This has been a horrendous week for race relations in America. The lives of two African American men were taken at the hands of white police officers. As protest ensued the lives of 5 white police officers were taken at the hands of a sniper whose mission was to kill white people.
My heart breaks every time I get on Twitter and Facebook and hear our comments about these things. Many, I believe, rightly understand the gospel and are mourning with those who mourn (on both sides). But for every good statement there are about 50 comments underneath which are divisive and/or defensive. We are not a united America on this issue.
Yet many pulpits will be silent on Sunday.
It’s not because the Bible has nothing to say on the issue…
The Scriptures speak loudly and clearly about racism and the creation of this radical new people of God where cultural and ethnic barriers are obliterated by the gospel. There is no place for racism (no matter the color your skin) within the new people of God. Likewise, there is no place for an idolatrous impulse to defend my race against yours. The Scriptures tell us that as believers our shared union with Christ is deeper than any other bond. It is the core of our identity. And it is only within the redemption of Christ that racial harmony is truly achieved.
Yet many pulpits will be silent on Sunday.
Why?
Because our nation is divided and our churches are divided on these issues. And lets be honest a majority of our people put more stock in what the pundits on their favorite news station have to say about issues of race than they do what the man of God says when he opens up the Word.
Most preachers know that if he stands upon the Bible then neither Fox News or CNN will agree with him. He’s preaching a different gospel. A different narrative. A different answer. And he knows he will likely stir up disunity in the body. He knows folks will be upset because the preacher has the audacity to be concerned with something far bigger than what politics and man-centered movements can contain.
For the sake of unity—and because he knows the pundits will carry the day anyways—the preacher will pick something else as his text and pretend that by not addressing the elephant in the room that maybe it’ll just go away without soiling the carpets too badly.
Other pulpits will be noisy but silent on the gospel. They’ll just kowtow the preferred line of their congregation and maybe pull out a few Scripture passages which seem to support that view. They’ll get a few riveting Amen’s and go on their merry way. Such pulpits are noisy but still silent on race as far as the truth of the gospel is found.
What is needed on Sunday morning is a prophetic preacher. One who will believe God’s Word is the answer to issues of race. And one who will proclaim a gospel which is offensive to both Fox News and CNN. One which doesn’t hide behind a distant theology but is actual boots-to-the-ground type of stuff which will speak to the hurting, mourn with those who mourn, and offer real here and now solutions while we wait for the new heavens and new earth.
Our people don’t need a muted pulpit. They don’t need one which bows to a political party or even to a nation. They need a man of God who is willing to say ‘thus says the Lord’ even if it flies in the face of our darling idols.
Will you be such a preacher this Sunday morning?
Will I?
—
Photo source: here
Prophetic, you say? How about this just a little more than a week before these events went down?
Paul Martin: Death to Religious AND Racial Prejudice
http://gfcto.com/sermons/sermon/2016-06-26/death-to-religious-and-racial-prejudice