The sermon explicated the work of the Holy Spirit which does not discriminate, despite this fallen world.
Here is a summary of the sermon:
Due to recent racial tensions in the news, there is a need for us to look at the Bible and the Holy Spirit’s work in a similar situation. Today we’ll look at Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and how this event opened up a new history, bringing the Gospel to the world.
In Acts 11:1-10, we read see Peter describing his vision of unclean foods and God telling him not to call unclean what He has made clean. Why did Peter have a visceral reaction? He had been conditioned by generations of Jewish tradition which affected how his reacted on the inside. We too are conditioned externally through our intellect and senses which we put as primary in determining our reactions. This conditioning is prejudice, or pre-judging, causing us to discriminate. Indeed, the power of the mind is dividing and discriminating. However, is an individual simply the sum of their physical body and mind? We are not robots in Science Fiction where we can transfer our brain and body to a computer. We have an unseen, incalculable, yet still ontological spirit inside of us. Where can we find God? It is the spirit which we can find immediacy and union with God through love. The Spirit unites while the mind divides. We must not be people that live by intellect primarily, but instead by the spirit. We are all created in God’s image, given a spirit and the Holy Spirit is given to us all without discrimination and unites us. God has made our spirits clean by Jesus Christ, so we need to look to the spirit we all have and put that as primary, not our intellect.
In Acts 11:11-17, we see how Peter was able to live by the Holy Spirit, teaching us how to do the same. For Peter, a confluence of events happened both physically and spiritually that led him to baptizing the gentile Cornelius. Like Peter, our default stance should be open to the Holy Spirit’s work, not cutting it off by our intellect. In fact, the Holy Spirit works in many ways including our prayers, prophecy, Word of God, our intellect, peers, senior leaders, and family members. We tend to focus on one way and stop listening. But God works in many mysterious ways that we should not cut off, but listen and have an open heart to it all. Most importantly, we must understand that God has always been working in our lives, my past experiences, the joy and hurt, He is there and has brought us to the place I am now. We believe in the good God, so let’s entrust ourselves to Him and not the world.
In Acts 11:18 and in Peter sermon in Acts 10:34, we see that God does not show favoritism to all his children. Peter didn’t stand in the way and baptized Cornelius – we too, should not stand in the way of God’s work. The fact is God’s work is unique to everyone – He puts people in a unique starting point with a unique background, guiding us all uniquely for the purposes of His Kingdom. Who are we to pre-judge or judge what God is doing in someone else’s life, we cannot stand in the way. Some people misunderstand this, asking why does God allow some people born in a rich or poor family, good or bad environments? Honestly, the answer to this is endless trying to compare people’s circumstances, there is no solution to this type of equality. Karl Marx described man in a lowly way, ascribing man as a product of their economic and sociological conditions. Therefore, he tried to create a utopia based on an equality of economic and sociological conditions, which was an utter disaster. Money and social standing is a temporary thing, it can be a blessing if used correctly, but more often than not is a curse that brings us farther from God. Man is not his money and social standing, we have been given a beautiful image of God, our spirit. That is what we have been given equally and we have been given God’s unconditional love. Therefore, we may come from different backgrounds, skin color, ethnicities, and social status. But we don’t rely on the whims of man’s freewill, but on the Providence of God that He is good and He is guiding us all uniquely and individually. How can we build the Kingdom of God? It is not on the temporary things of the world, but on the absolutes of truth of God – Gospel, serving, self-sacrifice, humbles, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, the fruits of the spirit.
In fact, we all have an equal and open opportunity to work for God’s Kingdom and no matter who we are, we can serve God. We are all missionaries because we have been given the gift of Jesus Christ and that great gift must be given to all in the world.
