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[00:00:00] David: Well, John, we left Peter in Acts chapter 10 in verse 23. He had invited these surprise guests that we know from Cornelius. Peter is has just learned that and he's invited them in for some hospitality and we left that cliffhanger on what's gonna happen next. It's quite the chapter, isn't it? 

[00:01:12] John: It certainly is. It certainly is. Yeah. Greetings to you, David, and also our, our listeners. I'm actually on the beautiful Bible College of Wheels campus here in Swans. They've been doing a bit of teaching this week. I love being here. There's such a sense of peace and rest on this campus. Just left the student prayer meeting, so I am excited about diving back into this wonderful story. And it feels like we're in this, this little nice little gear shift as far as the passage is concerned. As we hit 23 as well, doesn't it? 

[00:01:43] David: Mm, yes. Definitely, definitely, definitely. And so we're gonna we're gonna read from 23 down to verse 43 today, aren't we? I almost said 33. And cut you short there, John. But we're gonna read 20 verses and, and we're gonna see how this, how this goes and what, what we can sort of dive into from there. 

[00:02:01] So you're gonna read it for us, so take it away. 

[00:02:04] John: about that. Right. Here we go. So verse 23, then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guest The next day. Peter started out with them and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. The following day, he arrived in Caesarea Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 

[00:02:28] As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reference. But Peter made him get up, stand up. He said, I am only a man myself. Talking with him. Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them, you are all well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a gentile or visit him. 

[00:02:54] But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclaim. So, so when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me? Cornelius answered Four days ago. I was in my house praying at this hour at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 

[00:03:24] Send to Chopper for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea. So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we're all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. Then Peter began to speak, and I realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts man from every nation who fear him. 

[00:03:56] And do what is right. The message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ to his Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God. 

[00:04:23] Was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen by us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 

[00:04:49] He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living. And the dead. All the prophets testify about him and everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sets through his name. 

[00:05:11] David: Another fantastic interaction of sermon type material from Peter there, isn't it? 

[00:05:18] John: End date, end eight. Absolutely. One of the shorter ones, but, but right to the point and very, very powerful. Very succinct. 

[00:05:25] David: Well, I was thinking that as you were, as you were reading it, I was like, wow, this is actually A really impressive it's a really impressive unpacking of the gospel in a very, very small space. He does, he does a lot in a real economy of words here,  

[00:05:40] John: He certainly does. He certainly does. And what's interesting, I don't know if you, if you picked up sort of the, the vibe of it as well. He, he talks in terms as if they are aware of certain things, cultural as well as maybe understandings about. The presence of Jesus. So, so whether some information has come to Mar, he's just assumed some stuff, but he, he does talk about the fact that, you're well aware of, of the laws of separation. 

[00:06:10] You're also, of this story of Jesus. So, so it's, it's interesting that he, he seems to feel comfortable to start at some common ground that everyone else in the room seems to have, seems to have got. 

[00:06:24] David: absolutely. And it, it's, and that's what I find really remarkable is how. I was thinking, I wonder how many of us, if were asked, Hey, you've got, you've got nine verses to talk about what God has done in Jesus, whether we would do it like this. But actually it's quite like, I love the fact that he, he begins with this comment about God not showing partiality as, but with this, this sort of nature of the way he phrases it, that, that I, I truly understand. 

[00:06:58] I have, I have truly, I. I mean, the Greek has notions of taken a hold of the fact that God shows no partiality. Having begun with, you, it's unlawful for a Jew to associate or or visit with a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. I, I love how Peter is able to, what was. 

[00:07:22] Apparently just very recently before he's got his head around this, he's already able to present the gospel in a way that reflects this new revelation he's got. 

[00:07:32] John: Yeah. Yeah, I do. It, it, it does seem to, he does seem to be speaking out of a, of a revelation, cuz I think there's an interesting tension there in the, in what you've highlighted there, David, he, he says back in, what is it, verse 28, he says, you're well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate our visit a Gentile. 

[00:07:51] What's really fascinating there, Is, if I'm not mistaken, there's nothing strictly in the Torah that forbids a Jewish person from meeting with a non-Jewish person. There's, there's laws around intermarriage and stuff like that, but I, as far as I could see, there's nothing explicit about, oh, here's a law that says you cannot have a cup of coffee with this person. 

[00:08:18] And, and, and it's interesting. I think you've got Peter. Maybe this is some of the stuff that Jesus did in the gospels. You've got Peter reflecting perhaps his understanding of more oral tradition of the law. These are maybe the interpretations of some of those ideas in Torah, which he's come to understand. 

[00:08:39] But then when he talks about, I realize that God doesn't show favoritism, he's now the revelation. Is superseding the oral interpretation. And I think in, in Jesus, we see that a lot, don't we? We see Jesus never contradicting Torah, but definitely challenging oral. Interpretation of Torah. I, I, I think, think of millions of years ago, and we, we talked about the woman bent double in Luke 13. 

[00:09:10] Jesus challenges the oral interpretation. He says, it's okay for you to lose the donkey. On Shabbat and give the donkey water. Well, if I can lose the donkey, why can't I lose the woman? And he's, he's challenging their oral interpretation and he's seeking to impose the divine revelation at ex. 

[00:09:29] There's nothing in Notator that says you can't heal someone, but the oral tradition says you couldn't. 

[00:09:33] David: Yes, yes, 

[00:09:34] John: And Jesus is chat. And this seems to be what's happening with Peter Peter's going. Well, our law says this, and you know that, and of course, the Roman centurion would've been skilled culturalized that he couldn't just, sit down with a Jew and, and expect a good reception because he was a Gentile. 

[00:09:53] So he would, he would've definitely been aware of the sort of social and cultural etiquette, but there's nothing strictly in the Torah. And Peter seems to be bringing an understanding of revelation. God shows no favoritism. To supersede the oral tradition. Is that, is that a fair reflection, do you think? I think I'm picking that up or not. 

[00:10:13] David: Yeah, I mean, I, I'm curious about, know, even the translation tradition on this because you've got the actual Greek word here is Atos, right? So I'm, which is this notion of, of forbidden or disgusting. It, it's, 

[00:10:29] John: Hmm. 
 

[00:10:30] David: It's interesting that in, in both N R S V and N I V, it's translated as it's sort of unlawful or against our law, which I think draws us to think in terms of Torah. 

[00:10:43] But I mean, technically that's, he, he doesn't, Peter doesn't say it's unlawful. He says it's forbidden. And I, I think that probably speaks to your interpretation. The, the, the English translation traditions have gotten into, Referring to it as unlawful, which makes us think it's something we'll find in the Old Testament. 

[00:11:03] You definitely see, cuz you see this from Peter in in, in Galatians chapter two, where there's this tension over eating with Gentiles and, and definitely one of the ways that Jewish people around the time of Jesus, Ensure their observance of Torah is by keeping food laws carefully. Right. And, and, and I think this is worth, people sort of understanding that, that what you've got going on, and again, roughly in this sort of century around Jesus, if you kinda do 50 years before and after Jesus. 

[00:11:47] We're heading towards, although this isn't known by everybody at the time of acts, but we're heading quickly towards what becomes the destruction of the temple and also becomes ultimately the destruction of Jerusalem by, by the Romans. 

[00:12:03] John: Hmm. 
 

[00:12:04] David: But actually one of the things that's worth us noting, I think as, as if you want to be any sort of form of student of this sort of period, is that Judaism is already, I mean, Josephus himself talks about the four factions, the different, the different groups and, and forms of Judaism that you're encountering and, and we see at least some of them in the New Testament, where you have the sades who are very much committed to temple life. 

[00:12:31] But before the temple's even been destroyed, the Pharisees have stepped away from the temple complex. Right? They've, they've decided that the temple has, and I'm being broad brushstrokes here, but broadly speaking, the Pharisees have decided that the temple system is corrupt and has sided with Rome. So, But of course the temple as the core of, that's what makes us Jewish are, you keep seeing us in the temple and doing temple things, therefore, you know that we are the people of the Lord. 

[00:12:58] What the Pharisees have to navigate is if we don't see the temple as central, what is central? And of course, following law becomes a, a key component then. And one of the things that, that rises, I think it's James Dunn that talks about it as the sort of four pillars of Judaism, a Pharisaic and rabbinic Judaism. 

[00:13:19] And he would talk about things like Sabbath observance, but, but food. Food laws were very key. That's what helps mark us out. And one of the things that you do to keep food laws is you don't eat with gentiles, right? So you don't, you don't spend time in the house where there might be unclean food, which ultimately then becomes, you're not even sure about having. 

[00:13:42] People who are not Jewish to your house to eat. Even though Torah explicitly talks about this, even in the most holiest of species, there are rules at all the high feasts as to what you do and how you welcome the foreigners, the guests, into those feasts. So Torah would almost encourage eating together by the time we get to Jesus' Periodic Judaism is definitely. 

[00:14:10] Let's just say discouraging that because of its implications. 

[00:14:13] John: Mm hmm. Yeah, no, I think that's, I think that's very powerful and it's very, very helpful to people to contextualize that. And, and and I think it then adds to the power of the revelation that Peter is speaking out of. So even though when we go back, it's sort of the, the, the sort of Peter vision is left on a bit of a cliffhanger. 

[00:14:37] The, the, the sheet is taken away. The third time we, we don't really know. What Peter, it just talks about the fact Peter's thinking about this, wondering about this pondering over chewing this over and then of course the three, three blokes turn up. But we're still not absolutely clear. Has Peter got this? 

[00:14:56] Does, does Peter really understand this, or is he still like, okay, let's just suck this and say, and see, see what I learned? But clearly the fact that he goes, and then the fact that he speaks with such clarity, Around what he believes he's received from God. He's really, he is really affirming the revelatory nature of this experience. 

[00:15:19] He's, he's saying, I really do understand now that something has changed and I'm, I'm prepared to even go into the house of a Roman soldier and member of the occupying force and sort of engage in a way that that brings the good news of Jesus. So, So you, you, you, you do get that lovely I, I think it's a lovely contrast between what Peter knew culturally, religiously, socially, and then what he now knows, revelatory. 

[00:15:52] He's seen something, felt something experienced, something that has totally transformed his behavior. And, and there's some, again, quite powerful about that encounter idea, isn't it? 

[00:16:03] David: Well, well, it, it's again, and I, I always, I always feel like, I don't wanna sound pretentious when we say this but the Greek text is really fascinating again, here, just by a really small subtlety. I'm, again, I want to keep saying this. I don't know, maybe this is the first two text episodes somebody listens to, so I don't want to assume you've heard us say this in the past, but I don't want to. 

[00:16:24] Ever kind of rail against English translations. I just want people to know that there is a Greek or a Hebrew text behind this. And translation is hard. Moving words from one language to another always involves making decisions about what nuances are we losing in this transi, in this transition. But it's fascinating that so, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure, unclean. 

[00:16:50] The, it, it seems to, to me that the way that, that Peter says this in the Greek, is he just, that God has shown me that I must not say that a human is, is common or unclean or profane to use some of the language to use in the last episode. Right. I mean anyone is perfectly fine. Absolutely perfectly fine translation. 

[00:17:10] But as I was reading it and looking at the Greek, it struck me that Peter's doing some exegesis work here on the vision that he had. Cuz the vision that he had was a vision of animals. Right? And it was a vision about things that he should eat, right? So, so Peter's had this vision that said, and the vision is, Hey, why don't you eat these things? 

[00:17:32] And Peter's like, I don't eat unclean food. Right? And. And the response he gets is, don't call anything unclean that God has called clean. Right. So, or anything profane that God has called not profane. So then he, these guys come have a bit of hospitality. Peter comes to Cornelius. But notice here, I, I, and I just, and I'd love to see how, what you think on that. 

[00:17:55] Cause I think this is really significant that Peter has taken the vision about food laws and decided this applies. To everything and. And, and, and I think we will see later why he thinks that at this stage it's clearly the vision that is causing, the fact that these guys have turned up and said, Hey, this, this profane person has had a vision from God, and, and you need to go. 

[00:18:20] But I, I dunno, I maybe I'm, maybe this isn't as big a point as I think it is, John, but I just think it's interesting that Peter interprets the vision and, and therefore the vision has some unpacking that is needed for the story to progress. 

[00:18:34] John: Oh, for sure. Well, I, I mean you absolutely, 100% and somewhere between having that vision and then walking into Cornelius's house, he has made that shift. Absolutely. And again, I think the last time we reflected on, the, the, the sort of triple nature of the vision, the three people turning up, were all of those little ways to try and nudge Peter towards that, those, those. 

[00:19:00] Glorious providential coincidences that just as he's finishing the fission sort of thing, they show up. So I think, I think Peter is, is smart enough to recognize that, that that's what's happening. But it is a beautifully subtle transition in the 

[00:19:15] David: Mm mm 
 

[00:19:16] John: where we've started talking about animals and he's now talking about humans from all nations. 

[00:19:22] That, that actually every person now is, is potentially a recipient of the grace and goodness of God in the context of that, and I do, I do love that idea. I love, I love Peter's courage in that because he's articulating this in some ways for him in the very, for the very first time. 

[00:19:41] So, he, he may have picked these ideas up from Jesus. 

[00:19:44] And of course, Jesus, Jesus interaction with the gentile world is, is a little bit more on the fringe. He's come for the lawsuit sheep of the House of Israel. The majority of in his interaction is with the Jewish audience. But of course, he does engage with the gentile community on more than one occasion, and individual gentiles as well. 

[00:20:03] But they are exceptional type moments in the ministry of Jesus. Where you've got here, Peter, really articulating something for himself in his own words. These are not, he's not repeating the words of Jesus here in the sense it suddenly heard Jesus say, but these are not his words, articulating what he has seen and therefore I, I think they carry very unique wit in the context of . That sermon. 

[00:20:30] David: I, I wonder if we've been a little slower than Peter to do this. I, I mean, I actually. I mean, we've all been in those situations I would think, where you have multiple ideas about things in your head. And I'm imagining Peter, he's heard Jesus say things. He's still trying to make sense of Acts chapter two, and he's still trying to make cha sense of what happened in Samaria. 

[00:20:52] Maybe he's heard Philip's story about the Ethiopian, the news about Paul and, and this vision has been the piece that just ties it all together. And there are moments where and you and me have both spent lots of time in classrooms teaching, and then we probably head ahead into ourselves where you can have several chunks of information and then one day your, your lecturer or professor. 

[00:21:16] Says something and that one little thing, all of a sudden, all three of these pieces come together and actually in a very short space of time, you can go from being completely in the dark to actually everything making sense to you. I get this feel that that's what the Holy Spirit has done for Peter here, that it's the final piece that he's gone. 

[00:21:34] Oh, wait a minute. That mean this is true of people as well then? Right? I, I think, I actually do think it's humanly believable that somebody can actually have that little moment of revelation and by the time he gets to Cornelius, he's house, he's like, I now understand not only that we shouldn't, we can go to each other's houses. 

[00:21:53] Now I'm able to present the gospel with the beginning with this statement. God doesn't show partiality. But. But there's also like, I feel there's a subtle warning in it because we, as the church have been quick as Christians to say, do not call any food. Unclean that God has called clean, but we've been way slower to say that about people and and, and, and the church is still struggling, I think in terms of, I mean, goodness, this is happening. 

[00:22:29] What maybe. In the, in the mid thirties of the first century, and, and the, the, the civil rights movement was happening in our parents' generation, you know what I mean? So, so like Peter, Peter did this fast and, and we've been very slow to catch up. 

[00:22:46] John: Hmm. Oh, for sure. And, and I think it's a, I think it's a constant challenge for us. I, I think that's why I love the fact we've got these stories. We've got this text 

[00:22:57] David: Yeah. 
 

[00:22:58] John: helps us because. If we're prepared to just let the text keep speaking us, it will challenge those ideas within our own hearts. And it's interesting, I, I've been teaching here on this lovely campus this week, and today I was reflecting with the students on the physicality of Jesus for, for a particular thing I was wanting them to think about. 

[00:23:20] And I put some. Classic images of Jesus some very much influenced by western art, by Renaissance's art. Some that, that wouldn't probably look like a first century Jew at all. And then I, I put a very strong Middle Eastern image up and it was an interesting. I, the, the image I put up before was of the re most recent incarnation of Jesus as, as in the chosen, the beautiful series, the chosen. 

[00:23:48] And I put that picture up and in the following picture was what I would describe as a very classic Middle Eastern looking man. 

[00:23:57] David: Mm 
 

[00:23:58] John: And the class went from very animated, excited about the chosen Jesus 

[00:24:04] David: mm. 
 

[00:24:05] John: to very quiet. 

[00:24:06] On the sort of 

[00:24:08] David: mm. 
 

[00:24:09] John: classically, can I say this carefully without offending anyone? 

[00:24:12] Stereotypical image of a, of a Middle Eastern person and, and. And, and I would suggest that the hesitancy, the silence was because deep down it was touching on some, 

[00:24:25] some prejudicial issues in our heart. Now I wouldn't wanna judge my lovely students cuz they're amazing. But it wouldn't be the first time we've. 

[00:24:32] We've judged someone or something from what we've seen or from a camp they stand in, or a position they take, or a banner, they stand under. We are, we're very prone to that. As humans, we're very, we're very vulnerable to that. Even redeemed humans are still very vulnerable to the possibility of making terrible rice. 

[00:24:55] Unacceptable and unjustifiable presidential judgements about humans. And if we're not careful, we allow our theology to also sort of support that worldview. And that's where we've got to have the courage to allow the Holy Spirit, like he just did with, with Peter, shine a light into that darkness. And, and the problem with the shining light, when the light shines into the darkness, you can either, Recoil from the darkness cuz or the light cuz you don't like it and you wanna be in the darkness, you like being in the darkness or you go, oh my goodness, this has revealed something in me. 

[00:25:33] And therefore we embrace the light and, and I want to really give a shout out for Peter. He has at least embraced a very difficult light shining into his heart moment. And he has gone, okay, God has spoken and he makes this connection and he makes a journey. He doesn't need to go to Caesarea. I mean, he could have been arrogant and he could have said, well, if Cornelius wants me to come, he can come here. 

[00:25:58] He can come to me, let, let, let the Roman come to me at least. But Peter actually inconveniences himself. 

[00:26:04] And goes to this man because something has a light has shown in his heart and he's gone, okay, I, I need to listen to God even though it's a bit un palatable in my own cultural, and even, can I say this carefully religious framework. 

[00:26:21] And and he makes the journey. So, so, so well done, Peter. I know he still struggles. We'll see some of the struggles later, but actually well done for at least making the journey and showing some humility in the context of going to a Roman household. 

[00:26:34] David: The, the Greek word which I have a lot of love for here is, is, is proso. Liase, what a, what a great word. There's, 

[00:26:44] John: well pronounced David, well pronounced 

[00:26:47] David: I have 

[00:26:48] John: pronunciations were always my most. It's funny, I, I find it slightly easier to pronounce Hebrew than I do Greek. I've always struggled 

[00:26:54] David: right. Okay. 

[00:26:55] John: so, so I'm always a bit nervous pronouncing the Greek words. 

[00:26:59] David: Yeah. And I, sometimes I think it's just confidence and then you find out later you've been saying it wrongly. But, but, but there, there's a word, PRUs, liase. It's, and it actually speaks exactly to what your to, to what you're talking about here. And I love this. So this is the word that we mostly translate as favoritism, right? 

[00:27:19] But the word is actually a con, it, it, it's a compound of, of the notion of the face and the notion of taking, right? So we, we, we're, we're thinking about. Like, really briefly, I'd say it like, like this to, to people. The face in this culture, in Peter's culture is the place of honor, right? So, so the face is where you carry your shame. 

[00:27:43] Think about it. When you're embarrassed, your face goes red. The, the, we talk about saving face. Oh, he just did that to save. Face. So even in our culture, which is thousands of years later, we still think of the face as the, what do you do when you're embarrassed? You hide your face. 

[00:27:59] What do you do if you've done something wrong? You don't let everybody look at your face. So, and, and also, What is the bit, and if, permit me for being, for sounding a little vain for a second, but what is the bit of our body we often spend the most time, kind of working on Right. 

[00:28:15] You know what I mean? And it's like, it's the face, isn't it? It's the, it, it's a, let 

[00:28:19] John: hasn't done me any good, David, but Yes, true. 

[00:28:22] David: But, but, but whether it's men or women, whether it's, I mean, and, and I know a lot of men who are like, ah, I don't worry about that. But spend every day shaving and spend every day, and then once a year you go to the opticians and you choose new glassies and you get a haircut once a month. Because this is the bit of our, of us that everybody sees. So it's the bit we present in public. It's also the bit, to your point, That causes us to recoil a little bit. Because it's the bit where we first see our prejudices. 

[00:28:52] A face, if, if, if we have any prejudices in us, it's often at a face that we see that will draw that out. Oh, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that particular Jesus. I'm not comfortable with that particular image of Jesus. And here in, in the kind of literal Greek, again, favoritisms a perfectly okay translation. 

[00:29:11] But Peter says, I now realize how true it is that, that God, Doesn't look at faces or God doesn't take faces. He doesn't hold faces right now. I get a little excited about Peter saying this here because this I, I think is what Paul's whole argument in Galatians is about, and in fact, in Galatians chapter two, Paul says the same thing about Peter. 

[00:29:35] Paul says, Peter was highly esteemed. I didn't really care because God doesn't care about faces, right? God doesn't care about. And so here's, here's where I think about this. What we're hearing from Peter here, and, and think about the beauty of this John, the bit of a person that you see most, the bit of a person that you will use to judge that person, the bit of a person that they will use. 

[00:30:00] To like, let me, let me say, I should explain this. Lemme come back to that. The bit of a person that they will use to affect how you judge them, right? So think about how much of our interactions on any given day are about faces. Peter gets up and goes, God doesn't care about any of that. So cuz think about if, if I said to you, John, it's a Saturday morning. 

[00:30:24] I really could use some help digging in my yard. Can you come round right? How you would come round, maybe you wouldn't have a shave, right? You'd put on your old glasses, you'd put a ball cap on or something. Who cares what my hair is? Like if I said, John, I'm having a really nice dinner and invite in, several of my favorite friends would You come round, you would come round with a different face, even at that skin deep level than that. So because, because you would want me to treat you and you would want others to treat you differently based on how you present yourself. Because if I turn up to preach at a church and you know I'm unkempt, people will react differently to me. 

[00:31:02] They'll take me less seriously. So we're always doing. That this is what people call face management or politeness. Essentially, how do I behave so that you'll behave in a particular way for me, and I love the fact that pizza comes along and just scrapes it all away and says all of that, all of the effort. 

[00:31:18] Think about all those days you've stood in front of the mirror playing makeup or shaving or adjusting your beard to particular way. Choosing what glasses are right In God's eyes, none of that was worth anything. And and because. Because he sees something else be in it. I mean, and we, and we've known this from the David story, Samuel sees this, this young kid coming and, and what is Samuel told? 

[00:31:41] You're looking at the wrong thing, Samuel, and so again, and I, and I, I know we love to talk about this and I'm getting very excited about this. Forgive me. But here, Peter, I realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. Think of how resistant the human heart is to that message, because we knew that from Samuel, the prophet. 

[00:31:58] He said that, that God had said this. Oh, by the way, I don't look at any of this stuff that you look at. So racism, sexism. Ethnicity, language, all of these things are surface issues. So, so there's a level where like, God genuinely, and Peters realized this, and the beauty of this story, God literally doesn't see it. 

[00:32:22] And 
 

[00:32:22] John: Yeah. 
 

[00:32:23] David: so, so, so, I mean, think about the power of saying, God, I have a really, I real problem, with, with, people of this skin color. Whoa, sorry. What? Think about the, the grace of, of how, of how we, we are trying to raise problems and exclude people on stuff that God has made beautiful, but not this stuff. 

[00:32:47] That he makes choices by and, and, and I think it's important, just to clarify what I'm not saying there, I'm not saying that God whitewashes everyone. Right? I'm saying that because that's very important. We don't see that it's, once you've stepped away from the realization that one skin color isn't better than another skin color, cuz God sees them all the same, that doesn't mean they all need to act the same way. 

[00:33:10] It's now we can act in the diversity. You can grow a beard. I can shave my head. And, and God just celebrates the beauty of all that because it's not the things that divide us. I, I hope that says it in a way, in a way that is clear what I am wanting to really push hard on. And what I don't want people to hear when I say that. 

[00:33:29] Does that make sense? 

[00:33:31] John: Oh, no, no. I, I think you've, you've, you've done brilliantly there and worked very hard. I, I think, I think people hear the heart of that. Absolutely. And, and, and I love this sort of, The slight sort of other side of that, of, of God accepting the face as well. There's this idea that, that in, in not showing favoritism and in, and not, and not sort of, seeing the face. 

[00:33:56] And its difference in a bad way. It, there's also the acceptance of the face, which is again, in a, in a beautiful, I know you've done a, a huge amount of work with us in, in Galatians and Paul, but in a beautiful way also heroically. The sort of turning of the phase to someone is very much a sign of favor turning of the face away. 

[00:34:18] And I love the, so, so for me there's a gorgeous nuance. As you were talking, I was sort of thinking. And, and here's Peter showing up face-to-face. He's sort of, he's literally then facing Cornelius and accepting the face. And, and, and I loved, I, and, and maybe I'm overcooking this wee bit David, so please forgive me, but when Cornelius welcomes him, Cornelius is obviously feeling a bit nervous, welcoming this man of God. 

[00:34:46] And he sort of bowed down before him in reverential sort of respect. And Peter says, get 

[00:34:50] David: his 
 

[00:34:51] John: get up. I'm, I'm just a man. So, so he, he, so if you think about that, literally he raises Cornelius up to face-to-face. 

[00:35:00] David: Yes. Yes. 

[00:35:00] John: Alright, you are not lesser than me. I am not better than you. I've had a revelation. It actually, God accepts all the faces sort of thing. 

[00:35:08] God does not discount the face and quite literally there you get this gorgeous Cornelius, stand up and look at my face. Let's talk face to face. And I do love that. Gorgeous acceptance idea, which is a deeply hip one. I think it's rooted in this sort of very nature of God. The God who wants to ironically walk with us face to face. 

[00:35:33] I know that's a hard idea, but, but that he accepts our face and I do love that, David. I love that. I love that he accepts, he accepts the diversity. On the basis of total equality and, and we are the same, yet gloriously diverse and different. And and I think that is totally magnificent. I think it's a great point, David. 

[00:35:58] I, I, I'd never seen the connection between X 10 and Galatians two. That's a brilliant connection the way Paul uses that as well. I'd just never seen that before. That's a beautiful, beautiful thought. 

[00:36:09] David: And, and I love what it opens us up for, and we would be so much better if, if we grasp this and if I grasp this, it'd be so much better that, that there's stages of, of, of welcome isn't there? There's the. You are different from me. And, and of course Peter's saying, well, God doesn't care about that. 

[00:36:28] And but, but I do. It seems you're different from me and I can be advanced and say, oh, I'd like to welcome you in and show you hospitality, but you have to play by my rules. Right. And I think so often what we do, and this is what I was concerned about when I was saying earlier about, about whitewash. 

[00:36:45] Often what we do, particularly as, as as and, and we're very aware of the fact that you and me are two, two white guys, is, you look at like, I hear this so often, oh, our church is very diverse, or this community is very diverse. Right? But if you actually look at the style and structure of the community, It, it's built around the things that white people are comfortable with. 

[00:37:05] Right. And what would be, so, so I, what is a diverse church? Is a diverse church that look is a church that looks like every other church, but just has a, a mixed congregation. Or, does your style of worship reflect the diversity of your congregation? Does your preaching reflect the diversity of your congregation? 

[00:37:25] And, and I think that what, what we really will do well if we grasp favoritism, is that we're not ask that if we grasp that God doesn't show favoritism, is we don't ask women to behave like men in order to feel equal. We don't ask black people to behave like white people in order to, it's actually, if God doesn't actually rank us based on this, we can come in the absolute beauty of who we're created to be. 

[00:37:52] And let all of that shine with all of our cultures. And I, for one, think it would be stunning to, to grow to a place that our churches reflected that diversity as well. It, it might seem like the chaos we saw at Acts two, but I think that's what the church probably should look like. 

[00:38:09] John: Yeah. Yeah. And, and I, again, to just to come back to the little context I'm in here, I'm teaching a class here that is 18 students, one, eight students from 10 different nations. Two thirds, one third split in favor of women. So it's really diverse. The age, the oldest person is eight zero years old. 

[00:38:33] The youngest person is 18 years old. 

[00:38:37] David: Wow. 
 

[00:38:38] John: And I, you're just looking, you're going Yes, yes, yes, yes. And it was really, it was, I put myself under pressure today cuz I only met my students yesterday. So I put myself under pressure to memorize all their names. So today before the class, I said, right, I'm gonna go out and I'm going to test myself if I've remembered all your names and if I get your name wrong, you can have a free book. And, and I managed to do that now that that wasn't just a little exercise, but to me, again, that's, that's down to the face-to-face stuff 

[00:39:08] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:08] John: me as a teacher. They're not just things, they're not just students. They're humans with names. 

[00:39:14] David: Yes. Yes. 

[00:39:15] John: And looking at a person's face and remembering their name, for example. 

[00:39:20] And it is interesting that names are mentioned in this passage that it's a face-to-face conversation. There's something deeply, deeply respectful and honoring here. Now, I I, is there, is there tension in this little community in terms of 18 people thrust together to live together for three months? There certainly is, and they've had to work a few things out. 

[00:39:39] But I love the dynamic sort of diversity, not only of the constituents of the group, but the fact that they are genuinely learning to work stuff out, face to face, 

[00:39:51] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:51] John: hear each other, respect each other, and understand each other, and that really is quite, quite challenging. I've found that beautifully, beautifully rewarding and refreshing even over the last couple of days. 

[00:40:03] David: Oh, and that's, and that's, I mean, maybe that's a great place to wrap up this part of our conversation, John. Look at what Peter says. He commanded us to preach to the people, testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living, the dead, all the prophets. So the whole Old Testament speak into this. 

[00:40:19] All the prophets testify about him. What did they testify? That everyone who believes in him, that all who believe in him receive forgiveness through his name. So you get this beautiful, I mean, what a great piece of preaching. And and, and please, if you don't wanna end here, we can keep going. 

[00:40:35] But, but look at this. I have learned that God does not show favoritism, and that's his opener. And the end of the sermon is everyone who believes  

[00:40:44] John: Come on. Come on.  

[00:40:52]