December 9th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Missionary Dilemma!

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Holy Spirit of God, comfort me today by Your presence and guide me to follow Your purpose for me.

Read Acts 10:9-23

[9] About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. [10] He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. [11] He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. [12] It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. [13] Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” [14] “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” [15] The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” [16] This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. [17] While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. [18] They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. [19] While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. [20] So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” [21] Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” [22] The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” [23] Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

Meditate

Among other things happening here, we have a Divine appointment with the arrival of Cornelius’s representatives. We need to be constantly alert for God’s appointments for us.

Think Further

The traditional image of the missionary is of someone very earnest, with single-minded vision and clear and set ideas. Here Luke describes how Peter, finding himself astride the cultural fault-line between Jews and Gentiles, reacts in ways that leave him being involuntarily contradictory! When he is instructed to kill and eat the animals shown to him in a vision he responds with the ridiculously contradictory statement, “Surely not, Lord!” (14). Luke surely intends his readers to smile as he depicts the apostle twice trying, unsuccessfully, to puzzle out the meaning of the vision (17a, 19a)! 

The issue at stake for a devout Jewish believer like Peter was serious. The voice from heaven seemed to contradict the Torah: it implied that behavior which had always been associated with holiness and purity was now, in the light of Christ, to become relative and optional. Beyond that, it suggested that the Gentiles would not need to abandon their social and cultural worlds to become true worshipers of God, but that they might follow Christ from within those worlds. Peter is on the leading edge of a revolutionary change. 

Then, with exquisite timing, Cornelius’ representatives show up, calling Peter’s name! Eventually, instructed by the voice from heaven, Peter goes downstairs and blurts out: “I am the man you are looking for: what brings you here?” (v. 21, J.B. Phillips).  The response of his uninvited visitors causes Peter to understand, and the scene closes with a deceptively simple statement that he “invited the men into the house to be his guests” (23). We learn here that humor has its place in the Bible and we may smile when we discover it. More seriously, God is always ahead of us in mission and we may look foolish as we try to catch up with him.

Apply

Are you able to laugh at yourself? Reflect on ways in which you have come to realize your mistakes and misunderstanding of God’s ways.

Closing prayer

Father, I am open to receive from You. If I need to expand my horizons and embrace new truths, I ask for grace to be Your faithful follower.

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