God is no respector of persons
1. A young lady once went into a Chinese restaurant in Chicago.
2. She told the waiter she wanted an order of chow mien and it was for “take out.”
3. She wanted a really good order because it was for a “mighty nice chap.”
4. The rest of the story, which I am not going to tell, goes on to offer an illustration of prejudice.
5. I spent some time looking for what a suitable sermon illustration of prejudice.
6. There are plenty of illustrations to use, but many of them are probably pretty offensive.
7. Examples of prejudice about, and most of them are pretty unpleasant.
8. God has a lot to say about prejudice, and one of the key passages on this point is Acts 10:34.
9. Here the apostle Peter learned a great truth. He said God is no “respector of persons.”
10. Paul affirmed this same truth in Rom. 2:11.
11. God sees people equally, and this is how He wants His people (Christians) to live.
12.
This is an
important part of the Christian life and it will certainly make
Christians distinctive people.
WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR WORLD WE SEE PREJUDICE AGAINST INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS NATIONS. WE FIND EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE BEING REJECTED BECAUSE OF WHERE THEY WERE BORN, WHO THEIR PARENTS ARE, WHERE THEY ATTENDED SCHOOL, THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, OR A DOZEN OTHER THINGS.
a) Our world likes to generate a lot of news about how different people are.
b) There are daily news stories about how a “black man” might be the next President.
c) Multiple stories were run about how a “woman” could have been the next President.
d) The media thrives on race related stories.
e) When people become Christians, differences such as race are of little importance.
f) This point is one that many have not learned or learned well.
2) If we listen to the news we hear references to “black clergymen.”
3) Recently with the media a lot of things were said about the “black church.”
a) News reporters may find that type of terminology helpful.
b) The New Testament never uses that type of language.
c) God does not have a “black church,” a “white church,” an “American church,” and a “Japanese church.”
d) There is one church; the church of Christ is one body, Eph. 4:4-5.
e) Jesus died for people—all people, not a specific race.
4) An inspired man in Acts 10 claimed God does not favor one race over another.
5) If this is all that the Bible said on this matter, that would be enough.
a) God has done much more than say He regards all people equally.
b) He has actually illustrated this point in several ways.
c) God says all men are equal because He has given only one law.
6) In Rom. 2:12 Paul said that under the Old Testament system there were some distinctions.
a) Some “had the law” and some “had not the law.”
b) Under the New Testament system, all men are accountable to the same law.
7) There are preachers who try to say that some parts of the New Testament do not apply to non-Christians.
8) Marriage and divorce is sometimes dealt with in this way.
9)
We have had
members of the church say that prior to becoming a Christian, marriages
do not count.
10) A person may divorce and remarry as often as they like, but after baptism, then marriage counts.
a) That type of teaching is difficult to reconcile with many New Testament verses.
b) In places like 1 Cor. 6 Paul said people had been guilty of “adultery.”
c) Since adultery is sexual sin for the married, what standard did these non-Christians violate?
d) What marriage law did they break? Was it man’s standard or God’s standard?
e) I argue that they violated God’s standard.
11) If you would like to engage in an interesting study, take out a concordance and do a single word search.
12) Check out the word “whosever” in the New Testament.
13) You should find that this term occurs about 60 times.
14) Time and time again God says “whosoever” (all people). The gospel is universal in scope.
15) God has just one law for all men until the end of time—the law expressed in the New Testament.
16) This law is called the “law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25) and the “law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).
17) This is the law Jesus said the whole world is to hear (Mk. 16:15-16).
18) Think, too, of Rom. 3:23 – “for all have sinned.”
19) Sin is a transgression of the law. What law have do people break as non-Christians? It is the law of God.
20) Paul said all who are old enough to know right from wrong break divine laws.
21) This is also why Heb. 2:9 says Jesus “tasted of death for every man.”
22) There is an old saying: “We are all in the same boat.” Many times that is true.
a) A group of people happen to have many things in common.
b) People may be in the same circumstance but they may not always be treated equally.
c) Two men may be charged with the exact same crime.
d) Because one man has power and influence, he is not prosecuted. The other is.
e) A male and a female may be both charged with the same crime.
f) One is let go and the other is punished because of gender.
g) Prejudice, discrimination, and a lack of equality…these things are all around us.
23) Acts 10:34 tells us that God does not act in any of these ways.
24) All are guilty of sin, and God is not going to show any type of favortim when dealing with sinners.
a) God is not going to let one person “get away with sin” and punish others.
b) This should be a very appealing fact to people.
c) It seems many overlook this little detail.
d) God treats everyone equally.
e) This is certainly true of a future judgment.
25) Some might like to think that only “bad people” will be judged.
26) What did Jesus say in Jn. 5:28-29?
27) A time will come when the Lord will raise every single person from the dead.
28) We may think of the dead as being long gone – Jesus said they are just a call away from a judgment day.
29) They still exist and waiting for the end of time when all will be judged by Him, 2 Cor. 5:10.
30) God will not be partial about the future judgment. It will be an experience for all people.
31) As Jesus said in Mt. 25, each person will be classified as a sheep or a goat.
32) Not only will all be judged, all will be subjected to the same standard on judgment day.
33) Jesus said (Jn. 12:48) that man will be judged by His word.
a) Many may not like that little piece of information, but I find it comforting.
b) In the world we often find that things are judged by conflicting standards.
c) God says there will be just one standard of judgment, and it will be used by one person.
d) There will be no partiality, no question about fairness, and no basis for any deviation.
e) It will be impossible for someone to claim they will be treated unfairly at the end of time.
f) A person will not be able to say, “He got what I should of have gotten, or I got too much.”
g) God has promised a perfectly fair standard of judgment.
34) Knowing this allows us to draw another conclusion.
35) If God requires me to believe in His Son for salvation, guess what this means for everyone else?
36) If God requires me to believe but says others are not required to do that, He is a respector of persons.
37) God cannot require me to repent and let others off the hook in that regard.
38) He cannot require confession from me and not require that of others.
39) If God requires from me baptism for the forgiveness of sins, that is required of all others.
40) There is no respect of persons with God.
a) Some are content with the idea that they were baptized at some point in the past.
b) They do not remember why or maybe even how, but they are satisfied.
c) Some folks will be shocked to realize that God says their baptism is not acceptable.
41) God has just one plan (“the faith,” Jude 3) and this single plan is to be used by all people.
42) If we have deviated from that plan, Peter warns us that God is not going to make an exception for us.
43) God will not and I would also say CANNOT show favoritism to any person.
44) We either obey the one plan He has given or we do not. There is no middle ground.
45) Based on all that has been said, we can see why the Bible says there is only one church.
a) Jesus said He would build only one church (Mt. 16:18).
b) Eph. 1:22-23 says the church is Christ’s “body” and Eph. 4:4-5 says there is only “one body.”
c) If the church is the body and there is only one body, there is only one church.
d) Eph. 2:14 says the one church is for “Jew and Gentile.”
e) For us, Jew and Gentile may not sound all that important.
46) What if we changed Jew and Gentile to “black and white”? Our society could understand that.
47) What if we said “Caucasians and Hispanics?”
48) What if we said “males and females?” Only one divine church for all interested in salvation.
49) That is what the New Testament authors affirm.
50) It may be difficult for us to envision a God who does not show any type of favoritism.
51) Being absolutely fair and just may seem nearly impossible in our world.
52) God says this is one of His qualities and it will be applied to us at the end of time.
53) Tonight we can look at our life in terms of this divine quality.
a) If God were perfectly just with us (and this justice includes His grace for Christians),
b) What would He say to us if the judgment occurred at 7 p.m. tonight?
c) Would He classify us as a sheep or a goat?
d) Would He say that we lived a faithful and committed Christian life?
54) We will one day stand before a perfect judge who has a perfect standard. What will He say about us?