11 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them." Is this the first division in the church? How many of our churches today don't want certain kinds of people?
4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'
8 "I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'9 "The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11 "Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'
15 "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with[a] water, but you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.' 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us
who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God's way?" I'm thinking that this story is repeated because it's so important. God makes it clear that He wants all of us to come to Him, to surrender to Jesus. His offer to adopt us as His children is not just for some, it is for anyone - what we consider the worst of the worst of humanity, God wants to cleanse and restore. Some people who think quite a lot of themselves do not like the idea that "undesirables" are as loved by God as anyone. Yet the key is accepting our sinfulness and letting God clean us up and run our lives.
18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life."
Why don't we see this kind of quick resolution to church schism today? Many people worship the Bible or the Church and seem to forget about Jesus!
