Predjudice

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Prejudice illustration.

English Standard Version Chapter 10

10 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Great turning point in history of church.

What do we notice?

Cornelius was a centurion. Over 100 men. They were loyal, they were not reckless or over bold, but were steady and prudent, able when overwhelmed and hard pressed to stand fast and die at their posts. The make up of a man like Cornelius was courageous and loyal.

He was also a God-fearer Gentiles who were Jewish by faith. Could never be true Jews but would worship the Jewish God from the outside. They would go to synagogue but would not be able to worship in the temple.

Charitable. Very kind. Sought God and God made his heart charitable to others. He gave much away.

Man of Prayer. He prayed regularly and made himself available to God.

He sought out God Can I say that when one seeks God with all of their hearts that God finds them.

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV

29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

This is what this man is doing. Searching God out. Praying, really seeking God through prayer, through giving. God’s angel, his messenger visits and gives him a command. Very interesting this command. God says go and call for this guy Peter: Here’s the address. And that is it.

Notice that God isn’t telling Cornelius what is going to happen. Doesn’t tell him what Peter will say. He gives him what seems to be an incomplete command and really must leave Cornelius hanging on this point.

That is hard isn’t it? God doesn’t give Cornelius the whole story, He gives him what seems to be a partial message: Get Peter to your house. And so the Centurion does what the angel says.

Now this is a bigger deal than you might think. For us we think, “Okay, God says get this guy” fine.

But there is something you should know. Peter is a Jew and Cornelius is a Gentile, or a non-Jew and Jews and Gentiles don’t mix.

There was a huge prejudice that Jews would have against any non Jew

Understand the prejudice that existed here. And for good reason. God told the Jews to not associate with anyone other than Jews.

It wasn’t because the Jews were better, they weren’t. It wasn’t because of what they did because they didn’t really do anything to have God choose them. God just chose them and that was it.

But eventually, for the Jews, there was a feeling of pride and eventually exclusivity that was associated with being a JEW.

Nothing worse than a Gentile. Could not even walk on their ground (Shake the dust off your feet)

The Acts of the Apostles Peter Learns a Lesson (Acts 10:9–16)

Strict Jews believed that God had no use for the Gentiles. Sometimes they even went as far as saying that help must not be given to a Gentile woman in childbirth, because that would only bring another Gentile into the world. Peter had to unlearn that before Cornelius could be allowed in

That was kind of a hatred and that was deep seated in any Jew. So it was no guarantee that Peter (A Jew) would see this Cornelius.

The Message of Acts 2. Peter Is Sent for by Cornelius (10:1–8)

The principal subject of this chapter is not so much the conversion of Cornelius of the conversion of Peter.

Remember that Jesus tells the disciples to go to 1Judea-2Samaria and to 3all the ends of the earth.

2 Samaritans (half Jews) They were hated by the Jews too because they were half breeds. Not true Jewish people and finally the ends of the earth would be represented as Gentiles.

3 Gentiles.

So the men from Cornelius leave to find this Peter so that he could come and speak. While this is going on we cut to Peter who is hanging out on a rooftop praying.

Jews prayed religiously 3 times a day. Morning, Noon and Evening.

Acts 10:9–16 ESV

9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

The Acts of the Apostles Peter Learns a Lesson (Acts 10:9–16)

Strict Jews believed that God had no use for the Gentiles. Sometimes they even went as far as saying that help must not be given to a Gentile woman in childbirth, because that would only bring another Gentile into the world. Peter had to unlearn that before Cornelius could be allowed in

Peter is minding his own business. Praying to God the way he would do any other day. God gives him a vision. In that vision he sees this sheet with all the animals and birds and reptiles and God tells him to kill and eat.

The Message of Acts 2. Peter Is Sent for by Cornelius (10:1–8)

The principal subject of this chapter is not so much the conversion of Cornelius of the conversion of Peter.

Realize that there were very strict dietary laws for Jewish people. If you were a Jew there were foods that you just did not eat. People have tried to speculate as to why but the reality is that God said at the time that if you are a Jew, you can’t eat them so you don’t. This was a huge part of their lives.

If you were Jewish you couldn’t eat shrimp. If you were Jewish you couldn’t take part in a crab feast, or have lobster. If you were Jewish you couldn’t eat baby back ribs or bacon, or scrapple. Man, that is just tough to hear. Do I have any bacon lovers out there? Tough right? Again, people have tried to explain why those dietary laws were in place but look, sometimes God just makes the choices God makes and it doesn’t have to make sense to us.

Do you really need to approve the decision God makes about particular things?

And so the dietary laws were something as a Jew that you would have to adhere to. So naturally, Jews wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles, or even be around them because of that fact that they were ceremonially unclean simply by what they ate for breakfast.

So when this vision came to Peter you can understand why it was so strange for him to hear God say, Get up, Kill and eat. And Peter says,

I can’t do that. I have never eaten anything unclean. And God says to Peter, listen to this, very important

Acts 10:15 ESV

15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

God has made a proclamation. God has made a change! He has made these things clean, made them clean. He has restored. Bacon anyone? The dream happened three times which was a symbol that sealed the deal.

That word clean is interesting. It is the same word that is used when Jesus healed the lepers. He cleansed them. Made them clean. Same word.

Back to Peter we read that at the very moment this happens the men show up at the door of the house to ask for Peter.

I love this. Footnote principle: God had a plan in place that was already put into action even before Peter had that vision. Those men had been traveling the whole day. They were travelling blind. They didn’t know what was happening, they only know that they were supposed to call for Peter and had been traveling since the day before.

God shows up to Peter and freaks him out I am sure. And gives Peter a new freedom. Freedom to associate with the Gentiles.

There is freedom which Peter experiences. Freedom to associate with the Gentiles.

Because listen. This vision isn’t really as much about the dietary laws as it is about people. It is about the people God desires to save. It is about a whole group of people, everybody other than the Jews and God wants them to hear the gospel. God loves people so much that He goes after them.

Jesus’ death and resurrection have opened the door even for non Jews to be able to be with God.

But it isn’t about just hanging out with them. It’s not just about having the freedom to eat bacon and making new friends. It’s about people coming to Jesus. It’s about people who were previously not able to be in the kingdom of God.

There was a prejudice that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles and that prejudice would keep the Gentiles from the good news of Jesus.

I think there is a prejudice that still exists today for many Christians, not all of them.

Because I think that if you grew up all of your life as a Christian in church, with your Christian friends, with parents who only had Christian friends then it is very easy to have a prejudice against anyone that doesn’t share your world view.

For someone who became a Christian later in life, you find that many of those people are the evangelists. Those are the people that experienced life before Jesus and they want to bring everyone along.

For those who don’t remember what life without Jesus was like: Sometimes I think we get too comfortable living in our own little holy worlds. We enjoy our Christian relationships and that is fine, but sometimes we avoid the rest of the world so that we can be comfortable, enjoying the benefits of God.

While the rest of the world is dying we are sipping our cappuccino’s at the coffee shop and whispering about how great Jesus is.

My life, your life, our lives are more than about just us. Our lives, need to be about Jesus. This is what God desires. Not just for the Jews, not just for those who already know Him. God wants to be made known and he usually uses people to do that.

God told Cornelius to find Peter so that he could hear the gospel. And that is what happened.

God told Cornelius to find Peter so that he could hear the gospel. And that is what happened.

Peter gets to that house, he walks in and probably looks around. Maybe when he looks around he realizes that this house of Gentiles is very much the same as his house.

There are introductions. Cornelius tells Peter what God told him and then Peter tells the crowd about Jesus. While he was speaking, verse 44 says that the Holy Spirit fell on them all proving in a tangible way that the Gentiles belong in the Kingdom of God. Which I think most of us here should be thankful for.

Because for a very long time people like me and you had no access to the one true God because we weren’t Jewish.

And then God made the Gentiles clean, meaning that everyone has access to God the Father. Even though we didn’t deserve it, even though we are so sinful.

God thought we were special enough to seek us out simply because he loved us. And then he commands us to do the same.

1 John 4:19 ESV

19 We love because he first loved us.

The problem is that we like many others have this bias, this prejudice. Not a racism thing, nothing like that, or it could be but we have a bias that keeps us from being a blessing to others. We forget sometimes that this message about Jesus is for others to hear. So that others will come into the Kingdom. We were told that message by someone. Who are we sharing the message with?

The problem is that we

And how are we sharing that message? We can share the message of Christ in so many ways. One is by simply being a blessing to someone else.

Things/ people were considered unclean until God made them clean.

Being a blessing by sharing the good news.

Being a blessing by being a listening ear.

When God wanted to… when they were ready. Just like I don’t let my kids watch certain movies even though it isn’t something necessarily bad, they aren’t ready for it yet.

God has a plan and will create the opportunities for us to go.. we need to be willing to go. Peter had to step out into an unknown world.

The more and more I read in Scripture, especially here in see that our faith is so much more than us. It’s not about me, it’s not about you. You can say that for yourself, say “it’s not about me”.

It is about us glorifying God with our lives. Not what we can get from God but what we can give. And I’m not really talking about tithing, although it is important and God is clear that we should. But its more about giving our own lives. It’s about being available to be used by God to whomever God puts in our path.

I was working on this sermon and praying about it, and to be honest I am going through it and I was thinking that I don’t want to do another evangelism challenge. It seems that we always seem to come back to sharing our faith. I always seem to be talking about letting our light shine before men and I struggle because I am thinking; isn’t there something else to talk about? Isn’t there another challenge?

And then I think, NO! We have the words of life! We have the answer to the problem, we have the antidote to the poison. And his name is JESUS!

We can’t just surrender our lives to Jesus and sit back and relax knowing that our eternity is secured. It is, but there is more!

Matthew 5:16 ESV

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

And we cannot let our prejudices our differences, our own desires get in the way of sharing Jesus with people. We can’t avoid certain people if God has commanded us to go to them.

Jesus removed the barrier between Jew and Gentile, between clean and unclean once and for all and we cannot be this exclusive club that is closed off to new members. If it is a club, it’s not OUR club.

There is a need out there and the need is the Gospel.

The Acts of the Apostles Peter in the House of Cornelius (10:24–33)

the Gospel brings a universal remedy to solve a universal need

So Don’t let our preferences/ prejudices/differences/opinions get in the way of God’s Plan for people.

Look for those opportunities. Look for them.

Part of what it means to be a christian is to be a presence. To be a presence, and to be a help. Remember that our lives don’t belong to us. Really, our resources don’t belong to us.

We teach our kids to stay away from the bad kids. Who are the bad kids? There are bad kids everywhere, in every station in life. Just because someone is like you doesn’t make them good.

We all have these prejudices. Whether it be a color thing, whether it be an age thing. Some people don’t like old people, some old people don’t like young people. But sharing the good news of Jesus is for everybody. Don’t let your bias keep you from sharing God’s love with others.

And remember, sharing the good news doesn’t always have to be handing someone a track or memorizing the 4 laws but sometimes it’s about just being a blessing to someone. Sometimes just being a blessing is the open door that will someday allow you to share your faith with others.

God has a plan for his people, don’t let your preferences, your prejudices get in the way of that.

The bible talks a LOT about giving, giving financially, but also with your time and your resources, even friendship.

Proverbs 11:24 ESV

24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

It’s a principle. Those in Christ are to be giving to others.

Philippians 2:4 ESV

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Part of what it means to be a christian is to be a presence. To be a presence, and to be a help. Remember that our lives don’t belong to us. Really, our resources don’t belong to us.

But unfortunately, too many times we don’t want to miss out on our time, we don’t want to take away from our plans, our futures.

What does it mean to be a blessing and to be giving? To be a helping hand? The great thing about that is that there really isn’t a right or a wrong answer. Anytime we give of ourselves to others we are being a blessing to others which is a characteristic of being in Christ.

We can be a blessing in lots of different ways:

Financially: We can bless others as God blesses us. When God blesses us we have the opportunity to bless others. I have heard lots of people say that they get so much joy out of giving and God will in turn continue to bless them.... so that they can continue to bless others.

With gifts and resources.

As a church we have the wonderful opportunity to make a difference at Deep Roots, the homeless shelter just up the road here in Earleville, Maryland. There are up to 14 families that are living together in a safe place with meals to eat, getting an education in a Christ centered environment due to the financial gifts they receive.

As a church we support this ministry and we support them through your gifts, your canned foods, your gifts that you bring in. It’s a really big deal. And you probably don’t even realize all the good that is going on there at that place but your support is part of it. And I love when there is this stray bag of stuff over in the fellowship area that someone has anonymously.

But it is more than that. How about trying to make friends with someone who needs Jesus? How about spending some time with a neighbor and at the very least invite them to church so that inadvertently they know what you believe.

Don’t let our preconceived notions rob people of the blessings that the good news of Jesus has for them.

Don’t let our preconceived notions rob people of the blessings that the good news of Jesus has for them.

God wanted the whole world to have access to Him and He is using those who belong to Him to get that message out. One friendship at a time, one conversation about Jesus at a time. One need met at a time by those who claim to follow him.

The Message of Acts 2. Peter Is Sent for by Cornelius (10:1–8)

The principal subject of this chapter is not so much the conversion of Cornelius of the conversion of Peter.

Cornelius was seeking God, Peter was taught that there was no one who isn’t qualified to hear the news of Jesus Christ.