| Introduction Let me start today by quoting somebody who I have only quoted once before. "There was a time when the Church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society…. But the judgment of God is upon the Church as never before. If the Church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early Church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century." Martin Luther king, Jr. in Letter from Birmingham City Jail Dr. King wrote these words in the context of racism. Earlier in the same letter he said: "In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sideline and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, 'Those are social issues with which the Gospel has no real concern.'" Martin Luther King, Jr. Whether Dr. King's assessment was based on reality, we must be convinced that the Gospel does affect how we think about in general, including social issues. Believing in the Gospel changes and shapes how we think and act toward issues that may be offensive to those around us or even to the Church. The issue of racism is one that conservative, Reformed churches are generally uncomfortable with. One of the reasons for that is that we have failed to think through it well. I. Some Seemingly Random Statements about Gospel's Power to Change Every Culture. A. The most offensive idea we have to offer to the world is the Gospel itself. "The good news that the just and gracious Creator of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful men and women and has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear his wrath against sin on the cross and to show his power over sin in the resurrection, so that everyone who turns from their sin and themselves and trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord will be reconciled to God forever." David Platt B. Believing in Jesus as our Savior and Lord should shape the way we think of every social issue: the poor and poverty, abortion, sex trafficking and not least, racism. II. The Human Race – Racism Is NEVER Justifiable. A. We live in a culture where we are constantly submerged in discussions about race and racism. B. But perhaps the whole discussion about race and racism has been grossly misdefined is terms of biological differences. C. Consider the starting point in the Gospel for so many social issues: God created man and woman in his image with equal dignity before him. Gen. 1:27 – So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 1. This means that no human being is more or less human than another. a. It is the lack of trust in this Gospel truth that has led to indescribable horrors in human history: slavery in the Americas, the Holocaust in Germany, the Armenian massacre in Turkey, the genocide in Rwanda, the Japanese slaughter of six million Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, and Filipinos. "The good news that the just and gracious Creator of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful men and women and has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear his wrath against sin on the cross and to show his power over sin in the resurrection, so that everyone who turns from their sin and themselves and trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord will be reconciled to God forever." David Platt b. All these were derived from the Satanic deception of leaders and citizens who believed that they were intrinsically superior to other types of people. 2. Genesis 1 lays the foundation that all men and women were created in the image of God and Genesis 10 expands on it telling us that after the fall and the flood, people were divided. Gen. 10:31-32 – These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations. These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. a. The history of division (geographical) is important because it traces all of human ancestry to one family – Noah and his sons – who trace their ancestry back to one couple – Adam and Eve. b. The apostle picks up on this theme as preaches the Gospel to the philosophers in Athens. Acts 17:26 – And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings…. c. Therefore, the Bible storyline portrays a basic unity behind all the diversity that we find in the world. 1) From the beginning, God designed a human family that would originate from one father and one mother. 2) From that common ancestry would come a diverse catalogue of families dwelling in distant lands and developing new nations. 3. All this being true, then, the entirety of the human genome with all the different characteristics as skin color, hair texture, etc. was contained in Adam and Eve. a. It is unlikely that Adam and Eve looked as white as portrayed in most Western Sunday school materials. b. It is more likely that they exhibit the dominant genetic characteristics of dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair, etc. D. God does not equate membership in the human race with skin color – Dread Scott Decision affirming that a black slave was only 3/5 of a person (1857). E. The Bible reminds us that regardless of the color our skin, we all have the same roots. 1. We are fundamentally part of the same race and in need of the same Gospel. 2. That's why the discussion of race and racism has been grossly misdefined. III. A Gospel-less Starting Point. A. The category of "race" as we commonly use it is unhelpful because it locates identity in physical appearance – you are black, I am white. 1. These statements carry with them a whole host of stereotypes and assumptions that are based squarely upon very superficial attributes. 2. Simply because of skin color or hair texture, we instinctively make some assumptions about others, either positive or positive (usually negative if person different than us). B. The category of "race" becomes extremely unhelpful when someone doesn't neatly fit into color classifications. 1. Have you noticed how the recent policy controversies have been framed in terms of color? All about white police shooting black men (as long as the discussion is framed this way, there will be no solution). 2. Is skin color in and of itself what makes people different from each other? Is there a better way to think of the diversity that God created than in terms of physical characteristics? A. The Bible grounds our understanding of human diversity in God himself. Acts 17:26 – And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings…. B. So, when we think of our differences in terms of ethnicity rather than just physical differences, we come much closer to thinking about human diversity as God intended it. C. Heaven is described as an ethnically diverse place. Rev. 7:9-10 – After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" D. Ethnicity factors in social, cultural, lingual, historical, and even religious characteristics. 1. There are about 200 nations commonly recognized. 2. There are between 11,000 and 16,000 distinct ethnolinguistic groups in the world – people groups. 3. All the people in these groups were made in God's image. V. What the Gospel Makes Possible. A. After the nations rebel against God at Babel in Genesis 11, God calls one man, who will become one people group, to be his own. Gen. 12:1 – Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you." B. But the purpose of calling this one people group to a special relationship with him was to bless the nations – ethnos. Gen. 12:2-3 – I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. C. The separation between the people groups that happened at the tower of Babel is undone by the Gospel at Pentecost. Gen. 11:5-9 – But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. Acts 2:5-12 – And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" D. The Great Commission itself should drive us to think rightly all of all peoples. Mt. 28:19-20 – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Lk. 24:46-48 – Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things."
There is really one race, the human race, in its a God-created, but sin-corrupted diversity. There isn't one single human who is superior in essence and worth from the rest. To be racist is to attack humanity as created by God and it is a great sin against God. Ultimately, the solution for the rift and problems caused by frame this whole issue in terms race is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He will bring the nations together.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2020/06/unity-in-diversity-acts-1726.html
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