Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Throughout this sermon series, we have tackled some very important things that make us great team members of God’s church.

Today we turn our attention to the church as a whole and who it is made up of.

Now, I know that this topic is filled with landmines and missed tackles.

Some might say, “Pastor James, you’re white, you can’t talk on the topic of race.

You just don’t understand.”

And I’ll admit that there are certain aspects of this discussion that I don’t understand.

However, I can speak on this topic for one reason that trumps all the reasons I can’t.

The Bible speaks on this issue.

So for today, I will endeavor as best I can to let God’s word speak to us this morning.

Please turn in your Bible’s to .

Now, just like in the church, race and sports have a sorted history.

In many cases we take for granted that sports is a place where people are judged by talent and not the color of their skin.

But it wasn’t always like that.

In 1946, The Rams became the first team to sign 2 black players.

For us Americans it’s often a humbling experience as we realize that we aren’t always the best at everything.

A beautiful picture happens every time someone wins a Gold Medal and they play that winner’s national anthem.

At the same time that we celebrate the commonality of the human race, we find a place to celebrate the unique identity of the individual.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier to play for the Dodgers.

The NBA wasn’t integrated until 1950 when Nat Clifton signed with the New York Nicks.

For a few short weeks every few years, our eyes are opened to the bigger picture and our world gets a little smaller.

We get to see the human race on full display.

Prior to the integration of the leagues, there were separate leagues for black players.

And these players were showing their incredible athletic ability to the point that the NFL, NBA and MLB teams could no longer deny that integration would make their teams better.

And few people can probably dispute that it has made each of the sports better too.

Sports is a great uniter in that people around the world watch the Olympics.

Movies like Remember the Titans and Glory Road illustrate that power that sports has to unite entire communities around sports.

That for a few short hours as we gather under the lights on a friday night or around the TV to watch our favorite teams our races and our ethnicities dissolve into Silver and Black, Black and Orange, Green and Yellow, Yellow and Blue.

It’s just sad that sports was able to succeed where the church has failed.

Because sports are fleeting and once your perceived usefulness is done, then you are out.

This is not so with the Kingdom of God.

We are useful until God calls us home.

There is a place for us until we die.

But does the kingdom of God have the power to unite Russia and the USA, Pakistan and India, Dodgers and Giants fans.

Does the kingdom of God have the power to heal the racial wounds of our past?

I’m glad you asked because the answer is of course yes.

And it is the only thing with that power.

A no we don’t have to shed our distinctions, culture, race or even language.

Some are quick to quote

and say, we need not celebrate our distinctions but rather only our unity in Christ.

If we want to truly be united let us just identify as Christians.

Not only do I think the answer is yes, but it is the ONLY thing with the power to heal!!!!

Yet we neglect passages like

Rev 7:9-109

In our culture we have 2 problems that we must face head on.

Finding your identity in race and not Jesus.

When we find our identity more in the color of our skin or the language that we speak, or our culture, or the neighborhood that we live in, that is a problem.

I have more in common with a hispanic/black/asian Christian that I ever will with a unbelieving white.

And if you are hispanic/black/asian, you have more in common with me than you do with an unbelieving member of your race.

Problem number 2 is...

2. Finding your identity in your Citizenship of a country and not the kingdom of God.

Finding your identity in your Citizenship of a country and not the kingdom of God.

At the onset, yes, America was settled as an experiment of a Christian nation.

The earliest settlers traversed the Atlantic in the name of religious freedom.

But how could a Christian nation have tolerated slavery?

How could a Christian nation have tolerated segregation?

How is it that the Bible belt which is known for its conservative Christian values also harbor some of the deepest roots of racism?

The OT prophets speak of a day when the nations will be judged.

And believe me the USA will be judged along with them.

In 2003, I was a teacher’s aid in a german high school as part of my study abroad program.

Every day for 6 months I walked to this school.

And I quickly learned that I could cut off a few minutes of my walk by cutting through the ruins of an old roman outpost.

Now the Roman empire was the largest and most powerful empire our world has ever known.

It was the greatest threat to early Christians.

They burned our Christian fathers at the stake and fed them to lions.

They did everything in their power to destroy this movement.

2000 years later, I cut through their ruins while the Kingdom of God continues to grow.

(I think you are trying to make an analogy here, but I don’t get it.

Work on this last sentence to pull it out)

I am an american through and through, and I love the red,white and the sound of our national anthem played when our ahtletes win Gold.

But I do not deny the racial injustices of our past and I know that the USA will forever bow at the feet of King Jesus.

(What do you mean that the USA will forever bow at the feet of King Jesus?

What does this have to do with our racial injustices of the past?

Also, I would say that they are also the racial injustices of today.

Not just the past)

At the end of the day, the Kingdom of God should hold our unrivaled allegiance.

Transition to the text:

Now, lest we think that the racial divide is only a problem in america, we have to remember that this has always been a problem.

But Jesus came to break down the barriers of race and create something new that all would be welcome in the kingdom of God regardless of tongue, tribe and nation.

Now you should be holding open your Bible to

The early church was largely Jewish.

In spite of Jesus’ teaching and the events of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit came on the disciples to preach the Gospel in the languages of the nations, they still drifted back towards Jewishness (segregation).

Even though Jesus was clear that the gospel was for everyone, Jewish people still held onto the Torah as the truth and everyone who did not abide by it was inferior and even blasphemous.

9 chapters later, it takes an unsettling dream for Peter to finally start preaching the gospel to the “others.”

Luke tells us what happens afterward:

Let me make an observation here before I move on.

The Holy Spirit came powerfully on Cornelius and his household.

There was no denying it.

These people were accepted and saved by the same faith and same grace as that of the Apostles.

Yet when Peter comes back and tells the disciples, there was no celebrating.

They were upset that Peter would enter into the household of an uncircumcised person.

That was simply not done.

Racism is nothing new.

We must always fight it.

Never tolerate it.

Still we aren’t told what happened the following Sunday when Cornelius and his family showed up to church.

My guess is that there were whispers in the corners.

I hope for many of us it is unimaginable that anyone might not be welcome in church on Sunday morning.

But, let us remember that Less than 50 years ago, there were churches in this country that people of color (are we specifically talking about African Americans here?

People with brown and black skin?