Critical

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

CRITICAL

Acts 11:1-3

11:1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."

NIV

How typical of fellow believers to criticize one another, but then of course these believers were Jews who were still thinking they were under the law. They had not come to the full realization of the gospel message. We will see in the response of Peter which is a repeat of what we just saw and deliberated on they did finally get it, but it took Peter having to tell them they were opposing God by living by the law which forbid a Jew from associating with a gentile. Our life lesson here is twofold, first to learn not to be critical of another’s obedience to God, even if it goes against what we believe to be true, and second not to live under the law when we have been set free. Although Jesus had set them free from the law in the sense they were no longer held responsible for their failure to completely live according to that law, they still held to many of the traditions or tenants of the law, such as not going into the house of an uncircumcised man, and then, God forbid, eating with them and even worse eating their food which was not blessed by a Rabbi, it was not kosher. How could Peter do such a wicked thing? We have to make sure we do not become critical of how another believer lives according to his beliefs. Some believers are still living under some kind of law. It might be the law of their denominational statement of faith, but it is still a law they are abiding by and they are critical of those who do not abide by their beliefs, such as smoking and drinking adult beverages, going to movies, or some even believe women should wear long dresses, no makeup and never cut their hair. Others are more liberal than that but still try to abide by some set of rules and regulations of their denomination. The point here is the truth of the gospel sets men free, but at the same time we should not allow ourselves to become critical of others. Yet Peter did set them straight, and told them basically their abiding by what they thought was the law was actually opposing God. The second part of this life lesson is that we should not be trying to live under some form of law, but we should live as free men who have decided to follow Jesus. We do live in a certain manner which is different than those who have not decided to follow Jesus. We do live with certain restraints that morally oppose the holiness of God, but at the same time with the freedom in Christ. These Jewish believers felt Peter had violated the law, but Peter knew in his heart he was operating in the freedom of Christ, doing what was truly the right thing to do. As long as we are positive we are operating under the direction of the Holy Spirit we should not allow those who would be critical of our actions to remain uninformed. Peter set the record straight and perhaps we have an obligation to do the same.