Peter’s Missionary Journey
Acts 9:32-43
July 29, 2012
Well tonight as we dive back into or study of the book of Acts
We come across a couple of accounts that are spectacular,
But at the same time somewhat easy to overlook.
We get to see a portion of Peter’s missionary journey.
Often times when we think of missionaries in Scripture
• We think of the first missionary; Philip.
• We think of the greatest missionary; Paul
• We think of Paul’s companions; Barnabas, Silas, Timothy
But most of the time when you think of missionaries
You don’t really think about Peter.
Peter was devoted to Jerusalem and there wasn’t a thing wrong with that,
But even though his primary calling was Jerusalem,
That didn’t exempt him from missions either.
And so tonight we’ll look at Peter on mission.
His missionary journey actually began back in chapter 8.
The persecution had begun and the church was scattered
And Philip found himself in Samaria with a large number of followers.
Acts 8:14-17 “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.”
And so you remember how his mission trip began.
It wasn’t purely evangelistic in purpose, it was more for
The encouragement of Samarian believers and the unifying of the church.
But Peter was sent and he responded by going and fulfilling his mission.
Following that account we read:
Acts 8:25 “So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”
So Peter’s short mission trip was initially intended
Just to travel north to Samaria, recognize the believers there
And then travel back to his home ministry in Jerusalem.
And obviously as he traveled back south he was taking opportunity
To preach to the other Samaritan villages on the way home.
(Incidentally that is when Philip was told to leave and find the Eunuch
And then was raptured away to Azotus and traveled on to Caesarea.)
But Peter is making the most of his travel back home.
And so this is what we would call a “Short-term Mission Trip”
It wasn’t a trip like Paul’s who was branching out
Seeking to preach Christ where He had never been named.
This was a trip with the initial intent of encouraging other believers,
But also taking every opportunity to reach the lost along the way.
I think we can identify with that type of mission.
That is really the only kind I have ever done.
Paul and Philip would have been more like the career missionary
Who travel far off and are gone for long periods of time, planting churches,
Pastoring them, helping them and then moving on to plant others.
Peter wasn’t a long-term missionary.
He was a short-term guy.
He had a home church…
He had a home ministry…
But that didn’t exempt him from participation in a short-term trip
To encourage believers and reach the lost.
So we find Peter’s Missionary Journey extremely interesting.
Aside from that we also know that God has been working
In the area while Peter is on this trip.
In case you don’t remember this region also had a tyrant
Who was determined to stomp out the church.
That tyrant was a man named Saul, but God had dealt with Saul.
While Peter was heading south to Jerusalem,
Saul was headed north to Damascus
(Probably why Peter was traveling down the western side of Israel
Instead of a straight shot)
But now Saul was changed and we read last week:
Acts 9:31 “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
And that means that the missionary effort just became much easier.
• The church was now at peace.
• The church was now encouraged and revitalized.
• The church was now back in full swing.
And so certainly Peter is able to minister now
With even less anxiety than before.
We call this “A Divine Opportunity”
The previous two weeks we have seen two “Divine Appointments”
And we learned that God is at work in ways we aren’t even aware,
And to a degree we simply must wait on Him to work
And for Him to show us where to join Him.
And so there is a very sovereign side of missions in which
We simply wait on God to show us where He is at work.
However, don’t take that to the extreme.
There are some who do,
And literally spend their entire life waiting for God to show them.
The problem is that this is only an excuse.
They wait for God to show them
While they keep their head buried in the sand.
“God just hasn’t sent me anywhere yet”
“I’m just haven’t been called to go anywhere”
May I remind you of a very important missionary passage in Scripture?
Isaiah 6:1-8 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
We are all familiar with the end of that passage,
But please recognize the events leading up to it.
Isaiah starts out in despair and somewhat self-centered.
• Uzziah had died and all Isaiah could see was an empty throne.
• Uzziah had been king for 52 years and for the most part a good king.
But once he died, the nation was stirred.
Isaiah actually entered the temple in despair,
And it was there that he saw God.
When he did, he also saw his sin and saw that he was a man of unclean lips and the people were also people of unclean lips.
This of course indicates a people of impure hearts since “out of the overflow the heart, the mouth speaks.”
Then Isaiah repented and his sin was atoned for.
And then comes a very important statement.
Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Notice: “Then I heard”
Not, “Then God said…”
It paints the picture that God had been speaking all along,
Isaiah had simply never heard Him,
Partly due to the impurity of his heart, partly due to the apathy of his life.
But once Isaiah made himself available and repented of his sin,
He finally heard that God had been calling all along
And he answered “Here am I. Send me!”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
• It means that just because you’ve never heard God calling you to go on mission, it doesn’t mean He hasn’t.
• It means that just because you’ve never seen your divine appointment, it doesn’t mean there hasn’t been one.
• It may be that you’ve been too distracted to notice or too deaf to hear.
I certainly can see times when that has been a problem in my life.
While God is sovereign and we wait and watch for Him at work,
That does not mean that we simply live our lives in complacency
And refuse to move until it is obviously clear.
No, a Christian is in tune to God’s leading and His Spirit,
BUT A CHRISTIAN IS ALSO EAGER.
Let me give you another example that we will get too in Acts later.
Acts 16:6-10 “They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
Was Paul yielding to the Spirit waiting for his divine appointment?
Yes.
But was he just sitting back doing nothing until it arrived?
No.
Listen to Paul in this letter:
Romans 15:22-25 “For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you; but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain — for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while — but now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints.”
Paul was dependent upon the leading of the Spirit and the power of God,
But he wasn’t sitting back doing nothing until it happened.
Paul was at work, seeking where God was at work.
He was going, looking for opportunities.
See, while we are convinced that God must be at work,
We also understand that God has also issued commands
That tell us to already be going.
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 10:7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘ The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Christians who merely sit back waiting for a divine opportunity
Generally never recognize them.
But Christians who are obedient to go, while remaining submissive to the Spirit’s leading are those who spot God at work.
So we are dependant, we just aren’t complacent.
Sometimes we have divine appointments
Where God blows us away with what He is doing.
Sometimes we have divine opportunities, like here,
Where the door is open, the opportunity is there,
And we simply go knowing the command to go has been given,
Trusting that we will find God at work while we are on the journey.
That is where Peter is.
He is going because the doorway of opportunity is open,
God will have to show him the rest as he goes.
And so Peter is on his short-term trip.
Now we won’t see the completion of the trip tonight, in chapter 10
Peter is actually going to get a bizarre command as God sends him back north to Caesarea to visit a Gentile named Cornelius.
But Peter is on his way home he comes to the city of Lydda, a city about 25 miles North West of Jerusalem and so Peter isn’t far from home.
And as we look at this short-term trip there are two main things I think we can learn from Peter about how to participate in a mission like this.
In our text tonight Peter hits two different cities.
#1 LYDDA: THE INENTIONAL MISSION
Acts 9:32-35
Now as we look at the mission that took place in this city let me break it down a little further and show you some of the aspects of Peter’s trip.
This will certainly help those who are about to travel to Sanyati,
But it also helps us all as we view participation in missions
Both here at home and future short-term trips.
1) PETER’S ACTIVITY (32a)
(32a) “Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions…”
And this is what we were talking about earlier.
Peter isn’t sitting back in his closet
Waiting for a vision to specifically tell him where to go.
If a specific leading from the Lord arises Peter will certainly obey,
But in the meantime he will obey the commands to go
That he has already been given.
Peter is active.
• He “was traveling”
• He is looking
• He is going.
And until God tells him otherwise
There are several cities in this region that he plans to take the gospel to.
That is what we do when we plan a short-term trip.
Because the command to go has already been issued,
We plan to go to a certain city and preach the gospel.
And we go.
Might God change our plans? Sure.
But until He does we plan to go.
Peter’s Activity
2) PETER’S APPROACH (32b-33)
(32b-33) “he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed.”
You will also notice Peter being very specific
And dedicated in his plan of ministry.
He came specifically “to the saints who lived at Lydda.”
This is not the church, these are not believers.
Presently in the book of Acts Christians are specifically called “disciples”.
“the saints” are Jews.
Peter’s plan was to go to a city and approach the Jews,
Probably in the synagogue to tell them that the Messiah has come.
(Just like he had been doing in Jerusalem)
But we also know that even in Jerusalem
Peter didn’t just approach Jews and start preaching.
Peter, because he was an apostle gifted with miraculous powers
Also used a catalyst to get his ministry started.
• At Pentecost he preached after the Spirit fell and all spoke in tongues.
• Later he preached after healing cripple at the temple.
So Peter knows how his ministry goes.
And his active plan is simple.
Approach the Jews and demonstrate the power of the resurrected Christ.
And that is precisely what he does.
“he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed.”
So you can see that Peter is very intentional.
This is mission just like he has planned.
No different than a plan to go to Sanyati, work on a roof and teach in the church.
It is a plan.
Peter’s Activity, Peter’s Approach
3) PETER’S ACKNOWLEDGMENT (34-35)
And I really like the way Peter said this.
“Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you;”
• Peter wasn’t trying to promote himself.
• Peter wasn’t trying to grow his ministry.
• Peter was trying to introduce Jesus in a way that the people in the crowd would not forget.
This was Peter’s way of getting the focus on Jesus
So that he could preach the gospel.
And you will notice that it worked.
“all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.”
“all” is a strong word, but it is the word none the less.
This determined intentional mission trip paid huge dividends.
These two towns were saved.
And that is Peter’s intentional mission and Lydda.
And as I said this is important.
We know God creates divine appointments that we were unaware of,
But that doesn’t mean we should just sit back and do nothing.
The command to “go” has already been given,
And so we should definitely get busy.
Lydda: The Intentional Mission
#2 JOPPA: THE FLEXIBLE MISSION
Acts 9:36-43
And this is again why we love God.
He just has the ability to blow our minds.
We know that Peter had a mission plan and he was fulfilling it
And God was doing great things through it.
But God was also doing something that Peter didn’t know about.
And here is what God was doing.
(36-37) “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room.”
Completely unbeknown to Peter, a devout believer in Joppa had died.
This woman named “Tabitha” in the Hebrew and “Dorcas” in the Greek.
(Like Saul and Paul)
Both mean “gazelle” by the way.
This woman who was a model woman, “abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did”
This woman “fell sick and died”
Peter knew nothing about this.
• This was like the Eunuch reading his bible apart from Philip knowing it.
• This was like Saul praying apart from Ananias knowing it.
Peter knew nothing about what was happening in Joppa.
But, the people in Joppa knew about what was happening in Lydda.
(38) “Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”
Now, we call this a change of plans.
WHY?
Acts 8:25 said Peter was making his way back to Jerusalem.
He is now 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem.
But Joppa is 10 miles northwest of Lydda.
In other words, Joppa is the wrong direction.
If Peter had plans of being back in Jerusalem at a certain time,
This church was interfering.
But let’s learn some more truths about Peter’s short-term mission.
We already saw that He was Active, we saw His Approach,
And we saw His Acknowledgment.
1) PETER’S AVAILABILITY (39)
We read, “So Peter arose and went with them.”
It really doesn’t sound like much to read that statement
Until we realize that it was opposite of what Peter had planned.
How well do you like it when someone asks you to do something that completely turns your plans upside down?
It was a big deal.
Peter was available for whatever God wanted to do.
“When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.”
It almost sounds like Peter interrupted a W.M.U. meeting.
These women are grieving the loss of “Dorcas”
But isn’t it amazing how available Peter was to them.
They asked, and he came.
2) PETER’S APPEAL (40-42)
And again we love the fact that Peter was not in this for show.
He was not trying to get any glory at all.
Peter sent them out and then he prayed.
He asked Jesus raise this woman.
See this is not part of Peter’s plan, he’s just flexible,
And so he is not presuming upon what Jesus wants to do.
Maybe Jesus wants to raise her, maybe not, Peter is praying.
He is flexible, he is seeking God’s will.
And apparently the Lord made it clear that he intended to raise this woman so after praying Peter said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.”
Christ raised her through Peter.
(41-42) “And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.”
There we see the same results as in Lydda.
One was an intentional mission, one was a flexible mission
BUT GOD USED BOTH.
And then we see one more interesting thing about Peter.
3) PETER’S ADAPTABILITY (43)
It is interesting that “Peter stayed many days in Joppa”,
It is clear that he is sensing God at work.
What is even more interesting is that he stayed
“with a tanner named Simon.”
Strange because being a tanner was not considered a classy profession.
They were always working on dead animals
And therefore occupationally unclean.
It was not a respected business,
But Peter is letting go of his prejudices.
• He has previously associated with Samarians.
• He is now staying with a tanner.
• Up next? – Peter is about to get sent to a Gentile.
See how God is working not only through Peter, but also in Peter.
This is the beauty of a short-term mission.
• We make a plan to serve God as He has commanded, trusting Him
to honor the gospel and save souls.
• We also remain flexible to follow God’s leading even when it is not
necessarily what we had planned so that we may follow God
and see Him save souls.
• And at the same time, through the entire trip we recognize that
God is not only using this trip to reach the lost, but He is also
using this trip work in our lives.
Sure God used Peter to encourage Samaritans
And eventually save Gentiles.
But God would also use this trip
To break down walls of prejudice in Peter
So that the he would become a powerful advocate
To unify the church in Jerusalem.
It is amazing how God works in and through His people.
And we see all of this in Peter’s Missionary Journey.
My encouragement to you is to follow Peter’s example.
• Be Active in obeying the Great Commission.
• Approach your missionary plans with eagerness.
• Acknowledge the power of Christ to glorify Him.
• Be Available if God desires to change your plans.
• Appeal to Jesus for what His will is in all situations.
• Adapt when God seeks to use what you see to change your life as well.
That is a short-term mission trip.
Matthew 10:7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘ The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
