Race and racism are complex and controversial topics. Daniel Hays in his book demonstrated this vividly when he said, "Two-thirds of White Christians believe that the situation for Blacks is improving, while two-thirds of Black Christians believe that the situation for Blacks is deteriorating" (From Every People and Nation, 18). That tells you of the complexity of it.
Every nation can testify to the controversy when you trace its history. In American it is especially clear when you examine our past with respect to slavery and the treatment of blacks, though we could find an equally disturbing tale if we looked at our nation's treatment of Native Americans.
This past Sunday we took time to unpack six convictions about race that were meant as a downpayment of a larger discussion. In some ways this was to honor the MLK holiday in a way similar to how we honor the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade through Sanctity of Life Sunday.
We don't like to think of ourselves as racists. Many of us would feel a million miles away from a Dylann Roof who killed 9 black men and women in Charleston last June—because they were black. Yet, prejudice can twist our thinking in more subtle ways. Sometimes we go a little far with our use of stereotypes, so far that it blinds us from being able to deal with people as individuals. When we do this we are judging in the way that Martin Luther King, Jr., defined as by "the color of their skin" and not "the content of their character" (or their competence).
As Christians we are called to "love our neighbors as ourselves," and this means regardless of race. These six convictions help us to do that and to root out areas where our racial biases prevent us from walking in love as we ought.
We're all made in the image of the same God.
Genesis 1:26 tells us you and I and all people from all races are made in the same image of the same God:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Gen. 1:26)
Whether we are an Hispanic CEO or a white man on death row (for crimes he did commit) or Michelle Obama, we are made in the same image of God. Our differences can sometimes disorient us or cause us to forget this, but we need to see past these to the underlying unity that all people possess. If I miss this, it will be virtually impossible to love someone as I ought, to get past my own pride and biases.
We're all plagued by the same problem.
Just as everyone is made in Adam in the image of God, so all people are fallen in Adam:
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:22)
My great problem is sin. Your great problem is sin. The great problem with blacks is the same as the problem with whites is the same as the problem with Asians is the same as the problem with Native Americans. How we express our sinfulness differs from person to person, but the great root of the problem is the same: We are fallen.
Sometimes my sin blinds me to this. I look at someone else that differs from me in their race or background or education or wealth and my pride tells me his problems are greater and more sinister than my own. This is simply the way sin feeds pride. John Piper expresses well how pride needs to be exposed by the gospel:
Racial tensions are rife with pride—the pride of white supremacy, the pride of black power, the pride of intellectual analysis, the pride of anti-intellectual scorn, the pride of loud verbal attack, and the pride of despising silence, the pride that feels secure, and the pride that masks fear. Where pride holds sway, there is no hope for the kind of listening and patience and understanding and openness to correction that relationships require.
The gospel of Jesus breaks the power of pride by revealing the magnitude and the ugliness and the deadliness of it, even as it provides deliverance from it. The gospel makes plain that I am so hopelessly sinful and my debt before God was so huge that my salvation required the death of the Son of God in my place. This is devastating to the human ego. And God means it to be: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). He saves us by grace alone so that we would boast in him alone. Pride is shattered.
John Piper, Bloodlines
We're All Saved by the Same Savior.
Piper's words set us up to hear the third key conviction, that if we are to be saved it will be by the same Savior:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Jesus' familiar words point out that God's "only Son" will save "whoever believes," but only those who believe. This gospel is sufficient to save anyone who turns to Christ to be saved. Whatever dirty tenament or gold-laced, velvet-cushioned castle or suburban condo we came from, this gospel can save us. This gospel must save us.
This is the great solution for society's problems. When the gospel changes hearts, those hearts change neighborhoods, and this leads to changes in school systems and cities and societies. The ripple effects of a revival of the gospel can have dramatic impacts on the places where we live.
For the Christian, this isn't the only tool in our toolbelt, however. There are times when we need to work to see laws and policies changed. There is a time for activism and civil disobedience and government intervention.
We just need to know that the final answer is the gospel, not the government. The gospel can do what no government can do—save a soul. Further, we need governments filled with people changed by the gospel. That's how those governments will even know where to begin to write and defend good laws. The gospel helps us define the justice we want governments to execute.
These three convictions serve as a critical foundation for us. They help us see one another rightly because they point out ways that you and I are profoundly similar. We are made in the image of God. We are fallen into the same sin. We are redeemed by the same Savior. If we can truly internalize these we will go a long way toward racial unity. We'll look at three more convictions tomorrow to round out this beginning to a larger conversation.
Daniel
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