How We Conquer The World - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday Of Easter (May 5, 2024)

Scripture Readings: Acts 10:44–48 | Psalm 98 | 1 John 5:1–6 | John 15:9–17

“Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:5.
 
What are we fighting for? What are we striving for? What purpose are we pursuing?  
 
A lot of folks today see themselves as being at war… and not just those who are in literal battlegrounds like Ukraine Sudan, or Gaza. Alongside, and fueling these armed conflicts are all sorts of other kinds of clashes… wars of words, and ideas, and policies… mixtures of political, cultural, ideological, social, economic, and yes, religious elements, all vying against one another… striving to win the hearts, and minds, and lives of the world… or at least, enough of their corner of the world to make sure that they can get their own way, whatever that may be.
 
And sadly, we know there have been all sorts of ways that Christians have also embraced this combative impulse over the years… turning our faith into just one more weapon to achieve our own goals… and as a powerful tool to demonize those who are different from us.

But we find a completely different vision and approach at work in our Scripture Readings this morning: Not an attempt to force the world to bend to our will… but a willingness to trust Jesus, and to humbly seek to do God’s will in a world that often does not… and in so doing, we are invited to see God’s power at work in ways we might find really hard to imagine.
 
In our first reading today from the book of Acts, we find the tail end of the story of St. Peter and Cornelius… and two very different worlds colliding.
 
St. Peter we know was a descendant of Abraham… an Israelite… from a community set apart centuries earlier by the Living God Himself to share in God’s holy life up close, so that the world might come to know, and trust, and obey God’s ways, and experience the blessings of His steadfast love.
 
But St. Peter was also an Apostle, one of the students of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, who had been charged with a particular mission: to tell the world the Good News of Jesus, and to teach them to live God’s way… trusting, obeying, and following Jesus.
 
St. Peter had shared in Christ’s earthly ministry from the beginning… and had been entrusted with carrying it on… shepherding the early Christian community, and leading the way for the Church as it began to grow.
 
If anyone could be said to be a figure of authority when it comes to the Christian Faith… a champion of the cause and bold advocate for the cause of Christ, surly it would be St. Peter. In him we can see God’s faithful people, those striving to do God’s will.
 
And on the other hand, we have Cornelius: a Roman military officer, stationed in occupied territory… part of the system set up to hold the conquered people of Israel in line at the edge of the sword.
 
Understandably, for most Jews, Roman soldiers were the very embodiment of their oppression. The ones who could not only take away their freedom at a whim, and frequently used violence and fear to get their way… these soldiers were also a grim reminder that Israel’s unique role in God’s story was in real peril.
 
Against all their expectations, Gentile, non-Israelite nations had conquered their people hundreds of years earlier. And although at times they had regained some sense of self-governance, under the Romans this partial and fragile autonomy was hanging by a thread. Many felt vulnerable… resentful… angry… hungry for real freedom, for a renewed sense of communal identity… for restored hopes for their future… for wrongs to be righted, and new life to begin at last.
 
I know there are lots of people in our world today who could identify with the plight of the Israelites who were living under Roman oppression all those years ago… people whose lives have been overthrown, and who live in constant fear, anguish, and bitterness.
 
And there are also lots of people who want to see this kind of oppression come to an end… who are seeking to take action against injustice, and come to the aid of those in need. Fighting and striving to try and make the world a better place.  
 
But as noble as this impulse can be, it can also lead us down the same path towards supporting oppression, and injustice ourselves… seeking to conquer “the evil other side”, and merely taking their place as oppressors instead.
 
And so along with the question “What are we fighting for? What is the goal that we are striving for?”, we also need to be asking “HOW are we striving to achieve the victory we seek??
 
And as I said earlier, our Scripture readings help us envision and imagine another way to “conquer” the world. St. Peter and Cornelius come from two opposite sides of a historic and at times bloody conflict. But as we will see, the Living God is at work in both of their stories… striving to bring about a very different kind of victory… one which we are all invited to fight for in our own lives today.
 
This part of the story begins in Acts Chapter 10, where we are introduced to Cornelius, and quickly discover that any prejudices we might have about Roman soldiers… and anyone for that matter, don’t tell us the whole story. As it turns out, Cornelius was not really a typical Roman soldier. Acts 10:2 describes him as “a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.”
 
This does not mean that Cornelius had officially converted to the Jewish religion… but even though he remained a Gentile outsider, he treated the Israelites around him well, and even gave donations to support those in need. In both his private and public life… his words and deeds, it seems that Cornelius the Roman officer, was striving to serve the will of Yahweh, the Living God.
 
And God takes notice. God sends and angel to Cornelius with a message… to send for a man named Simon Peter, in a nearby town, and listen to what Peter has to say. So Cornelius obeys, and sends his own messengers to go find Peter, and invite him to come and speak with him.
 
Or course Peter would not likely have been all that eager to go visit a Gentile Roman officer… even a “good one”. Not only was there the whole Israelite-Gentile divide we already talked about, but remember… not that long ago, Peter had seen his Master Jesus arrested, and put to death by Roman soldiers. Peter had lots of reasons to see Cornelius as the enemy of his people, and of God’s work in the world.
 
But of course, God knows all this too. And so God sends Peter a message… a vision that convinces him to set aside his prejudices, and to go with the Gentile messengers. St. Peter obeys God, and goes to visit Cornelius.
 
And when he arrives, he learns something vital not just for Peter, but for all of us Christians today. Acts 10:34-35, /
“Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
 
Think about that for a second. No partiality. No distinction. It dawns on Peter that God is fighting not just to rescue Israel… but to reach out to rescue people from every nation that fear Him and do what is right. That is, who have their hearts and lives in line with Him. What does that look like? Let’s keep reading.
 
Acts 36:43, “You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
 
St. Peter tells Cornelius the Gospel, the Good News of who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done… and for the first time, it occurs to Peter, that this Good News is meant for people like Cornelius… Gentile Roman soldiers… just as much as it is meant for his own people.
 
And this is the explosive truth that has been driving the Church’s mission forward for over two thousand years: the Good News of Jesus is not about one side coming out on top, and crushing the other side… it’s not about retribution, or revenge… but about reconciliation… about the forgiveness of sins on all sides… the repairing of the wounds tearing humanity apart in so many ways… it’s about the love of the Living God made know to us in the crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is the one who will judge righteously, and sort out all of the messes we have made of God’s good world.
 
And this is where we come to our reading today. Cornelius believes the Good News of Jesus, and suddenly the Holy Spirit of God shows up, filling up all these Gentiles, just as He had filled up the Apostles at Pentecost. No partiality, no distinction made between people like Peter and Cornelius. God Himself is fighting to bring everyone… everyone… back into His loving arms.
 
And this is what we Christians are supposed to be fighting for… and striving for… the Good News that in Jesus Christ the crucified and Risen Lord, the Living God is truly saving our world.
 
How do we strive or fight for this Good News? Not with the sword and violent force. Not by grasping after political influence and authority. Not by vilifying those who are different, and fueling prejudice, hatred, and the evils we see around us, like many do in the name of Christianity… but by faith. Trust in Jesus… living our lives in the light of who He is, and in what He has done for us all, is how we fight for the Good News… and strive to serve God’s Kingdom.
 
N.T. Wright puts it well, reminding us that the decisive battle has already been won for us: “The victory that conquers the world is the saving death of Jesus. And those who by faith cling on to the God who is made known personally in and as the Jesus who died on the cross—they share that victory, that conquest of ‘the world’.”[1]

​We fight for the Good News by trusting Jesus, and doing what He taught us to do through His words and through His life… resisting the impulses to demonize those who are different… or simply seeking after our own desires… we fight for the Good News by loving one another, by loving our neighbours… and even our enemies… the way that Christ Jesus first loved us.
 
Turning again to our Gospel reading this morning, let us hear again the words of our Risen Lord:
 
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (John 15:9-17).
 
Christ has no secret agenda, or hidden battle plan. We know what our Master is doing: saving God’s world through love… /and He calls you and I to trust Him, and to join Him in this good fight through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us who believe and obey Him.
 
Love one another. This is the fight we are in. And in Jesus Christ, this is the fight we will win. Love one another. Not just when it’s easy. Or when we feel like it. Love one another as Jesus loves us… laying down His life even for His enemies to transform us all into His family.
 
Again, N.T. Wright says it well: “No other god, no other power, no other being in all the world loves like this, gives like this, dies like this. All others win victories by fighting; this one, by suffering. All other gods exercise power by killing; this one, by dying.”[2]
 
This is how we Christians are able to “conquer” the world: through faith in Jesus Christ… trusting and following Him as He defeats darkness with light, evil with goodness, lies with the truth, fear and prejudice and hatred with self-giving love.
 
St. Peter and Cornelius, as different as they may have been, were brought together by the love of God… tearing down the many barriers that stood between them. Cornelius and his family received the same Holy Spirit, and so they are baptized… leaving their old lives behind to share in Jesus’ life and story… and welcomed into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. 
 
How might the love of God be at work breaking down the barriers in our lives today? Who might the Lord be asking us to share His love with in our words and actions? What ways of fighting and striving might the Holy Spirit be calling us to let go of today? How can we support one another, as we place our trust in the Good News of Jesus together? Amen.


[1] Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 164.

[2] Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 165.