2022_02_02 Insight Post- Rusty Coram

- February 2, 2022

This week’s reading- Acts 9-10

Right after Becky and I got married we moved to Texas, so I could finish my master’s degree. After searching for a while we found a church we loved. It was a new church that had been started six months earlier and, though small, we loved the people and their heart for God and others. Joining the church, however, was not an easy task. Among other things, joining required being active in a Small Group each week, and spending 5 hours a week actively building relationships with non-believers and sharing about Jesus. This was a very high bar and it kept many from joining. The reason for the restriction was to make sure the mission of the church was clear to those who would be foundational to shaping it. A few years later the requirements were significantly relaxed and many more joined.

In Acts 10 we see the reality that Jesus came for all people beginning to unfold. Peter, and the others of Jewish background, believed that the Jewish laws and customs were still in place for anyone to become a follower. Jesus had explained that their purpose was being fulfilled and completed by Him, so the new followers didn’t have to conform to the Jewish rules, but the apostles didn’t get it yet. The vision Peter had with the formerly unclean food, and then his experience with the Roman gentile Cornelius convinced him that Jesus truly came for all, and that the new believers didn’t have to submit to the Jewish laws, customs and rituals.

Becky and I did end up joining the church in Texas and are grateful for the high bar of commitment in the early days, because it set the foundation for what was to come. The Jewish people provided the foundation that paved the way for the Messiah. Once He came, the old covenant was completed, and a new one arrived that removed restrictions and barriers of the old. As we continue through our reading this year, we will see that the transition opened the door for many, but was also marred by human pride and self-interest.

Peter’s encounter with Cornelius shows us the beginning of Acts 1:8 being realized, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NLT)

Rusty Coram
Senior Pastor