Pastor Bob McCartney gave a sermon series on current social issues this fall highlighting the truth found in the Bible. Here are my notes from this sixth sermon in his series, True Colors. Racism is rooted in ignorance. It is a reaction without facts and a prejudice based on outward appearances, but it is a reality in a sin-cursed world. A racist says that my ethnicity is superior to yours. 7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed. 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:7-10 NASB1995 1. God created one race – the human race. There is only one race! We have a common ancestry. The Bible doesn’t speak of different races, ethnos is ethnic groups. There is no one who is beyond the scope of God’s grace. If you don’t get the beginning right, you won’t get the ending right. We have a common family heritage in Adam and Eve. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27 NASB1995 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. Genesis 3:20 NASB1995 Racism is not compatible with the Christian life. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 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, Acts 17:25-26 NKJV We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:14-15 2. Christians are responsible for bridging the racial divide. Saying you are not a racist is the lowest possible bar you can set. The church is a preview of what heaven is going to be like. We are supposed to actively pursue unity, but we as a church aren’t doing a good job on that. Root out and reject any lies that we have believed. These lies are demonic. The curse of Ham: The only curse we are under is the curse of sin and that effects us all. Interracial marriage is sinful: The prohibition was never racial, it was religious. We are to marry people who are spiritually compatible to you. Learn to listen and show some compassion and empathy. Seek to understand before you seek to be understood. This is how you say it, I affirm, believe, and support the statement that black lives matter unequivocally, nevertheless I do not support the BLM organization. John 13:35. A. B. Vines We, as Christians, are called to actively seek to reconcile the differences between races. Racial reconciliation is not the gospel, but it is an outgrowth of the Gospel. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 ESV 3. Biblical justice is a matter of equity. Equality is different than equity. Equity in Hebrew means level or straight. It is rooted in truth and in fact. The Bible does not promise an equal outcome, which is equality. And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. Psalms 9:8 NASB1995 4. Racism flows out of sinful hearts, not systems. Racism will not be eradicated by a system change. There may be systemic racism, but it flows from the sinful hearts within the system. All the regulations in the world can not change the human heart. We don’t have a skin problem, we have a sin problem. Tony Evans The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9 NLT and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 NASB1995