In a recent interview, Billy Graham was asked to pinpoint the worlds greatest social problem. Drawing from his 40 year experience of ministering in more than 100 countries around the world, Dr. Graham replied that the greatest social problem without question, is racism. the unhealed wounds of racial injustice and animosity.
Indeed, neither lines nor legislation drawn up long ago, are proving an answer to the deep pain and prejudice felt in the heart of men and women throughout our world.
From Belfast to Bosnia,
From South Africa to Sri Lanka,
From Russia to Rewanda,
From Mexico to the Middle East;…or settled world is proving very unsettled.
Needless to say, those of us living in this city need few reminders of how deep and wide this unhealed wound is. If America was indeed to be a melting pot of cultures, as it once envisioned itself to be or not to be, we as Los Angles would indeed be the prize pt of stew. But the vision has proved simplistic and the world is anxiously waiting for a new vision…a vision of hope.
The world is longing for a vision prepared to celebrate both our unity and diversity.
• A vision able to replace apprehension with appreciation.
• A vision that is more inspired than imparted
• A vision that is more personal than political
• A vision more redemptive than rhetorical
Indeed this world is longing for the KINGDOM OF GOD …where every tongue, tribe, and nation would be as one before God. The GOOD NEWS is that Jesus didn’t come to impart the Kingdom of God as a new vision; but to impart as a reality.
…let us hear his prayer in John 17:
I will remain in the world not longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name the name you gave me so that they may be one as we are one….”My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:11, 20-21
Jesus prayed forth the very will of God; that all who would believe would be one; all who would forever be drawn to God’s revelation of new life through Christ…what He knew would include the unparalleled diversity of today…and what kind of oneness are we to discover?
The ONENESS HE HAS WITH THE FATHER
A ONENESS IN WHICH WE LIKE THEM ARE UNITED YET UNIQUE; EQUAL YET DISTINCT. JESUS PRAYED, THAT IN ALL OUR DIVERSITY WE WOULD BE EQUAL AND UNITED BEFORE GOD.
The first thing this captures for us is:
1. THE POWER OF PENTECOST…which is the GLORY OF OUR UNITY.
In Pentecost we find that Jesus’ prayer for all to be united was set in motion by the Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit first comes to empower and fill the church, (which is known as Pentecost and recorded in Act..2 it says that it drew a crown who represented every nation on earth and under heaven and as the disciples were filled with the Spirit they began to speak in every language so that those from every nation could understand. Later Paul described to the Corinthians that this type of gift of tongues was a “sign”. WHY A SIGN? BECAUSE IT REVEALS WHAT WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE AND ULTIMATELY WILL BE:...PEOPLE FROM EVERY NATION UNITED IN GOD….the Spirit has set in motion what God had first created. God’s Word in Genesis establishes the very foundation of our unity…We have the same parents; though culturally diverse our lineage is the same. We are by God’s decree and biological fact ONE BLOOD, ONE PEOPLE, ONE HUMAN RACE
Here is where SECULAR THOUGHT HAS SOWN A DEHUMANIZING TREND…not by recognizing a process of evolution, but by devaluing our common origin, and emphasizing our :survival of the fittest” development as progressive. Such secular thought provides the basis for nothing more than the acceptance of our animal-like animosities.
The Scripture in contrast describes our animosities as resulting from the Fall…from our separation from our common Creator. Immediately after the depiction of the fall of Adam and Eve we are told of CAIN RISING UP AGAINST HIS BROTHER ABEL. First sibling rivalry, and it spreads like wildflower until today.
IT IS PRECISELY THIS SEPARATION FROM GOD AND SUBSEQUENT SEPARATION FROM ONE ANOTHER THAT JESUS CAME FROM HEAVEN TO DESTROY.
As Jesus declared in Mark 11:7: “My Fathers house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations” nations = Greek “ethnos” =all ethnic groups.
This is a reality he made possible. As Colossians 1 describes:
“He is before all things and in Him all things hold together, for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (17,19,20) Thus the apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:26. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for YOU ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST.
Inherent in our new life in Christ is the fulfillment of the vision of eternity given in Revelation, when every tongue, tribe, and nation will be united before God. every “nation,” every ethnos…every ethnic group.
God is glorified when every ethnic group are again as one, BECAUSE ONLY TOGETHER ARE WE THE FULLNESS OF THE HUMAN RACE WHICH GOD CREATED TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH AND TO BE GLORIFIED THROUGH. ONLY IN THE FULLNESS OF OUR DIVERSITY WILL GOD BE FULLY GLORIFIED.
That is why Jesus said he would not return and bring the consummation of human history as we know it until the Good News of eternal life in Him reached every nation…every distinct culture, and people.
We can understand then, that when he prayed that “all would be one” even all who would eventually receive the good news, he meant every ethnic group would be one.
AND THAT IS WHAT THE SPIRIT SET IN MOTION AT PENTECOST…THE GLORY OF OUR UNITY.
The Power and Passion of Pentecost allows us to understand the second point.
2, THE PAIN OR OUR PAST…the wounds left open. As we realize the Spirit of God is at work to declare the great value of every tongue, tribe, and nation; we can understand the significance of what lies in our heritage. Most of us know more than enough of our history as a nation to know that alongside that which was most honorable there lies the wounds of great dishonor as well…It’s truly a startling entanglement of righteous and unrighteous roots. Every step and every charter established declared with great conviction that this was a COVENANT PROCESS, a covenant confessing God as the sovereign provider, and declaring that only such honor to him would prove a blessing…But the competing ideals of serving and conquest rose together quickly.
This led to the eventual posture taken towards the NATIVE AMERICANS, whose possession of the land was stripped by the sins of superiority and deceit. While judging the Indians for their worship of idols, it was the idolatry of the European Americans for land and possessions that was being bowed down to. Our covenant before God was broken as we conquered and cheated our neighbor, forged unprovoked massacres on women and children, broke 400 treaties and eventually broke the spirit of a people whose suicide and alcohol related deaths are now six times the national average…and if our deepest wounds lie in Native Americans, our widest wounds lie with thos of African descent. Bought, shipped, and sold to produce profits. Beaten, murdered, raped for the pleasure of those privileged by their European descent. Families pulled apart so that no bonds would be known but those of slave and owner,…a legacy still proving tragic in the experience of Black families today.
…And of course there is the experience of SO MANY IMMIGRANTS WHO FOLLOWED those of Irish, Jewish, Japanese, Asian, and Hispanic descent to name a few; many being degraded, devalued, and demeaned as second class
WHY BRING THIS UP…ESPECIALLY THE PART THAT IS IN THE PAST? because much of it fills this room.., lying in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, as well as the world around us. In many respect it is A WOUND LEFT OPEN…America found a semblance of conviction, but fell short of its confession. We have tried to provide recognition without repentance…and we can never honor our covenant with God and one another without the deeper work of recognition that come with repentance and confession.
Intro: (Illustration of Trooper’s stitches)
Many of you may remember my sharing a couple of months back that our dog Trooper had a problem with his leg that required surgery…after which he came home with one of those “stately” plastic cones around his head…It was all we could do to endure his…and we were elated when it was over….Well, a few weeks back…the wound hadn’t been dressed and stitched in such a way as to allow healing…and so the wound grew infected and inflamed…and vulnerable; in need of being tended to properly.
In the same way, I believe we live amidst the unhealed wounds of racial injustice and separation; wounds to which we must return to and reckon with if God’s healing hand is to finish its course and be glorified.
Illustration Trooper
Illustration As if two of us had been friends in years past knowing Christ…I had stolen your car.
..which leads to the final point on your outline
2. THE POTENTIAL OF OUR PART…confessing the sin.
Being the very individual society we are today, it is difficult for many of us to grasp the corporate nature of sin…and to understand the significance of sins we feel we were not part of. But sin is a spiritual power, and God reveals that cultural sins are passed down from generation to generation until men and women humble themselves and repent…even for the sins they have inherited from their fathers as part of their heritage. We see this in the prophet Daniel whoi stood in the gap and confessed the sins of the fathers.
Nehemiah-first alone (Neh 1:6)then in Neh. 9:2 “The descendents of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers.”
We see this in the life of David…
During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.” After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land. 2 Samuel 21:1, 14
The Spirit of God is set in motion; He is fulfilling was Christ prayed and provided…that all would be one…and He is stirring His people to RECKON WITH OUR RACIAL DIVISION to confess the wounds of our heritage.
Series: Holding Out Hope In A Wounded World
From the Word... Series: Holding Out Hope In A Wounded World
RECKONING WITH RACIAL DIVISION.
Part 1 - Healing the Wounds of our Heritage
Sunday, February 4 - Brad Bailey
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one...."My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:11, 20-21
God is inviting us
to see our spiritual rather than natural road;
one that is more inspired than imparted,
more personal than political,
more redemptive than rhetorical
1. The Power of Pentcost....the glory of our unity.
2. The Pain of our Past....wounds left open.
3. The Potential of our Part....confessing the sin
During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death."....After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land. 2 Samuel 21:1, 14
112outli.pub
I believe that God has always wanted to make a prophetic statement through the American Church in the midst of a world hopelessly stuck in ancient animosities. I believe that the dream in the heart of Jesus is to demonstrate a prototype of what has been considered impossible: All the cultures of the world reconciled to each other and serving one another with their gifts.
This is why racial injustice and rioting brings such humiliation to America in front of a watching world. It is not that we are worse than other nations, it is that we are violating our own redemptive purpose, thus releasing a wave of despair throughout all humanity.
America’s cities are now the greatest gatherings of ethnic and cultural diversity the world has even seen. We have inherited the wounds of the world, the clash of ancient rivalries, and we have our own unfinished business, particularly with Native Americans and Afro-Americans.
If we have broken our covenants with God and violated our relationships with one another, the path to reconciliation must begin with the act of confession. The greatest wounds in human history, the greatest injustices, have not happened through the acts of some individual perpetrator, rather through the institutions, systems, philosophies, cultures, religions and governments of mankind. Because of this, we, as individuals, are tempted to absolve ourselves of all individual responsibility.
Unless somebody identifies themselves with corporate entitles, such as the nation of our citizenship, or the subculture of our ancestors, the act of honest confession will never take place. This leaves us in a world of injury and offense in which no corporate sin is ever acknowledged, reconciliation never begins and old hatreds deepen.
The followers of Jesus are to step into this Impasse as agents of healing. Within our ranks are representatives of every category of humanity. Trembling in our heavenly Father’s presence, we see clearly the sins of humankind and have no inclination to cover them up. Thus, we are called to live out the biblical practice of identificational repentance, a neglected truth that opens the floodgates of revival and brings healing to the nations....John Dawson, from "Healing America’s Wounds".
Series: Holding Out Hope…
RECKONING WITH RACIAL DIVISION
Part II – Healing the Wounds of our Hearts/February 11, 1996
We are continuing in our series this morning entitled HOLDING OUT HOPE IN A WOUNDED WORLD.
A series allowing us to face the critical social issues in our common lives and to discover how the Spirit of God is imparting to us a great opportunity; an opportunity to rise above the temptations of either passive resignation, or polarizing rhetoric, and instead prove to be, as Jesus was, salt to the earth and light in the world. I believe God wants to restore in our souls the confidence to be a people who are positively and profoundly distinctive.
This morning I invite us to consider further the opportunity to RECKON WITH RACIAL DIVISION
Last week we saw that the Spirit of God has indeed set into motion what was intended from the beginning of creation; TO SEE ALL THAT GOD CREATED EVERY TONGUE, TRIBE, AND NATION, UNITED BEFORE HIM. We saw that our unity amidst diversity is essential to glorifying God.
The priority of our unity is seen
in the purpose and prayer of Jesus that we be one
in the power of Pentecost, when the Spirit first falls upon, and fill in the picture of eternity, given
in Revelation, when we see…
And understanding what the Spirit of God has purposed and is pursuing even now. Last week we began to see the healing at hand in relation to our heritage. Though often we try to forget it, we ARE a COVENANT PEOPLE, a nation founded upon covenants made before God to honor him and honor one another. Whenever we have allowed a particular people to be deceived, degraded, or culturally destroyed…any true restoration and reconciliation awaits our repentance.
God is showing us that we indeed have some unfinished business, some wounds left open. I again want to recommend a book which has captured the heart of Christian leaders across the country, entitled “Healing America’s Wounds” by John Dawson.
God is not calling us to reject our heritage as a nation, but to RENEW OUR HERITAGE. We are not to focus on our failures. That just leaves us spiritually depressed. Rather we are to recognize them so that we are no longer spiritually repressed. Through recognition and repentance there is freedom; healing for us all.
And in that healing we can RESTORE OUR DIGNITY AND HONOR both as individuals and as a nation. The ability to recognize both our honor and dishonor, our pain and our potential is what distinguished every great leader of change – from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King. They were committed to change, not cynicism. Lincoln had the courage to call for freedom and Martin Luther King dared to declare a dream of equality.
With even greater interest in my own personal heritage I took some time this past week to sift through some records that had been compiled and passed on which trace my lineage and heritage through my fathers mother. English, Irish, French, German…Don’t know if I should feel like a masterpiece or a mutt!
Began with three brothers emigrating from England before 1643. My GGGGG Grandfather, James Sawyer served as a Major in the Revolutionary War and died in captivity on board a prison ship. He was married to a daughter or god daughter of a Presbyterian pastor. My Great Grandfather left home when 8 or 9 …worked for a farmer…later became a State Senator of Illinois. “He liked to argue with ministers and to quote the Bible.” His wife’s parents, my great great great grand parents were pioneers in Illinois. In the absence of inns…Abraham Lincoln …(Brad the next sentences are not clear to me on page 2 (1-2)
What captured me the most was the statement “they OUTGREW…” something changed within them.
This leads us to our focus this morning. THE HEALING OF OUR HEARTS.
Having focused last week on our past…our heritage, this week I want to focus on our present…our hearts. When the Scriptures refer to our hearts, they are referring to more than our emotions; the heart is understood as our inner person, our disposition, the seat of our conviction, comprised of thoughts, feelings, and will.
This is where our approach to racial reconciliation can become so sensitive. We can agree that the injustice, discrimination, and demeaning associated with racism is wrong, but placing responsibility is proving more polarizing all the time.
Call me a racist…or simply imply it in any way, and I want to react. Such a label seems unfitting, you judged me with a high crime and I want to prove my innocence…and in the process judge you as well. WE BECOME ONLY FURTHER POLARIZED.
JESUS CAME TO PART THE POLARIZING OF ANY CLAIMS BEFORE GOD OR ONE ANOTHER. In the (SOTM?) he reveals that righteousness lies in the unseen heart…our inner disposition…a proposition that gets to the heart of the issue.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says, to his brother, ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, “You fool” will be in danger of the fire of hell. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:21-24.
Jesus goes on to speak of adultery, divorce, and honesty in the same light. He doesn’t negate the letter of the law, and societies need for laws and labels as such; rather he makes clear that while those may be fitting for social standards, laws and labels fall short of bringing forth true righteousness. He gets to the heart of the issue, and quiets the accuser and defender in all of us. If you ask me if I’m a liar, adulterer, murderer…
In discovering the Spirit of the law, we discover the Law is not simply a boundary marker of behavior, but a plumb line of the heart. And if we are to search our hearts concerning racial division what are the seeds of separation which we may find?
1. PRIDE…the subtle inclination of superiority and judgment. I don’t imagine many of us would think outright of ourselves as superior to others; or in a position to judge others; but we are all vulnerable to very subtle perceptions that creep in. As I’ve searched my own history of perceptions I thought back to my childhood…hearing comments about “then” referring very stereotypically about other ethnic groups. On top of this my black schoolmates were primarily “bused” into our primarily white community. While the message of the 60’s kept any overt perception of superiority in check, looking back I think I carried the seeds of “sophistication.”
These seeds became all the more subtle as I overtly rebelled against my affluent background and set out to live simple and serve others, first in San Diego…homeless community, then in French suburb of Geneva, Switzerland where I helped establish a church among the international community. The church was a beautiful sign of God’s Kingdom. Finally I moved to India.
I would later realize the increasing irony of these years…the more humble my setting and sacrifice appeared the more pride filled my heart. There I had been denying the caste system…offended that North Indians who were lighter were looked down on. AND ALL THE TIME DRAWING UPON THIS VERY SYSTEM. Failing to draw the full measure of my security and signs from God. I drew from my sense of being, the more sophisticated, educated, white, American male. My humanity had been sown with the subtle inclination of superiority, which judged others as less “sophisticated.” And I would have to face the humility of Jesus and confess my sin. FOR JESUS IMPARTS THE HUMILITY NECESSARY TO RESTORE OUR TRUE HUMANITY.
Jesus, living in response to the Fathers love, showed us how to live:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8
Christ’s humility is restoring because it is a humility first before God than before one another. …That’s the order… This battle with pride is depicted in the TOWER OF BABEL when we are told the people of earth were first separated…Pride!
In Christ God would provide a new unity based in humility before him. Early Church reveals this new way (Acts 2), but not with out a struggle for superiority (Acts 6 – Hellenistic vs Hebrew widows.
