Do you see why we need to always be very careful with our criticism? We may be wrong! We can even think we’re defending the truth – and be wrong.

Introduction

Recently I read about an event involving the police of Oakland, California. It seems that they spent two hours attempting to subdue a gunman that had barricaded himself inside his home. After firing ten tear-gas canisters, the officers discovered that the criminal himself was standing next to them in the police line shouting, "Please come out and give yourself up!"

How do you think those police officers felt? They were so sure that he was in that house. But they were wrong.

All of us have had experiences where we were so sure of ourselves. We would have staked our life on it. But we were wrong.

It’s a jolting experience to be 180 degrees off. It’s often very humiliating. But the fact is everybody has to take his or her turn at it. Everybody is wrong sometimes. Nobody can be right 100 percent of the time. That’s left for God alone.

The Apostle Peter used to think that the only people the gospel applied to were the Jews. He thought that Christ was exclusively for them. He thought that all non-Jews, all Gentiles were just eternally lost. But Peter was wrong.

God showed him that. First, he gave him a vision in the middle of an afternoon nap. Then he sent him on a mission – to a Gentile. And not just any Gentile, but a Roman. And not just any Roman, but an officer of the occupying forces. And God sent him not only to that man but also to his family. And while Peter was there under that man’s roof, God sent a miraculous event - the Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles. All that to help Peter learn that he was wrong and to change his mind. And He did. God changed Peter’s mind.

But Peter wasn’t the only one who was wrong. The other Apostles thought the same way. So did all of the Jewish converts who had come into the church over the decade since Pentecost. But they were wrong, too. And when they found out that Peter had been fraternizing with the Gentiles, they were shocked. They were dismayed. They were disturbed. So they called Peter on the carpet and put him before the Jerusalem council.

That’s where our text begins today. We’ll be in Acts chapter 11. We’re going to look at the first 18 verses of the chapter.

This is the story of Peter’s defense, but we’re not going to look at it from his perspective. I want us to look at it from the perspective of his accusers – the people who were wrong.

My message title this morning is: Sometimes, You’re Wrong. And because you may be wrong, first,

The scandal spread like wildfire. "Did you hear what Peter did?" Peter! Their star apostle. The E.F. Hutton of the Jerusalem church! (When Peter spoke, people listened.) He was their number one guy and here he had done the unthinkable in their minds. He entered the home of a Roman Gentile Centurion, an officer of the occupying forces, and had a meal with him! It was the ultimate no-no. A devout Jew never went to dinner with a Gentile.

These words that Luke wrote in Acts 11 are very similar to some other words that he wrote in his gospel. In the 15^th chapter the book of Luke we read in verses 1 and 2, "Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Oh they hated that part of it! You do not sit down and have a meal with someone you don’t think a lot of and enjoy – someone you don’t want to be friends with forever. And so it says in the second verse of our text in Acts, "The circumcised believers criticized him."

The "circumcised believers," it says. Circumcision was the mark of the covenant. These people bore the mark so they assumed they were right. But they were wrong.

God needed to communicate this truth to them. Oh He tried. He tried all the way back at the beginning of the Old Testament. In the book of Genesis, God spoke to the father of the Jews – Abraham. He said to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, "…and all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you." All people, not just the Jews. God was trying to communicate this truth to them.

In the 49^th chapter of Isaiah, verse 6, God said to the people, "I will make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

God had been trying to communicate this to the Jews for centuries. The Jews were to be God’s conduit of salvation, not God’s conclusion of salvation. But they didn’t understand it. Here they are, in the wrong, criticizing those who are right.

Do you see why we need to always be very careful with our criticism? We may be wrong! We can even think we’re defending the truth – and be wrong.

And even when we are right, we need to be careful with our criticism, especially toward those in the Body of Christ. That’s what we have here in the text. We have Christians criticizing Christians.

Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. One day his seminary students filed into class and immediately saw a large sheet that was pinned to the wall. It had multiple bulls eye targets printed on it. They noticed that there were a number of darts lying on the table. Dr. Smith told the students to sit at their desks and draw a picture of someone they didn’t like – someone who made them very angry. The students went to work. Some of them were very specific with their drawings – even down to pimples and warts: Old boyfriends, girls who had stolen boyfriends, little brothers, cranky neighbors. Next Dr. Smith told the students to take their pictures and pin them up over the bulls eye targets on the sheet, then he invited them to throw darts at their nemesis. Some of them threw the darts with such force and emotion that they ripped the target and sheet apart. Finally Dr. Smith had the students return to their seats. He started removing the shredded pictures from the sheet. Then he removed the sheet. Underneath was an equally large picture of Jesus – and it was mangled. A silence fell over the room as Dr. Smith quoted Jesus Himself from Matthew 25: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me." (KJV)

We need to always be careful with criticism, because you may be wrong. And because you may be wrong,

We’ll pick up the text in verse 4.

O.K. That’s the vision.

That’s the mission God sent him on.

That’s the special miraculous experience I mentioned earlier that confirmed the truth.

The Apostle here delivers his own defense. He’s his own Mattlock. He’s his own Perry Mason.

We’re not going to spend much time on the details of these verses because they are a retelling of much of what is in chapter 10, which we covered in a previous message. But I do want you to notice a few points about his defense:

Notice how accurate it is. It says in verse 4 that he was precise. He uses the word "precisely."

Notice the pieces of evidence:

-The vision (Verse 5 says, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.")
-The Spirit’s leading (Verse 12 says, "The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.")
-The eye witnesses (Verse 12 says, "…these six brothers also went with me.")
-Cornelius’ vision (Verses 13-14.)
-The Holy Spirit’s confirmation (Verse 15: "He came upon them as He had come upon us.")
-The conclusion (Verse 17: "…who was I to think I could oppose God?")

That’s Peter’s defense. But do you remember that I said we were going to look from the vantage point of those who were wrong. What are they doing during the events described in these verses?

They’re listening.

Because you may be wrong, you need to always hear from others.

Of course this is often the very reason we don’t listen. We suspect we may be wrong and our little egos just can’t handle it.

A great telltale mark of immaturity and insecurity is always having to be right about everything.

Let me give you a little relief. You don’t always have to be right about everything. Grow up and realize that you are, no doubt, wrong about some things. And you can discover what they are if you’ll listen more closely to others. Because you may be wrong you need to hear from others.

You might want to start with your mate.

A New York wife wrote in to Reader’s Digest and explained, "One night I was talking to my husband, going on and on about something, as we stood at the sink doing dishes. I paused to ask what he felt about the situation. When he said nothing, I thought: He’s being his usual uncommunicative self. "Can’t you please answer me when I speak to you? I asked in complete exasperation. "You know what it’s like being married to a sphinx?" He looked at me and quietly said, "No, Marcia, I don’t."(1)

Have we stopped listening? Do we think we are right about everything?

Because you may be wrong…

-You need to always be careful with criticism.
-You need to always hear from others.

I wish that was the last mention of this issue. It isn’t. Actually, it’s just the beginning. It will come up again and again in the years that followed this as the Jews struggled with the issue of accepting the Gentiles. But this is the beginning of change – a willingness to see the other side. They realized at this point: We can’t argue with God. Those whom God accepts, we’re going to have to accept.

This is the basis on which nearly every one of us is here this morning, standing before God with confidence, knowing we’re forgiven. I’m assuming that 90-95 percent of this audience is Gentile. We’re here because some people were finally willing to change their minds.

If you never admit that you’re wrong, then there’s never any need for change in your life. If you never admit that you’re wrong, you’re never going to change.

When was the last time that you made a change?

A Wiley Miller newspaper cartoon shows a woman standing at the mouth of a cave with her bags packed, all dressed up in modern 21^st century clothing before her caveman husband. He’s bent over, Neanderthal style, knuckles dragging the ground, looking in the opposite direction. She is explaining why she is leaving. She says, "Yes, we did have something special once, Lance, but I’ve evolved."(2)

Does that describe your relationship? That’s about as close as I’ll ever come to believing in Darwin’s evolutionary theory, but it does remind me that we all need to change.

Only people who will admit they are wrong ever see the need to change. Could it be that you’re wrong about some group, some class, some race or gender – that God actually loves them and expects you to build a bridge of love to them like He did from the Jews to the Gentiles?

Back during the Civil War, General Stonewall Jackson found himself on one side of a river when he needed to be on the other side. He told his engineers to plan and build a bridge, so his army could get across. Then he called his wagon master in and told him it was urgent that the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks, and fence posts he could find, and built a bridge. Long before daylight, General Jackson was told by his wagon master that all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. The General asked, "Where are my engineers?" The wagon master’s reply was, "They’re in their tents, sir, drawing up plans for a bridge."

Are you drawing up a plan for a bridge but it’s just not happening because you’re not willing to change?

Sometimes you’re wrong. That’s why you need to always:

-Be careful with criticism
-Be willing to hear from others
-Be willing to change

We call the closing time of the sermon "Decision Time." Today it’s a time to ask ourselves and the Lord, "Is there some area where I’m wrong? Is there some area, Lord, where I need to be willing to change?"

Footnotes: Please use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Marcia Archambeault, Nassena, N.Y.
2. Wiley Miller; The Non-Sequitur homepage; http://www.ucomics.com/nonsequitur/
Cartoons Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.

All Scripture Quotes are from the New International Version unless otherwise specified.

Permission is granted to subscribers of The Preacher's Study to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or any place beyond the local congregation is prohibited. The author of this sermon, Ron Rasmussen,  may be reached at: rjrass@juno.com.