4. Racial Reconciliation
Notes
Transcript
Welcome both in person and on line to part four and the conclusion of our sermon series, Outside In. If you are new with us, we have spent the last few weeks looking at three core verses from the book of Acts…and today we wrap it up with core verse number four.
Reconciliation. It’s the restoration of relationships and of peace where before there had been hostility and alienation.
As followers of Jesus, when we think about reconciliation, we usually immediately think of the Gospel. The good news that God’s Kingdom has come, and through his death and resurrection King Jesus has reconciled us back to God and into his Kingdom. Amazing…right!?
However, what makes the good news, “Good News” is that it’s good news for everyone. This is news for all people. What did Jesus command his disciples to do?
Matthew 28:19 (NIV)
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
To make disciples of all nations. The word “nations” means is the word, ethnos and it’s where we get our word, ethnicities. This means every ethic people group on planet earth. They are all invited into God’s Kingdom by becoming disciples of Jesus.
I don’t think we fully appreciate how ground breaking this command is. This was a command given when the only thing the world knew was tribalism, discrimination and racism. The Jesus movement it about to get real when it comes to reaching all people no matter who they are, what ethnicity they are or what language or customs they have.
To be clear, this has always been God’s mission. The descendants of Abraham were to be a blessing to the nations. The prophet Isaiah speaks about God’s plan for the nations.
he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
This is clearly God’s plan, and through Jesus this became a reality. The truth is, Jesus followers took this message very seriously because you and I are sitting here today. Most of us are white in our skin color…which is a huge difference from even the race of Jesus and his disciples.
So what did Jesus look like?
Here is the world’s most expensive painting, a centuries old image of Jesus known as the “Salvator Mundi” attributed to legendary Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci. Not only is it the most expensive paintings of Jesus, it’s also one of the most popular. So compare that painting of Jesus with a computer generation image of what a first century Jewish man from Galilee would have looked like.
Picture of Jesus
Clearly, Jesus and his disciples were of a different race. What this tells us is this:
The Gospel Reconciles All People Back to God.
The Gospel Reconciles All People Together In God’s Family.
So as the Jesus movement begins after Pentecost, you can begin to track this trajectory moving from Jewish people…to other races of people. Let me show you what I’m talking about.
In Acts chapter 8, there is a big shift as the new church in Jerusalem is scattered because of persecution. Some of these Christians go up the road to the Samaritans. Ethnically, Samaritans are not fulled blooded Jewish. There has always been tension and hatred between these two people groups. However one of the deacons, Philip begins to share the gospel with these folks…and they believe. Here is what happens to these racial outsiders.
But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Not only are people being reconciled back to God, but the family of God is growing and becoming more diverse ethnically. Oh, but it doesn’t stop there. Philip is lead by God to head out down the road headed to Gaza. It’s there that he meets an Ethiopian eunuch, and an official of the royal treasury of the queen of Ethiopia. This Ethiopian has converted to Judaism and has been in Jerusalem. While there, the Ethiopian has purchased a scroll of Isaiah and is trying to understand it. Philip has been lead by the Holy Spirit to help interpret Isaiah 53 to this Ethiopian. The eunuch, responds by putting his faith in Jesus. Here’s what happens next.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
What color of skin do you suppose the Ethiopian had? Well if most certainly wasn’t white, and I bet it was a lot darker than Philips! Not only was this Ethiopian reconciled back to God, but he and Philip were reconciled together into God’s family.
Notice what has happened. Outsiders are becoming insiders because insiders are going to outsiders. The gospel compels us to move from where we are and go to those who are considered outsiders…whether it’s because of their race, language, customs or any differences. The Gospel compels those who are a part of God’s family to pursue outsiders and invite them into the family…because God’s family is for everyone.
Okay, there’s one more. One more big obstacle. The Gentiles. This was a huge obstacle not only racially, but religiously. The Holy Spirit leads Peter to the house of Cornelius, a centurion in the Italian Regiment, in the coastal city of Caesarea. Upon hearing Cornelius’s story about how the Holy Spirit brought them together, Peter says this.
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
There’s that word “nation” again. God accepts every ethnicity, every race. Peter can’t even finish his sermon. The Holy Spirit comes upon Cornelius and his family. Peter then baptizes them into Jesus and the family of God. So Cornelius is not only reconciled back to God, but he and his family is reconciled into the family of God.
Now, one would say that this is a huge cause for celebration, but for some of the Jewish Christians, this is too much! How can we let this people who are racially different, with different customs, and languages…who for so long have been considered unclean into God’s family?
This creates tension and controversy within the early church as they wrestle with their own prejudice and racial discrimination. The Holy Spirit has been clearly moving people in the direction of the reconciliation of all people. However, was the Jesus followers going to go in the direction. I think they struggle with the same types of issues that all of us struggle with.
It gets really personal when we are forced to acknowledge that at some level we have our forms of discrimination, sometimes intentional and sometimes unintentional…out of ignorance. Over this last year, we all have wrestled with the issues of racism. For me personally, I pushed back from some accusations. However, as I have listened to Christian leaders who I admire, I recognize that there are still too many barriers that we put up when it comes to racial reconciliation and that the work is not done. The truth is, the work of reconciliation whether it’s between people and God or racial reconciliation will not be done until Jesus returns.
In Acts 15, the apostles meet for what is referred to as the Jerusalem Conference. They make this determination about what needs to be done about all of these new people groups wanting to follow Jesus. James, Jesus’ half brother reads their agreement.
“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Instead of building walls, James says that they need to build bridges…making the way clear and obstacle free for all people to accept the Good News and come to God.
Months later, the apostle Paul finds himself in Europe, surrounded by a bunch of white people in the city of Athens. As he stands on the Areopagus addressing this very educated crowd he makes this statement. This is also our core verse for the week:
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
Paul’s point is that all people, all ethnicities are God’s and that through Jesus we can all not only be reconciled back to God, but reconciled back to each other…because we are all God’s family.
Through Jesus we have been given the mission of reconciling people back to God and back to each other.
I was able to witness this personally when I was in Israel. One of our stops was at the Jordan River baptismal site. I really didn’t know what to expect but something amazing happened there.
As our group went to the river to be baptized I was surprised to hear so many different languages being spoken. There were literally people from all over the world at this one spot being baptized.
Here’s a picture of a group of Christians from Taiwan being baptized right next to us. I could not understand one single word that they were saying, but I completely identified with the baptism they were doing. It wasn’t just this group from Taiwan. There were Christians from Nigeria, Brazil, and Eastern Europe. Almost all of the continents of the world were represented in this one spot along the Jordan River.
At the entrance there were was what is called The Wall of New Life. Where there were all of these plaques quoting Mark 1:9-11 about Jesus’ baptism, but in different languages. I mean every language of the world! So here I am, with goosebumps at a place I totally didn’t expect to be impacted by. But here is why. It was at the Jordan River I saw and experienced people being reconciled back to God and to each other!
So really the question is, how can we, as Jesus followers live this out in our lives. Two words: Build Bridges
We build bridges by building relationships with all people, but especially those who are different then we are, be it racially, culturally, socio economic. It’s through these bridge relationships that we are able to know and understand other people who are not like us.
Let me close by telling you a story about what this looks like and the kingdom impact it can have on our lives and our community.
Daryl Davis is a black musician who converts Klu Klux Klan members. It started as a random meeting in 1983 after Davis played at a club and began a conversation with a white man there…who ended up being a member of the Klan. As relationship was built and eventually this man left the clan. This launched Davis on this mission of befriending Klan members. Probably the one that stands out the most was Davis befriending Robert Kelly, who eventually became the Imperial Wizard of Maryland. After meeting and building a relationship bridge, Davis found himself at Klan rallies…mingling with Klan members. Eventually Robert Kelly left the Klan and gave Davis his robe. Incidentally, that isn’t the only Klu Klux Klan robe Davis has. As he built these relationship bridges with Klan members, they would end up leaving the Klan and in so doing give Davis his robe.
While some say Davis converted these men, he prefers to say that they converted themselves, and that he merely provided the impetus for them to do so.
Through Jesus we have been given the mission of reconciling people back to God and back to each other.