David Bahn – Reflections

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Acts 11:1-18

Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, ³ “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ But Peter began and explained it to them in order: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. ⁶ Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹ And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; ¹⁴ he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ ¹⁵ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸ When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

When I was in college I fell in among some Jesus Freaks. They carried Bibles, made a point of their faith, and would ask – unashamedly – “Are you saved, brother? Are you saved, sister?” They were sincere and earnest in their beliefs. Jesus had a claim on their hearts that made a real difference.

I was pretty sincere in my faith at that time as well. I had joined the Lutheran Church at the Lutheran Chapel of Hope at SEMO University. The pastor, Rev. Robert Lange, was a dedicated and faithful servant who wanted to share the faith with others. So he organized an evangelism program in which I was involved. We would visit students in their dorms and ask them about their spiritual beliefs.

Our evangelistic approach was a bit more nuanced. We didn’t ask people if they were saved or not. We were taught to ask permission to ask a spiritual question. Have you come to the point that if you were to die tonight, you know you would go to heaven? Once that was answered (usually with “I hope so.”), we would follow up by asking, If you were to die tonight and stand before God, and he were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say?

Most often people would answer by saying something like, “I know I’m not perfect, but I try to live a good life. Then the conversation would begin. We’re all sinners, we would say. And the wages of sin is death.  We would talk about God’s gift of grace. Heaven is a free gift. It cannot be earned or deserved. We gain entry into heaven because of God’s grace. He forgives our sins for Jesus’ sake. Through faith in Jesus we are saved.

I’m not a fan of the “Are you saved?” approach to evangelism. It seems to beg the question, “Saved from what?!?” But the truth is, we all need to be saved. Our sins have separated us from God. His righteous judgment against us sinners is death and eternal damnation. Ugh. Pretty harsh. But nevertheless true.

I thought of that as I read this passage and noticed how Peter reports the angel’s message to Cornelius: ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’

That whole being saved thing must be important. It is a biblical term. So back to the question, “Saved from what?” It just might be that we are being saved from ourselves and our own short-sighted ideas of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies. We get it so wrong.

Want proof? How often do you check your foundational belief system against the Bible? How often do you look for a loophole, an end around, or some other means of avoiding the more difficult commandments of God, or the things that don’t add up? How easily do you close your eyes to things the Bible says because they don’t make sense or align with what you think ought to be? Left to our own devices we’ll take the forbidden fruit. And we’ll die. 

But God has saved us from this dreadful end. He sent Jesus to fulfill all righteousness for us. And through faith in him we are saved. We may not often think of it in such strident terms, but it is true and good and gracious. We’ve been saved. That’s a message we need to hear again and again. Maybe you know someone who needs to hear that message as well.