God Does not...

Good morning. It is good to be here this morning. When I was writing this mornings sermon title I kept trying to think of some catchy or perfect title that would keep you guessing what this mornings main idea is but I just couldn’t get around it and we needed to be straight to the point. God does not show Favoritism. We know this is true because scriptures teach us that but before we get to deep into that let’s talk about Favorites.

Favorites

Have you ever thought about that for a minute.

What are some of your favorite things in life?

The truth is that we all have Favorites of a lot of different things even if we don’t want to admit it.

Each day we choose different favorites and to be honest that is okay. Each day it may change to. Think about this for a moment. What is your favorite.

Food

Color

Outfit

Place to visit

Movie

Kid

Now I know you parents don’t have a favorite kid. I mean we love them all equally right? Right?!

If I am completely honest there are days I definitely have a favorite over the other. I an admit it. The real truth is it never stays that way for long though.

Favorites

Everyday we face the choice of showing favoritism though. It is a part of who we are as humans. That is okay though. However, we know that God does not do this when it comes to us. The Scriptures tell us so.

Romans 2:11 NIV

11 For God does not show favoritism.

How many of you growing up memorized this verse?

This was a popular one I remember from growing up. It is an easy one for kids to memorize. It is only 6 words and it is really an easy concept to teach.

Not only is it easy to teach but it is an important one. The idea that God does not show Favoritism is important for us as Christians.

If i am honest though I grew up with a bad understanding of what it meant.

The Struggle of Favoritism

Do we think God has Favorites?

That is a very real question that many of us struggle with. I know at many points in my life I struggled with this question.

I know now that I will probably struggle with it again some day down the road.

The problem with this questions lies in my understanding of what it Favoritism means.

For many of us favorites or favoritism means that God Blesses me more.

It means that all my needs are taken care of and my life is going how I think it should. If life isn’t moving in that direction than we think that God isn’t showing us favor.

This is the danger of comparison. We look around the world and we see others within the church or that we know are Christians and we can’t help but compare ourselves to them and wonder why our life isn’t like theirs.

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

The truth is Comparison is the thief of Joy.

This statement is true if your a Christian or not. However, the joy we speak of is the joy of our relationship with God.

When we start trying to compare what God has or hasn’t given us we inevitably steal the Joy we have in our relationship with Him. That is a difficult thing to live with if we are honest.

Our relationship with God should bring us Joy no matter how good or bad we might think we have it.

The Truth about Favoritism

The real problem is that when we read passages like this we are missing an important element.

The context of the passage is important.

Favoritism in this passage is not talking about the idea of what God has or hasn’t given me it deals directly with how we will be judged before God.

Romans 2:8–11 NIV

8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

The truth is that at the end of the day we will all stand before him and he doesn’t favor one person over the other. The truth teaches us that it doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian your whole life or just for a day, or if you were born into the right family or have the best heritage or lineage.

This is the source of a lot of hurt in the church. Many people have been hurt at one time or another because there are people who think that they are somehow highly favored because of their “station” in the church or the fact they grew up in church. The truth is those who have lived that way are no more special than anyone else in God’s Eyes.

What is most interesting about this is it isn’t a new problem. It dates back to the early church even. In fact, all the way to the Apostles.

Peter’s Problem

Peter had a lot of problems. Most of the time Peter was a pretty good guy but he was a very flawed man. One of the biggest areas that he was flawed was around his favoritism.

Peter would favor the Jewish people. Peter had certian expectations of how the church should look. His bias toward the Jewish people was very evident in the way that he treated Gentiles.

God recognized that and he did something amazing in his life.

Acts chapter 10 begins a long story about an important moment in Peter’s life. For the sake of time i am going to summarize some of it for you.

It begins with man named Cornelius. Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian regiment. He was a God fearing man. God sent him a vision to send for a man named Peter. Wanting to follow what God had told him to do he did just that.

Peter was staying at a friends house while all this was happening and one day he got hungry. Peter fell into a trance and God sent him a message. Before Peter there were all kinds of animals. God told him to get up kill and eat.

The problem for Peter was the animals in front of him were considered “unclean” according to Jewish customs. Peter has the audacity, as only Peter does, to say

“Surely Not Lord”

He told God no. Last I checked that isn’t usually a good idea.

God’s response was great.

“Do not call anything impure that God has made Clean”

Peter was a stubborn guy this conversation went like this not just once but three times. Peter woke from the vision and was thinking on it when some men started knocking on the door looking for him. The men Cornelius had sent had come. Peter agreed to come meet with him. It was then that Peter Discovered that Cornelius was a Gentile and the message became clear. This is where we pick up the scriptures.

Acts 10:34–43 NIV

34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter has what I like to call an Ah ha Moment.

Peter’s Ah Ha Moment

An Ah ha moment is that moment when you are trying to understand or figure something out and you finally solve it and go Ah ha!

The message that God was sharing with Peter in that vision i shared with you earlier finally clicks. Peter realized that He has to stop viewing the Gentiles as unclean and start seeing them as one of God’s creation who can and have been made clean by God.

He realized that the message that they had born witness too was for everyone not just certain people. Peter needed this moment to help him see how important it was to share the message with all people not just the ones he wanted to.

It also helped him see that just because someone was Jewish didn’t make them better than others. The key to faith in God was the idea that

“one who fears God and does what is right” is the most important thing.

The Hard Truth

Peter had to face a hard truth that day. He realized that he had some thinking in his life that needed to change. It took God giving him a vision three times and a series of events that are utterly amazing for it to get through Peters head.

It was this thought that led me to the hard truth that we sometimes need to hear.

Are we as hard headed as Peter?

Now I don’t think any of you would go so far as to think that God can’t change or clean anyone’s heart. I believe we all hold that to be true. However, I always wonder what in our lives is holding us back from bearing witness to what God has done in our lives.

Peter had seen Jesus. He had heard the message of Jesus and all that he had done. He could testify to it. Yet, he didn’t share it with everyone.

We have seen and heard the truth that God’s grace for us is so amazing that he sent his son to this earth to die on the cross for us. Yet, are we sharing it.

Eternal Consequences

Our actions whether we realize it or not has eternal consequences. If we don’t step out and act and bear witness to the grace of God those around us may not hear the word of the Gospel.

Now does this mean i expect us to all become overnight evangelists and covnert everyone we meet.

Yup! thats exactly what I expect.

No, Not really.

Did you know that you have an opportunity to make an difference though in someones life that could have eternal consequences.

In less than two weeks we are having our chili cook off. Did you know that this event could make the difference in someones life.

Faith starts somewhere for all of us. The truth is that it doesn’t often start here on a Sunday morning. It starts almost 100% of the time when someone gets invited. Especially invited to an event that is fun like the Chili cook off.

For the person who has never been to church or is struggling with church coming to an event like the chili cook off can be the gateway to feeling welcomed at church. IT is the starting point. It makes it easier to come to a Sunday morning, Night, or Wednesday night time.

Think about that for a moment. Someone you know right now might start or restart their faith walk with God Because you invited them to a Chili Cook off.

Now some of you may be like I can’t think of who to invite. Don’t worry i have an assingment for you. In fact this is for everyone. Start Praying.

Pray, and pray with fervently for the event and those who are going to attend it.

Do you know what that means?

Pray Fervently.

It means Pray with Passion, or with a burning desire.

It means your heart is so filled with a desire to see God move in this church that it should overwhelm you.

I have to tell you we need this more than ever. Not because we want to have a good event but because we want to see the Gospel spread through out all of the world.

To big of an idea for you. Think about that one person you want to see come to know Jesus. Who is that one person, that you just know needs him right now.

That they need to know that through him their life can be changed forwever. Pray like you mean it. Pray today, pray tomorrow, pray the next day. Pray multiple times in a day. Let us flood the heavens with prayer for our families, friends, and communities.

The truth is that God doesn’t play favorites when ti comes to Grace. Let’s share that than. Let’s bear witness to it. Let’s pray for God to work. Not just today but each day in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Let us Pray.