Acts 11:1

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

When the world reverts to a first-century mindset, the church's greatest danger is wasting its strength on the wrong war.

Two Conferences and a Charge to Preach the Word

In the last three weeks I had the opportunity to attend two different conferences. Three weeks ago I went to the Watchman on the Wall Conference in Washington, D.C.—my first time in that city, with all its historical sites and museums. With over 500 pastors from across our nation, the challenge was simple: preach the word, be faithful to give forth the word of God. I'm thankful I was raised, taught, and discipled in a church where the teaching and preaching of God's word is cornerstone to the Calvary Chapel movement. Some of the pastors I met didn't come from that tradition, and it stretched them, but they received the challenge.

This last week I fellowshipped with over 800 Calvary Chapel pastors planting churches across our nation and around the world. At lunch I sat with a man named Francis who pastors a church in Uganda. Again the exhortation was to hold fast to the word of God. We went through 2 Timothy, where Paul says perilous times—difficult, hard days—would come in the last days. When you read verses 2, 3, and 4, you read things that might be the headlines of shows people watch for entertainment today.

A Nation in Divergent Change

We are living in changing times. President Barack Hussein Obama ran on a platform of "change we can believe in," and the rhetoric coming out of his administration shows that change is already many steps forward. Speaking in Saudi Arabia this last Wednesday, the President said that if you look at the number of Muslim Americans, we would be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. In April in Turkey he said we Americans do not consider ourselves a Christian nation—nor a Muslim nation. Two years ago, in June 2007, he told CBS News, "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers." That's an interesting progression.

On Thursday morning I got an email from David Axelrod—the President's campaign manager and one of his chief advisors. I have no idea how I got on that list. The subject line was "A New Beginning," which spiked my interest because Pastor Greg Laurie's radio show carries that name. It linked to the transcript and video of the President's speech at Cairo University, which the White House called a monumental step in a new direction. Without listening to any commentary, I began to listen for myself.

Something caught me a few minutes in, when the President said, "I have known Islam on three continents... partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is and not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." This is not a slam against our President; it's to illustrate the divergent change taking place in our nation and the world.

Islam Treated as a Nation, Not a Religion

One clear change is that the administration is dealing with Islam as a nation and not a religion. Most Muslims do not view themselves as merely religious; they see it as a way of life, a national existence. As Christians we understand that, because we recognize Christianity is not just a religion either—we have a totally different worldview and walk a different way of life. But for the President of the United States to address a religion in a national sense is very interesting.

The other line that jumped out at me was the claim that fighting negative stereotypes of Islam is part of the President's responsibility. I never realized that was a presidential duty. But ask yourself: what would happen if any politician—local, state, or federal—said, "I consider it part of my responsibility to fight against negative stereotypes of Christianity wherever they appear"? That person would be on every news show that night, the media would obliterate them, and their career would likely be over.

Reverting to a First-Century Mindset

The world is clearly changing, but I don't think it's a progressive advancement. What we are seeing is a reverting to a first-century mindset—the very world in which the early church functioned and saw God move powerfully. Despite all our technological and medical advancements and our increase of knowledge, the worldview is shifting to a polytheistic outlook of many gods, or a pantheistic mixture of Eastern philosophies that sees God in everything.

I agree with President Obama when he says America is no longer a Christian nation. We've been saying that here at this church for a very long time. But the interesting thing is that by saying we are "no longer" a Christian nation, he admits we once were—a nation with Judeo-Christian values. The secularists hate that admission. We should recognize that what we've experienced as a nation for 233 years is abnormal. It is not how cultures and civilizations normally are; the Judeo-Christian values were inherent, and that is not the way things are in other parts of the world throughout history.

A Great Evangelical Opportunity

As the body of Christ, we have a great opportunity in these days. The gospel of Jesus Christ stands in contrast to every other worldview—it is truth. Some say that is narrow. Yes, it is. There cannot be multiple truths, else it not be truth. Some say every religion is basically the same; study world religions and you'll find quickly they are not. Some say there's more that unites us than divides us; perhaps, but those dividing points are problematic and they're there for a reason.

Some say Jesus was a prophet like Confucius, Buddha, Muhammad, or Joseph Smith—just another teacher saying the same thing. But the Scriptures reveal that if you believe not that He is the Christ, the Son of God, you are of the spirit of Antichrist (1 John). I didn't make that up. That is a distinct, narrow truth, and it is the best place to start with people of other worldviews. When someone comes to your door and says, "I'm a Christian, I just go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," ask one question: Who is Jesus of Nazareth? The Bible reveals He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who died, was buried, rose again, lives and reigns from heaven, and will come again. No other religion believes that. Bring it to the foundation right at the beginning and stop hours of debate.

People from every tribe and nation come to this land of opportunity to be trained and educated, and we have a great opportunity to share the gospel with them—much like the first-century Roman world, except most came into the Empire as conquered prisoners and slaves rather than immigrants. Yet the church in our day is mixed up with the same problem presented in Acts 11.

The Enemy's Assault on the Early Church

Turn to Acts 11. Over the last ten chapters we've watched the enemy seek to destroy the work God is doing. Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail" (Matthew 16). In Acts 2 God began building, and immediately the enemy attacked. In Acts 4, Peter and John healed the lame man at the gate Beautiful—"silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give unto thee: in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk"—and as Peter preached Jesus, the council seized them and forbade them to speak in that name. They went rejoicing, the church prayed for boldness, and God gave it. In Acts 5 they were beaten and again went rejoicing.

That was the attack from the outside. But in Acts 5 the enemy also worked from the inside through Ananias and Sapphira—internal sin and corruption—which the Lord dealt with swiftly. In Acts 6 a group complained they weren't being ministered to, and the apostles raised up seven men full of the Spirit; then in Acts 7 one of them, Stephen, became the first martyr. Chapter after chapter, the enemy seeks to come against and destroy.

Peter on Trial Before the Church

And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. (Acts 11:1-3)

Notice that "those who were of the circumcision" contended with him—yet every Christian in Jerusalem was of the circumcision, all Jews converted to Christianity. Some simply held more tightly to their Jewish heritage and laws as something great to be preserved, and it caused internal strife. In Acts 4 and 5 the apostles stood trial before the Sanhedrin; here Peter stands trial before the body of Christ. It is one thing to be tried by unbelievers; it is another to be tried by those within. It is akin to friendly fire—a nice term for something with nothing friendly about it. Friendly fire kills effectively because it strikes when defenses are down, and the enemy does this within the church, causing it to war against itself.

Especially in the last 500 years since the Reformation, we've seen great internal debate. Here in 2009 people argue within the body of Christ over lighting schemes, worship songs, spiritual gifts, God's sovereignty versus man's free will, King James versus English Standard, elder-led versus congregational versus pastoral, pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, premillennial, amillennial, postmillennial, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, Emergent—so many things over which we waste time and strength.

Watchmen Appointed, Not Volunteered

Just before He ascended, Jesus gave us clear orders: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:19-20). And in Luke 6:46 He asked, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" There are plenty of battles to wage outside the walls of the church, yet some of the biggest battles have been waged inside.

The final speaker at the Washington conference keyed on Isaiah 62:6: "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence." A watchman protects against outside evils, sounds the alarm, and keeps watch for what comes against the city from the outside—not for what is happening inside. That speaker said something that has stuck with me: God appoints watchmen; He does not ask for volunteers. We see it plainly—"I have set watchmen upon thy walls."

I teach through Isaiah twice a year at the Calvary Chapel Bible College. In Isaiah 21, amid God's judgments against the nations, He speaks to Edom: "He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night." It pictures someone inside the city calling, "How much longer till morning?" and the watchman answering, "Morning is coming, but the night will soon follow." The interpretation is that the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib was the night; morning would come, but the Babylonian conquest would follow soon after.

We Are Living in the Last Days

Every week people stop me with questions: What do you think about the world? Are we in the last days? Is Obama the Antichrist? (I don't think so.) Is the rapture about to happen—should I store food? Often I say, "I don't know." But let me tell you what I do know. Since Jesus ascended 2,000 years ago, we are living in the last days. Hebrews 1 says God, who spoke in past times by the prophets, in these last days has spoken to us by His Son. Yes, we've been in the last days for 2,000 years—a long period of last days.

Just before ascending, Jesus commissioned us: go into all the world and make disciples. Right after, in Acts 1, His disciples stood staring into heaven, and two angels asked, "Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus... shall so come in like manner." Someday the Lord will return, and Scripture makes clear He will bring us to account. We will stand before Him and answer for what we did with what He gave us—the parable of the talents. There is a judgment for the church, a judgment for reward.

When you and I stand before God, He's not going to ask, "Were you a cessationist or not? Gifts of the Spirit for today or not? Were you a Calvinist?" Those are non-essentials. If we have believed in Him as Christ, the Son of the living God, and confessed His name, we are saved—but He will also examine our works done in His name. All the little things we don't understand will be cleared up instantly when we stand before Him. You won't even ask Him about pre-trib or mid-trib; it won't matter then. Jesus did not call us to split hairs over non-essential doctrinal issues, but the church has become expert at it, and the enemy loves to entangle us in "words to no profit" (2 Timothy 2:14). Just hold fast to the word of God.

Essentials and Non-Essentials

So what do we do when strife happens, as it does here in Acts 11? Recognize that the early church was not perfect. We sometimes look at it with glowing eyes as though everything was worked out, but remember Ananias and Sapphira. They had the same kinds of quarrels we have.

Don't misunderstand me—I'm not advocating outright ecumenicalism, throwing open the doors to self-realization religion, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses as one big happy family. That's something like Baha'i; we're not that. There are essentials revealed in God's word: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the atonement of our sins, and the inerrancy of Scripture. If you don't hold to these, you're not with us. Yes, that is narrow. If you believe Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan, we don't believe that. But what kind of lights we use, or whether we worship with guitars or drums—those things should not divide the body of Christ, and yet they have.

The contenders in Acts 11 essentially believed you needed to become a Jew before you became a Christian. This is the very problem brought into Galatia, which is why Paul wrote that letter—they'd been duped into thinking you must be circumcised first. Many churches since the Reformation have divided themselves this way: "If you'll fellowship with us, you must believe these issues, sign these 29 points, and be baptized in our church." That's not what Scripture reveals. I'm blessed by Calvary Chapel because we don't really have membership per se. How do you become a member? Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Then welcome—be baptized, fellowship with us. We even draw these lines individually: "You believe in mid-trib? I can't hang out with you." Give me a break.

"Thou Didst Eat With Them"

Notice the actual complaint in verse 3: "Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them." They did not say, "You preached the gospel to Gentiles?" It was a fellowship issue. They had no problem with the gospel going to Gentiles; they had a problem with Peter eating with them. And though Peter defends himself here with the word of God, he himself would later stumble on this very point—Paul tells us in Galatians that he had to withstand Peter to his face because Peter had separated himself and stopped eating with Gentiles.

And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. (Acts 11:15)

Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, expounding it in order. He told them of his vision in Joppa—the great sheet let down with all manner of beasts, the voice saying, "Rise, Peter; kill, and eat," his protest, and the answer, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common," done three times. Then three men from Caesarea arrived, and the Spirit bade him go with them, nothing doubting. Six brothers accompanied him; the man, Cornelius, had seen an angel telling him to send for Simon Peter, "who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."

Go With Them, Nothing Doubting

In verse 12, circle the word "doubting." In the Greek it is the same word used in verse 2, where those of the circumcision "contended" with Peter. The word means to contend or doubt, but very specifically to divide, to discriminate, to draw a line. The Jewish Christians in Jerusalem had drawn a line: unless you do these things, you cannot have fellowship with us. Peter had that same thinking until the Holy Spirit told him, "Go with them, and don't draw the line. Don't discriminate."

Notice what the angel told Cornelius: Peter "shall tell thee words, whereby thou... shalt be saved." Not works whereby you shall be saved. Not prayers. Not sacrifices. Words. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). God is not a respecter of persons. The "Jew first" is first in order of rank, not in worth—it's not that they are better and we lesser. "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). Salvation is not in a prayer, a work, or a sacrifice; it is in the work Jesus did and our faith in Him.

Remember the Word of the Lord

God demonstrated His approval by a miraculous sign, pouring out His Spirit on those Gentiles. Those of the circumcision could not argue with that. Then Peter says in verse 16: "Then remembered I the word of the Lord." Underline that. When you are being dragged into a debate or contention with someone in the body of Christ, remember the word of the Lord—not the word of John Calvin, not Martin Luther, not Charles Spurgeon, no matter who it is.

"Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." Interestingly, Peter and the 120 were baptized with the Spirit at Pentecost, but in that moment Peter recognized it as the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy; only now, seeing the Spirit fall on the Gentiles, did he recognize the fulfillment of Jesus' words. "Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?" (verse 17). The gift of the Spirit and salvation are received the same way—by belief—and the Gentiles believed. Peter shows the opposition was not against him or the Gentiles, but against God. How could I withstand what God was doing—and, by implication, how can you?

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. (Acts 11:18)

That takes humility—they held their peace and glorified God, worshiping together. The enemy was seeking to inflame internal debate, to get the church so focused on secondary lines they had drawn in the sand that they would fail to fulfill the work God called them to. When the church is stirred to such strife, it consumes its energy on the wrong war.

Battling the Wrong War

I'll never forget working at the church's coffee shop down on Grand Avenue. Believers from the community would come in not knowing I was a pastor, and as I made their mocha they'd try to get me to agree with their view on some secondary issue. More than once I thought, Why are you trying to evangelize me when there's a whole bunch of dead sinners outside these doors? You're battling the wrong battle, in the wrong war. Engage as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and fight the good fight of faith—not against the body of Christ. Yes, there are things to divide on, but the rapture isn't one of them, and how someone worships isn't one of them. If you want to see worship done differently than yours, go to a foreign country—it will blow you away. It's beautiful and glorious, just different, not wrong.

Repentance Granted Unto Life

Notice they rejoiced because God had granted the Gentiles repentance unto life. Some say repentance isn't an important characteristic of gospel presentation—that it was preached to the Jews at Pentecost but not to the Gentiles at Caesarea. Yet the church rejoiced that repentance had been granted to them, so clearly Peter did bring it up and they did repent.

How then do we receive Christ? John the Baptist preached, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3). Jesus preached the same (Matthew 4). Peter said, "Repent, and be baptized" (Acts 2:38). Yet some say repentance is a work and not part of the gospel. That view misunderstands repentance. The English word "repent" comes from a Latin root that also gives us "pain," so we picture tearful guilt and self-affliction. But the Greek word metanoia means to change one's mind. That change of mind results in a change of action, but it is first and foremost a change of mind.

When Peter preached to the Gentiles at Cornelius's house, many had worshiped false gods—Diana, Jupiter, and the rest. To put their faith in Christ, they had to change their mind. That change of mind resulted in a change of action, but it is a component of faith, not a work we manufacture.

A Gospel Without Repentance

For about the last 60 years in American evangelicalism, many have been taught a gospel void of repentance, so they've simply added Jesus to their paganism. They still bow down to lust, greed, gluttony, and every other false god—but they've thrown Jesus in there too. They hold just as polytheistic a view as the worst pagan, still living a sinful life, and the sad part is that many of them think they are saved. In Matthew 7, Jesus said many will say to Him on that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" And He will say, "Depart from me... I never knew you." They received the wrong gospel. When you study the gospel presentations of the Bible, repentance is always a key component, and those who call it a work do not understand what it is.

Salvation is received by grace through faith—Ephesians 2:8. Romans 10 makes it clear: confession is made with the mouth, one believes in the heart that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and confesses Him as Lord, and they are saved.

There Is Nothing New Under the Sun

We have an opportunity in these days. Yes, the world is changing, and some in our nation are going kicking and screaming because they don't like what they see. But we have been given the opportunity to preach the gospel, and there may come a day when we are given the opportunity, like the early church, to suffer shame for His name. Though people call it a new beginning, there is nothing new under the sun—it's the same old thing that has been happening for thousands of years. The gospel is just as true now as it was 2,000 years ago. It still transforms lives, it still changes our final destination, and God is on the throne. No one will dethrone Him. They can try, but they too will bow.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your gracious gift of salvation, which we could not earn or attain—You've given it to us freely. Lord, I pray that You would give us boldness to speak the truth in this secular world with so many voices speaking things that appear, or almost seem, to be truth. Help us cut through the lies with the sword of the Spirit and stand strong in these last days, brightly shining as cities set on a hill that cannot be hid. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, amen.