Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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No Trespassing
I was walking my dog this past winter on my favorite route: right through the golf course.
Which is terrible… because I am super not supposed to.
But it’s beautiful, rolling hills of gorgeous grass, and ponds, running fountains.
I can toss the ball and Vin can run and run, we love it.
On every entrance to the golf course there is these big “No Trespassing” signs.
The golf course is off-limits, etc, etc, etc...
But I have a trick.
There is a gate over by the street (and by gate, I mean a little gap in the fence I can squeeze through) where there is no sign.
I got yelled at just the other day.
“You’re not supposed to walk here!”
I do one of these “Oh.
Really?
Okay!”
He says “where’d you come in, there’s signs all over!”
And I played my trump card.
“I came in over there, there’s no sign, sorry.”
Boom.
You can’t prosecute me.
If there’s no sign, there’s no crime!
Also, I am a terrible person.
I left the golf course and walked home a different way.
I actually haven’t tried again, but guess what I am expecting to see when I go try my “secret” entrance?
A new sign.
Which, obviously, brings up the question of evangelism and salvation.
Obviously.
We think about the person who has heard the gospel of Jesus and just rejects God.
“That’s not for me” or “I don’t believe it” or “I want to be Lord of my own life...” all the reasons for rejecting Jesus.
And it is heart-breaking that any should perish, but they heard.
They read the sign.
And they can be held responsible to the crime.
But what about people who truly didn’t know.
Unlike me (I was pretending I didn’t know) but someone who has never heard the name of Jesus.
Especially the “really good” ones, earnest and honest seekers.
People who are looking for God, looking to God, asking the questions.
Can people who haven’t heard the name of Jesus be saved?
Does God recognize their sincere seeking heart and save them anyway?
This matters a great deal because it should shape how we evangelize and how we think about missions.
If God counts them as innocent if they didn’t “see the sign” then we should actually suppress the spreading of the word.
We should focus our efforts on those who have already heard about Jesus… because it is too late for them to claim innocence.
But we should leave all those who haven’t yet heard the name of Jesus alone so they can kind of keep their excuse ready.
Cornelius
Remember my man Cornelius.
Cornelius.
A centurion, a military man.
One who (as another centurion told Jesus) knows how to be in authority and how to be under authority.
A powerful and influential man.
His name is Italian, his cohort is Italian.
So in an army where Italians are the minority, being from a place in proximity to Rome is notable.
And he is stationed in Caesarea, that’s where the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate lives and stays.
And he isn’t just a man in power,
He is devout.
He fears God.
He is generous, and generous specifically to the Jewish people.
He is a man of prayer.
Cornelius doesn’t hesitate when he hears from God.
He immediately sends men to go get this person he has never heard of.
Peter.
God shows Peter this vision.
Sheet descending from heaven full of all kinds of animals.
Kill and eat!
Three times.
And three times Peter says “no, Lord”.
(Those two words should never be in the same sentence).
Three times God says “Don’t call common what I have made clean.”
and so when the men come, the Holy Spirit says “Go with them without hesitation” or literally “making no distinction”… as in, don’t call them unclean.
No man or woman is unclean before God.
On just the hope that he would hear from God, Cornelius got EVERYBODY!
He spent every ounce of relational capital he had.
all of them.
Cousin Eddie, it’s been awhile.
I just invited this guy and he might come, come listen in the HOPES of hearing something from God.
“Oh praise you, you must be the great and holy Peter, sent by God.” “We’re not worthy”
Listen to that respect.
This is a man of power, a man of great respect.
But based on NOTHING other then the understanding that God sent Peter, Cornelius is ready to go down on the ground and worship the man.
It is ignorance… but what a heart Cornelius has.
How thirsty is he for the Word of God?
Peter gently, graciously, lifts him up.
Peter comes and has his revelation:
Peter is likely reaching back into the book of Moses.
Cornelius is a God-fearer but I expect he has felt rejected all along the road by “God’s people”.
What incredible news to hear from Peter “God is no respecter of persons”.
Shows no partiality?
Anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable?
Doesn’t that sound like they are saved?
Pluralism vs. Exclusivism
A few months ago we talked about pluralism and exclusivism.
Pluralism is the idea that there are many ways in which someone can be saved… and this is one of those verses!
Here is Cornelius, he is the famous “unevangelized heathen.”
We might get confused between a righteous God-fearer and a self-righteous pretender.
God never does, he knows the heart.
We might get confused between someone who is truly seeking Jesus with their questions and someone who is finding excuses to hold on to their own self… but God never does.
And he is a sincere seeker, a God-fearer, devout SO amazing in so many ways.
And here it says he is “acceptable” to God.
What does that mean?
Cornelius is all of these amazing things, where has his “acceptability” brought him?
So what does “acceptable to God” mean?
It doesn’t mean that people get into heaven by another name.
“There is no other name by which men may be saved.”
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