Let's talk!!

Let’s Talk!!!

Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

INTRODUCTION

Once again, an unarmed black American man has died needlessly in the streets as a police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd.

With each new incident, all of us are more outraged, and ashamed, and discouraged, and depressed that this kind of injustice is still happening to our own brothers and sisters in America in the 21st century.

It’s so, so very wrong! It is shocking, and appalling and outrageous and disgraceful to witness how deeply rooted racism still is in our culture. We know it makes God angry and it makes us angry too.

People have taken to the streets to protest and demand an end to this kind of inexcusable behavior. If one of us is denied justice, none of us can ignore it. If one of us isn’t safe, none of us is safe. And if one of us can be abused, all of us will lose.

As Jesus and Dr. Martin Luther King, and many others have taught us — using violence to end violence will never work! It’s irrational and illogical. We don’t fight fire with fire. We drown it with water.

No matter how angry and upset we are about injustice and an unfair system, we can only defeat evil by doing what God tells us to do in

Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good!”

Racism and prejudice and bigotry are extremely strong forces because they are based on human fears. But there is a stronger force. And that force is the love of God through us.

So this morning, we're going to talk about you and I showing respect to each other, one of the issues that every society has had to face and that our society has to face.

This is what I know for me as a minister of the gospel of the my Lord Jesus Christ that I don’t find the answer to my problems or the problems of this world in the directions of the world, but God’s Word must be final authority in my life.

So what does the Bible say about racism?

The Bible has an answer for all the issues we face in our lives.

As you and I look at this topic it's something all of us began facing way back on the playground.

Racism really begins in kindergarten, although kids don't know. They have all kinds of ways to do it. It's not just, You're different from me... You're black ... Your eyes look different... You've got a bigger nose... That is a racist comment in kindergarten.

They just notice every difference. And those differences become a reason to putting people apart.

Definition of prejudice: An adverse judgment or opinion formed before and without knowledge or examination of the facts. A preconceived preference or idea or bias.

A very important question to ask this morning: Can that definition ever get in the way of the commission that Jesus charge His believers to fulfilled?

Matt 28:18 Jesus came and told His disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Matt 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Matt 28:20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Pay close attention: Make disciples of all the nations. That's Jesus' commission.

If I have got a preconceived notion of somebody that keeps me from talking to that somebody and they need to know the Good News of Jesus Christ, it's getting in the way of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

We're not just talking about social justice. We're talking about spiritual justice in people's lives.

You and I as believers in Jesus Christ, have the power to make a difference in our society, a difference in our family, a difference in our place of business.

As believers in Jesus Christ we started this by reminding ourselves of different ways these social issues fit into our lives, these moral issues that we're talking about.

We talked about four things that all of us are in Jesus Christ. As we talk about this tonight, it's going to fit into all of these areas.

1. We're to be a prophet to society.

There's always that role the church has that the people of God have that says, This is what God stands for. Standing for the truth. Our society always needs a prophetic voice.

Prophets aren't just those kinds of bitter people. We need loving prophets who are clearly saying, "This is God's truth for our society.

Eph 4:15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ;

2. We're to be a priest to sinners.

Priest literally means bridge builder. We need people to see how they build a bridge between themselves and God. And that's through Jesus Christ.

I can't build that bridge. You can't build that bridge. But Jesus Christ can build a bridge.

How can people see that God loves them if they don't see that I love them as a believer in Christ? That's why this is an issue.

3. We also need to be a partner with saints.

Gal 6:1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

Gal 6:2 Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

We need to encourage people who are facing struggles in their own lives. We need to encourage people who are facing prejudice in their life.

That's part of our role as believers. You may think this doesn't affect you, you're not facing it.

If you have a brother or sister in Christ that is facing it, anywhere in the world, it's important to you, because you and I need to be an encouragement to them.

4. We need to be a person in need of God.

Php 1:10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's return.

This is one of those issues where sometimes we have to let God search our heart.

Did they face this in Bible time? The New Testament is filled with this issue. The New Testament is filled with this struggle.

Acts 15. They struggle with prejudice in New Testament times revolved around a religious prejudice.

It was prejudice between Jew and Gentile. It was a strong prejudice that had lasted thousands of years. The prejudice was so strong, that many Jewish men would wake up in the morning and one of their first prayers would be, "I thank You that I'm not a Gentile."

That's the first thing they'd pray in the morning. (They would sometimes say gentile dog, even.) That was the attitude that they had. It was a deep-seated religious prejudice.

Gentiles started to come into the church of Jesus Christ. Gentiles began to be saved. They had a big problem.

They got together in Jerusalem, had a council and talked about it. In that council at Jerusalem we see some principles from God's word in dealing with racism and prejudice.

First we see the attitude behind all prejudice in

Act 15:1 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: "Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved."

The attitude behind all prejudice is this: Why aren't you exactly like me? In this case the problem was circumcision.

But the real problem is we notice that we're different, different culturally, different religiously, different in our backgrounds and our speech.

Some people notice that we're different and they value that. Other people notice that we're different and because of that they push people away.

They had to deal with prejudice and racism. It was deep-seated in the church. They got together and because of the power of the Holy Spirit, He gave them the ability to overcome.

I realize that what I am going to share will not it's not totally break down every prejudice and the racism that's faced in society.

But you and I need to know what are the principles from God's word and how to deal with things – in my own life first and then to help other people deal with things.

1. Get informed.

Act 15:2 Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.

Act 15:3 The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone's joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.

They told people, "Look! Here's what's been happening. Here's what God has been doing."

If we don't get informed about what God's doing in other people's lives, it's easy to build a prejudice against anybody. If I don't know that person, I'm not informed about that person.

The truth is, I grew up in a little town of Pocola that was not all white at that time.

My best friend was Antwain Gillory and E.J. Mc Curtain. They were my buddies. I would say to people often I am color blind but that wrong, because I knew that they were black but it didn’t make a different to me.

Some of you grew up in towns and cities that was all white. Prejudice wasn't a part of your life in that town or city because there wasn't an opportunity for it.

Others of you have grown up in situations where in your family, every day, you were constantly be filled with prejudice against this race or that race, this religion or that religion.

Whether you didn't know anything about others at all or you're filled up with prejudice about others, one of the keys to breaking through prejudice is get informed about other people.

A recent U.S. News article said here are some of racism’s current statements, things that still happen: taxes that never stop, suspicious shoppers, fear of black men, unequal service, the unwelcome mat that's rolled out, no respect given in many situations, surprise at the fact that you're successful.

You and I have to look at that and pray, "Lord, have I ever done any of those things? ... Have I ever been the victim of any of those things? Have I, am I willing to respond to it as Christ would? Am I willing to respond with a sense of willingness to change, to repent and change?

Am I willing to respond with the ability to forgive and ask God to take care of that person? He can met out judgment much better than you or I."

There are many political issues that go along with racism and prejudice. Today, we're not here to talk about all those. I'm not here to diminish those or the importance of those.

Today we're here to build a foundation – where do we start as believers in Christ? What are the foundational attitudes in God's word that will help me make a difference in society?

It starts with getting informed, getting good information. That information needs to lead farther than this quote, what W.C. Fields said about prejudice: "I'm free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally."

I know a lot of people like that. They think they're free of prejudice. Their problem is, they hate everybody.

They have bitterness towards everyone. That's not a freedom from prejudice.

Allen Key said this when he talked about prejudice, "Racism is an equal opportunity employer. Color is no bar or barrier to being a racist."

That's a sad statement, but it's true. All of us have to search our hearts and say, "God, if that's in my heart, would You forgive me? If I've been the victim of that, would You help me to forgive them?" Get informed.

2. Get together.

Just reading information about somebody else isn't enough. One of the responsibilities that I have as a believer, and you have, if I've got a prejudice against somebody – and it could be even a personal or religious prejudice but we're dealing mostly with racial prejudice.

You don't like a certain person. One of the responsibilities that God's word gives me is to get together with that person, to make the relationship right.

They did this in Jerusalem.

Act 15:4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

There was a comic strip.

Show the comic strip

You see this picture of supposed-to-be God making the world. He's got the world in a frying pan. Up on the shelf He has dark-colored, light-colored, medium-colored people.

And then He's got another shaker in His hand and saying, "Just to make it more interesting...” and He's shaking this bottle in. The bottle says "Jerks".

Sometimes when you and I fail to get together with other people we start to think of them as other than they really are.

Even somebody that you don't think you agree with, even somebody that you don't think you can love, God's word says that you and I have a responsibility as believers to get together.

Matt 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Matt 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

They met together – Jew and Gentile – people who had a hatred for generation after generation. It went deep in their families. They wouldn't go into each other's homes. It went so deep that they wouldn't even touch each other in public. Incredibly deep hatred. They got together and sat down and talked.

You never solve anything, when it comes to prejudice, by talking about other people. You have to eventually come to the point that you talk with the somebody to solve it. They got together.

3. They got a leader.

Somebody had to lead them out of this. Somebody had to lead them into the promised land.

Act 15:7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Act 15:8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

Act 15:9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

It takes a leader. Without a leader we all tend to naturally default to selfishness, getting our own way, doing our own thing. That's our natural default.

When you turn on a computer it always comes up with the same screen all the time, then you can change it all around if you want to, but it defaults to that screen.

My natural default if I let myself go is to be selfish. One of the things God uses believers who are leaders for is to lead us out of our selfishness.

We need Christian leaders in our families in our country. We need Christian leaders in our offices. So they can lead us out.

If you look back across our country's history, the most revered leaders are those who have led us away from racism. The most revered leaders. Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr.

We look at our most revered leaders, people we hold up and esteem, as leaders who have been able to take a stand. They were leaders who have been able to have a dream and been able to lead us out.

Something important about Peter and the words he said, "God made a choice that the Gentiles might hear from my lips."

Before Peter could lead others out of prejudice, he had to deal with it in his own life. And listen to me prejudice goes on all side of life, black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor etc.

Do the bucket illustration

It's amazing how easy it slips in and it will start ruling our lives.

Look what happen to Peter:

Act 10:9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

He's on the housetop, he went on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat. While the meal is being prepared, he fell into a trance.

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down and it contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles and a voice told him, “Peter, kill and eat.”

These were all the non-kosher foods he'd been taught about all his life from childhood up.

It was like Peter's mind goes, "I've been studying for this test all my life! I know the answer! I've got this test aced. God, I will not eat of that. It's against Your rules. I will not do it."

Then the sheet comes down a second time and God says again, "Kill and eat." He thought he got the right answer the first time. But He says, "No." Then it comes down a third time.

God's trying to teach Peter something. Immediately after he sees that three times, some people from the house of a guy named Cornelius, a Gentile, a god-fearing Gentile, somebody who wanted to come to know the God of the universe, came and knocked on Peter's door and said, "Can you come see our friend Cornelius?” And Peter thinks, "God might doing something here...” He follows them and he sees Cornelius and his family come to Christ.

Do you think God was getting Peter ready for Acts 15 in Acts 10? Of course He was. He had to work in his life first before he could work in others’ lives.

So, get a leader. And if God wants to use you as a leader, He's going to work in your life.

Act 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Act 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

We need leadership. That's one of the ways God wants to use some of you. I'm not just talking to the pastors. I'm talking to those of you in our church. God wants to use you as leaders –

In our country, in your office, in our schools, in our families, and in our churches.

He has put you in the place and positions you are in to change a family or to change a school or to change an office or some of you to change the country. I'm not just talking social change.

I'm talking about your witness for Christ, to make a difference in the world. If the world sees in us the same attitude that they see in themselves, they start to think there is really no difference.

And if I don't stand up and say, “I am different because of Christ,” many times, you're being the same as they are. That's why we need leaders. That's why we need to make a difference.

4. Get a decision.

Act 15:19 "And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

It was James this time who stood up and after Peter's leadership said, "Let's do something about this!" Let’s make a decision about how we're going to treat this in our family.

Let's make a decision that we're not going to say those kinds of things in our family.

Let's make a decision that we're not going to do those kinds of thing in our office. Let's make a decision about our school.

Some of you are thinking right now, God could use me to make a difference. Get a decision.

James led them to decide, not just to talk. Not just to say, This isn't right, or Isn't that too bad!

You see, in God's word as I see it from beginning to end, two ways to break through prejudice. One's, man's way, and one's, God's way.

In man's way we look way back to the book of Genesis to a place called the Tower of Babel. There, they did a pretty good job of breaking through prejudice. Everybody was working together. All humankind, working together for one goal – to build this tower.

If you look at our society today, that's sort of the goal that many people have. If we could just get everybody to work together – all of human kind – we'd reach the goal. That's all we need.

The problem is, when you read the story, they had everybody working together but the higher they built the tower, the further they got from God.

The higher they built the tower, the more they thought maybe we're like God. As the tower got taller and taller they thought they actually were gods in and of themselves.

The result of the best of the human situation, the best of the human solution, if that's all you have, the end result is only pride – look at what we did!

Look at the world we created! Look at the prejudice that we, as human beings have removed!

That's the best we can get as human beings and that's not good enough. That's why we need believers in Jesus Christ who are leaders in this area. Because there is a far different issue, a far different answer, in the New Testament.

In the New Testament, you don't look at the Tower of Babel as the answer. You look to the cross of Christ. It's the cross of Christ that breaks down the barrier between people. When you look to the cross of Christ.

Eph 2:15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new people from the two groups.

Eph 2:16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of His death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

What was so upsetting to me is this one fact, we can call a prayer meeting and one or two people show up but we can call a protest and thousands show up.

You might call a prayer meeting and the meeting great but the second nobody, but protest for weeks and thousands continue to show up.

It's getting back to the cross that makes the difference. The result of us just working together and human power is pride. But the result of the cross of Christ is peace.

6. Give encouragement.

They got together in Jerusalem and made this great decision, but they didn't stop there.

The apostles and the elders, together with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and they sent them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabus.

They choose Judas and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers and with them they sent the following letter. The letter said this is what we've decided. We want all of you to know.

Act 15:24 "We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them!

Act 15:25 So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

Act 15:26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Act 15:27 We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question.

Act 15:28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements:

Act 15:29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell."

And the response was:

Act 15:31 And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.

May we never forget:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.