This way? No way. Way!*

Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Bern Leckie answers:

What did I like about today’s passage?

(*Pardon the Wayne’s World reference. Got to keep it current for the kids.)

You might be having some déjà vu at the start of chapter 11, because Peter’s story sounds very familiar to anyone who recently read chapter 10. To be fair, it is an amazing story. But why is this one repeated just after it’s been told? In the Bible, I’ve found that is sometimes what happens with the most important bits, the things we need a double take to take in.

I had been thinking how important it was that Peter changed his mind, because we’re all called to a life of that when we follow Jesus. This particular mind change was mind blowing for some people, though. God’s people had defined themselves by sticking to strict laws about what they could eat and what they should avoid. Keeping purity in a Jewish kitchen is still about far more than avoiding bacon sandwiches. There’s a lot of work needed to remove blood from meat, for example, and keep dairy and meat separate (some use two cookers). How can God then say, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean”?

The Bible shows the church in arguments about this for a long time. You can look later in Acts or read Paul’s letter to the Galatians to see how passionately people were divided over the issue of God bringing non-Jews into his kingdom, and on what terms. Shouldn’t they obey his laws? I’m sure this did not cause a stir because people liked arguing. There was a genuine difference of opinion about what it meant for God to accept people. (There still is!)

I’m struck by how the two adjacent versions of Peter’s story have the same conclusion, forcefully making a point. The filling of these new believers with the Holy Spirit settled the matter for Peter. This made it all about things God was doing, clearing a way for his big, surprising, mind-changing kingdom. “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

This is a vital piece of guidance, a key point of this book. God does not mean to leave people paralysed by doubt and arguments as he changes people’s minds on the walk with Jesus. He gives the Holy Spirit, showing where he is working, who and what he is bringing closer to him and calling “clean” where we might previously have thought “unclean”.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I need to express my gratitude to God. For bacon sandwiches, certainly. But also that he has declared me and my family acceptable to him because of Jesus’ love and grace. And with this in mind, I’m aware that Christians argue today about the boundaries concerning who and what God accepts. Those usually seem to me like arguments which are hard to settle by reference to laws, but it’s better to try and discern and follow the flow of the Spirit. Where am I seeing the Spirit at work in others, producing his fruit? I want to get better at spotting this, crediting God for it and allowing God to keep renewing my mind to see things his way.

Who am I going to share this with?

Friends who wonder if God cannot accept them because the church struggles to do so.