No Favorites

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  January 8, 2023

Click here to listen to the service 
  
Read Acts 10:34 – 43 (NIV)
 
What a week this has been… and keep in mind, it is only the first week of the New Year… who knows what the other fifty-one weeks will bring.
 
But one thing is for sure, God is already in each and every one of the weeks to come… and that gives us a reason to have hope.
 
Now, there were two stories in particular that captured the headlines this past week.  One was about the chaos and confusion taking place in the nation’s halls of Congress.  The other was about the power of prayer that was displayed starting from a football field right here in Ohio at Bengals Stadium that quickly spread across the country… if not around the world.
 
Presuming none of us have had our heads buried in the sand, we have likely heard the news stories about what took place in the history making fight for the coveted position of Speaker of the House… the consequences of which remain to be seen and will undoubtedly unfold in the days, weeks, months, and even years ahead. 
 
But as disconcerting as it may have been to watch elected officials battling back and forth (both literally and figuratively) … showing blatant disrespect for one another and for the country as a whole… what should still give us hope is what else was taking place this week.
 
During the Monday night football game, Ron mentioned that a player had gone down in the first quarter of the game.  At the time, I must admit, I was paying little attention and did not realize the severity of what had happened… however, as the evening progressed, there were news stories and social media posts that made it quite evident just how precarious the situation was for Damar Hamlin… the Buffalo Bills’ safety who went into cardiac arrest after tackling Cincinnati Bengals player, Tee Higgins.
 
I do not know of another time in recent history when I have seen so many prayer requests being posted on every social media platform… and I cannot recall a time when a sports anchor actually stopped in the middle of a program that was being aired live on TV and prayed out loud… but it happened. 
 
And for those who may not have heard, those prayers are being answered in mighty and miraculous ways… Damar Hamlin is awake and breathing on his own with his neurological function intact… he is even putting his own posts out on social media to thank everyone for their love, prayers, and support.
 
What a MIGHTY GOD we serve! 
 
There is no doubt in my mind that what we witnessed was scripture being lived out in real time… for it is in James 5:15 that we read, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up…” And in verse 16 we read, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
 
We saw firsthand what it means to have NO FAVORITES when it comes to God and the people of God… because what played out before our eyes was people letting go of the divisions between themselves as we watched players from opposing teams surround Damar Hamlin on that field… linking arms in prayer and protecting their fallen brother from the peering eyes of spectators in the stands and television cameras on the sidelines.
 
We saw various cities across the country lighting up buildings with Bills Blue in a show of solidarity and support that some have compared to what happened in the wake of 9/11.
 
People seemed to drop all allegiance and loyalty to anything and everything except God… the One true God… who our text tells us has NO FAVORITES.
 
If only our elected officials had been paying attention…
 
But to be totally honest, it is not only politicians who play favorites… even in the church [not Ledgewood of course but the wider church] … people have been known to show favoritism… to take sides and create scenarios and situations that lead to unnecessary, and unhealthy, competition.
 
In an excerpt from the book, “No Wonder they Call Him the Savior,” author Max Lucado describes what took place when the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ possessions and then writes:

I’m thinking that we aren’t so unlike those soldiers.  (I’m sorry to say.) 

We, too, play games at the foot of the cross.  We compete for members.  We scramble for status.  We deal our judgments and condemnations.  Competition.  Selfishness.  Personal gain.  It’s all there.  We don’t like what the other did so we take the sandal we won and walk away in a huff.

So close to the timbers yet so far from the blood.

We are so close to the world’s most uncommon event, but we act like common crapshooters huddled in bickering groups and fighting over silly opinions.

… So close to the cross but so far from the Christ.

We specialize in “I am right” rallies. We write books about what the other does wrong.  We major in finding gossip and become experts in unveiling weaknesses.  We split into little huddles and then, God forbid, we split again.

Are our differences that divisive?  Are our opinions that obtrusive?  Are our walls that wide?  Is it that impossible to find a common cause?

“May they all be one,” Jesus prayed.

One.  Not one in groups of two thousand.  But one in One.  One church.  One faith. One Lord.  Not Baptist, not Methodist, not Adventist.  Just Christian.  No denominations.  No hierarchies.  No traditions.  Just Christ.

(As cited in The Inspirational Bible, 1995, p. 1256-1257)
 
And given the current climate in our country, I might even add… no political affiliations, just Jesus.
 
You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would think that Max Lucado was a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) … [although, as it turns out, he is a pastor of Oak Hill Church which is part of the Church of Christ that also has its roots in the Stone Campbell movement.]
 
Now, the fact of the matter is that Christ had NO FAVORITES.  He gave His life for us all… and His prayer as Lucado points out is that we would all be one.
 
It is in John 17 (20-23) that we find these words of Jesus:
 
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
  
That means that all of the divisions and in-fighting we see happening in the world around us is not of God… and actually, based on our New Testament lesson this morning, it is not new. 
 
As one Bible commentary explains:
 
Perhaps the greatest barrier to the spread of the gospel in the first century was the Jewish-Gentile conflict.  Most of the early believers were Jewish, and they thought it scandalous even to think of associating with Gentiles.  But God told Peter to take the Gospel to a Roman, and Peter obeyed despite his background and personal feelings… God was making it clear that the Good News of Christ is for everyone!  We should not allow any barrier – language, culture, race, geography, economic level, or educational level – to keep us from telling others about Christ.  (The Life Application Study Bible, 2005, p. 1828)
 
Now, in the verses leading up to today’s text, Peter had been given a vision… and the message delivered through that vision was that he not call anything unclean or impure that God has made clean… and while Peter’s vision involved various animals that he was told to kill and eat… what the Lord was actually calling attention to was Peter’s unwillingness to associate with Gentiles based on his Jewish background.
 
However, as we take a closer look at the text, we see that Peter had a change of heart… he had a revelation that God plays NO FAVORITES.  And as a result, he understood that the Good News about Jesus’ birth, death, burial, and resurrection is not about exclusion… but inclusion.
 
It is a story that is meant to be shared with all who will listen… that they, too, will come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God… that they will know the truth… and the truth will set them free… that through Jesus (the way, the truth, and the life) we have all been given the gift of grace and the forgiveness of our sins so that we can spend eternity with Him.
 
What is critical to point out here, is that this truth is not something that any of us have the liberty of only sharing with the people we like… or the people who look like us or act like us or think like us or even vote like us. 
 
The truth about Jesus is for all of us … because He has NO FAVORITES.
 
Christ gave His life that “WHOEVER believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16b).  and that word “whoever” equates to there being NO FAVORITES.
 
And just in case we need further confirmation that God plays NO FAVORITES, in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (2:9 – 11), he writes:
 
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” 
 
While in his letter to the Galatians (2:6 – 7), he writes:
 
As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message.  On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
 
But it is not simply enough to know that God plays NO FAVORITES, we are called to do likewise. 
 
As James, the brother of Jesus tells us:
 
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.  If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?   Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?  But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?  Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?   If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers (James 2:1 – 9).
 
When we lose sight of Christ’s command to love God and ALL the people of God, we are essentially playing favorites and that is not what we have been called to do.  We have been called to love just as God through Jesus Christ has loved us… completely and unconditionally ( period… full stop).
 
As we read in the Gospel of John (15:12 – 17), Jesus said:
 
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
 
And at the end of the day, that is what it all boils down to… love… Love for God and love for one another… with NO FAVORITES.
 
But perhaps we might consider that we are ALL God’s favorites because He has showered each one of us with His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness, and most of all His love.
 
Love that went all the way to Calvary that we might be friends of Jesus forever.  And with that thought in mind, let us stand now and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: What A Friend We Have in Jesus #585.
 

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