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 11:1–10 (NIV)
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. 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.”
CONSIDER THIS
I’m not sure why, but there’s a word jumping out at me in today’s text. See if you can pick it out. It’s in the second verse.
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.”
You saw it too didn’t you? The word is criticized.
Look back now at the first verse:
The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
They knew about the miraculous awakening. They knew an unprecedented, supernatural breakthrough of Jesus happened in Caesarea in the home of a Gentile. Here’s what we would wish for the second verse:
“So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the church met them at the city gate. Moved with exuberant excitement, they rushed the apostle and his band, picked them up, put them on their shoulders, and escorted them back into the city where a feast of epic proportions awaited them. Upon arrival, they worshipped Jesus together with loud singing and exultation. Then they invited Peter to tell them the whole story, detail by detail, punctuating the telling with all manner of curious questions and insightful comments.”
Instead, we get this:
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.”
It reminds me of the seven favorite words of so many churches: We’ve never done it that way before.
It reminds me of those words Jesus spoke to Peter that day in Caesarea Phillipi after Peter famously recognized him as the Lord of Heaven and Earth: “On this rock I will build my church.” Something tells me Peter reminded himself of this all the time—Jesus said, “I will build my church.” He didn’t say, “You will build my church.”
We are witnessing that in the Acts of the Apostles—Jesus is building his church. He is doing it according to his will and his way. This is usually the reason we’ve never done it that way before. This is usually the reason our impulsive response to extraordinary breakthroughs is criticism.
Don’t hear me wrong. There is certainly a place for clear thinking and critical analysis. Most of the time, though, that’s not what’s happening in situations like this. Critical minds exude curiosity. Critical spirits exercise suspicion.
“You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
That wasn’t an interrogatory. It was an indictment.
It reminds me of the little saying of Dale Carnegie I learned as a teenager when I happened upon his most famous book on my parent’s bookshelf: “Anyone can criticize, condemn, and complain and most people do.” At least that’s how I remember it. It has challenged me all my life as I often feel my bent toward critical thinking edge over into a critical spirit which most often comes from some underlying anger or FOMO.
It reminds me of that powerful excerpt from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt, which I first read in college. It absolutely arrested me and I immediately committed it to memory.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910)
I suspect that was the day I began my descent from the lofty gallery of the critical commentators and the safety of the sidelines to enter the arena, come what may and no matter what. And that’s how I have come to know you. After all, we didn’t meet in a toxic internet forum of biting sarcasm, barbed analysis, and crass cynicism. We met on the fields of awakening, where we are doing our level best to sow the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus. It’s why I close out every day of our audio version of the Wake-Up Call with these words:
“I’ll see you on the field!”
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.
I receive your curious mind and release my critical spirit.
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
Have you learned the difference between a critical mind and a critical spirit; between gracious curiosity and toxic suspicion; between “we’ve never done it that way before,” and “what might Jesus be up to here?” Are you in need of healing from the critical spirit of others? Jesus stands ready.
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Be Thou My Vision.” It is hymn 49 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
P.S. Don’t forget our fellowship gathering tonight at 7 p.m. CT
We will gather on Zoom—link below—at 7 p.m. CT for a time of fellowship together. I’ll do Q and A. We may sing a hymn, hear a testimony, share pictures of our grandchildren . . . LOL ;0) . . . and whatever else the Spirit has for us. We will hold to an hour. I can guarantee you one thing—Jesus will be there and he will encourage us.
Here’s the Zoom Link for October 23. The passcode is 123456 if needed.
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3 Responses
Could it be that when we criticize someone, we see ourselves in them? 🤔
The Word says that we are to come together as a church not to criticize but to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). Cursing the darkness won’t change anything. Only the light of Christ extinguishes the darkness. People will want to change when hearing the encouraging words of Christ, not degrading criticism of their behavior.
Remember, our struggles are not of flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12).
If we ever hope to bring The Hope to others, we must become people of encouragement. When we are devoted to Jesus, our actions and words must encourage the spiritual progress of others.
Our words should never be used for anything but good.
Ephesians. 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
My grandfather once said, “If you don’t have anything good to say about someone, be quiet.”
Good advice. Like most of us, he didn’t take his own advice many times, as most of us.
Sometimes, a hug or a caring act of kindness says more than 1,000 words of encouragement.
Staying 💪’n Christ
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Today’s Wake-up call touched many points of inquiry and agreement. First of all, why the criticism from “the circumcised believers “? Maybe they missed the memo that instructed the Church to make disciples of ALL nations (people groups). Secondly, we humans are creatures of habit. Few of us accept change willingly, especially if we weren’t previously prepared for it by seeking our input. Thirdly, JD touched upon it by reminding us that the Church belongs to Jesus alone, and He made it it quite clear that He’s the builder, NOT us. Lastly, I perceive that because of the various events that plaque this world daily, trust was a commodity in short supply then, as it still is today. “Jesus lead thou on, till our rest is won”.
When people criticize people for obeying God’s Spirit instead of sticking with religious tradition, they usually don’t know “the whole story” and lack the spiritual gift of the discernment of spirits. That’s why Peter, when criticized, humbly explained that it wasn’t his idea to preach to the Gentiles. He presented the details of how he was led by a vision and a voice from the Lord and how the Lord had to repeat the vision and the words three times before He obeyed. When Christ’s ekklesia in Jerusalem (the proper name of the ancient Greek interactive town hall meeting that Jesus said He would build) heard “the whole story” of how Peter had been led by the Spirit (see Romans 8:14) they dropped their criticism and submitted to what God had done to miraculously bring Gentiles into His kingdom. We need to humbly open our heart to God’s supernatural gift of discernment so that we can tell the difference between someone acting from a critical spirit and someone being led by the Spirit.