Accepted by God
Acts 11:1–18
When they heard these things. . . . they glorified God. Acts 11:18
The results of Peter’s explanation and defense of his ministry to the Gentiles were all good. Verse 18 says, “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’”
I notice two things about this response. First, the Jews of Jerusalem were convinced that this had been of God. Peter had explained the situation, and they were intellectually convinced. Second, because they were convinced, they praised God. What God had done was perhaps not what they would have preferred. It certainly was not what they expected. Nevertheless, there was evidence that this was truly God’s work. And if God was working, then God was to be praised.
However, although the Jews were convinced by Peter’s presentation, it was only for a time. They praised God, but not for long. Not very long after this, a party began to grow up in the Jerusalem church that rejected this position. These people said in effect, “We must not allow the Gentiles to ignore the law of Moses. If we let down the barriers in this way, pretty soon everyone will start acting like Gentiles. And we all know how the Gentiles act. We have to preserve the law of Moses (and our traditions). We have to insist that Gentiles be circumcised, come under the law of Moses, and then keep the regulations that we have been keeping for centuries.” So these questions had to be battled out again and again. Acts 15 tells about one such struggle, and the matter appears again in Paul’s writings, particularly in his letter to the churches in Galatia.
Prejudice dies hard. But we need to learn from these early lessons regarding the scope of God’s grace in the gospel. Often we find it difficult to believe that God can accept other people without these others first becoming like us. Yet God does accept them. And it is good he does, because if he did not, you and I would never have become Christians. We would have been excluded. The only reason we are believers is that God does not show favoritism. That is why we are “in.” Therefore, we must not show favoritism ourselves. We must reach out to everyone, and we must not count it a threat when God brings into our fellowship somebody who from our perspective just doesn’t seem to fit.
What matters is not whether other people fit in with us. What matters is that they have been accepted by God.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.