Free Access

The gospel of Jesus Christ is personal. If you have not yet realized that fact, then I'd like you to see it this morning. If you have recognized that truth somewhere along the way, please don't ever lose sight of it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is personal.

On this occasion, Peter had been summoned into this living room for the purpose of preaching that gospel. The audience was a God-fearing Gentile man named Cornelius, along with his family and the members of his extended household. God was eager for Cornelius and his clan to hear the good news about Jesus, and so, with the help of an angel visitation in one place and a vision in another, the Lord orchestrated this face-to-face meeting between Peter and Cornelius.

Already, before any preaching takes place, we observe this first bit of evidence that this is a personal event. For God himself, you see, had personally arranged it. He had taken care of all the necessary details in order to guarantee that Peter and Cornelius would meet so that Cornelius could hear the gospel.

You and I know that experience: that rear-view-mirror realization of God's activity in our lives. We look back on significant times and occasions, and we recognize his guiding hand, his provident care, making it all come together. We remember settings where we heard a preacher or teacher addressing a whole audience, but it was apparent that he or she was speaking directly to us. We knew that God was kindly, purposefully, and personally behind it all.

So it was for Cornelius. God personally arranged for all the pieces to be in place for this pivotal event in Cornelius' life.

Meanwhile, we observe another way in which the gospel is personal: God uses people to communicate it. This is particularly striking on this occasion, for we observe that God had also employed an angel and a vision. Yet those were his instruments for bringing the people together, not for proclaiming the good news. The vision prepared Peter to go to Cornelius' house, and the angel alerted Cornelius to the location of Peter. But the angel was not the one to proclaim the gospel to Cornelius. No, the angel was only sent to refer Cornelius to another person, to Peter.

We are reminded, at this juncture, of the conversion of the apostle Paul. The risen Lord himself had appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, and yet it was still essential for Paul to be put in touch with another person -- a believer named Ananias there in Damascus -- in order for God's whole will to be done in Paul's life.

Here, in our story, Peter was the person selected for the assignment. He arrives at the home of Cornelius in order to share with him and his household the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we heard Peter's words in the scripture reading from the New Testament book of Acts.

As we listen to Peter's message, we are struck again by how very personal it is. That is to say, it is a message filled with people and relationships. Peter is not presenting Cornelius with a detached and theoretical philosophy. He is not speaking in vague, impersonal terms about truth, knowledge, and wisdom. Rather, Peter is telling a story -- a personal story.

We get some measure of how person-filled Peter's message is by the preponderance of personal pronouns. In the nine verses of my English translation (NRSV), I count more than twenty different uses of personal pronouns. He, we, they, and you: These are the characters in the story -- the gospel story -- that Peter shared in Cornelius' living room.

The first, the most frequent, and the most important of the pronouns is "him." The dozen or so references to "he," "his," and "him" in this passage are all references to the Lord. First, to God the Father, and then to Jesus, his Son. That is truly where the gospel begins: with God and with his Son.

As we hear Peter's message, we are blessed by the good news of what "he" did and does.

First, he shows no partiality. That should not surprise us, of course, since we understand and affirm that he is the creator and father of all humankind. Still, because partiality is so much a part of our experience in our human relationships, we may tend to project the same dynamics onto God's relationship with us. And, too, Peter and his first companions in the faith were coming out of a paradigm that presumed a certain favoritism on God's part. But the declaration that God shows no partiality is the first bit of very good news for Cornelius and for us.

Next we hear that God sent a message to the people of Israel and that Jesus Christ was both the subject and agent of that message. He is the one anointed and ordained by God. He is the one who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed. He is the one who was put to death, but who rose again. He is the one proclaimed by the prophets who preceded him and by the apostles who followed him. He is the one through whom we receive forgiveness of sins. The good news, you see, is all about a person: It's all about him.

Meanwhile, Peter makes several references to "we" and "us." With these pronouns, of course, he is referring to himself and to the other apostles who had been eyewitnesses of Jesus' earthly work and his resurrection. "We" ate and drank with Jesus, and Jesus commanded "us" to go and proclaim the person and work of Christ.

Here, you see, is yet another personal layer of the gospel. The message does not consist merely of some rules for living handed down from on high. It is not dogmatic creedal statements to be memorized and recited. Rather, the gospel message is, first and foremost, personal testimony. It is born out of personal experience, that is, experience with a person (Jesus), told by people (his followers), to other people (Cornelius, and to the ends of the earth).

Then, in the midst of Peter's message, we find one reference to "they." "They put him to death," Peter reports, "by hanging him on a tree" (v. 39). The use of the third-person suggests someone who is not there. "They" is someone other than the one speaking or the ones being spoken to.

It is noteworthy how little attention "they" receive. Though their actions were pivotal, "they" are not central. And that in itself is a testimony to the providence and victory of God. After all, if you look at their names and titles -- the chief priests and scribes, the Pharisees and Sadducees, Herod and Pilate -- "they" were the people in power, "they" were the people of importance. Yet "they" are reduced to a single quick and unflattering reference in the larger story of God's saving work.

Now you and I rightly own the fact that it was "our" sin -- not someone else's -- for which Christ died. The hard-line reference to what "they" did, therefore, may be somewhat uncomfortable for us. But then we are further removed from the event than Peter was. For us, after all, everyone in the New Testament story is third-person. We are not immediately a part of the story, so everyone in the story is classified as "he," "she," or "they."

However, Peter and the other apostles were in the midst of the story, and for Peter there was a clear distinction between "us" and "them." On this occasion among the Gentiles, we observe, Peter would shed one of his us/them paradigms. But the distinction between those who followed Jesus and those who crucified Jesus remained.

We look back on the cross, and we recognize that it was for the sake and for the sin of all humankind. Yet the event of Christ's crucifixion still reflects a difference between "they" and "we" because it represents two different responses to him. "We" heard his call and followed him. "We" believed, obeyed, and loved. "They," however, opposed and dismissed him. "They" rejected the man and his message. Ultimately, "they" conspired to have him killed.

Yes, he died for us and for them. After all, even as he died on the cross, Jesus prayed that "they" would be forgiven. Still, Peter's use of the first-person and third-person pronouns represents for us the fundamental difference between the people who did respond to Jesus as the Christ and those who did not.

That distinction brings us to the final personal pronoun; the one where the gospel gets really personal: "you." For "you" has the option of aligning with "us" or "them." "You" must respond to Jesus as the Christ or not.

Peter says, "You know the message" (v. 36).

Now let us note that he didn't have to say exactly that. Peter had other equally good options for his opening phrase. He could have said, "Here is the message" or "This is the message." He could have begun with the words of the prophets and the promises of God. He could have told the story entirely from his own vantage point, "I remember the day Jesus called me as I sat with my brother in our boat on the Sea of Galilee." The possibilities are endless, really, yet Peter begins with a pointed reference to his audience: "You know the message."

Actually, it's hard for us to say just how much Cornelius and his companions knew. Perhaps Peter's statement was not meant literally, for he went on to articulate just what that message was. But the fact remains: He begins with "you."

This is the ultimately personal part of the gospel: The part that is addressed to "you." We hear it right from the beginning from the very first evangelists. On Christmas night, the angel over the fields outside of Bethlehem announced this good news: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Most birth announcements simply report the details of the birth -- name, date, size, gender, and such. But the announcement of this birth is personalized: "to you is born."

In the case of our episode from Acts, the "you" was Cornelius and his household. We discover that, in the end, they received the Holy Spirit and were baptized by Peter. "You" responded to the gospel that day.

So it is that, from beginning to end, the gospel of Jesus Christ is personal. It begins with him. It is passed along through us. And it comes to you. What will you do? Amen.