One in the Spirit: God Shows No Partiality
--Acts 10:34-48
On Sunday evening, January 27, 2002, Olympic gymnasts Mary Lou Retton-Kelley, Kerri Strug, and Bart Conner appeared on the Celebrity version of the TV Reality-Game Show “The Weakest Link,” along with five other famous Olympic athletes. [http://p208.ezboard.com/fccmchatfrm1.showMessage?
topicID=1657.topic]. Mary Lou won the Women’s All Round Gold Medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and Kerri Strug aced the Team All Round Gold Medal for the US at the 1996 Atlanta Games when she scored a 9.712 on her second vault after falling on her first one and badly spraining her ankle.
Kerri was “voted” off by her brother and sister athletes as “The Weakest Link” in one of the middle rounds that evening, and Mary Lou, Kerri’s inspiration to become a gymnast, also affirmed Kerri was “The Weakest Link.” That caused hostess Anne Robinson, known as “The Queen of Mean,” to comment, “Mary Lou, what about loyalty to someone very much like me?”
Even in the Church we tend to bond more quickly and easily with people that seem to be “just like us.” Notice how at our Lenten Services during the fellowship time members of each congregation in our Cluster will eat with friends from their own group rather than “mix and mingle” with people from our sister Churches.
Such tendencies are natural; we feel more comfortable with people we already know rather than being thrust into an uneasy position of making conversation with total strangers. However, oftentimes we miss out on blessings God wants to share with us because of our fear of marching into new and unfamiliar territory and making new sisters and brothers in Christ.
One regret that I have from my childhood is that I never became a Boy Scout. When our class at Marion’s McKinley Grade School reached the age the boys could become Cub Scouts and the girls Brownies, the girls had no trouble getting mothers to sponsor a Troupe, but we boys could not get anyone to serve as Den Mothers or any Dad to be our Troupe Leader.
My home Church Marion Aldersgate at the time did not sponsor a Cub Scout or Boy Scout Troupe, but First Methodist did. My Mother offered to take me to the meetings at First Methodist Church so I could have the Scouting experience, but I was too timid and shy to do so. I was scared to be in a group of boys I did not know. In Junior and Senior High School these fellows would become my classmates and friends, but I missed out on my opportunity to become a Scout, because I was afraid of venturing out to make new friends.
Soon after the Holy Spirit birthed the Church on the Day of Pentecost in Acts, Chapter Two, disciples of Jesus Christ began struggling with the problem of preferring to be in worship and ministry with people who are “a lot like us,” but they began to that our Lord Jesus shows no partiality; He plays no favorites; “He is no respecter of persons.”
This morning our Lord Jesus sets before us an open door of opportunity to enter into partnership ministry with our Illinois Great Rivers Conference Hispanic ministries as they begin a new mission outreach to our growing Hispanic community in Kankakee. Our open door of opportunity is not unlike the one He gave Peter in Acts 10 in calling him to minister in the home of the Roman Centurion Cornelius.
Cornelius, a Gentile, was not anything like Peter, a Jew. Jewish people, since the time of the Babylonian Captivity, have been the physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, or Jacob and Rachel through either the tribe of Judah or the tribe of Benjamin. Gentiles are all the other people of the world who are not Jewish. To the Jews Gentiles are foreigners. All of us are Gentiles.
It was never God’s plan for His chosen people to exclude the Gentiles or foreigners or ever treat them with contempt. Deuteronomy 10:17-19 makes it clear, “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Strangers is another term for Gentiles, all non Jewish people. The Jews were to love them as God loves them, because they too had been strangers or foreigners in Egypt.
There was one area in which the Jews were to be different than the Gentiles, especially those who had dwelt in the land of Canaan before God gave it to Israel as their homeland. They were not to practice the vile, erotic, sensual, idolatrous worship of the Gentile gods. Because both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah did so; God allowed Assyria to conquer Israel in 721 B. C. and Babylon to defeat Judah in 586 B. C.
The ten Northern Tribes never returned to the Promised Land. When God opened the door for Judah and Benjamin to do so, they had learned their lesson not to slip into the sin of idolatrous worship ever again. In order to guard against that possibility, many Jewish men who had married Gentile wives divorced them, and the Jewish community became more and more exclusive in their relationships with Gentile people. By the time Peter and Cornelius meet, Jews referred to the Gentiles as being “unclean” and often degraded them as “dogs.”
Samaritans, Greeks, and Romans, were all Gentiles to the Jews by New Testament times. Afraid that the their pagan worship and non kosher dietary habits may lead them once again into idolatrous worship, many Jews would not even enter the home of a Gentile. A Jew who would visit a Gentile family or fellowship with them would be severely ostracized by their fellow Jews or maybe even excommunicated from the synagogue.
Even though the Jews would often treat them with great contempt, many Gentiles were attracted to the Jewish worship of the One true, living God and the high moral standards of Judaism. Jews have always accepted Gentile converts into their faith and fellowship. Gentiles could convert to Judaism, but a complete conversion would require a public baptism by immersion, and, in the case of males, the rite of circumcision, a most painful procedure for adult men. They would also have to adapt the kosher diet of the Jewish faith as well.
Although some Gentiles fully converted to Judaism, others would worship with the Jews in their synagogues, pray to and worship I AM, the God of Israel, without taking the steps of baptism, circumcision, and kosher diet. Such people as these were called “God-fearers.” Cornelius and his household were devout God-fearers who worshiped the God of Israel.
As a God-fearer, Cornelius was a righteous man who gave generously to charity and prayed regularly. Already one who worshiped the Great I AM, His heart was primed to become a believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He simply needed someone to tell Him about Jesus.
Therefore, the Lord prepared Peter--a fervent, kosher Jew—to be His messenger for bringing Cornelius and his household to faith and trust in Jesus, but Peter wasn’t quite ready to go. What would his fellow Jews think; would they banish him from the synagogue forever? God softened Peter’s heart for ministry with Cornelius through a vision he shared with him three times. We read the account in Acts 10:10-13, “But while lunch was being prepared, (Peter) 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.’
“‘Never, Lord,’ Peter declared. ‘I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws.’
“The voice spoke again, ‘If God says something is acceptable, don’t say it isn’t.’”
Peter often was a stubborn disciple; God had to “hit him in the head three times with this vision” for him to get the point, but get it he did. As he began his sermon in Cornelius’ home, he could honestly testify, “I see very clearly that God doesn’t show partiality. In every nation He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right.” God’s Spirit fell upon all those Gentiles, they were filled with the Holy Spirit; they began to speak in tongues and praise God; and they were all baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. God changed Peter’s heart, enabling him to reach out in love and be the instrument to bring people “who were not just like him” into the Kingdom of God.
Today, we, the people of Trinity United Methodist Church, are Peter; our Hispanic sisters and brothers are Cornelius and his household. Their hearts are ready to follow Jesus, be filled with His Spirit, praise His Name, and grow as His disciples. They are not “just like us,” but “God doesn’t show partiality; He does not play favorites. In every nation He still accepts those who fear him and do what is right.”
Paul proclaims the same message a little bit differently in Galatians 3:27-28, “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like Him. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians—you are one in Christ Jesus.” Let me paraphrase that just a bit: “There is no longer black or white, Asian or Native American, European or Hispanic. For you are all Christians—you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Our Hispanic brothers and sisters in Kankakee are already meeting in homes each week to study God’s Word. They need a place where they can gather to praise His Name in celebration of worship on the Lord’s day. They want to use our Friendship Hall each Sunday afternoon for that purpose and be allowed a classroom as office space for storing their musical instruments.
I first met brother Hiram Gonzalez, pastor of our Hispanic ministry in Momence, in April 1999. He was a pilgrim on Little Egypt Walk to Emmaus Number 18, and I was an Assistant Spiritual Director on the Team that led his Walk. Hiram recently shared with me, “David, from the time I first met you on Walk #18, the Lord told me that someday we would be together as partners in ministry.” When Hiram shared that testimony with me early last month, it was the moment I felt closest to Jesus all that week.
I have also recently talked with Pastor Jim Ruberg. When the Momence Hispanic ministry began a few years ago, he was serving as the pastor of the Momence United Methodist Church. Jim was thrilled to learn that we were considering entering into partnership ministry with our Hispanic brothers and sisters. He told me that he has nothing but fond memories of the time the Hispanic Church began in Momence and used their facilities.
These are loving, good, hard working people who want to become a Church. They show their love and gratitude so genuinely whenever European United Methodist Christians reach out to them in sharing the love of Jesus. Whenever the Momence Church trustees would have a work day to improve their facilities, Jim told me that several of the Hispanics would come to help. Pastor Ruberg assures us of his love, support, and prayers, for just sharing together the possibilities we have here at Trinity enabled him to recall so many wonderful memories of what God began to do and is still doing with the Hispanic ministry in Momence.
God blessed Peter with another Pentecost, because He obeyed the Holy Spirit and shared Jesus with a Gentile man, his Gentile family, and his Gentile friends. Likewise, God wants to bless us at Trinity as we obey Him in partnership with our Hispanic sisters and brothers in 2007 in Kankakee.
I deeply regret that I never became a Boy Scout. Let’s not regret what we do here today by failing to enter God’s open door of opportunity for partnership ministry with our Hispanic brothers and sisters. Together by His Spirit let us advance the Kingdom of Jesus here in Kankakee. Black, white, Native American, Asian, European, Hispanic—We are one in the Spirit and one in our Lord, Who shows no partiality or favoritism.
Jesus says in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” These words of Jesus in 1966 inspired Peter Scholtes give us the text and music “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love”:
We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand,
We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand,
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will work with each other; we will work side by side,
We will work with each other; we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
[Peter Scholtes, “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.” Las Vegas: F. E. L.
Publications, Ltd., 1966.]
Beginning today, let us go forward under the direction of the Holy Spirit “hand in hand” to “work side by side” with our Hispanic sisters and brothers in ministry for Jesus Christ in Kankakee.
