The Gospel of Reconcilliation

On December 1, 1955, a middle-aged woman took a seat on a bus in Montgomery, AL. It would have been a pretty unremarkable event, hardly worth our attention today, if it weren’t for the events which followed. Shortly thereafter, a man got on the bus and demanded her seat. The woman refused and was subsequently arrested. The woman’s name was Rosa Parks, an African American lady. And this event was the spark that ignited the Civil Rights Movement and sent shock waves across America, shock waves that are still shaking our nation today.

Many have said that race relations in America are at an all time low today. I’m not sure that’s entirely true, but it’s certainly true that we’re in the midst of a second Civil Rights movement today and the situation isn’t pretty. You’ve heard the news. You know what Fox and CNN have to say about it. You know BLM’s stance on the issue. So I’m not interested in rehashing those perspectives here today. What I’m concerned with is this: “What does the Bible have to say about it?”

FCF: It’s human nature to seek out those who are most like you and develop close friendships with people like you. But the gospel requires that we not merely do what comes naturally to us. The problem of racism, like any other sin that plagues mankind, can’t be solved in the halls of Congress, or in the picket line, or on Facebook. Racism is a heart problem and, as such, must be addressed with the Gospel.

Main Idea: The Gospel of Jesus Christ offers the only hope for interracial reconciliation. If we embrace the gospel of Christ, we will start to see lives changed and divisions broken down as the church models to the world what true unity looks like.

Scripture Introduction: In this passage we see...Prayer for IlluminationTransition:

Defining Racism

“Viewing one’s own race as superior to another” or “Viewing another race as inferior to one’s own.”

Racism is always disguised with clever logic.

The Jews had a long tradition of separation from the Samaritans.

Hostilities dated back 600 years

The Jews had good political reasons to dislike the Samaritans.

The Jews had good ethnic reasons to avoid the Samaritans.

The Jews in Samaria had intermarried with the peoples of the region and had lost their distinctive Jewish-ness

The Jews had good religious reasons to avoid the Samaritans.

The Samaritans worshipped on Mt. Gerizim, not in Jerusalem as prescribed by God in the Mosaic Covenant

The Samaritan woman quickly tried to stoke controversy on this issue, but Jesus didn’t take the bait

John 4:20 ESV

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

And the Samaritans hated them back.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 4

The Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim had been destroyed by the Jews in the late second century BC. Josephus records how the Jews and Samaritans disputed over whether Gerizim or Jerusalem was the proper site for the temple of Yahweh. He dates the construction of the Gerizim temple to the time of Alexander the Great, around 332 BC, but excavations suggest it was built about a century earlier. During the first century AD, the ruins of the temple probably were still visible.

Racism is not unique to any one race of people or country. It’s a human problem. It exists in probably every single race in the world and is the default setting for humanity

You don’t have to don a KKK outfit to be racist. All you have to do is be human.

Just because it sounds logical and is supported by statistics, doesn’t mean it’s not racist.

How would you like it if people assumed that because you’re from Arkansas, you’re just a dumb redneck that walks around barefoot and marries their cousin?

Stereotypes often prevent us from treating people as unique persons.

I once heard a businessman say, “If I know that a certain group of people tend to show up late to work, not have a very good work ethic, etc. and another group of people tends to be the opposite, why wouldn’t I take that into account when I’m hiring?”

Racism is contrary to the heart of God.

God loves the outcasts

Luke 4:25–28 ESV

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

Mark 11:17 ESV

17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

The first person to whom Jesus reveals himself as the “I AM” is a lowly Samaritan woman

In Jn. 4:26, Jesus’s response to her is literally, “I Am, the one who is speaking to you.”

John 4:26 ESV

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Jesus is identifying himself not only as the Messiah that she’s been expecting, but as the “I AM” of

Exodus 3:14 ESV

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

She is likely an outcast even from her own society. (Jn. 4:16-18)

She’s had five husbands/partners.

She’s cohabiting with a man now to whom she’s not married.

She’s coming to draw water in the heat of the day, possibly to avoid the other women who would come to draw in the cool morning hours.

Still, she is the one to whom Jesus reveals himself.

He stays an extra two days to minister to the other Samaritans

Many believe as a result of his ministry there

Their response is heavily contrasted with the response of Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth, in Jn 4:44 (told in detail in Lk. 4:25-28)

Those who practice racism or hold racism in their hearts, then, set themselves in opposition to God.

Isaiah 1:10–20 ESV

10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. 18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God calls out Israel not just for their idolatry, but here he calls them out for their injustices and oppression of the lowly.

Racism is a gospel issue

From the very beginning, God’s intention was to create one people out of every ethnicity in the world, and the culmination of Salvation history is when this happens:

Genesis 12:3 ESV

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.”

Revelation 5:9–10 ESV

9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Revelation 7:9–10 ESV

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Even in the Old Testament, God carefully lays out laws protecting Gentiles and other people whom the Jews might be tempted to oppress:

Leviticus 19:15 ESV

15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

Galatians 3:28–29 ESV

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Ephesians 2:11–22 ESV

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Conclusion/Application

Recognize that racism is a lot more subtle than you may think and that we’re all guilty of it.

Stop forwarding and posting inflammatory meme’s on Facebook!

Make friends with an African American, Hispanic, or Asian person. Get to know them. Ask questions and don’t argue. Learn to listen respectfully, even when you disagree.

Don’t get drawn into pointless, distracting political debates. Give them Jesus, not your political opinions!