What is it, Lord?

I think we’d all agree that we often pre-judge people. We see them and make a judgment or decision on how we’re going to treat them based on what we see. We may do it on the basis of what they’re wearing, their hair style, mannerisms, job, body shape or height, car they drive, age, skin colour, head covering, sexual orientation, and more. While we may be quick to say, “Yes, I can pre-judge,” it would be fair to say that we’d have a harder time agreeing that we’re “prejudice,” but it is, in essence, the same; to pre-judge is to be prejudice. So, what are we going to do about it?

In the context of rich and poor being treated differently in the church, James wrote, “Show no partiality.” There’s no room for prejudice among believers. And that was the lesson God intended Peter to learn for the benefit of all in Acts 10. A voice from heaven said to him, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” The vision he was seeing was about food, but the lesson was about people. Gentiles to be exact. God was breaking down a racial barrier that had existed for centuries. What becomes obvious for the reader today is that the church must be different from anything else we see in the world with respect to race and a host of other flashpoints for prejudice.

As we look at Acts 10 over the next two weeks, we’ll see how God breaks down “the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14) and leads his church to be the safest place on earth; a place and a people who are free of prejudice of any kind.

Sermon Notes

Series: The Book of Acts
Message: What is it, Lord?
Pastor Todd Dugard
Acts 10:1-33
November 14, 2021

If I am to be free from prejudice, as God intends, I must be...

...close to his heart (v. 1-16)

...quick to obey (v. 17-23a)

...eager to witness his work (v. 23b-24)

...committed to change (v. 25-29)

...centred on the gospel (v. 30-33)