"PETER, YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!"

Sermon Notes, April 24, 2016

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry’s sermon this week was titled “Peter, You Have Some Explaining to Do!” His scripture reference was Acts 11:1-18, where Peter explains his actions of going to Cornelius’ house and eating with him. 

From this passage we learn that if you want to hear God, you need to spend time on your knees.  There is nothing new in this statement, but we have a problem with prayer.  It is probably one of the most neglected disciplines to Christians today.  Maybe we have been praying about the same things so long that our prayers have lost hope.  Maybe we have become so calloused to what’s going on around us that it seems like God isn’t listening.  Maybe we have fallen into the “I can do it on my own“ trap and now everything is spinning out of control, and we feel like we are too far gone for prayer to work. We keep our prayers short and simple, at mealtimes and bedtime.  But we need to make sure that we have personal time with God; approach scripture with prayer. Listen, don’t just talk and never give God a chance to get a word in edgewise.  If you look at those who are doing amazing things for Christ, you will find that they take prayer seriously, and they let Him talk!

Are we truly following His example?  Peter not only heard God’s call in his prayer.  He was following His example.  Jesus told a story in Luke 10: 25-37.  A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was jumped, mugged and beaten by some thugs.  A pastor traveling the same road saw the man lying in the gutter beaten and bleeding, but he did nothing to help him. Then another religious man came along the same road.  He, too, saw the poor beat-up man in the gutter, but he did nothing.  Then the man’s worst nightmare begins to come into focus: a Samaritan is approaching him.  Too weak to get away from the Samaritan, the man just lies there, thinking “Maybe he will leave me here to die like the pastor and the religious leader.”  But he didn’t.  The Samaritan bandaged the man’s wounds, put him on his donkey and took him to the closest inn!  But wait, there’s more!  The man didn’t put Him up for the night, but until he was well enough to finish his journey to Jericho!  After telling this amazing story of compassion from the least likely person, Jesus asked “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  

Not only did Jesus tell this story of incredible love, but He showed it wherever He went.  For example, in John 4 we see Him bringing new life to a Samaritan woman at the well.  After hearing the Good News, she turned around and shared this Good News to her entire village.  Jesus did it first—before Peter did.  He loved His neighbor.

Who are the “Gentiles” in your life?  This could be someone who has wronged you in the past.  It could be a people group that you were raised to dislike—you know, the people on the other side of the tracks that our parents warned us about.  Most of the time they had one bad experience, or they heard about someone else’s experience, and decided that they would never “go over there."  If you go on a mission trip, for example, you will find that the people aren’t much different from yourself.  God loves them as much as He loves you.  Jesus is for everyone.   When we see people who are hurting, we can ask “How can I help?”

Jesus’ first words to Peter were “Come follow Me.”  His last words to Peter, in John 21:22 were “Follow Me.”  Peter did just that, every step of the way.  He might have stumbled at times, but he kept moving forward.  He went from a plain fisherman to a new life, with new goals, and became a fisher of men.  He was not perfect.  But it was through his imperfections that the Holy Spirit did His best work in Peter’s life, transforming him into the “rock. 

Peter’s encounter with Cornelius drastically changed the course of Christianity and the Church.  It was through prayer that Peter got his marching orders, and it was through Peter’s testimony of the gospel that Christ built His Church in the Gentile world.  The question is what are your marching orders?  Who are the Gentiles in your life?