Bible Guys Classics: Acts 11 Part 1

So today Saint Peter gets called into the principal's office. Oh boy, so he's Chris. I'm Jeff. We're the Bible guys. So Chris, I totally resonate with getting called into the principal's office. Oh me too, you kidding. I was perpetually in the We were like on a first name basis, right right. I'd bring your snacks. You like the sprinkles, don't you. Hey, it's good to see you again. That's not true. For it was for me. Yeah, it really was for me. Oh yeah, yeah, I believe or not. I caused a lot of ruckus, but I didn't get to the principle all that much, although although I have stories, and I'm sure you did too, but we got to move on, right, that's right. So a little while back, I think it was a couple of weeks ago to three weeks ago. I think it was the first week where we asked people to if they wanted to to send in questions to stump the pastor. And so this whole week, actually we're going to be proposing five of those questions. And these people got very excited about stumping the pastor, let me just say. And they're a great question. Yes, they're really great questions. Yeah. So hey, go ahead and do that again. If you want to send in a great question stump the pastor kind of question, we'd love to have you do it. So send it into info at the Bible guys dot. Com, the Bible Guys, the Bible guys dot com. That's right, Info at the Bible Guys dot com. Right here, put it right here, right there. All right, very good, so cool. So here is the first question. That we're tackling today that we were this could be great. Somebody said aliens or life beyond earth? Question mark. That's all that was written, it, says Dan M. Thanks Dan, Yeah, thanks Dan for that question, which, by the way, most of the answers to stump the pastors are going to end with who knows, which is tough ones, which is no one knows honestly. However, so we'll give our takes on it, right Yeah. Yeah, So here's here's my contention. Or do you want to think of first? Okay, I will uh no, aliens, that's what you say. That's why I say, yeah, I say probably not. So. I mean all the things that you see with Obama coming on late night TV going, well, I will say, I will say I can't do Obama, And he said, you know, there's there's things that we have on video that are unexplainable and they defy anything that we've seen in terms of speed. Sure, and then all the different you know, evidences that we've seen. None of that. Yeah. No, I just think it's I think every technology is confusing until you figure out how to master it. Yeah. So I I don't feel the need personally for aliens on you know, other life forms. I think it's cool. My wife's favorite shows are always the Star Trek shows that she loves Star Trek, and it's fun to think about other alien civilizations and things like that. Biblically, there's not a need for it. As a matter of fact, I kind of think the Bible says Jesus died once for all, so if the. If there are other alien. Races, they must be perfect because Jesus didn't have to die for them. So that's it. I don't feel the need for it. I think that the Bible is very human centric and very earth centric, and that's okay. That would mean and the Bible says that God gave all the stars and all the planets for our benefit, for us to be able to navigate, for us to know morning and evening, all those kinds of things, for us to navigate the planet. So I don't see the need for it. But I don't think you're a bad person for you know you're thinking about it. Yeah, sure, okay, So here's my take. My take is the Bible leaves room for it. And the reason why I believe the reason why I believe the Bible leaves room for it is because this was addressed by my old Testament professor and Bible college, which, by the way, understand how conservative a Bible college that I went to. And so is this the same guy that you quote, No, no, no. This is different guy. This is that was doctor Hargy. This is doctor Sewell. So doctor Sewell, says doctor James Soull. And he said, in Genesis chapter two, it says that God created the stars and the hosts of them. Right, So he said, so, right there, it leaves a little bit of room the hosts of them, So it could it could mean the hosts of one star, which is the planet Earth, where it could mean the host of them. So there's room for it. And so my my feeling is that he. Didn't think the hosts just was referring to the huge number of stars. Well that's just what it is. No, no, the stars and the hosts of the stars. So so it is here's the thing. The answer, of course, is nobody knows, obviously because we haven't found aliens, and what God would know, Well, I'm talking about earth beings. People listeners to the podcast, I know God's listening, but he always. Is he in think Oh good God? Yeah right, so it's my favorite podcast. It's my favorite podcast. So anyway, all that to say this, so do you want to know the reason why people uh just absolutely refuse to believe that there's not aliens? It's really the same thing. It's the same theme and that is uh, you know, it's the same thing that Jodie Foster said on that show Contact with Matthew McConaughey. She goes, well, if there, if there aren't other life forms, it's sure would be an awfully waste of space. Right, It's the same thing and and and it's it really truly is the you know, the arrogance of humanity to believe that we're the only ones. Why, Because there's an awfully big universe. Of sure, I think it's convenient when you don't have a Bible versus go ahead and quota lined from a movie. Right, Well, I mean, well, it's logic. People, people don't look to the Bible for the answers. I think that's why people believe in it is the probabilities just seem. Astronomically low that we're the only ones. So I would just say this, I would say I heard I heard something a very long time ago, just like I remember doctor Seule's you know, leave room for it. I remember Louis Giglio, which is one of my favorite UH speakers at one time, at pretty good acquaintance, he actually said, what if God's What if God's goal was to create a vast universe to reflect how big he is and how small we are, Like like, you know, after all, like God is demonstrating his glory in creation, which means he's demonstrating himself in creation. So if if what if we look up at space and it's one big billboard that says I am and you are not. Right right, which is a theme throughout the book of Psalms, for instance, yes that the heavens to declare the glory of the Lord. Yes, And so if God wants to remind us of just absolutely how big he is, then here's a question. How big should the universe be? You know what? The answer is infinitees. You know why because God is in. And it's only been in the last undred couple hundred years that we've begun to realize how big the universe is. Right, So, about the same time humanity started getting too big for their breeches is the same amount of time, is the same time that we began to realize while we're in a really big place, right, Right, So when David wrote it, it was just the stars across the sky, but he had no concept of distances, no concept of anything, right, And then the more sophisticated we became, the more God began to let us see how really, really, really big this is. So I think it comes down to if you believe in a special creation that God specifically made humanity, he did it at a specific time. This wasn't a gradual thing that just wounded up being the result of probabilities over billions and billions of billions of years. But that God said on this day, I'm creating a human being and they didn't evolve, then it's not hard for me to also look at the whole rest of the universe and say it's all about God, it's not about other creatures. But if you believe that there's a randomization to the development of humanity and the evolution of humanity, now you're playing a probabilities game, and then you would go, well, if it evolved on this planet, maybe, then probably probably it evolved on some other planet somewhere else. So it depends on whether or not you believe in a special creation, which is what I believe, and I believe the Bible teaches that, or if you believe in a random beginning to life. If you believe in a random beginning of life, then then you look at the probabilities of the trillions of stars and go, well, maybe there's another one. Yeah yeah, And I tell you one day I look forward to meeting the Romulans, the Ferengi, the Klingons. Yeah yeah, yeah, because I don't think there's going to be any Klingons in heaven. Well yeah, well you never know. You never know. Yeah, yeah. More repented wharf is hard on the outside, but take that's true. Okay, we've devolved substantially here. Yeah, so I think that's a fun question. It's fun to think about. Yeah, but I I I hope that Dan is that Dan dan em is happy with our response, which basically is. We're not sure, right, but here's our take, and neither. Is anybody else. Okay, So tomorrow I think we have I'm really excited about tomorrow's question. This really is another stumped pastor question. It's gonna be fun. But let's jump into the passage today. It's Acts chapter eleven, and if you remember, let me just remind you. Last week we wound up with Peter having gone and shared the Gospel with Cornelius, who was the first recorded Christian convert that was a gentile and not a Jew. And this is shocking to all the people that are with Peter. Peter was uncomfortable even walking in the door into this guy's house because of the cultural stigma of Jewish people being with gentiles. Well, now he gets yanked into the principal's office, and because they all the other apostles calling back to Drusom go, hey, what's going on? So that's what's going on here. So we're reading from Acts chapter eleven, verse one, and we'll read Diverse eighteen. It says. Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. You entered the home of gentiles and even eight with them, they said. Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. I was in the town to Joppa, he said, and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky, and it came right down to me. When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles and birds. And I heard a voice say, get up, Peter, kill. And eat them. No, Lord, I replied, I've never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure unclean. But the voice from heaven spoke again, do not call something unclean if God has made a clean. This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to Heaven. Just then, three men who had been sent from cessarea arrived at the house where I was staying. The Holy Spirit told me to go with them, and not to worry that they were gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us. He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him send messengers to Jappa and summoned a man named Simon Peter. He'll tell you how you and everyone in your household. Can be saved. As I began to speak, Peter continued, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. And then I thought of the Lord's words when he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with. The Holy Spirit. And since God gave these gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God's way. When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God, and they said, we can see that God has also given the gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life. Now, on one hand, this can kind of feel like, hey, this feels like a rehearsal, a re rehearsal of what had happened in the past. This is a significant moment for every Christian in all of history that wasn't Jewish. And so that's why we're kind of hanging on this for just a minute, because the Bible does, yes, takes a few chapters to cover this. Yeah, And so really Peter is just recalling what we've already read in previous podcasts. So it's not a lot of new information. But however, what is new is the interaction that Peter has with those who are criticizing him. So he goes back and he gets criticized, and they're like, hey, and you know, I received this two ways, both like negative because I think of the negative Christians you judge. But then also you think of it as like innocence, like for instance, right like like for instance, like my well, I don't want to get into that. I just had a thought, but it's just too much. There are a lot of things that we grow up. Oh, I'll give you a good example. There was a gentleman in the lobby of our church on Sunday and he came up to me and he was asking me about communion and I had said, well, the Bible never talks about frequency, never asks you know, it never commands us to. Take community every week, just as often as you do this. As often as you do this, do this and remembrance of me. And I was trying to explain to him, you know that, hey, we just took communion. We're taking it like another four weeks, and we do it periodically. And he's like, well when, And I was trying to explain to him, well, just periodically. That's that we just don't have a system, and we do when we think it's best. And he was trying to explain to me it has to be every week, And I said, well, why why do you believe this? He said, because that's the way I was raised Right. So that's a great example. Because and he wasn't raised wrong. It wasn't raised wrong. That's not a wrong thing that, that's not a wrong thing in every week. But the point is is that he was made to believe that that was the only way. And so so in that sense, it's pretty innocent where you know, like, you know, you want to get mad at these uh, you know, these Jewish believers who are critician, you know, who are criticizing Peter and said, we can't believe you ate with that scum, the gentiles, the unclean people. But in a way, you can't blame a person for the way they were raised. You can't blame them for, you know, things getting passed down to them that they were told and taught that these are the right ways to think. And they're very devout to their religion, and they're very devout to their cultural upbringing right, and there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. It reminds me of I heard it wound up being a true story. I've heard illustrations like this before, but I had a lady come and tell me this actually happened to her that when she would make a roast, she made a roast, she'd always cut off the two sides and kind of make it longer on one end and narrower on the sides, and for years and years and years, and her daughter asked, why do you do that? She said, oh, that's way my mom did this when my grandmother did it. So when the granddaughter was with the grandmother, she said, grandma, why do you always cut the sides of this roast off? And she said, because that's the sizes of the pan that I had, right. So her mom had no idea, She just saw. She just saw her mother, the grandmother cut off the ends, so that's what she did. She just thought those ends were bad or something that's supposed to use them, and it wasn't. It was just the size of the pan. Sometimes we tend to believe that the traditions around us are the rules or the law, and that's just not true. So these guys, they're devout. They're strongly legalistic, right, which is the Jewish religion at that time in Jesus Day and the Apostles day was very rules oriented, so very legalistic, these Jewish believers, and they intend to rebuke Peter. Peter, what are you doing? Right? What kind of Christian hangs out with gentiles? Right? And Peter goes, hey, guys, let me just tell you what happened. And by the way, I have six witnesses with me. Right, we heard what you did on the Mission Street. That's right. And this is going to go in your file, right, right, hr Yang, your permanent record, that's right. And so they were about ready to put Peter on a p IP, a personal improvement plan, and put it in this permanent file, and Peter goes, well, hang on, let me just explain what happened. I was only doing. And Peter had nothing to fear, really, because he was only doing God told him to do. And then not only that, he mentions that the Holy Spirit fell on him, and so all of that by himself hit by his own testimony. Okay, it's just whether or not the other apostles believe Peter. But Peter goes, hey, when the Holy Spirit fell him, these other six guys, he has the six witnesses with him. There's a lot of wisdom in explaining your story, explaining what happened. And then if there are witnesses, to bring witnesses along when there's a confusion about your behavior, when you know that you did what was right, you did what you were supposed to do. It's also good. It's beneficial to also be able to bring witnesses. And they saw it too, right, and that's what happened here. And I also love at the end of this story when Peter gives the whole thing. You know, again we've already read and been through this, so he goes all the way through it and he says and then they receive the same gift as us. And then I love how at the very end of the story, it says when the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God, and they said, we can see God has also given the gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving internal life. And I thought to myself, that is unbelievable, because Peter's posture was he says, who am I to stand of the way of God? Right? Right? And what he's saying is like, you're trying to yell at me, right. I had sort of the same objections as you, But God did this. I'm not standing in the way of God. And so they have no choice but to say, well, of course we're not going to be either. But they didn't object. They didn't they didn't push back, they weren't skeptical. And so here's what that means. That means that Peter was a trustworthy person to your point, right, And so they didn't object anymore because they believed him. And so it's also a treasure to be able to be in relationship with someone and especially in leadership, that when they speak, you just believe them, you know, It reminds me of a good friend of mine who actually said that he saw an angel and he was actually he'd actually there was a car wreck and he pulled up behind the car wreck. It had just happened, and he ran over to the driver's side and he was looking and this woman was laying there and she she got cut and she was bleeding. And then he looked across the car and there was a person there, and the person said, hey, grab your fingers and put it, put it on his put put it on her neck and pushed down to stop the bleeding. And then and then my friend did this, and then he then they said no, no, no, up up to the right, to the right, okay there, push hard, and then it stopped bleeding. And then he was sitting there holding the blood pressure, you know, first stop bleeding. And then all of a sudden, the ambulance eventually finally came. And the entire time he's talking with this person, the ambulance pulls up. He looks back and the ambulance comes up and the person was gone. And then they said, well, you saved this woman's life. And he said, well, where did that that man go? And he said, there was there was nobody. He said, what do you mean there was nobody? He said, he was there when you pulled up, and then all of a sudden he was gone. And he said, no, the ambulance pulled up and there was nobody. You're the only one outside the window. Now that is crazy, right, I mean like literally crazy. And you would think because because my friend would have no way of knowing where to put his fingers, you know, on somebody's neck to stop the bleeding. But the thing is, when you hear this person tell the story, you consider the entire life of the person and think, either he's lying, or he's crazy, or he's telling the truth. Yeah, those are the only three options. Those the only three options. And you say, well, I believe this person and who he is. Yeah, and just the measure of who he is and the character of who he is, there is no way and I'm not even kid when I say this, there's no way for a second that I chose to not to believe him. Yeah. Well, the Bible says in Hebrews that we entertain angels unaware, right, sometimes right, So angels do interact with humanity, and you know, most of the time we're just not aware of it. So that's pretty extraordinary. So the Peter appeals to the witness of the Holy Spirit in this situation and he goes, hey, listen, it wasn't just my preaching to them. They got this Holy Spirit just like we did. And so the evidence of whether or not this was a legitimate interaction was the fact that the Holy Spirit came and these men's life. And by the way, Peter says, just like we did at Pentecost, that's what you're referring to. It's interesting all that this is years years after Pentecost and Peter has to go we said back in the beginning, that's right, So Peter has to go all the way back to Pentecost to reference the last time there was this extravagant pouring out of the Holy Spirit because Paul didn't have this. And what is that probably nine years, eight. Years, Yeah, it's it's several years, many many years, probably close to a decade. And so while some people do have these really extraordinary extravagant experiences with the Holy Spirit, there were lots of other people who became Christians that that wasn't the evidence of it. That there was speaking in tongues and all these miraculous moments. It's just you receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, and Peter has to go all the way back to when they received the spirit in order to prove that this was legit here. That's why God did that with Coordinelius as well. And then I think lastly we have to wrap up with this. Warren Weersby in his Study Bible for verse eighteen when it says the others heard this and they stopped objecting began praising God. It says Christians are to receive one another and not dispute over cultural differences or minor matters of personal conviction. Some of the Jewish Christians in the early Church wanted the gentiles to become Jews, and some of the Gentile believers one of the Jews to stop being Jews become Gentiles. This attitude can create serious division in the Church even today. So it's important that we follow the example of Acts eleven eighteen. Instead of rejecting other cultures, we need to embrace the cultural differences. Now that doesn't mean that we embrace the sinful elements of other cultures, but people do things in different ways. I was just in Nepal and the worship of the Nepalese people is very different than my worship, right, but man Alibing, see the genuine joy of the Lord in these Christians, these few Christians in Nepal, and say, okay, I can respect their culture and the hats, the clothes, the makeup they gave me, these little things to wear on my neck. All this kind of stuff is very very different from my culture. But I didn't need them to stop being Nepali and start being American in order to honor God. We can celebrate their cultural differences. And what we see then is is the whole world coming to faith in Christ, just like Jesus had promised. What happened. So it's pretty neat. That's great. Yeah, well, that's probably a great place to end, and we're gonna pick up tomorrow where we're going to talk about how they were first called Christians and Antioch. So it's gonna be a good. Day, yeah yeah. And also this is where Barnabas helps a brother out, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, So that's what we're talking about tomorrow. It's gonna be great.