The Sixth Sunday of Easter God Shows NO Partiality Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) Christ Jesus died for all people everywhere (including you and me). Christ Jesus rose from the dead for all people everywhere (including you and me). Christ’s death and resurrection make it possible for Peter to say in today’s First Reading, “God shows no partiality.”
You do not want to believe it, I do not want to believe it, and yet it is eternally true: “God shows no partiality.” With these Words, God the Holy Spirit requires and demands great faith from us. “Let God be true and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4, NIV) Let God be true and every experience a liar! Let God be true and every observation, ever deduction, and every other conclusion be made a liar! “God shows no partiality.” Dear Christian friends, If God Himself had not told us in His Bible that He “shows no partiality,” we would never believe it. Today’s First Reading from Acts 10 is not the only Bible passage that makes such a claim (See Acts 10:28 and Romans 3:29) but God’s Bible is the one and only place in the whole creation where you can even hear the message, “God shows no partiality.” Every other part of life—home and family life, work and business life, life under the civil governments, and even church life—EVERY other part of life will tell that God’s Words in today’s First Lesson are WRONG. Every other part of life actually preaches the opposite, that God indeed is partial to some people more than others. 1. Think about the relationships we have one with another. Most relationships suggest that God is in fact more partial to one person than He is to another—after all, God created these relationships! a. For example, God commands us to honor our father and our mother (Exodus 20:12). Not only does this commandment require us to believe that fathers are greater than sons, and mothers greater than daughters, but look at daily life! Fathers and mothers are held legally responsible for their children. Parents must nourish and provide for their children because the children cannot do these things for themselves. Yes, many parents make themselves low and spoil their greatness by sinning against their children and not serving the children as they ought. But human sin does not change the crown and the blessing and the greatness God Himself has given to one group (namely, parents) and not to the other group (that is, the children). In many ways, God certainly seems more partial parents than to children! b. In the same way that parents are greater than children—by God’s design and command—employers are greater than their employees and government leaders are greater than the citizens. After all, you cannot fire your boss and you cannot take command of the military. God has given these places and offices to others. c. Even church life suggests that God is partial because not every Christian is permitted to preach God’s Word or to administer His sacraments. Simple observation of our human relationships—relationships created by God—simple observation suggests that God is more partial to some people than others, entrusting more opportunity and responsibility to some than He does to others. 2. For more clear evidence in everyday life that God is indeed partial to some people more than other people, look inside your wallet or purse. “Every good gift… is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17), but more of those gifts seem to have fallen into your lap than into your neighbor’s. Or maybe it is the other way around: maybe you feel a little ripped-off or short-changed when you compare your situation to others around you. It certainly seems as though our heavenly Father indeed shows partiality and prefers some people more than others. 3. Then there are the personal struggles in life—struggles that we all face at some time or other. Yes, you know that other people have bad experiences similar to you. However, when you look at those other people, they do not seem as bad off as you feel. Why does God make it easier for them to carry their crosses, but harder for you? Why do other people seem happy and able to cope, while you do not? Why do other people’s crosses truly appear to be “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV), while your cross simply will not go away? A partial and preferential God is exactly what the evidence of daily life would lead us to conclude. Throw the evidence away. Curse the evidence on its way out the door. Defy and turn your back on the evidence. “Let God be true and every man a liar!” (Romans 3:4, NIV) Let God be true and every experience a liar! Let God be true and every observation, every deduction, and every other conclusion be made a liar! Grasp the Words of the Holy Spirit by the faith and trust that Holy Spirit has given to you through the Word. Believe NOT experience; believe what is written on the holy and miraculous page of God’s Bible: “God shows no partiality.” These Words contain eternal life! Beyond that, these Words will help you survive everyday life! Here are some of wonderful benefits that God gives and delivers to you through the Words, “God shows no partiality”: 1. The first and greatest benefit for you in these Words is the certainty of your forgiveness and eternal life. When Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world, even your sins were included and even you get forgiveness! The Words, “God shows no partiality,” now give you increased comfort and certainty that there is no way you will ever be excluded from God’s eternal life. No matter how many regrets you accumulate, no matter how spoiled your life seems to have become, no matter how low you feel, the Words “God shows no partiality” are for you. With these Words, God is falling over Himself to assure you and convince you that YOU PERSONALLY HAVE HIS FORIGIVENESS AND ETERNAL LIFE, no matter who you are or how you feel about your life. Jesus died for the forgiveness of all sins, and “God shows no partiality”! 2. The second benefit that God gives to you in these Words is similar to the first. When God says that He shows no partiality, He is telling you that your life in the church is completely unlike anything else in the world! Here, there are no great Christians and no small Christians. Here, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”(Galatians 3:28). Here, every Christian is the lord and the master whom Christ serves. It may be true that we raise the pastor up into a pulpit, but that is mostly so his voice can be heard in the back pew. It may be true that each of you is a servant of Christ—at least for six days a week—but here in the divine liturgy, Christ is the one who serves you. It may be true that Christ was exalted on high, above the entire creation, but that is exactly what God Himself has done also for you through the exalted Christ: God the Father has “raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). 3. The Words, “God shows no partiality” will also help you in your everyday life. In particular, these Words will give you a more patient attitude and a more enduring faith. For example: a. When you believe that “God shows no partiality,” then there is really no difference between loss and gain. Whether the Lord gives to you or whether the Lord takes away from you, both giving and taking away are equal expressions of His divine and merciful love toward you. That which God gives you is for your good. That which God takes away from you is for your good. Why? Because it is written, “God shows no partiality.” b. Think also of the great impact these Words can have on your everyday relationships. Yes, your mother and father are greater than you. When you believe that “God shows no partiality,” then you are able to see that those whom God has placed over you are actually your servants; they are the hands that feed you and the arms that defend you and the lips that speak comfort and peace to you. When you believe that “God shows no partiality,” those whom God has placed over you stop looking like burdens and scourges to you, and they start looking like good gifts “coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). “God shows no partiality.” These are Words that nobody wants to believe and Words that cannot be proven or demonstrated anywhere in our lives. That is why God the Spirit wrote these Words for us in today’s First Reading. With these Words, God the Holy Spirit requires and demands great faith from us. But God shows no partiality. The faith He requires and demands is also the faith that He Himself gives, so that “no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:9) and all might believe. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
