Sunday, 25 April 2009

What Does The Bible Say About Racism

Acts 10:9-35

Opening Prayer: Kip

Songs/Readings

As Long As You Are Glorified – Mark Altrogge H/O

Responsive Reading: Baptist Hymnal #716 H/O

All The Way My Savior Leads Me – TH 605

It seems like years since we were back in the Book of Acts, but here we are again and I am excited to be before you this morning, bringing the Word of God to you. I want to thank Chris, even though he is not here, for preaching last week and bringing us the message about the mighty Captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ. The Bible says that Elders should be able to teach and preach, and Chris is qualified on both accounts. We are blessed to be able to start off a church with qualified men in our positions of leadership.

Today’s message, in context, is that there is no basis for Racism in Scripture; at least the way the term Racism is understood by the world today. But there is a Racism that is taught in Scripture and we need to understand the difference between the two.

Some may even say that there is no need for this type of message in the United States any longer, since we have become a more civilized nation, a nation that recognizes all color groups and national identities as equal; we even have our first black president.

Well, that all sounds good, but that is not the way “equal treatment for all” plays out in real life.

We all struggle with a carnal nature and pride that wants us to be the best in the world. It doesn’t matter what our capabilities are, our pride demands that we be number one whenever possible. We see it in the reality shows that play on TV as people are paired off against one another for the “first place” spot in whatever event they are competing in. Don’t get me wrong, competition is healthy in the proper context, but when our desire to be number one consumes our very being and gains control of our decision-making, then it becomes very unhealthy and destructive. We see this side on television also, in those shows designed to be some millionaire’s assistant, or the best runway model, regardless of the cost.

And this form of pride often works itself out in real life as deciding that one color is better than another. It doesn’t matter what country you are in – someone is decidedly the underdog based on their color or nationality.

What is the basis for this hatred? Is it Biblical? Has God ordained that some people are better than others?

Some people will try to make that case, and quote texts like: Acts 17:26-27

26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

NKJV

That sounds like a “possible” argument for everybody staying where they were put until you read the rest of the verse:

Acts 17:27-28

so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

NKJV

God’s purpose in establishing boundaries is to Make man aware of God. Not to establish that one group is better than another; but quite the contrary, to show us, as Paul does in Romans 1:20ff:

Rom 1:20-21

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

NKJV

Man, on his own, without God’s calling, has never sought after God, and this is his continuing sin to this day. When we seek after God, we will find God’s will for our treatment of mankind: who is good and who is bad. I think we will be surprised at the answer to that. I say, instead of finding reasons to hate each other, we should be seeking our God!

Let’s get started.

Please read: Acts 10:9-24:

PRAYER

The key verse for my message this morning is verse 34: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”

The King James puts it more plainly by saying that God is “no respecter of persons” and the NIV says that “God does not show favoritism.”

What is the context of Peter’s speech here?

A group of Gentiles has approached Peter and asked him to come to Caesarea to meet Cornelius and his family and to speak the words to them that God had given him. But apparently this is not something that Peter is going to do willingly, so we see that God is preparing Peter for this event. God prepares Peter by giving him a vision. A vision of a blanket full of clean and unclean animals, being dropped in front of Peter and then He tells Peter to eat them.

Peter responds that there is no way he can eat the unclean animals, believing he is obeying the Mosaic Law; but God shows him the vision two more times, and tells Peter, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy”; and then the Gentiles sent by Cornelius show up at his door.

What is Peter’s mindset about Gentiles before God shows him the vision?

The Jews did not co-mingle with Gentiles except as necessary. He certainly wouldn’t have joined them in an intimate gathering such as a meal or have become partners with them in business.

What was the basis for this separation? Was it a certain group of people that this separation applied to? Was it only blacks? Was it only Asians? Was it White people? Was it based on the color of skin. NO! It was anyone that wasn’t a Jew.

And was it because the Jews were the better people for some intrinsic reason, in other words, was there something they were born with that set them apart from everyone else and made them better? NO AGAIN! It was because God had set them apart as His special people; His chosen people.

God had selected the Jews to shower with His special care and blessings and God had told His people to remain separate from the world. If you were a Jew and loved God, then it was your obligation to remain separate from the non-Jewish world. Not because of skin color, but because of RELIGIOUS BELIEF! You were obeying God by dong this.

This text we are studying today is the text by which we must come to understand all aspects of how we are to treat other races, because that is the exact context we are dealing with here. We are the Gentiles; those considered as the “others” by God and the Israelites. How then, can we try and find a distinction among ourselves, when we are the ones that have to be grafted in to the vine for salvation. It wasn’t white people who had to be grafted in, and it wasn’t black people that had to be grafted in, or yellow, red or brown people. It was all people that were not Israelites by birth! We are all called GENTILES.

Lets start out by looking at the word “race”. How is it used in Scripture? What context is it used in?

My study showed that there are two main uses (though there could be more) of the term “race” in Scripture:

1 – to refer to specific group of people, Israel, as the people of God; and

2 – to refer to the different people groups that populate the planet

But the overarching point of the text today and the use of “race” as a point of distinction between people groups, is that the only discrimination we see in Scripture is based on point number one – the religious aspect. Israel was to remain separate from the world in almost every activity of their life for the purpose of maintaining their holiness. A holiness that was given them by God, not something that they had earned, or for that matter, would ever earn. When it comes to discrimination in Scripture, it is always between Israel and everyone else, and this is based on them being God’s Chosen People – not just a better group.

If you are not a part of God’s people, you have no right or warrant to judge yourself better than another, especially on the grounds of race, because you are outside of the camp of believers, the camp of Israel. We need to see that the Bible is a very prejudiced Book. If you are not with God, you are against Him. Let me repeat that, if you are not with God, you are against Him. That is why conservative, orthodox Christianity is under such attack. Believing in our God and His Word, the Bible, makes people that are not part of the Holy Race; God’s elect, upset.

Everywhere today we smell the aroma of new age tolerance. It is an incense whose smoke fills every nook and cranny in the world, except in the homes of the true believers. Tolerance is an evil way of thinking that declares EVERYONE IS OKAY and therefore, there should be no hatred or prejudice in the world. It sounds nice, doesn’t it. The world system agrees with us today, there should be no prejudice or racism in the world! But are we saying the same thing?

God says there is no distinction between people of color or nationality if…… (and this is a big IF) THEY FEAR HIM AND WORK RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT IS ACCEPTED BY HIM.

The world says, whether there is a god or not, we are all equal and therefore there should be no racism.

We both end up in a world without racism but getting there with the world, leaves out God and HIS perfect reason for racism. You see, God only sees two races on the planet: the Holy Race and everyone else. If you haven’t rounded out your biblical world-view yet, this will help. There are two groups of people according to the Bible. Those that are saved or will be saved – the elect, and those that will not be saved. The first group is going to spend eternity in heaven with God and the latter group will spend eternity in hell without God. If you haven’t been preaching this, perhaps that is why you haven’t experienced any persecution yet :0)

In the NIV, the word “race” is used to refer to a special group.

Ezra 9:2

2 They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them.

NIV

In the NKJV, that same verse renders the word SEED:

Ezra 9:1-2

2 For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands.

NKJV

Here we see the context for the word race is a reference to the holiness of Israel. Israel is seen as Holy as compared to all other people on the planet. Not based on their color or geographical location, but because of their God. They are the Holy Race because of Jehovah, not nationality. God decided to chose Israel, and that is what gave them their Holiness, their uniqueness, their set-apartness, if you will. The word “seed” has to do with conception and refers to the fact that Israel was born of God concerning their holiness. Their lineage was handed-down to them by God from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Moses and beyond. These were special people because of who God said they were.

It is easy to let our pride get the best of us and think that we are better than anyone else because of our color or nationality, but we need to remember, that it is God who has divided the people. And we need to remember that ALL people came from Adam, thereby making us all from the same seed stock, so to speak. The call to separateness is still there today, as it was in the Old Testament; it is a call to Holiness or sanctification. We are in the world but we are not part of the world. We are not to marry unbelievers, or form business relationships with unbelievers, or to form any relationship with an unbeliever that is going to have a corrupting affect on our relationship with Jesus Christ.

However, we are not called to hate non-believers, but to witness the loving kindness of our God to them and urge them to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are called to a ministry of reconciliation. Bringing people back to their God. It is the only solution for ending biblical Racism: bringing people to Jesus Christ.

Sing: Shout To The Lord – H/O

Prayer