I have been studying Acts over the past several weeks and have come across some great stuff. It is awesome what you pick up on when you take the time to focus…thought this was interesting:
Acts 11:
1 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believer criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.
Peter just finished obeying God and delivering the Good News to some Gentiles, seeing people saved, baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit to further the work of the Lord, upon his arrival home, he gets railed by the Jews. Some modern day examples both minor and major could look like:
- “That church plays rock music in their services”
- “The pastor of that church doesn’t wear a suit”
- “I won’t let my teens go to that church…have you seen the kids they allow to come there?”
- “They do small groups and can you believe it, they don’t even have Sunday School!”
- “You don’t preach out of the KJV?”
- _________________________ I am sure you could fill in the blank!
The Jews were more interested in the fact that Peter went into the house of a Gentile and that he ate with them, than the fact that people’s lives were changed. I see that way too often in church today. Jesus said this in Matthew 23:15
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Fitting…
