Easter is a special day for most people. It is a day we remember that Jesus died for us, on our behalf, but He didn't stay dead. He rose again - He is alive! Today we look at Peter and his message to a household of Gentiles. We'll see how simple the message is, but how important it is, too! Today’s message is on Acts 10:34-43. Click here to read now.
There is a story of a school teacher who was assigned to visit children in a large city hospital, the called her the hospital teacher – her job was to visit kids in the hospital and keep them from getting too far behind in their schoolwork. One day she received a phone call requesting that she visit a child. The teacher took the boy's name and room number, and was told by the boy’s teacher, "We're studying nouns and adverbs in class now. I'd be grateful if you could help him with his homework, so he doesn't fall behind the others." It wasn't until the teacher got outside the boy's room that she realized that it was in the hospital's burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy so horribly burned and in such great pain. She couldn't just turn around and walk out, so she stammered awkwardly, "I'm the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs." This poor boy was in so much pain that he barely responded. The young teacher stumbled through the English lesson, somewhat ashamed at having to put him through all this when he was in so much pain. The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before the teacher could finish her apologizing, the nurse interrupted her: "No, you don't understand. We've been very worried about him. But ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude changed. He's fighting back; he's responding to treatment. It's as if he has decided to live." The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher came. That all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears, he said: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy who was going to die." He figured if she was spending time with him, it must be that he was going to live. That gave him hope. And that hope transformed his whole countenance. As believers, we have hope, because of what happened on that first Easter Morning. The gospels of Jesus Christ are full of good news and promises. These must have sounded so good to the early believers. They filled them with hope. They gave them a new understanding of what God expects. At times these were difficult teachings. “Sell all you have and give to the poor.” “It’s easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.” Tough teachings, but he also explains that with man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. With God all things are possible. Peter sees that for himself yet again, in this passage this morning. To put this in the proper context and time frame, Peter had a vision the day before, of a sheet containing all kinds of unclean animals lowered down in front of him. He hears a voice from the Lord, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Peter objects, it was against the Jewish law for him to eat these animals, there is no way he was going to eat anything unclean. This vision is repeated three times, then the Lord tells him that three men are looking for him, and He urges Peter to go talk to them. The men are from the household of Cornelius, a Gentile, but a man who loved God. So Peter goes. On his way, the real meaning of the vision begins to sink in. See, this vision wasn’t just about unclean food, but maybe it was about other things that were unclean. To the Jews, Gentiles were considered unclean. You and I, would have been considered unclean. Peter realizes that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as the God of the Jews. That “God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Who they are and where they’re from isn’t important anymore. What is important is what they believe. If they love God and do what is right, God accepts them. He gives this Gentile household a short gospel message, and that’s basically what we heard in our reading this morning. God anointed Jesus at his baptism with John the Baptist. From there, Jesus went around doing good things, and healing those who the devil had his hands on. Jesus was then killed by hanging on a tree, crucified. Crucifixion was a form of death that was reserved for only the most heinous of people. People who died like this were considered to have a special curse on them. It was the ultimate humiliation to suffer this kind of death. But that’s the kind of death Jesus suffered. But that’s not the end of the story. Because God raised Him from the dead and He was seen by a lot of people. He wasn’t raised from the dead and taken directly to heaven, He stayed for a while, so that He would be seen. He appeared to those witnesses that God had pre-selected. People that would spread the news of this miracle. He ate and drank with them – He was real, He wasn’t a vision or a ghost of some kind. His body was a real, a physical body. He needed food and drink just like they did. Just as He did before. He instructed those people to spread the news; to witness to the people that He is the Son of God, the one that God appointed to judge all people. Even the prophets testify that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through the name of Christ. That was the message that Peter preached to this household. Did you notice how simply this message is. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a simple message. God created all that there is, and it was good. However, we the people, through disobedience to their creator, have become separated from God, we are no longer good. We suffer and die, we experience all kinds of evil and suffering, because of this disobedience. But God still loves us. And, though the only just penalty for our sin is death, God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, and crucified in Jerusalem, to die for us, on our behalf, paying the penalty for our sin. But the story doesn’t stop there. Because after Jesus died, He was raised from the dead, appeared before many people, and was then raised up to the heavens, where those who put their faith in Him will one day be lifted up to be with Him. It’s a simple message. It’s a message of love. Only a God that truly loves His creation, despite their sin, would come to earth and suffer and be persecuted, and endure such a painful and humiliating death, to pay a penalty that He didn’t owe. For a sin He didn’t commit. It’s a message of love. It’s a message of faith. Because He did this, the relationship between God and us, that was once destroyed by sin, can be restored. The penalty for our sin has been paid. Our sin is a terrible thing, and God won’t be with us if we continue in our sin. But if we accept that Jesus Christ died, and we believe that He did that for our sin, for us, then our relationship with God is restored. Our faith, that is given to us and developed in us through the Holy Spirit, through God himself working in our lives, is what will see us through. Everyone who believes in Him, who has this kind of faith, receives forgiveness of their sins through Jesus Christ by faith, it’s a message of faith. And it’s a message of hope. If we believe that God loves us, and that God doesn’t cause the evil that’s all around us, the message of the gospel gives us great hope. Because part of the message is the message of the resurrection. This isn’t all there is. It’s a message of hope. Dr. Paul Stuckey is pastor at Grace United Methodist Church in Dayton, Ohio. He once saw an ad in a Milwaukee newspaper's classified section. Big, bold letters advertised “Used Tombstone.” The ad read: “Used tombstone for sale. Real bargain to someone named 'Dingo'. For more information call...” The image of a used tombstone sounds a little weird. But think about it: a "used" tombstone means that its previous owner no longer has any need for it. Christ's resurrection gives us the same message: the tomb is empty! The stone that closed the grave is no longer needed! Jesus Christ is risen! He is alive! What gives us hope in all of this is that Jesus had victory over death. And He promised that He would come back for us. Just as Jesus had to die, we will most likely all have to die. But just as Jesus was resurrected, we too can be resurrected. We can be raised and taken to the heavens. We can spend eternity with Jesus. Hear the gospel message and believe it. Hear it and have faith in it. Hear it and have hope, because through him, we have forgiveness of our sins. Because he lives, we will live. I’m not perfect. I’m not even close. But Jesus loved me anyway. He loved me enough to die for me. And one day, he will come back for me. I know this because he says so in his word. I know this because he has given me that assurance; he has given me faith enough to believe it beyond any doubt. It’s hard to believe that anybody would love me that much. But Jesus did. Jesus loves you that much, too. And he died for you, too. In the days you have left, believe that he died for you, and live the rest of them for him!
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