One year ago, racial tensions had stirred to the boiling point in Ferguson, MO. Riots had overtaken this St. Louis suburb in the wake of what was portrayed to be an execution of Michael Brown by a white police officer. As momentum built behind the movement it seemed to no longer matter what the circumstances of the shooting might or might not have been. Witnesses were produced, many of whose testimonies did not fit the unfolding narrative, but served to foment the chaos.
This same scenario would unfold in the streets of Baltimore in April of this year, as an African-American man was mortally wounded, leading to his death, in the back of a police van. Rage swept through the streets of Baltimore, and reports said that the crowds took out their frustrations on anyone who was not African-American.
Again this summer, outbreaks of racial strife would visit the streets of Ferguson, and spill over into the streets of St. Louis.
What causes this kind of outbreak of racial tension?
We could point back to centuries of racial oppression, which have embedded themselves in the social structures that we take for granted today …
We could point to the economic and educational disadvantages that those with a darker hue are subjected to …
We could suggest that it is a moral decay in young people who have bought into a rap culture lifestyle of anger and angst …
We could say that it is the breakdown of the family in the urban environment.
We could possibly come up with a dozen more reasons for the racial crisis we confront as a nation. But I really believe that answer, while all of these issues play a component role, is really much simpler than that … simpler, if not more easily resolved.
Tony Evans says it like this: He says, “The racial problem in America is the asterisk on an otherwise respectable reputation.”
We can do better as a nation. We can do better as a country, as a community, and we can do better as a church.
Early on in my ministry at First Christian Chicago, I was attempting to get a handle on race and multi-cultural ministry. While I had been in ministry for 11 years before coming to Chicago, I had (other than one Latino man) ministered exclusively in white congregations.
I was trying to get acclimated to all of the race issues. Seeking answers to replace my ignorance of some of these issues, I innocently asked one of our ladies of a darker hue this question: “I have come to understand that this is an issue and I want to be able to be sensitive to this. Do you prefer to be called African-American or black?”
Now we all probably have in some way at some time taken an awkward step in an effort to move in the direction of moving toward unity with a different ethnicity. It was a thoughtful question…perhaps poorly worded in some ways. But in this particular case, it wasn’t motivated by malice, and it certainly wasn’t prompted by prejudice. It was asked in an effort to befriend rather than to belittle.
More recently, but still several years ago, I was talking with someone about the ethnic make-up of the congregation. It was in the wake of a racial misunderstanding. We were talking about understanding people by ethnic background. But when I mentioned one of our international members as part of their grouping, I was reminded that “They aren’t one of us. They haven’t gone through what we’ve been through.”
We’ve all said some things at times maybe that we wish we could take back. That’s one of the reasons that I feared tackling this topic in a sermon. I could come up with a lot of reasons for not speaking on racism. Here are three of my fears.
One of them is that by tackling this topic the people most like myself may feel like I am getting on them. Now some will readily admit that there is a problem with racism in our country or in our community, but they may refuse to confess that there’s any stain on them. And so they will deflect any personal responsibility and continue to be oblivious to the obvious. And here’s one of my fears. My fear is that you will listen, seated in a sanctuary, and you will nod approvingly at every Bible verse that I will read and the concepts that are taught today, but when you find yourself in a different setting—or in a divided setting—you may rubber band back to stereotypical judgments or sweeping generalizations which have been ingrained in you for years.
Here’s my second fear: That my non-white listeners may take offense at something that I would say. Now it wouldn’t be something that I said intentionally, but realize I speak from a very different vantage point. I’ve often heard that the white man can’t speak about racism because he has never walked in those shoes. I will admit, there’s much that I don’t understand, and it’s impossible for me to know what discrimination you may have experienced in your very own personal situation. But I hope that you’ll be able to sense that my motives are pure and that you will forgive any unintentional offenses on my part. But I also hope that you would acknowledge that racism can be a double-edged sword that cuts both ways ... that the response to some to the prejudice and hatred they received is prejudice and hatred in return.
My third fear in talking about the sin of racism is that I have made plenty of mistakes myself, and there have been times in my life when I have said or I have done something that was biased rather than Christ-like. And while most of those things were many years ago, they certainly weren’t a healthy representation of Christ. It’s always easier to preach about something that isn’t a challenge or a growth area for the preacher. It’s tougher to tackle a topic which forces one to take an introspective look and face the sins that we seek to suppress.
We talked last week about our theme verse for this series. It’s found in Galatians 3:28: “There is no Jew or Gentile; there is no slave or free; there no longer “male and female”, for you are all one in the Messiah, Jesus.”
This is a critical message in Galatians, going back to the confrontation that Paul had with Peter in chapter 2. Peter had socializing with the Gentile believers until some of the Jewish compatriots arrived on the scene. At that point, Peter rubber-banded back to his previous behavior of saddling with the Jews. It didn’t matter that Peter had received a divine vision that led him to the conversion of Cornelius and his household. Worse, yet, his prejudice inclinations began to rub off on others.
In Galatians 3:28, there is no division between races, socio-economic groups and genders. We are equal recipients of the grace offered through Christ. Paul clearly is speaking in terms that divide life into the critical components in his time: nationality, vocation, and family structures. And what he wants us to know is that those distinctives we come to cherish as markers of group value lose any value of rank and priority in Christ. On the basis of what he has done He has created the common ground upon which we stand, and has given us a level playing field.
You see, the oneness that we find in Christ Jesus obliterates the social constructs that we have developed to define who is in and who is out … who is part and who is to be left out … who is like us and who is different for He makes us all one.
Now that does not mean he makes us the same, that all differences are lost in a pool of sameness. But that the bondage to those social constructs has been broken by the cross, and in the midst of diversity unity may be experienced.
Jesus also gives us the example to follow: You’ll recall in John 4, Jesus does something that shocks his disciples at the mere inappropriateness of it. He lived at a time when a man would not … a Jewish man would not even speak to a Jewish woman in public … unless it was a relative or a close friend. But Jesus takes it a step further and He talks with a Samaritan woman. You have to understand that the Jewish people and the Samaritan people had been engaged in a centuries’ long feud. They could not stand one another. Jews went out of their way to avoid encountering Samaritans. (That avoidance of one another is the scandal underneath the Good Samaritan story). But Jesus, not Jesus ... He talks to the woman. He engages her in conversation. He challenges her to move toward Him in belief.
And he makes a hated Samaritan the hero of one of His most famous stories. That would be like telling the KKK the tale of a black heroine, or the Nation of Islam about a white hero.
God’s desire, from the very beginning, was for there to be no racism and to start a group of people bound by something much stronger than their heritage or their skin color. And God made all people. We don’t know anything about the shade of Adam and Eve’s skin. The Bible simply says, “God made man and woman in His own image.”
It wasn’t until much later, Genesis chapter 11, when human separation took place. However, even then it didn’t have anything to do with skin color. It was separation around language. And that was a result of sinful pride.
In Ephesians 2, Paul talks about the racial tension between Jews and Greeks in terms of a wall, a wall of hostility. A wall carefully constructed to keep each separate from one another. But Jesus through his sacrifice has demolished that wall, taking two groups of people, who have been bitter enemies, with centuries’ long hatred and mistrust toward one another, and bringing them together as part of the same spiritual family.
But when we rebuild the wall of racism or even allow it to stand without actively chipping away at it, we ourselves create division.
Now this message is not about being politically correct. That’s not why I put it in this series. It is part of this series because it is at the very core of the message and the heart of the Gospel itself. And one of the reasons that Jesus Christ came to earth was to destroy the division created by these social constructs.
So, today, I’d like to share two reasons this wall of racism must come down for us to engage in that oneness in Christ.
Reason #1: RACISM VIOLATES GOD'S COMPASSION. Racism does not fit in the mind of God. It is incongruent and inconsistent. Try as we might there is no way that we can match racism up with the heart of God.
Romans 10:12, Paul says, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.”
Peter tells us that God’s will is that not a single person would perish – no one – regardless of pigmentation, language, social status, gender, educational level, or, even, God forbid, musical preference.
Now at this point perhaps someone is questioning; “Didn’t God advocate racial hatred in the Old Testament when the Israelites were commanded to wipe out the Canaanites in the land of Palestine? Wasn’t God promoting wall building when he told them not to intermarry with other ethnic groups?”
And here is the simple answer: “No.” God’s commands in the Old Testament had nothing to do with race. It was all about religion. In order to safeguard their faith, God did not want His people intermarrying unbelieving spouses, which is still a good guideline. Look what happened to Israel when they disregarded that command.
That most famous of all Bible verses, John 3:16, reminds us that God loved the world so much that he gave His only Son. Now what John was talking about was not the mountains and the plains, the oceans and valleys as if God is some kind of nature lover. John was talking about God’s overwhelming compassion for humanity in all of its vast diversity.
When we create division based on prejudice, hatred and stereotypes, we violate God’s compassion and love for everyone by not reflecting that love ourselves. God loves people of every ethnicity equally. However, if we don’t, then according to 1 John 4:8, John makes very clear that the love of the Father is not within us. Our lives of prejudice and racial stereotype are incongruent with the love of God. A life that embraces bigotry and hatred, based on nothing more than melanin levels in the skin, is completely counter to God’s compassion.
Just because we look or talk or act differently from one another doesn’t mean that we have the right to create dividing walls of hostility.
Prior to becoming the Senior Minister, I would be given an occasional opportunity to preach … two, three, maybe four times a year. Like I said before, all of my ministries prior to coming to Chicago were with white churches. So, as I began to preach that first couple of times I had to adjust to a different environment. I would just began to get into my preaching rhythm when Loretta Kimbrough would let out a “Preach it!” I think I recall a few times someone shouting out a “Help him!” I’ll let you know that it scared me. If I ever had someone shouting at me during a message before that it would have been a warning to evacuate the building because it was on fire.
Laira and I have gone to worship at New Hope Christian Missionary Baptist Church a couple of times. You might be able to tell from the name that we might have stuck out. Well, I tried as best I could to blend in. During the music, I put on a little sway and a lot of clapping. But when offering came ... You know here we bring the offering tray to you, so you can give. Not so at New Hope. I had never been to a church where you conduct a parade for the offering before and where we had seated ourselves meant we were at the front of the line. The people in the row in which I was seated all stood up, and the lady seated in our row glared at me since I was still sitting there. Do I need to tell you how we stuck out?
We all … every culture … we have our idiosyncrasies, and we need to be able to laugh about those things.
For a period of time we had a Spanish-speaking congregation that conducted worship in our building on Sunday afternoons. I attended their worship a couple of times. There were just 20-30 people in attendance, but they completely filled the auditorium with sound. But let me confess, to my ears it was not good sound … it fully expressed the Biblical plea “make a joyful NOISE!” However, in spite of instrumentalists that didn’t play together and vocalists who were off pitch more than on, you could not deny the heart of praise that we being expressed.
We’re different. Different people at different places. That’s okay. Differences between people are not cause for division among people.
There is a motion picture coming out in mid-October that’s called Woodlawn. It’s set in the early 1970s when integration and bussing became prevalent. There was so much ethnic violence at Woodlawn High School that the FBI wanted to close down the school. The movie, which stars Jon Voight and Sean Astin, chronicles the true story of racial tension and of an FCA chaplain (played by Sean Astin) who shares the Gospel with the entire football team, and nearly every one of them accepts Jesus Christ. And what actually happens is that Woodlawn is transformed. It sparks racial reconciliation and spiritual revival in Birmingham that lasted about ten years. I want you to watch this.
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Christianity and football both require sacrifice. And there’s just some things you have to give up and leave behind—anything that takes you away from total commitment. I found this behind the gym. Jesus and what’s written on this paper cannot coexist. Birmingham has seen nothing but hate for so long it has lost its ability to believe. It’s lost hope. And what we need right now is for someone to come along and show us what it’s like to live without this! Do you remember what I said to you the first time I talked to you in the gym?
You told us you loved us.
That’s right. Now it’s time for you to love each other. They shall know we are Christians by our love. You made a commitment, and I see you all standing here. Is it real?
It’s real to me.
Me, too.
Rise. There’s something we need to do.
That’s right.
There’s something that we need to do!
That’s right. Woodlawn on three! One, two, three.
Woodlawn!
Jonathon and I have seen this movie and believe that you’re gonna love it. This campfire cuts to the next scene. The players entering the field for their next ballgame. Arms are interlocked with one another, black and white alternating. Rain coming down, pelting the players on their faces, but the shared look of determination ... what a powerful and intimidating sight that it was to the opposing team.
And I’m telling you, the same thing happens when the church sets aside petty differences and insignificant differences and realizes that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. What if, on a daily basis, we as the Body of Christ were to link arms and reach out to those who are very different than us and we began to tear down those walls?
all know people who have been placed behind those walls:
It may be the Latino gentlemen whose neighbors assume that he is illegally in American though his family has been citizens for generations.
Or maybe it is the person who is simply passed over for the job because of the color of their skin, or the person is doesn’t get the promotion because of their accent.
It may be those who have heard stories and seen instances of discrimination against their family, or experienced them themselves, which have left scars not only on their souls, but upon their bodies.
It might be the person of color who is identified as an “Uncle Tom”, a sellout to his own people; or a white kid who others say is too black.
Maybe it is the highly educated Asian women who when spoken to, people speak very slowly because they assume she does not know English.
It could even be the white person family that is told they no longer belong in a neighborhood that has changed ethnically by the neighborhoods new residents.
We may not understand the small or the big ways that others have been discriminated against in years or even generations past, but that doesn’t mean that we ignore the pain of their journey. Just because you personally have never participated in specifically racist activities or speech doesn’t erase what others have experienced. Instead we should act humbly and foster friendships because that inevitably leads to reconciliation. We all need to show God’s compassion in order to truly live in repentance and reconciliation.
Love often forces us to go the extra mile.
It was Mark Twain who said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
When Jackie Robinson was added to the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he became the first African-American to break the color barrier in modern baseball. Everywhere that Robinson went he was hounded with racial slurs and insults. Other players intentionally would go out of their way in attempts to physically harm him. When on the road, fans would be especially brutal.
There is the story told of a game. Maybe it was in Boston, Cincinnati or Brooklyn. The details are left in question. However, what was not in question was that day the fans were exceptionally condescending. Jeers, cat-calls, racial epithets came raining upon him during the game. At one point, the shortstop, PeeWee Reese made his way from his position over to Jackie Robinson. Accounts are mixed in what actually happened. Some accounts have PeeWee Reese putting his arms around Robinson. Others have them standing together with Reese glaring at the crowd. However, the impact of the event Robinson later says, “… probably saved my career.” In a biography Robinson recalls, "Pee Wee kind of sensed the sort of helpless, dead feeling in me and came over and stood beside me for a while. He didn't say a word, but he looked over at the chaps who were yelling at me and just stared. He was standing by me, I could tell you that."
In 1997 Reese told the Times, "Something in my gut reacted at the moment. Something about what? The unfairness of it? The injustice of it? I don't know."
Until we have stood with someone and endured the boo’s and jeers with them, until we have walked personally a mile in their shoes, we will never truly know the pain they may have experienced simply because of the color of their skin or because of their country of origin.
But here’s the second reason we need to dismantle the walls of racism: RACISM VIOLATES GOD'S COMMISSION.
Matthew 28 contains Jesus’ final marching orders to his followers prior to going up to heaven. He commissions his followers to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” The nations that He sends us to are not national boundaries, but ethnic identities. If that is true, notice that Jesus is not giving specific locations to go and others to leave unreached. He sends his disciples everywhere. They are to “Go everywhere to everyone.”
Acts 10:34 and 25: “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
But lest we think that sharing Jesus across racial lines is a New Testament innovation, in Genesis 12, God tells Abraham that His ultimate plan is to bless all of the nations through His covenant promise.
If we think that we can maintain any semblance of racist boundaries or walls, then we are not participating in God’s mission.
We live in a multiethnic world, and we should be very thankful for that. And all of us, regardless of our color, cross paths with different ethnicities on a regular basis. So the question then becomes, “Will we take steps to take an interest and reach out and get to know these people and hear their story and embrace them?”
And yet what I see at times…what I see is fear. And regardless of your ethnicity, I see people who are content just to stay in their own little bubble with their own people, whoever that might be. And the thought of taking an interest or building a friendship with someone of a different race is just not even on your radar screen.
And if we went to a coffee shop together and we just sat down and talked, you might share with me of how you struggle to understand or relate to those who are ethnically different than you. And I would say, “I understand that.” I think every one of us could say that. But then I would go on and I would say, “I appreciate your honesty, but let me say this as lovingly as I possibly can. If you are a Christ-follower, when it comes to racial reconciliation and race relations with others…if you’re a Christian, when you build walls instead of bridges your witness for Christ is diminished.”
When you make the cutting remark or you say something to the other coworkers behind that person’s back, when you alienate and don’t include someone but you include everyone else, you are hurting the cause of Christ. When you join in with the racist jokes, or stand idly by as racist comments are made, no matter which ethnicity those remarks are aimed at, you are allowing the wall Christ demolished to be rebuilt. At that point it is not a skin issue; it is a sin issue.
Did you know that there was a time in the life of Mahatma Gandhi when he actually considered the claims of Christianity? He read through the New Testament several times, was trying to kind of figure out what path his life was going to take. But then he made a visit to the United States, and he went through a portion of the U.S. called The South, where America’s Bible-believing churches are strongest. But the same thing happened at every single place that he went: They would not allow him in the restaurant because of the color of his skin. Gandhi later wrote in his personal journals that he rejected Christianity not because of Christ but because of Christians.
You see, your actions and attitude to those who don’t look like you speak louder than any words that you’ll ever say. And you do realize that heaven is not going to be divided up by language or skin color. We will all be united as Christ-followers and worshippers.
David Stone, teaching pastor at Southwest Christian Church in Louisville, one of the largest churches in the nation, said in a recent interview: “We are living in a world that tries to define us based upon our race, based upon our socio-economic class that we find ourselves in, based upon our heritage. And Christ says, “There is no longer Jew nor Gentile, there is no longer free nor slave.” You know, we all are one in Christ, and that’s the focus.”
Some of you know my eldest son, Timothy. Some of you are aware that Timothy was always attracted to girls with skin a darker hue than his own. You might even be aware that he brought into our family a lovely woman of African-American decent. Now we have three grandkids, one by marriage, Khaelin, two by birth, Mason and Rylie … three varying shades of color. Do I want the kids in their neighborhood to think of them as the white kids or the black kids? Do I want them to be kept at arm’s length because they are viewed as someone who is racially and culturally different? If they are viewed as outsiders – those people would miss out on a relationship that could really brighten their lives.
I love being part of this church. I love being in a family where the walls of ethnic distrust and animosity are being dismantled. We have come a long way, and we serve as a model for much of our community, nation and Christianity of the difference Christ can make on the issue of racial reconciliation.
But here’s my question: I wonder if we are still missing out here in our community. I wonder how many people whom we cross paths with regularly, who are just waiting for someone to reach out to them or longing for someone to include them… It might be the Latino coworker in the office beside you. It may be the Indian doctor who did a physical on you last week. It might be the Asian bank employee who is so kind to you. It may be the Caucasian individual who you work out with at the fitness club. It might be the Native American who is your daughter’s favorite teacher. Don’t miss out on the person inside because they look different to you on the outside. Perhaps you could help connect them to Jesus Christ. Maybe they could help you grow spiritually.
But for some of you it’s going to take changing the way you see and interact with people. It may mean leaning in rather than drawing back. In your bulletin are listed three challenges that I would like to place with you:
1) If you don’t have a close friend of another race, make it a point to try and befriend someone and get to know them. Invite them to lunch.
2) If your group or Bible study or ministry team is full of a bunch of people who look like you, then intentionally invite others to join your circle who are from another ethnicity.
3) Pray regularly for God to cross your paths with those who are from a different culture. And when he does, you have got to take advantage of those divine appointments when He brings people along, and you’ve got to love them where you are.
I began the message with my story of asking a member what she would prefer to be called. That lady answered with a response I will never forget, “You can just call me Dorothy.”
And at the end of the day, regardless of the setting—whether you are African-American or African immigrant, whether you are Latina or Native American, whether European or just American or a beautiful mix of several of those—regardless of the setting we all just want to be Dorothy. You just want to be yourself, the person whom God created you to be. You don’t want any special treatment. You don’t want any special favors. You don’t want any special breaks. And by the same token, you don’t want to be mistreated and you don’t want to be unfairly profiled and you don’t want to be discriminated against because of your history, your heritage or your hue.
The good news is that Jesus came to this earth for the Dorothys of every tongue and tribe and language and nation. And when the church is unified, God is glorified. Let’s pray.
(adapted from Tearing Down Racism by David Stone)
