“1 The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had welcomed God’s message also. 2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who stressed circumcision argued with him, 3 saying, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them!”
4 Peter began to explain to them in an orderly sequence, saying: 5 “I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a visionary state, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. 6 When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four- footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. 7 Then I also heard a voice telling me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat! ”

8 “No, Lord!” I said. “For nothing common or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!” 9 But a voice answered from heaven a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.” 

10 Now this happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into heaven. 11 At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. 12 Then the Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house. 13 He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 14 He will speak a message to you that you and all your household will be saved by.” 

15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 17 Therefore, if God gave them the same gift that He also gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”

18 When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, “So God has granted repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles!”

Acts 11:1-18

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And so we see, even within the beginnings of the Church, people laying out their own personal expectations for what things should look like rather than listening to the words of God. Jesus made things clear before He ascended that they were meant to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth & Jesus Himself also spent time healing Gentiles & ministering to them on countless occasions. This concept shouldn’t have been anything that surprised them, but they had their own understanding, their own desire for what the church’s mission should be. 

People still today may leave one church family to join another because they don’t like the ‘unsavory’ new people coming to Christ. They have a sterilized idea of what the church is meant to look like, people like them, people in their income bracket, people with the same likes and dislikes…people that make them comfortable. 

But that’s not what Jesus called for. Jesus didn’t call for His church to be neat & clean on their own, but instead He said that He had come to heal the sick, the wounded & to gather the lost to Himself. The church wasn’t meant to be some cookie-cutter operation where everyone looked the same, came from the same background & had the same interests. Instead, a diverse church, diverse income levels, diverse ethnicities, diverse skills & talents, diverse family sizes, diverse everything. And that is going to make some people uncomfortable, as we see here in chapter 11. It didn’t fit their mold or cultural standard. 

But Peter educated them, in love, with the truth of God & they responded properly. They saw His handiwork, they heard Peter’s testimony & the evidence was undeniable. God was sculpting their hearts just as He was for Cornelius & his family. The church is always growing, moving & breaking through barriers. We must trust God & the unfettered truth of His Gospel to be our guide. How we, as human beings, want things to happen will not always be what God desires & we must be ready to move & GoLove others as He sees fit. The parable of the large banquet in Luke 14 stands as our reminder of our Master’s desire to see anyone & everyone coming to Him to be loved and saved by Him.