And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
Acts 10:45
In examining the lives of the apostles, we find them connected to a diverse group of believers in various locations. Certainly, many of these connections were the natural result of the missionary work of these men. As they fulfilled the command of Christ to go into all the world and preach the gospel, ties developed in the places the Spirit led these men as people believed the word of God and were saved. But, as we see in our text above, it wasn’t only the recipients of the word that grew as a result of these relationships. Sometimes those doing the ministering were the ones that were ministered to!
The account in Acts 10 relates the events surrounding Peter’s visit to Cornelius’ house. Peter didn’t go alone. V. 23 tells us that some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. Further, our text above reveals these companions were Jews because they were “of the circumcision.” Now, consider the blessing these men would have missed if they had stayed home that day! God revealed the fullness of His plan to include the Gentiles in on the “common salvation!” (Jude 3) What if they had said within themselves, “What need do we have to go to a Gentile’s house? What could we possibly learn from that experience? We are Jews! We’ve been taught the law and the prophets since we were children. Furthermore, we’re not blinded as many of the Jews are, but we recognize Jesus as the Christ. With such deep spiritual understanding, it would be a waste of our time to go to Caesarea.” They could have stayed home and remained in their spiritual box, but in their fellowship with brethren they had little in common with except for the Lord, their eyes were opened to a fuller understanding of the greatness of their God!
We have a human tendency to congregate with those that look, talk, and act like we do. “Birds of a feather flock together.” God’s intention, however, is to build His church “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9) We hinder our spiritual growth if we surround ourselves only with believers that use the same familiar terms that we do, that practice the same familiar traditions, that sing the same familiar songs, etc. Most of us, to some degree, tend to remain inside our spiritual boxes that we, not the Lord, have established. Yes, the local assembly has its place in our lives, and we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb 10:25); however, it is not the only place we grow in the Lord Jesus and learn what it means to follow Him in a practical way day by day. We would do well to broaden our spiritual horizons by enjoying fellowship with those of like precious faith outside of our own assembly.
When we stay confined to our individual places of assembly and the members therein, we sometimes become like Elijah and think we’re the only ones left that are truly seeking the Lord (1 Ki 19:10,14), but what an encouragement when the Lord reveals there are many others that are still faithfully bowing only to Him (v. 18)! Over the years, I have learned much from those I gather with weekly at work to study God’s word. They don’t always use the same Bible translation I do nor do they attend churches of the same denomination. They quote Bible verses that aren’t always familiar to me, and they love preachers, authors, and artists I’ve never heard of. But we have one key characteristic in common–we all love the same Lord! We have the same desire to serve Him and know Him better tomorrow than we do today! These individuals have encouraged me, challenged me, prayed for me, and always loved me. At times my experiences with them have been comfortable while other times my palms have been sweating, but every time has been a blessing. God has used these dear souls in a special way to draw me outside of my spiritual box. If God has provided an opportunity for you to be a part of a gathering of believers outside of your usual group, I can’t encourage you enough to take full advantage of that opportunity. If you love the Lord Jesus, I promise that you will be a blessing and you will be blessed! “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” no matter when or where they are! (Ps 133:1)
Jamie