Shocking News

By

Peter said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
- Acts 10:34-35 CEB –


When my brother and I were kids, our parents had us on a routine for each day of the week. For instance, on Sundays we would go to Sunday School, attend service, go to lunch, come home, take a nap, and then have some kind of family game or activity. We all enjoyed this routine because we all love naps.  So we were shocked one day when we got home from Sunday lunch and our parents saw us going to our rooms and said, “What are you doing!? Get back in the car!” We were very perplexed children as we rode into the city and parked next to the Fabulous Fox Theater for a musical in Atlanta. We were shocked and thrilled.

Peter received a shock from God in the book of Acts. Through dreams from God, Peter learned that the Gospel was not only for Jews, but for the non-Jews (called Gentiles) as well. In these verses Peter is teaching this new revelation to both Jews and Gentiles to help them also learn that Jesus is for everyone.  This was astonishing to Peter and everyone present because Jews at this time believed that Jesus was the Messiah for Jews, but not for the Gentiles. This news was far outside what they expected, and many were not thrilled about it at first.

This is probably old news to you: you may know Jesus loves everyone! But this was big news to Peter and the early Jewish Christians. The gospel of sacrifice and grace is already radical, and this made it even more shocking to those first century Jews and Christians. Look around you. We all look, act, and think a little different. As we celebrate the risen Christ through this season of Easter, realize that though we are different, we are all beloved by our Savior. All people are invited to put their faith in Jesus Christ: republicans and democrats, the upstanding citizen and the criminal, people of all races and from every country, students and teachers, sinners and saints. Together we are the beautiful, diverse body of Christ. Celebrate the incredible news that Jesus died and rose to save all kinds of people!

To Read More: Acts 10:1-11:18 and Genesis 1:26-27.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Light as a Feather

By
Image
 " And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them,  “If anyone would come after me, let him  deny himself and  take up his cross and follow me.  For  whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake  and the gospel's will save it.     For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?     For  what can a man give in return for his soul? " Mark 8:34-37   (ESV) There is a lot packed in these four verses from Mark. What stands out to me most through all this talk about losing or gaining our lives and our souls, is in verse 34 where we are told to “take up your cross”. This is an instruction I have heard many times through the church, but what does it mean to take up your cross? To me, taking up our cross is choosing to be a Christian everyday. The conscious effort to treat people a certain way, to rely on God, and to think about ...
Read more

When We Can’t Say Nothing at All

By
Image
  “ I said, ‘Mourn for me; I’m ruined! I’m a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips. Yet I’ve seen the king, the Lord of heavenly forces!’”  “Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, ‘Whom should I send, and who will go for us?’ I said, ‘I’m here; send me.’” - Isaiah 6:5 & 8 CEB - We don’t often use the phrase ‘unclean lips,’ but it doesn’t take much to think about what it could mean. In our society, we classify certain things as ‘dirty words’ or ‘dirty language.’ But I do not think cussing or talking about lewd subjects is the only ways our lips can be unclean. How often do we think about the implications of what we say? Sure we realize that we might not always say the best things. Instead of saying a loving or kind word we simple just say something OK. Sometimes we do not say anything at all and hope that is better than what we wanted to say. After all, there is the motherly proverb of “if you can’t say something nice, don...
Read more

Strength in Weakness

By Anonymous
Image
He said to me, "My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness." So I'll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ's power can rest on me. Therefore, I'm all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I'm weak, then I'm strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NRSV - In high school my youth pastor used the image of a clay jar with a candle inside to explain how we can find strength in weakness. If a clay jar is perfectly intact and closed with a lid, the light of the candle inside is hidden. From the outside no one is able to tell that the candle exists. However, when the clay jar is cracked and broken, the light of the candle shines through, revealing its existence. This is how we can find strength in weakness, thereby glorifying God. If humans were perfect, there would be no need to point to a savior. From the outside no one w...
Read more