begin to glorify God, recognizing God’s intent to break down the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles and continue the advance of the gospel to all peoples.

March 22, 2009: “Sovereign, Shattering Grace” from Acts 9:1-31

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Do we come to Christ in salvation, or does God come to us? The story of Saul’s conversion and calling underscores the sovereign, shattering grace of God in salvation: sovereign because God is in absolute control and shattering because it breaks apart the chains of sin and sets the captive free.

When man’s opposition to God is at its strongest, God’s power to save is not diminished in the least. Saul was on a rampage against the church; he was not seeking God, but God stopped him dead in his tracks and made him alive in Christ.

Saul receives a unique call to take the gospel to the Gentiles and to suffer much for the name of Jesus Christ. We are the fruit of Saul’s ministry and are called to carry on that ministry. We can learn at least four lessons from Saul’s life that will equip us to live out our calling:

1. We must be willing to suffer for the gospel, understanding that God will strengthen and comfort us through our suffering.
2. We must go in the power of the Spirit, relying on him and seeking his filling.
3. We must nurture a growing passion for Jesus Christ, having a healthy awareness of our sin that keeps the cross fresh and gratitude flowing.
4. We must love the truth of God’s sovereign, shattering grace—that, despite man’s rebellion, God will bring to himself sinners that he has chosen from the foundation of the world.