VISION OF UNITY
ACTS 10:9- 20
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air.
13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
14 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate.
18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three [1] men are looking for you.
20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."
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Prejudice is defined in Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary as "an irritional attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics." That definition describes an attitude from which we'd all like to be free. Tragically, we're not. Even the spiritually mature struggle with this malady, such as Peter did in this passage.
Peter had agreed to preach to Gentiles. But he wouldn't eat with them or accept them into the Christian family as brothers. As a Jew, Peter believed the touch of a Gentile could defile him. He found their culture and customs repulsive.
God saw Peter's prejudice and corrected it with this vision. Some of the animals Peter saw in the sheet let down from heaven were ceremonially clean and fit to eat, others were not. Yet three times a heavenly voice told Peter to eat. Why? Because God had cleansed what had been unclean.
The object lesson was clear: Peter was no longer to avoid contact with men of other races; he was not to consider unclean what God had made clean. As a member of God's worldwide family, he has called you to follow Peter's example and proactively seek fellowship with people from all other races and backgrounds.
