Wednesday, January 21st

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Wednesday, January 21

Acts 10:21-33

And Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?" And they said, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say." So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man." And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me." And Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.' So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord."

Back in 2007 our family traveled to Kenya with an FBCG short term team. While there we participated in a short safari experience which was one of the truly memorable events in our family life.

While on that safari we met a young man who was working as a kind of busboy at the safari village. He called himself, “Joseph.”

I noticed that his earlobes had been pierced and stretched out, like we had seen when we visited a Masai village a few days earlier.

I was curious so I asked him if he was Masai.

He indicated that he was indeed from the Masai people and seemed very glad that I noticed his ears. We then started a conversation.

A few minutes later my boys walked up so I introduced them.

“Joseph, these are my sons, Jordan, Jesse, Micah and Canaan,” I said.

He shook their hands very politely, then pointed at Micah and said, “What was this one’s name again?”

I said, “Micah.”

He said, “Like the prophet in the Bible?”

I was surprised so I said, “Yes, Micah from the Bible. Have you read the Bible?”

He said, “Yes, I am a Christian.”

Now I was really curious, so I said, “Would you mind telling us how you, as a Masai, became a Christian?”

He seemed delighted to be asked!

He said that as a Masai tribesman he grew up believing in one God; the God who created the world. He just didn’t know much about that God.

He said that when he was a young man he had a series of dreams that were very clear and very powerful. In one of the dreams he was trying to climb a long ladder into heaven only to be told that he was not permitted to climb all the way into heaven.

In another dream he was pursued by a bright light from heaven that would not let him hide. The light followed him everywhere, even when he tried to bury himself in the ground.

Then one day, he said, a Christian Masai missionary came to his village and began to teach the Bible. He had never seen or heard of the Bible before, but he said he almost immediately began to recognize some of the Bible stories from his dreams.

Eventually he came to understand that the way to heaven was faith in Jesus, and that the light that pursued him was Jesus, the light of the world. And he became a Christian.

In the story Luke is telling, we learn that Cornelius is a devout man who gives alms and prays to God the best he can. But then he has a vision in which God told him to send for a man who could explain the gospel to him. God simultaneously prepares Peter to go to Cornelius’s house. When he arrives Cornelius says:

"Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.' So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord."

Just as my Masai friend Joseph knew about God but needed a missionary to explain the gospel to him, so Cornelius needs Peter to explain how God sent Jesus to die on the cross for his sins.

God is teaching Peter that he is no longer to think of himself as an insider and the Romans as outsiders! He is not to think of the gospel as something to be hoarded and protected by insiders, but something to be shared with all people, whatever their religious or cultural background.

Have you ever slipped into thinking of the church or your faith in terms of insiders and outsiders? Many of us do. Have you ever thought of certain people as being beyond the reach of God’s grace? Sometimes it’s tempting to think that way.

Have you ever asked God to lead you to, and allow you to help someone like Cornelius? Would you be bold enough to pray that prayer?


Pastor Brian Coffey