God was preparing a perfect plan to give the Gentiles hope and to show them that He did love them. Peter was the perfect man to carry out that plan.

Peter was a man of faith who lived each day with an active faith in God’s love and power. Many people in Joppa believed in Jesus because of the miracles performed through Peter. In the townspeople’s excitement from these miracles, Peter decided to escape the crowds by taking a break at the home where he was staying in Joppa. This brief “time out” from his busy life allowed him to spend some personal time in prayer with God. He went up to the peaceful rooftop and suddenly felt extremely hungry.

What a difference Peter’s time alone with God was to make in his life and in the lives of the Gentiles!

[Read Acts 10:10-16.] We read in Acts 10:10-16 that he had a vision in which he saw a sheet-like object descend from heaven. In this sheet was a fabulous collection of four-footed animals of every kind. Peter heard a voice—God’s voice—saying, “Rise, Peter: kill and eat.” But Peter argued with God, declaring that many of these animals were undesirable and unclean. To live by God’s commandments and long-standing Jewish tradition, he should not eat them. God immediately ignored Peter’s claims and showed that what He had declared “clean” must not be called otherwise. This exchange between God and Peter took place three times and immediately after that the sheet was taken back to heaven. No wonder Peter was confused and was left wondering about the meaning of the vision. He knew that it was not about eating or not eating unclean animals; God was about to provide the meaning as access to the Kingdom was to be made available to Gentiles (who were considered by Jews to be unclean).

Immediately after Peter experienced this vision, the Holy Spirit informed Peter that visitors had been sent from Caesarea and were at his door asking him to accompany them. The visitors told Peter that their master—a Roman centurion named Cornelius, a just, God-fearing man—had summoned Peter to his house. As a zealous Jew, Peter did not have a friendly attitude toward Romans. They had overrun his country and taken many rights away from him and his people. In addition to those reasons for preferring to avoid this representative of the Roman government, Peter classified all Romans among the Gentiles—whom he considered unclean and unworthy of his company. We find in Acts 10:23, 29 that, despite these strong objections, Peter’s faith convinced him to accompany the men to Caesarea without question, just as God had directed him in the vision.

In Acts 10:28, we find that, after Peter arrived in Caesarea, he reminded the Gentiles in the room of the Jewish tradition that “it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation.” However, Peter was told by God not to call anyone common or unclean. In response to Peter’s question, “Why have you sent for me?” Cornelius informed Peter of his belief in Jesus, from whom he had received a vision in which an angel told him to call for Simon Peter. We can only imagine what Cornelius’ testimony must have brought to Peter’s mind. Through the Holy Spirit’s intervention, Peter’s view of the Gentiles was in the midst of a dramatic change.

Cornelius’ explanation caused Peter to speak the truth about God’s gift, seen in Acts 10:34-35. In these verses, Peter says, “In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” When Peter realized that God accepts everyone, he shared the gospel to the Gentiles in the room. As Peter spoke of Jesus and His acceptance of all who believed in Him, the Holy Spirit came upon everyone in the room! Peter became so astonished that he said these Gentiles were to be baptized in the name of the Lord.

We have seen how Peter started out doubting God’s judgment. He quickly learned through this encounter, however, that he was mistaken in his view of other people.

Most of us remember when Simon Peter denied Jesus three times. Do you also remember that, some time later, Jesus asked Peter a question that must have brought pain to the apostle? In John 21:15-17, we find that Jesus poses a question three times: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter is forced to answer a total of three times and was grieved that his Lord had to ask him more than once. Perhaps this is Jesus’ way of allowing Peter the chance to counter the three times that he had denied Jesus or perhaps three times Peter was given the chance to truly reflect on his love response to Jesus. In a convincing way, Peter vowed to feed Jesus’ sheep because he loved Him. When we love Jesus, we want to do the same.

When Jesus began His ministry on earth, He called Peter and the other disciples to join Him in sharing His Father’s love with others they encountered along the way. Approximately three years later, Jesus urged Peter and the other disciples to “go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” What hope we have! Jesus promises to be with His disciples to the end!

Peter’s acceptance of Gentiles caused a shockwave across the early Christian church. The followers of Christ no longer would consider themselves to be the only chosen people of God to receive His gift. Rather, they would begin to love and disciple everyone in the name of Jesus!

Jesus has called each one of us to love everyone: our family, friends, enemies, and strangers alike. This is one of the greatest practical challenges of being a daily disciple of Jesus. When we love Jesus, He will work through us to love everyone. When we allow the Holy Spirit to make our character like Jesus’, we will love people! Ellen White states, “The more closely we resemble our Savior in character, the greater will be our love toward those for whom He died” (5T 167).

Through a series of unexpected experiences, God taught a very important lesson to Brenden, a 16-year-old student who was quite popular with his schoolmates. He relates his story to us in the following sentences:

“Sure, I’m popular. I don’t have any enemies. And I try to be friendly with everyone. But there’s one boy in our school group—let’s call him Alex—who tried too hard to be my friend. I’d noticed that he doesn’t seem to have many friends. He’s not as mature as most of us, he often misbehaves in class, and sometimes he tells jokes that my friends and I don’t like to hear. Like many others in my class, I’ve tried to avoid him.”

On a school-sponsored trip to a local park, there was tension between Brenden and Alex for most of the day. During this trip, however, Brenden finally realized that he needed to love his classmate. Brenden comments on this experience:

“Things changed during our school group’s visit to a park to take a hike. As I wandered around the park with some of my other friends, Alex received a cell phone call. As he talked on the phone, we could see from his facial expressions that the conversation wasn’t bringing good news. Out of curiosity, I approached Alex and asked if I could help him in any way. He admitted he was upset because his girlfriend had just ended their relationship.”

God impressed Brenden to take the time to listen. Alex just needed someone to care…and Brenden was the one God placed there at just the right moment to help.

Until that point, Brenden hadn’t realized just how much Alex needed a friend. He thanks God for that opportunity and for teaching him that, despite his prejudices and concepts about Alex, he was able to care.

Call to Decision: God calls us to love each other as He loves us. For Peter, loving others meant befriending a people group that he used to ignore and hate. For Brenden, reaching out to Alex with God’s love meant taking time to listen. Think of someone in your life who needs God’s love through you. Will you choose to love them the way Jesus loves you?

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 606