Peter
and the Gentiles
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the August 29, 2015 Sabbath School Lesson
“For
many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14, KJV
When we consider how many, many individuals have pastored
churches, served as overseers or bishops of various conferences and dioceses,
it is a marvel that so few of those from that caste have faced the challenge of
personally taking the message of the gospel to areas still dark and without the
light of Jesus. Comfortable in the security of sanctified peerages, they
convince themselves that they are doing a great work in the parlors and
potlucks of domesticated Christianity. With families to feed and bills to pay,
can they be blamed for seeking security of position over penetrating the
darkness, perhaps at risk of life, limb and property? While it is true that
providing security for these individuals and their families perhaps makes the
vocation of church pastor more appealing to some and provides for far more
pastors than might otherwise be possible, we might ask, “Of what ilk?” Does
said pastor, so well provided for, encourage the spirit of sacrifice and
endeavor among their congregants? Or is there instead a comfortable indolence
where nothing is wanting,[i] but little is achieved as
far as new souls accreted to the kingdom.
Perhaps it is because of this indifferent, spiritual
indolence that God seems to choose to frequently go outside of this class of
clerics to find those willing to travel across the boundaries created by
culture and class to bring the light of the gospel to the lost. For instance,
in spite of the many clergymen in England in the first half of the 19th
century, it was a foundry man and mechanic, John Williams,[ii] who answered the call to
take the gospel to the South Pacific. Not being a cleric, he was not ordained,
but only commissioned by the London Missionary Society to begin work in The
Society Islands. Working there for seventeen years, he and his family returned
to England in 1834, where he published the New Testament he had translated into
the Roratongan language.
Returning once again to the mission field, he was
eventually slain by cannibals and eaten along with his partner, Mr. James
Harris, while trying to establish a mission outreach in the New Hebrides. While
his life and work may earn him many stars in his crown one day, there are those
who pay effective tribute to such service by doing as he did. Sadly, when a missionary
or even a humble, indigenous Christian is brutally murdered as John Williams
was, we all too often hear the voices of those who want to call down drones,
bombs and missiles on the perpetrators. Sitting securely behind the wall of
geography that protects us, we comfortably play church at home, while
carelessly sweeping tens of thousands of souls into oblivion instead of the
arms of Jesus. When we present what we call church today to Jesus, is it any
wonder that He will spew that bad taste from His mouth?[iii]
Fortunately, in spite of our lackluster history as a
people, God continues to call those who are untrained and unhonored by the
church, but willing. He did so when he called a young woman, Ellen Gould Harmon
to be His instrument. And another untrained preacher influenced her. William
Miller was not trained as clergy, but after joining the Baptist denomination,
he began to preach in 1831 about the imminent return of Jesus as he believed
the Lord had called him to do, despite his lack of training or orders.[iv] Teenage Ellen heard his
preaching in 1840, and the Holy Spirit began to speak to her heart.[v] While the Harmon family
was cast adrift spiritually in 1843 when her father, Robert was
disfellowshipped from the Methodist Episcopal Church for believing William
Miller’s preaching, Ellen continued to seek a deeper connection to Jesus.
Because of this desire, and two dreams she had and a counseling session with a
young preacher, Levi Stockman, she developed a profoundly unique picture of the
character of God, differing from the angry punisher of sinners frequently
presented in the pulpits of the day. The sermon by Jonathan Edwards a century
before, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” continued to hold sway with
many. Perhaps the sentiment is best expressed in Edward’s statement that we are
all like spiders suspended on a fragile thread over the great furnace of God’s
wrath. Such terrifying imagery was intended to create a fear of God’s wrath to
motivate repentance. It drove men and women apprehensively to God.
Ellen White was heavily burdened spiritually by such
thoughts before her dreams and eventual meeting with Stockman. She felt
relieved to discover through these events that “God is love.”[vi] Perhaps as a result of
the personal spiritual relief it provided her, she spent the rest of her life
dedicated to properly portraying the character of this loving God. Although she
wrote extensively, perhaps the magnum
opus of all of those writings was her “Conflict of the Ages” series
consisting of five volumes: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” “Prophets and Kings,”
“The Desire of Ages,” “The Acts of the Apostles,” and “The Great Controversy.”
These books not only seek to portray God’s loving character without sacrificing
his omnipotent majesty, but also offer some answers to theodicy and deism, as
well as providing a theological basis for why God’s character was
misrepresented in the first place. Her writings are centered in the theme that
from the beginning of Earth’s history, there has been an ongoing warfare
between God and a fallen angel, Lucifer. In that conflict is found explanations
for much of what has gone wrong in this world. Although, as her writings
explain, the ultimate outcome of that conflict is never in doubt, the war
nonetheless rages on. In all fairness, she does not write to resolve every
possibility of doubt about God’s character. Nonetheless, millions have found
answers and comfort in her writings.
Ellen may be compared to the writer of the biblical book
of Job, which dealt with some similar themes. In that book, the writer never
reveals that Job ever had any idea why his suffering came about, and to some
degree the reader perhaps is left questioning the fairness of God, but in the
end the underlying expression of faith is that we must trust God, as Job did,
even without understanding every theological nuance. As Job stated, “Though he
slay me, yet will I hope in him.”[vii] Maybe it is this
attitude that allows us to stop clinging to possessions and position in order
to answer God’s call. What a paradox that often those most ready to do so are
not clergy, but common workmen who may have far less to lose materially than
those with positions of honor and privilege.
When we consider Peter, the Apostle, we see someone who
seems to fit that profile. Although he worshipped in the temple, he was not a
priest or a scribe. He was a simple fisherman. When Jesus said “Follow me,”[viii] it wasn’t the clergy
who answered that call, but humble fisher folk, shunned tax collectors and
other outliers to the temple and society. Perhaps it was this that caused
Paul’s initial opposition to Christianity. None of those with power and status
were among Jesus’ disciples. These, like Judas, might at times be drawn by what
they expected to gain from association with Jesus. But those who were so
motivated, also like Judas, departed when they no longer felt Jesus could offer
them anything.[ix]
However, the disciples who were drawn to Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s
influence on their hearts continued to walk with Him. Peter was among those.
Although Peter denied Jesus during Christ’s captivity
and trial, the Holy Spirit continued to draw him and repentant and humbled, he
found forgiveness and grace. This allowed him to stand before the crowds on
Pentecost and offer forgiveness and grace to those who heard him. He had been
there. He knew what those terms meant. Peter then, like other outliers, both
before and after, found himself taking the message of repentance and forgiving
grace to those who stood on the other side of the wall from Judaism, the Gentiles.
Preaching Jesus to the Centurion Cornelius and his household, he saw the power
of God revealed with these “unclean” Gentiles in the same way it had been
revealed among the Jewish believers at Pentecost. Subsequently, he reported
back to the rest of the disciples in Jerusalem, and they marveled that God was
so evidently working across cultures.
Once this bridgehead had broken down the prejudices
against the idea of Gentile believers, God could work another great miracle by
calling Paul as His special emissary to the Gentiles. Perhaps an important
lesson in that miraculous act is that God can call even clergy if they stop
fighting the Holy Spirit and humbly do two things. First, admit that they do
not have all the answers. God is inscrutable and mysterious in His workings and
may work in ways that are totally outside our previous understanding.
Second, they need to stop what they are doing if it
hinders the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others. Paul felt that
the only correct understanding of God and the temple was that offered by those
ordained to serve there. This caused him to oppose the ministry of those who
were outside that caste. Perhaps because he could not see the working of the
Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciples, he was allowed to suffer three days
of actual physical blindness. As he discovered how blind he really was, he
became humble, teachable, and willing to go where God needed him. Separately,
but committed to cross-cultural mission work, Peter and Paul eventually took the
gospel to the heart of the Roman Empire. There, like John Williams, they gave
their lives for the Savior they loved so much.
