This Week at Redeemer

I think it’s safe to say that most American Christians prefer a comfortable, familiar, and safe way of life. They want to belong to a church where they can easily relate and fit in. Most of their closest friends are people just like them. They live in similar neighborhoods and they drive similar cars. They probably listen to the same type of music and eat the same type of foods. Not that these things are wrong in and of themselves, but what if we see more than this in the pages of Scripture? What if we see radically different groups of people, with nothing in common apart from faith in Christ, fellowshipping with one another? There’s no doubt this interaction would be hard. There would be language barriers. Culture differences. Food distinctions. Yes, there would be many hurdles to overcome. But I submit to you that the church Jesus built was made to worship the God who shows no partiality, and should not be the culturally homogeneous organization in which we would feel comfortable.

Last week we saw God use separate visions to bring two men having little in common together for a purpose. An angel spoke to Cornelius in the first vision and instructed him to send for Peter. Thirty-five miles away and moments later Peter falls into a trance and sees a great sheet descending filled with all types of animals, reptiles, and birds. He recognizes the items in this sheet to be unclean. Things he confidently knew he was to abstain from. So imagine the confusion he felt when he hears, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” God had been at work in Peter for some time preparing to shatter his understanding of who’s acceptable to God. He had been living with a tanner and now he has seen an incredible vision and heads to the home of a Gentile centurion.

Have you ever considered the significance of being located near such crossroads as US 90A and the Sam Houston Toll Road? At Redeemer, we find ourselves with access to both the inner city and the suburbs, making possible interactions with diverse people groups not much different than what we find in our current study in Acts. Could God be up to something in this regard with Redeemer?

In this week’s sermon, I will be considering, “Barriers Shattered by the Gospel,” from Acts 10:23-43. As we continue on in the narrative we are going to see Peter understand more fully that God shows no partiality. It doesn’t matter what country you’re born in. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. It doesn’t matter what type of food you eat or what type of clothes you wear. Friends, when you look at different ethnicities of people what standard do you use? Do you write off certain people thinking God wouldn’t save those types of people? What standard do you use as you relate to others? Do you extend the same forgiveness to others that God gives to us? Do you extend the same unconditional love that God lavishes on us? I urge you to consider all the people you are around and whom God might have placed on your sheet and declared, “Clean!” Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ that makes seemingly impossible situations possible!