Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and "save as."
This coming Thursday, the Ascension of our Lord is on the church's calendar and we'll celebrate that next Sunday in worship. As He is about to ascend into heaven, Jesus gave His "great commission" to His disciples saying, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been give to me. Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS." How? "Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:18-20).
The part of the "great commission" that gave the apostles some trouble for a while was that bit about "all nations." It never dawned on them that "all nations" meant that they were actually to preach the gospel to everyone, regardless of race or nationality. They thought that God had elected just the Jews to salvation and so their task was to preach Christ to the Jews baptize them wherever they were in "all the nations."
But just when you think you've got your life all neatly organized and comfortably under control, along come some gentiles who've heard your sermon and actually believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and the only name given under heaven by which men must be saved. And they want to be baptized. Now what do you do?
Eventually, the apostles will work this out in a church council meeting in Jerusalem. Paul will be there and he'll have a lot to say about all of the gentiles who are confessing Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior and who want to be baptized. Philip will be there and he'll have something to add based on his encounter with the Ethiopian whom he met along the road and who believed and wanted baptism. And certainly Peter will be there. And he'll have a lot to say about this whole issue based on his experience with a man named Cornelius and his friends.
A little background here is not only in order but it's a great story. One day, an angel of the Lord appeared to a man named Cornelius, a gentile, and told him to send for a man named Peter who happened to be nearby. The angel didn't tell Cornelius why he was to do this or who Peter was, but Cornelius did what the angel told him to do and sent some men to fetch Peter. Simultaneously, Peter had a vision while he was praying in which he was told that it's okay to eat non-kosher food because God has made it all clean. And the Spirit tells Peter that some men are going to knock on his door and he should go with them. Peter's not told why or where or what he's to do.
And sure enough, three men knock on Peter's door saying, 'come with us.' And Peter says, 'I was expecting you.' And off they go to Cornelius' house. It makes you wonder doesn't it? How often do these "chance encounters" happen in our life and we chalk it up to 'pure coincidence.' But here, we get this little peak behind the veil and we see that this is not coincidence at all. Its God at work in His mysterious and wonderful way, "working all things for good," bringing Jesus to "all nations" and "all nations" to Jesus.
So, Peter finds himself in Cornelius' house and after they exchange their stories as to how this meeting came about, Cornelius says to Peter, "Now therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." (Acts 10:33). In other words, "we're anxious to hear what God has told you to say because He seems to want us to hear it."
And that's where the reading that we've heard already picks up. And how relieved we are to hear that "Peter opened his mouth." How sad it would have been had we read that Peter never opened his mouth because Cornelius was a gentile or Peter figured he would just never get it.
Likewise, how sad it is, when God does His work of arranging these 'coincidental' encounters with people who are ready to hear about Jesus, but we never 'open our mouth' because we just don't think they're God's type or conclude that they would never understand or believe. Peter calls it 'partiality.' I think you could call it 'prejudice' and it'd mean the same thing.
But "Peter opened his mouth and said, 'Truly I understand.'" That is, "Eureka, I get it. Now I understand what that vision was all about." "God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."
The Great Commission continues to be the mission statement of the Christian church. And God still shows no partiality. "All Nations" still means 'everyone.' Regardless of race, or nationality. And here's a new category that we need to come to grips with today that Peter and the apostles probably weren't faced with – regardless of 'sexual orientation.' Now that same sex marriage is the law of the land in Maine, how will we respond when, not if, but when, two married men or two married women attended worship here with us? Will we open our mouth and tell them about Jesus or will we make it clear to them that they're not welcome because there are just some people whom God is simply not interested in? Does "all nations" include them too?
This is a current issue that the text before us raises for our consideration and that needs to be addressed, because there's lots of confusion in the church over it. Some say, "God shows no partiality," and completely ignore that part about "anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Somehow, the fact that "God shows no partiality" complete does away with "doing what is right and acceptable to him."
On the other side, some zero in on the "anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him," and ignore the "God shows no partiality" part. He's very interested in saving murders, liars, cheats, gossips, slanderers, those who covet their neighbor's wife and possessions, and even heterosexual adulterers, but homosexual adulterers need not apply.
The truth is, God's whole Word. You can't chop His Word up and go with the half you like the best. God shows no partiality; He hates all sin without prejudice. Nor is He partial to one kind of sinner over another. He condemned all sin in His Son, Jesus. There are no sinners who are excluded from the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. So, all sinners need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, believe it, repent, receive full forgiveness and pardon and turn from their sins. As Jesus says, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)
So Peter preaches the "good news of peace through Jesus Christ," to these gentiles. He simply tells the story of Jesus. He was anointed by God at His baptism in the Jordan River. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. His countrymen judged Him to be a fake and a heretic and "put him to death by hanging Him on a tree." But God reversed their judgment and raised Him on the 3rd day. He appeared to those who were chosen to witness to Him. And He is coming again to judge the living and the dead.
All of this, Peter says, is exactly what the whole Old Testament says. Moses and his Torah and all Prophets all pointed to Jesus, divine Son of God, crucified for the sins of sinful mankind by becoming sinful mankind in our place. He was raised again for our justification and the final judge of the living and the dead. The good news that Peter preached was not new news. In fact, its old news that always breaking news and ready to be proclaimed and believed NOW.
The outcome and ultimate conclusion of the gospel of Jesus is Christ is this, "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." You can't summarize the gospel of Jesus Christ much better than that.
If you read the 10th chapter of Acts carefully, it's obvious Cornelius was a God-fearing man. He prayed, did good works and gave alms to the poor. But like many in his day and our own, his god was a generic god, without a face or name and certainly without "the forgiveness of sins through his name." Lots of people profess faith in god. But apart from Jesus Christ, it's always a generic god who acts just like we would expect a god to act toward sinners. "Pay what you owe! You get what you deserve." When Cornelius and his friends heard about the God who "forgives sins through faith in his name," I guarantee you this was a revolutionary and startling thing for them to hear.
I must confess, I don't know much about the Irish rock group U2. But recently, I came upon a transcript of an interview with the group's lead singer, Bono. It's remarkable and captures the startling nature of the gospel that Peter presented to Cornelius and friends. Let me share a brief snippet of it with you.
Michka Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that? Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that. Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics-in physical laws-every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff. Assayas: I'd be interested to hear about that. Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was to be my judge. I'd be in deep s-. ("Do-do." My words) It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity. Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that. Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled … It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.
I don't know much about his music but theologically, this guy really gets it. And he wasn't afraid to open his mouth when the opportunity came. And Cornelius and his friends really got it too. Peter didn't even get a chance to finish his sermon. The Holy Spirit fell on them just as it had on the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. The Jewish believers who were present "were shocked and amazed because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles."
And so right away, Peter does what Jesus had commissioned him to do. He baptizes them. Why? Not as some symbolic ritual done just because Jesus commanded it. But Jesus commanded it because this is the means which He has established by which men and women, boys and girls, even little infants, without partiality, are united to Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of all of our sins that He has won for us by His cross and resurrection. Baptism is not a magical act that saves us in and of itself. It saves us because it unites us to Jesus who saves us. Speaking about what God does in and through holy baptism, St. Paul says, "we have been united with him in a death like his, and we shall certainly be united with in a resurrection like his." (Rom.6:5).
Thanks be to the God. He shows no partiality. Let there be no doubt in your heart or mind or soul, that you have been united to Jesus Christ in your baptism. So, let us "fear him and do what is right is acceptable to him," confidently knowing that we have already received His verdict when He comes again to judge the living and the dead. "I forgive you all of your sins."