Joining God’s Heart For Racial Justice Series

Joining God’s Heart for Racial Justice

Series: Cracks – Navigating Our Divided Times?

Brad Bailey – March 6, 2022

Note: The following notes are more extensive that time allowed to be fully stated. However, they do provide the full set of points and additional footnotes that were made which I hope may be helpful to others.

Intro

For those like myself... that have only known America primarily from the unique nature of living at the very western edge of the nation... you may not be as familiar with the Southern Baptist Convention. It is the largest Christian Protestant denomination...or affiliation in America.

It has had nearly 48,000 congregations with over 15 million people.

And it is facing major division. At the center is how they have responded to racial injustice

Two weeks ago...at their national convention, President Ed Litton said in order to fulfill their sacred mission, they must first address the stain of racism.

It’s helpful to understand that the SBC was founded to safeguard the institution of slavery. In the 1800s, the north would not allow slaveholders to be missionaries .. and the SBC was created to allow slaveholding for the south. They have long sought to denounce their past and set things right.

Ed Litton, President of the SBC

“Repudiating slavery is not enough. We must repent and seek to confront and remove every stain of racism that remains and seek with all our strength to be the kind of churches of which Jesus would be proud – the kind of churches that will look like the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.... We lack empathy and compassion for one another. When we genuinely care we engage with help, comfort and the truth of the Gospel.

The danger we face is that of being Pharisees. The Pharisees started as a conservative resurgence, but they ended up in a bad place where Jesus called them out as hypocrites. They looked very religious, but Jesus said they neglected the weightier matters of the law like justice, mercy and faithfulness.” [1]

Why was this call so important at this time?

Because the they have been dividing over their responses to the current concerns for racial injustice.

Last Sunday... was the last Sunday of Black History Month... and the Sunday that the SBC sets apart as Racial Reconciliation Sunday... a tradition it began in 1965.... a part of the concerted effort to break ties with the racism bound up in its founding.

The responses by several church leaders.... was very dismissive...some saying it was not God-centered...some said the Bible is all we need. [2]

We’re continuing in our focus on navigating our divided times... looking at some of the cracks that have emerged within Christian culture... identifying where the foundations may need some strengthening. We want to allow God to speak into the divide... to hear how we can stay aligned with His heart.

This example helps us to understand that...

The divides we’re engaging are significant and unfolding.

Not since the abolition of slavery has the church in America been so divided regarding racial justice.

The divides we’re engaging are between those who claim to follow Christ.

This is why we are engaging these issues. I wish it were as simple as assuming that we stick to Jesus. The challenge is that the great divisions that have come...are between lives who both believe that they are just being faithful.

The divides we’re engaging includes our relationship to racial justice.

This is a call we have engaged through the years...and will keep reaffirming.

And more specifically... today...as part of this series... it’s about how to be united in God’s heart for racial justice amidst the recent divisions …most notably those that have followed the death of George Floyd.

Much of what has ensued has been reaction and counter-reaction. [3]

We see a man die. At some level nearly everyone found it hard to watch... disturbing.

Protest rose... and into those protests... at the core was a sense that we have to make a change... to collectively affirm that black lives matter....but then we see looting... freedom to steal and destroy property... and some begin to resent this movement...and the organization ... and so the reactions begin...and the focus became one of reacting to reactions.

There are two specific elements from which reactions have been a source of division... the Black Lives Matter movement...and particularly the BLM organization.... and the teaching of Critical Race Theory.

Since these are the focus of reactions that have caused in Christian culture... we will engage them briefly... but perhaps the most important truth for us today... is that these are secondary issues.

We may need to engage these elements as we move forward... it may even be important...and help clarify the way forward....but our calling is to move forward in racial equality.