Agenda # 5 - Perpetuate Prejudice, Part 1

Of all the diabolical things that we’ve discussed that are subtle, this may be the most diabolical way that Satan brings death and destruction. I want to walk through a very clear explanation of what prejudice is, how it develops…

And here’s the thing, you can kind of relax. This message is not about, are you prejudiced or not? Please, no. No, no, no, no. This message is only about how prejudice you are.

Everybody is prejudiced. Okay? Now, let me show you why. First, we are all born into a cultural bias. You grow up in a family, in a culture, in a language, with a religious orientation. You learn during that time. There is a bias.

You look at life through a lens that came from parents, and grandparents, and where you came from, and the part of the country, or the part of the world.

Second, apart from interaction outside our group, we grow up assuming our view accurately defines reality. You’re a little kid and you don’t know any better. And they say, “This is what’s true about black people. This is what’s true about those white people. This is what’s true about people from the South. You know those people from California, what they’re like? Well, here’s how rich people are. Well, you know those homeless people, what their real problem is? They need to…”

All those things are implanted into your mind. And you assume, unless you get outside your world, your group, and your box, that your view really is in alignment with reality.

Third, generations of socialization and indoctrination create barriers, at best, and hatred at worst, with those that are different from ourselves.

See, we always, out of our insecurities, when anyone is different from us it creates a barrier. I’ll tell you why in just a second. There are barriers between tall people and short people. There are barriers between people from red states and blue states. There’s barriers between people that believe that and don’t believe that.

There’s all kind of barriers. You name a difference. There are barriers between, do you shop at WalMart or Nordstroms? There are barriers between geography, religion, politics, gender, color of skin, race, religious orientation.

The moment there’s something different, at best it creates a barrier. At worst, it breeds hatred.

There’s people that grow up and they’re taught from an early age. Those people, and you can fill in who they are, they should be dead.

One of our missionaries works in Beirut, he said, “It’s so hard for the Syrians that we’re working for. They don’t want to help Palestinians, and they don’t want to help people from Libya, and they don’t want to help some people from other places, because they don’t want them to become Christians. They’re taught, as little kids, to hate other people.

And that’s true. It’s true all across the world. Different tribes, different orientations, people from different religions.

Notice, four, internal inaccurate assessment. It’s a nice way of saying pride. Internal inaccurate assessment. This is who you really think you are. And external inaccurate assessment, that’s prejudiced. Results in the fulfillment of Satan’s agenda – to kill and to steal and destroy.

Now, lest you just think of pride as people that are arrogant and have just a higher view of themselves, I put the definition: pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority.

And then here’s the part I wanted you to see. Whether as cherished in the mind, or displayed in behavior. I think for most Christians it’s often cherished in your mind. You have attitudes. You have labels. Those people are like that. Then you generalize to all those people.

Notice prejudice, this external inaccurate view, is a preconceived judgment or opinion. It’s having an adverse opinion without learning, or without just grounds, or sufficient knowledge. It’s an irrational attitude of hostility directed toward an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.

And you think maybe I’m overdoing this. Just think of words like Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, Northern Ireland, South Africa, race in America.

Millions of people, millions of people, have died because deeply rooted in the psyche of little boys and girls growing up was, those people deserve to die. They’re from that tribe. They’re from that ethnic background. Historically, they’re from that religion, we need to kill them. This religion, we need to kill them.

Satan has had a heyday with prejudice. And it’s rooted in, “We’re okay and we’re better, and we’re superior, and those that are different? We dehumanize them so then when we do terrible things, we can justify it.

This is all nice and theoretical, out there, but it’s not so nice and theoretical when it gets up close. I’m this twenty-eight year old, non-prejudiced person. And I find myself in my first pastorate in a little rural town in Texas where people use the “N” word and argue about the KJV versus the NIV translation in the same sentence.

It was a world that I’d never seen. John Deere hats, skull under the lip, gun in the back of the pickup, and the public swimming pool, purchased by a couple of business people, and filling it in in 1968, lest black and white children swim together.

And for a year and a half, I just thought how narrow, and bigoted, and redneck, they were. And how prejudiced I became toward them for their prejudice.

And how superior I was to them, and I remember God whispering about a year and a half into my journey as the young suburban pastor, “You know, Chip? I love these people. I sent you here to love them but you’re not doing very well. All you do is judge them. And every time you see a gun in the back of a pick up or a John Deere hat or…you generalize, and you label, and you think they’re all the same. And you don’t see them the way I see them.”

And I went on a journey to learn how to love people that were very different from me. And I realized I was deeply prejudiced.

And so in God’s great, ironic humor He says, “Well, step one is there. Now I’m going to take you to Santa Cruz.” And so, you know, highest per capita of lesbians, and the government thinks that Berkeley is too far right, and people are tattooed and pierced in places that it’s unimaginable that you could actually tattoo and pierce yourself in those places.

And there’s sort of the Santa Cruz mindset. And for at least a year and a half or two, I remember sitting in different places watching people and just thinking, “This is nuts.” And there was an arrogance about it.

And we were all, “Alternative this, and new age that and…” And it’s like God had to whisper a little louder, “Hey Chip? I love these people. You don’t even like them, let alone love them.”

And I went on a journey. And went on a journey where I asked God, and then began to see, I need to see people the way God sees people and you know what I learned after a couple years there?

I learned there’s not a nickel’s worth of difference between a guy in a John Deere hat who uses the “N” word, and argues about this type of Bible, and two lesbians in the corner being very affectionate, in terms of my attitude towards both. They may have some behavior that God absolutely says is not correct and will be painful, and hurt them.

But He loves both of them, and both of them have learned some of that behavior from their prejudice and their backgrounds, and the only way they’ll be liberated and get loved is if someone doesn’t judge them, but loves them and gets into their life.

And I realized I wasn’t doing that. I was an eight or a nine in prejudice. Not a two or a three.

And there is only one thing on the face of the earth that has the power to break prejudice, that you have in your heart, and I have in mine. The reason we don’t feel like we’re very prejudiced is because we stay in our little group, most of the time.

And most of us, in our Christian view, we cherish in our mind, we look at people and we judge them in our mind, and because we judge them in our mind, look at the bottom of your notes.

Here’s what happens: the problem is prejudice creates walls between individuals and groups so the gospel can’t move from one person to another or from one group to another.

That’s the problem. When I see people that way, there’s a barrier. I may not hate them but I so disapprove, or I am so irritated, or feel so superior, that the gospel can’t get beyond it.

Jews and Gentiles, at this point in historic, cultural history, hate one another. This is like the head of the NAACP and the KKK becoming friends. That’s what it’s like. And there’s only one power, there’s only one thing that can break those kind of things down.

And here’s the story, it’s in Acts chapter 10. And the story is, the gospel smashes hundreds of years of prejudice and hatred. And notice, it’s through an enlisted soldier and a fisherman.

It’s not through powers, it’s not through legislation, it’s not through some elite group.

There’s an enlisted soldier in the Roman army who is oppressing the Jews, and there is a Jew who is a blue-collar worker who has been following an itinerant preacher named Jesus, and a transformation occurs where things that have been embedded in his soul, and mind, and thinking, since he was a little boy, and his father, and his grandfather, and his grandfather before him.

The Spirit of God, and the gospel, liberates him in ways that change the course of history.

I’ve divided it into a number of vignettes. How did it happen? Let’s look first at Cornelius’s vision. “At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius and he was a centurion.” It means he’s over a hundred soldiers in what was known as the Italian regiment.

“He and his family were devout and God fearing. He gave generously to those in need and he prayed to God regularly. One day, about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius.’ Cornelius stared at him in fear and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ And the angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a remembrance before Me. Now send to Jappa and to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He’s staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.’

When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and one of his soldiers, who was a devout man, and he told them everything that had happened and he sent them to Joppa.”

He’s a Gentile. We learn from chapter 11, he’s not circumcised. In the polytheism of the day, it just got so messy and so crazy. A number of people, honestly seeking after God, would actually begin - they wouldn’t be necessarily even proselytes but they were called “God-fearers,” and they knew there was one true God, and they were reaching out - and they would begin to worship in the outer courts of the temple.

Vignette number two. Peter’s been staying with this tanner and he’s hungry. And while he’s hungry and they’re fixing lunch something happens. Pick it up at verse 9. “About noon the following day as they were approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat and while the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance.

“He saw heaven open and something large like a sheet being let down to the earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air.

“And then the voice said to him, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’” Peter’s response, “‘Surely not, Lord,’ Peter replied, ‘I’ve never eaten anything impure or unclean.’” In that sheet was a number of things that they were forbidden to eat.

You might jot in your notes Leviticus chapter 11. It gives very clear detail about these kind of animals you can eat, these kind you can’t. And it’s in the law, he’s heard it from a little boy, and now he’s having a vision that is breaking with what he’s learned all of his life.

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. While Peter was still wondering about the meaning of the vision the men sent by Cornelius had found out where Simon’s house was and they stopped at the gate.

“They called out if this Simon who is also known as Peter was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision the Spirit” [he gets this inner nudge] said to him, ‘Simon, these three men are looking for you so get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them for I have sent them.’

“So Peter went downstairs and he said, ‘I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?’ The men said, ‘We come from Cornelius the centurion, he’s a righteous and God-fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so he could hear what you have to say.’ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.”

Mark that if you will. This is a good Jew, inviting Gentiles into the home, offering hospitality and he actually, because of this, ate with them.

Vignette number three. Peter goes on a little journey to Cornelius’ house. “The next day, Peter started out with them along with some brothers.” So, he’s got, we learn a little bit later, five or six other Jewish people come. He’ll be giving a testimony a little bit later.

“And they go along with him to Joppa. The following day he arrived in Caesarea, Cornelius was expecting them and he called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence but Peter made him get up. Said, ‘Stand up. I am only a man myself.’

And talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people and he said to them…” - now think about this. Ever since he’s a little boy he has said, “They’re dirty. They’re bad. They’re evil.” In fact, the term for a Gentile among the Jews? They’re dogs.

So his first words are, “You are well aware that it’s against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile and to visit him. But… but God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection.”

And this is so great. “May I ask why you sent for me?” There’s not an agenda. He’s not like, “Hey, I’m going to be the big evangelist.” He’s like, “I’ve never done this before in my life.” I’m probably scared to death. I’m thinking, “What are all my friends going to think if anybody could see me here?” Would someone tell me why I’m here?

“Cornelius answered, ‘Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. And suddenly a man with shining clothes stood before me and said, “Cornelius, God has heard your prayers, remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He’s a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea.” So I sent for you immediately and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.’”

So this, he’s just a seeker. He just wants to know more about God. And what the Scripture says is, any time people take honest steps toward God, God’s going to reveal Himself.

And so, Peter is going to come, and now Peter is going to realize, next vignette, I’m supposed to share the gospel with these people. In Peter’s mind, this truth, this gospel, this Messiah, is for our little group. It’s for the Jews. He’s our Messiah.

And God is going to do an amazing thing. Then Peter began to speak. He’s going to give, we basically get the footnotes. I mean, just the highpoints of his sermon. “I now realize how true it is that God doesn’t show favoritism. But He accepts men from every nation, who fear Him, and do what is right.”

And that word “accepts” doesn’t mean they become Christians. It means, literally the Hebrew word is, He lifts His face in favor. In every nation, when God sees people that are open, he says, He lifts His face. He favors them.

He goes on to say, “This is the message God sent to the people of Israel telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ who is Lord or sovereign over all. You know what has happened throughout Judea beginning in Galilee after His baptism? That John had preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power? And how He went about doing good and healing all those that were under the power of the Devil because God was with Him.

“We are witnesses of everything He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And they killed Him by hanging him on a tree. But God raised Him up from the dead on the third day and caused Him to be seen.

“He wasn’t seen by all the people but by witnesses whom God had already chosen by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. He commanded us, then, to preach to all the people and to testify that He’s the one whom God appointed as Judge of the living and the dead. And all the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

Now, this is an interesting time. So basically he said, “You know, let me just tell you the story of Jesus. He was promised, and He was the Messiah, and He came as John preached, and as He went preaching, and He healed people, and God authenticated, and He is Lord, He’s the Sovereign, He’s the One true God.

“And as He did, He demonstrated that by power over the works of the Devil, and He healed people, and then He came back from the dead, and it’s not an image or a dream or another religion. We ate with Him, and we walked with Him.”

And I bet the sermon was a little bit longer and he spoke very specifically but he says, “Here’s what you gotta get. God made Him the Judge over the living and the dead. So this One true God who came and gave His life to give forgiveness to whosoever would believe, those who respond, there’s life. But He’s also the Judge. And those who reject, there’s death. But there’s forgiveness for everyone who believes.”

Now, this is one of those times where God doesn’t allow the pastor or the preacher to figure out what he’s going to say. He just acts. He literally interrupts his sermon.

Vignette number six: “While Peter was still speaking these words,” he’s got no control. He can’t take credit and, by the way, later he’s going to say, “Hey, it wasn’t me, guys!” He’s going to get in a lot of trouble from his friends. “What were you doing hanging out with those Gentiles? You mean you actually went in the house?” And Peter’s going to say, “Uh, you know, I just did. I, you know? And while I was in, bam! It happened.” Notice it. “While I was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit came on all of those who heard the message.”

“The circumcised believers,” or the Jews, “who had come with Peter were astonished.” Literally, the word means they were struck in awe. They’re jaw dropped. Their eyes got wide. This can’t be. But it is.

“Because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been given to them even as to the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God and then Peter said, ‘Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They’ve received the Holy Spirit just the way we have.’”

In other words, Acts chapter 2, I gave a message, God did this, Jews happened. Later on, chapter 8 when the Samaritans came to Christ, they believed and then I came and John came and we prayed for them, same thing happened.

And now, I didn’t even get to finish my message. Boom. God has now included the Gentiles into His church. So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus. They asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. And then just edging into chapter 11, the word got out.

And the apostles, and the brothers throughout all of Judea, heard that the Gentiles had received the Word of God. So we’re thinking they’re excited. This is awesome. They’ve come to Christ, the Savior of the world, all those Old Testament passages, the blessings of Abraham to all nations, it’s going to be great, right? Wrong.

“So when Peter went to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers,” the Jewish believers, “criticized him and said, ‘You went into the house of an uncircumcised man and you ate with them?’ And Peter explained everything precisely as it happened.”

God broke through prejudice. Prejudice keeps the love of God from moving from you to another person that’s different than you, because you have ingrained thinking about them, and you perceive them, and think of them in ways that make a wall between you and them.

When whole groups have prejudice against other whole groups the truth and the love of God and the gospel doesn’t make it from one group to another.

Now, I’d ask for a show of hands but it’s probably pretty small. I would like to remind you, after each of these vignettes, that most of us are Gentiles in the room. Correct?

I hope you get what happened here. Someone was willing to take all the abuse, and rejection, and get out of their comfort zone and say, “I’m going to begin to look at people through the lens of God and truth, even if I get rejected by my friends, in order to love people the way God loves them.”

And what I want to suggest is, very clearly, in each of these vignettes, there’s a very specific application about how God wants to remove the walls that we have built.

And, again, this isn’t to make you “feel guilty.” This is subtle. This is diabolical. This is Satan’s agenda. I doubt, I’m sure there’s a few, but I doubt if there’s a number of people that when I said, “On a scale of one to ten, how prejudiced are you?” I doubt there’s a whole lot of people going, “I’m a nine! I like being a nine!” I’m just not thinking there’s a lot of nines in the room. At least by self-perception.

But what if you think you’re a four or a five and what if you’re an eight or a nine? And what if there’s people that God is working in where you work, in your neighborhood, and where you work out, and that you have just unconscious prejudice so you never cross the barrier of people that are different, and therefore the gospel doesn’t go forth?

Let me give you the six principles that I’ve learned personally and I hope they’ll be helpful for you. Principle number one from verses 1 through 8. God is working in places and among people we assume He doesn’t. Okay?

He’s working in places and among people. If you would have asked Peter, “Do you think God is speaking to some of those Roman soldiers that are oppressing your people?” Peter would have said, “No way.” Practice. Assume God is speaking to everyone everywhere and wants to use you.

When God was breaking my prejudice in my time in Santa Cruz, I mean, it is a different place. Let’s just be very honest about this. And there’s a guy on the front row and he had very, very long dreadlocks down to about here. He hadn’t had a bath in either many weeks or many months, I could smell him almost from here.

He had a poncho, multi-colored poncho, a multi-colored turban hat. Various markings. And he looked scary. And he’s on the front row. And I’m preaching. And I’m thinking, and I mean, this guy, he’s not, like, passive. He’s going…

And I’m thinking, “I wonder what’s going on here.” And, just, every time I made eye contact it was, “Whew.”

And so, you know, I get done with the message and I’m just, you know, thinking I wonder, wonder, you know? It’s not like I have a conscious prejudice it’s just like, who is the weird guy on the front row, okay?

And so I get done and as soon as I get done I come down and talk to people. And this guy beats everybody there like this. And I go, “Oh my gosh, where is security?”

And he puts his arms around me. And he hugs me and he goes, “Oh, that word from God so fed my soul. I’m so happy to be here!”

And as I’m smelling him and going, “Whew.” Later Dan and I became good friends. I learned Dan was purposefully on the street, didn’t have to be there. Later I learned to call him Dan Dan Hippie Man.

I started doing some personal Bible study with Dan and Dan had a ministry to street people and then he said, “I want to walk across the country.” And he did. And he got to Utah and people were asking him questions he couldn’t answer and we emailed a little bit back and forth.

He said, “You know, I think I need some Bible training.” So he came back, went to Bible school. Kept dressing the same way, living on the streets the same way, found a girl out there that had the same vision, they got married and became missionaries.

Don’t you dare believe that some of the weirdest people that are different from you that God isn’t working. Assume He’s working in everyone everywhere all the time and He wants to use you.

Principle number two: prayer is the prerequisite to seeing others differently than our cultural bias, out of verses 9 through 16. Good Jews prayed in the morning and then prayed at night. There was a three hour prayer meeting as well. But Peter was just hungry. And he decided, “I’m going to go on the roof.” And he’s talking with God.

Unless your mind gets renewed, and unless you’re talking with God and being open and honest, He can’t reveal things to you. So you stay stuck in your little box of your group and your background. You have yours, I have mine, everyone has theirs.

Prayer is the prerequisite to seeing others different than our cultural bias. Because Peter met with God, he could hear God. And God prepared him. All that stuff about the sheep and the animals. He goes, “Oh, I get it.” Don’t call anything unclean that God calls pure.

And so here’s the practice. Ask God to let you see others the way He does.

I’ll never forget, “Lord would you help me see that guy in the John Deere hat that, when I walk into the Wagon Wheel, the one restaurant at the time in rural Texas, with the country music blaring and this guy whispering about this loud, ‘Hey! There’s that new preacher boy that’s over there at Country Bible Church!’”

That made me go, “Mm, I can’t believe what … !” And I began to pray, “God, would you help me see him the way you see him?” Trying hard to see him that way doesn’t work, so what I found is Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed.” How? By trying hard, working hard?

What’s it say? “Don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Why? “So that you can prove or test or experience what God’s will is. The good, acceptable will of God.”

And so on this card, it’s very, very old. I wrote it many, many years ago and reviewed it probably hundreds or thousands of times. And I just wrote, “Accepting others, removing prejudice. I’d like to view others in light of their eternity and need, instead of by their outward appearance, possessions, status, or abilities.”

And then I wrote I Samuel 16:7, “God sees not as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance but God weighs the heart.”

I want to look people through the lens of eternity. Are they heaven bound or hell bound? I want to look through the lens of the need. You know what? That guy with the John Deere hat or the two lesbians in the corner? They have need. They have insecurities. They have struggles. They’ve been through pain.

How would Jesus look at them? What would He want? You don’t have to agree with people’s politics, their religion, their sexual orientation. You don’t have to agree. But you can love them. It’s what Jesus did. It’s why He got in so much trouble. The early church got in a lot of trouble. We’re not getting in enough trouble. We need to start loving people very different than us.

And so, I just begin to read that card over, and over, and asking God, just, I can’t do that. Certain prejudices are ingrained in my mind for years.

So I ask. And God will answer that prayer.

Three, walls of prejudice often come down a few bricks at a time, from verses 17 to 23. Peter didn’t go from this diehard, prejudiced, Jew with Gentiles. You know? First of all, it was like, you know, “I’m kind of far away from the home base here in Jerusalem. I’ll just stay with this tanner. I mean, he’s ceremonially unclean but, you know, it’s a little baby step.”

And then pretty soon, when Cornelius’ guys come, he let them in the house. Then he traveled with them. He did a lot of baby steps that were absolutely forbidden.

And I can only think that he knew, you know, like, I love one translation says, it says, “When he crossed the threshold,” when he went inside that Gentile house, it was like, “Uh-oh baby, there’s no turning back. I have just violated everything that I have been taught all my life. I’m in the house of a dog. But you know what? That’s my opinion. That is my prejudice.

No, I’m in the house of a God-fearing man that the Spirit of God is wooing, and drawing, and actually sent an angel, and God cares about him, so I need to care about him, and I need to put away my stuff and my prejudice, and my background, and what anybody else thinks, and I need to love him and share the love of Christ.”

And he did. And you’re here today because he did, fellow Gentile.

And so here’s the practice. The practice is take small steps this week to connect with someone much different than you. And you know what? Just take some baby…let’s start taking some bricks off the wall, okay?

So, for me? It was like, I decided, because that guy irritated me so much, I walked in and I said, “Could I sit down?” You know, there’s like four or five guys drinking coffee every morning, John Deere hats, the whole…

And I, so, “Could I sit down?” And he looked at me like, “You, preacher boy?” That’s what they called me. I did not like that.

And I said, “Hey, tell me a little bit about where you get those hats? “Well…” “So, do you have a ranch or something?” “Well, yeah. We come…”

I just started asking questions. I mean, I thought John Deere was a lawnmower. Okay, I’m from the city. I don’t know anything. And I remember, in Santa Cruz when I would find situations that were just so appalling to me and I finally just thought, you know, they’re protesting our church and we’re bashing them, and so I called the mayor and said, “Would you like to have lunch?” This is the mayor of Santa Cruz.

He graduated from Berkeley, and he thinks they’re too far right. Super ultra, ultra out there guy. And we had a two-hour lunch. And he came thinking, “Okay, I’m going to meet with this Bible-thumping, anti-intellectual bigot,” because that’s what they think all Christians are.

And I think, here I am, this super guy who thinks alternative duh, duh, duh, duh.

And we had a two-hour lunch and here’s what I gotta tell you, two things. Number one, I liked him. It was almost disappointing. And you know? Two, I respected him. When I listened carefully to his intellectual presuppositions about how he viewed the world, what he did made sense. At least he was consistent with his vision and values and doing something.

What we both agreed on was we wanted to help the poor. And so I left that with, our church is going to help the poor, and he would help us help the poor, and we both kind of went away smiling going, “You know what? We totally disagree on almost everything with regard to a worldview but I think I just met a Christian that is not stupid, anti-intellectual, bigoted, Bible-thumping, jerk. You seem like a real person.” And I came away the same way.

And we began to see God open some doors, why? Now, I’d like to tell you that in the middle of lunch he bowed, prayed the prayer, is in the kingdom. But I took a few bricks off. And I didn’t let, in circles anymore, I didn’t let people talk about him the same way. “Hey, I know that guy. Now, I disagree with him but he’s really a nice guy. And he’s really trying to do some good.”

And so you take steps, you take baby steps.

Four, obedience to God often alienates us from our group and is the price tag to take the good news across cultures. It’s verses 23 to 33. Peter violated hundreds of years of tradition and he gets flack for it. If you do what God wants you to do, some fellow Christians are going to say, “Why are you hanging out with them?”

You’re going to make Christians feel uncomfortable.

Here’s the practice: choose to please God, not men. Choose to please God, not men. I remember a crossroads. We, in this small, rural town there was a lot of prejudice and two things happened. Number one, I started bringing black kids and Hispanic kids to church and I was called in downtown to a meeting of some leaders. Not all the leaders, just two or three. Very powerful, very wealthy, who were part of starting the church.

And they basically said, “You know what? This is not really the kind of church we’re looking for and you need to keep your focus over here and we’re just not really equipped….”

And, I mean, they used all the sophisticated ways to say, “Look, we don’t want black kids and Hispanic kids coming to church.”

And I don’t know if you’ve ever been there but I was at a crossroads and I felt like, you know something? Memorizing Scripture was very helpful, and Galatians 1:10 came to my mind where the apostle Paul said, “If I please people, I can’t be a bondservant of Christ.”

And I remember looking at them and saying, “You know, guys, I know you brought me here, and you have a picture of a church, but Jesus has a picture of a church, and as long as I’m the pastor, I’ll tell you what, this is what I’m going to do because I’m thinking His vision is probably way more important than yours, and maybe if that’s not what you want to do…”

And, see, I tell every pastor, “You ought to have your resignation kind of written down somewhere in an envelope, keep it in your top desk drawer. And if you’re not willing to be fired, you’ll never be willing to stand up for what’s right.

And so I remember just saying, and you know something, it’s amazing. The power of the gospel breaks through. Some of those same guys, three years later, when we remodeled the black high school that we bought and remodeled and began to partner with a black church across the street, those guys, I watched them in a shop helping small, black kids learn about Christ and learn a trade.

You know, it just takes one person like you at your work, at your neighborhood, at your health club to break a barrier. And when you do, God opens doors. But you’re going to have to please God, not please people.

I remember the second time for us was are we going to buy this, it was an abandoned, it was three or four acres and it was the black high school, and it was in disrepair. But it was really inexpensive. And we were going to buy it and remodel it.

And we had, you know, one of those big church meetings? The kind that aren’t good. Where people stand up and argue with one another. And, “We can’t do that, that’s in the black section of town and, you know, they’ll break the windows,” and on and on and on.

And it was, again, one of those moments of truth. We never had any vandalism. But it was someone else, you know, you kind of weigh it as a pastor. What’s going to happen here?

And I remember a young woman stood up and said, “If the love of Christ can’t transcend race in this town, then we have no business being here. I think it’s God’s choice spot for us.”

Now, when you do that, you know that two or three people that have a lot of money are going to fold their arms and go, “Well, I’m out.”

And you have to lovingly say, “Don’t let that door hit you too hard on the rear end on the way out.” Because you can’t allow…people will use politics, power, intimidation, and manipulation to keep you from doing what’s right.

And, by the way, when you do what’s right, there’s a price. It’s not Hollywood. It doesn’t mean, “Oh everything goes great.” I remember, we got, as a result of some of those moves, we got where if God didn’t show up with some money on a certain day at a certain time, we were done.

And guess what? On that day, at a certain day, on that certain time, exactly what we needed came in. So choose to please God.

Practice number five is the good news of the gospel is for all people of all backgrounds in all places. That’s Peter’s sermon, verses 34 to 43. Peter said, “Wait. When we preach the gospel, Pentecost occurred and He included the Jews. I didn’t even get done with my message, the exact same thing happened to the Gentiles.”

And Peter got new eyes. All of a sudden, all those Old Testament passages that he was skipping over about the nations, and the blessings through Abraham, and what God wanted to do for all people of all time – all of a sudden they started to pop.

See, you read your Bible, and I read my Bible, through a lens. Try this: read your Bible for thirty days and just start looking for the poor, the poor, the poor, the poor, the poor, the poor. And see what the Bible says about the poor versus how you think about the poor.

Read the Psalms. Read the Proverbs and just look for the word “poor.” And you’ll realize, “Whoa. God really is, He doesn’t think they’re all bums. He doesn’t think they all just, if they worked harder.” Is that true in some cases? For sure. But that’s not what the Scripture says.

The practice here: share the difference Jesus had made in your life with someone this week. Okay? I mean, we have to get out of, “I’m trying to be a good person, and I come to church, and I’m trying to do what God wants me to do.”

Jesus is the answer to the world’s needs and when we share what Jesus has done, and you don’t have to share all the four laws, you don’t have to become a flaming evangelist with a Bible this big in front of your desk or your cubicle or put up stickers everywhere.

What you need to do is incarnate the life of Jesus and begin, in normal ways, where just in the passing in a conversation and it’s a, even maybe even a work situation and you know, we’re so afraid of offending people. Get more afraid of them never hearing.

And do it winsomely. You know, the little statements like, “Oh, wow, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. You know, I went through a divorce. Apart from Jesus, I don’t know how I’d be here today.” “Your son is in ICU, would you mind if I prayed to the Lord Jesus?” Let’s get out of just this God, it means anything in our day.

“Can I pray for you?” Yeah, God, you know it can be anybody. Share Jesus. And just share it in normal kind of ways. Break through the barriers. And do it with someone different.

I have a new friend where I play a little pick-up basketball. His name is Junior. And Junior is a big guy and so he had a number of tattoos and I noticed he had some new ones that went up like this all the way up his neck and then curled around on his cheeks.

And I said, “Whoa, Junior, you got some new ones there.” He goes, “Yeah, man, they’re really, you know?” I said, “Well, what…” You know, he gave me a little background and see, I can tell you, ten years ago, if I saw that it’d be, like, yeeh. You know?

And then, later, you know, like, three weeks later I said, you know, how about things like, “Does it hurt?” Yeah it hurts! Well, so, instead of, “Why do you do it?” Or, “That looks weird.” Or, “So, tell me, what’s it mean to you? Tell me what…”

Have you ever wondered why people do that? Why don’t you ask them? You don’t have to judge them. So what’s going on?

Well, then he came back later and he has a shaved head. And he has, now, it’s sort of the hook cross that goes down like this and the tattoo goes all the way around. If I saw Junior on the street, man, I’d be terrified.

I gotta tell you, Junior is one of the nicest guys I know and Junior is my friend. In fact, he’s so kind he runs the rec center and so he said, “You know, Chip, it’s fun having you around.” And he figured out what I did and I just, in little ways, you know? He said, “How are you doing?” I said, “Well, I can’t play today but I need to get worked out. I’m preaching a big message about Jesus this weekend.” “Oh yeah? Really? Good.”

He knows where I’m coming from. And so he says, “Give me your phone number. So when the rec center is closed sometimes I open it up.” So couple weeks ago, I get this text: “Want to play ball?”

It was from Junior. You know, I don’t know where Junior is at spiritually but little by little, by little, by little, if someone doesn’t cross a barrier that’s different and love Junior, how will he ever know?

And I’m no flaming evangelist. As far as I know, the first four or five months, all he knew was, here’s some old, white guy trying to play ball still. Seriously. You know? And he wears a lot of braces.

And over time we became friends. Who in your world is different from you that this week, this week, take a baby step. Pull a brick down.

Finally, number six. God refuses to allow Himself, or His ways, to be put in a box. Verses 44 through 46.

Acts chapter 10 is not a blueprint for the spiritual life. It’s historical. It’s a historical picture of how God includes people. It’s the picture of how this revolution of Jesus changed the world.

So, in Acts 2, they speak in tongues because it’s an external view of the Spirit has come upon the Jews. In Acts 8, it doesn’t say tongues but there’s an outward manifestation. There probably is. The Samaritans get in.

But notice that it happens at the time here. It happens later here. Now the Gentiles, it happens simultaneously. This isn’t a picture or a teaching about some second blessing.

This is a picture of Acts 2, 8, 10, and later in 19 we have a group that were traveling somewhere and they had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.

There is no formula in the book of Acts. How people, and when they believe, and sometimes they’re baptized before, sometimes they’re baptized afterwards.

Here’s what we do. We unconsciously assume, inside Christendom, that the way God works with us is how He’s going to work with everyone. Can I give you some real prejudice in the church?

We got one group over here and we, you know why? Because it’s how you were trained. It’s God’s Word. It’s principles. We don’t want to get too emotional. Those people that raise their hands and dance around, they make me nervous.

And then that one guy said he had a vision from God, or he had this prompting from God, and you know what? There’s principles. We don’t want that experiential emotionalism. We’re going to be men and women of the Word.

And this group is over here going, “Hello, I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. I had a vision last night. These people don’t get the Spirit. They’re just the frozen chosen. Oh, they just work principles, they’re just trying to work it out. They don’t get, they…”

And there’s prejudice. You need to love people that are different. Could it be that the Spirit of God wants to take the Word of God, with a group of people outside boxes and boundaries? Inside clear Scripture, and say, “Let’s change the world instead of judge one another.”

Why do we have all these denominations? Because, basically, the arrogance and pride, our way is better, everyone else is out to lunch.

Here is the practice: refuse to assume that God will work in others the same way He’s worked in you.

Could I just ask you to please go on a journey and answer these questions? The first question is pretty easy. I think you can answer why we’re all prejudiced. It’s just kind of, my prayer for you and me is that our number goes down. You’ve got a number and I’ve got one. It’s just that it goes down.

I’d like you to think about how prejudice has really negatively affected other people. You know, sometimes when you look at it out there, it kind of helps you realize how diabolical it is.

And then, third, which of these six principles, which one as I was going through it there was a little, sort of a loving dagger that said, “Ooh, you need to listen to this.” Put a star by that one. And then, who or what group of people do you find yourself judging?

Just as I kind of threw stuff around. Is it an ethnic issue? Is it a wealth issue? Is it a background issue?  Is it people from different parts of the world issue? Is it a work issue? Is it an envy…? I don’t know. I’ve got it. You’ve got it.

Then what if you, number five, could let the walls down. What if you started praying for a specific person? Tried to understand them. Ask a question. Shared a meal. Maybe, if appropriate, ask them to forgive you.

And, finally, I want to close with this. Can you imagine, would you please? Can you imagine what God would do, and what would happen, if an inter-generational, that means young people admire old people instead of, “They don’t know anything.”

And old people would look at young people instead of, “And they’re always too loud and trying to do this,” and would mentor them instead. Inter-generational, inter-racial, inter-gender, inter-political. Where Jesus would be the center and we would so move beyond our prejudice and love each other here. What would God do? What would God do?

It’s not some big thing that some important person… an enlisted soldier, and a blue-collar fisherman changed the world. You are the answer to breaking down the walls in someone’s life.