Acts 10:13 13And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."
I do understand that this verse takes place during a time of transition from law to grace. Actually grace had arrived at the resurrection of Jesus but I'm sure the culture was still reeling trying to adjust from law to grace. In truth the Church is still trying to get it right! From Peter's perspective to accept the voice as God's voice crossed religious lines but it also challenged his tastes and culture. Someone called me one day and asked me a question about a big decision they were trying to make as a church. As soon as the person asked the question my thought process was, "what will people think?" The very first thing I thought was PEOPLE! The subject of the question was nothing sinful or immoral but it would probably arouse some to cast instant judgement. As I ran my mental search for a reason why they should not do the thing, the person asked, "do you know of a Scripture that says to do this is wrong?" Ah, that brought me to a different level of soul searching. Certainly there is a time that I should make sure I don't offend my brother. Peter could have used that argument to avoid eating that which was unclean to him and in doing so he could have avoided obeying the voice of God! We all know that if there is a clear Biblical precedent in Scripture, there is our answer. Yet, as I pondered the question I knew there was no verse being violated. My sole reason for wanting the folks to say "no" was because of what I felt other people would say or think. I know talking about this leaves a lot of room for people to wonder how far I am going to take this! Relax, I'm simply dealing with our leaning toward judging others because of our culture or taste. We do it with our music tastes, our cultural bias and many other areas. One day I heard a brother talking about a new worship song he was learning and he said how much it made him feel close to God. I hate to admit this but my deep thought was, "I knew that song 30 years ago!" Not only that but I immediately judged the brother as less mature than me. We see a car with a license plate and we make a judgment about that person based on their home State. We hear an accent and there we go again. It's all sinful! All too often our personal tastes and cultural preferences have more power over us than the Word of God! Now, you may be reading this and thinking that this doesn't apply to you. I understand and appreciate that. However, I have preached myself under conviction. Next Time!
