The Problem With Racism Series

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was last Monday (1/20/25). He once said: “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Today, our sermon is going to be on racism, not because I think any of us are racist - but because, as Christians, we need to know what the Bible says about it. Martin Luther King was a preacher for the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and he rose to prominence in a day of extreme racism in America. In that day Blacks were not allowed to be in the same schools as whites; they had to use separate bathrooms and black only water fountains. Black singing groups - who performed in Las Vegas – had to eat in the kitchen, THEN sing, and THEN go to a black hotel across town. The Klan terrorized blacks who tried to register to vote… And, of course, there was the notorious confrontation and arrest of a black woman named Rosa Parks who refused to give up her bus seat to a white person back in 1955. And that’s where Martin Luther King got involved. He began the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and rose to national prominence as he began the Civil Rights Movement. THEN in 1968 – at the age of 39 – Mr. King was assassinated.

That was a very dark chapter of American history, and it’s painful to even think about it. But what’s even more painful is the fact that there were “church goers” who actively involved in promoting this racism. How could supposed Christians possibly take part in something like this?

Well, they did so because they forgot that its always right to do what is right… and it’s always wrong to do what is wrong. And they did it because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

ILLUS: Years ago, I was on-staff at a Church camp at Lake James Christian Assembly (up by Angola, IN), and one day I was sitting around with a few of the kids (4th & 5th graders). We were sitting in the sun, just talking… and I had a can of Pepsi. One of the kids asked if he could take a sip (I let him) Then another, and another - and I let each take a sip. But then a young black girl asked if she could have a drink. She was polite, she was gentle, & neat as a pin… BUT I PAUSED. I let her have a drink of my Pepsi, but I hesitated… for just a second. Something in me didn’t want to give her a drink because… she wasn’t like me! And - IN THAT MOMENT - I WAS RACIST. I’m as prone to sin as the next person

The point is this - racism is sinful. And like any sin, there is always a temptation for some people to do that sin. How do we know it’s a sin? Because Racism is based on pride. Racists are proud people. They basically say “I’m better than you because YOU don’t look like me, YOU don’t talk like me, and YOU didn’t come from the same country as me. Thus, I am better than you, and I deserve things you don’t.

Racism is based on pride, and James 4:6 says "God OPPOSES THE PROUD but gives grace to the humble."

And not only does God oppose the proud… but God explains why racism is wrong: God tells us that EVERYONE comes from same heritage. We all are descendants of Adam & Eve Paul said in Acts 17:26 - (God) made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth...” We all SHARE the same blood line – we are all related thru ONE MAN, and that one man was Adam.

ILLUS: Years ago, a few couples at the church I served, approached me and asked me to watch a video of a NEW preacher they’d heard. And I thought “why not?” What I saw on the video was a man sitting behind a huge desk, smoking a cigar and wearing a big cowboy hat. When I heard him speak, a lot of things he said seemed… ok… until he got to his punchline. He said, when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden Eve had “relations” with SATAN… and their offspring was CAIN. Cain killed Abel (as you’d expect an offspring of Satan to do) and Cain also had a different skin color than Abel. CAIN WAS A BLACK MAN! I was appalled! This was pure heresy and I told these couples it was. And I explained WHY it was heresy, but they wouldn’t listen to me. They said, “He (the false teacher) said you’d say that!” That preacher they listened to may have been a bigot… but he fed the racism that was already in their hearts. He told them what they wanted to hear.