Oboedire "In-Sight: Being Instruments of Change" by J. Steven Harper for Thursday, 23 June 2016

Oboedire   "In-Sight: Being Instruments of Change" by J. Steven Harper for Thursday, 23 June 2016
Peter's experience on the rooftop in Joppa (Acts 10:9-23[Acts 10:9 The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray. 10 He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance 11 in which he saw heaven opened, and something that looked like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures and wild birds. 13 Then a voice came to him, “Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Kefa said, “No, sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or treif.” 15 The voice spoke to him a second time: “Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and then the sheet was immediately taken back up into heaven.

17 Kefa was still puzzling over the meaning of the vision he had seen, when the men Cornelius had sent, having inquired for Shim‘on’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask if the Shim‘on known as Kefa was staying there. 19 While Kefa’s mind was still on the vision, the Spirit said, “Three men are looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and have no misgivings about going with them, because I myself have sent them.”

21 So Kefa went down and said to the men, “You were looking for me? Here I am. What brings you here?” 22 They answered, “Cornelius. He’s a Roman army officer, an upright man and a God-fearer, a man highly regarded by the whole Jewish nation; and he was told by a holy angel to have you come to his house and listen to what you have to say.” 23 So Kefa invited them to be his guests.

The next day, he got up and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Yafo;]) illustrates that original meanings of the Law can change, and that we can be instruments through whom God can work to effect the change. Two insights from Peter's experience can assist us as we explore the possibility of being such today.

The first clue is God's call to Peter to look at things in a new way. Peter's immediate "absolutely not!" response (10:14) shows how deeply he held to the original interpretation of the Law, even to the point of believing he would be unfaithful to God to consider another view. In fact, it took God three tries before Peter relented! But God was persistent in calling Peter to look at the passage differently, and thankfully, he did.
The second clue is the Spirit's invitation, through the guests who arrived, for Peter to go to Caesarea and connect with people he had previously avoided and judged. Peter did not even realize that his longstanding viewpoint put him inside a box which prevented him from seeing the larger work of God. God called Peter to journey outside his accustomed crowd and observe what the Spirit was doing elsewhere.
With respect to the first clue, Peter discovered that a familiar passage could be re-interpreted to create a new Kingdom reality. With respect to the second clue, he found that the people he thought were "unclean" were actually clean. It was the original interpretation that had gathered dust and needed cleansing.
Peter's ability to be the instrument who affected this anointed breakthrough was contingent on two things: (1) his ongoing openness to the Holy Spirit regarding a new interpretation of an old Law, and (2) his willingness to go to Caesarea and meet real people who were as filled with the Holy Spirit as he was. Take out either of these two things in Peter's life, and the inclusion of Gentiles (to say nothing of subsequent amendments described in Galatians 3:28[Galatians 3:28 there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.]) would either not have happened, or would have had to be accomplished through someone else.
These same dynamics are necessary if we are to make amendments in the Law today. If we persist in the belief that the original meaning of the Law is the only possible and permanent meaning, and if we hold fast to our conviction that we have the "clean/unclean" thing perfectly figured out, we will miss the opportunity to be instruments in God's hands to effect change.
But if we are willing to move beyond our initial "absolutely not!" response, and if we are willing to befriend people who are different from us, we can be instruments of change in our generation just as Peter was in his. Like Peter, we will discover that "God is no excluder of persons" (Acts 10:28, 34-36). And another expansion of the Kingdom of God and a richer understanding of the Church will have occurred.[J. Steven Harper]

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Categories: In-Sight

URL: http://wp.me/p101na-1Fs
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