God Who Shows No Partiality (Acts 11:1-18)

Difference, Yes! Discrimination, No!

We experience discrimination for various reasons. Some are discriminated because of their school or company, because of their religion, nationality, ethnicity, or even skin color. There might be difference, but there shouldn’t be discrimination. For example, we can be different from one another in many ways such as our height, weight, and appearance. We can also have different background such as nationality, ethnicity, and religion. However, if we are treated differently because of those differences, that is the discrimination.

As you know, I also used to work at a factory with some workers from Uzbekistan and Russia for more than 2 years. I was a manual worker, dealing with some machines. While working there, I have often experienced discrimination. The company treated us differently whether you are an office worker or manual worker, whether you are Korean or foreign worker. For several months and several times a year, I couldn’t receive any salaries. But later, I found out that only the manual workers had not received the salaries while the office workers had received. Furthermore, the company used to give some gifts to every worker on special occasions such as summer vacation and holidays. But again, I and my fellow foreign workers were the only ones who couldn’t receive any gifts or we received something which is much cheaper than others. Every time I received different gifts or treatment, I wondered “Am I a second-class citizen? Are we, I and my fellow foreign workers, second-class workers? Do we not also deserve it?”

The gospel Peter preached

In today’s passage, same issue appears. In Acts chapter 10, we can see how God led Peter to meet Cornelius in His sovereign plan. When Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and his household, same work of the Holy Spirit revealed. If you read Acts 10:44-48, you can clearly see that the same Spirit was poured out to them, and they also began to speak in other tongues, and Peter baptized them with water in the same way.

Then, when it goes to chapter 11, which is today’s passage, Peter is blamed for this reason. In verse 2, there appears a group of people called “the circumcision party” who criticized him. They say, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Who are these people? They are the Jews who strongly believed and insisted that even the Gentile believers should obey the Jewish ceremonial law, which is the circumcision to be part of God’s people. In other words, the Gentiles could not have the same status with the Jews unless they are circumcised. They were regarded as second-class believer and second-class people of God without the circumcision. That’s why they criticize Peter for being and eating with them.

What’s interesting here is that Luke intentionally compares what happened to Peter with what happened to Jesus. It is worth to remember he was the writer of both Luke and Acts. This is exactly same with what happened to Jesus in Luke 15:2. It says, “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” The Pharisees and the scribes also blamed Jesus for eating with ‘the undeserved’ just as the Jews who belonged to this circumcision party blamed Peter. We can learn that the zeal for the law can even reject Jesus and blame the power of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Our zeal should be God-centered, not us-centered. Not every kind of zeal brings glory to God. Only the zeal that is centered on God Himself can bring glory to Him. For this reason, Peter gives an answer in verses 4-18 to the criticism of the Jews.

Today, I want to focus on the verses 15-18, the latter part of today’s passage. In his conclusion, Peter emphasizes the truth that the Gentile believers received the same Spirit of God as the Jewish disciples received on the day of Pentecost. He says in verse 15, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.” When is “at the beginning”? It was at the Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came down on them in Acts 2. He says that the Gentile believers also experienced the same work of the same Spirit as it happened to the Jewish disciples on Pentecost.

What about in verse 17? “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” Peter continues to say that they received the same gift from God who is the Holy Spirit. Consequently, what Peter is trying to say to the circumcision party is the fact that the Gentile believers are the equal member of God’s family who received the equal Spirit of God. They are the same people of God who owns the same citizenship. There is no place for discrimination in the family of God!

The gospel Paul preached (Gal. 2:11-14)

Nevertheless, Peter was not blameless in this matter. Even though he experienced such an amazing truth and preached it, he didn’t live according to what he believed and according to the truth of the gospel. In Galatians 2:11-14, we can see Peter who is rebuked by Paul for this misbehavior. Paul introduces a shameful example of Peter. He was eating with the Gentile believers, but he left the place when the Jews, the people of circumcision party, came from Jerusalem.

What was the problem of Peter? He felt ashamed to sit with the Gentiles and eat with them. He was afraid of the Jewish circumcisers. He cared more about how people thought than how God thought. He made the Gentile believers feel shameful and treated them as the second-class believers by his inconsiderate behavior. It was obviously against the gospel of Jesus Christ that anyone can become the children of God whether the Jews or the Gentiles, not through obedience of the law but through the faith in Jesus Christ. It was contrary to the gospel so rebuked by Paul.

I wonder how this can happen to him who himself experienced the work of the Holy Spirit at Cornelius’ household? Didn’t he learn this through his own experience? However, this can happen not only to him but also to anyone. Even though we know the gospel message, we can still live opposite way to the gospel message. We believe that it was not by our works but by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and by the grace of God that we were saved. We confess that we were regarded as righteous only through faith. This is the meaning of justification which we accept as our Christian faith.

However, we can still live contrary to the gospel of justification if we don’t accept or treat each other equally. Though we believe and confess the gospel through our words, we don’t live the gospel through our deeds and actions if we treat people differently based on human conditions and qualifications. What about you? How do you see and treat one another? Do you treat them equally, or do you see them and treat them differently? Do you think that we are equal members of God’s family, or we are different or better than some people? Do you think that you are a first-class citizen of God’s kingdom and first-class believer while you think others are second-class believers? If we discriminate others based on their background, nationality, ethnicity, or culture, we live against the gospel. There can be differences among us, but there shouldn’t be any discrimination among God’s family.

I love the way reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said, “There are no gradations in the image of God. Every man from a treble white to a bass black is significant on God’s keyboard, precisely because every man is made in the image of God.” Everyone was fearfully and wonderfully made by God the Creator regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, skin color, culture, and social and economic status. Because everyone was created in the image of God, because everyone is God’s image-bearer, we should treat each other equally. There are no gradations in the image of God! There is no second-class citizen in the kingdom of God, and there is no second-class child in His family! There can be no discrimination in the body of Christ.

No discrimination in the gospel

There is a famous story about an American missionary in Korea. His name is Samuel Moore who was known as the missionary for butchers. It was around 1895 during the period of Chosun Dynasty, and there was a social class system which was very similar to the caste in India. There were four social classes, Yangban, Jungin, Sangmin, and Cheonmin. And the butchers were regarded as ‘the untouchable.’ No one wanted to associate with them. However, the foreign missionary Samuel Moore broke the social and cultural barrier. He loved the butchers and preached the gospel to them. As a result, so many of them started to attend the church where he was ministering.

However, there was a problem. The yangban, the social high-class people, didn’t want to attend the worship service with the butchers. So, they came up to him and asked if they could worship separately from the butchers. Because the Yangban were the people who offered more money to church and they were powerful and influential people, so it was very hard for him to deny their request. However, he refused the request. He said, “Jesus also served the poor and needy, so I can’t accept your request. There is no discrimination in the gospel. Everyone is brother and sister.” As a result, the Yangban left the church, but more butchers came to church after hearing the news. He believed there shouldn’t be any discrimination at church because God loved them and treated them equally.

God shows no partiality

Dear brothers and sisters, Peter confessed in Acts 10:34-35 after he experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Cornelius and his household, “… Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” If God shows no partiality, then why would His children show partiality? If God created us and treats us equally, then why would we treat others differently? I have shared my personal story how I was treated differently at my company with the different gifts. However, God has given the same gift of the Holy Spirit both to the Jews and to the Gentiles. He treated them equally because both the Jews and the Gentiles are precious to Him.

Pastor Tim Keller, who is my favorite, put it this way, “Racial prejudice is wrong because it is a denial of the very principle that all human beings are equally sinful and saved by only the grace of God.” We are equal people of God who had been equally corrupted and who were saved equally by the grace of God through the work of Jesus Christ at the cross. The same debt we owe, but the same price was paid by our Redeemer!

In our lives, if we pay more money, we get better seats in stadium, concert hall, theater, or even at airplane. That’s how this world works. You pay more, you get more. You work more, you deserve more. However, it doesn’t work in the kingdom of God. You can never claim a better seat because you never paid the price. It was Jesus Christ who paid all your debt equally. The same price, the body of Christ and the blood of Christ, was paid for you so we all have the same tickets, the same seats, and same status. There is no such thing called the second-class people of God in His kingdom.

Listen to what Paul says to the believers in Ephesus, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Eph. 2:19-22) We received the same gift of God, the Holy Spirit because we are equal members of His family. So why don’t we accept one another equally, treat one another equally as brothers and sisters?