Racial Division and the Gospel

Over the last few weeks, our nation has experienced again very sad and very significant division regarding race. Here a just a few thoughts that should guide us in days like these:

1. We should be engaged politically, but not like the world practices politics.

   The most political thing we can say as Christians is this: “Jesus is our King.” Think about Acts 17:6-7:

   Acts 17:6–7 And when they could not find [Paul and Silas], they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

   If our gut reaction is to go to our preferred political corner and simply echo those thoughts and opinions, then we’re doing it wrong. Jesus is King, and He’s given us a Bible to tell us what to think about everything that matters, including race. We should follow Jesus. We should stand with Jesus. We should oppose every form of racial bigotry and hate. We should pray for our President and everyone in authority. Above all, we should preach the gospel that perfectly levels humanity as sinners in need of a Savior and pray that God would use us in His service.

2. We should be careful and loving listeners.

   Again, the gospel conditions our responds. Recognizing that we are sinners, we should be skeptical that we are automatically right. Too often we enter debates prepared to win and not seeking to learn, empathize, and, above all, love our neighbor. We should probably turn our TVs off with their split screen debates and pay less attention to back-and-forth’s on Twitter and Facebook. Far better to sit down and listen—to listen to God in his Word and others in our world. I need to be a student before I’m a teacher.

3. The church has an incredible opportunity to lead the way.

   This is an opportunity to show the world what the church is and, more importantly, whose the church is. The church is the only institution that has the resources to deal with problems that are both structural and spiritual. We can love enemies, make sacrifices, put down preferences, think about others first, repent freely and forgive radically, love one another, including (and especially!) people who are really different. Let’s pray that God would make us good news people in a bad news world.