A Moral Imperative on MLK Day

[Music] reality spend my series in the book of ephesians this morning in honor and recognition of dr martin luther king day on tomorrow there's a word i want to lift in your hearing in the gospel of mark at chapter number 11. mark at chapter 11. verses 15 through verse number 19. mark at chapter number 11 verses 15 through verse number 19. and they come to jerusalem and jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple and he taught saying unto them is it not written my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves and the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him for they feared him because all the people was astonished at his doctrine verse 19 reads and when even was come he went out of the city you may be seated i mean the lord sanctified the reading hearing and doing of his holy word this morning i want to talk about immoral imperative on martin luther king day a moral imperative on mlk day in march of 1990 the nfl delivered arizona an ultimatum the league approved phoenix as the host of the 1993 super bowl a sure economic boom on one condition the state needed to finally recognize martin luther king jr day as a holiday in a scramble state legislators placed mlk day on the ballot confident of its approval but that november officials were shocked when the proposal failed and true to its word the nfl pulled the 1993 super bowl from arizona and awarded it to los angeles but the arizona vote revealed something sinister about american race relations america is still plagued with what former secretary of state dr condoleezza rice called america's congenital birth defect which is slavery and parenthetically brothers and sisters slavery's slavery has given birth to racism and racism's offspring are plessy versus ferguson fred scott and jim crow segregation and sadly these offspring are still reproducing after their kind even to this day president ronald reagan initially opposed mlk day citing the cost of another paid holiday for federal workers but after some administration blunders against affirmative action and welfare in 1983 in a much needed idea to shore up black support he signed a proclamation that the third monday of january of every year would be martin luther king jr day although many states followed the example of congress some of the holdouts decided to get creative idaho one of the whitest states in the country and the main base of the aryan nations rather than create a state holiday that honored king alone made it celebrate made the state celebrate martin luther king day slash idaho human rights day alabama and mississippi celebrates martin luther king jr slash robert e lee day as if you can put robert e lee in the same sentence as martin luther king they put martin luther king and robert e lee on the same day martin luther king's birthday january 15th robert e lee january 19th to also honor the general of the confederate army in the civil war virginia celebrates robert e lee stonewall jackson martin luther king jr day all a form of resistance to racial justice in america until the year 2000 utah did not mention dr king by name mlk day was known simply as human rights day south carolina makes the observance optional where workers can choose between mlk day and three separate confederate holidays and after multiple failed ballots new hampshire became the last state to recognize the holiday but rather than honor dr king alone they added civil rights day a continuing tradition of prioritizing white people's image and patriotic nobility over acknowledging the historical truths of racial injustice and white culpability three years ago the fbi tweeted its support for dr king's incredible career fighting for civil rights which is particularly ludicrous given that the agency housed in a building named after its longest serving director j edgar hoover himself labeled dr king a liar a communist and the most dangerous man in america and mercilessly subverted the movement and harassed and intimidated and illegally surveilled dr king right up to his death in 1968. what would dr king think of death from drugs alcohol and suicide which has been called deaths of despair by princeton university economists ann case and angus deaton arising in part from frustrations over loss of status loss of good-paying jobs and loss of hopes for one's children what would dr king uh think of inequality in america which is currently believed to be greater than it was in the gilded age of the robber barons in the 19th century and that just three americans jeff bezos bill gates and warren buffett now possess as much wealth as the entire bottom half of america's population what would he think of one who serves here in this country knowing that there are millions of americans living below the poverty level and that 40 percent of that number don't readily have the cash of four hundred dollars to handle an emergency i think dr king would agree with roman catholic cardinal joseph tobin that when it comes to the poor america is developing a national cataract what would dr king think of national religious leaders black white and hispanic who seem more interested in anointing president trump than in challenging him to do better these pseudo evangelicals have jettisoned jesus for proximity to power and they are walking in lockstep with a man who claims devotion to christianity but has a distant relationship with the truth i think he would agree with the frenchman alexis de tocqueville in his complaint about american preachers that it is often difficult to ascertain from their discourse whether the principal object of religion is to procure eternal felicity in the other world or is it prosperity in this world 100 years ago in the baltimore evening sun listen to me 100 years ago in the baltimore evening sun h l menken prophesied these words 100 years ago he says as democracy is perfected the office of the president represents more and more closely the inner soul of the people mankind says on some great and glorious day 100 years ago the plain folk of the land will reach their hearts desire at last and the white house will be occupied with a downright fool and a complete narcissistic 100 years ago and that prophecy has come to life hear me brothers and sisters donald trump cannot be held responsible for the immoral drift of american society he is a supercharged version of what america has become he is our baser self on steroids and not to challenge his crass behavior his idolatry and the refusal to say to the emperor that he has no clothes what would dr king think of the military industrial complex sending not their children but those deemed expendable blacks browns and poor whites to fight in senseless wars because of failed diplomacy when these politicians speak patriotically about spending blood and treasure poor people shed the blood while they take home the treasure i think dr king would agree with bishop desmond tutu when he said that these politicians are not interested in the people they want to stop that gravy train long enough to hop on it my my remonstrance my remonstrance of what dr king might think or say is merely conjecture say for the truth that those who speak for god must stand apart they must maintain what what author stephen mansfield calls prophetic distance they must separate themselves to a degree from the powerful and the people from anything that that that might serve them or take them and ruin their message so that they cannot speak clearly and truthfully what doth saith the lord to do otherwise would be to compromise both the message and the call to the ministry i've said it once and i need to say it again the presidency is not the papacy the flag is not the cross the constitution is not the bible and god bless america is not our doxology this morning i can merely guess what dr king thought of racism if he were alive but the word of god makes me to know what jesus thought about it and he's still alive walk with me around the text in the passage i read to us this morning in the gospel of mark this event takes place on the monday after palm sunday which begins passion week apparently when jesus rode into jerusalem on an ass and they tore down palm branches and and threw their coats in the road and shouted hosanna after he rode in and they shouted hosanna he went into the temple and he obviously saw some things that displeased him and so he went back the next day to straighten it out but before going into the temple jesus saw a fig tree that had leaves that suggested it should have been bearing fruit i wish i had a bible read again but because it was not bearing fruit but was showing leaves jesus cursed it and the tree died because it looked like it should have been bearing fruit and then jesus after cursing the fig tree goes into the temple and what he did to the fig tree becomes an illustration of what's going to happen to the temple because the temple looks like it's bearing fruit because it's full of leaves but it is actually dead from the roots and brothers and sisters this morning we ought to want jesus to come to church we ought to want jesus to be present in the temple but be careful when you invite him in because what will he find when he gets here [Applause] because if he finds leaves with no fruit the name ichabod will be written over this sanctuary because the glory of god is gone if there's leaves and no fruit after jesus christ that fig tree and it died at its roots it went he went into the temple and he did something totally uncharacteristic he got so angry so violently angry that he made a whip out of some cords and he turned over tables he scattered money changes he whipped them he physically whipped them with cores now we usually think of jesus as this mild and meek and calm sweet 90-pound blue-eyed blond-haired weakling but but but we have domesticated the lion of judah and have turned him into a house pet because we want a jesus we can manage a jesus who does not offend a jesus who does not turn stuff up but if jesus would come to linnygrove this morning what would he turn over or who would he turn over i wish i had a witness here this moment because if you're not doing what god made the church to do you will die at your roots but i want you to get this many readers conclude that jesus was upset that business was being done in a holy place and so they look at that passage of scripture and say that jesus turned over tables because they were exchanging money in the temple that's a mere fraction of the reason the reason jesus became angry was that the merchants had set up their trade in the only place that the gentiles could worship and so jesus was not rebuking commerce he was rebuking them for their callous hard-hearted racism and to those of us in here this morning who think that uh this is a colorblind america and america is a christian nation you got to remember thomas jefferson wrote his own bible you see i acquired you guys right there and benjamin franklin was a deist and as great as the founding fathers and the founding documents of these united states are all of the founding fathers were slave owners and their founding documents did not include people who look like you and me because in the constitution until this day we are three-fifths of a human talk back to me if you can if the lord don't help us if it had not been for the lord who was on our side this country never intended for us to be where we are right now but they made a mistake when they let us go to church and they compounded the mistake when they let us meet jesus because when we met jesus even our four parents who had no learning no reading no writing they said i'm so glad trouble don't last always and you are in here my black sister you're in this beautiful sanctuary my black brother standing on the shoulders of some illiterate black people who had to ride in the back of the bus who would go in stores to buy clothes but couldn't try them on they were called and gal uncle and boy and they were told that there were nobody all the week long but sunday morning when they got in church they were brothers so and so and they said over my head i hear music in the air there must be a guard somewhere and here you are with three cars in the garage money in the bank opportunity that you've never had before and you're too mean-spirited to give god some prey did there anybody here know it was nobody stoning the road we tried [Music] bitter the chastening rod felt in the days when hope unborn had died yet with a steady beat have not our weary feet strayed from the place from which our father's side we have come over a way that with tears have been watered we have come treading a path through the blood of the slaughter every time i cross a bridge in any state i'm in i wonder how many black bodies are drowned in those rivers every forest i'll pass by i wonder how many black men and women and children were hanging like strange fruit god that they believed that there would be a brighter day ahead thank god that even though they didn't see it they pray that we would see it and since we are on the other side of their struggles where did our black pride go oh brothers and sisters black people used to be proud high stepping we didn't have nothing but we knew jesus we were poor but we wasn't broke because our spirits were high our goals were high our vision was high black boy pull your plants up stop being irresponsible stop blaming the white man stop letting kim and khloe kardashian be your heroes there's some heroes in this church stop stop listening to the news i'm listening to the news they're saying all these black people in jail and lazy don't work don't have a job just making babies most of the black folk i know go to work every day raise their children pay their bills i wish i had a witness here proud to be black grateful that god has made a way out of nowhere they ain't blaming nobody they're not asking for anything they're saying to the man don't give me anything open the door i'll go get it myself racism is alive and well but look how jesus dealt with it he went in the temple because in the temple the description of the temple i mentioned it to you several sundays ago that there was an outer court of the gentiles and then there was a court for the women then there was the court of the israelites or the men and then there was the court of the priests and beyond that was the holy of holies separated by a curtain behind which was the holy of holies and the high priest could go behind that veil only once a year on the day of atonement but the temple precincts were separated and walls were erected between each of those groups and they did not exchange money in the court of the priests they didn't exchange money in the court of the israelite men they didn't exchange money in the court of the women even they exchanged money and sold turtle dives in the court of the gentiles to keep them out the reason jesus got so angry and whipped them out of the temple was because of their jewish racism they hated the gentiles and they kept them out and they went to the only place the gentiles could worship and pray and they exchanged money in the temple because jerusalem was populated by about 80 000 people but on these days over 2 million people were in jerusalem and so many of them did not bring money uh or they brought money from a foreign place and so to pay their taxes to pay their tribute they had to pay with the money of the city that they were in so the money changers were serving a necessary purpose they were exchanging money much like you go to these exchange windows at the airport they were exchanging money which was much needed and then to make a sacrifice they had to bring an animal and so that the animal would not be rejected they bought an animal in the temple so that was a necessary uh use of what they were doing and but but what made jesus so angry was they did it in a place that kept people out who didn't look like them can i tell you a little story i'm supposed to be father terry anderson because everybody in my family besides my immediate family everybody in my family is catholic my grandmother was in the catholic church saint anthony catholic church that still exists in units right now saint anthony of padua catholic church where blacks had to sit in the balcony and my grandmother came down from the balcony to go and take communion and one of those no-good cajuns down there in eunice tripped her and she fell on the floor and they laughed at her the entire church laughed at my grandmother in the finest clothes that money could buy on the floor they laughed at her mama got up from that floor went to true light baptist church joined and got baptized and i am reverend terry anderson instead of father terry anderson i'm glad mama did that because i couldn't have been no priest with that wine drinking situation but that not marrying situation i can't get with that come on say amen brethren racism is so silly and costly that they destroyed an entire people to keep them out because they exchanged money they sold pigeons and turtle doves and and rams and bullocks in the place that only gentiles could worship in and jesus took a whip went in there and started whipping people and start beating people and start getting after folk and turning over tables i want you to get this when jesus came to church that day he didn't come as the meek and lowly nazarene he came as the lion of the tribe of judah and when he came he made a whip of cords and cast them out which means jesus was a strong man working 30 years in his father's carpenter shop jesus was all muscle jesus was all man get that picture out of your mind of jesus being this little sweet weakling walking around smelling flowers and petting animals on the head jesus was a real live strong rugged hard man [Music] and a lot of times men don't come to church because we present jesus as this little effeminate weakling and strong men can't follow no feminine jesus that was the sermon right there strong men can follow a feminine jesus that's why we need to change our picture of jesus and get men in the church because men want to follow a real man strong men are not intimidated by a strong man stop presenting jesus as a weakling and jesus is always crying and weeping jesus was a man who whipped men in the temple by himself and then when he got through whipping he turned over tables money flying everywhere pigeon feathers all over the place sheep and rams running everywhere people getting out of the way the scripture says because they feared him he didn't turn up at a club he turned up at the church and brothers this morning we need to turn up at the church the church is the place where we need to come and if something is not right turn it over get rid of it get it out the way if it does not glorify god turn it over not only did he cast them out and turn over tables the scripture says he would not let them just take a shortcut through the temple he would not let them just pass through the temple on their way somewhere else that's why i'm not good with politics because every four years or so these politicians come to our church and take a shortcut they take a shortcut through our service to the office that they are trying to attain and then they won't even return a phone call when we need them jesus said uh-uh not here because my father's house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations jesus was angry because they left out the all nations they rejected the gentiles and sold merchandise in the only place that the gentiles was worshiped and jesus turned it over he cast them out and he would not let them pass through on their way somewhere else somebody here this morning who's trying to pass through church on your way to your job because church looks good on your resume jesus said turn it over if you're trying to pass through church because you want your funeral here jesus said turn it over if you pass through church because this is where you go every sunday but you're really on your way somewhere else but oh lord this sunday let me get to church who's singing this morning do i have to usher am i on the greeter's ministry today what day is sunday i will show hope reverend anderson is there because if he ain't there i'm getting out of there that don't make no sense all these clothes i didn't put on and i came here i don't want to hear nobody else i want to hear my pastor preach uh let me call the church and see if he's there and if he ain't there i'm just going to pass through turn it up turn it over get rid of it if what you do does not glorify god it's a sin you don't have to lie to sin you can hold back the truth and sin you don't have to matter to sin you can hate somebody in your heart and sin i wish i had one or two witnesses here jesus turned it up he turned it over he turned it out here it is because he said my house that's something about this house it's not like your house this house this this this house has been holy w-h-o-l-l-y and h-o-l-y wholly separated to the word and the work and the worship of god he tells us in chronicles that when he come when we come to this house he promised to hear our prayer have i got a witness here he promised in matthew that when two or three gather together in my name there am i in the midst of him there's something about getting out of your house and coming to this house that makes you feel good on sunday morning i was glad when they said unto me let us go unto the house of the lord my house he said here it is here's the next thing shall be called a house of prayer this house shall be called a house of prayer can i say something to you that you won't get offended and bring some money for my anniversary next month [Music] how is it that we can come get dessert at a church social and prayer meeting is deserted am i doing all right how can we enjoy desserts at a church social and dessert prayer meeting my house this house ought to be a house of prayer you ought to run in here on tuesday night because we have prayer meeting because the church can be nothing without praying see how quiet you're getting again if you're guilty i'm talking to you if you're doing what god is saying to do i'm encouraging you it's all right to pray at your house it's all right to pray in the car it's all right to pray before you eat your meal but you ought to make your way to the house where god says i will hear you and answer your prayers for if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from thy wicked ways then will i hear from heaven forgive their sins and heal their land my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer but here it is but you have made it a dinner thieves you have turned what was supposed to be the house of prayer for all nations into a dinner feast you have perverted the truth you've held back the glory of god for merchandising god through jesus christ is not angry with the people in the temple because they sold that was useful because they exchanged money that was useful jesus was angry with them because their heart was far from god and when your heart is far from god i don't care how many cds you sell i don't care how many church socials you have i don't care how many balloon release and church anniversaries and pastors anniversaries you have if your heart is far from god we can sell this building to the city of houston as a municipal auditorium because this building is not the church this is brick and wood and mortar and paint but the church is the people whose hearts are turned toward god and when people's hearts are turned towards god it makes a difference not only in the church and in the school and in the community it makes a difference in the nation because righteousness exalts a people but sin is a reproach to any people what's offensive to me brothers and sisters about about martin luther king being associated with all these other days what it is is a veiled attempt to lump in with civil rights all of these other ancillary off-brand kinds of things with new hampshire and states like that called uh tomorrow martin luther king day slash human rights day what they're doing is offensive to me because they are lumping and and and clumping civil rights with the l b g t or however many letters is in that name community and saying that that homosexuality is on the same plane as blacks fighting for civil rights that's offensive to me because i can't help being black but i can't help holding another man's hand somebody ought to help me preach here this morning i can't help how god made me in my skin color but i can't help kissing another man which is an offense to god so don't let black civil rights struggle in any other struggle because there's nothing like what we've been through and people here who know our story can help me close right here jesus went to church looking for something i'm through but jesus went to church looking for something yeah he turned some stuff over because he was looking for something he tore some stuff up because he was looking for something he was looking for somebody whose heart was on fire he was looking for somebody who had been born again and knew that the only way to god was through jesus christ he was looking for fruit that's all i'm trying to say he he was looking for somebody whose heart was on fire and they were full of fruit because everywhere they went they were the church we come to this building on sunday morning saying that we are coming to church no we're not coming to church we're coming to worship the church is just a place where we come to worship but when we get out of here we take the church with us so that when somebody sees us tomorrow morning they will know that we've been with jesus when somebody who's not walking right we will remember a time when we were not walking right and the lord saved us the lord placed our feet on solid ground and we took the church everywhere we went we talked about jesus on monday morning we talked about jesus on our lunch break we talked about jesus in the office we talked about jesus in the classroom i'm not talking about martin luther king now because dr king had a whole lot of faults he did a whole lot of things good but he did a whole lot of things wrong i'm not talking about terry anderson right now because i do a whole lot of things good but i also do a whole lot of things wrong but there's another man i'm talking about who's greater than martin luther king who's greater than terry anderson who's greater than carlos washington he was born in bethlehem reared in nazareth baptized in the jordan performed miracles in the desert place wept over jerusalem prayed in gethsemane is there anybody here know who i'm talking about one greater than martin luther king greater than george washington greater than abraham lincoln greater than thomas jefferson greater than benjamin franklin greater than billy graham greater than donald trump there is a man to jesus he's god's only son he's mary's baby boy he's james and jude's older brother he's matthew's king he's a mark suffering servant he's luke's great physician you gonna help me talk about him watching he's a rock in a weary land he's a shelter in a time of storm he's a friend when you're friendless bread when you're hungry he's water when he invested he's a doctor in a sick room he's a lawyer in a courtroom he's a friend in trouble he's a burden bearer he's a heavy load sharer he'll lift up your bow down head is there anybody here no he's the rose of sharon he's the lily of the valley he's the bright and the morning star he's the ancient of days he's the day spring of israel he's the root of jesse he's the stem of david he died didn't he die martin luther king died in april of 1968 and he's still dead but jesus died over 2 000 years ago and he went to the tomb looking for his body and there were two men standing in white apparel saying why seek ye the living among the dead he's not here he's risen just like he said come see the place where the lord was laid is there anybody here know he's alive if you know he's alive why don't you grab somebody if you know he's alive why don't you help me testify if you know he lives if you know he lives why don't you help me give him glory he lives he lives christ jesus christ jesus lives today he walks with me he talks with me alone life's narrow way he lives he lives salvation to impart you ask me how i know he lives he lives he lives he lives in my heart i know he's alright [Music] i got a little time [Music] i know he's alright [Music] i know he's alright he's alive he's alive i know he's alive and the reason why i know he's alive i talked with him this morning [Music] jesus is on the main line [Music] tell him what you want if you're sick and you can't get well tell him what you want he's alive martin luther king is dead ah but jesus is on the right hand of god with power and the bible says he ever lives to make intercession for us

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Length: 51min 45sec (3105 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 28 2020