2. We’ve been learning:
about an interesting interaction between two men: Cornelius, who was a Gentile Roman centurion and Peter, the key leader in the Jerusalem church.
that by remaining obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the encounter between Cornelius and Peter resulted in Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit.
Today’s text will help us to see how the followers of Jesus more generally accepted this reality and understand our call to minister across boundaries of culture in our world today.

3. The question facing the early church quickly became just who did Jesus come to save? Who is included in the salvation offered through his death and resurrection and who is excluded? And upon what is this inclusion/exclusion based?

4. “Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days
“Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.

5. “I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.

6. “These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house
“These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” 

7. “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” - Acts 10:48b -11:18

8. It is crucial that we recognize that not only did Peter enter the home of a Gentile and preach the good news of Jesus to a large gathering of Gentiles, but he stayed with them “for a few days”.
The fact that he stayed for a few days alerts us to something incredible; at minimum Peter and the other six Jewish believers would have eaten food that had been prepared in a non-kosher environment, or they might even have eaten food explicitly forbidden under Jewish law.
Peter doesn’t just skirt around the Gentiles, while ministering to them from a distance; he engages fully in life with the Gentiles.

9. The Christians in Jerusalem learn that the Gentiles in Caesarea had embraced the gospel and had taken hold of God’s word.
Peter was not met by a celebration at God’s movement among the Gentiles, but by pointed criticism at his behaviour - “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them”. 
Why ought Peter care about the comments of a few Jewish Christians?
In such matters, the counsel of the whole church was sought and a unified conclusion was desired.

10. Peter models patience and compassion towards his critics, simply explaining how God had used him in the circumstance with Cornelius and the amazing results that followed.
God’s done a tremendous work in Peter’s life.
Peter’s retort shows how confident and convinced of God’s leading he is.
Peter mentions that the pouring out of the Spirit upon the Gentiles jogged his memory to a previous statement regarding Christ.

11. “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7-8)
 If Christ then had now baptised Gentile believers with the Holy Spirit just as He had Jewish believers, how could Peter oppose including them in the promise of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?
One cannot be excluded from inclusion in the church through some innate factor like being born a Gentile.
Salvation is not approached through the rigours of Judaism, but through a response to Jesus.

12. Christianity is not a free-for-all - we’ll see the development of a code of conduct for followers of Jesus through the book of Acts – but no one is excluded from the good news of Jesus.
A response of faith in Jesus is the mode of entry into the Christian community.
Whereas for millennia, the Jews believed that the Gentiles were outside of the promises of God, outside of the eventual ministry of the Messiah, God’s work within the Gentiles of Caesarea is proving this to be a false expectation.

13. “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
An exclusive “Jews only” salvation club was not what was intended by God; such a vision was just too small.
INGRAFTED BRANCHES (ROMANS 11)
Through faith in Jesus, Gentile believers are grafted into the body of Christ, receiving from Him the same life-giving nourishment He promised to the people of Israel who put their faith in Him

14. Scholars suggest that though the apostles were in full support of Peter’s conclusion, there were a significant number among the Christians in Jerusalem who weren’t quite as supportive.
Peter’s interaction with Gentiles eventually tainted his reputation among the more ritual-purity focussed Christians in Jerusalem.
Sometimes obedience to God’s call has unfortunate negative fallout. Though consensus is always desired, sometimes it is an unpopular decision to remain obedient to the leading of the Spirit.

15. Do you see an inclusion-exclusion dynamic at work in our world today
Do you see an inclusion-exclusion dynamic at work in our world today? Are there people groups whom we view as less worthy of salvation and therefore less worthy of ministering to?
Would you, like Peter, be willing to engage in life with these people, rather than just parachuting in with the good news of Jesus at the ready and then leaving before you found yourself somehow stained by their messiness?

16. The early church was promoting was not a “you’re included, now live however you feel” sort of thing; the church extended an inclusive embrace all the while urging life transformation for those who experienced God’s grace.
Unmerited inclusion, complete transformation is the offer of Jesus Christ.
No baggage can terminally exclude someone from expressing faith in Jesus and experiencing the salvation He offers.