The Road So Far

 Last night we took some much needed time to stop and reflect on what we have learned so far this year. Volleyball was the name of the game for the evening and I don't know about everyone else, but I had a really good time.

As we moved into the "message" time, I opened with a brief overview of everything we had covered up to this point. Below you will see a simple illustration (drawn by yours truly) of the foundation for all of our messages this year.

You would not believe how long it took me to produce that simple image... Anyway, the heart above represents your life. It represents you. Everything we are talking about this year centers around how to live the Christian life in a non-Christian world. The cross represents Jesus Christ being at the center of your life and the book represents the Word of God (the Bible) as your basis for truth. You see, if we want to live the Christian life, we first must be sure that we are of the faith and that we are in submission to the Bible as our authority in life. If you don't believe in Jesus, or you don't trust the Bible as a reliable source of truth, then you will fail to live out the Christian life in this world. Everything else that we have talked about or will talk about this year is founded on the understanding that Jesus is Lord and the Bible is our authority. That means we look to Jesus and we trust His Word to teach us what is right and good.

The Bible tells us about the nature of mankind - that we are created in the image of God but are separated from Him because of our sin, which condemns us to death. Every person is born with a sin nature and is destined for death. On our own, there is nothing we can do bridge the gap and get to God. When we understand this about mankind, it helps us to see that apart from God we are all doomed. We are not basically good, we are not evolving into better or more perfect beings, and we are not all going to Heaven (apart from God, none of us are). This has HUGE implications for living the Christian life, because it means that if we are not going into the world and telling people about Jesus (as we are supposed to do) then they won't ever have access to God.

The Bible also tells us about our role in the world, and specifically how we are to relate to non-believers. In His famous "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7, Jesus tells His disciples that they are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We broke that down to mean that we are to be blessings toward others (salt), doing good whenever and wherever we can. We are also to speak the truth whenever and wherever we can (light), shedding truth and light in an otherwise very dark world. Even if someone is in direct opposition to God and persecutes us as Christians, we are to speak the truth and demonstrate toward them the same kind of live and mercy that God showed us through Jesus Christ.

The Bible gives us a direct command when it comes to our relationship with our parents: "Honor your father and mother". We talked about the fact that "to honor" means "to obey". We are to obey our parents. And this is a serious command, as it sits right in the middle of the 10 Commandments. Its right up there alongside "Do not murder". And there is no caveat to this one either. There is no stated exception, like "obey them unless they are being quite unreasonable". We are to obey our parents, unless (yes, there is actually an exception) they tell us to do something that goes against the Bible. We obey God first, then parents. And if we do this, it will go a LONG way in helping us to have a good, healthy relationship with our parents.

The Bible completely obliterates any foundation for racism. In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, He was starting the entirety of the human race from one set of parents. That means that all of us, no matter our skin tone, are able to trace our lineage back to the same common ancestors. We are ALL descendants of Adam and Eve, which means we are ALL one race - the human race. Therefore, skin tone should have absolutely no bearing on how we treat each other. No one is superior or better than anyone else, this is what the Bible teaches. We are equals in sin and separation from God, and those of us who have been saved are equals in the forgiveness and grace we have received in Jesus Christ.

The last two weeks we watched a YT video by Dr. Jason Lisle, in which he shared evidence from astronomy that supports the truth of the Bible. One of the benefits of seeing this evidence is that it encourages us in our faith, to know that what we believe to be true is supported by the world that God created. Knowing these evidences also helps us to have an answer for the hope that we have in Christ. When the people of the world come against us and accuse us of being crazy or stupid, we can show the rationality of our faith and stand our ground.

Most of our time last night was spent in a discussion, as I gave students the opportunity to voice any questions that had been raised but not answered in any of the previous messages. It started slow but it turned into a good discussion, and I am planning on having another one sometime in February of 2022. I hope you're able to be there and participate.

As we move forward this year, we will continue to tackle some of those big topics that the church is facing right now. We will discuss a biblical perspective on abortion, sexuality, social justice, and even politics. It is important for us, as Christians, to discuss these topics and come to a common understanding of how we should handle each of them from a biblical perspective. I fully expect there will be some hard conversations to come, but they will be necessary.

May the God of all peace be with you.

The Bible and "Race"

 Heyo! This is the second week of our look into a biblical perspective on some of the more pressing issues of our current culture. Last week we talked about our relationship with our parents (specifically focusing on what the Bible has to say about honoring and obeying our parents and how that plays into the relationship). This week we are looking at the topic of what our culture calls "race". We went through 11 different passages from the Bible, so bear with me as we read and unpack them together. This was a particularly interactive message time, and unfortunately I was not able to record all of the questions (or the corresponding answers) from the discussion last night.

Genesis 1:26-27 - “²⁶ Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

When God created all things, and in this case, mankind, He made them all "according to their own kind". Mankind is particularly unique as we see here, in that God decided to make mankind in His image. Mankind was given special authority and dominion over God's creation, which springs from this image of God we bear. This is where we come from as a people; this is our beginning.

Romans 5:12 - “¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned…”

This is part of a larger argument Paul (the author of Romans) is making to the church that is in Rome. The point he is making in this passage is that sin and death entered the world through one man (Adam) and thus affected all people. This point alludes to the fact that we are all (yes, all) descended from that one man. If we could somehow trace our lineages back to the very beginning, we would all reach the same common ancestors: Adam and Eve. If this were not so, then how could Adam's sin be passed down to us?

Acts 17:26-27 - “²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”

This supports Paul's statement in Romans, that we are all descended from common ancestors. From Adam and Eve came all the nations that exist today. God established each nation throughout history, including the United States of America, and He spread them out throughout the world, as we will see in the next passage.

Genesis 11:1-9 - “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. ³ They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ ⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ ⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

This is where the major divisions of language and ethnicity started. Up until this point in the history of the world, people spoke the same common language (not English) and probably all shared a close skin tone. When God confused the languages (by the way, "Babel" means confusion) and scattered people "over the face of the whole earth", that is when ethnic diversity would have begun to develop - based on diet and climate.

Romans 2:9-11 - “⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; ¹⁰ but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹¹ For God does not show favoritism.”

This is an important point to make note of, because some people want to claim that God favored the Israelites over other people. It is true that God chose the Israelites as His people, and He did that because He was going to use them to bring about His plan of redemption for mankind (His plan to save them from that sin and death Paul was talking about). When it comes to God's judgment, or His mercy, there is no partiality given. It doesn't matter where you were born, those who do good will reap the benefits of doing good and those who do evil will reap the consequences of doing evil.

The issue in the Roman church was that the Gentile (this just means those that weren't Jewish) Christians were arguing with the Jewish Christians, and Paul was trying to help them settle their differences by focusing them on Christ. It didn't matter if they were Jewish or not, they were all "in Christ" and that is what was supposed to bring them together.

Matthew 28:18-20 - “¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

The fact that Jesus commands His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations tells us that His death paid the penalty for the sins of everyone, not just the Jews or any other particular ethnic group. People of every nation could find salvation through Him, which puts all people on an equal playing field.

John 13:34-35 - “³⁴ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Within the body of Christ, within the church, we are called to love one another. It doesn't matter what differences there are between us, we must love one another just as Christ loved us.

Leviticus 19:34 - “³⁴ The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

Even though the Israelites (the Jews) were called to be holy nation (this means they were to be set apart from other nations, distinguished from them), they were still commanded by God to treat foreigners (non-Jews) with love. If it makes the point clearer, let me use the word "immigrant" instead of "foreigner". Though there may have been ethnic differences, that did not justify treating someone with anything less than love.

Romans 3:21-24 - “²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

When it comes to sin, there truly is no difference between anyone. As human beings, we are all equally lost in sin, and equally incapable of earning salvation or attaining the glory of God on our own. We all fall short. In the same way, we are all equally (and freely) justified by God's grace through Jesus Christ. Not one of us is more deserving than another.

Colossians 3:5-11 - “⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

This is Paul again, in a letter written to the church in Colossae. Here he is commanding them to put to death (to remove) anything in their lives that belongs to their earthly nature. If it was connected to the sin nature they had before coming to Christ, it needed to go. It is quite a list, right? I remember last night we talked a little bit about the filthy language part. I wonder what that means for you? At the the end of the quoted passage, Paul lists some of the things that would have, before Christ, separated or divided the people from each other. Jews would not have associated with Gentiles (Jews were circumcised, Gentiles were generally not). Barbarians were those people from what we now call Europe, and they were seriously looked down upon. Scythians were from the slavic areas, and also considered to be outsiders. Slaves were not usually permitted to associate with free peoples. So then, these are the dividing lines, and likely major ones in Colossae. In this passage, Paul is saying that in Christ, these dividing lines are no more. They are gone. They are removed. Rather than division, the church is to be completely unified in Christ.

Revelation 7:9-10 - “⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

And this is a look at where we are going. Revelation is a glimpse at what the end times will hold. In the vision, John (the author) sees this great multitude "from every nation, tribe, people and language" worshipping God together. The church of God has spanned over two millennia now, and has covered pretty much every corner of the world at one point or another. There have been Christians from countless nations, tribes, peoples and languages already, and there will be more Christians yet.

God created mankind as one race - the human race - and we are all made in His image. What our culture defines as "race" - the different ethnic groups and nationalities - were originally created by God to divide us. And in Christ He has removed those dividing lines so that we can once again be unified. This means that in a Christian, biblical worldview, the color of our skin has no bearing on how we should treat each other. Jesus commanded that those who love Him must love one another, no matter how our culture might try to identify and divide us.

The racial discrimination that we see today can, unfortunately, be justified from an evolutionary perspective. If we really evolved from a single cell organism and are continuing to evolve, then its possible that the different "races" of humanity are at different stages of the evolutionary process, which would mean that some races really are better than others. HOWEVER, from a biblical perspective, the racial discrimination that we see today CANNOT be justified. According to the Bible we are all human beings, made in the image of God, equally lost in sin and equally in need of a Savior.

So, for those who are in Christ, it doesn't matter what color your skin is, what language you speak, or what country you're from - we are all one in Christ. We are unified by our faith in Jesus. So stop focusing on the things that make use different and start focusing on the One who brings us together in unity. Let us love one another as Jesus has loved us. And as we look out into the world, let us demonstrate God's love to others, regardless of how they might look or act different from us.

If you have questions or comments, I would be happy to discuss them with you in the comment section below. God bless you all.