Breaking Down Barriers:
Overcoming Prejudices

Pastor Meyer’s Sermon

 Sunday, April 29, 2007

Some of you who have been in my office may recognize this particular memento and it’s a very important memento to me, not only because it’s a baseball and I love baseball so much but also this reminds me that the things we picture in life don’t always end up that way.

When I was 12 years old, I went with my family down to Florida for a vacation and one morning we decided to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant so we were sitting around the table and we were eating. My dad nudges me on the shoulder and he says, “You see that man sitting all by himself over there in the corner? That’s Stan Musiel.” Now for those of you who don’t know who Stan Musiel, he is probably one of the best St. Louis Cardinal baseball players to ever have played the game. Growing up in St. Louis, I heard about Stan Musiel. We loved him so we called him Stan the Man. Not only that but he was well known for his left-handed batting stance. He also would play a harmonica for the crowd and he had kind of a folksy humor. Everyone in St. Louis loved him and I had just gotten done reading a book about the wonderful things he has done on the baseball field. And here I’m looking at a guy who’s old, who has bald spots on the top of his head. The hair he has left is white. And I’m thinking, “That’s the guy who hit three home runs in the first game and two home runs in a second game of a double header?” I looked at my dad and I said, “Dad, you’re crazy. That’s not Stan Musiel.” My dad says, “Well, let’s go over and meet him.”

So he gets me up and we walk over. “Mr. Musiel?” And he looks up and he says, “Yes?” “I’d like for you to meet my son.” And he says, “Well, I just finished my breakfast so I’m going to go up to the front desk. Do you want to come with me?” I said, “Sure.” That’s when he got a baseball and he signed it, “To Kendall. Best Wishes, Stan Musiel.”

Now it was hard for me to understand that this was Stan Musiel because he wasn’t what I had pictured. And, My Friends, I wonder if there have been things you believed or you have pictured something in a certain way, only to find out it was completely different. Maybe you’ve heard someone say or maybe you’ve even said yourself that you’ve always pictured God being in this particular way or acting in this way. But then you read through God’s word, you find out God is totally different. He’s nothing like you had pictured. Is it possible that something you have always believed about God but is actually not really true at all?

Well, today we’re going to see God is calling us to confront our ungodly prejudices that have become a part of our lives. Because sometimes we picture the way God works and who He loves and sometimes it doesn’t always fit the picture of who God is. We have our own ideas of what we expect of God and sometimes those ideas can be a barrier in our relationship with Him. And so we start to look at the world through our own eyes instead of looking at the world through the eyes of God and what He has revealed to us in His word.

And so I believe there are two different ways we can show our prejudices and the two men who are in our reading for this morning from Acts can give us a clue or give us an example of those two ways. The first person we meet is Cornelius. Now in our reading from this morning from Acts, he is just mentioned as the man who has received the message from the angel to go find Peter. But we find out in the chapter beforehand this man is actually Cornelius. Cornelius is a Roman centurion. Now Roman centurions are in charge of around 100 men but they’re also known as very noble people. And the bible picks up on this by talking about Cornelius and his family as being god-fearing and being devout. It even says Cornelius was donating money to the poor and he was praying regularly and it seems like Cornelius was a good guy.

But there was something missing. He wasn’t going to be going to heaven. And some of us may be saying, “Why? Why wouldn’t he be going to heaven? He seems like a good guy. He was a follower of the religion of the Jews. He prayed and he donated to the poor and he tried to live a good and clean life.” But in his mind, he pictured all of that as being the way to get to heaven. So you see, something was wrong. Something was missing in his heart and God knew it. And God sent an angel to him, an angel who said, “Seek out Peter.” That’s what Cornelius did. He found Peter and brought him back to his house and Peter started to tell him what is the true way to get to heaven, that something was missing in Cornelius’ heart, faith in Jesus Christ.

Cornelius had heard of Jesus, even had heard of how He died. But he did not realize that Jesus was his Savior. And Peter brings it all home for Cornelius in Acts 10. He says, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached and how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. And Peter goes on to talk about how Jesus had taken away his sin by dying on the cross and then three days later, rising again from the dead. Now I’m pretty sure this rocked Cornelius’ world because, you see, he finds out this God certainly wasn’t what he had pictured. He had certain prejudices. He had certain preconceived notions. He had always pictured being a good person, helping the poor, praying, that’s how you please God. That’s how you get into heaven. But then he finds out that this Jesus Christ with whom he had only heard a little bit about was actually his Savior, that this Jesus Christ had taken away all of his sins and God loves him and forgives him because of what Jesus had done for him. And he finds out that prayer and good works were not ways to get into heaven but they were ways to show thanks for what Jesus had done for him. You see, God changed Cornelius’ picture.

So I ask you can you relate with this Roman soldier? Have you found yourself saying, “I always thought I could get into heaven by being a good person. I pray once in a while. I come to church. I help out the needy. I try to live a good, clean life.” “Sure. I’ve heard of Jesus. I know I’m supposed to live a good life to try to emulate Jesus in my life but then you find out that’s not really the case at all, that’s not how it works. Through His word, God changes the way you think, the way you pictured things, and you find out that no matter how good you are, it’s just simply not good enough. You will never be able to earn God’s favor. Through His word, you find out even the nicest person in the world has his faults and still has his shortcomings. And because of those shortcomings, you can never be nice enough to earn your way into heaven. That’s what God tells us in His word.

But you see, that’s not the end of the picture. That’s not the final picture for us. Because then you find out about who Jesus Christ really is. You find out He is more than just an example of how we are to live as a good person. You find out He has done something for you, something you really need. You find out He has taken all of your faults and all of your shortcomings and all of your sins and has washed them away by dying on the cross. You find out Jesus has risen from the dead to prove to you God really loves you and He forgives you of all the mistakes you have made in your life. And you can stop trying to earn your way into heaven but to put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. And you hear these things and in your heart, you can say, “Yes, I know I am a sinner but I also know because of you, Jesus, I will go to heaven.”

So today we’re called to let go of these preconceived notions we have in our head, the prejudices we bring. Because God wants us to smash that barrier that prevents us from having that relationship with Him that He so much wants us to have, to picture God how He would have us picture Him.

But there is another kind of prejudice we need to deal with. We see in our reading there is someone else who needs to change his picture of God. And that’s Peter. Throughout this whole interaction with Cornelius, Peter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was in a house of a Gentile and God was converting the Gentile and the Holy Spirit was coming down on this Gentile just as it had with himself and with his Jewish brothers. Gentiles were considered to be outside of the community of believers. This went against everything Peter had learned throughout his life, that he had been brought up to believe and Peter had always pictured God as being an exclusive God, that God was for the Jews only. Gentiles were outsiders. Gentiles were second-class citizens. Here we see God helps Peter to let go of his prejudices, to picture God in a different way. We see it here in Acts 10. He said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and who do what is right.”

When we think about our own lives, who do we have in our lives who we think is outside of the community of believers? Who are the second-class citizens in our world? Could it be people who swear a lot? Could it be people who smoke? Could it be people who smell or people who complain or people who do strange things to their hair or maybe put strange objects in their noses and ears and tongue? Maybe it’s people whose main transportation is a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Maybe it’s uneducated people or that computer geek who was in your class. But now, like Peter, maybe you’re beginning to see God loved the Gentiles just as much as He loved the Jews. Maybe God loved that educated person just as much as He loved an uneducated person. Maybe God loved the folks who pierced their tongue just as much as those who wear neckties. Maybe God loves them as much as He loves us. When Peter sees, he sees with his own eyes God loves all people regardless of their nationality. You see, God is a God of all people, all people on this earth and not just a select few. And the whole idea just rocked Peter’s world. It changed the way he had pictured God throughout his life.

And boy, can we relate to Peter, can’t we? Sometimes we forget that no matter what a person’s nationality, no matter what a person’s social or economic situation, God wants every person on the face of this earth to come to faith in Jesus and to be saved. And sometimes it’s pretty hard for us to accept that God loves me but He also loves that dark-skinned child in Afghanistan, that God loves me but He loves that homeless person who’s muttering and stuttering and begging on the streets. God loves me but He also loves that person who has made too many mistakes in his life and is sitting there in jail. God is a God who loves all people and wants all people, no matter who they are, to believe in Jesus and be saved. He does not show favoritism. What an amazing and loving God we have.

God changes the way we think. He changes the way we picture things. And so this week, I encourage you to take some time out and pray to God. Have Him show you what relationships you may have in your life where you view these people as outside of God’s picture. And before this week is over, you may find yourself sending a card, picking up the phone, sending an e-mail because God is calling us to drop our prejudices we have and to remember that no matter who we are or where we are or how we feel, we are all in God’s picture. Amen.

Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church