And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
Acts 10:15
I’ve written about this before but just because we read the scripture once doesn’t mean we have learned it.
You will recognize this word from the time Peter has had his vision of the unclean animals descending in a sheet and the voice instructing him to rise, kill and eat. We read this from the book of Acts chapter ten verses nine through sixteen. Peter’s response to the instruction was, ’No Lord, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean’ and this occurred three times leaving Peter puzzled.
The New Living translation tells us Peter was ‘very perplexed’. The Amplified Translation adds ‘completely at a loss’. The King James Version uses ‘doubted in himself’. The HELPS WORD STUDY gives us the understanding of the Greek word used to describe Peter’s condition.
1280 diaporéō (from 1223/diá "thoroughly," which intensifies 639/aporéō, "no way out") – properly, totally perplexed because having no solution ("no way out").
1280/diaporeō ("deeply perplexed") refers to "one who goes through the whole list of possible ways, and finds no way out. Hence, 'to be in perplexity'" (WS, 174).
As an intensified form of 639/aporéō ("perplexed"), 1280 (diaporéō) means "thoroughly without an explanation for something, or way of coping with it" – "thoroughly at a loss" (WS, 234) and utterly perplexed (with great misgivings).
The opportunities we face with others methods and means can tempt us to cry unclean in the face of what we don’t understand. Peters vision was directly contrary to Jewish law yet God showed him that he should not call any man impure or unclean. Our natural divisions that occur within denominations and teachings can lead to this very dynamic. Our responsibility is to always be mindful there is only one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
How much new we are facing in these day. New days holding new ways. Practically speaking it is because there is a great shift that has occurred in generational transference. Our culture today finds itself being expressed in Daniel 12:4 ‘….. many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’
We have an abundance of knowledge and information at our fingertips increasing exponentially in this last hour we are living through. The church is challenged to be as a wise master builder drawing out from its treasures, both old and new, to build His Kingdom.
Understanding the times, discerning the methods God desires us to use can be a daunting task for those leading. Like Peter, the shift demanded brings much consternation if we try to reason out the words as opposed to hearing and obeying.
Peters religion forbade this version of ‘rise, kill and eat’. Yet this command gave entrance into a household that brought salvation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a construct that astounded him.
Every new wineskin must be pliable to hold the new ways God desires to work through. Please note it is the old wineskins refusal to be re-purposed that makes it dry, brittle and cracked.
May we be found supple, pliable, amenable putty in our masters hand; willing to yield to his creative process as He works in us all both to will and do of His good pleasure.