A New Door Opened

SERMON: 2012-06-03--ac1292--a-new-door-opened-part-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:44:31.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: Segment [0] is the clear start of the sermon's exposition. Segment [31] represents the last segment of theological exposition before a significant break/change in material (the subsequent segments are music). Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:27:41.140-00:27:44.220, 00:39:58.900-00:44:19.360 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Rather than reading you the scripture up front, I'll work it into my message a little bit this morning. As I said a few moments ago, I want to talk with you about the conversion story of Cornelius recorded for us in Acts chapter 10 and chapter 11. It's a significant story, and if we're to understand it, we need to reflect for a moment or two on the tremendous gap that existed in first century Israel between religious Jews and pagan Gentiles. You may recall that when God entered into covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai back in the Old Testament, He did so in part because He wanted the people of Israel as a nation to be His people and to represent His testimony among the nations. As sin continued, it spread through the peoples of the earth after the destruction in Noah's day, and nation after nation continued to drift away from God. There was a very real danger that the testimony to God and the witness to God would be lost to humankind. And so while previously God had been working with individuals out of a multitude of nations, beginning with Abraham, He called Abraham to become the head of a new nation. And in the Old Testament, that nation is Israel. And at Mount Sinai, God entered into covenant with Israel, and He said, "I will be your God, and you will be My people." He revealed Himself to them. He gave them His laws. He gave them ceremonies. He dwelt among them. And the purpose of that then was that among all the nations of the world, there would be one nation who could bear witness to what faith in God looked like, to what living with God looked like, to what blessings abounded when people remained in covenant faithfulness to God. And it all hinged on that faithful relationship between God and His people. Now, if you know the history of Israel in the Old Testament, you will discover that while there were benefits to being God's people, they were never quite satisfied with serving God alone. They wanted to be like the nations. And so for much of Israel's history in the Old Testament, their religion was what you would call syncretic. On the one hand, they professed to worship the Lord God, but on the other hand, they also worshiped the Baals and the gods of the other nations. They broke covenant, and because they broke covenant, eventually they got thrown away into exile. And there they suffered for 70 years until God, in His wisdom and in His grace, walked them back to the promised land. This time around, they had learned their lesson very well. They understood that they had blended with the nations and that God had judged them on account of that. And so when they came back, they observed His law with a vengeance. So much so that they wanted nothing to do with pagan and Gentile people. And by the time you get to 1st century Israel, which is what the Book of Acts is dealing with, you have Jewish folks who want nothing to do or as little to do as possible with the Gentile nations around them, because we are clean, but they are unclean. And so you weren't allowed to have a meal together. You weren't allowed to visit them in their home or have them visit you in your home, because then ceremonially you would become unclean. So it became a whole process of how do we stay clean, and we stay clean by staying away from the world. It might sound familiar to many of us. Now, put this in the context of the Great Commission, because what is the command in the Great Commission? Go and make disciples of all nations. In other words, leave your holy huddle and go mess around with those bad, wicked people. That presented a huge cultural and religious gap at the New Testament Church at a hard time getting its head around because it was contrary to everything they had ever learned. And just to put that in perspective and to bring that home, think of yourself as a nice, lovely Christian family with nice, lovely Christian children living next door to a drug house, drug dealers. And people come and go day and night, and the women are in and out, and there are deals going on, and there's a whole lifestyle happening next door to you that is totally at odds with everything that you've always been taught is good and proper. And the natural tendency is to say, well, nothing to do with them. The natural tendency is to say, I'm going to sell my house and move into a better neighborhood, isn't that true? I mean, isn't that why people move to the suburbs from the downtown areas of wicked, bad cities? But now imagine, now imagine God coming along to you, good Christian family, good Christian person, and he says, you know, I want you to develop a relationship with those drug dealers next door. In fact, I want you to go over and be their friends. And I want you to share in their meal, and I want you to invite them into your home. And horror of horrors, I want you to let your children play with their children. Now tell me if that wouldn't give you a heart attack or tear. And say, Lord, here I am, but send somebody else because that's just not how we do life. Well, that's a snapshot of the struggle the early church faced in fulfilling the Great Commission, in going beyond Jerusalem, beyond Judea, beyond Samaria, now to the ends of the earth, facing Gentile nations. And so Acts chapter 10 and Acts chapter 11 is God's dramatic intervention to move the New Testament church from a holy huddle into going out into the world and fulfilling the gospel. You with me? In the few moments that we do have this morning, let me start walking you through the story. And I think, I hope it grabs your heart the way that it grabs my heart. How God stepped into that situation to make it happen. All right, it begins, it begins with Peter. Acts 9.43, Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tenor named Simon. Now we've seen the last couple of weeks how he ended up in Joppa. Joppa, you will recall, is up the coast from Peter started off in Jerusalem, went to Lydda because he wanted to bless the saints and minister to them there, and that's where he healed by the power of Jesus, Aeneas, and then he was invited to Joppa. And Joppa is on the sea coast, you see Caesarea north of that, and Caesarea, of course, is the home of the Roman centurion Cornelius. Now, it's significant because this sets the stage, of course, for his encounter with Cornelius, but also significant is the fact that he stays at the home of Simon, the tenor. Now that's an interesting juxtaposition because the name Simon would indicate to me that he's Jewish. But being a tenor was a very frowned upon trade, a despised trade among Israelite people because a tenor, of course, tans hides, changes it into leather, involves animals that are not only clean but also very likely unclean, and it is a smelly, ugly business. And some commentators think that that's the reason why later on in the passage we're told repeatedly that Simon the tenor lived in a house by the sea. You know, it's a little bit like living downwind from a pig farm. You hope the wind takes the odor and blows it away. But it's significant because it sets the stage not only for his encounter with Cornelius, as I said a few months ago, but it sets the stage for his vision. Because remember, in a few moments we're going to see that his vision involves animals that were both clean and unclean. So it begins with Peter, and then that in turn sets the stage where introduced to Cornelius. And let's read that passage beginning at verse 1. "At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion, in what was known as the Italian regiment. He and his family were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God. He came to him and said, 'Cornelius!' Cornelius stared at him in fear. 'What is it, Lord?' he asked. The angel answered, 'Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Jompa to bring back a man named Simon, who is called Peter, and he is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea.'" Two things in that passage I quickly want to call your attention to. And the first is that Cornelius is a God-fearing man. He and all his family were devout, verse 2, and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. Now this has led some people to speculate that maybe Cornelius was a proselyte. And a proselyte would be a Gentile who had become Jewish. And it wasn't unusual for Jewish proselytes to become Christian, but that misses the point of the story. Repeatedly we are told in the story that he, in fact, is a Gentile. Because remember now, that's where the big obstacle lies between Jew and Gentile. We don't mind if you become Jewish first and then become a Christian, that's okay. But we cannot possibly believe that God would want the likes of you bad and dirty people to be part and parcel of this holy huddle that we think we are as God's people. So he was God-fearing. This God-fearing showed up in his generosity towards the poor because if you truly love God, it will always reflect itself in your generosity to people who have less than what you have. Second thing to notice then is that in this story an angel comes to visit him. Verse 3, one day at about 3 in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said, "Cornelius." Now what I find fascinating about this is that the angel could have done just as good a job if not better than Peter in preaching the gospel to Cornelius. But he doesn't. Instead he says, "There is a dude called Simon Peter down in Joppa staying at Simon the Tanner. Go and fetch him and let him speak to you." And you know why I like that? Because throughout the New Testament we are the hands and the feet of Jesus. Angels could do a much better job. Big revelations from heaven could do a much better job in changing people's lives. Angels are ministering spirits, but they don't take away our responsibility because we are the children of God and God wants to have us join him in his work of redemption so that we not only share in the struggle but we also share in the joy and one day the crown and one day the award for having been faithful to God. There is an angel, but the angel doesn't do the work of the church. Go fetch Peter and let him speak to you. Then as the story goes on, we get to the heart of this story and that is the fact that Peter has a vision. Listen to these verses. "About noon the following day as they," that is the delegates from Cornelius, "now on the way to fetch Peter and Joppa, the next day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray." Roofs were flat. "He became hungry and wanted something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared," listen to this, "he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being led down to earth by its four quarters. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 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 up into heaven." Three things very quickly in those verses. Number one, Peter falls into a trance. He became hungry, wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. Now listen carefully. The word for trance is the Greek word "extasis." What English word do you think derives from that? Ecstasy. And we think of ecstasy as a state of heightened excitement, but ecstasy literally means standing outside or beside yourself. It's really sort of an out-of-body experience where the external world disappears for a moment and you tune in to a whole other internal or a spiritual world. And what's significant here is that it happens spontaneously. In many pagan religions, people move into trances by the use of drugs that break down, I think, the barrier to the spiritual world. But this is a natural process whereby the outside world disappears to Peter and he tunes in to a major revelation that God is about to give him. So the second thing to notice then is that he sees heaven opened and something like a large sheet is being led down to the earth by its four quarters. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Animals that were clean and animals that were unclean. And if you want to understand the significance of that vision, you have to understand the purpose for Israel's dietary laws. If you read passages like Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14, you discover that for Old Testament Israel, God was very particular about what they ate. And the animals were all divided into groups called clean and unclean. Animals that had a cloven hoof and the chewed their cud were clean. Animals that had neither or not one of them were unclean. Same thing with fish. Fish that had scales and fins were clean. Fish that did not have scales or fins were not clean. Same thing with insects and so on. And a lot of people look at those stories and they say, "Well, isn't it interesting God was concerned about what kind of food was good for Israel back in the Old Testament?" And that may or may not be the case, but it misses the main point. The main point of Israel's dietary laws as well as some of its agricultural regulations was to teach people in their daily lives the distinction of being a holy people and the necessity of being separated from the nations of the world. Remember I said God called Israel as a testimony to God's faithfulness. Israel's temptation was constantly to mix with the nations. And so every day in their everyday life, God was teaching people, "You are a holy people. You are not to be an unclean people. You cannot mix the holy with the unholy." And that is why they could not eat unclean animals, but only clean animals. That's why they could not use two different kinds of fibers to make their clothing, or sow two different kinds of seeds into their field, because God was constantly reminding them. Remember under the Old Covenant, they're not really filled with the Holy Spirit, so they're hearing this all from the outside. And so from the outside, God is constantly setting the stage and he is saying to them, "Do not mix with the nations of the world." That's the significance of this vision. You are a holy people. And that of course is where the story gets really interesting and where the whole focus lies, because now the Lord comes along and he says, "Get up Peter, kill and eat." Now that is a total mind-blowing experience. That runs contrary to everything Peter has grown up with. And so the scripture goes on to say, Peter's response, "Surely not Lord, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." And the Bible passage goes on to say that God comes to him a second time. "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." And then we're told this happened three times. And three times in scripture seems to be a number of completion. Jesus in the garden prayed three times. Peter denied Jesus three times. Paul asked for the thorn in his flesh to be removed three times. And God says to Peter three times, "Take and eat." And the whole point of that was to show Peter that in the wisdom of God, the Old Testament laws concerning clean and unclean animals, the separation between Jew and Gentile was now removed. And God was setting a new stage for redemption whereby the dividing wall that separated the Jews who were God's people and who knew how to live right, and the Gentiles who by and large were not God's people and didn't know how to live right, God was trying to show the church through Peter dramatically that from now on the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has broken down. And whether or not you're God's people is no longer determined by whether you grew up in the right family, the right Jewish home, or the right context. But that now God has his people everywhere. And the dividing line between the church and the world is no longer your background, your ethnic origin, or whether you were raised in a good home or not. Well, the dividing line now is the cross of Jesus because both Jew and Gentile by the cross of Jesus are reconciled to God and God is making a brand new family that can celebrate together the goodness of God. And most of us here this morning, I don't know if there's anybody here of Jewish background this morning, most of us are Gentile believers. We would not be here if it wasn't for the fact that God dramatically steps in to this situation and blows the mind of the early church to expand their thinking beyond their narrow background and their narrow history. And I love the way Peter puts it later on and we'll look at that, Lord willing, in the future. Peter began to speak after he's at Cornelius' house. "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." And Lord willing, as we come back to this again next week, we're going to see how God continues to move dramatically, not only to move the objections from Peter, but Peter's got the rest of the church to contend with. And they're going to do everything they can to blame him for having done what no self-respecting Jew would do, which is to visit and to eat with Jewish unbelievers. In the meantime, this morning, as we turn to the profession of faith, I want you to know God is still in the business of reaching people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And he still is in the business of using you and me as his hands and his feet in order to make that happen. Why? Because he wants us to share in the joy of heaven, where there is more joy over one sinner that repents than over 99 that need no repentance. So with that, I'm going to ask Dave to come up, and he's going to introduce our candidates, and then we're going to party together. It's a good introduction to the profession of faith portion of the service, I think, because one of the things I was thinking about, every new member's class is different. And I've got to say, too, that it's like your own kids. Everyone is special, no matter how many you have, and this one, too. But I think what really came across to me was something that Peter preached in one of his sermons recorded for us in Acts, and that is that everyone who calls upon the name of Jesus, they shall be saved. And I think that's the testimony of our class this morning. It's a small one, just three members, three people who will be sharing their stories with you this morning. And I want to introduce them to you now, starting with Mark and Christina McIntosh. Mark is the son of Bill McIntosh. He's been worshipping with us for some time. Mark and Christina started coming to this church about a year, year and a half ago, and mainly for their kids, but then discovered that it had to be for them, too. Then we have Mike Trigana. Mike has been worshipping with us since the new building opened, and he was part of the building of this building. That's how he got here. He installed the irrigation system and ended up attending here after that. He has two sons who are here, a wife who's here this morning as well. Mark and Christina have three young children. Let's welcome them with a warm, warm welcome. (Applause) You're settled down now? We're going to give them long enough lead in this morning so they can settle down. I don't know if that worked or if it didn't. Just get more nervous. (Laughter) Christina, Mark and Mike before God and people gathered here, we invite you to respond to these following questions. First of all, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent to redeem the world? Do you love and trust him as the one who saves you from your sin? And do you, with repentance and joy, embrace him as the Lord of your life? Second, do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, revealing Christ in his redemption, and that the confessions of this church faithfully reflect this revelation? Third, do you accept the gracious promises of God sealed to you in your baptism? And do you affirm your union with Christ and his church, which your baptism signifies? And fourth, do you promise to do all that you can with the help of the Holy Spirit to strengthen your love and commitment to Christ by sharing faithfully in the life of the church, honoring and submitting to its authority, and you join with the people of God in doing the work of the Lord everywhere? Christina, what is your answer? I will. God help me. Mark, what is your answer? I do. God help me. And Mike, what is your answer? I do. God help me. Thank you. You may be seated and share your stories. I was born into a Catholic family, but not a practicing Catholic family. They just believed in baptizing us as babies, and that was it. They sent me to Catholic schools my whole life. When I was done in high school, I never went back to church. When I had my first child, I knew I had to baptize her, but I didn't know which way to go. We were deciding who our godparents were, and there was a family fight with that. So we didn't baptize them. Well, the years became into five years. My children are still not baptized. I have now three kids. And when my daughter started school this year, we had to decide which way we were going to go. And it wasn't for my in-laws. I wouldn't be here. I would have chosen a Catholic system where I could have just baptized and not gone to church again. So I'd like to thank them for helping me. On the second Saturday of her class, I asked Jesus to come into my heart and to fill the void. And he did, because that following week, Mark quit his job, and I was not mad at him. I understood that we needed that and for him to find God in our way. And from that week, our life has become better. He went back to his father and got his job back. My school actually became better. I went to nursing school this following year. In my grades, I was a struggling student for all my life, and my grades have now gone better. I'm almost reaching Honour Roll, which was a very hard accomplish for me, with three young children under five. I'm going to let him talk. [Applause] First, I'd just like to say thank you. The beautiful part about this opportunity is we're able to reflect on our life, all the good times and the bad, and move forward with our lives. In our reflections, there's a poem of mine that's one of my favourites called "Footprints in the Sand." For those of you who don't know it, it's the walk with the Lord and how in your weak moments he carries you. I just want to share one moment where we look back and we really look how we were blessed. About three years ago, we had a very, very bad time in our life. My wife, in a span of three weeks, we found out my wife was losing her job, her plant was closing down. I'd lost my job because of upgrades to equipment, and they were doing a massive layoff there. And we were having our second child. This devastated our small family at the time, but we actually came out stronger. We look back now and see how God helped us, and we came through it better. Christine is now in nursing school. I work with my father, which I thought once wasn't even possible, and our children are growing up. We have three now, and we're happy where we are. So thank you very much. [applause] Good morning, everyone. My name is Mike Trogana. That's my wife, Jillian, and my son, Jake, and Justin. We live up in Tweed. We own a tree farm and a nursery, which Jillian mostly runs, and a landscape business that I mostly run. I was raised by a devoted Christian mother in a broken home with my older sister Cindy, who's with us today as well. We went to Christian schools and to church. The first time my dad left, I was probably around six or seven. And looking back, I can see that it was because alcohol was more important to him than us. My mom tried very hard to make it work with him, and he came and went many times. We moved around quite a bit from school to school, which was very hard for me because I had a hard time making friends. Then came another move, grade eight, and dropped into a public school where I quickly fell into the wrong crowd and found drugs. When I was high, I didn't feel any pain inside or anything else for that matter. Fast forward through some time. Since drugs are expensive, I dropped out of high school, and drinking quite heavy, I became a thief. I would steal anything from anyone. It didn't matter to me as long as I could get high. At 16, and luckily a young offender, I ended up in front of a judge who said if I was an adult, I could get 18 years. I got seven months open custody, a slap on the wrist. When I got out, the only life change I thought I needed to make was get a job, so I started landscaping. Life went on for a few years, just working to get drunk and high. Until I was about 19 when God put a few stumbling blocks into my life, and I ended up moving back to Oshawa, where my sister was going to Zion Christian Reformed Church, and I started going with her there, going to youth groups and became a member. I believed in God and Jesus, but had not given my life to Him. Eventually, my antics brought me before Pastor Will DeBoer and counsel for disciplinary action, and being pigheaded as I am, I wiped my hands and walked away. I fell hard and fast. I began selling drugs to pay for my addictions. I did anything and everything. Looking back, I was like a vacuum, just inhaling anything to fill the hole inside of me, and that hole was where Jesus was missing. I had a crew of guys that would do anything I told them. I abused that power so many times to hurt and destroy people, and I have personally done horrible things to people. Then came the drug bust. Amazingly, the judge gave me six months house arrest. Thankfully, even though I had turned my back on God, He didn't let me go. I ended up getting a job with a landscape company in Toronto that I was vastly unqualified for, and they were Christians. My boss, Frank, was one who put the tree farm idea in my head. Fast forward a year or so, and my mother died, which was a very devastating time for me and my whole family. In the fall of that year, we moved to Tweed, but alcohol and drugs were still a major part of my life. I started working at a local landscape company and planting trees at home on the farm. A couple of years in, I couldn't handle doing both jobs anymore, so I started working with my neighbour doing irrigation systems, and he got a contract to do the church here. Pastor John came out, introduced himself, and said we were more than welcome to come out any time, and that's when I started hearing God talking to me, telling me to go, which I, of course, ignored. Then a story in the newspaper about Maranatha opening on a certain Sunday, and guess who the guest pastor was, but Pastor Will de Boer from Zion. And that's when God was saying loudly to me to go, and I had no doubt it was him, but seeing Pastor Will de Boer meant me swallowing my pride, so I dug in my heels and said, "No, I'll start going the next week," which I did, so Al was greeting at the back door and made us feel so very welcome, which was especially needed because every fibre of my being was telling me I didn't belong here, and I'm sure that was the devil not wanting to lose his grip on me. We kept coming on Sundays, and it didn't take long for that feeling to go. The awesome praise team and sermons that actually spoke to me made me feel at home here. I wanted to become a member, but figured I should stop drinking and drugs and get my life together first. A year passed, another year, and going on another. I had began listening to UCB Canada pretty steady, and I'd made a lot of baby step changes in my life when one song resonated with me, "Lead Me to the Cross" by Francesca Battistelli. And there's a part in that song that says, "Bring me to my knees. Lord, I lay me down. Rid me of myself. I belong to you." And I prayed that to God and gave my life to Jesus. And the praise team is actually going to sing that song after. Well, careful what you wish for, because last fall, with my company and self in almost total financial ruin, within an eight-week period, both my grandparents died, Jillian's father died, as well as a couple other acquaintances. My father was diagnosed with colon cancer, and the list goes on. I was so devastated inside that I just emotionally shut down. And I asked Pastor John if I could come in to speak with him. And that Friday, I went in and told him everything. You're just getting the edited version. He was not at all judgmental as I expected, and he helped me through some pretty rough waters these past few months. I'm proud to say that I've been sober since February 6, and clean as well. [applause] And that is totally God working in my life, because he really can move mountains, as he had with me. Now that I have Jesus first in my life and follow his lead instead of my own, things are so different, it's amazing. It's awesome to know there's enough of God's grace for even someone like me. So I'd like to close with reading Colossians 3, 1-10. Since then, you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immortality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is adultery. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge of the image of its creator. Thank you. [applause] [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:39:58.900; remove through 00:44:31.000] Savior, I come, quiet my soul, remember. Redemption's here, where your blood was spilled, for my ransom. And everything I won't tell, dear, I count it all as loss. Lead me to the cross, where your love poured out. Bring me to my knees, Lord, I lay me down. Bring me out myself, I belong to you. Oh, lead me, lead me to the cross. [music] You were as I sounded dry, human. Word became flesh for my sin and death. Now you're risen. Everything I won't tell, dear, I count it all as loss. Lead me to the cross, where your love poured out. Bring me to my knees, Lord, I lay me down. Bring me out myself, I belong to you. Oh, lead me, lead me to the cross. To your heart, to your heart. Lead me to your heart, lead me to your heart. Lead me to the cross, where your love poured out. Bring me to my knees, Lord, I lay me down. Bring me out myself, I belong to you. Oh, lead me, lead me to the cross, where your love poured out. Bring me to my knees, Lord, I lay me down. Bring me out myself, I belong to you. Oh, lead me, lead me to the cross. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:44:31.000; resume after this marked segment]