We need to hear from God about where our church is at spiritually right now. Like the letters to churches in Revelation, we want to know God's assessment of our church's spiritual health and make right any areas that need to be addressed.
-Clay Bergen, director of Freedom in Christ ministries from Regina will be leading our retreat and will be speaking here next Sunday about what we did…explain further the process that we leaders will have gone through…
-Please pray for this coming weekend…(this Fri prayer and fasting…) brochures on info table…
Peter’s Transformation
So today, I want to conclude my series in Acts by looking at a significant event in the life of Peter in ch. 10…(open Bibles…)
-in which Peter’s small, singular ethnic understanding of the kingdom of God is expanded to embrace a large, multi-ethnic view of God’s kingdom…
-in other words, Peter realizes that the gospel of JC is not just for the Jew but for all the nations of the world…
And the reason this is important to us here at Northgate is because this is what God is doing at our church… …transforming us into a multi-ethnic family of Jesus…
-this is where we are going in the future…because God is inviting us to join Him in the work that He is already doing here…and many of you are embracing this…already catching a vision for this…already opening your lives and hearts to the newcomers from other countries God is sending us as well as Canadians from different ethnic backgrounds…
Jun’s Story as told by Jennie – Appendix 1
-there are many stories of this happening here at Northgate, but I’ve asked Jennie to share one…come on up…
To become a multi-ethnic church is going to require some work on our part…mainly a growing vision for a multi-ethnic church…and a change in thinking for many of us…similar to the change in thinking that God helped Peter to make…
-let’s read the story starting at 10:9…God has spoken to a God-fearing Gentile named Cornelius, told him to send for Peter…and that is where we pick up the story in v.9…
Prayer…Read…10:9-35…
Peter’s Change
Peter’s narrow world-view is blown apart by God…his Jewish-only understanding of God’s kingdom is stretched to a new, unfamiliar and uncomfortable place…
-Peter begins to change from a man who is stubbornly committed to his familiar and mostly man-made Jewish religious rules, which he has kept his whole life… but which have kept him cut off from a whole world of lost people that Jesus loves and died for…and that Jesus now wants to reach in this new season of the kingdom of God…
…Peter begins to change into someone who is realizing that God is far bigger than he ever understood… and His gospel is farther reaching than Peter ever would have imagined…
…and God accepts people that Peter would have nothing to do with…and the kingdom of God is far bigger than just a Jewish movement…the gospel really is for all the nations
-he is changing from a proud, prejudiced, narrow-minded Jewish Christian to a humble, open-hearted, globally-minded missionary…
God does this change by asking Peter, in a vision, to do something outrageous and distasteful to his Jewish sensibilities… to kill and eat animals that the Jews consider unclean…violating his dearly held dietary traditions…
…and then God pushes further by asking him to enter the home of a Gentile, a practice forbidden by strict Jewish law…
Peter’s Struggle
You cannot underestimate how difficult this was for Peter, to have his familiar, ethnic world-view broken apart by God…
For centuries, the strict Jewish faith had taught that they were God’s chosen race, which they are, but they understood that to mean they were a superior race to all others, better than any other nation on the earth. Especially Gentiles.
Gentiles were especially loathsome to orthodox Jews. Here the walls of division were built very high. Traditions were developed that kept them far apart. Gentiles were called dogs…that was the level of their worth…
No orthodox Jew could enter the home of a Gentile, even a God-fearing, respected one, like Cornelius. It was considered impure and unclean. Nor could they invite a Gentile into their home. No meal could be shared because of differences in dietary practices…about avoiding contamination.
…not to mention the pressure Peter would feel to guard his reputation among his fellow Jews who would be horrified to find out that Peter did this…
You need to know that to understand just how radical, revolutionary this new way of thinking was for Peter: to not only enter the home of a Gentile, but to offer him acceptance and equality in the new-found faith in JC…to embrace Cornelius as a brother in Christ…
And the beautiful thing is that Peter let the Lord expose his narrow thinking…let the Lord break it open…let the Lord change his mind and behavior toward the Gentiles… let the Lord explode his single ethnic view of the kingdom of God and his little box of belief in a God that can only love Jews… was willing to step out of his comfort zone for the sake of God’s expanding kingdom…
Our Need for Change
-some of us need a new way of thinking if we’re going to really become a multi-ethnic church like God wants us to be…really become a church family that genuinely embraces people from a diversity of countries and cultural backgrounds…
-can you think of any walls you’ve built up that keep you from fully embracing people from other cultures?…
* more fundamentally, can you think of any walls that keep you separate from any person that is different than you, is hard to love, that doesn’t fit into your familiar world?…that you have judged to be unclean, impure?
** even more fundamentally, we cannot become a multi-ethnic church that fully embraces and loves people from different cultures, until we become a church that fully embraces and loves each other right now…with the people that are sitting here right now…
-that’s where it starts, don’t you think? I do.
-if we’ve got walls built up inside this church, then those will be a spiritual barrier to new people being able to find love, acceptance and care…
-I believe God’s immediate challenge is for you and I to deal with any barriers between us and anyone else that exist right now for whatever reason…
-if there’s anything you are aware of…will you make that right as soon as possible?
God’s Vision of Church
-God’s vision and heart for His church throughout the world is that it be a foretaste of heaven; a gathering on earth made up of peoples from all the nations of the earth that have been saved thru the cross of JC…made up of all types of people…
-the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ, is building a new family of Jesus, where a diversity of people are united under one thing: the gospel of Christ…the gospel that is in no way homogenous, or exclusive, meant for one race/people…a gospel that does not have one cultural flavor…
…but is a gospel that is eclectic, available to all, transcends any earthly culture because it comes from heaven…so it is flavored by the culture of heaven…welcoming of all and any who will call upon the name of Jesus…who, like v.35 says, will “fear Him and do what is right…”
-we have to be willing to take a hard look at how our mindset is a barrier to fully embracing peoples from all the nations of the world…
-we have to let God show us what it is that keeps us separated from those that are different than we are culturally…
-we have to be willing to deal with issues like pride, prejudice, fear, indifference, comfort…things that we use to stay safe behind our walls of separation…
-repent of those things…ask God to change our thinking and make us genuinely loving and accepting to all…
The Only Solution
-there are only two things that will change our thinking from narrow, exclusive, non-acceptance of other cultures…to a mindset that embraces all people groups…help us to become a multi-ethnic church…
1) the work of Christ on the cross.
-this is what Peter says in v.36…
-listen to Eph. 2:11-18…(comments…)
It is the impact of the life-changing gospel of JC that best helps us embrace people’s from all the nation of the earth…
2) a refusal to stay in our comfort zone
-that we do not allow safe, comfort, familiar, whatever…to rule us, determine our behavior…
-but that we walk over to the foreigner, visitor, person from another culture and enter their world…
-that’s what Peter did…despite all his objections and hesitations and years of tradition and religious rules forbidding this…despite his well developed comfort zone…he got up and went to the home of Cornelius…and it was only then, after that step of courageous obedience…that he became a different person…that his thinking was changed…and the world was changed…
-refuse to stay in your comfort zone…
Take Action
-so what action does God want you to take?
-this sermon will be without effect if you listen and then do nothing about it. Even if you agree with what I have said today from the scriptures and do nothing, this will have been a missed opportunity…
-unless you and I take that walk over to someone from another culture and speak to them, welcome them, get to know them…learn to love them…we delay the process of becoming a multi-cultural church…
And you can do that today; right after this service, right here in the lobby…
The the walk you may need to take first of all is to reconcile with a brother or sister you’re separated from for some reason…let the Lord take down that wall that’s built up between you…
-whatever action you need to take, refuse to stay in your comfort zone…get on board with what God is doing at Northgate…
Family Gathering at the Lord’s Supper
God has provided one of the greatest gathering places for a church to come together as a unified family of Jesus…the dinner table…the table of the Lord…the Lord’s supper…
-for it is here that we all come on equal ground…human beings created in the image of God…sinners in need of grace, mercy and pardon…people who have been bought with the precious blood of JC…brothers and sisters in Christ…each one of us humbly bowing before our Heavenly Father…so thankful that He loves us and saved us…so that we pour out that love on everyone around us…
Let’s prepare our hearts for communion…ask Him to forgive our sins, cleanse our hearts, fill us with His Spirit…and give us His heart of love for all the people’s of this world…
Prayer…Worship…Communion…
Appendix 1 – Jun’s Story
Here’s a riddle for you:
What do a school bus driver, a teacher and a neonatal nurse have in common?
Answer: A lovely Chinese lady named Jun.
The story goes like this:
On his regular school bus route, our very own Al Goodkey picked up a little girl named Candace. Her mom, Jun, saw her off on the bus in the mornings. When our ESL classes started last February, Al asked for an invitation card for Jun because he had a hunch she needed and wanted to be able to speak better English.
Jun was delighted to come. She made friends and gained confidence in English. Jun was so sad when we wrapped up for the summer, saying that she wanted to keep practising English conversation……..so for the next few Saturdays I took her along to the Conversation Café at Central Baptist, which she also enjoyed.
But when that ended as well, what could we do? I checked her address and noticed she lived just a few blocks from Brenda Murray. Knowing how friendly and hospitable Brenda is, I asked if she would like to meet Jun and spend some time with her once in a while. That resulted in a lovely tea party and garden tour with Brenda, Wanda, Sylvia, Candace, Jun and me. The big news that day was that Jun was pregnant! Who could be a better friend and helper than Brenda, an experienced neonatal nurse who helped with labor and delivery of many babies! That was definitely a “God thing”!
Soon after that initial contact, Jun brought her new friends a sample of her spring rolls. Now Brenda and Jun also text and email on a regular basis. Brenda has become a reference point when it comes to questions about pregnancy. Brenda enjoys Jun’s company and has also met her husband.
Jun is no longer a lonely stay-at-home mom with little English. Thanks to a network designed by God, she feels comfortable with English speakers and feels at home in churches. She trusts us and has been introduced to scripture through ESL and Conversation Café. I really chuckled one morning at Central Baptist when Jun remarked to one of the others at the table, “Well in our church, I learned….” It seems like she is claiming ownership at Northgate!
And rightly so! She’s working on a blurb for our church website promoting our ESL program. With Brenda’s help she’s not only speaking, but writing English, singing our praises. Watch for her input on the Northgate Church website. Watch what God does to her and her family. Pray that they will want to know God, not just English.
The story continues.