Cornelius
[Acts 10:1-8]
Renowned talk show host Oprah Winfrey confesses that the woman she admires and considers her mentor is Barbara Walters, surpassing notable broadcasters like Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw, firmly holding the top spot in the salary rankings for television news hosts for decades. What makes her such a special presence? Anyone in front of her ends up revealing everything. Walters is the most 'comforting' news anchor in the United States. The essence of her excellence lies in trust, as Reverend John Maxwell puts it. People trust her when they interview with her, so they lay everything bare. I don't know why, but when you see the news anchor Barbara Walters, you're reminded of Goethe's words: 'Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being. Treat an individual as he is, and he will remain how he is' (Internet). Therefore, Reverend John Maxwell said in his book 'The Law of Trust': 'Remember the best moments: Mature people, when dealing with others, take their 'best moments' as the standard.' When we take the 'best moments' of others as our standard, we see the 'best moment' of Cornelius, an individual mentioned in today's Acts 10:1-8 passage. The author of Acts is talking about the 'best moment' of Cornelius, which became the cornerstone of Gentile evangelism in today's Acts 10. While meditating on Cornelius' 'best moment' today, I want to receive three lessons on what kind of Christian we should be.
First, Cornelius was a devout person.
Look at Acts 10:2 in today's passage: 'He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.' I once meditated on how to create a 'devout household' rather than a happy one, and I would like to reapply that word to 'devout Cornelius' today:
- A devout person reveres God.
Look at Acts 10:2 - "He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly." The fact that Cornelius, the head of the household, was devout and revered God with his whole family gives us a valuable lesson. That lesson is none other than that our male brothers, who are husbands and fathers in our homes, should take the lead in revering God. So, what does it mean to revere God? It means to hate evil. Look at Proverbs 8:13 - "To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech." The Bible tells us that God hates pride, arrogance, evil behavior, and perverse speech. Therefore, those who revere God must hate these things. If revering God means hating evil, conversely, it can be said that revering God is also loving what is good. Look at Romans 12:9 - "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." And we should not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Gal. 6:9).
- A devout person gives generously to those in need.
Look at Acts 10:2 - "... he gave generously to those in need ...." Cornelius and his household demonstrated true piety, revering God above and loving people below. In other words, true piety means that two things should be together like the front and back of a coin. The front of the coin is revering God, and the back is loving your neighbor. And a concrete aspect of loving your neighbor is giving to those in need. Caring for orphans and widows in their distress is true piety (Jam. 1:27). Cornelius, while revering God, also generously helped his fellow neighbors, which earned him praise from the Jewish community (Acts 10:22).
- A devout person always prays to God.
Look at Acts 10:2 - "... and prayed to God regularly." Cornelius followed the Jewish custom of prayer and prayed regularly. The Jewish custom of prayer was to pray twice a day (9:00 AM and 3:00 PM) or even three times (9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM). In other words, Cornelius had a disciplined prayer life. And what's amazing is that Cornelius' prayers and acts of charity were remembered before God. Look at verse 4: "... Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God." Here we see a connection between prayer life and giving. The connection between prayer and giving shows that when prayer is based on precedents, it becomes right prayer (Yoo).
Second, Cornelius was a person who encountered an angel in a vision.
Devout Cornelius, following his regular prayer routine, was praying around the ninth hour, which is approximately 3:00 PM by today's time, when he had an encounter with an angel of God in a vision (v. 3). At that moment, Cornelius, filled with fear, asked, 'What is it, Lord?' (v. 4). The angel responded, 'Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God' (v. 4). Here, we must learn an important principle of piety. It is that a saint's prayer must be accompanied by his deeds of charity in order for it to be presented before God (Park). In the end, having observed Cornelius' pious life, his life of prayer intertwined with acts of charity, God remembered and blessed Cornelius, commanding him in his vision to send men to the house of Simon the tanner and invite a man named Peter (vv. 5-6).
The lesson we learn here is that God is a God who draws near to the devout. Like devout Cornelius, who had a life of prayer combined with acts of charity, God draws near to such saints, desiring to bless them. Look at Deuteronomy 4:7 – “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” What is the problem then? The problem lies in offering prayers, yet not offering living prayers. In other words, the issue is that although prayers are being offered to God, the action of prayer is deficient. As a result, such prayers, being deficient in action, cannot manifest the power of prayer. Just as living faith is a faith with action, living prayer is a prayer with action, or a prayer that is put into practice. Think about the prayer and action of Jesus. In John 17, there is a prayer of Jesus for his disciples, and within that prayer, there is a plea for the protection of his disciples (vv. 11, 12). In this way, Jesus protected his disciples during his earthly ministry. For example, when his disciples encountered a storm at sea, Jesus calmed the storm, demonstrating his protection for them. Another lesson we should gain here is that when experiencing God's intervention, we should approach it with reverence. When devout Cornelius encountered an angel of God in his vision while praying, he 'stared at him in fear' (Acts 10:4). Likewise, when we experience God's intervention, we should approach it with fear, considering His holiness and majesty. Dr. Yoon-seon Park states: 'If the word of God, which is always present to us (the Bible), is received fittingly through the Holy Spirit, it will instill fear in us. However, for the most part, we are ignorant of this and do not fear it before the word of God due to our sinfulness' (Park). We should also experience God's intervention through His word. In other words, just as the Thessalonian saints received the word of God declared by Paul not as human words but as God's word, we too should receive the word of God through pastors, accepting it as the word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). When we do so, we can have a reverence for the word of God.
Third and last, Cornelius was an obedient person.
Look at Acts 10:7-8: “'When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.” Devout Cornelius, as soon as the angel departed, immediately obeyed the angel's command. He called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his soldiers, and after explaining to them everything that had happened during his encounter with the angel, he sent them to Joppa, where Peter was staying. Would this obedience have been easy for Cornelius? Certainly not, when considering it from a human perspective, obeying the command of an angel was not an easy task. The reason being, there was a significant cultural barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Clearly, Cornelius knew how the Jews viewed people like him, Gentiles. The Jews did not regard Gentiles as equals, so Cornelius could have easily disobeyed, given that he had ample reason to fear the Jews. However, devout Cornelius transcended cultural biases and immediately obeyed the angel's command. Therefore, he sent two servants and a devout soldier to Joppa, because he desired to hear the message that God would convey through Peter (v. 22).
The lesson we can draw here is that an obedient leader produces obedient followers. Cornelius, who was a centurion, demonstrated obedience to the angel's instructions, and we see his devout soldier obeying Cornelius' command in today's passage. Just as a child's obedience to their parents influences the child to obey them, an obedient person exerts the influence of piety on those around them. The insight gained from the Old Testament is the principle of thorough obedience. Nowhere is this more starkly demonstrated than when Abraham received the command to offer his son Isaac. God spoke, and Abraham obeyed. He did not devise emergency measures, nor did he offer conditions or excuses. Through a prolonged process of suffering, Abraham learned one profound truth about life, which was to obey the voice of the Lord. This 'holy obedience' is the conduit through which a simple life flows. Thorough obedience is only possible when we place our ultimate loyalty to God. The Ten Commandments begin with three concise warnings against idolatry, recognizing that anything higher than loyalty to God amounts to idolatry (Internet).
Today, we reflected on the finest moment of Cornelius. Indeed, what kind of Christians should we be? We should be devout Christians. We should be Christians who combine prayer with good deeds. We should be obedient Christians.
Imperfect, failing to balance prayer and good deeds, and committing sins of disobedience, I,
James Kim
(Praying with the hope that I may become true Christian)