“What God Has Made Clean, Do Not Call Common!”
Text: Acts 11:1-18
5-15-22
In the name of Him who makes us sinners clean, dear friends in Christ. Back in 1970 there was strange song released titled Lola. Amazingly it made it to #2 in the charts. I highly doubt that 52 years ago the band that performed it ever imagined that the lyrics would actually come true some day. It tells the odd story of a guy who meets a gal at a dance club and much to his surprise, “she” turns out to be a transvestite. One line in the song goes: “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls, It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world...” Isn’t that an apt description of what we’re facing today? Who could have ever guessed that we’d be having debates in this country about people demanding the right to use the bathroom of the opposite sex? 50 years ago, this would have been a perverse and ridiculous suggestion. So how did we get to this point? The answer is rather simple. On this, and many other moral issues, deviant behavior has been portrayed as normal and commonplace. And so, we find ourselves in “a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.”
Now, my intention is not to specifically address this issue, although it is somewhat related to what we’re going to delve into. But concerning spiritual matters in the Christian Church today it seems to have also become “a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.” What’s unclean and common in our sinful world has been declared holy, while what’s holy has been declared as common as anything else in our society. And it’s the core of our problems within the Christian Church, the Missouri Synod, and yes, even our own congregation.
Our text from Acts 11 will help us sort this out and hopefully see the solution to all this confusion. This is vital because it threatens people’s faith and like St. Peter, we don’t want to find ourselves doing anything that would “stand in God’s way” when it comes to the delivery of His grace.
First, we need to review what led up to the incident that took place in our reading. Peter had been on a missionary journey to visit the pockets of new Christians scattered throughout Israel. He ended up at Joppa, which is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. He was called there because a devout believer named Dorcas had died. By the power of God, he raised her back to life. Then, while staying in Joppa, he received the vision from the Lord that he described in our text. He was praying and suddenly saw a huge sheet being lowered from heaven containing all kinds of animals, both clean and unclean. When I say unclean don’t think in terms of being dirty. In the Old Testament the Jews were commanded by God to not eat certain types of animals. They were called “unclean” and were off limits.
Before going any further, we need to ask why these animals were forbidden as food. I’ve read and heard sermons by some Christian preachers who claim that eating pork or eels or shellfish isn’t good for you so the Lord gave these restrictions to protect their health. That’s poppycock because there are plenty left on the list that could raise your cholesterol and clog your arteries if you overdo it. So go ahead and eat your bacon and shrimp in moderation without any guilt. Actually, these prohibitions had to do with the connection of these animals to pagan rituals and worship, mainly in the cult of the dead and the demons of the underworld. That’s why they were off limits.
Peter was raised as a Jew and couldn’t bring himself to eat one of them even when instructed to by the voice from heaven. But God was using this to teach a deep, spiritual lesson. Peter was told, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” That was true on two levels and both of them had to do with the saving work of Jesus. First, by dying on the cross and coming back to life He conquered death. By doing so He destroyed the notion that the gods of death existed and needed to be appeased with sacrifices. All those “forbidden” animals were therefore declared clean and could be eaten without violating God’s Law. Christians can eat them knowing that these meats have no power over the souls and lives of believers.
More importantly, though, God was teaching that His grace is not limited to a certain group of people. You see, to the Jews, the Gentiles were just as unclean and off limits as those Old Testament animals. They couldn’t enter a Gentile home or eat there because it would defile them. In the course of their day-to-day lives when they did have contact with Gentiles, they had to perform a purification ritual to remove the uncleanness they were exposed to. That’s what’s going on in Mark 7 when the Pharisees criticized the disciples of Jesus for not ritually washing their hands after being out in public. However, Jesus made it clear that’s it’s not what’s on your hands or what you place in your mouth that makes you unclean. It’s the sin in your heart. That’s what needed to be cleansed by trusting in Christ’s atoning death on the cross.
Which then leads us to Peter’s interaction with the Gentiles mentioned in the reading. Cornelius was a Roman Centurion but he had become a devout believer in the true God. An angel appeared to him saying that God had heard his prayers. Cornelius was told to send messengers to Peter so that he and his friends could hear the good news of Jesus as the Savior. Those men arrived just as Peter was finishing with his vision about the unclean animals. The Holy Spirit told him to go with them. Entering that house and socializing with the Gentiles was like eating pork to him. It would make him unclean. However, he quickly grasped the meaning of the vision and understood that God had declared what was common and unclean to be holy and clean. What had suddenly made these Gentiles clean? The righteousness that God had showered on them. The Holy Spirit had been working in their hearts creating faith, which made them no different than the rest of the Christian believers.
The “circumcision party” in the text was a group of Jewish Christians who believed that all the Old Testament laws still had to be obeyed in order to be a follower of Jesus. So they criticized Peter for having contact with the Gentiles. But once he explained things it shot down their argument. “What God has made clean, do not call common.” In other words, if God converted these Gentiles and made them holy who were they to oppose the Lord’s will?
Sad to say there is still a lot of confusion and argument in the Christian Church today over what is clean versus unclean, and holy versus common. It has certainly become “a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.” And we can err in both directions if we’re not careful and find ourselves opposing God.
For example, there are sins that have become commonplace in our society. The Church used to call them what they were and condemn them because God condemned them. Now, the Church is urged to “get with the times.” In essence we’re being told to declare something unclean as holy.
Our worship is supposed to be completely different than our common gatherings and activities in life. It should look and sound different because coming into the presence of God is unlike any other worldly experience. But many churches have made a practice of importing everyday music styles into their services along with jumbo screens like a rock concert. Quite often, the holiness of God that our liturgy highlights is watered down or tossed out completely. Frankly, we need to talk more about this in the near future.
The Lord set aside Sunday as a sacred, holy day of rest. But in modern times it has become just another, common day. Sports, work, and recreational activities are considered more sacred than worship. These things end up taking priority over gathering to receive God’s gifts of grace. All kinds of casual, commonplace things also come with us into God’s House. In days gone by people dressed and acted in such a way to show that they recognized this as a holy place. Their demeanor was reverent because this is where we meet with our holy God to receive His holy gifts in Word and Sacrament. It’s the reason why we stand, bow our heads or bend the knee before the Lord.
This even affects the way we treat the Lord’s Supper. Sadly, some churches {even within the Missouri Synod} will welcome just about anyone to the Communion rail. But don’t you see? By practicing Open Communion they’re treating the Sacrament as commonplace rather than holy. Folks, this is not just some fellowship meal between believers. Rather, Scripture makes it clear that this is intended to be a sacred meal for those who share the same confession of faith. Uniting at the Lord’s Table to receive the true body and blood of Christ is a reflection of our unity in what we believe and confess as a church. Those Gentiles that Peter went to were not professing different beliefs from the established Church. Rather, they gladly received the apostle’s message and they were united in the true faith that they shared with the other believers. In other words, they were on the same page when it came to the doctrines of the Christian faith. Their customs and even their language may have been different, but their doctrines matched perfectly. And that’s what we should be seeking as we gather to receive Holy Communion.
When we examine our own lives in light of God’s will and commands, we all have to admit that we are anything but holy. We are unclean like the rest of the fallen world. As we said in the confession at the beginning of the service, we are “poor, miserable, sinners.” That’s why we plead for God’s mercy for Jesus’ sake. Then we hear the good news that because of Christ’s innocent, suffering and death we’ve been made clean by His precious blood. Our struggle with sin is an ongoing battle, so we repent and pray daily that God would “create in me a clean heart.” And He does. The Holy Spirit sanctifies your soul, making you holy by God’s Word. When the devil accuses you of past sins that you’ve confessed and been absolved of, you can honestly point to yourself and say, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Like all repentant sinners, you are a child of God who has been made righteous and therefore holy by Jesus Christ. I pray that we would look at one another that way too. I pray that the Lord would remove the mixed up, muddled up worldly fog so that we can discern between what is holy and that which is unclean and common. And in that way may we show reverence and love for all that is sacred which God has blessed us with by faith. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!