JEWELS FROM SUNDAY SCHOOL – Acts 15:9

JEWELS FROM SUNDAY SCHOOL

Explore the Bible Curriculum – Winter 2017/2018

Session 3 – p.31

Reflect on Acts 15:9

Acts 15:9 (KJV) And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Acts 15:9 (NIV) NIV He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

Susie: Peter had just described that the Lord called him to witness to a Roman soldier named Cornelius, a gentile, and his entire household. Upon their surrender to the gospel message, the Lord filled them with His Holy Spirit just as He had the Jewish believers. His point here was that God did not treat the Gentile believers differently, as another translation puts it, He made “no distinction” between Jewish and Gentile believers. They were equal. I thought to myself, do we discriminate or see other believers as different? Do we see black believers differently than white? Poor differently than middle class? Well-dressed differently than those in shorts and a T-shirt? Those who lift their hands differently than those who bow their heads? Susan has yet another perspective.

Susan: God made clear to me that there was no distinction between able-bodied people and those with physical challenges. I was complaining to God about being stuck in the limitations of my earth-suit and that people who did not have an earth-suit like mine seemed to have it so much easier and were so much further ahead of me in their careers. The Lord said that no physically sound person or physically challenged person were ahead or behind one another from God’s perspective. He told me that the fact of the matter was that neither the most elite athlete nor the most profoundly physically challenged person were fit for Heaven in their current earth-suit. They were fit for earth and earth only. I had to shut my mouth and say, “Yes, Sir.” However, it is still difficult at times to remember that there is no inequality the able-bodied person and myself as far as the Lord God is concerned.

In light of this verse, are there attitudes we need to change in order to more effectively present the gospel message and reflect the love of Jesus in our worship services or in our day to day lives?