Printer Friendly VersionThere are basically three popular expressions of evangelism
in the church of Jesus Christ today.
City on a Hill: We are a visible community of faith. We are
simply to be the Church in the world and people will see the lives we lead
and live out together. Our example will be so compelling they will say: “I
want to be a part of this Church.” This isn’t a bad model at all.
In fact, they are the very words of Jesus.
Salt of the Earth: We are to enter culture with a mediating
influence in the world. This is the infiltration view. We are to subversively
work our way into society and express our views. Again, not a bad thing. These
are also words from Jesus. But beyond protesting our culture, we are called
to proclaim our Savior.
Turn or Burn!: We are to give a public witness saying: “I
found it . . . You need it!” The proponents of this view are the folks
who determine their level of evangelistic effectiveness by the volume of their
voice and the size of their Bible.
The problem is any of these methods alone are probably not complete.
Just because all or part of these methods have been tried doesn’t make
them necessarily true. Most likely a combination of at least the first two,
seasoned with grace and truth, are more in line with a biblical view of what
it means to share our faith in the world.
Evangelism in the book of Acts is viewed as a combination of
heavenly orchestration and human encounters, which when put together might
be called divine appointments. This equation is most clearly seen in the story
of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. God orchestrated a
divine appointment between Philip and this eunuch that happened at just the
right place and just the right time. If Philip had hesitated in his obedience,
even for a few hours, he very probably would have missed the window of opportunity
God had provided to intersect with someone who was searching for answers to
spiritual questions.
Acts 10 and 11 is a key passage for doctor Luke. We know it
represents something very important, because of its significant length (it
is the longest narrative in Acts, a seven act drama of 66 verses) and by the
fact it seems to serve as a kind of hinge between the beginning of his account
and the end of account.
It all begins with a man named Cornelius. He was a centurion,
a Roman soldier in charge of 100 men. In status, centurions resembled modern-day
officers of field grade, such as a Colonel. He was also part of what was called
the Italian cohort, a regiment of soldiers made up only of those who had distinguished
themselves for gallantry and valor. He lived in Caesarea, which was the seat
of the Roman government in Palestine.
The very fact he and his family were together in Caesarea means
he was either highly respected, was being rewarded for a special service to
Caesar, or he was retired. That he still had soldiers under his command suggests
the former. In other words, he wasn’t a Rambo type mercenary who couldn’t
string more than two words together and considered not leading with his chin
a victory. He was a well thought of and intelligent man.
He was also a deeply pious man. He had become a “God-fearer”
which meant he was a proselyte to Hebrew monotheism, if not in practice, in
belief. His spiritual life was marked by the regular disciplines of prayer
and almsgiving to the poor.
God came to him in a heavenly vision that would change his life
forever. An angel announced God’s approval of his seeking heart and
gave in specific detail not only who he should send for, but the town and
place where he would be staying. He immediately obeyed God’s direction
and sent two of his servants and a soldier to Joppa, forty miles up the coast.
The next day, as Cornelius’ men were on their way to find
Peter, Peter went up on the roof of the house he was staying to pray while
he waited for lunch to be prepared. The roofs were flat and served as a kind
of patio. He was staying at the home of another believer named Simon. His
home was in Joppa, a suburb of modern Tel Aviv today.
The very fact Peter would stay at Simon’s house was a
sign he was beginning to change. You see, Simon was a tanner by trade, and
an orthodox Jew was not permitted to have any dealings with anyone who worked
with dead animals. It was considered by the Jews to be a ritual uncleanness,
and the reason tanners had to live outside the city limits.
But because this tanner was a believer in Christ, Peter knew
he had found a friend, in spite of the regulations. Peter was in process.
And as he prayed he also had a vision from God. In this vision heaven was
opened and a giant sheet began to float down to earth. Its four corners were
tied together like a lunch sack and inside it were all kinds of furry-footed
critters.
It looked like a bad batch of animal crackers. There were camels,
badgers, buzzards, bats, crocodiles, lizards, pigs and all the rest of the
forbidden creatures on the “don’t eat” list in Leviticus.
It was the menagerie from hell and Peter lost his appetite.
Then Peter heard a voice say: “Get up, Peter; kill and
eat.” Now if Peter had been you or me, he might not have given it another
thought. But Peter was a Jew. The only thing worse than having a meal with
a Gentile was eating pigs in a blanket. We might have thought it was the devil
talking, but Peter seemed to recognize the voice: “No Lord, I can’t
do it! I’ve never eaten anything unclean or profane.”
This little conversation took place three times before the sheet
was taken back into heaven. It would be easy to blame Peter for being a hardheaded
legalist, but for Peter to get it at all was somewhat of a miracle.
I wish there was some way we could understand how important
dietary law has been to the people of Israel. Most of us have had pork and
beans and bacon and eggs all our lives, and except for bad cholesterol we
don’t give it a second thought. But the very idea of this kind of meal
would make a first-century Jew break out in a cold sweat.
We can identify somewhat. It would be kind of like you coming
to church one Sunday morning to find Snickers and Dr. Pepper on the communion
table instead of bread and juice. You say, what’s the big deal? Food
is food! But not when it comes to the Lord’s Supper. There’s something
sacred about this event that sets us apart and helps us to know who we are.
And eating a snickers bar and sloshing down a warm Dr. Pepper while saying:
“Do this in remembrance of me,” would feel sacrilegious.
If that doesn’t help you to understand, then just think
of a few of your most precious religious convictions, those lines which you
could never imagine crossing without violating the very things you hold to
be true, and then get ready to let them go, because that’s exactly what
God was asking Peter to do.
So I say, give Peter a little slack. Sometimes it takes more
than a bad dream to let go of a lifelong tradition. But Peter knew the voice
and so when he woke up he began to mull it around. He was confused. Maybe
he had already crossed the line by staying with a tanner. Now he was on the
slippery slope toward pork and beans. He was completely at a loss to know
what he was being asked to do with what he had just seen.
The Lord wasn’t taking any chances! He was going to make
sure Peter got the point. At that very moment Cornelius’ search party
showed up: “Hey, anybody here know a Simon Peter?”
The Lord said: “It’s okay, Peter. You aren’t
the only one who gets a vision. You can go with them, because I’m the
one who’s sent them here. This is a divine appointment.” Do you
see the divine orchestration and human encounter?
Peter goes down to meet them and when he hears their story he
said: “Give me a minute to get my bag.” Peter still doesn’t
know where he is going or exactly why. This is new territory for him. But
he’s on a need to know basis--when God wants him to know, he’ll
know--and he trusts God to work it out. He’s confused, but still willing
to be led. And that’s what a disciple of Christ is. Disciples are those
who at times say: “Lord, I don’t know where you are leading me,
but here I am. I’m available!”
The next day they set out to make the 40 mile trip back to Caesarea.
They would probably have traveled on foot, which was a day and a half journey.
Peter needed the time to think.
When they finally arrived Cornelius was expecting them. He’d
called together all his family and friends for the event. For someone who
had been taught all his life to touch a Gentile meant you would have to wash
your hands, a houseful of Gentiles must have been something akin to knowing
the Ebola virus was airborne.
But when Peter heard Cornelius’ story it all began to
make sense. Cornelius’ vision and his vision had a common thread--God
was between them connecting the dots. It wasn’t really about food at
all. It wasn’t really about Gentiles and Jews at all. It was about God
loving people. It was about a gospel that could not be contained by rules
and regulations. It was about a Christ who was breaking down the dividing
walls of race, culture, and even theological convictions.
This Good News was about people! And that’s where we get
confused at times. We hang on to traditions and customs and prejudices thinking
they are the point--they are not the point. People are the point! Jesus did
not die for ideas, traditions, and convictions--Christ died for people! No
wonder Peter would marvel: “Now I know how true it is that God doesn’t
have favorites. And I’m here to tell you some Good News--there is peace
with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”
And then Peter does what he always does whenever someone gave
him a microphone and an audience . . . he launches into an evangelistic sermon.
And as he is preaching an absolutely astounding thing happens. The same Holy
Spirit who had fallen on the 120 believers in the upper room just a few months
before, was now poured out on Cornelius and his entire household. Cornelius’
living room was transformed into a sanctuary and they closed with a praise
service!
You would think after a miracle like that everybody would be
thrilled and praising the Lord. But this isn’t the end of the story.
The “scandal” hit the tabloids: JEWISH PREACHER HAS MEAL WITH
GENTILE SOLDIER. And when the folks back at Jerusalem First Church caught
wind of it they set up a tribunal to try and get some answers. Peter thought
the criticism was going to be he opened the door for the Gentiles to receive
the gospel. As it turned out, the church folks weren’t upset about the
theological issues at all. They were mad about the food thing!
They said: “Brother Peter, you know we love you (you know
you’re in trouble when it starts that way), but we’ve heard you
not only entered the home of a Gentile, but you even ate with them!”
They started right in with an accusation--not even a question.
They were more upset with their religious regulations than the
Gospel being shared. You say: “Well, they must have just been carnal,
ugly people.” No! These were Spirit-filled Christians who were trying
to follow Christ. But this happens sometimes. We tend to get methodologies
confused with the message.
Peter answered them by recounting the story line by line. He
concluded by saying: “Since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he
gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to argue?”
And they couldn’t argue either. The same Holy Spirit who had orchestrated
this entire event was also at work in the apostles.
This is a story about conversion. A conversion not only of those
who come to faith in Christ, but a change of mind and heart. A conversion
from an old way of thinking to a new way of thinking. The broadening of horizons--the
shifting of paradigms. The conversion of a comfortable religious mindset to
the mind of Christ.
You say: “Was it the conversion of a gentile, an apostle,
or of a church?” The truth is it was the conversion of all three. Cornelius,
Peter, and the Jerusalem church needed changing if God’s mission was
to go forward.
What do we learn from these conversions?
The conversion of Peter
Peter represents you and me. He is an insider. In many ways this is the most difficult of the three conversions. But the story line remains the same . . . God had to intervene by divine orchestration so a human encounter could happen. Only in obedience will Peter discover the purpose of his vision. It reminds us that sometimes God has to change our hearts before we can make a difference in the changing of others.
The conversion of Cornelius and Company
Cornelius represents those who are seeking God. He is an outsider--by
birth, by nationality, by custom. This is a passage that is key to understanding
evangelism because it tells us as evangelists we are not working alone. Prevenient
grace is at work in people’s lives long before we come into their lives.
Prevenient grace is the grace that goes before. We have to believe
people are created to desire the Good News we are sharing. There is a God-shaped
vacuum only God himself can fill.
God was there before Peter showed up. We need to understand
this as we give witness to our faith. God is always at work in the lives and
hearts of people before we arrive on the scene. We are neither the beginning
of their God awareness nor will we be the end of their God awareness. We are
only enhancing a message already being delivered by God himself.
The conversion of the Jerusalem Church
For God’s mission to be accomplished there could be no
divisions or distinctions. But new ideas are uncomfortable and discomfort
causes conflict.
Like the rest of Scripture, Acts is the church’s attempt
to understand its experience of God, an experience which can be quite confusing
when it leads us toward people whom we had not expected to meet and places
we had not expected to go.
But that’s the way it is sometimes in the Church. If Jesus
Christ is Lord, then the church both then and today has the adventurous task
of penetrating new areas of His Lordship. We should expect surprises and new
implications of the gospel, which cannot be explained on any basis other than
that our Lord has shown us something we could not have seen on our own.
This doesn’t mean an undisciplined flight of fancy into
our own bold new ideas or the pitiful effort to catch the wind of the latest
trend in the culture under the guise of seeking new revelation. But what it
does mean is we are continuing to penetrate the significance of the scriptural
witness Jesus Christ is Lord and to be faithful to divine prodding.
That’s why it’s called a faith journey. Faith, when
it comes right down to it, is often our breathless attempt to keep up with
the redemptive activity of God, and to keep asking ourselves: What is God
doing here and where on earth is God going now?
It teaches us our evangelism strategies must have many avenues
and opportunities for response, because there are many levels of people and
experiences. Our methods and expressions of community witness must be diverse.
This gospel we share is a universal gospel. Universal in the
crossing of geographical boundaries, as well as ethnic and social boundaries.
And we cross those boundaries through the process of divine orchestration
and human encounter.
The Spirit is always breaking up the old categories, shifting
paradigms, and infusing life. He is about conversion! The world is changing.
The choice is ours: Will we live in the old world or the new world? I am praying
that we will be forever open to the new thing that God wants to do in our
lives together.
There are always conversions happening. Sometimes it's the outsiders--sometimes it's the insiders. But most often . . . the conversion is happening in you!
