PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 10:9–18 (NIV)
About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
CONSIDER THIS
Question: So what on earth does this vision given to Peter have to do with anything?
Answer: It has everything to do with everything about the gospel of Jesus going to the ends of the Earth.
We’ve got the servants of Cornelius, the not-yet-Christian-God-fearing Gentile, on their way to get Peter. Peter is on the roof in a trance caught up in a vision and hearing a voice telling him to set aside everything he has ever been taught about kosher food, and what is clean and unclean. How can centuries of established orthodox teaching be wiped away in an afternoon?
When God is about to do something that breaks precedent with the past, he moves decisively. There’s not a lot of grey in this vision. “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” The Spirit does something here in contravention of prior revelation. It’s a massive dilemma and because it is a massive dilemma Peter needs uber clarity. He objects to the command. The voice speaks a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
And in case it was not clear to Peter the first or the second time, it happens—count them—a third time. “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
When certainty is in short supply, clarity means everything. The Spirit tells Peter to do something forbidden by the word. How could this be? This change is not gradual but all of a sudden; no slippery slope to be slipped on. No hermeneutical (interpretive) gymnastics are needed here. “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
Far from the slow-sliding proverbial frog-in-the-kettle kind of process, this vision calls for immediate and catastrophic change. “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
Throughout history up to the present day, people attempt to bend biblical revelation to fit their own experience or to conform to the spirit of the age. This is not what is happening in this text. Biblical precedent can only be overturned by further biblical revelation. Human experience, reason, and church tradition, while helpful, can never be allowed to trump Scripture.
“Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
“. . . and away to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE QUESTION
Imagine what it would have been like for Peter to go against everything he had ever been taught. What would that have been like?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation.” It is hymn 101 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
Subscribe to get this in your inbox daily and please share this link with friends.
4 Responses
In my honest opinion, this story is the confirmation to what Jesus had shared with the twelve earlier in His life together with them, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17) This fulfillment that Jesus had come to do had been accomplished when on the cross, He uttered , “It is finished “. This opened the door to reclaim the whole of creation for the kingdom of God. Big changes were then on the horizon.
God created everything clean (good). Sin made everything soiled and grimy. Jesus’s blood cleaned everything.
We understand the implications of three times for Peter: denial and confession of love.
But why this? Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Three times.
Tradition is moving towards revelation and transformation.
Out with the old, in with the new.
Because Jesus makes all things new.
Revelation 21:5
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Staying 💪’n Christ
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
I have always loved this major turning point in the movement of the Gospel. Although the baptism of Cornelius and his family was important, I think the major point here is the “second conversion” of Peter. He truly can at this time take the Good News to the ends of the earth. Thanks for the lesson.
It takes rare courage to obey the Holy Spirit, but those who dare to do so experience amazing things! Dare to be a Spirit-led child of God today. (Romans 8:14.)