Rise! Kill! Eat! Live!

If you have attended Higher Things conferences how would you rate the food? Honestly, based on my past 12 years or so of HT conferences, I think the good meals have outnumbered the bad ones. But I’ve seen some things. And those bad meals really stick with you, in more ways than one. Some foods aren’t even identifiable. You go to bed after Compline so hungry that you wake up an hour later and it’s like Peter’s vision from Acts 10: “Rise. Kill and eat!” Watch out, roommate!!!

In Acts 10 we encounter Simon Peter in a place called Joppa, where he had raised Dorcas from the dead. Dorcas, also known as Tabitha, was a woman full of good works and acts of charity. Peter stayed in Joppa for a while and then journeyed on to Caesarea. As he neared the city, he was hungry. The veggie pizza was in the oven but not yet ready. And you know how when you’re hungry, you start dreaming about food? Maybe a juicy bacon cheeseburger! But Peter probably wasn’t thinking about bacon. He was a Jew. Some things the Lord considered clean and good for food, others not. No pork. No bacon. No ham. No ostrich burgers. No alligator on a stick. No frog legs. No candied grasshoppers. No crawfish for Louisiana born HT President, Pastor Borghardt!

Peter fell into a trance. He saw the heavens opened and a great sheet being let down, with all kinds of unclean animals—animals not fit for food, like reptiles and birds that peck on rotting flesh. “Rise! Kill! Eat!” said a voice. Yikes! But Peter reacts like a faithful Jew. “Never! I am NOT eating that stuff!” Come on, Peter. Rise! Kill! Eat! What’s the big deal? It’s true, some of the unclean foods just weren’t good for you. They were nasty critters you just wouldn’t want to put in your tummy, especially after you knew how they lived and what THEY put in their tummies.

But we really get to the heart of things in Leviticus 20. Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob redeemed His people from bondage in Egypt. He brought them to Himself to be His holy people. He was leading them to the promised land where He would dwell with them and they would represent Him before the Gentile nations. “You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine” (Leviticus 20:26). God desires to have His own people, set apart from all others. You see, holiness isn’t some moral quality that we muster up ourselves by our good works. God gave Israel His Law, which included all of His rules and statutes that would show that they were different from the Gentiles. They didn’t live the way the Gentiles lived or do the things the Gentiles did. Consequently, they didn’t eat the things the Gentiles ate. But obeying rules and abstaining from foods isn’t what made them holy. Holiness is received from God. That was the reason for all the Old Testament sacrifices, so that Israel could be in the presence of God and live.

Rise! Kill! Eat! Back to the vision. Three times Peter hears the voice telling him to eat. “What God has made clean, do not call common,” or unclean (Acts 10:15). Remember what Jesus Himself said? “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him” (Mark 7:15). God isn’t angry that you had lobster tail and baby back ribs last night. But He does know your heart, what truly defiles you: your thoughts—not of a juicy pork chop, but your sinful, adulterous, covetous, idolatrous thoughts and desires. It’s who you are, conceived and born in sin. For you it’s not “rise, kill, and eat,” that you’re thinking. It’s “rise, kill, and take. Give me what I want. Let me be me. Let me say what’s what for me. Let me be the god!” REPENT, lest God vomit you out!

God desires to have a holy people for Himself. He desires to have YOU— not to control you or boss you around, but to love and care for you. He wants to love and care for your neighbor through you. He created Adam and Eve for this very purpose. After they rebelled against Him in sin, He promised a Savior. Nothing will stop God from having His holy people for Himself. Rise! Kill! Eat! God rattled Peter’s cage. At first, he was confused, but suddenly it all became clear. God sent him to a God-fearing Gentile named Cornelius and what did Peter do? He preached Jesus.

God shows no partiality. He sent JESUS, who preached and healed. He wasn’t afraid of what was unclean or what defiles. Jesus went to those oppressed by the devil to declare them clean, whole, holy. He did more than that. He went to the cross, where your Lord Jesus confronted what truly defiles you: sin, death, and the devil. He took all that is unholy and unclean upon Himself: all your sins, your idolatry, your adultery, and your covetousness. He died. He rose. And now He declares you clean, holy, righteous in Him. Peter said, “To him all the prophets bear witness that EVERYONE who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). That means that through faith in Christ, your sins are forgiven.

So…RISE! Live in your Baptism every day! KILL! Put to death the Old Adam within through daily repentance and faith in Christ. EAT ! Feast on Jesus, God’s Holy Son. Eat His Body. Drink His Blood. Receive the forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, and salvation. Walk in God’s statutes and rules, not to make yourself holy or holier, but because in Christ, you are holy, set apart as His people. RISE! KILL! EAT! LIVE!

Rev. Fritsche serves as an LCMS missionary in the Dominican Republic and is the board secretary for Higher Things. His article is taken from his Higher Things Sanctified 2018 sermon based on Leviticus 20:22-26 and Acts 10:9-16, 34-48.