Fully Forgiven

 “Fully Forgiven”  

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Nov 1, 2020

Text: Acts 10:34-48  // Series: sorry: Learning How to Forgive     

Hello, friends. My name is Brad and I’m part of the teaching and leadership team here at Jericho Ridge.  Welcome to November – that means we are 8 months into this global pandemic and if you are anything like me, you are reaching the end of some of your reserves. Patience is running thin. Fatigue is running high.  And that usually is a recipe for me to do things that tick people off around me.  Or to be annoyed or deeply hurt by something that someone has done. 

So it’s a good time to revisit the notion of forgiveness...  What is it?  How do we give and receive it well?  How do I know if an apology is genuine? What’s the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation?  Is it really possible to forgive and forget (and won’t that mean that justice is not done)? We’re going to dive into these questions and more this November as we launch into a teaching series called “SORRY: Learning To Forgive”

I’d like you to meet two friends of mine Peppa Pig and George Pig – beloved children’s characters from the UK.  They’re going to help me explain the notion of forgiveness.  So let’s say George (because he is the younger brother) does something to tick Peppa off.  That event – whatever it is – be it an unkind comment about mask wearing, a repost of a Q-anon conspiracy theory on George’s social media feed, or a sideways comment about Pippa’s propensity for putting on pandemic pounds…. This creates a barrier, a blockage between the two of them.  The relationship no longer flows freely and easily.  There is a barrier. 

This barrier exists because of the wrong actions of one party toward another.  And until the barrier is dealt with, is removed, covered over or goes away, their relationship is strained and or broken. 

Today we are going to look at a biblical text where not one but TWO barriers are removed.  A cultural barrier and a spiritual barrier.  This text helps us to understand the journey toward being fully forgiven and fully restored to right relationship and should serve as a bit of a model for us to live into and learn from as we see four phases of full forgiveness.  Let’s dig in, shall we?

Turn with me in your Bibles or on your devise to Acts 10.  The book of Acts is the account of the spread of the good News out from the earliest group of Christ followers in Judea to the very edges of the ancient Mediterranean world.  It’s part travel log, part sermons, part mission manual – all good stuff. 

Acts 10 begins with the story of a man named Cornelius.  Let’s pick up his story in acts 10:1 – “In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer[a] named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God.”

Let’s pause here for a moment.  The introduction of this Cornelius character would have been very exciting to the readers of the original narrative.  Roman centurions had a lot of status in the ancient world and so they would have been immediately impressed by him.  And the author of acts, a medical doctor by the name of Luke, takes care to note a few unique features about this Cornelius guy.  First of all, he is a devout, God-fearing man.  Luke avoids the use of the word God-fearer, which is a more technical term for someone who is already in a personal relationship with the Creator).  He is God-fearing – in other words, he is a spiritually curious individual. 

Maybe you find yourself in that category and that’s why you have joined us in this space.  You may believe that a god exists. You may believe that god can be interacted with. Cornelius believed those things. He is monotheistic (worships one God).  He prays.  He does good deeds.  There is lots to love about this guy.

BUT there is a problem.  Actually, two problems.  The first one is that Cornelius is not religious enough to be welcomed in by pious Jews.  He is spiritual but he can’t be religious.  There is a barrier that is up for him culturally. He doesn’t’ follow the Jewish food laws.  He is not following God in the “right” way to be welcomed into the synagogue.    

And the second thing we learn later on in Acts 11:14, is that there is a barrier spiritually for him as well.  He has turned away from some things, but he has yet to fully turn toward the living God.  Part of this is that he just doesn’t yet know how.  He has yet to hear the good news.  But God is about to change all of that by God’s grace.  Let’s keep reading. 

Acts 10:3-6 “One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said. 4 Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! 5 Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.”

Cornelius’ daytime vision of an angelic messenger highlights for us what might be called the “more light” principle.  The question often gets asked “what will God do about those people who are devout, maybe they pray and maybe they are monotheistic, meaning they worship one God.  What is God’s response to those kinds of people? 

Commentator William Larkin Jr. says it this way: “Cornelius has responded in faith and obedience to the "light" he has received, as evidenced by his piety. He fears the one true God, prays to him regularly and acts in love to the needy among God's people. Such obedience is not a "works righteousness" that earns salvation. This we can see by God's response. He does not declare Cornelius saved. Rather, he grants him "more light" by which he and his household may be saved. God's response is embodied in a command to send for the messenger who carries the gospel, the essential "more light".

The better question about “what about those who do not have all the light we have” is the question that needs to drive our actions and thinking is this “What have we done with the light we have received?”  This is one of the reasons we are so committed here at Jericho to global mission work.  We have people like Steve and Ali Nicole who are working with CanIl to equip and train works for global Bible translation so that more light can come to the heart languages of people all over the world who have yet to hear good news in their own languages. 

Cornelius had received some light.  He was open to more light.  And so God in God’s mercy, sends him an angelic messenger and then invites him to act to send for a human messenger, a guy named Peter who is in a city around 30 miles to the south.  

10:7 “As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. 8 He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.” 

We’re going to jump over Peter’s angelic vision but suffice to say it is a powerful text and would be fruitful reading for you outside of our time together.  But we’ll pick up the narrative again in 10:29 – Peter arrives and asks “why did you send for me?”  Cornelius relates his vision and says in verse 33 “So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.”

Let’s pause here for another moment and assess the situation.  Peter, a devout Jew, has gone against all of his instincts and his cultural and religious conditioning to come to Cornelius’s home.  It isn’t technically against any Old Testament laws, but it is very much forbidden by the rabbis who were responsible to interpret Divine revelation.  So even entering Cornelius’ home is going to get Peter into DEEP trouble.  He is crossing a barrier that is almost unthinkable.  I think this is why he brings 6 witnesses – he knows he will need some back up if this stunt gets back to head office in Jerusalem. 

And yet as he starts into his speech in verse 34, he begins to get clarity as to what God might be up to: bringing forgiveness to those who need it.

10;34 - Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

“And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross,[c] 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public,[d] but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

This is the heart of the message we call the gospel – the good news.  That there is forgiveness of sins.  The barrier removed between God and humanity, not just in a general way, but in a very personal, very specific way.  I don’t know how you experienced this in your faith journey but the notion that you could have a clean slate, To know that you do not have to live under the weight of wrong things done.  To be confident that you are fully forgiven!  What a precious and wonderful gift!  If you have yet to receive that gift, friend, today is your day.  Reach out and in you are attending Church Online platform, raise your hand to indicate that you want to say yes to Jesus.  If you are watching non live or on our YouTube channel, reach out and email me and I would love to connect with you and help you take the next step on your journey with Jesus. 

The phrase that Peter uses here is a powerful one – God shows no favoritism.  This comes from an ancient near eastern practice that still occurs in some parts of the world to this day.     

If you are in a setting where you are meeting a person who is socially  superior to you, often you lowered the face or you actually bow down and sink to the earth. If the person you encounter raised the face of the greeter, it was a sign of recognition and esteem.  I know that when we go to Tanzania, we encounter this all the time.  The kids that we work with who have albinism, a genetic condition, have been told they are worthless.  So they reflectively look down.  Over the past decade, I cannot count how many times I have gently and loving taken a child’s chin in my hands, raised their eyes to meet mine and gently told them “you are loved, you are safe. There is no barrier here in our relationship.”  It’s a powerful moment.

Peter applies this character quality to God's dealing with persons from every nation (ethnos) – every racial, ethnic or cultural grouping. Peter says that persons in every ethnos who fear God and do right are acceptable, welcome, by God.  Their faces are gently and lovingly raised to look into the eyes of their Creator who welcomes them. 

Now, some take this verse to mean that God welcomes all and that no further action is required.  A kind of Christian universalism.  But one clue that that doesn’t allow us to divorce this verse from its context is found in the next chapter – Acts 11:14 where Peter, when he is recounting the events of that short term cross cultural service and learning trip, says that he still had to go and tell Cornelius and everyone is Cornelius’ household “how they could be saved.”  In other words, the light they had was good, but not sufficient.  The piety (being a good person, doing good deeds like giving to the poor), and praying was not enough for Cornelius and, friend, it is not enough for you either.  Full forgiveness is available, but being a good person is not the pathway that leads to that destination.  There is more light to encounter. 

See how Peter phrases this at the end of his sermon – that God appointed Jesus to be the just judge of all, the living and the dead, and that an action is required on your part and my part.  We need not only to turn away from things but also turn toward something, or rather, someone. 

Otherwise we are not fully forgiven.  Think about it this way – sometimes I am online shopping, and I put something in my cart.  I’ve not purchased it yet, I’m in the process of doing that, but until I complete the transaction, it isn’t coming my way.  The same thing is true with respect to forgiveness.  We can stop being an idiot, but until we start thinking about taking down the wall or barrier that our actions and attitudes have put up, then we have not fully lived into the forgiveness that is offered. 

Cornelius had made his first steps toward repentance 9turning away from idols, believing in god’s existence).  He had even started turning toward God (seeking to talk to God via prayer, seeking to please God with his financial resources like Peter talked about last weekend, giving to the poor).  But he still has not fully tended to the part about Jesus the righteous judge of all of those who have lived, are living and will live.  This is mentioned in every sermon in the book of Acts – that there is coming a day when God will deal justly with the world and with you and with me.    

Peter gives the answer to this dilemma in his sermon / history lesson / personal experience testimony – that within the framework of a particular people group, the ancient Hebrew people, that God sent a message of peace & forgiveness.  This was accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of the second person of the Triune God, Jesus of Nazareth.  But the radical nature of this message was that the forgiveness offered was not only for one nation.  It was good news of great joy which shall be for all people. 

Jesus “is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.” (10:43). 

As we conclude our teaching time together, friends, let me summarize in four steps how full forgiveness came into the life of Corneius and can or perhaps has come into your life as well. 

Step 1 - Turn away from what is wrong – stop doing things that harm yourself, others, and put up barriers.  The Bible calls this sin.  It is missing the mark, taking a wrong turn.  Living out of alignment with God’s vision for wholeness and human flourishing.    

Step 2 – Turn toward what is right – Cornelius began to embrace a life of generosity, one of our core values here at Jericho.  He was prayerful, devout.  But even this was not enough.

Step 3 – he needed to open his eears to hear the message about Jesus. Romans 10:14 says “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”   People need to hear in order to respond.  That is why we believe here at Jericho in the preaching of God’s word. 

Step 4 – Cornelius needed to open his heart to believe in, to trust in, Jesus.  You and I can say all kids of things, but when believe something is true, we act in congruence with that belief. I believe that this table will support me, your chair will support you, so you sit down.  That is what this text is inviting us to remember – that belief is living in congruence with what we say.

So let me ask you, friend.  Where are you at on this journey?  Perhaps you are a seeker – wondering if this whole Jesus thing has any merit to it.  You are welcome here.  But know that our invitation to you is not merely to a warm group of people, it is to a transformative encounter to the living God.   Maybe you are currently living under the weight of sin and shame.  Feeling that something you have down has put a barrier between you and God.  Friend, take the response time to confess that and invite God’s forgiveness to again flood your heart and life. 

Maybe you have been walking this road for a long, long time.  You begin to forget what that weight reels like.  Invite God to open your eyes so you can see people around you who might look like they have it all together on the outside but who are struggling under the burden of guilt, shame.  Ask God to gran you the spiritual insight and boldness to gently take their head and lift it up and point them to Jesus.  Invite them to join us here online.  Invite them to talk to and with you about how they are doing in this season.  Be a good news kind of person this week.

We are going to move into a time of responding to God in worship in song.  The words to these songs speak of the saving work of Jesus to lift every burden cleans every stain.  Receive the assurance of forgiveness and grace and sing with hearts filled with gratitude for the amazing gift of being fully forgiven. 

Benediction:

At the end of the story, Cornelius and his entire household are filled with the Holy Spirit of God.  One of the natural outcomes of this is that they spend time praising and thanking God.   The experience of salvation always evokes praise to the Giver of the good gift of forgiveness.  So let me challenge you – as you go into your week, make a habit of praising and thanking God.  Make this your spiritual practice assignment this week –

find one thing that God has done or is doing and praise and thank God for that.  Name it.  Speak it out.  Maybe you do this around your dinner table.  Maybe you journal about it.  Maybe you sing a song about it.  Whatever or however you do it, it will be your reminder that every Good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from a God who loves you and who desires to lift up your head, to remind you that you are forgiven, that you are welcomed and that you are loved.

We’ll see you next week, friend, in this space where we will explore the practice of repentance and confession and we will celebrate communion together.