“Reinvesting in the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord”

Sitting in church for worship yesterday, the Lord Jesus spoke to my heart and reminded me that even if Donald Trump is removed as president, this will not solve the evils we face in our day.  With or without this President, the same powers which elected this man will continue to work for, promote and celebrate divisions among us. Those who lust for power will always do whatever is necessary to have power.  The only antidote for racism, hatred, white nationalism or black nationalism is the love of Jesus Christ filling our hearts with love for God and love for one another.

It is impossible for any One of us to truly love a person of another race and in fact a person of our own race who is not like ourselves without the love of Jesus in our heart.  Having preached the gospel and visiting my brothers and sisters in Christ in many different nations and ethnic groups, I have found that the love of Christ unites us in a spiritual bond which is greater and more powerful than the love of any nationality.  As Christians, we are citizens of the kingdom of God first, before we are citizens of any nation.

We all tend, owing to the racism of our past, to be somewhat tribal in our thinking, some more than others; but in Christ Jesus, through his redemption of us on the cross in our union with Him, our loyalty is greater to Christ our Savior and Redeemer than to any nation!   We may choose to love our nation or not, but the love we have been given by God for his Son Jesus Christ in God’s grace and power is stronger in us than the love we have for nation, tribe, people group or any other circumstance.  For those who have not discovered the true communion of the saints in the one church universal, we need to be about doing so.  When God says through Jesus in the Holy Scripture, “In my Father’s house are many rooms and I go to prepare a place for you” (Gospel of John), it is apparent there is only one house in which all abide.  Whoever promotes the idea that we are not all together as one community in Christ has not understood the Gospel of God and is in fact preaching something that is not the true Christian gospel!

It is unfortunate that the church at worship is at times one of the most racially divided places on the planet.  One can find more diversity in a Chinese buffet than we do in Sunday worship.  This is our failing.  We find it more comfortable to worship with those who are like ourselves both culturally and economically than with those unlike ourselves.  It is no wonder the world finds us to be hypocrites.  And yet, I would argue, we have the potential to do much better.  In many conservative churches who have great zeal to share the gospel with others we tend to see much more diversity, with “missionaries” to other cultures often marrying persons from another culture and then bringing children home to the local church who are as diverse as the world population.

We are witnessing more intermarriage between people groups, but this has not necessarily brought about less racism.  It is not necessary for a person to marry another race to appreciate and to enjoy many aspects of their culture.  We do not need to surrender our own identity in order to be neighbors and friends with one another!  But if we choose to become “like the Jews in order to win the Jews” who can fault us for that, as taught the Apostle Paul.  When the Apostle Peter had the vision of the sheet containing many different animals descending from heaven together, both clean and unclean, the Apostle Peter who was a Jew immediately understood he is to preach also to the Gentiles, who have now been “made clean by God.” (Acts of the Apostles)

In order for those of us who hold to the gospel of Jesus Christ and who have been called to be his disciples on the earth and in heaven, we need to re-invest ourselves in his gospel.  Jesus welcomed sinners, Jews and non-Jews alike.  He healed Samaritans and even Greeks, even though his primary mission while on earth was to the chosen of the Jews in Israel.  His mission now, following his resurrection is stated clearly in the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 1 and 2.  Through the Holy Spirit the disciples of Jesus spoke in every tongue of the known world, indicating the universal appeal of the Gospel of the risen Jesus Christ.  Paul interprets in the epistle to the Romans, chapters 10-11, that the hardening of the Jews to Christ is only temporary while the harvest of souls from the Gentile proceeds.  When that work in completed, then the Jewish people will also come to believe in Christ as Messiah before the end of the world comes.

The point of all these references in the Holy Scripture is that racism, exclusion and the pride of one people group over another has no place in the Gospel of Jesus.  All may come who have faith in the one God known in Jesus Christ our Redeemer!

We, the church of Jesus Christ in our day, have not done a very good job communicating this gospel.  If we have done so, would we be in the mess we are in today?  While we have been asleep, too busy, or away on business, the “more simple” world from which we came has now become a multicultural place.  Despite all the efforts of those who want to go back and make America a white Christian nation again, this will not happen.  The whole idea is a fool’s paradise and an illusionary dream.

Each day which passes finds there are more of us on this planet than the day before.  We will either embrace our diversity or opposing it we will destroy ourselves.  To oppose diversity in this nation is like standing in the River Mississippi and telling it to flow backwards, to go north instead of south, to put its waters into Canada instead of the Gulf of Mexico.  Why not better to fill our hearts with the love of Christ and we learn how to embrace one another!  Race, creeds, power politics, divisions, pride, anger and sorrow have no place in the kingdom of God.  Behold, the old has passed, and the new has come!

If anyone wishes to live in the past world of illusion, let them do so.  When they come to their final resting place, they will simply make room on this earth for someone else.  That someone will likely be of another race, another color, another nationality.  This is going to occur whether we like it or not.

It is time for the Christian church to finally embrace its diversity of human persons.  No longer let us be filled with hatred, bigotry, pride and racism.  Let us instead embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and all those whom Christ loves!  Let us commit ourselves to loving whomever Jesus loves!  As a child I was taught this verse:  “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world:  Red and yellow, black, brown and white, these are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world!”

So becoming once again a little child, I embrace my neighbor with the intention that my neighbor can also become my friend, my companion, my confidant.  Because of Jesus Christ, I am no longer alone in this world!  None of us are alone any longer in this world because of Jesus Christ! “Amen!”

Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us in your name to make disciples of all nations.  You have taught us to be followers of the way of Jesus Christ.  Now that we belong to you, teach us how to love one another. For we pray in your blessed and holy name, Amen and Amen.”

Let all of God’s people say, “Amen!”