Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
September 2025
The apostles and the believers 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.”
4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.
13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:1-18 NIV)
Today, we want to talk about criticism. None of us likes criticism and yet wherever we go, we encounter it. We face it at work. We face it at home. Siblings face criticism. Spouses encounter criticism. We even face it in church. Some of the worst critics are sometimes found in church.
Just try to stand up and preach and everyone takes the sermon apart. They critique it and tear it apart. Leaders face all kinds of criticism. Some criticism is valid. Leaders are not perfect. They have flaws.
Criticism can be constructive or destructive. People criticized Jesus. He was the perfect Son of God. He went around doing good, healing people, casting out demons, raising the dead and he was criticized.
Religious leaders criticized him. They said He ate with tax collectors and sinners. They said He broke the Sabbath. They said He broke the Law of Moses. They said He was a blasphemer.
They actually tried to catch him in a trap. They would come up with questions that were impossible to answer. They were harsh critics but Jesus had some criticisms of the Pharisees.
Just read Matthew 23. He called them all kinds of names. He called them fools. He called them snakes. He called them hypocrites. He called them blind guides. He called them children of Hell. He called them children of the devil. His criticisms were all true. They were hypocrites.
In Acts 11, Peter gets criticized. Last week, we looked at Acts 10. We said that it is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. Most Christians would not call Acts 10 one of the great chapters of the Bible.
It is in Acts 10 that we learn that the gospel is for everyone. It is not just for Jews. It is for Gentiles. The Holy Spirit fell on Gentiles, not on the chosen people but on wicked idol-worshipping Gentiles
The first Gentile convert takes place in Acts 10. Without that chapter we would not have any Gentiles in the church. That is the membership of most churches today.
Christianity is the largest religion in the world. Islam is second but Christianity is first. More people on the planet claim to be Christian. That is not to say that every professing Christian is saved.
It is the largest religion in the world. It is also the most ethnically diverse religion on earth and that is all because of Acts 10. In Acts 10, we have the first Gentile convert.
It was not the person we would expect. The first Gentile convert was not a wicked, depraved, immoral devil worshipper. He was not a mass murderer or a crack addict. Instead, the first Gentile who came to faith was moral and righteous before he got saved.
He was a good role model. He was a family man. He gave to the poor. He gave generously. He worshipped the one true God. He not only believed in God but prayed regularly but he was still unsaved. He had all of those traits, but good works don’t save. We saw that last week.
How the first Gentile got saved is rather interesting. He didn’t get saved because the apostles wanted to obey the Great Commission.
It didn’t happen because they had a heart for souls and wanted to spread the gospel to other people groups. In fact, it wasn’t Peter’s idea at all. It wasn’t the apostle’s idea. It was God’s idea.
God appeared to Cornelius. He sent an angel to him while he was at home. The angel told him who he needed to talk to hear the gospel but he needed to find Peter, who was in another city, to hear it. That is the job of people, not angels.
God used Peter to preach the gospel in Acts 2 to Jews on the Day of Pentecost, which led to the conversion of three thousand people in the city of Jerusalem. Now, he used him to preach the gospel to the first Gentile.
Peter goes to Caesarea, the political capital of the Roman province of Judea and leads not only Cornelius to Christ but a group of his family and friends all at the same time. The Spirit falls. They speak in tongues. They get baptized.
Peter Attacked
This is where it gets interesting, as we come to Acts 11. After this all took place, Peter went home. He went back to Jerusalem. He went back to his home church.
In fact, before Peter even got to Jerusalem, the church heard about what he had done. News traveled fast in those days and that was before cell phones, cars and the internet. When he got home, he got the shock of his life.
Peter obeyed God. He did the will of God. The Spirit fell. People got saved. New people groups got saved. He was all pumped up. He played a role in the conversion of the first Gentile.
Now, he goes home and gives a report of what just happened to his home church, but he wasn’t praised. He was criticized. He was called out on the carpet for what he did.
The apostles and the believers 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.” (Acts 11:1-3 NIV)
He did a good deed and was criticized by Christians. You would expect the world to criticize you, but these were Christians. Have you ever done a good deed and been criticized for it by fellow Christians.
Peter was criticized by “the circumcised believers” or the Jewish believers. Gentiles would not have had a problem with what Peter did but there weren’t any Gentiles in the Church of Jerusalem at this time.
Here we have Christians attacking other Christians. It is fairly common today. Often some believers are on fire. They are filled with the Spirit.
They do things for God or are used by God in some capacity and other Christians, for whatever reason, criticize them.
What did Peter do that was terrible? Why were they so upset? He went into the home of a Gentile. That sounds terrible. That was against the rules.
He preached to these Gentiles and when they believed in Jesus, he baptized them and accepted them into the church as Gentiles. That had never been done before.
Then, he stayed in the home of this Gentile for a week and ate with him. Horrors. He didn’t eat kosher. He probably had some bacon and eggs. He was introduced to some good Gentile food.
Peter’s Response
Today, we want to look at how Peter responded to this criticism? How would we have responded? What lessons can we learn from Peter’s response.
Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.
13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
Lessons for Today
1. Be Accountable
Peter was accountable. He was transparent. He did not hide what he did in Caesarea. He was open and honest about it.
We need to be accountable to others. We live in a day in which no one wants to be accountable. There are many Lone Ranger Christians. That is the whole reason for a local church.
We are accountable to God. The Bible says that one day each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. I will give an account. You will give an account to Jesus. The apostles will give an account. It will happen at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
We also need to be accountable to one another. Even apostles were accountable to others. They were accountable to their home church. Where does the Bible talk about accountability?
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:16).
That is something we do not do too much today. When was the last time, you confessed your sins to another believer?
One of the ways to overcome sin in your life and to overcome brokenness is not to do it alone but to be accountable, transparent and vulnerable to someone else.
It involves finding a close Christian friend, sharing intimate details of your life with that person, confessing your struggles, addictions and sins to that person, having them hold you accountable.
The purpose of confessing your sins to someone is not so they will look down on you but so that they will pray for you and you will be healed. It leads to healing and restoration.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17).
What does this tell us? It says several things. We need to be sharpened. We need other believers to sharpen us. If we stick to ourselves, we become like a dull, not sharp.
We need to choose the type of people who will sharpen us. One way they sharpen us is through accountability. Other ways they do it is through bible study, fellowship, prayer support, godly counsel, and mutual encouragement.
Listen to your leaders and submit to their authority, for they are on constant watch to protect your souls and someday they must give account. Give them reason to be joyful and not to regret their duty, for that will be of no good to you” (Hebrews 13:17 The Voice)
Hebrews 13:17 describes two kinds of accountability. There’s an accountability of leaders and an accountability of church members.
Leaders are accountable to Jesus for the sheep he has put under their care. Church members are accountable to their leaders. They are to submit to their authority. This is the accountability principle.
2. Be Humble
When Peter encountered criticism at his home church, he could have said, “Don’t ever question me. I was handpicked by Jesus to be one of his apostles. In fact, I am the chief apostle. I am the head of the church. I have the keys to the kingdom. I determine who gets in.” He didn’t say that.
Catholics believe Peter was the first bishop of Rome. They believe he was the first pope. The whole church is built on Peter but there is no sign that Peter is special in this passage. There is no sign that he is the pope.
He had to answer to the church for his actions. He was held to account like any other Christian would be and he did not claim to be infallible or have any special authority. This is the humility principle. Many verses in the Bible talk about humility.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12 NIV)
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3 NIV)
3. Be Calm
When Peter comes home and gets criticized, he does not get upset. He does not get angry. He does not lash out at his critics. He does not raise his voice. He does not leave the church.
That would be the modern American response. If the church does not meet your needs, just go to another church. There are times when it is right to leave a local church. Many leave for trivial reasons. They get their feelings hurt and they are gone.
What does he do? He just reports what happened. He sticks to the facts. He tells the story of what happened. Everyone else had only heard rumors of what happened.
They weren’t there. Peter was. Once he gives them all of the facts, they are completely silent. They have nothing to say. What does Peter say?
He tells the story of him praying, seeing a vision, meeting three visitors, going to Joppa, preaching and God pouring out his Spirit on Gentiles and the proof that he poured out His Spirit on them was that they spoke in tongues. That was the same thing that happened in Acts 2 when God poured out his Spirit on Jews.
Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. (Proverbs 29:11 NIV)
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 11:19 ESV)
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger (NIV)
4. Be focused on God
Peter did not focus on him but on God and what He did. What is the bottom line? Peter says, “This was not my idea. It was not my plan. It was God’s idea. I was against it. He did it. This was not planned by man but by God.”
Then Peter said something very important. He said, “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us … who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
How did he know that God gave them the same gift He gave the Jews? When the Spirit fell on the 120 Jews, they spoke in tongues. Now, when the Spirit falls on Gentiles, they also speak in tongues. Paul said, “ who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
Apparently, Christians can stand in God’s way. Many Christians do. Are you standing in God’s way. Is God is trying to do something, and you are fighting it. Are you quenching the Spirit? Notice how the passage ends.
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life. After Peter’s explanation, they went from criticism to praise.
