The Gospel and prejudice

Here are the discussion questions and some rough notes from last nights LightHouse:

“For most of us in the UK, it is not the ethnic prejudices of Peter that constrain our mission, but the prejudices of social class and race.”  What do you think? How might they show themselves?

As you think about church in the United Kingdom and at SDCC there are a number of groups seriously unrepresented in our churches, whole groups of people we struggle to reach; divorcees, single parents, teenagers, the non-middle class. Why is that? Are we prejudiced? I don’t mean in terms of refusing them entry or hating them but in the very way we do church, the way we share the gospel, the way we meet people. Are we unthinkingly prejudiced in practice if not in our thinking?

Acts 10 is a key chapter in the book of Acts and the history of the church. Were it not for Acts 10 then in all likelihood we wouldn’t be here tonight. It’s importance is reflected in the space which Luke gives to this incident and its results for the church and the world wide spread of the gospel. Acts 10 begins with Cornelius’ vision, then we see Peters’ vision, then Peter goes to visit Cornelius as a result of the vision, and then in 11:1-18 Peter recounts the vision he had to the church in Jerusalem and explains its implications, and it ends with the church rejoicing at the salvation of the Gentiles. From then on we see the mission to the Gentiles really take off. And then in Acts 15 in another key passage as regards the gospel and Gentiles we see Peter recount again this incident from Acts 10 what he learnt and its implications to the church.

This incident is vital for the spread of the gospel, it is also vital that we learn its lessons and think through its implications for us. Because it reminds us that the gospel is for all, that there is no one church culture which the gospel is for.

Why is this so vital? Because sometimes the majority church culture makes it hard for others from different cultures or social groups to hear the gospel and find welcome in church. It becomes a barrier to the gospel itself, and even worse tragically sometimes we assume that our cultural norms are gospel norms when they are not. But we will come to think more about that later. First of all we want to work out the principles we see in Acts 10.

God confronts our prejudices
You may have sat through all of that and been thinking but I am not prejudiced, this doesn’t apply to me, I can switch off, I know the gospel is for everyone. Imagine for a minute that we stepped back into Acts 10 and have a chat with Peter at breakfast before his vision. We ask him who the gospel is for? What do you think he would have said? It was for everyone. We ask him if he was prejudiced against the Gentiles? He would have replied no. If it was only for Jews? He would have said no. In fact I think Peter would have walked us through what he had seen and learnt. He was with Jesus when Jesus proclaimed the Centurion’s faith the greatest in Israel, when Jesus healed the Gentile lady because of her faith. He would tell us about the great commission to make disciples of all nations, and in Acts 1:8 to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

He would tell us about the mixed make up of the early church, he would talk about his visit to Samaria, that he was one of those who appointed Philip through whom, via the Ethiopian Eunuch, the gospel went to Africa. Peter would have thought just as we might be tempted to, and yet God still confronts him with his prejudice. Not a prejudice of thinking but of practice and culture which was a barrier to the spread of the gospel.

Before Cornelius can hear the gospel Peter must be changed because even as the men set out to find him, Peter as he is at breakfast would have refused to go with them because (28)”it is against our law for a Jew to associate with Gentiles or visit them.” Even though Cornelius is a devout God-fearing man he has not undergone the outward signs or full conversion to Judaism, so Peter would not have gone to see him or eat with him. The Jewish traditions of purity would have made Peter ritually unclean, and Cornelius would not have heard the gospel.

And so God confronts Peter with his prejudice in this vision. One of the things I love most about this chapter is its searing honesty about Peter’s stubborn clinging on to his traditions and comfort, how hard it was for God to change his thinking and yet God persevered by grace. This passage is just so realistic about how hard we find it to change our thoughts, cultural norms and expectations. God lets down a sheet with all sorts of unclean foods on and tells Peter (13)”Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Three times Peter refuses to eat because the food is not clean for a Jew to eat, three times God pronounces it clean “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” And still even after that as the sheet is taken up into heaven **what is Peter doing? (17)Wondering what the vision meant, and whilst he is thinking it through the men arrive from Cornelius(19), and the Holy Spirit tells Peter to “get up and go down stairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

Don’t you just love the grace of God that you see there; the loving gentle way he challenges Peter to get him thinking, the perfect timing of God, God’s gracious perseverance, and the gentle but blunt direction of the Spirit. God wants Peter to learn this fundamental lesson, to recognise the character of the God he worships because that will change his actions and attitudes.

God will not leave Peter in his prejudice because it affects his mission. In the same way God wants to confront our prejudices. Not just in terms of our thinking but in terms of our action, God confronts Peter and then sends him out, theology into practice.

The church is not to be a Jewish monoculture, it is not for converts to Judaism first. What are our assumptions about church culture? What are our prejudices? Do they limit our sharing about Jesus?

God is prejudice less so is his mission and so should his people be
We see that the penny has dropped for Peter (28)”But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for I came...” (34)I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

In one sense there are two conversions here, Cornelius and others are converted to faith in Jesus and Peter is converted to cross cultural mission. Peter realises who God is, and it is not that God is any different than he has ever been. You read the history of Israel and right from the outset with God's promises to Abraham the scope if bigger that just Israel and as God's plan progresses it is full of Gentiles being invited to join God’s people – Rahab, Ruth, and so on. And in Isaiah one of the big themes is that Israel was meant to attract the nations to worship God, it was never designed to be nationally exclusive. Think about Daniel in Babylon used by God to lead Nebuchadnezzar to trust in God. Job is not a Jew and yet knows God. Think about the prophets, Nahum is sent to Nineveh, just as Jonah is. And as an aside don’t you love the geographical link here between Peter and Jonah - both resistant to the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles and both in Joppa when God challenges their prejudice! But both come to learn that God’s grace is for all nations.

God reveals to Peter his character and love for all nations, it is not exclusive and therefore his people’s love is not to be exclusive. The Jerusalem church cannot be monoculture and after this realisation the spread of the gospel round the world accelerates. Understanding that God is prejudice less that his mission is prejudice less makes his people prejudice less.

God leads the church to get over its prejudice of culture so that it can take his gospel to all.

So what does this mean for us? Church in the UK, our church is overwhelmingly middle class. Now there is nothing wrong with that, but the question is are we willing to take the gospel to others? What is there in our assumptions, our church culture, which mean we limit practically who the gospel is for? Are there ways in which we preach what are cultural norms as gospel norms?

I want to suggest a few areas where our church culture may be a barrier to the gospel being for all:

Identity – for most of us our identity is linked to our education and achievements. For those from deprived area and working class areas identity is linked to appearance, dress and respect in community.

Community - For many of us our relationships are network based and are spread out. For those from working class cultures their networks are neighbourhood based. What does this mean for reaching them?

Attitude to learning - We have generally enjoyed learning and school. For others school has been a place of failure and learning has been hard or had little relevance.

Ability to access and be involved in church - We generally prize logic and clear dispassionate thinking. For those from working class backgrounds they value passion and concrete practical teaching.

Use of the home –we regularly use our homes and invite people in for meals and are comfortable with that. That is not the case for many in working class culture and may be a barrier, instead preferring social spaces. Think about LightHouse, Gospel Groups, is this an area we can flex in?

Perception problem – for many the problem is perception, they feel we judge them. Unless we work hard to overcome this and invest in getting to know them we will never overcome this barrier.

I could go on about cultural differences – attitudes to money, people, the future, love, time, family, language, authority and so on.

Whatever differences there are everyone needs the gospel and everyone can find in the gospel the hope of salvation. God is prejudice less, how can we not be.

1. What barriers are there in our church culture to people from differing backgrounds coming to SDCC?

2. How can we flex and bend to overcome that? What things must we not flex over?


3. How do we personally begin to overcome: a. Our prejudices b. the perception problem of others?