Race, Cross, and the Christian

Evening all, let's pray.

Gracious Father, we thank you that you have not left us alone,

as we've seen the last couple of weeks,

in the solidarity we have, not just in our image of you,

but solidarity in our sin,

which puts us at odds with you and puts us at odds with one another.

We thank you that you have worked to solve that problem.

We've sung about it tonight.

I pray that that reality of what you've done for us in the Lord Jesus

might become very real for us personally

and will impact radically not just our relationship with you,

but our relationship with one another as well.

And we ask it for your glory. Amen.

We're into week number three on our series of racism and ethnocentricity.

And racial pride and ethnocentricity has a long and a bloody past.

I'll give you just a few examples.

The Holocaust in Germany caused the death of up to 11 million Jews

between 1933 and 1945.

1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Turks

from 1915 to 1923,

a further 750,000 Assyrians during the same time

at the hands of the Turks

and a further 1 million Greeks at the same time,

again at the hands of the Turks.

Racism and ethnic cleansing was a motivating factor

that saw 3 million casualties in the Cambodian genocide,

another 1 million dead in Rwanda in 1994,

Soviet slaughtered 250,000 Polish people in 1937 to 1938,

and another couple of hundred thousand Poles

by the Ukrainians less than a decade later.

Getting a little bit closer to home,

between 1824 and 1908,

white settlers and native Mountied police in Queensland

killed more than 10,000 Aborigines

who regarded them as vermin

and sometimes even hunted them for sport

in the same kind of way that I would treat a wild pig

in regarding it as vermin and hunted for sport.

That's on our own country here in Australia.

Now racism in our country has become a little bit more civilised,

if I can use that term very broadly.

You're probably aware of the vilification

of AFL player and prominent Aboriginal Adam Goodes recently.

There have also been a number of Reclaim Australia rallies

in capital cities around this country.

And in the past week, Eddie Maguire,

the president of the Collingwood AFL team,

was accused again of racism.

He had previously joked,

apparently because of a brain freeze or a brain snap

or a no brain at all, I can't remember,

that he likened Adam Goodes to King Kong

or that he could play a part in the movie King Kong.

And so in Maguire's most recent controversy,

he referred to the Victorian sports minister,

John Aaron, as a soccer-loving Turkish-born moosey.

Now, I want to suggest to you that it is naive to think

that a prime minister making a public apology

or laws against racial vilification

or a general move in the direction of equality

and freedom for all people

or the acceptance of political correctness

results in any way in the end of racial pride

or ethnocentricity.

The issues are deep.

We had a new couple here at church this morning.

Three months ago, they escaped from Syria.

And I spoke to them this morning.

They are literally here, refugees escaping.

They went home.

Their house was bombed.

It's just levelled.

And I said to them,

I talked to them about the issues at Syria,

and they said,

it is very complex.

There is no easy answer

to the racial tensions there at all.

And I think an answer to it

is something that we want.

In fact, something that we need.

When Reclaim Australia marched in Sydney recently,

more people turned out to march against Reclaim Australia

than actually for Reclaim Australia.

That is, there was more people turning out

to march against racism,

as they see it portrayed in Reclaiming Australia,

than, in fact, the Reclaiming Australia group.

Now, the Christian faith is not at odds

with our secular society at that point.

We saw two weeks ago

that one of the foundational biblical truths

is that all people are made equally

in the image of God.

There is a solidarity

in our image of God,

but there is also, as we saw last week,

a solidarity in our sinfulness,

in our rejection of God.

Since Adam, right from the very beginning,

rejected God,

we have all shared in Adam's sin,

and likewise, we have, by choice, rejected God.

But the choices that we make reject God.

And so this solidarity sets us

not just up against God,

but against one another

because we put ourselves

at the center of the universe.

It becomes about us rather than about God.

And so we need to be really careful

as we deal with this situation

of racial pride.

We need to be really careful

of not coming up with just simplistic solutions.

On the TV program Studio 10,

Jessica Rowe this week

said that she thought

that the term Moosey

was racist and offensive,

and she questioned

Eddie Maguire's intelligence,

something that a few people

have done apparently over the time.

She said,

If he is not smart enough,

and I don't think he is,

to moderate his language,

depending on the sort of forum he is in,

he has to take the flack for it.

Hear what she's saying?

Just control your tongue, Eddie.

Depending on where you are,

just be careful about what you say.

Now, don't hear me wrong.

First of all, let me say,

the assumption there is,

if he doesn't say it,

then he's not a racist.

I want to,

I think it's a good thing,

I think it's a great thing

to control your tongue.

In fact, I think it would be great

if we all practice it a little bit more,

or let me just say myself,

it would be great if I control my tongue

a little bit more,

and I think it's a fantastic thing,

and we're going to see it

in our next series in James

when we get there,

but the problem is significantly deeper

than just controlling the tongue.

This week,

I was driving to a ministry seminar

on Thursday morning,

and I had the job

of driving the seminar leader

to the venue.

And so we're driving along,

this guy is in his early 70s,

he's a very well-respected Christian leader

from the United States,

and we were driving along,

and all of a sudden,

boom, we hit traffic,

we just stand still.

And I knew that I needed

to take a left turn up ahead,

and so I put my blinker on,

and I just started

to sort of move across.

And as I moved across,

there's a car behind me

that just kept pushing up,

pushing up.

And I'm like trying to go across

a little bit further,

and as we're doing this,

I'm talking to this ministry guy,

and we're talking about the gospel,

talking about all sorts

of wonderful things,

and I'm at the same time

trying to get across,

and this guy comes up,

and he just keeps,

and I'm thinking,

he's breaking the law?

You know,

my nose is in front of his,

he's got to give way.

If he ran into me,

it's going to be his fault,

and it's going to be

his insurance claim,

and that sort of stuff,

but you kind of don't want

your car to get run into,

and so I'm pushing him across,

and this guy just kept coming up,

kept coming up,

kept coming up.

He just kept pushing

across and across,

and he's waving at me

through the window,

you know,

mouthing obscene things at me,

and I never said a word.

I just kept talking to this guy

about ministry and stuff,

and even as we were driving along here,

at one point he said,

I don't think that guy

is going to let you in.

I said, no, no,

I don't think he is,

but you know,

that's okay.

Now,

what came out my mouth

was nothing.

What was in my heart

was something,

and what was in my heart

if my children

were in the back seat?

Remember last week,

I said that by original sin,

my children have learnt things.

I didn't teach them.

I didn't teach them

to throw tantrums,

anything like that,

but there are some things

I have taught them,

and if they were in the back seat

at that particular point,

one of them would have piped up

and said,

oh my goodness,

look at that idiot.

That is something,

I don't blame original sin for that,

that's something

they've learnt from me.

Over time,

they've learnt that one from me.

That's what was in my heart

at the time.

I was fuming at that guy,

but I never said a word.

You see,

political correctness

might be a start,

but it doesn't deal

with the core issue.

A sinful heart

bent away from God

and bent away

from other people.

That guy

wanted

one car space

and I

didn't want him

to have that car space.

We were both

as bad as one another.

It's interesting

that as you turn

to the gospel

and ask Jesus

often makes

the

hated

foreigner

the recipient

of God's blessing

or the hero

of his stories.

As I said last week,

Jesus is the end

of ethnocentricity

and we'll see it

today.

One of the best examples

is what Sam

just read out for us

in the Good Samaritan

in Luke 10.

So if you've got your Bibles,

flick to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

In verse 25,

a lawyer

asked Jesus

what he must do

to receive eternal life

and Jesus

asked him,

well,

what does the law say?

And so he says,

well,

love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your strength,

with all your mind

and love your neighbor

as yourself.

And Jesus says,

yeah,

that's right.

That's right.

Just do that.

But,

verse 29,

it says,

he wanted

to justify himself.

And so he asked Jesus,

yeah,

but,

you know,

when you say neighbor,

what do you mean

by neighbor?

who is really

by neighbor?

He's looking

to justify himself,

verse 29,

that is,

he's looking for

a loophole

in the law.

He's looking for Jesus

to affirm

his thinking

and his actions

as being righteous,

as,

yeah,

you've done that already.

You see,

the Jews of Jesus' time

interpreted the neighbor here,

which comes from

Leviticus 19,

as other Jews.

At a stretch,

it could include

some foreigners

who have

sort of converted

to Judaism

or are serving,

you know,

the country

and that sort of stuff,

but it certainly

didn't include

Samaritans

or other foreigners.

And so,

Jesus tells this

mainly Jewish audience

this story.

The story is possibly

the most socially

charged story

that Jesus ever tells.

There's this guy

traveling from Jerusalem

to Jericho.

It's a fairly main road.

We're meant to understand

that this is a Jewish man

traveling this road.

The man gets robbed,

he's stripped,

he's beaten

and left for dead.

And then by chance,

his fate would have it,

as it would happen,

a Jewish priest

comes wandering by.

This is a Jewish pastor,

right?

This is a Jewish pastor

and so,

the thinking is,

surely he

is going to help

his brother

in the ditch.

But no,

the priest

couldn't be bothered.

He walked,

in fact,

on the other side

of the street

to stay well away from him.

and pretend he doesn't exist.

Didn't go near him.

And Jesus goes on

and says,

well,

now a Levite comes by.

So,

we've gone from the pastor

to the lecture

of the theological college.

And again,

you would think

that this guy

is going to stop

and help his brother

in the ditch.

But he likewise

does not bother.

He walks

on the other side

of the street.

And then Jesus says,

well,

along comes

the Samaritan.

You know it's going

to be the third guy.

Along comes

the Samaritan.

And at this point,

at the hearing,

these Jewish crowds

gather

and they hear

the word Samaritan

and they go,

Samaritan?

What's a Samaritan

doing in the story?

You see,

Jews and Samaritans,

their tension ran

over a long period

of time.

Samaritans

were despised.

They were not

to be associated

with.

The majority of Jews

in Judea

and Galilee

hated Samaritans.

And by the time

of Jesus,

the animosity

between these groups,

these two groups,

had been growing

for several hundred years

and it exploded

into violence

and murderous violence

in the first century.

And so,

what is a Samaritan

doing in this story?

As it turns out,

he's the hero.

He sees

the injured

Jew,

his enemy

on the side

of the road.

He goes over to him

and he has compassion

on him.

He cleans up his wounds.

He treats his wounds.

He puts him

on the back

of his donkey,

takes him to

a local motel,

checks him in,

makes sure he's

well cared for,

hands over his credit card

and said,

charge to my account

anything,

any expenses

and I'll pick it up.

And by the time

Jesus finished

telling this story,

his audience

would have had

their jaws

on the ground.

This is

not possible,

Jesus.

The Samaritan

was an

unthinkable hero.

So imagine

I got an invitation

to speak

at a Reclaim Australia

rally

because they thought

I was some redneck

and

once upon a time

and

I happened

to tell the story

of

an Australian

SAS trooper

who was blown up

by a roadside bomb

in Afghanistan.

He's lying there

on the side of the road.

Along comes

an Australian

army medic

sees him

on the side of the road,

pretends he doesn't see him

and walks across

and misses him

altogether.

And as the guy's there

bleeding on the side

of the road,

along comes

another Australian

military personnel.

This time

it's a Padre,

a chaplain

and he too

walks past

and ignores

the guy

standing there.

And the next person

who walks up

is a Taliban

freedom fighter

with his AK-47

still struck

to his back.

Sees the guy

on the side

of the road,

sees that

it's an SAS

trooper

sent there

to kill him

and he

bandages up

his wounds,

he puts them

on the back

of his donkey,

he takes them

to a safe place,

he pays for all

his medical expenses,

he even sends

a chunk of money

back to his family

in Australia

to cover his

lifetime military pension.

What do you think

the reception

would be?

Jesus says

to this lawyer,

just do that.

Just go and do that.

Just do what he did.

Treat your worst

enemy

just like that.

Now remember,

this is going back

to the original question

that the lawyer

asked about

how he might have

eternal life

and so when Jesus

says,

just go and do that,

he isn't saying

give it a try

and see how it goes.

He isn't saying

do at least once

in your life

if you can.

He's saying

live and act

and love

and serve

and think

and sacrifice

like this good

Samaritan

all of the time

then you can

have eternal life.

All of the time

for your worst

enemy.

Go and love

and serve

and sacrifice

people who

belittle you,

who curse you,

who marginalize you,

who ridicule you,

who hate you,

berate you,

ignore you,

demean you

and would even

kill you.

And then that's it.

That's the end

of the good Samaritan.

Go and do likewise.

And it's,

we just left

hanging there.

And so you go,

so is the answer

to racial pride

and ethnocentricity

just try harder?

Work a bit harder?

Just be nicer?

See, Luke was inspired

by God to write

what comes next.

One scene

ends with his lawyer,

the next

we're in the living

room with two

sisters,

Martha,

the elder sister

and Mary,

the younger.

And in classic

birth order,

Martha,

the older sister,

is getting busy

with dinner

preparations

and Mary,

the younger sister,

is sitting on the

floor at the feet

of Jesus.

And Martha

is a little annoyed.

She's busy

making stuff happen.

She's got stuff

boiling on the stove

and there's things

in the oven

and she's trying

to staff the dishwasher

at the same time.

You know,

she's got food

all over her

and she is

wanting Mary

to give her

some help here.

And in short,

she runs to Jesus

and says,

tell Mary

to get up

and help me.

And Jesus'

response to Martha

is,

no,

no,

I'm not going

to tell her

to move at all.

So let me

come to the chase

here.

In the second scene,

who looks

the most

like

the good Samaritan?

Martha.

Martha does.

Not Mary.

Mary's the bad

Samaritan.

She's not doing

anything.

Martha is busy

doing all the good

stuff,

all the preparations.

Mary is,

you're doing

nothing,

Samaritan.

And Martha

is going

and doing

and serving

and preparing

and Mary

is doing

nothing.

She's just

sitting at the feet

of Jesus

and going,

oh,

Jesus,

I just love you.

Do you know

what I think

is going on here?

I think the lawyer

should have responded

at the end of

when Jesus

just left it hanging.

The lawyer

should have responded,

I can't do that.

I can't do that.

And Jesus

would have said,

I know.

That's the point.

I know.

And if you

were there

or I was there,

he would have said,

Steve,

you can't do it

either.

And 5pm,

you can't do it

either.

The barrier

that exists

between us

and God

and us

and others

that racial

pride

and ethnocentricity

is a consequence

of

is not

fixed

simply

by

holding

your tongues

in some

contexts.

The problem

is sin.

The problem

is our heart.

We need someone

to deal

with the dividing

wall

of hostility.

Romans 5

leads me

to believe

that Jesus

is,

in fact,

the Good

Samaritan

who comes

and who

does

what we

cannot do.

You and I

are,

in fact,

not the Good

Samaritan.

We are the

man

beaten,

bruised,

robbed,

left for dead

on the side

of the road.

We are cut

off from God

and we are

dead in our

transgressions

and sins.

Ever

since

Adam

decided to

rebel

against God,

we have

walked in

the ways

of Adam.

Now,

it might not

seem fair

that that's

our state.

When you

and I

look at the

carnage

that's in

this world,

the carnage

of human

history and

the racial

genocide and

the cancer

and the

suffering and

the divorce

and the

greed,

the fact

that over

there in

Number 7

View Street,

for some

strange reason,

the weeds

grow faster

than I can

kill them,

it's all

Adam's

fault

if you

look at

Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

And every

time I

weed the

garden,

it's so

easy to

get angry

with Adam

because God

picks a

champion for

the head of

the human

race

and this

champion

blows it

and ever

since he

blew it,

our world

has been

messed up

and there

is something

in that

that makes

me feel

like it's

unfair.

That is,

how could

Adam have

been so

stupid?

It feels

unfair because

I think

that instead

of it was

you know,

Adam and

Eve,

if it was

Steve and

Eve,

I wouldn't

have been

as stupid

as Adam.

And yet

the reality

is,

even though

it feels

unfair,

I've joined

him in

his choices

all of

my life

and God

understands

that.

God

understands

that it

seems unfair

that because

of Adam

and his

sin,

that the

whole of

human race

has been

headed in

a trajectory

away from

God and

away from

one another.

And so

God

picks another

champion

in Romans

5 to

do what

is unfair

to him,

to God.

At the

cost of the

life of

his own

son,

God

reconciles

up to

himself

his worst

enemies.

This is how

Romans 5

puts it.

You see,

at just the

right time,

when we were

still powerless,

Christ died

for the

ungodly.

very rarely

will anyone

die for

a righteous

man,

though for

a good

man,

someone might

possibly dare

to die.

But God

demonstrates his

own love for

us in this,

that while we

were still

sinners,

Christ died

for us.

Since we have

now been

justified by

his blood,

how much

more shall

be saved

from God's

wrath through

him?

For if when

we were

God's enemies,

we were

reconciled to

him through

the death

of his

son,

how much

more,

having been

reconciled,

shall we be

saved through

his life?

Not only

is this so,

but we also

rejoice in

God through

our Lord

Jesus Christ,

through whom

we have now

received

reconciliation.

For if by

the trespass

of one man,

that's talking

about Adam

and what he

did in

Genesis 3,

death

reigned

through that

one man,

how much

more will

those who

receive God's

abundant

provision of

grace and

of the gift

of righteousness

reign in

life through

the one

man,

Jesus Christ.

Consequently,

just as the

result of

one trespass

was condemnation

for everyone,

so also the

result of

one act of

righteousness

was justification

that brings

life for

everyone.

For just as

through the

disobedience of

the one man

that many

were made

sinners,

so also

through the

obedience of

the one man

that many

will be made

righteous.

everyone on

this planet

is included

in that

text because

Adam is the

father of

everyone.

Every person

you meet of

any ethnicity

is facing what

that passage

talks about,

either death

in Adam or

life in Christ.

Everyone.

That's it.

this is a

global text.

Don't miss

that.

This is the

defining reality

for every single

person you will

ever meet.

This is not,

the Christian

worldview here

is not a

wimpy worldview.

It stretches

over all of

history,

over all of

the earth,

to profoundly,

it profoundly

affects every

person in the

world and

every headline

on the

internet.

The spectacular

sin of

Adam,

which we

all suffer

the consequence

with,

of,

and agree

with,

is not as

great as

the spectacular

grace and

obedience of

Christ and

the gift of

eternal life

in him.

Indeed,

God's plan

from the

beginning was

that Adam,

as the

representative

head of

mankind,

would be

a kind

of Christ

as the

representative

head of

a new

mankind.

Verse 17

puts the

matter to

you very

personally.

So this is

it for you.

If you're

someone sitting

here and

you don't

know Jesus,

verse 17

puts it very

personally and

very urgently to

you right now.

Where do you

stand on this?

For if,

because of

one man's

trespass,

death reigns

through that

one man,

how much

more will

those who

receive the

abundance of

grace and

the free gift

of righteousness

reign in

life through

the one man

Christ Jesus?

Notice the

words very

carefully and

very personally.

Those who

receive the

abundance of

grace and

the free gift

of righteousness.

Those words

there are

precious words

for sinners.

The grace

is a gift.

The gift

is free.

The righteousness

of Christ

is free.

And so I

call on you

tonight.

Will you

receive it

as the hope

and treasure

of your life?

And if you

do, you

will reign in

life through

the one man

Christ Jesus.

Jesus.

Jesus has

reconciled you

to God.

And in

Ephesians 2,

which Sam

also read

out,

it's a

description

of how

the death

of Jesus

reconciled

us to one

another

across racial

lines.

Ephesians 2,

if you want to

go there in

your Bibles,

Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2:11

verse 11,

is a description

of the

division between

Jews and

Gentiles.

Verses 19

to 22

of Ephesians 2

is a description

of the

reconciliation

of Jews

and Gentiles

together.

Now keep

in mind here,

the division

between Jews

and Gentiles,

it's not

small,

it's not

simple,

it's not

shallow.

It is huge

and complex

and deep.

It was

religious,

it was

cultural,

it was

social,

it was

racial.

The divide

between Jew

and Gentile

was as big

or bigger

than any

divide on

the face

of the

human world

today.

And so

what happens

between verse

11 and

verse 19

that brings

about this

reconciliation?

There it is.

Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

died and he

died by design.

You see it there

in the word

blood in

verse 13,

second half

verse 13,

you who

formerly were

far off

have been

brought near

by the

blood of

Christ.

You see it

in the word

flesh in

verse 15,

abolishing in

his flesh

the enmity.

And you see it

in the word

cross in

verse 16,

and might

reconcile

them both

in one body

to God

through the

cross.

And the rest

of this text

is Paul's

explanation of

how the

blood of

Christ,

his death

in the flesh

on the cross

removes the

enmity between

God and

Jew,

God and

Gentile,

and Jew

and Gentile.

All the

dividing walls

have been

broken down.

And therefore,

by implication

between every

ethnic group of

Christians who

are in Christ,

from many

different blood

lines,

through the

blood of

Jesus,

we have been

brought into

one blood

line.

God

ordained the

death of

his son to

reconcile

alien people

groups together

to each

other as

one body

in Christ.

Friends,

Christ died.

There's massive

implications for

the death of

Christ.

Here's one.

Christ died to

take pride away

from our hearts

towards all

other people,

whatever their

race might be,

and whatever

their status

in Jesus

might be.

Racial

tensions are

rife with

pride.

The pride of

white supremacy,

the pride of

black power,

the pride of

intellectual analysis,

the pride of

anti-intellectual

scorn,

the pride of

a loud verbal

attack,

the pride of

a despising

silence,

the pride that

feels secure,

the pride that

masks fear.

Where pride

holds sway,

there is no

hope for the

kind of listening

and patience

and understanding

and openness

to correction

that mature

relationships

require.

The gospel of

Jesus breaks

the power of

pride.

It reveals the

magnitude and

the ugliness and

the deadliness of

it, even as it

provides deliverance

from it.

Jesus' death on

the cross for our

salvation is pure

devastation for

pride.

pride.

Nick read it

out to us,

I'll read it

again.

For by grace

you've been saved

through faith,

and this is not

of your own

doing, it is a

gift from God,

not a result of

works, so that

no one can

boast.

Jesus saves us

by grace alone,

so that we would

boast in him

alone, and that

verse shatters

pride.

imagine what

ethnic and racial

controversies would

look like if all

the participants

were dead to

pride and deeply

humble before God

and each other.

Imagine what it

would look like for

us as a church if

we took seriously

our core value

written on the

wall out there

called humble

authenticity.

God's plan is not

just that the

gospel will go to

all peoples, but

that all peoples

would be brought

together through the

gospel to form one

people in Christ.

And God is calling

the peoples of this

world to share in a

community that

includes their worst

enemies and

reconciles them

with those who

worship and

live in other

ways than them.

And if this is the

design of God,

then we will not

display and we

will not magnify

the cross of Christ

better than by

more and deeper

and sweeter ethnic

diversity and humble

unity in our

worship and our

life together at

St. Paul's.

The gospel demands

that it gets

proclaimed to all

peoples of all

ethnicities, but it

also demands that

all old culturally

driven worldviews

regarding racial

prejudices be

completely abandoned

by the new people

of God.

And we're going to

explore that a

little bit more in

the coming weeks.

Amen.