Prayers: Memorial Offerings before GOD.

Judi Barrett

This week’s study is in Acts chapter 10, verses 1-8.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"

Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.

The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."

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. (NIV)

Cornelius was a gentile, a Roman soldier, stationed at Caesarea. He was the centurion of the Italian Regiment. He probably was a descendant of a former slave that had been freed in 82 B.C. by a man named Cornelius Sulla. Sulla freed 10,000 slaves and many of them took his name when they became freedmen. This Cornelius came up through the ranks to assume command of about 600 men. This is not an environment which promoted devout, GOD-fearing men and yet it was not a secret that Cornelius was such. He was not a Jew, he had not been raised in a Jewish home, yet Yahweh sent His angel to Cornelius to make arrangement for the gospel to be brought to Cornelius’ home BECAUSE he gave to the poor and prayed.

Cornelius :

V Was a religious man (not a proselyte because if he had been a proselyte, there would not have been a debate in Jerusalem later about Peter staying in his house)

V Was kind hearted toward the Jewish people that were under the Roman rule. (The Jews thought well of him.)

V Had adopted some Jewish religious practices related to prayer and giving to the poor.

V Recognized the messenger as being an angel sent from the GOD of the Jews.

GOD chose Cornelius for a specific reason. The angel told Cornelius that his prayer and giving to the needy had come up before GOD as a memorial offering. What an awesome statement. To think that giving to the poor and praying caused the angel to be sent to Cornelius. He must have had a heart of gold. A memorial offering (Lev 2) was the best part of the grain offering. The grain offering was the only bloodless offering and was to accompany the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the fellowship offering. The grain offering was eventually eaten by the priest except the finest part which was placed on the alter and offered to GOD. For GOD to accept the memorial offering symbolized GOD’S approval and acceptance of the people which had presented the offering. Therefore Cornelius’ prayers and works had gained the approval and blessing of Yahweh, GOD of the Jews. The needy were probably the Jews. The Jews were the oppressed, the down-trodden that lived under the heel of the Roman empire. (10:22)

Cornelius was to send for Peter. Why didn’t the angel just tell Cornelius whatever Peter was supposed to tell him? We do not know why but throughout the Bible we find that GOD prefers to spread His word through men who have free will.

Why didn’t GOD send His Holy Spirit to talk to Cornelius (We find a little later in this chapter that GOD did send His Holy Spirit to talk to Peter about going to Cornelius’ house.) Cornelius was not a Christian, he had not received GOD’S Holy Spirit like Peter had. GOD’S Holy Spirit indwelt Peter and spoke to him, GOD did not have to send it to Peter to tell him to go to Cornelius.

Cornelius did not have any trouble recognizing the messenger as an angel from Yahweh. The message was clear and concise. There was no doubt about GOD’S instruction to Cornelius.

Cornelius did not hesitate. The angel appeared about 3 in the afternoon, during a regular prayer time for Jews, and Cornelius had men on the road to Joppa before the day was done. Cornelius must have chosen his men carefully that were to go get Peter. He selected a devout soldier and two of his servants. The servants would have had no choice in going, but the soldier was being sent on a non-official mission. He is noted as being devout also and Cornelius put him into the service of the LORD.

The angel had been sent partially in response to Cornelius’ prayers. So what do you think that Cornelius was praying about? Since an angel was sent to instruct him to send for Peter and we know a little further down that Peter is going to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to Cornelius, I like to think that possibly Cornelius was praying for direction for his life, for leading in how to please GOD, for the truth of GOD’S Word to be revealed to him. I also believe that he possibly was praying for the needs that he saw around him. How would GOD have him meet those needs since the other part of the reason that the angel was sent to him was because of his giving to the needy.

The scripture also says that Cornelius gave generously to the needy. He was not a scrooge in giving to those that needed what he could provide. It did not say that he gave to their greeds, but to their need. I assume that he gave food to those that needed food, clothes to those that needed clothes, helped with shelter to those that needed shelter, and money to those that had money needs. I do not believe that he held back be it gentile or Jew.

Cornelius was not chosen because he went to church three times a week, because he sang in the choir, or because he taught Sunday School. (I know the institution of church was not established at that time for him to do those things in, but point made.) He was chosen because of his prayer life (Another point: he was praying at home.) and because he gave to the needy, not because he gave to the local church. I am not saying that you should not give to the local church either, (It depends upon what the church is doing with the money and I do believe that you have a responsibility to know where your offerings are being used.) I’m just saying that there are other ways of pleasing GOD. Peter had just been the instrument used by GOD to bring Tabitha back to life from death at Joppa. The virtue that is brought out about Tabitha is that she made clothes for the widows, again something good from GOD to one that was giving to the needy from what GOD had blessed them with.

Cornelius was chosen as the recipient for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be brought to the gentiles. Praise the LORD that he had been doing what he could to serve GOD even though he was not one of GOD’S chosen people (the Jews).

So what can we learn from this passage of scripture?

V GOD sees our works, he knows what and why we do it.

V It pleases Him when we give generously from a good heart to those in need.

V It pleases Him when we pray and seek His direction.

V GOD chooses ways to make His will known that may surprise us.

V GOD uses people to meet the needs of other people.

V GOD uses mankind to speak for Him many times.

V Possibly our prayers and giving in like manner as Cornelius did, may be a memorial offering before GOD.

V We can ask GOD to accept our giving and our praying as a memorial offering.

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