In the chapter 11 of the book of Acts, God reveals that the salvation brought by the Christ was not only for the nation of Israel, but for all mankind.

You probably remember Peter’s vision. While in a trance, God showed Peter ‘something like a sheet’ being lowered down from heaven. It was filled with all kinds of different animals—‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ in the Hebrew sense. God tells Peter to take and eat whatever he likes. At first, Peter resists the command, asserting that he’d never eating anything ‘unclean’. But God rebukes him, insisting that he isn’t to call anything ‘unclean’ that God has made clean.

It was at this moment, that some men arrived to bring Peter back to the household of a gentile who’d been commanded by God to fetch Peter and listen to whatever he told them. Of course, what happens next may not seem like much to us, but was a huge deal to Peter. God poured out his Spirit on the gentile household. Peter then understood that the vision of the animals in the sheet was to explain that Jesus’ salvation was for all men—‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ alike.

Understandably, Peter was criticized by the other Apostles for his decision to baptize the gentiles. But after Peter explains everything, including his vision, their response is remarkable. Acts 11:18:

When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."

You can almost see the picture like it’s a dramatic scene in a movie. The group is heated by Peter’s apparent disregard for their laws and customs. Then, Peter explains why he did what he did and how God’s hand was at work.

The group grows silent, then humbly accepts that God has chosen something different than what they were used to—what they even thought was right. “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life”. It’s remarkable to me how quietly and humbly they accept they were wrong in their assertions, and accept God’s decision.

This is an attitude that seems altogether absent from our corporate church culture (and often even private walks).

How tightly do we grasp to our customs and traditions—even in the face of changing times and tides. God continues to meet each generation differently (in many ways) than the ones before it. No matter how you look at it, this is hard to deny. We do not spiritually interact with God in the same way our brothers and sisters did 500 years ago. Even 50 years ago. Yet, each generations seems to see their own customs as the pinnacle of appropriate spirituality.

I think we would do well to try and emulate the Apostles in this way. Hold ‘nothing sacred’ (so to speak). When God begins to move, we should move with him, even if it rubs the grain of what we have grown accustomed to.

The past few days I’ve been reflecting on the idea in Romans 2:14-15:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them”

This idea of the work of the Law being written on people’s hearts is very interesting. It’s clear that in a fairly universal sense all cultures tend to agree with some basics tenets of morality. Murdering is bad. Lying is un-virtuous. Stealing is reprehensible. Sex is wrong apart from commitment. Yet many people who agree with these things, and who’s conscience is stricken because of them, do not know of the express commandments from God about them.

What’s the deal with that? Why do human beings seem to universally agree on some very basic moral structure, while the religious and moral institutions vary dramatically?

Well, it seems that this is exactly what Paul has in view when he says that the gentiles are a “law to themselves". There is a God and he is Holy and he has graciously given such a law in the hearts of people–even those who don’t know him. But, I think, there’s something even more astonishing than that.

We all know that God’s law is more demanding than any person can survive. In the heavenly court, no human will be justified on the basis of God’s law. All have sinned and all are guilty. But, if we were to scale back and look at only the requirements of man’s law–the one written on every man’s heart–we would still be guilty. Not only are we unable to keep God’s perfect law, we are unable to keep our conscience clean on our own terms.

Even apart from God’s holy law, a savior is not only necessary, he is imperative to our very lives. Praise the Lord that God had done what he has and that all sins are paid for through the atoning, justifying, propitiating, sanctifying work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.