No Respecter of Persons

[img:8]Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: (Acts 10:34)

Why do we always feel nervous every time Peter opens his mouth?  Well, thank God that in today’s verse Peter is saying the right stuff.  In this revelation, Peter is sharing to us that our Father in heaven “is no respecter of persons.”  That is to say that God doesn’t run His Kingdom through favoritism. God doesn’t care which family you come from or whether you have Jewish roots or not.  He doesn’t care or He doesn’t respect social status: whether one is rich or poor, whether one is of royalty or slavery.  Jesus once said: “do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9)

The Pharisees were people of position and status but they weren’t pleasing to the eyes of God. So what does God care about? Who does God honor?  The apostle Paul  gave us the answer:

without faith it is impossible to please God

(Hebrews 11:6).  Faith in what you may ask?  Continuing with the sermon of Peter (Acts 10:35), he goes on: “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” God only accepts and honors people who honor His Son, Jesus Christ.  So if I am to rephrase Hebrews 11:6, I would put it this way:

Without Jesus Christ it is impossible to please God!

Regardless of who you are or who you think you are, do remember this: God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11).  You maybe rich, you maybe poor, you maybe successful or you’re maybe a failure, you maybe a good charitable person or you maybe a bad lying criminal.  God doesn’t care!  The only thing He cares about is whether you have the blood of Jesus Christ on you or not!

Just like in the first Pentecost, each family is saved from the angel of death not because of who they are or what they have done in life.  They were saved because of The Blood. (Exodus 12:21-23)

God is no respecter of persons.  He will honor you for one and only one reason under heaven: because you honor His Son, Jesus Christ.

* Image taken from Google Images