Introduction
      Turning points are moments in time during which decisive change occurs.  Most historians point to D-Day as the turning point of WW2.  Sports enthusiasts point to Franko Harris' "Immaculate Reception" in 1974 as the turning point in the football fortunes of the Pittsburgh Steelers which led to four Super Bowls in the 70’s.  Political scientists point to the televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960 as the turning point in the presidential election.  The turning point in my dating relationship with Lorie was when I left her house in June of 1977 and drove down I-79 from Pittsburgh to Atlanta.  I could not see the road, I was crying so hard.  It was then that I realized I was in love with her.
      Turning points define our lives, and they can even change history.  This morning we come across a turning point in the life of the early church and the history of salvation, for in the conversion of Cornelius we find a significant and decisive change in the work of God in the world.  It was a time when the gospel was proclaimed to and embraced by the first Gentile convert ever. 
      In the course of our time this morning, I would like to concentrate our attention on three things in this passage: a devout soldier; a hesitant apostle; and a marvelous turning point.

I.  A Devout Soldier
      With the range of the Christian mission steadily broadening, the time had come for the gospel to cross the racial barrier that separated Jews from Gentiles.  Already the Good News of Jesus Christ had been taken to Samaria, a racially mixed group of people who were primarily Jews.  Philip was also used by God to share the gospel with the eunuch from Ethiopia.  But never had the good news of God's love been presented to numbers of people who were exclusively Gentiles, non-Jews altogether.  All of that was about to change in the 10th chapter of Acts.
      Caesarea was a city in the center of the coastal plain of Sharon in northern Palestine on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about 65 miles northwest of Jerusalem.  The city was named in honor of Augustus Caesar, the adopted heir of Julius Caesar.  Herod the Great made the harbor into a magnificent seaport, and he turned the city into a center of Roman culture.  He also established Caesarea as the capital of the province of Judea and built a palace there.
      A centurion named Cornelius was stationed in this city.  The name Cornelius was a common one in the Roman world.  You see, in 82 BC a man named Cornelius Sulla liberated 10,000 slaves, all of whom took their patron's name as they established themselves in Roman society.  This Cornelius was probably a descendent of one of the freedmen of Cornelius Sulla.
      The text tells us that he was a centurion in what is known as the Italian Regiment.  In the Roman military, a centurion was equivalent to a captain or company commander in our terminology today, and he commanded a group of about 100 soldiers. 
      Cornelius is described in our passage as being devout and God-fearing.  He was also known for his generosity to the poor and his life of prayer, and he was respected by all the Jewish people.  The term "God-fearer" was a technical term which described someone who had converted to Judaism in every way except one - they had not taken the final step of being circumcised.  There were many men who as adults were reluctant to take this final step of conversion to the Jewish faith for obvious reasons.  Having realized the spiritual bankruptcy of paganism, it appears that Cornelius sought to worship the one true God, whom the Jews called Yahweh.  He accepted the monotheism and ethical standards of the Jewish faith and attended synagogue services, but he had not become a full convert to Judaism, which required circumcision.      
      One day at about 3:00 in the afternoon, one of the stated times of prayer for the Jews, an angel of the Lord appeared to Cornelius in a vision and called him by name.  The angel said that God had taken note of Cornelius' life of faith, and He had a special job for him.  He went on to instruct Cornelius to send some men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who was also called Peter.  The centurion was accustomed to receiving and following orders, and so he sent two of his servants and one of his soldiers to do as the Lord commanded him.  Cornelius' response was immediate, and he instructed them to bring Peter back from Joppa.
      Why did God choose Cornelius to be the first Gentile convert?  What was there about him that caused the Lord to select him?  There are several things Luke mentions about the centurion that give us insight into the man and his character.  We are told that he was devout in his worship of God, and he was a person of prayer.  We are also told that he was generous in his gifts to the poor.  These things speak volumes about the man's character that had been cultivated over a lifetime.
      Gordon MacDonald has written[1] that character does not identify us by our physical appearance, our influence in the community, our education, or our wealth.  Character is not about the cars we drive, the achievements we ring up, or the charm and charisma we manifest.  Rather, character is who we are at the level of the soul, the hidden life within us when no one is watching, and how we are most likely to think and act both in the routines of day-to-day living as well as in life's toughest moments when adversity comes our way. 
      Have you ever wondered, "Why hasn't God ever spoken to me in a vision?  Why don't I see God show up in big ways in my life?"  Perhaps it is because you and I need to work on cultivating the character of Christ more fully in our lives.  God seems to reveal Himself to people who have trained their eyes to look for the fingerprints of God in the world and to listen for His voice when He speaks.  Each of us has room for improvement in this matter of character development, don't we?

II.  A Hesitant Apostle
      John Stott has written, "It is difficult for us to grasp the impassable gulf which existed in those days between Jews and Gentiles."[2]  Now, the Old Testament did not endorse or encourage such a divide.  On the contrary, the Old Testament affirmed that God had a unique purpose in choosing to bless the Jews, and the purpose was that they were to be a blessing to all the other families of the earth.  And so the psalmists and prophets foretold the day when God's Messiah would inherit the nations, the Lord's servant would be their light, all the nations would flow to the house of the Lord, and God would pour out His Spirit on all humankind.
      The tragedy was that Israel twisted the doctrine of election into one of favoritism, and they became filled with racial pride and hatred toward others.  They despised the Gentiles as "dogs", as they called them, and they developed traditions that kept them apart.  This was the entrenched prejudice which had to be overcome before Gentiles could be admitted into the Christian community, and the apostle Peter became God's chosen instrument to break down the barriers.
      At about noon the next day, even while Cornelius' men were approaching the city of Joppa, which was about 32 miles from Caesarea, Peter went up on the flat roof of the home of Simon the tanner where he was staying.  While lunch was being prepared, he was given his own extraordinary vision.  He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down by its four corners.  The sheet contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air.  It was a mixture of what were considered by Jewish people clean and unclean animals that was calculated to disgust any orthodox Jew.  You will recall that the dietary laws in the Old Testament prohibited any devout Jew from eating such things as pork, shellfish, and birds of prey like eagles.  In the vision a voice called out to Peter from heaven and said, "Get up, kill and eat" (Acts 10:13).  This happened three consecutive times. 
      The apostle was shocked and repulsed at the words, "Get up, kill and eat," and his response was, "Surely not, Lord.  I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."  Peter had always observed the basic dietary restrictions of Leviticus 11, and he was scandalized by the mixture of clean and unclean animals in the vision and that no distinction was made in the command to kill and eat. However, God used the repeated vision to reinforce the message and to overcome Peter's reluctance and repulsion.
      What is your response when God calls you to do something new in your life?  How do you react when the Lord pushes you out of your comfort zone, as He did Peter?  When God calls you to do something new for Him, are you reluctant like the apostle?  When the Lord told Peter in his vision to kill and eat, his response was, "Surely not!"  It is an emphatic statement in the original Greek language.  There were two other occasions when the apostle responded like this -- once when Peter rebuked Jesus for talking about the Lord's coming death in Matthew 16, and then again when Jesus washed the disciples' feet in John 13.  Peter appears to have been in the habit of telling the Lord the way things should be done in the kingdom!  How like you and me.
      God says, "I want you to forgive that person who hurt you and put the past behind you." 
      We respond, "Surely not, Lord!" 
      God says, "I want you to make time in your busy schedule to serve as a volunteer in some ministry and give yourself away in service to others." 
      We respond, "Surely not, Lord!" 
      God says, "I want you to step out in faith and trust me with your future and believe that I have a good plan for you and will show it to you in due time." 
      We respond, "Surely not, Lord!"
      Who leads, and who follows in your relationship with Christ?  This is, I believe, the major issue of discipleship -- the day-to-day yielding to the will of God and His direction for our lives, even when we are reluctant.  When God calls you to a task, what is your response?  Surely not, Lord!  Or are you open to His leading without hesitation? 

III.  A Marvelous Turning Point
      While Peter was thinking about the vision, Cornelius' men arrived and called out for him.  The Lord explained to Peter that he was to go with these men with the words, "Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."  It is interesting to note that the word that is translated "do not hesitate" can also mean "make no distinction."  Peter began to understand that although the vision challenged the basic distinction between clean and unclean foods, the Spirit related this in Peter's mind to the distinction between clean and unclean people, Jews and Gentiles. 
      The apostle went down and greeted his visitors.  When he learned of their mission and of Cornelius and his vision, Peter invited them to stay as his guests, even though they were Gentiles.  God was beginning to break down the barriers. 
      Racial hostility was a problem in the ancient world, and it is still a problem today.  Billy Graham has written on this issue with profound insight in an article which he wrote several years ago entitled, "Racism and the Evangelical Church."  Dr. Graham writes in the quote on the cover of your bulletin, "Racial and ethnic hostility is the foremost social problem facing our world today.  From the systematic horror of 'ethnic cleansing' in Bosnia [and Rwanda] to the random violence ravaging our inner cities, our world seems caught up in a tidal wave of racial and ethnic tension.  The hostility threatens the very foundations of modern society.
      "Racism -- in the world and in the church -- is one of the greatest barriers to world evangelization....  Racism is a sin precisely because it keeps us from obeying God's command to love our neighbor, and because it has its roots in pride and arrogance.  Christians who harbor racism in their attitudes or actions are not following their Lord at this point, for Christ came to bring reconciliation -- reconciliation between us and God, and reconciliation between each other.  He came to accept us as we are, whoever we are, 'from every tribe and language and people and nation' (Rev. 5:9)."[3]
      As Christians we should seek to be free of the sin of racism, not so that we can be politically correct, but so that the gospel might go forth.  When barriers of racism exist in the hearts of believers, we limit the message of the gospel, and we prevent others from hearing and excepting it.  For example, a Nigerian student by the name of Palmer Ofuoku tells about how he came to know Christ.  When his family sent him to a mission school in Nigeria, early on he was put off by the missionaries because of their attitudes which seemed prideful and superior.  But then a new missionary came to the school and changed Palmer's perspective.  The new missionary treated him with respect and kindness, as an equal.  Later he said, "This man built a bridge of friendship to me, and Jesus walked across it."[4]  Compare this with Ghandi, who on paper believed the truth of Christianity while studying in England.  However, when he arrived in South Africa, he found prejudice and oppression among Christians, and he rejected a belief in Christianity altogether.
      Philip Yancey[5] has reminded me that when I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1953, it was one year before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of integrated schools.  It was 11 years before a civil rights law forced restaurants and motels to serve all races.  And it was 12 years before Congress guaranteed minorities the right to vote.  Gas stations in those days had three labeled restrooms - White Women, White Men, and Colored.  Department stores had two drinking fountains - White and Colored.  On buses in Atlanta, workmen and maids sat dutifully in the rear section and were required by law to give up their seats if white riders wanted them.  We ate at different restaurants, we played in different parks, and we attended different schools.  Blacks also could not sit on the main floor of a movie theater; they had to sit in the balcony.
      My brothers and I questioned the system in which we grew up, and the overwhelming majority of us in the South welcomed the changes the civil rights movement brought about.  I remember when court-ordered bussing integrated my high school.  It was a great day, and I cherished the friendships I made with blacks in those years.
      It is easy to think that racism in America is a thing of the past or that it is restricted to places like the deep South or perhaps Rwanda.  However, let us not fool ourselves into thinking that way.  Here in Boulder, a man was recently arrested and charged with a racially motivated assault on Broadway.  Black athletes tell us of the way in which they feel out of place, and many times they feel that people in this town look at them with suspicion. 
      Just a couple of weeks ago, I was at a party at which a black couple I know was in attendance.  I talked with the husband at length about what it's like to be a black man in Boulder.  He told me story after story of the ways in which he has been made to feel like an outsider, and it broke my heart to see the loneliness in his eyes.  Then he said, "Peter, look around you.  The hosts of this party have been so kind to me over the years, and they are good friends.  But it looks like my wife and I are the only black friends they have.  I always feel a little strange." 
      As Christians, we need to unpack our baggage of racism in all its subtle forms.  We need to go beyond our comfort zones to live effectively for Christ, and we need to repent of our paternalism, pride, and prejudice.  The call to break down the barriers in our lives is the call that Peter heard nearly 2,000 years ago.  It is still the call that we need to follow in our day as well.  Christians must lead the way.

Conclusion
      I close with this.  Ruby Bridges was born in 1954 in Mississippi in a small cabin.  Her family moved to New Orleans four years later because her father lost his job picking crops.  The schools in New Orleans were still segregated at that time, although laws had already been passed making segregation illegal.
      In 1960, the year Ruby was to enter the first grade, she and four other African American girls were ordered to attend two different white elementary schools.  Only Ruby was sent to the William Frantz Public School.  On the first day of classes, crowds of angry white citizens gathered outside the school to protest.  President Eisenhower ordered federal marshals to accompany Ruby to and from school each day to protect her.  And each day she paused for a few moments before reaching the angry crowd to pray for them.  Once, having forgotten to do so beforehand, Ruby stopped in the midst of the crowd to pray.  She was the only child to attend school at the William Frantz Public School for much of that year.  All the white children were kept away by their parents.
      Harvard professor Robert Coles was curious about what went into the making of courageous children like Ruby Bridges, and he went down there to find out.  He talked to Ruby's mother and, in his book The Moral Life of Children,  he tells what she said: "There's a lot of people who talk about doing good, and a lot of people who argue about what's good and what's not good, but there are other folks who just put their lives on the line for what's right." 
      Billy Graham writes: "...No other force exists besides the church that can bring people together week after week and deal with their deepest hurts and suspicions.  Of all people, Christians should be the most active in reaching out to those of other races, instead of accepting the status quo of division and animosity.
      "The issues that face us are complex and enormous, and simply wishing they would go away will not solve them.  I do not pretend to know the full answer.  But let those of us who claim the name of Christ repent of our past failures and, relying on the Holy Spirit, demonstrate to a weary and frightened world that Christ indeed 'has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility... through the cross by which he put to death their hostility' (Eph. 2:14,15)."[6]  As usual, Billy's words are right on the money.  May we heed his call and that of Christ Himself to break down barriers. Amen.