Doing What You Think You Can't Do

As we looked at Acts 9 yesterday, we talked about the feeling of “I can’t do this,” and learning to press into the grace and power of Jesus in those times in our lives.  One of the things that I love about the book of Acts – one of my favorite books of the Bible – is that it’s full of moments like this.  Ordinary people called by an extraordinary Savior to do extraordinary things.

Today’s reading from Acts 10 is a great example of God doing through us something that we could never imagine ourselves doing on our own.  The story begins with a soldier (a centurion in charge of 100 other men) named Cornelius, who lived in Caesarea.  Cornelius was a Gentile, and not yet a follower of Jesus, because the Good News had not yet been preached to the Gentiles – Greeks, Romans and people of other ethnicities outside of the Jews.  But Cornelius had a seeking heart and a desire to know God.  We’re told that he prayed and that he gave gifts to the poor.  God saw in Cornelius the desire to know Him, and so God chose him to be a follower of Jesus. 

Immediately, God used Cornelius to call Peter, who was in Joppa about 30 miles from Caesarea.  Peter is at the center of action in the first several chapters of Acts.  You might remember that Jesus told Peter that he would be the rock upon which He would build His church.  Peter was preaching to the Jews who had not yet trusted in Jesus; performing miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name; and discipling and teaching Jews who had decided to trust in the salvation of Jesus. 

But Peter had a problem.  He was a Jew, and he was repulsed by Gentiles.  All of his ministry, since the day of Pentecost, had been to the Jews.  In his mind, although he knew that salvation would be for the Gentiles eventually, he could never have started to wrap his mind around the fact that God would use him to also reach the Gentiles.

But in Acts 10, we see God breaking him down and preparing to do what he never imagined he could.  When God tells Cornelius to call for Peter in v.v.5&6, we learn that Peter is staying with Simon the tanner.  Most of us would skip right over that, but it's important.  Being in the presence of a tanner would have been an absolutely revolting thought for a Jew.  They worked with the skin and carcasses of all kinds of dead animals – many of which were unclean when alive, and all of which were unclean for a Jew after they had been dead for a certain period of time. 

And then God really breaks it down for Peter in the vision that He gave to Peter in v.v. 9-16, where God revealed to him in an incredible and beautiful way that under the new covenant with Jesus, uncleanliness wasn’t a matter of flesh and bones, but a matter of the heart.  God was showing Peter not only that it was time to include the Gentiles in His plan of salvation, but that Peter would be the first to intentionally take the message of the Gospel to the Gentiles. 

And in v.28, Peter expresses to Cornelius and the others what God has revealed to him in the vision: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.”

Those are a whole lotta words to say this: God has shown Peter that he absolutely HAS to do something he never thought he could do. 

And today is about more than getting through a difficult time of “I can’t do this.”  Today is about moving beyond that and joining Jesus on his mission through The Church – reaching the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I find a lot of hope and encouragement from Paul’s words in Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.”  This verse has so many implications for the life of a follower of Jesus Christ, and in learning to do some of the things we never thought we could do. 

One of them is NOT that God will give you everything that you want. 

This verse is about God using our trials and the things that frustrate us and wound us in a redemptive way to form us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.  Just as God used a trial and struggle in Peter’s life to prepare him to see the greater glory, grace and power of Jesus, so he uses these things in our lives to prepare us for mission and ministry so that we would see His greater glory, grace and power.  Also, please make sure you know that this verse is for PEOPLE THAT LOVE JESUS.  Not those who reject him or walk in determined disobedience to him.

So if you love Jesus and have staked your life on living for him and giving him everything – as Peter did before God opened his eyes in Acts 10 – you can know that everything you’ve experienced to this point in your life is preparing you to do what God has planned for you to do.

I think one of the biggest practical lessons that we can learn from Acts 10 is that God has made salvation and righteousness available to EVERYBODY who would repent of their sins and trust in the person and work of Jesus.  This is hard for me to remember, let alone live out, sometimes. 

When Christians who love Jesus and desire to see people walking and living in righteousness and truth look around our culture, it can be very difficult to feel love and compassion for those we see and know that are rejecting Jesus and living in defiance of God.  This was Peter exactly before Acts 10!  He loved Jesus.  He desired to see people living in righteousness and truth.  And he struggled to love them and care about them.  To him, they were all outsiders.

But because of God’s power and kindness in his life, Peter was changed from the inside out.  As Jesus loved the enemies of God (including you and me) and gave his life for them to reconcile them (us) to God, so Peter began to love who he viewed as the enemies of God and began to give his life in service for Jesus so that they would be reconciled to God.

And we see that God was faithful to do through Peter what he had prepared Peter to do.  In v.44, it says “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.”  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, these Gentiles were saved and reconciled to God!

Is there a person or group of people in your life that you can’t stand?  Is there a person or a group of people in your life that you think is beyond the grace of Jesus?  First, ask God to change your heart towards them.  Ask him to let you see them as he sees them – as precious and valuable (see Luke 15 if you’re having trouble imagining how God sees lost people).  And ask God to give you love and truth to share with them. 

Even if you think you can’t do it.  If you think you can’t do it, you’re right.  But God can do it through you, just like he did with Peter!  Press into his power and his grace, and watch him use you to change the world around you – one person at a time.