Emma's Birthday! She's three years old!

Acts 15:6-11

 

    And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. "And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? "But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

 

In the midst of disputing whether the non-Jewish believers should follow God-given Jewish customs or not, one of those who weighed in with his opinion was Peter. It became very important that this apostle had seen God’s saving work in the household of Cornelius.

 

For Peter, God’s acceptance of Cornelius and his family – acceptance that was demonstrated by the gift of the Holy Spirit before water baptism – proved that they were clean. It proved that being accepted by God did not depend on circumcision or on the traditions of Moses. It proved that hearing and believing the gospel was now the “circumcision,” the heart circumcision, that brought both Jews and Gentiles into God’s covenant community. Believing the gospel didn’t earn salvation, just as circumcision of the flesh could never earn salvation. But God graciously saved non-Jews and Jews alike through Jesus Christ – people who were circumcised in their hearts, regardless of whether their flesh was circumcised.

 

That had been Peter’s experience. This was what God had taught him. This is what the Holy Spirit had directed him to understand and to be a part when the Holy Spirit told him not to call anything unclean that God had made clean and then sent him to speak the gospel to Cornelius and his household. Because God had taught Peter through his experience with Cornelius, the tide shifted. It was no longer clear to the Jewish apostles and elders that God’s community was made up of physically circumcised people. Because of Peter’s experience, the Jews now had to consider whether they might be senselessly burdening the non-Jews… and Peter said that doing this would be to “put God to the test.”

 

Father, thank You. Especially as a non-Jewish believer, thank You. I feel the weight of my sinfulness all the time. Too frequently, I don’t treat Christy with the gentleness and kindness I ought to. Too often, I grow impatient with my children or my friends. Too rarely do I show self-control when eating desserts or aiming to sleep at a reasonable hour. I feel the weight of my sinfulness as a Gentile, without adding to my customs the customs that You gave to the Jews. I would not keep them well, I am sure, and I would be miserable because of how much more often I would see my own sinful inability to obey You flawlessly. Thank You for teaching Peter through his experience with Cornelius. Thank You that Peter was there to share his experience in the midst of this dispute. Thank You that you have accepted me and other Gentiles without adding many more rules to our lives. Thank You that You pour out Your grace on us who trust in Your Son Jesus Christ!