Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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.

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.