God’s Grace Collides With Culture

Sermon - God’s Grace Collides With Culture

Scripture: Acts 10:1-23 “In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said. Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.” As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa. The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.” But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.” So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?” They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.” So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.”

Introduction: After hearing a message about correcting injustice, a church member approached the pastor weeping, asking forgiveness and confessing that he hadn’t voted in favor of the black minister to be pastor of their church because of his own prejudice. “I really need you to forgive me. I don’t want the junk of prejudice and racism spilling over into my kid’s lives. I didn’t vote for you and I was wrong.” His tears of confession were met with the tears of forgiveness of the minister. A week later, the entire church rejoiced upon hearing the man’s testimony of how God had worked in his heart. Even Peter, a disciples of Jesus, and a chief leader in the early church, had to be corrected because of his ill-conceived notions about non-Jewish people.

In his autobiography the political and spiritual leader of India Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days, he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus, He could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church; and afterwards talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat & suggested that he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned.

He wrote: "If Christians have caste differences also, "I might as well remain a Hindu." That usher's prejudice not only betrayed Jesus; it robbed the Church of a great influential voice and even sadder than that, it turned away a person away from trusting Jesus Christ as Savior.

Sadly, prejudice is found all over the world, In South Africa it’s black & white; In Sri Lanka it is Tamil & Singhalese; In Northern Ireland it is Catholic & Protestant; In North India it is Muslim and Hindu; In Europe it often seems to be Britain verses the rest. Even in Britain they boast of four nationalities; English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. Then there is local prejudice you find in places like Cornwall or Yorkshire. Quote: "An unprejudiced mind is the rarest thing in the world" Unless you happen to be like the man who said: "I am not prejudiced, I hate everyone!" All of us if we are honest are prejudiced. And your prejudice may not be mine, And my prejudice may not be yours. But if we are honest, even as Christians we can at times still be very prejudiced.