The End of Racism
Notes
Transcript
On May 25, 2020, The death of George Floyd sparked massive protests and demonstrations across the nation. There were a number of people and organizations calling for the defunding of police. Activist groups rioted, defaced statues of national leaders, destroyed property, and demanded justice. For some of us, the words Black lives matter and the topic of Critical Race Theory entered our vocabularies for the first time.
These things were present long before the death of George Floyd elevated these things to the forefront of our daily lives as the news cycle focused on these issues for a long time. The topics of race, racial tensions, and reconciliation were discussed everywhere. These conversations regarding race crept in to the church, and as proponents of justice, we care about these things. Our Bible teaches us to seek justice for widows, orphans, the marginalized, and the oppressed. So there is an intersection between living out our faith in a tangible way and coming face to face with social justice movements.
As Christians, how are we supposed to handle these issues? What are we supposed to think about issues of racism? What solution are we pointing people to, and how do we know it is the right one? As we walk through this topic this morning, we are going to take a look at the ideology of Critical Race Theory and see how it fails to address the issue of racism and how the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real solution.
If you don’t know, Critical Race Theory is a subset of the larger subject of Critical Social Justice. Understanding these issues can be a bit complicated. On the surface, these things sound good. Do we want justice for those who have been wronged? Do we want to end issues like racism? The answer is of course, YES! But the means to that end matter. When it comes to social justice issues, we need to think biblically about them and realize the Bible already presents a solution to the problem.
Before we dive in to how scripture answers the question of racism, we need to discuss the underlying worldview of Critical Race Theory and the Black Lives Matter movement.
At the heart of these movements is a movement known as anti-racism. On the surface, that sounds like a good thing. We, understanding that everyone is made in the image of God, should be anti-racist. But the term has a different meaning for the people who subscribe to this movement. Anti-racism is not merely the opposition of racism. It is the “commitment to actively dismantling systems and institutions that produce racism” (Neil Shenvi, https://shenviapologetics.com/an-antiracism-glossary-antiracism). This moves racism from personal prejudice to systems and institutions. In it is a claim that the very systems and institutions America are built upon are inherently racist.
According to anti-racism, race was invented by white people for the purpose of perpetuating whiteness, which is defined as “a set of normative privileges granted to white-skinned individuals and groups which is ‘invisible’’ to those privileged by it” (Neil Shenvi, https://shenviapologetics.com/an-antiracism-glossary-whiteness). In the mind of the antiracist person, racism was invented by white people.
There is a lot of material we could cover, but let me summarize this worldview this way. Critical Race Theory and the anti-racist movement behind it groups people in two categories: the oppressors and the oppressed. When it comes to the matter of race, every white person is an oppressor regardless of personal outlook on racism because they have directly benefited from a system that is viewed as racist that favors white people. Every black person is oppressed because every system and institution has been designed by white people. The only way to end racism according to the anti-racist movement is to dismantle every system or institution that is deemed racist or oppressive. There is no salvation according to this movement.
What I have noticed about the anti-racist movement is it is not anti-racist at all. Instead, it perpetuates race by continually emphasizing this false narrative that everything is racist. Is there racism in the world? Yes. Is there racism in our society? I’m sure there is. Are there racist people? Unfortunately, yes. Does that mean that the United States is fundamentally a racist country? Absolutely not. The civil rights movement began 70 years ago and we have come a long way. But to say that the county as a whole is racist flies in the face of everything those who began this work set out to accomplish.
I don’t want to downplay the gravity of this issue. I’m sure there are situations and experiences at play I do not understand. But just because I don’t understand them does not mean that I am guilty of racism. The Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory movements don’t seem to end racism, but perpetuate racism by labeling everything that doesn’t fit their narrative as racist.
But I believe there is a better way. I believe there can be an actual end to racism. I believe that we can actually see the dream Dr. Martin Luther King had when he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” But the only way that dream can be fully realized is at the foot of the cross of Christ.
I want to look to the Bible and see how the gospel of Jesus Christ provides a better answer than the so-called anti-racist movement today.
In Christ, there is unity in diversity.
In Christ, there is unity in diversity.
The Bible only recognizes two classes of people. In the Old Testament, there is a live of separation between Jew and Gentile. The Jews are the nation of Israel, Abraham and his descendants. Gentiles were everybody else. The Bible does not ignore national identity, but you were either in covenant relationship with God or you were not. If a Gentile wanted to enter into covenant relationship with God, he had to take on a Jewish identity.
Similarly, the New Testament classifies people into two categories: believer or nonbeliever. Now, for one to be in covenant relationship with God, he enters into it by belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. In the body of Christ, these barriers of distinction lose their significance.
The apostle Paul says,
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Paul is not arguing that these distinctions don’t exist, but they lose their significance. There is no advantage to being a believing Jew or believing Gentile. Donald Campbell, the third president of Dallas Theological Seminary, summarized it this way:
The Bible Knowledge Commentary (3:28)
Since all believers became one with each other, human distinctions lose their significance. None is spiritually superior over another, that is, a believing Jew is not more privileged before God than a believing Gentile; a believing slave does not rank higher than a believing free person; a believing man is not superior to a believing woman...Paul cut across these distinctions and stated that they do not exist in the body of Christ so far as spiritual privilege and position are concerned.
These distinctions still exist, but when it comes to the matter of race, a white Christian is no more privileged than a black Christian, a Mexican Christian, a Chinese Christian, a Filipino Christian, and so on. We all have equal standing before our Creator and to act any other way is sin. At the end of all things and Christ has finally gathered his bride from every part of the earth, people of every tribe, tongue, and nation will be together for all eternity. The church ought to be an expression of that reality here on earth now. There is unity in diversity, where we have the privilege to acknowledge diverse backgrounds, but unify under the same king.
Remember who our real enemy is.
Remember who our real enemy is.
The enemy we face is not the political activist or persons whose skin color might be different than ours. The enemy behind racism is not the white person, black person, or any other color person. The enemy behind racism is the devil himself. He is the one whom we wage war against every single day.
Paul reminds the Ephesian church who the real enemy is:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
There is no question we struggle. The Christian life is not an easy life free of trouble. It is actually a call to suit up and wage war against evil and injustices. There is a spiritual war raging and you and I are equipped to be soldiers in that conflict. We are called to go to battle against the Devil and his army.
Listen again to the words of Paul:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
We don’t fight a war in the traditional sense. We fight a war of ideologies. Our weapons are not swords, guns, or anything of the sort. Our weapon is the truth, and it has divine power to destroy fortresses. Armed with the truth, we are commissioned to go out and destroy speculations and lofty ideas that are raised up against the knowledge of God. We are to equip ourselves to think biblically about issues. Take every thought captive and ask ourselves, “Is this biblical?” Through reason and logic we are to expose the absurdity of false claims, bringing them back to the truth.
Remember your enemy is not the activist or those who listen to them. The real enemy behind racism is the Devil, and he has already lost. God has equipped us to go out and contend for the truth.
Pursue biblical justice.
Pursue biblical justice.
Social justice has a nice ring to it. The problem that I see is that the pursuit of justice often takes the form of a pendulum swing in the opposite direction. At the core of Critical Race Theory, the elevation of black voices comes at the demand that the white person perpetually apologizes for the color of their skin even though the individual may have done nothing racist toward any other people group. That is not anti-racism. That is just racism in the other direction. It commits the same crime that the other side says has been committed against them.
“You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.
“Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
We believe the sin of racism is not inherent in systems or institutions, but a problem with the human heart. We know the only solution for the wicked heart in man is a new one. The only answer for that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are not to pervert justice. We are not to show partiality. We are not to be bought by anyone for any price. We are to uphold the truth of the word of God, applying it to our lives so that we might lay aside the sins that might distort the truth, so only righteousness remains.
We must be a church that stands on the truth of God’s word. We must be proactive in speaking into these issues when we have the opportunity, but we must always point people back to the truth of scripture.
We must seek justice, but on God’s terms. We must be careful not to demand justice before knowing the facts as the rest of the world is fond of doing. We must lead by example by doing the research, pointing people to truth, and not succumbing to the pressure of joining the mob.
May we always examine our hearts and motives. May we ever echo the words of Psalm 139:24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.