Unity Comes From the Heart (Acts 10:34-43) - a podcast by Don Shoemaker, Steve Williams, and Bob Wriedt
from 2022-09-18T15:00
This week at Grace we’re looking at Acts 10, where Peter is challenged by a vision from God to see all people without partiality, as God sees them.
I’ve been thinking about this passage in light of all that Peter has already been through - how Jesus interacted with kindness toward Samaritans and Gentiles, how the Spirit came at Pentecost with a variety of languages, and how the Spirit came on Samaritans (in chapter 8). It makes you wonder how much Peter's own views had already shifted. Yet, apparently, they hadn't shifted enough.
You've probably noticed the double standard we have as people: we tend to judge ourselves by what we meant to do, but others based on what they actually did. It's true in driving ("I didn't mean to cut him off, why is he mad?"), in reaching out to people in their pain ("I would have helped if they would have asked"), or in marital conflicts ("She knows how I feel about her"). I wonder if some of that is at play for Peter, too, excusing his lack of evangelism toward the Gentiles with an explanation of his heart rather than a sober analysis of his actions.
Let's talk this Sunday at Grace about both the heart and our actions, and how they can contribute to the unity Christ creates between us.
In Christ,
Pastor Bob
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
- Acts 10:34-43
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