How are American Christians called to treat those who belong to different cultures? As people from all over the world continue to stream to our shores in huge numbers, this is not merely an academic question. Should we retreat into our holy huddles, as the Church seems to be all too fond of doing, and just surround ourselves with people who already agree with us?

No, today’s passage clearly demonstrates that Christians are called to welcome everyone, regardless of their ancestry. In verse 34, Peter says that God shows no partiality toward any certain ethnic group – and this was quite an amazing statement for a Jew to say to a group of Gentiles. Instead, Peter insists that God accepts people from every nation. God is no racist, and none of His followers thus have any room to imagine that anyone is superior just because of his particular ethnic background.

But at the same time, Peter insists that God is not a multiculturalist, believing that all cultures are somehow equally valid. The word culture, after all, is closely related to the world cult, and so it should come as no surprise that the hallmark of any culture is the unique mixture of things that a particular group of people value. We might say, for example, that modern Mississippi culture is marked by those who value college football and fried food, while those from other parts of the country might value soccer and sushi. We all tend to form clusters of people who share our habits and values, and that’s really all a culture is.

So, if the Christian faith treats all ethnic groups as equal, it does not say that all things are equally worthy of our time, attention, and praise, no matter how many people might think those things are important. That’s why the lion’s share of Peter’s message to the Gentiles doesn’t focus on the particular folkways that separated Jews from Gentiles – circumcision, avoiding certain foods, and participating in certain rituals. Instead, Peter talks about the only One Who is worthy of our time, attention, and praise – Jesus.

For, as Peter says in verse 43, it is only those who believe in the crucified Christ, trusting in Him as Savior that can receive forgiveness of sins. It is only those who bow the knee to the risen Christ as Lord who will be saved on the day that He returns to judge the living and the dead, as verse 42 says. In other words, if the good news is that salvation is open to everyone regardless of ancestry, salvation only comes to those who abandon whatever it is that their culture used to value and worship Jesus alone.

So, how should we American Christians treat people of different cultures all around us? Instead of avoiding them or looking down on them for their strange ways, let’s respect them and welcome them, just as God has welcomed all of us. But at the same time, let’s seek to bring them into the only culture that will last forever, the group of people who acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the only Savior of sinners, the culture that expresses itself in obedience to God and loving welcome of others.

Acts 10:34-43 (ESV)

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,
40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear,
41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”