About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up Peter. Kill and eat."
"Surely not Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure of unclean."
The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."
Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?"
The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself."
Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
Cornelius answered: "Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard you prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.' So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us."
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
Almost the entire passage is from Peter's perspective. Remember this through out this post.
When the Lord gave Peter the vision, Peter acted the way he always knew he should according to the Law. He refused because the animals were declared unclean. But the Lord told him not to call anything impure that He had made clean. Peter had trouble understanding what this meant at first, as did I. Every time I had read this I glazed over it and thought that it meant that if it was a direct creation of God (animals, water, dirt, etc.) then it wasn't unclean. Which coincides with Jesus words about what goes into ma's stomach cannot make him unclean. But there was more to this passage in Acts. When Peter went with the men and met Cornelius, he heard of Cornelius' faith in God and his righteous actions. How Cornelius prayed to God, gave to the poor, and had himself been told by one of the Lord's angels to send for Peter. Peter realized the meaning of his vision and of the Lord's words: "But God has shown me the I should not call any man impure or unclean." This is all good, but why should no man be declared unclean I thought? Why should we not see a murdering rapist and say that he is unclean? Two reasons. The first is that we cannot see other peoples' hearts. There could be anything going on in another person's heart. That criminal could have asked God for forgiveness and became a Christian after his crime. And spend the rest of his time in prison seeking God and sharing the Gospel with others. I even doubt this scenario as I type it, but how do I know it hasn't happened? I do not know the hearts of all the criminals of the world, I barely know my own. Which leads to the second reason, we are all considered unclean by the Law. We so often forget just how bad of a punishment we deserve according to the Law. We don't even see our hearts properly. But Jesus has seen ALL of our hearts. He saw them all as He bled and suffocated on the cross. As HIS body broke when He took our punishment. We do not get to judge who is clean or not. We do not get to judge others by their past for we do not know whether they are saved by Jesus. We can only openly speak of the Gospel to any and all people. For it is as Peter said that God does not show favoritism, but accepts anyone who fears Him does what is right.
Cornelius was a Gentile who did everything God asked of him and in this became a Law for himself in God's name. Too often there are people like Cornelius in the world, but we act like Peter and say we cannot go near what makes us unclean. We pick and choose who we want to share the Gospel with. But we need to realize, that if God showed favoritism when He chose who to save, He could have left us out of the list of those who received His Grace. But He did not do that. So why do we? How do we stop?
Verses 25 and 26 say, As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him ad fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself." Cornelius was a Gentile, and ,in the opinion of the Jews like Peter, was lesser. But Peter told him to stand back up. Peter saw Cornelius as another man just like himself. He didn't have a greater regard for himself, but saw Cornelius as another servant of God. This is the answer. We don't talk about God with everyone else because we forget that they are all real people whom God Loves and who need forgiveness just like us. So the biggest change we can ask God to make in us is to show us how to see those around us as real people like us. Real people who could be lost without Jesus or who could be someone struggling with their walk with God, or who could be a fellow believer that God put there to give us encouragement throughout the day. Everyone is a person, and everyone could be anything. Everyone else could become clean. So until we know that everyone around us is a servant of God, we need to share the Gospel with everyone.
I pray this prayer as I walk around my peers at college. As I go about this life. I do not want to forget that my life could've been easily tossed aside in the mind of another believer. I put myself in the the position of the soul of another. The biggest lesson I've learned from this though is that we should not speak out of selfish ambition. We need to speak with a broken heart that is pouring out God's Love on the person we're speaking to. We need to not just tell someone about the Gospel, but earnestly beg them to accept it. Because the Gospel is the only way to Heaven, if someone doesn't choose to put their faith in it, they are lost. So ask God to speak through you and reach out of your heart into theirs.
Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen
Who is anyone but another face
Who is anyone but another soul
Who is anyone but another life
Who is anyone but another loved one
Who is anyone but another sinner
Who is anyone but another person that needs Jesus
Who is anyone but everyone.
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