PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS
IF YOU LIKE THIS POST PLEASE FOLLOW US, SHARE WITH OTHERS AND PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND GIVE US A LIKE.
Translate this site into your preferred language, look for our Google translator in our home page: diningwithjesus.net
Traduce este sitio en tu idioma preferido, busca nuestro traductor de Google en nuestra página de inicio ve a: diningwithjesus.net
In today’s continued reading from Acts chapter 10, we hear about the vision that God gave to Peter. Yesterday we read about how the Lord called the Roman Centurion named Cornelius into action by means of an angelic messenger. But, as we will read in the passage that follows, the Lord chose a different means of revelation for Peter.
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
(Acts 10:9-16 NIV11)
The Vision
Before we get into the meaning of all that the Lord was doing, we need to understand the nature of this vision. In the vision (presumably told by Peter to Luke), Peter understood that this was a message from the Lord, given that he addressed his protest to the Lord directly.
In the vision, Peter is confronted with a menagerie of clean (ritually pure for the Jewish people to eat according to Hebrew law) and unclean animals. He is told to take action, kill, and eat.
The Problem
Peter protested the command to kill and eat, functionally refusing to obey the three commands from the Lord. Peter, like most other religious Jewish people of his day, associated their righteousness (right standing before the Lord) with their ability to keep the external rules found in the Hebrew laws, customs, and religious practices.
For Peter, part of his appropriate response to the Lord included his refusal to eat items from these banned lists. So, for Peter to be commanded to violate this principle was akin to asking Peter to sin. That was (rightfully) a massive problem for Peter, and so he said no.
Dietary Cleanliness
For those who might say that this vision was primarily about lifting the dietary restrictions of the religious from their ability to “earn” righteousness (something that is truly impossible for all sinful people like you and I), we need only to look back to the teaching of Jesus Christ that was clearly understood as a removal of dietary restrictions for those who were under grace.
Listen to the way this was presented for us in the passage that follows:
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
(Mark 7:14-19 NIV11)
By the Cross
The Lord Jesus Christ sought to reset our understanding of our relationship to true righteousness. As sinners, we are unable to achieve a state of purity and righteous perfection by our own efforts. We are not made right with the Lord by eating the right foods: we are made right by being included in the gift of grace poured out for all who receive it through his work on the cross.
A Lot to Learn
Peter understood this truth. He was present for the original teaching and for the death and resurrection of Jesus that allowed us access to the gifts of mercy and grace. But, in Peter’s dream, he was showing that he still had a lot to learn about his inability to earn righteousness.
Point
The point of this vision, one which Peter would learn in the events to come, was made clear in the message given by the Lord. Listen again to Acts 10:15, “The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
The Lord was teaching Peter, and Peter the church, that what the Lord makes clean, makes whole, makes righteous, and makes new will be as the Lord intends. The Lord has chosen to provide his mercy and grace to all that call on his name for salvation, no matter who they are.
Another way to say that is, what the Lord has done is done, now and forever.
For You
This is true for you as well. If you believe and have confessed that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life and the Savior of your soul, then you have been made clean. And if the Lord has made you clean, then that is what and who you are, now, and forever.
Thanks
- Give God thanks for his generous love and mercy today.
- Spend a minute acknowledging what Jesus Christ has done for you.
- Remind yourself of who the Lord has made you to be as you are welcomed into his grace.
In Christ,
Ryan Laden
PASTOR RYAN LADEN
Senior Pastor at PARK HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
Worked at MTN. CHURCH
Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church
Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Studied at Baylor University
Studied at Texas Tech University
Went to Castle Hills First Baptist
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox. Please Enter your email address in the box below.
Copyright © 2024 Ryan Laden – All Rights Reserved.
DINING WITH JESUS PRODUCTIONS 