A Biblical Response on Race | Sermon by Tony Evans

or we need you today at a level that that is beyond the ordinary we need the supernatural extraordinary now because you have allowed it to be clear that we have human limitations so we cry out to you Lord for wisdom and knowledge and understanding starting in this house and then where you take us in Jesus name we pray amen every four years there are the Olympics where the elite athletes of the world come together to compete they have worked hard to be viewed and understood and seen as the very best of the best and so they come and they compete against other athletes from other countries aspiring ultimately for the gold medal the ultimate recognition of their superiority however when the gold medalist stands on the platform to receive the gold medal they do not ask him or her what's their favorite song they play the national anthem of the country of what of which they are apart with their flag flying high because it is understood while that athlete used their talents and their skills and their efforts and their hard work they represent a bigger country they represent a bigger kingdom it's not just about them it includes them it utilizes them but it's bigger than them and so they want it to be made clear that they did this under the banner and under the flag of the kingdom that they represent God has a kingdom it's made up of citizens some black some white some red yellow Spanish backgrounds and his intention was never that their individual uniqueness is whatever cause in the lose sight of the flag flying over them the flag of the cross and the flag of our commitment to Christ America in particular is reaching an all-time low and this issue of race and culture and class just under the surface there's this ever bubbling problem that has gone unresolved this is sinful evil disease of racism culturalism and classism is too deep for over-the-counter remedies radical surgery is needed any any sicknesses last this long and run this deep Walgreens is insufficient for CVS cannot give you an antidote we need something more radical and much deeper to address this chaotic confusion in the culture so as clearly as I know how I would like to spend my time with you this morning - as specifically as possible address this issue of race of culture of class that has been muddied by a million different voices we've got voices about which life matters all life is created in the image of God all life is created in the image of God therefore all lives matter however underneath the banner that God has created all people in His image there are equities that must be addressed for example the life of the unborn matters and so there is this emphasis on injustice in the womb but that injustice in the womb must be under the umbrella that that is life and because all life matters that life matters black lives matter as a subset of all lives matter so any injustice is to a particular group must be addressed specific to that group but under the banner that all life is created in the image of God and so on and so forth but once you astray extract any specific scenario and remove it from the umbrella of God's creation you create your own independent cause there is no discussion of sociology that at least from a Christian point of view that should not be plugged into theology that is God's view about so I'm going to seek today to give you God's view of race culture and class because the principles can apply to any one of those areas so that when you leave here you have a better view of you and you have a helpful understanding biblio centrically of how to help others to look at this from God's point of view now let's make it clear if people do not start with God they're not going to stay with you so so we're gonna make that clear if they're not if they reject that they will reject you but the Bible says that is to be expected but if they rejected me they're going to reject you if you bring me into the equation but what he does not want you to do is leave him out just because they don't bring him in so I must speak to this issue from a field century Christocentric and Biblio centric perspective God Christ in scripture in John chapter four we have a definitive statement on this issue coming out of an event that took place in Jesus's life Jesus has become popular we're told in verse 1 he's now baptizing more people than John and it has become clear he is emerging and people are beginning to see that this was no ordinary man or prophet but Jesus is not yet ready to make his full public declaration of who he is the eternal son of God and so he leaves Judea and goes to Galilee but we're told in verse 4 he had to pass through Samaria a little geography Judea is in the South Galilee is in the north and right between Judea and Galilee Lee is Sumeria so it was part of the direct week but the reason John puts it here is because no Orthodox Jew had to pass through Samaria because in Sumeria lived the Samaritan dogs that's what they were called by Jews the unclean ones a little bit of history in 722 BC Assyria invaded Israel as part of God's judgment they took many of the Jews back to Assyria and transplanted some Assyrians into Israel so there was interracial marriage the interracial marriages created this new group of people called the Samaritans who were despised as you'll see in a moment by the Jews because of this interbreeding racially and so they wouldn't deal with the Samaritans because they were half-breeds and they were unclean and so they anyone have anything to do with them but the Bible says that Jesus had to pass through Samaria the reason he had to pass through Samaria is because at twelve o'clock noon or as the scripture says the sixth hour that's 12 o'clock there's a woman coming to the well we're told in verse 5 and so he came to the city of Samaria called Sychar near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph and Jacob's Well was there so Jesus being wearied from his journey was sitting by the well it was about the sixth hour that came a woman of Samaria to draw water jesus said to her give me a drink notice a lot of attention is given to this well when I just totally stopped by oh well witness the well is described this is Jacob's Well that he gave to his son Joseph located in the vicinity of Sychar which was the city of Samaria he he wants us to know that this is not an ordinary well this is a a given to his son well why would that be important for the author of John John the Apostle to tell us that well in a moment you'll see the Jews didn't get along with the Samaritans and the Samaritans didn't get along with the Jews but they both loved Jacob for Jacob was the father of the Jews and the Samaritans of course of the Jews Abraham Isaac and Jacob but also of the Samaritans because the Samaritans accepted the first five books of the Bible Genesis is the first book of the Bible Jacob is in the first book of the Bible since they accepted the first book of the Bible they accepted Jacob so in order to make this thing work Jesus met her on common ground he met her at a place of agreement and the place of agreement was scriptural related because they were both related to Jacob the Jews didn't like the Samaritans as smartened didn't like the Jews but they both love them some Jacob so he met her at a place that they could both agree on he meets her there and we find out that he wants a drink of water from her cup you got to be kidding me you're going to put your Jewish lips to this woman Samaritan cup now we know it's a shocker because look at verse 9 verse 9 tells us therefore the Samaritan woman said to him how is it that you being a Jew asked me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans now before I go on I want to call your attention to verse 8 for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food probably chicken because there were all preachers so they have gone into the city to buy food and he just drops that in and then goes back to the story because that's going to become a critical part of the story in just a moment that they're in town bad food the Samaritan woman looks at Jesus after Jesus is offering to drink from her cup and she is shocked stupefied mesmerized she she can't figure out you being a Jew ask me a Samaritan for a drink of water why is this important question number one how did she know he was a Jew he never identifies himself as a Jew he never says that he's a Jew so evidently he's obviously a Jew just by looking at him seeing his dress hearing his accent cuz all she doesn't see him and hear him he's obviously Jewish so recognizing he's a Jew she shocked in other words Jesus didn't stop being who he was to reach somebody else he didn't go to Samaria and find out how to speak Samaritan and then find out how they dressed so I can dress like them in order to hide who he was he was visibly verbally a Jew and it was evident so he didn't give up his own creation to talk to a different kind of creation he was able to maintain his racial and cultural identity but even though he maintained his racial and cultural identity he didn't let it get in the way of doing what his father had called him to do and that is to reach across the railroad tracks to somebody who was different than him who the rest of his culture would not reach out to for the Jews have dealings with the Samaritans while God is not calling any of us to give up how he made us he is not expecting us to use how he made us to relate inappropriately to people he has made different than us God is not asking you to be anything other than what he's made you as long as you submit to how he has made you to how you relate to other people who he has made different than you it is technically incorrect technically to call yourself a black Christian or a white Christian or Hispanic Christian because then you make your color or your culture and adjective it's the job of an adjective to modify a noun so if you put Christianity in the noun position and your color or culture in the adjectival position you have to keep shaping the noun so that it looks like the adjective that describes it so if your color or culture stays in the adjective or position you got to keep shaping Christianity to look black or to look right or they look red or to look yellow cuz that's the agitator description you've given it your Christianity must always be in the agitator position your color and culture must always be in the noun position so that if anything must be adjusted it is the noun of your humanity and not the adjective of your faith you and I are to define of our humanity in terms of our faith not our faith in terms of our humanity Jesus stayed who he was but he operated from Heaven's point of view he didn't give up being a Jew to reach her God is not asking you to give up who you are to touch somebody else but don't let the fact that all the mother folk in your race won't drink from a cup to keep you from drinking from a cup don't be so committed to your own race that you operate outside of the Christian faith while staying true to what God has made you and so Jesus Christ says can I have a drink of your order the woman is the woman is overwhelmed because he's doing something no Jew does he's doing something that his people don't do and this has been going on since 722 BC so this has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years and so she is awed by the fact that he's going to put his Jewish lips to mine Samaritan cup now please notice something he hadn't given her any Bible yet hadn't preached to her yet he had witnessed to her yet he had and he hadn't given her theology yet she doesn't even know who he is all she knows is he's a nice man that's all she knows see a lot of folk want to tell folk about Jesus who are not willing to drink out of the cup I want to get your soul to heaven I just don't want to deal with you on earth our witness to you but I won't eat with you I witness to you but I won't drink with you I'll talk about God Jesus hasn't even talked about who he is yet but he demonstrated by his touch and by his so see his sociology gave validity to the theology that was to come and a lot of folk have rejected God because how can I believe in a God who who's not social enough for you to sit down and eat and drink and fellowship with me because I'm a Samaritan because I'm of a different history and background and race and culture so the woman is just shocked just because he's gonna put his Jewish lips Tara Samaritan cup he's gonna do what his own race won't because it was the right thing to do so Jesus tells her verse 10 if you knew the gift of God and who it was who you were talking to who said give you give me the drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water a little transition to the spiritual he given you living water everyone who drinks your water verse 13 has gone thirst again but whoever drinks the water that I will give him shall never thirst but the water that I give him will become a well springing up to eternal life hmm woman says well shucks I want that water I don't have to come out here twelve o'clock every day and do this do this well thing if you don't do that guy where is this living water I don't know where you going with it what is this well he says to her go call your husband okay the heating gone from drinking water to who she's sleeping with he gone from drinking water he's all up in her boudoir he's all up he's all up in her business he's all up in her stuff go call your husband she says I don't have a husband Jesus said you got that right verse 17 you have correctly said because you've had five husbands and the one you have now is mr. Jones me and mr. Jones is the one you have now is not your husband this you have truly said he confronts her with her sinfulness her looseness your impropriety he could have never gotten that far if he wasn't willing to drink from her cup but his Sociology opened up an opportunity for theology she said sir verse 19 I perceive you our prophet I guess so he's all opinion stuff like that he knows about your life just having met you I perceive you our prophet she says our fathers worshiped in this mountain verse 20 and you people a racial slur if I ever heard one you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where you are to worship jesus says woman believe me the hour is coming and now neither in this mountain nor Jerusalem will show you worship the father you worship that which you know not we worship what we know for salvation is of the Jews an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for such people the father seeks to worship Him God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth notice something when race comes up earlier he was a Jew she was a Samaritan he asked to drink from her cup Jesus makes me no comment no no just the reality here do I'm Samaritan no comment but now she brings up race in relationship to Jesus's father where we worship our fathers worshiped in this mountain behind her is mal gerzean mal girls iam is whether the Samaritan temple was located and that's where we go to church we go to church of mal Garcia you people y'all y'all go Church over there y'all go to church over there you go to church in Jerusalem watch this we were raised different because she says our Father our Father that's how you were raised Jesus let me explain this my daddy told me that when you want to get close to God you go you go back here the girls here and my daddy told me that cuz my granddaddy told my daddy who told me but this is God's Way and the only reason my granddaddy told my daddy who told me is cuz my great granddaddy told my granddaddy who told my grand my daddy who told me that this is how we live this is how we worship this is our view of God this thing has been passed down from my father's it's part of my history it's part of my Harry just part of my background it's how I was raised and you people the only reason you do what you do is cuz your daddy told you cuz your granddaddy told your daddy who told you your great granddaddy told your granddaddy who told your daddy who told you we got two different histories we got two different background we were raised on different sides of the track Jesus we're different when she brought up race the first time Jesus had nothing to say but when she brought his daddy into it he gives her a whole lecture we can have our racial differences lady but when you bring my father into the discussion I got a clarify and boy does he clarify you worship what you know not your daddy was wrong your granddaddy was wrong your great granddaddy was wrong and your great-great granddaddy is wrong all your people are wrong they're all wrong because they're not worshipping correctly they're not worshiping the true God you are following a tradition passed down by your parents passed down by your race and all of them are wrong when you bring my father into the equation because theology must rule anthropology and sociology and all the other allergies you're wrong because when you bring my father into it it has to have two qualification spirit and truth it's got to be the right heart spirit it's got to imitate from the right motivation and truth it's must it must operate on an objective standard oh here's a problem we are operating on illegitimate standards that are not rooted in God rooted in culture rooting the history rooted in background and all of that maybe backs but the question we must ask is is it the truth because you're going to have facts and it not be the truth your information could be accurate and it not be the truth because the truth is an objective standard by which reality is measured it's God's point of view on any subject so just because you were raised a certain way once how you were raised disagrees with what God says how you were raised was wrong and I'm talking about your mama and your daddy I'm playing the dozens on you and the problem is people reach back in their history to legitimize their decisions today when their decisions today go against the kingdom of God and God himself but because this is me this is my background this is what my daddy told me this is what my people say so that goes on forever year after year decade after decade and in our country two hundred and forty years later it looks like we've made some progress but then we back up to very little progress because it's rooted in facts that are not necessarily truth the story I like to to visit on misses you can read it sometime Galatians 2 verse 11 through the end of the chapter my board Peter Peter Peter was a super Jew if Peter was a soul singer his favourite song will be say it loud I'm Jew and I'm proud he's a super Jew one day he's having devotions on his rooftop and a sheet comes down from heaven with all these unclean animals on him and God tells him eat Peter said I can't eat that I can't eat that that's all unclean all unclean God says don't call unclean what I call clean I don't care about your background your history I don't care about all that if I call it legit it's legit whether it's part of your history or not so what I want you to do is I want you to go to conveniences house and I want you to tell him about me and he's a Gentile I know you know you didn't grow up with Gentiles you're not used to Gentiles you don't like Gentiles but I told you what to do and so don't you talk about those people like you've been raised to thinking about those people because I just told you from heaven what I want you to do with those people despite of the background you have and so Peter obeys he goes to kane' is his house in acts 10 and he tells him about God and Canadians and they they all make a commitment to God and now it's Jews and Gentiles and all Christians and stuff and Peter discovered something then people knew how to cook hey Peter discovered something he discovered food he knew not oh he discovered pork chops cuz it could mean pig a god but God told me you can eat anything now so he discovered hog laws chitlins pig feed he's discovered this Gentile menu huh he now knows he can have bacon with his eggs now he has discovered he's discovered some good stuff so in Galatians 2 Peter is eating with the Gentiles he's eating he's I mean he's at Sweet Georgia Brown he's eating with the Gentiles cuz he can eat any pork now okay so he's eating with the Gentiles and you know he's sucking on neck bone he's he's he's he's just enjoying his pork pig eating self we talking pork ribs here this guy is now eating with the Gentiles something he would have never done growing up until he ran smack dab into God while he's eating with the Gentiles some of his boys from the hood show up and says some of his Jewish brethren came and saw Peter Keating with the Gentiles what way might be way might be women PETA now and we gonna have to live with him in heaven but we don't have to hang out with him on earth this is unacceptable for you to be with them people they says the circumcision the Jews who showed up intimidated Peter so much that Peter got up from his chair and left the Gentiles it says the rest of the Jews who were with him got up too and walked away from the Gentiles cuz they didn't want to offend their own race Peter gets up and he's the leader the rest get up cuz a missed in the pulpit is a fog in the Pew see if our pulpits were right we would have solved this problem of racism a long time ago slavery would have been solved Jim Crow would have been solved segregation would have been solved all this would have been solved but because the pulpits were anemic and allowed to take place the evil in America we are still fighting that evil today because the pulpit were silent biblically on this issue maintaining a manifest destiny ideology that was in contracts to biblical theology but that also explains why the civil rights movement was able to change it because the church got out in front of it so Peter Peter gets up he walks away and there's another statement made in the story in Galatians 2 it says even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy oh not my boy Barney anybody but Barney why is Barnabas's he's the only name of the group that was there who singled out why why do you say even Barnabas what was so special about Barnabas well when you read the life of Barnabas he's the encouragement he's the one who who encouraged folks he's the one who who and when Paul wanted to get rid of John Mark he says no don't get rid of John marks because he's got potential and he he's the guy who is keeping things going giving you hope well the reading he singled out is because we're told in Scripture Barnabas was born in Cyprus Cyprus is a Gentile colony of Rome so he lived with Gentiles grew up with Gentiles went to school with Gentiles played ball with Gentiles he he grew up in a Gentile environment so he knew what it was to live with other folks but that's how bad racism is it'll make a good man bad even Barnabas not Barney but to satisfy not offending his own race he disobeyed God he had probably gotten away with it except Paul wanted some pig feet because according the Galatians 2 Paul says when I saw what Peter was doing I condemned the Peter before them all he acted a fool in public I in public said to Peter you are embarrassing the truth of the gospel you're making Jesus Christ look bad yeah this is not some social decision you made you have embarrassed Jesus Christ and the good news of the Cross which means he brings people together across racial and cultural lines at the cross the only qualification you need at the cross is your sinner who needs a Savior regardless of your class or your culture and you have messed with that message one of my favorite verses of Scripture Galatians 2:20 I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I as Christ who lives in me the life which I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me that great verse many people don't know comes at the end of this story so Paul is giving that verse to Peter to tell Peter you got the wrong identity your identity first is not in your culture your class your background in your history your identity first is in your Christ and then your Christian commitment because Peter truth overrides tradition truth overrides color black is only beautiful when it's biblical and white is only right when it agrees with Holy Writ there must be a standard by which you judge your race and as long it is as under as long as it's under that standard then you have the right to be different God is not asking you to like soul music and he's not asking me to like country-western thank God hey you can have all the differences you won't as long as it doesn't conflict with the authority of God the rule of God the person of Jesus Christ and your Christian commitment you must be Christian first and if we could get enough Christians to be Christian before white Christian before black Christian before Spanish it doesn't take 240 years to fix this it takes about 2 minutes and 40 seconds we had a guy who came in our church some years ago and he was noticing more and more Anglos coming to the church and he's getting a little upset he said we get normal angle I was joining our church I said yeah he said well you know how they are so what you mean and well you know they got this way of doing things they can try to take over above all though you went through all this stuff and I could tell he had some bad experiences maybe and so so he said so I said well you better keep winning blacks to Christ so we are number he said well well I don't know if if I can stay here that's it bye anything long I didn't offer him a seminar a workshop or let's get to know each other program okay I'll give him the benefit of the doubt maybe he had some negative experiences racially that effect I was feeling good again instead that happens so we will work with you to deal with that but what we will not let you do is let your experience control how the Church of Jesus Christ life works so what we have done is we've allowed culture and color to overrule the faith and so you got even Christians divided all over the place don't know where to stand on issues don't know which position to take that's because you're trying to dissect it culturally and color wise rather than biblically and spiritually which would save you a whole lot of time the Bible says that God be true and every man alive when they conflict with him so so the story thickens as we get to this last section the woman says verse 25 I know when Messiah comes he's called the Christ when he comes he gonna make everything all right about a dozen that sound spiritual when Jesus comes everything is gonna get better when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus well sing and shout the victory Jesus said I who speak to you and he our lady I'm already here I'm already you waiting for something that you don't have to wait for right wait let me explain something just in case you don't know whatever race you are now will be the race you will be in heaven okay let me get that straight whatever race you are now will be the race you won't have you are eternally black you are eternally white you are eternally Spanish Indian you know you whatever you are now will be what you are in heaven you are intentionally racially profiled by God John says in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9 Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 he said I looked up in heaven and when I looked in heaven I saw people from every nation every tribe every kindred and every tongue he says I could see the differences among the you so whatever you are is what you will be so stop putting that cream on your face stop staying out in the Sun all day to become something different than you've been made you have been made that way eternally so remember our disciples remember our disciples verse 27 at this point the disciples came and they were amazed that he had been speaking with a woman yet no one said what do you seek or why do you speak with her now the disciples don't they went to get the chicken they come back and they notice he's speaking with a woman they're not surprising speaking with a female they've seen Jesus speak to Martha they've seen Jesus speak to Mary they seem to speak to Sarah Phoenician woman they say the people Jesus speak to the woman with the issue blood they've seen Jesus speak to a lot of females what's messing with them as he's speaking to us American female which explains why he let them go into town to buy food he could have never dealt this woman with this woman with these races hanging around but neither did he let them stop him from doing what he was supposed to do so just cuz all your Posse isn't right doesn't mean you don't do what's right Jesus did what's right and he told them I catch up with you later so they come let me get through this they come in and when they come the woman runs in the town and she says verse 29 come see a man who told me all the things I've done so she goes to the city and she goes to the men of the city in verse 28 so the men of the city are on their way out to check out this Jesus because of the cross-cultural cross-racial witness of Jesus to this woman the disciples in the meantime was saying but rabbi eat verse 31 because we went all the way in the town it's about a five mile trip down a five mile trip back that's a 10 mile trip to bring Jesus and lunch because it's 12 o'clock noon so they bring Jesus some lunch and they say okay rabbi we got your lunch eat Jesus says I have food to eat that you do not know about save we didn't go on 10 miles and you've already eaten I can see Peter now who Feder my cutoff is here cuz it goes the 10-mile trip and you've already eaten cycles were asking verse 33 who brought him something to eat as we then gone into town to buy food and Jesus hits them what here is the bottom line message verse 34 my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work what fills me satisfies me is doing the Father's will not satisfying your racist socialists culturalist agenda and then he says in verse 5 45 35 don't say for months and then comes the harvest he says lift up your eyes and look on the fields they're already white unto harvest stop putting it off don't say we don't get around to this point four months from now you'll get around to this later we'll fix this later he says if you'll pay attention and look up you'll see the fields are already ready now when they looked up what did they see they saw all those Samaritan men coming across the field so what did Jesus do he set off an opportunity for them to great relate to people of different races he set up a scenario that scenario must always be set up by the body of crisis to reflect Christ where anybody can come through these doors who respect our faith in Jesus Christ and regardless of history background race or culture they are welcome in the family of God because we have a standard and I love how it closes verse 39 from that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word the woman who testified he told me all the things I've done so when the Samaritans came to Jesus they were asking him to stay with them and he stayed there two days did you did you just hit one man when we started the woman is shocked he's willing to drink out of her cup a couple of hours later he hanging out on the weekend he stayed with him two days how do you go from people don't even drink from the same cup - a couple of hours later why don't you stay with us for the weekend cuz when you do it God's Way your doesn't take that long that's why but now it's real easy in here see it's really easy in here cuz yeah we can all get along in here what happens when you go out and you have to face your own race what happens when you go out when when when your biblical view is not the popular view what happens when when you reject it for not being black enough white enough red enough yellow enough Spanish enough when when you have to take that stand responsibly kindly in love but clearly because when a lot of folk hid messages on love and unity and all that is good inside the house like the story of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Lone Ranger range Lone Ranger Tonto are going to cross the plains and in a group of Indians they go to the northern ridges group of Indians show up and they get ready to attack The Lone Ranger so Tonto says Kemosabe what we do now so the Lone Ranger said well we got to go east so they go east now as a group of Indians on the eastern Ria's they get ready tack The Lone Ranger Tonto so Tonto say Kemosabe what we do now you say we got to go west they go west when they go west as as longer power Indians on the Western Ridge getting ready to attack go Kemosabe what we do now well there's only one place we can go we gotta go south so they go south when they go south as a group of Indians on the Southern Ridge and then they're being closed in in four directions by the Indians so now the Lone Ranger has the question long raisin said Tonto these your people what we do now Todd don't say what you mean we paleface see folk jump ship when the going gets tough but what God is looking for some serious Christians on this issue who start biblically and spiritually and work it down racially socially and culturally you do not start with your culture and work it up you start with the word and the authority of your faith and work it in may God help us to do our part locally personally in our families and through our influence to bring people to a spiritual biblical approach to the issue of race culture and class so that at least we can model before the world biblical solutions to a society in chaos shall we stand

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 880,083

Rating: 4.8392019 out of 5

Keywords: race, race issues, race in the bible, racism in the church, racism, biblical race, the bible and race, motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons

Id: KbhNCTJ-dUI

Length: 49min 36sec (2976 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 17 2016