ACTS CHAPTER 11:1-26, “Peter’s Defense/First Gentile Church”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO:

1.1. In the previous chapter we saw how that Peter had been led by the Lord through a vision to go to the house of a Gentile named Cornelius and preach the gospel, and how that Cornelius and his whole household came to faith in Christ and were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

1.2. I mentioned in chapter 10 how that up until that time Christianity had been a Jewish thing, and that everyone who had come to faith had been Jewish or had to become a Jewish proselyte, and that all of the Christians were following closely the Jewish Laws and ceremonies.

1.3. We saw in chapter 10 how that Peter had the vision of the sheet that came down from heaven and that upon that sheet were many different kinds of animals, some of them clean and some unclean according to the Jewish dietary laws, and that the Lord told Peter to, ‘kill and eat’. This command by the Lord must have made Peter gag and be repulsed since as he confessed to the Lord, he had never eaten any of those unclean animals.

1.4. We saw how that the sheet which contained all of the different kinds of animals represented all of the diversity of people groups that exist in the world, however that sheet also represented the church which the book of Revelation teaches us one day will contain people from every tribe and nation.

1.5. We saw in the story of the conversion of Cornelius how the power of prejudice and preconceptions blinds men and women to the truth, for it was bigotry which had kept the Jewish Christians from ever entering the house of a Gentile or preaching the gospel to a Gentile.

1.5.1. The disciples had been given the Great Commission by Jesus to go and preach the gospel to all creation, and yet Peter had never even gone to a Gentile’s house before this incident.

1.5.2. The Lord was gradually breaking down all of the barriers that exist between people groups and making all to be ‘one in Christ’, regardless of nationality or gender.

1.5.2.1.This process of the walls being broken down continues with our story today of Peter being confronted by the elders and disciples in Jerusalem about his having gone to the house of a Gentile.

1.5.2.2.As recorded here in the book of Acts, as God continued to advance His church in all of the world, the barriers between people just continued to fall.

1.5.3. I want to point out here at the beginning of this message a couple of things:

1.5.3.1.God is changing each one of us by making us into the image of His Son, and thus He is constantly taking us out of our comfort zones and bringing change into our lives as He teaches us and works into our life that ‘agape’ love that is so radical it would even be willing to go to the cross of Calvary.

1.5.3.2.None of us like change in our lives, at least change that we don’t expect, however we Christians must be sure of this that as we follow the Lord He is sure to bring change into our lives, for He uses change to break off the old things from our lives in order to create the new.

2. VS 11:1-2 - “11:1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”” - The apostles and brethren in Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the word of God and thus when Peter came to Jerusalem they confronted him about this

2.1. The report that Peter had gone to the house of Cornelius and led him and his household to faith in Christ spread amongst the church which had been scattered because of persecution all throughout Judea.

2.2. The apostles and ‘brethren’ who made up the body of those who were circumcised believers ‘confronted’ or ‘took issue’ with Peter about his activities with Cornelius. Their prejudice is seen in that they didn’t ask how it came about that the Gentiles had come to faith in Christ, rather they confronted him about his having eaten with Gentiles.

2.2.1. This reveals something about the character of these apostles, for the prejudice in their hearts was so deep rooted that it took years for the Lord to change their hearts.

2.3. Christians of all eras need to be careful that they do not have attitudes that are similar to these ‘circumcised’ men who were more concerned about the fact that Peter ‘ate’ with Gentiles than that these Gentiles had come from darkness in to light, from death unto life.

2.3.1. Many times we in the church can be like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

2.3.1.1.The older brother was jealous of the undeserved grace and love that was showered upon his prodigal brother, thinking that he had deserved the special treatment instead of the prodigal son.

2.3.1.1.1.He also felt that somehow he had deserved God’s favor and grace in his own life, yet nothing was farther from the truth...

2.3.1.2.The father in the story however should be our example to follow for he just rejoiced that this son whom had been lost was now found, and the father showered the newly saved son with love and celebration.

2.3.2. We in the church must reach out our arms in love and fellowship to all who come to faith in Christ, for each one is a precious son or daughter in God’s sight.

3. VS 11:3-12 - “4 But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me, 6 and when I had fixed my gaze upon it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. 7 “And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Arise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 “But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 “But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ 10 “And this happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. 11 “And behold, at that moment three men appeared before the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. 12 “And the Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. And these six brethren also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.” - Peter told the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem how the Lord led him to go to the house of Cornelius to preach the gospel

3.1. Peter simply recounts the events which we already studied in chapter 10 of how that the Lord led him to Cornelius’ house to minister to him and his family.

3.2. In this account, Peter tells the council there in Jerusalem that he took with him six witnesses who were to affirm all that had happened to him.

3.2.1. In Babylonian and Roman law a matter could be legally proven upon the testimony of 7 witnesses.

3.2.2. Peter knew that the Lord was doing a new work, and he had the wisdom from the Lord to know that he would need these witnesses to back up his story to his fellow Jewish Christian brethren.

3.3. In order to demonstrate how dramatic and important this vision was to Peter, the Lord repeated it three times, and each time He spoke to him twice in the vision saying, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’

3.4. In verse 12, Peter says that after the Lord had given him this vision that was repeated the three times, and then the men had immediately knocked on his gate searching for him, that the Lord spoke clearly to him that he was to go with these men whom he knew just by their clothing to be Gentiles, and that he was to go with them ‘without misgivings’. In other words he was to leave behind all of his prejudices, preconceptions, and hang-ups, and just go with them for God was doing a new thing in his life and in the life of the church.

4. VS 11:13-14 - “13 “And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; 14 and he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’” - Peter tells the brethren some yet unrevealed details concerning Cornelius’ vision to send for Peter to come and preach the gospel

4.1. The angel of the Lord told Cornelius that Peter would, ‘speak words by which you will be saved, you and all your household’.

4.2. The Lord revealed to Cornelius in this story that his whole household would also be saved.

4.2.1. From verse 14 and some other passages in the New Testament, some believers have said that the Lord promises that whenever a person is saved that his whole household will also come to know Christ. However, that is a false implication from the verses, and it is also not found to be true from the experiences of many Christians.

5. VS 11:15 - “15 “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He did upon us at the beginning.”” - Peter tells the apostles and brethren that the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his household

5.1. The only event that Peter could correlate to what happened to the household of Cornelius when he visited him was what had happened to the church at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when it was only the sovereign work of the Lord that occurred when the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples baptizing them in the Holy Spirit.

5.1.1. The Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his household and baptized them, and they spoke in tongues just as occurred to the apostles and brethren as recorded in the second chapter of Acts.

5.1.1.1.We saw that that event has been called, “The Gentile Pentecost”

5.1.2. In saying this Peter in effect tells the brethren that it was the Lord’s doing in saving Cornelius, he was not really the one who was responsible for this, though he was willing to be obedient and go to Cornelius’ house.

6. VS 11:16-17 - “16 “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 “If God therefore gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”” - Peter tells the apostles and brethren that since it was the Lord who fell upon these Gentiles that he could not stand in God’s way

6.1. The members of Cornelius’ household had been ‘baptized in the Holy Spirit’, thus Peter recalled the words which He spoke to the apostles in Acts 1:8 before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

6.2. Peter said that God had given the Gentile Christians ‘the same gift’ as He gave to them, after they had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

6.3. It was the Lord who had instigated this event of bringing the gospel to the house of Cornelius, it was no orchestration of man. There was nothing in the flesh that any man had done to cause this thing to happen.

6.4. After telling his story, Peter wisely asked the council, ‘Who was I that I could stand in God’s way?’ We Christians are either standing in God’s way, or we are walking in His ways. We should never be an obstacle to what the Lord wants to do through our lives or in anyone else’s life.

6.4.1. The church throughout history has tended to be content in what the Lord had once done in their midst in reaching the world for Christ, not in what He is doing today. Instead of pressing on to what lies ahead that the Lord wants to do through them, they have instead made monuments to the past. The church has rested on its laurels instead of being powerfully and vitally linked to what the Lord is wanting to do through them today.

6.4.2. We Christians should never try to hold on to anything of the past or tradition and refuse to allow the Lord to do new things in our day and through our lives. God is a God who is creative and always wanting to do new things in our lives, if we are only willing to let Him do it.

7. VS 11:18 - “18 And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”” - The apostles and brethren glorify God that He has granted repentance to the Gentiles

7.1. The maturity of the apostles and brethren of this Jerusalem council is seen in that after Peter recalled the events that led to his sharing the gospel with Cornelius, they ‘quieted down’ and accepted joyfully what the Lord was doing in bringing salvation to the Gentiles.

7.2. After Peter’s story is told to the apostles and brethren gathered in Jerusalem, then they no longer acted like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son. They rejoiced in the salvation that had come to the Gentiles.

7.2.1. As do the angels in heaven, we Christians need to always rejoice whenever anyone comes to repentance and faith in Christ.

7.3. John Stott writes that there were “Four Hammer Blows” that came upon Peter’s life in this situation and which confirmed that this event had to be of the Lord:

7.3.1. A stunning vision (the sheet with the animals on it that came down)

7.3.2. An unequivocal command of God (to Go with the men and have no misgivings)

7.3.3. Holy coincidences of circumstances (the knock at his gate at the perfect time)

7.3.4. A divine action of God (the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles while Peter preached)

7.4. I need to point out here that just because the apostles and these brethren accepted Peter’s story of how the Lord had brought about bringing Gentiles to faith in Christ, and they rejoiced here in what the Lord had done, that this did not mean that the church in Jerusalem now completely accepted this idea. In fact, this actually began the first schism in the church, a schism that would rage and rage, and which existed over whether or not a Gentile who had come to faith in Christ would also have to be made to follow the Laws of Moses. Chapter 15 of Acts describes the Jerusalem counsel to deal with this issue, however evidently even that counsel did not completely settle the issue either, for much of the apostle Paul’s writings deal with this issue, and the book of Galatians in particular has this as its theme.

8. VS 11:19-21 - “19 So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.” - The church scattered because of persecution went about preaching the gospel, some just to Jews but others also to Greeks, and a large number in Antioch came to faith in Christ

8.1. We saw earlier in the book of Acts that there was a persecution of Christians in Jerusalem that began after the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr, and that the Lord allowed this persecution because it worked the good purpose of causing believers to go out and preach the gospel wherever they went.

8.2. Luke records that many Christians were scattered around to all of the regions in the area, however because of the prejudice of the Jewish brethren who believed that if a person wanted to be saved that they also had to commit themselves to practicing Judaism, they went and preached the good news of the gospel only to their Jewish brethren in the cities where they went.

8.3. There were some Jews however who had been from ‘Cyprus and Cyrene’, and they came to Antioch of Assyria and ‘began speaking to the Gentiles also, preaching the Lord Jesus’.

8.3.1. These verses now begin a new section in the book of Acts, for even though Cornelius and his household had come to faith in Christ, no Gentile church appears to have yet been started. Here in these verses we see the first Gentile church planted and the church now begins to purposely and systematically preach the gospel to the whole world, Jew and Gentile, to everyone wherever they went.

8.3.2. The date of the events of the rest of this chapter are considered to begin about AD44 or 45.

8.3.3. Seleicus Nicanor had built the city of Antioch (called Antioch on the Erontees River to distinguish it from many of the other cities he built by the same name) in 300BC, and it was the third largest city in the world at that time, second only to Rome and Alexandria. The population of the city was about ½ million (huge for the day), and the city was a major seat for the Roman government, having a Roman governor. It was a city that was very prosperous and had much culture, both east and west. There was also a large Jewish population in the city, 1/7^th of the population. The city was known for being a place where the people sought extravagant pleasure 24/7. The God of Apollo was worshipped there by ritual prostitution, and thus the city provided much temptation for Christians due to its vice. Antiocus Epiphanes had built a 4 mile long huge boulevard down the center of the city that had extravagant fountains and gardens. Anyone who lived in this city was also promised Roman citizenship, and thus for many reasons the city was very desirable to live in.

8.3.3.1.Now it was in this city that the first Gentile church was built, and we see that the church in the book of Acts always went right into the midst of all of the greatest metropolitan centers in order to preach the gospel.

8.3.3.2.Throughout history however, the church has tended to try to withdraw away for the people of this world, and over time there have been numerous communes and utopian societies that have been built for Christians to go to live in so that they could be kept away from the world.

8.3.3.2.1.However, Christ has always intended for His people not to separate from the world but to be in the world yet not of the world.

8.3.3.2.1.1.In this way we can win the most people to Him.

8.3.3.2.2.The church is to follow Jesus’ example as evangelists and hang around with sinners so that we will be able to preach the gospel to them.

8.3.3.3.This city was also the home of Luke who wrote the book of Acts, for from this chapter on Luke traveled with Paul in his journeys and thus he writes of events that occurred by saying, “we”, went here or there.

8.3.4. The church in Antioch became a major missionary hub in the early church.

8.3.5. The Lord was in this ministry in Antioch as He had desired all along that His people take the gospel to all of creation, and so large numbers ‘turned to the Lord’ for salvation.

8.4. We are not given the names of these men who came to Antioch and who were preaching the gospel, for they remain obscure to us, however once again in the book of Acts (as with Ananias who ministered to Saul in healing and the baptism of the Holy Spirit) we see how that the Lord was using ordinary and even obscure people in a great way.

8.4.1. There was a tremendous revival that was going on in the city of Antioch, and yet it came at the hands of obscure men, and John Stott writes that, “The only organizer of revival is God Himself”.

8.4.2. Throughout history revival has always come not through the lives of the rich or the famous, but rather it has come through the lives of obscure men.

8.4.3. God can use you to begin to spark revival right where you are if you will be willing to seek the Lord and pray and step out in faith and share the love of God with the lost that you come into contact with wherever you may be.

9. VS 11:22 - “22 And the news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.” - The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch

9.1. When the church in Jerusalem heard about this work of Gentiles being won to Christ through the preaching of the gospel in Antioch of Assyria, they appeared to be concerned about what was going on and felt that Barnabas was the man who should go and investigate this matter and see that everything was being done properly.

9.2. Barnabas we have seen a few times already in the book of Acts.

9.2.1. He was a man who is always encouraging and exhorting people, and thus he would be perfectly fitted for this work.

9.2.2. When we first saw Barnabas, he had sold all of his property in order to help out those who were in need.

9.2.3. Barclay writes that Barnabas was the man with the biggest heart in the early church.

10. VS 11:23-24 - “23 Then when he had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.” - Barnabas encouraged the new church in Antioch

10.1. Barnabas could see the tremendous work of God’s grace in the lives of the Gentile believers who had come to faith in Christ in Antioch, and he rejoiced in what the Lord was doing.

10.1.1.Barnabas recognized what wonderful things God had been doing in the lives of those who did not deserve it, and seeing how God’s life-changing grace was working in the lives of the new believers motivating and encouraging them greatly, he could not help but rejoice in this work of God in their lives.

10.2. This word translated here ‘remain true’ (prosmeno) is a Greek word that can also be translated as ‘cleave’ (as some translations render verse 23), and there is such a truth here that we Christians need to learn to ‘cleave to the Lord’ as Barnabas was teaching them to do.

10.2.1.Cleaving is the same thing that a man and a wife are to work on in their marriage relationship (see Matt. 19:5 and Gen. 2:24) as it speaks of working on those things that promote ‘oneness’ in marriage.

10.3. Barnabas spent some days with the church that had been planted in Antioch and helped to build them in their faith, and being the exhorter that he was he encouraged them all ‘to remain true to the Lord’. He probably taught them:

10.3.1.The importance of looking to Christ for strength to live daily.

10.3.2.To read the word of God daily in their quiet times and thus they would be built up in their knowledge of Him.

10.3.3.To pray about every situation which they encountered.

10.3.4.To stay in fellowship with other believers, for otherwise they would die on the vine.

10.3.5.Now that they were Christians they were new creatures in Christ and that now all things had become new. They now needed to learn how to live the transformed life that is dead to sin and alive to Christ.

10.4. We Christians need to spend time with God everyday, in His word and prayer. We need to learn to look to Him for the strength to do the things that the Lord wants us to do. We need to learn to pray about everything, and not to worry (Phil. 4:6,7).

10.5. Luke records that Barnabas ‘was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith’.

10.6. A ‘true revival’ was occurring in Antioch, for many more people were being saved there after Barnabas went to encourage them and preach the gospel.

11. VS 11:25-26 - “25 And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” - Barnabas went and found Saul in Tarsus and brought him to Antioch so that together they could minister to the people and preach the gospel

11.1. Barnabas had originally taken Paul to the elders of the church in Jerusalem after they would not have anything to do with Paul because of fear that he was not a true believer and that he was trying to get close to them in order to persecute them.

11.1.1.At that time, Paul told Barnabas of how that he had been called to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

11.1.2.It had been nine years since Barnabas had seen Saul, and the last thing that he had known about Saul was that he had gone to the city of Tarsus.

11.1.2.1.We don’t know what Saul was doing there in Tarsus besides preaching the gospel, however it is probable that some of the things that he wrote about in the book of 2 Corinthians of the sufferings which he suffered there at Tarsus.

11.1.3.Barnabas left to ‘hunt down Saul’.

11.2. Barnabas, being led by the Holy Spirit, sought out Saul knowing that Saul was actually more qualified to do the work of preaching and teaching these Gentiles than he was.

11.2.1.Barnabas was a humble man and he was willing to let someone else more qualified take over at any time.

11.2.1.1.In the book, “Spiritual Leadership”, by Oswald Sanders, the author mentions that one of the qualities of a person who is a true godly leader is that he is always willing to let someone else who is more qualified take over his ministry if that man should come along. Barnabas shows that he was that kind of a mature believer.

11.2.2.We will see later in the book of Acts that Barnabas was serving Paul in the missionary journeys.

11.3. Luke records that the disciples were first called ‘Christians’ at Antioch. It appears that the non-believers coined the term since the disciples’ lives were so much like that of Christ’s. The term ‘Christian’ means, “little Christ”.

11.3.1.As Christians, we have all been called to be people who are being transformed into the image of Christ. 1 John 1:6 says that if a person is in fellowship with Christ, he will not be walking in the darkness, but in the light. By “light”, John means walking in a holy, pure, undefiled, and sanctified lifestyle.

11.3.2.Jesus taught His disciples to “be perfect as their Heaven Father is perfect”.

11.4. Luke records here that Barnabas and Saul taught the people in Antioch for an ‘entire year’, as if a year was a very long period of time, for during this period of revival the Lord was maturing the new believers very quickly, and these new believers had such a hunger for the Lord that they sought Him continually and thus grew in their faith very quickly.

11.4.1.Today in the church people who have only been Christians for a year are considered to not have much growth in their faith.

11.4.2.In Antioch the believers a year old in their faith had such a testimony that the non-believers called these people, “little Christs”.

12. CONCLUSION

12.1. The Lord is was working within the lives of the Jewish brethren of the early church to remove their prejudices and bigotries, and to cause them to have the same ‘agape’ love for all men, and Christ is likewise seeking to work in our lives in a similar way.

12.1.1.However, we must learn to be comfortable with the ‘change’, ‘trials’, or whatever you want to call it that the Lord is bringing into our lives to cause that work to occur.

12.1.2.After 27 years in the Lord I’ve learned that God just continues to stretch us as Christians and bring us into situations outside of our comfort zone.

12.1.3.We need though to learn to trust God with our lives, for it seems that in our lives we do trust Him and yet we do not trust Him completely and it is that little bit of hesitation and fear that He may not do the best for us in our lives that often causes us to hold back from reaching out to others with the love of Christ.

12.1.3.1.This reminds me of a joke I heard years ago about a man who was walking along on the side of a cliff and suddenly the earth beneath him began to give out and he began to slip down the cliff only to hold on to a very small twig. Then, he cried out, “Is anybody up there?” Finally, a voice called, “I’m here”. “Who are you?”, he asked. “I’m God”, came the reply. “Will you help me?”, he cried. The voice replied, “Yes, let go of the twig!” There was a big silence, then the man cried out, “Is anybody else up there?”

12.1.3.2.We all need to let go of our lives into the Lord’s hands and let Him do the work that He wants to do in our lives in molding us into the image of His Son.

12.1.3.3.Whatever is holding us back from allowing the Lord to mold us into His image and work His plans in our lives we need to give over to the One who loves us so.

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