No Hindrance to God’s Work
Sermon May 18, 2025 Acts 11:1-18
No Hindrance to God’s Work
Reverend Fred Okello
Over a billion people and more than 50 countries call Africa home. Yet, one of its biggest difficulties has always been oneness. Thousands of tribes and languages make collaboration and communication challenging.
But in East Africa, something amazing took place. Amidst conflict and displacement, refugees came to East Africa (specifically Kenya and Tanzania)—a tranquil region where one language, Swahili, became the common ground. Those refugees returned to their nations bearing Swahili when peace resumed. The language spread not by force but by fellowship.
The Swahili thing was deliberate. Once Tanzania’s founding father, Julius Nyerere, advised his countrymen to put aside tribalism and adopt Swahili as a unifying national language. He thought that only by using one language could a people really turn into one country.
Today, Tanzania is a shining example of harmony and peace—I know that personally as I lived there for seven years. Let us turn to the Word:
Preparing to rise into heaven, Jesus instructed His followers one last time, the instruction that would shape the church’s mission for all time. Acts 1:8 has Him stating, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” His words were unambiguous. The gospel was to go from home base to distant frontiers affecting all nations, all peoples.
Yet even with this obvious commissioning, the disciples, like many of us, struggled to transcend beyond what was known. Jesus made it obvious: all around, be my witnesses. Jesus’ mission was never supposed to be limited to one city, one people group, or one culture.
“You will be my witnesses,” He declared in Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world, not only in Jerusalem or among your own people.
Following Jesus involves being a witness—to spread the good news outside of boundaries, outside of prejudice, outside of comfort.
Acts 11:1–18 shows the apostles’ difficulty of following the commission. Peter comes back to Jerusalem after seeing something amazing: the Holy Spirit descending on Gentiles—outsiders, people once considered unclean. But rather than celebrating, the Christians in Jerusalem challenge him, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them?” V. 3.
Why this reaction? The early church found it difficult to release its limits even after Jesus’ order.
Did people misinterpret Jesus’ words? Were they reluctant to contact those different from them? Or did they just like remaining in the comfort of their own kind?
We are left to question whether they concealed Jesus’ commissioning under the curtain of fear and tradition: You know this belongs to us and we are not losing it to other people! They must follow our rules to be saved!
Peter’s reaction, however, is strong. He tells of his God-given vision—how nothing made clean by God should be termed impure. He tells how the Spirit descended on the Gentiles exactly as it did at Pentecost. His final thought? Who was I to believe I could impede God? Vs. 17.
We too also find it alluring to stay in our own “Jerusalem.” We remain among those who think, vote, and worship like us. We draw invisible lines separating “us” from “them.” We steer clear of what is inconvenient, unknown, or unpleasant.
Still, God reveals visions. He is still pushing His people. He still urges us to share the gospel with the nextdoor neighbor and the stranger across the world, across borders. We have to overcome our cultural prejudices and religious background. We have to believe that God is larger than our heritage.
The Spirit is moving; will we follow? The scripture today serves as a reminder that the gospel is for everyone. Who are we to stand in God’s way if He is moving among those we formerly dismissed or feared? Let us not be a people who, by our choices or biases, restrict God’s grace.