8th Mar 09 - Pastor Sheila McCormack

Sermon Notes 08/03/09
Speaker: Pastor Sheila
Title:
Text: John 5:2-9

Prejudice – prejudgment, making a decision without knowing the facts.
As Christians we must not allow prejudice and discrimination to have a place in our lives.
Examples of prejudice that we may encounter or have:
 Jesus (John 7:52) – Prejudice against His background
 The Samaritan Woman (John 4) – Prejudice against gender and race
 The lame man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5) – Prejudice against disability
Our Lord Jesus didn’t discriminate or succumb to prejudice.

How will we know if we are prejudiced?
 John 4:9 – Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans
 Acts 10:28 – (Peter and Cornelius) Jews didn’t associate with Gentiles or visit the unclean.
Who would you not visit?
 Matt 5:46-47 – Loving only those who love us.
  Am I only mixing with my own kind?
  God is asking us to show love.
God accepts people from every nation and shows no favouritism (Acts 10:34).

How do we deal with prejudice?
Jesus ignored it and carried on with the Father’s work. They tried everything to destabilise Him but He continued to do the Lord’s will.
Forgive them – Jesus did. We have to see past the prejudice and see the person whom God created.
If Jesus felt prejudice, we will also feel it too.

How to deal with people prejudiced against?
We need to reach them, go the extra mile. We have a responsibility to do this. Amos 5:15 says we are to hate evil, love good and establish justice.
We need to treat them as we would like to be treated. Treat them as if they were Jesus.

How do we deal with it when we are prejudiced against others?
We must be honest to recognise it and allow God’s Spirit to purify our hearts (Rom 12:2).
We need to search our hearts because we may not know we are prejudiced.
Do something about it. Address the root cause of our prejudice, we need to change our hearts (Isa 1:16-17).
God bless.