Led by the Spirit: Journey Through the Book of Acts Part 2预览

Day 3: Equally in Need of the Gospel

Under Roman law, the deaf were not allowed to make wills as they were viewed as “lesser humans”. Throughout this era, deaf people were isolated from society, and they could not get married because the society feared that deafness was hereditary. Things only got better in the 17th century when Juan Pablo Bonet developed the demonstrative alphabet. This brought literacy to the deaf and a means for them to be understood by a society that was prejudiced against them.

At this point in Acts 10, the early church, consisting of Jewish Christians, had never entertained the idea of Gentiles being able to share in the gospel. Gentiles were considered “unclean” and did not observe the customs that were important to the Jews. But God broke barriers in what seemed impossible, leading Gentiles such as Cornelius and his family to become Christians. Though initially sceptical, Peter was eventually convicted by the Spirit when he heard of the vision that Cornelius had, and this began a new chapter for the Church.

We are all equal in Christ regardless of what we eat, the traditions we practice, or where we come from. To embrace the Gentiles, Peter had to abandon the way he saw the world and allow the Holy Spirit to reshape his understanding of what it means to be a Christ follower. His willingness to surrender and open himself to the Spirit’s revelation paved the way for Christianity to spread across the world.

Our worldview also shapes our perceptions and lead to prejudices, especially when we encounter someone who is different from us. We may not hesitate to connect to a visitor that has similar interests or is from a similar background from us. But when we see someone who is visibly different or even ill-mannered in our eyes, do we shy away and allow our prejudices to stop us from loving the person as Christ would?

Our prejudices could be opposing the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. We might feel more comfortable as the church becomes more homogeneous in income, race and social status, but that is not the calling of the church. If we can set aside our differences and allow the Holy Spirit to stir our hearts with compassion, perhaps then, we may begin to see that, in God’s eyes, we are all the same - equally in need of the gospel.

Reflect:

• Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal some of your personal prejudices of certain people that you need to let go of.
• Pray for our church, that as we grow, we will be able to reach those who are different regardless of country, language or religion.