Sitting in the dark shadows of my dimly light living room, I
began to weep for my hidden sin of judgement. Although not hidden from God, it
had been tucked ghostly, quietly, in the crevices of my thoughts. But God, in
his loving, just way, pried open my mind and heart to see how deeply I had
fallen into the pit of thinking such treacherous thoughts. It makes me tremble
just thinking of it now.
Dear friends, I have a feeling you may be able to relate to
my sin. I want to ask you the same (hard) questions that God used to shake open my spiritual eyes.
Who have you thought as “unworthy of God?”
Who have you considered “unclean”?
That morning I had been reading in the book of Acts. There
is a story in chapters 10 and 11 in which a man named Cornelius was given a
divine message by an angel. The Lord said, “Your
prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He
is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” Corenelius
obeyed and sent three men to find Peter. Just before the three men arrived at
the house where Peter was staying, Peter saw a vision. The Scripture says, “He saw heaven opened and something like a large
sheet being let down to earth by it’s four corners. It contained all kinds of
four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get
up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never
eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has
made clean.” This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was
taken back to heaven.”
It was right after that vision that the three men showed up
at the house and told Peter about how Corenelius sent for Peter to come back to
Joppa. Because God had told him to, Peter went. And when he got there he made a
statement that reveals something important about those times. “You are well aware that it is against our
law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I
should not call anyone impure or unclean.” Peter went on to share the
gospel with all the people that gathered and he saw God mightily at work in
these people. When he went back to Judea, his own people questioned Peter but
when he explained how God worked, the people couldn’t argue him. In fact, in
chapter 11 it says, “When they heard
this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted
repentance that leads to life.”
It was literally illegal for Peter, a Jew, to be associating
with those people. He could have said no. He could have chosen the safe route
and been driven by fear and judgement, but he was committed to really living
what he preached every day. I wonder how many of you, like me, have come up
with a list of people that you have rejected or judged or completely avoided
because of fear or judgement. It may not be illegal to spend time with that “sinful
woman” but you consider her a lost cause
so you avoid her. You wouldn’t be rejected by your friends for inviting the “needy
girl” to your party, but you’d rather not deal with her problems so you just
leave her out of the invite list. You may not lose social status for saying hello to the strangers at the mall who
are of “a different nationality”, but you are afraid to because the news tells
you things about their culture and religious beliefs that make you fear them.
Think of the sibling or parent or co-worker that just can’t seem to get out of
that gross sexual sin pattern despite
how much you’ve helped them. Do you think of them as “unclean?” Or maybe even “unworthy”
of hearing that they too are forgiven and pure and considered white as snow in the eyes of our
grace-filled God.
I don’t know what it might be for you. I don’t know what
person or people group might come to mind. But I do know that we are no
different now than the Jews were back then. We fall into the pit of judgement because
our world demands us to. Every day we are bombarded with reason to fear and
disassociate with those that are a threat to us in some way.
This is not Jesus’ way. There is no place setting or seat
for judgement at the table of Jesus Christ. All are welcome. All are loved. All
are made pure by the blood that was shed.
Skin color cannot separate us from the love of God.
Sin patterns cannot separate us from the love of God.
Social status cannot separate us from the love of God.
Ethnicity cannot separate us from the love of God.
Our level of neediness and brokenness cannot separate us
from the love of God.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
God, please hear our
heart’s cry out for forgiveness. We are a broken people living in a fallen
world and we have succumb to the lie that there are people that are less worthy
of your love. You came for all to know you. Forgive us for our ignorance.
Forgive us for desiring our own safety and reputation and comfort more than
desiring to love passionately and unbridled, as you love. Teach us to love deeper,
to pull back our own black veil of judgement and adopt your perfect love that
spreads to the ends of the earth. Show us where we’ve been replacing your gospel
for our own gospel. Lead us in really living out what we preach every day, like Peter did. Create in us a pure heart that reflects your own. In the
power of your holy, righteous name, Jesus Christ, Amen.
**************************************************************************
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love." Romans 8:38
No comments:
Post a Comment