08 September 2010 Devotion for Today "Change" Acts 10:1-8

 

Acts 10

• 1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"
  

  4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.
  

  4 The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."
  

  7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
  

  9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
  

  14 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
  

  15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
  

  16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
  

  17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
  

   
   

  Acts 10: 9-18
  

 
 

Back in 1912, Ford Motor Co. had a production manager named William Knudsen - considered one of the best in his field. Knudsen became convinced that the Model T (which had been in production for 4 years now) had to be updated. But, the only problem was - Henry Ford loved his creation so much it was well known that he opposed changing anything about the car.

According to Robert Lacy (in his best selling biography, Ford: The Man and the Machine) Knudsen thought to convince Ford by building an updated and impressive model to show what could be done with a few changes in color and design.

Ford had just returned from a European vacation, and he went to a Highland Park, Michigan garage and saw the new design created by Knudsen.

On-the-scene mechanics later revealed how Ford responded.

They say that the car was it was a four door job, and the top was down, painted gleaming red and built on a new, low slung version of the Model T.

One eyewitness tells how "Ford had his hands in his pockets, and he walked around that car 3 or 4 times�. Finally, he got to the left hand side of the car, and he takes his hands out, gets hold of the door, and bang! He ripped the door right off!� How the man done it, I don�t know! He jumped in there, and bang goes the other door. Bang goes the windshield. He jumps over the back seat and starts pounding on the top. He rips the top with the heel of his shoe. He wrecked the car as much as he could."

Knudsen left for General Motors. Henry Ford nursed along the Model T, but design changes in competitors models made it more old-fashioned than he would admit. Competitive necessity finally backed him into making the Model A, but his heart was never in it.

Henry Ford was one of the most creative men of his age. And yet Henry Ford - one of the great minds of his day - resisted the obvious need for change. Most people don't like change in their lives any more than he did. One man once observed that the only people who DO like change are "wet babies" and even they aren't' too excited about it. Churches are notorious for that kind of attitude as well. You'll find church boards saying things like "we've never (pause to let them complete it) done it that way before!"

Someone once said that when it comes to change the church is often like the snail riding on the back of a turtle and do you know what a snail does when it rides on the back of the turtle?

It goes: "Whee!" Many churches bulk at even the slightest change in their routine. Even when they�re fairly sure the changes would be something pleasing to God they still resist.

I. Now, things weren't a whole lot different back in the days of the early church.

People back then didn't like change anymore than people now do.

 
 

When we read about the events in Acts 10, it may be hard visualize how earth shaking the events actually were, but the changes God brought to pass reverberated in the early church for the next 50 or 60 years. In this passage Peter was praying on his rooftop and began to grow hungry. While a meal was being prepared for him, Peter continued in prayer until a deep trance came over him. In the trance Peter saw a sheet being lowered with all kinds of unclean animals- swine, oysters, shrimp, catfish, etc., being lowered down in the sheet before him. Then the voice of God instructed him to kill these unclean animals and eat them. As a good Jew, Peter protested because he had been taught that such animals were unclean and not fit to eat. However, God chided him in his prejudice, and told Peter that what God had cleansed he ought never to call unclean.

 
 

This food was symbolic of an even deeper struggle- overriding the prejudice of the Gentiles. For no sooner had Peter awakened from his trance than Cornelius, a pagan Roman soldier with a heart for God appeared before him. Peter spoke to him about Christ and the Roman committed his life to Jesus Christ. Peter also baptized him, but he did not speak to him about circumcision. At that time a huge wall fell down- a wall that had been the barrier of division between Jews and Gentiles for millennia. Christ opened the pathway for Jews and Gentiles to unite under a common banner, paving the way for Christ's message to be preached throughout the world. . Prejudice was confronted and overcome, and Jesus Christ was glorified.

 
 

To be sure, there were people who would not like this, and the Jewish Christians would give the Gentile believers some trouble because not all issues are resolved immediately or overnight. However, the cause of Jesus Christ was pushed forward because of Peter's obedience and his reaching out to Cornelius.

 
 

We often fear change and latch on to what we know not only because we are afraid of losing what we have, but the challenges of confronting the need for change is simply tedious and difficult. It is much easier staying where we are comfortable. Is Christ demanding change in your own life right now? What about in your church or community? What evidence is there right now where change is greatly needed. However change is identified, may I say that it will be disastrous if the change is entered into without the power of Christ. IF He is not present, we may speak of change all we want, but it will not amount to anything.

 
 

Examine your heart today and let the changes Christ desires begin first in you.

 
 

Have a blessed day!