A vague God is only vaguely good.

• Devout--sole minded, religious

• Feared God--the command throughout the OT for proper relationship

• with all his household--a good father & husband

• Gave alms--cared for the poor (the command throughout OT for proper relationship with humans

• Prayed continually--the habit of the righteous

• Respected--a quality of integrity

Many of these qualities are listed in the epistles as prerequisites for leading the church. These are excellent characteristics.

• AA: Higher power who enables

• New Families: moral upbringing

• Patriot: freedom & liberty

• Humanitarian: compassion

• Children: judgment for wrong

• Tragedy: prayers/thoughts

All are kind of 'good.' They achieve or inspire some proper behavior. They are worthwhile for their part. But notice how often they compete against one another: the patriot often condemns those suffering tragedy, the new family protects their children from the people humanitarians try to help, the AA step-walker has no room for the child's conception of a just judge.

A vague God leaves too much open to experience, preference, interpretation, and ultimately leads to war & strife. Witness an interlude of vague...

All vague concepts fall short of our need & design.

(Acts 1.8)

The Gospel offers more than a code for 'doing the right thing,' otherwise Cornelius would have no need for it. Cornelius likely saw how deep his need flowed; outside of the Jewish ethnicity & faith, but knowing the commands of God; understanding his responsibility for leading a cohort of soldiers who carried out unjust judgments; the greatest problem for Cornelius wasn't ethics and moral behavior... his greatest problem was death & decay, following a false King. In church-language we call that Sin and Idolatry. Cornelius was a Roman centurion who could not truly live up to all the good he performed.

Cornelius wasn't the only one who fell short of the glory of God.

Simon the Tanner, who was unfit to join in the most intimate worship settings of the Judaic faith. Who made his living by performing deeds that kept him far from Israel's communal worship. Simon saw death daily, and knew what was coming his way.

The Romans, a nation who disregarded the blessing of Abraham and the records of history that show God's favor upon this people. Who ordered the execution of the GodMan who came to save people from all nations. The Romans revered Caesar as god, and if there were any other god more powerful than him, all their service and sacrifice would be for naught.

The soldiers, a group of the Romans who executed the laws of Roman justice upon the peoples. Who took for their own things not earned, who used fear to cow the people into subjection. The soldiers ruled fiercely, and knew that if their hearts were subjected to the same judgment, they would be destroyed.

And when you and I search our hearts, and follow our desires, what do we find? Do we find only goodness? And if we do, how far does that goodness get us? Sometimes the nicest people are the most lonely, the most knowledgeable are the most doubtful, the most compassionate are the most self-depracating, the most serving are the most broken. And what happens when you and I search our hearts and find not goodness, but badness--evil. We look at the way we respond to our families and cringe; we look at the way we posture ourselves toward the world and feel the guilt of hypocrisy; we look at the way we approach God, and realize we stand condemned before a God who is perfect.

Our need is great.

But fortunately for you and I... God does not leave himself vague. He has revealed himself in an interlude of glory... in the person of Jesus.

God reveals himself in glory, and weaves together the scraps of cloth--the good and the bad--to show us his face more clearly.

• An angel of the Lord--a messenger from another realm, but! he does not recite the Gospel, he points to another human who will take part in the picture

• Simon... in Joppa--where Jonah was; an example of the righteousness Christ, the better prophet, procured in going to a far off country

• Simon... the tanner--who is deemed unclean, receives the recreating and cleansing act of Jesus

• Cornelius, a soldier--grouped with those who put Jesus himself to death, now sends soldiers (whom Peter formerly ran away from), to retrieve & house a man condemned by the State, for the sake of knowing who exactly this God is.

God does not leave us swimming in a sea of uncertainty, of good notions and curious questions... of unfounded ethics or utopian destiny.

He reveals himself in the person of Jesus. The infinite and eternal God comes to the world in the body of a specific man in specific time and place and does specific things, says specific words, and reveals a specific God.

The glory of Jesus accentuates the good and redeems the bad. The one who...

• Shows hospitality... welcomes in the name of Christ

• Offers wisdom... counsels toward righteousness

• Serves... considers it a gift to the greatest servant

• Teaches... points to the glory of Christ

• Gives... gives for the expansion of his name

• Prays... joins in the prayer of the Intercessor