One Race

I’m glad I’m not like this __________.

Jesus once told a parable about two men. A Pharisee (supposed holy man) and a tax collector (supposed wicked man). Both of them went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee basically thanks God, but brags about himself. He thanks God that he is an awesome person and better than everyone else.

The tax collector bowed his head humbly before God and begged for mercy confessing to be an unworthy sinner.

Jesus said the tax collector was forgiven and made right before God, while the pharisee was not accepted at all.

I would ask you to fill in the blank, I thank God that I am not like __________.

I thank God that I don’t ___________.

I thank God that I do _____________.

Prejudice is built into the heart of every human being. Tim Keller talks about how we will take what we are naturally good at or what is easy for us to believe in our own cultural setting and we will lift that up as an ultimate thing. Then we will look at others around us that do now share those things with us and we get our identity by looking down on them.

This is built into the human heart. Nobody has to tell anybody to be prejudice about something. People will take pictures of kids playing together and post that prejudice is not natural, it’s taught. The problem is that they are limiting prejudice to race alone. People are prejudice about many other things. People are prejudice about political parties. People are prejudice about what kinds of clothes someone wears. People are prejudice about what kind of job someone has. What kind of car or truck they drive…

In the Christian world, we are prejudice about denominations or little nuances in doctrine. Worship styles, translation preference, style of preaching, etc…And if it is not exactly like we want it or what we are used to, we’re upset by it and prejudice against it and others that agree with it.

We’re also prejudice about what kind of people come into our church. If they don’t look like us or dress like us, we may start to make some comments. We may even say, I’m glad they’re here, they need to change.

I want you to see that we all have a problem. I’m prejudice about things too. I have to fight against it all the time.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians writes to the ones who had been on the receiving end or prejudice, but were also dishing it out pretty good as well.

Ephesians 2:11-22

Prejudice is a wall dividing the church from those it should be serving.

Prayer

Ephesians 2:11–12 “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh (by birth), called “the uncircumcision” (this was the insult they gave to gentiles) by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ (They were lost), alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Israel failed to be what God commanded them to be.

Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

Isaiah 49:6 “he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””

Paul describes the Ephesians condition before Christ. They were excluded, not by God, but by Israel. Israel was chosen by God, not to be the only ones saved, but to be a witness to other nations as well.

Ephesians 2:13–18 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility(hatred) by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances (This was not Jesus getting rid of the law, but removing what the law did in the people of Israel. The people took the law given to them as only being given to them. They allowed the law to not make them a witness but to make them a superior race.), that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility (He united us to each other and to the Father. You can’t have one without the other.). And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

Jesus removes all prejudice because every one is born in rebellion to God.

Jesus preached peace to all. Those who grew up in Christian homes needed to be brought to peace with God. Those who grew up in the worst situations committing the worst sins imaginable needed to be brought to peace with God.

And the message is the same for both of us. You have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You need grace. You need salvation.

The ground is level at the cross. The prideful are humbled and come down to it, the downcast are encouraged and lifted up to it.

Jesus broke down the dividing wall in His flesh. That’s the key phrase here. Our flesh is not an inheritance of race other than of being of the human race. Jews were flesh, so were Gentiles. Our sin was borne in our flesh. And Jesus destroyed our sin in His flesh therefore unleashing grace for all those who are in the flesh.

Again unleashed doesn’t mean unconditionally given. We must receive this grace through faith.

But the point is we all get the same salvation. We all need the same salvation.

We are all saved into one body, one race.

If you join a club, you have a couple of things in common with those individuals. You like hunting, you like reading, etc…you have one or two shared interests and you go to those club meetings for that purpose and leave to carry out others.

Race/nationality shares more things together. For instance if you are in a foreign country, you’re looking for someone who speaks english. You’re looking for another American to help you out.

And immediately when you find someone you are relieved.

Race is binding. We want people in our life that are like us. I remember watching the Man of Steel movie, Henry Cavil’s Superman. And he has to make a horrible choice. Zod had got his heat vision going and he’s about to burn a whole family alive. Superman is begging him not to kill them because he doesn’t want to have to kill Zod, the only other Kryptonian. He ends up having to take Zod’s life and after he does so, he isn’t relieved that he saved this family. He screams in agony having to take a life, especially the life of the only other Kryptonian. Once again, Clark was alone.

You need to realize that this church, your church family, is your people.

Ephesians 2:19–22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (you have more in common with a Japanese Christian, an African American Christian, an Arab Christian, than you do with a white American unbeliever.), built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Prejudice is a wall dividing the church from those it should be serving.

The picture Paul paints is of a temple. We individually are a temple for the Holy Spirit. But the people of God together are also a bigger temple bound together by the Holy Spirit.

It is a wonder and a witness to see people in a church getting along when by all physical and social means, they should not. Imagine being invited by a first century Christian to come to their home and eat with them and learn about this Jesus that they are following.

You walk in the door. And you are first of all astonished to see a roman guard there. It’s a trap, but it’s not. He’s a believer too. You find out that someone else there is a Gentile, and you are a Samaritan. This was one of the greatest witnesses of the Gospel.

Now, we in the south don’t get as divided by race. We get divided by preferences. You see churches everywhere and the story is the same. They split from them and then that one split again and formed this one. We’re dividing over carpet, worship styles, preachers, and little nuances in doctrine. Not the Gospel.

Our prejudices keep us from getting along in the church, and therefore keep us from reaching others outside of the church.

It builds a dividing wall between us and keeps us from serving each other and from serving the lost.

We are a holy mosaic.

God is building a temple out of His people. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, building those who are in Christ, into a dwelling place for the Father. Verse 22 is an illustration of the Trinity.

We’re different, but we’re serving the same God. We’re unique, but we have a beauty in us coming together.

And Jesus is our cornerstone in this. Yes obviously He is the one that all of our salvation is built on. But Paul’s point is that Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation of this unity.

He had every right to be prejudice against us. He made us and gave us life and blessed us with all the things of this earth and we rebelled against Him and foolishly claimed that we did not need Him.

He stepped over all of that. And He took all of the punishment we should have received for out treachery upon Himself. He brought justice to us in Himself.

And if He was willing to do that for us, we should want what His end goal was. That goal was that we would we one with each other and that we would bring others in to be a part of the one body of Christ.

So what are your prejudices? Who are they?

Recognize them and confess them.

If you’ve been prejudiced against by someone, realize that you have not been by Christ. Forgive them and move on. It doesn’t matter what they think, you have been brought near by Christ to God.

If you feel like you’ve been excluded, I want you to know that you weren’t excluded at the cross. Hebrews tells us that Jesus faced the cross despising the same for the joy that was set before Him. That joy was you being reconciled back to God. You specifically. Jesus died for us all, but He has always had you on His mind.