Should I Be Critical of Critical Race Theory?
Sermon Notes
Intro
At this time let’s go ahead and dismiss the children to our children’s ministry leaders in the back. We like giving families the chance to worship together, and then dismiss the children to children’s church for age specific content. If you didn’t check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back and they can help with that.
Now today we’re starting a new 5 wk teaching series we’re calling Graceful Resistance, and it’s about living with convictions in a culture of compromise. We’re addressing some major cultural topics such as critical race theory, sexuality, gender identity, religious liberties and cancel culture. We’re addressing these not to be controversial, it’s to show that the gospel of Jesus can bring healing to these already controversial topics. I’m a pastor not a politician, so my focus isn’t to teach a political perspective, it’s to teach biblical perspective. We’ll teach a biblical perspective on these topics first, then address some questions about these topics second. If you’re a believer examine your beliefs to see if your perspectives on these topics are biblical, political, or personal. If they’re political and personal, be willing to shift to a biblical perspective. If you’re a skeptic it’s a great time to hear a Christian perspective on these topics, and we welcome your dialogue or questions about these topics. We want to be a place for both skeptics and believers to seek truth and find joy in community, so instead of running from the church, dialogue with the church. May both skeptics and believers not run from the church if you disagree with us on these issues, instead let’s continue to dialogue with each other. Look if the bible’s true, then it means there’s nothing to lose with such dialogue, instead there’s everything to gain by learning it’s truth.
Well today we’re going see what the bible says about race and critical race theory. To prep for this message I researched both ethnic majority and minority Christian leaders. I also had both ethnic majority and minority Christians review this message to hold me accountable to biblical interpretation, to check my blind spots, and to give us a balanced yet truthful view on this topic. So that being said, let’s turn to Ephesians 2 and get into it. You’ll find Ephesians in the last quarter of your Bible, we’ll be in Ephesians 2:11-16. Title of today’s message is Should I be critical, of critical race theory, and here’s the big idea. It’s the gospel of grace, that can heal our issues with race...It’s the gospel of grace, that can heal our issues with race...
Context:
Here’s your context. Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul who at one point sought out Christians to kill them. He was actually responsible for the death of the 1st Christian martyr which was Stephen. So historically we know he had a deep hatred for Christians, but we also know his entire life changed after meeting the resurrected Jesus, and he eventually died for his faith as a Christian. His life’s a testimony of how the gospel really can transform people’s hearts, even when there’s a deep hatred towards another people group. So let’s check out what he says.
The Word:
Ephesians 2:11-16 states, “So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh called ‘the uncircumcised’ by those called ‘the circumcised...” Paul’s talking about two groups of people here, he’s talking about Jews and Gentiles. A Gentile is everybody who isn’t Jewish. Paul’s a Jewish Christian who’s been leading a lot of Gentiles to Jesus, and he’s talking about the hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles before becoming followers of Jesus.
Vs. 12, “At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.” Paul’s saying it’s Jesus who united the two people groups, it’s Jesus who made ‘both groups one.’ The ‘dividing wall of hostility’ is a reference to a literal wall surrounding the Jewish Temple. It was 10 ft high with a sign stating, “Any Gentile entering beyond this wall, will have only himself to blame for his death.” For Jews that wall separated the good from bad, the clean from unclean, the safe form unsafe people. Many blacks in our country experienced similar discriminatory walls, with signs preventing them from eating, drinking, or sitting in certain places. Thankfully those laws changed, but that doesn’t mean it’s changed in people’s hearts. Many blacks are still living with wounds from those walls, and many whites have taken the signs down, but are still living with hatred in their hearts. Pastor Gene Joo states, “Racism will never be rooted out and dealt with on a systemic level, until it is first confessed and lamented on a personal level. It has to begin with me.” Is there a dividing wall in your heart?...Is there a dividing wall in your heart against certain people groups?...Is there a dividing wall in your heart against certain political groups?...Is there a dividing wall in your heart against the rich, the poor, the educated, the uneducated, the heterosexual, the homosexual?...What are some dividing walls still existing in your heart?...Paul’s saying Jesus came to tear down the dividing walls of hostility between us and God. Our sins separate us from God, but Jesus died for our sins to remove that sin barrier so that Jews, Gentiles, and all people groups could be reconciled with God. There’s no greater dividing wall that exists than the wall between us and God. So if Jesus can remove the dividing wall between you and God, he can remove the dividing wall between you and others. He can remove any dividing wall that still exists in our hearts. Sins against God and others always leads to dividing walls, but the grace of Jesus always leads to tearing down those dividing walls.
Vs. 14, “For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, 15 he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. 16 He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.” Paul’s again saying it’s Jesus who united Jews and Gentiles together. It’s their faith in Jesus dying for their sins that brought these two hostile groups together, and reconciled them with God and each other. It’s Jesus who created one new man, one new people group, one new family called Christians. Paul says something similar in Galatians 3.
Galatians 3:26-28 states, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” Some of your translations say ‘children of God,’ and the Greek word here for ‘sons’ is huios, h-u-i-o-s. The reason Paul uses this word is because it was a legal term used in 1st Century Rome for adoption and inheritance laws. So what Paul’s saying is through Jesus allof us can become huios, all of us can become adopted sons and daughters, adopted children of God. Through Jesus all of us can have equal worth, value, status, and access to the eternal inheritance of God. He’s saying Jesus came to tear down dividing walls, so we can be united together as children of God.
Vs. 28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul’s saying Christians shouldn’t view each other based on ethnic, socioeconomic, or gender differences. We shouldn’t view each other as Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, instead we should view each other as family united by Jesus. One of our codes here at City Awakening is the gospel’s our common ground, meaning we believe in cultural diversity but gospel unity. We believe the gospel’s our common ground regardless of ethnic, socioeconomic, or gender differences. This isn’t about uniformity where everybody’s the same, or colorblindness where we ignore diversity saying, “Well my God doesn’t see color.” People have good intentions in saying that, but it isn’t true. Of course God sees color, He created it! God created skin color and diversity, it’s a beautiful thing, but sinful humanity turned it into the ugly dividing walls of racism, classism, and sexism. Paul’s saying Jesus came to make things right, he came to breakdown such dividing walls of hostility, and to bring unity within diversity. The biblical view of diversity is that it’s a good thing, sinful humanity turns it into a bad thing, but Jesus can change hearts and reconcile what sinful humanity divided. That’s our biblical foundation, so let me address 5 questions regarding critical race theory.
#1 What is Critical Race Theory? = Critical race theory is a concept that’s been around for 40 yrs. It’s about examining the idea that race and racism doesn’t come from individual prejudices alone, it also comes from legal systems, laws, and policies. It’s the belief that racial injustice is the byproduct of societal systems and discriminatory laws deeply embedded in our culture. Before accepting or rejecting CRT, it’s important to realize not all critical race theorists agree on the causes or solutions to racial issues. For example Professor Derrick Bell is considered one of the major developers of critical race theory, and he often pointed to Jesus as his motivation. So he’s a critical race theorist that pointed to Jesus, but there’s other critical race theorists that point to Karl Marx. Marxism is the belief that the world consists of the “haves” and “have-nots,” the oppressor and the oppressed. Marxism seeks to destroy governments, religion, and family, and its main goal is for the oppressor to overthrow the oppressed using bloodshed if needed. Jesus and Marxism don’t align in worldviews or approaches to injustice, so we should be cautious of critical race theorists with an agenda pointing to Marxism instead of Jesus. This leads to our 2nd question.
#2 Should We Be Critical of Critical Race Theory? = Yes we should, just like we should be critical when reading a book or news article. We should examine things critically before accepting them fully. But that doesn’t mean we should reject everything about CRT. I mean there’s some things the bible and CRT can agree on. For example they both agree racial injustice is wrong. The bible teaches Israel was liberated from Egyptian slavery and systemic labor laws. Jesus liberated women, Gentiles, lepers, the poor, the sick, the mentally ill, all kinds of people being viewed as 2nd class citizens. Jesus liberated them giving them equal worth, value, and love in the family of God like Paul stated. CRT’s also asking great questions about racial injustice and the effects the legal system has on racial issues. Christians should want to examine such things too. We should care about racial injustice, examine our legal system, and help reform laws contributing to racial injustice. So we can agree with CRT on these things, but disagree with CRT theorists viewing the world with a Marxist lens. CRT is a self-refuting ideology when it does this, because its teaching salvation comes when the oppressed overthrow their oppressors. But the moment you defeat your oppressor, you’re now the oppressor! You’re oppressing the one you just defeated! It’s a self-refuting ideology that villainizes the oppressor and leads to reversed oppression. Many white people are feeling this today. They feel villainized, they feel there’s a reversed oppression happening, and their rights, views, voices are being silenced. This oppressed vs. oppressor view of CRT reinforces an usvs. them mentality, and it leads to further division.
Now what makes the biblical view so much greater than CRT, is that it isn’t selective in its categories of injustice. It’s against all injustice, including reversed oppression. It teaches us to care for both the oppressed and the oppressor. It teaches us that salvation and transformation is possible even for the oppressor like it was for Paul. In the bible God sends Jonah to preach a message of salvation for the Assyrians even though Jonah hated the Assyrians for hurting Jews. God also tells the Jews to care for the Babylonians while living in Babylonian exile. Jeremiah 29:7, “Pursue the well-being of the city I deported you to. Pray on its behalf.” Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It’s because both the oppressed and the oppressor need salvation from sin. So critical race theory can help us examine our legal system, laws, and policies contributing to oppression. But we should be very critical of CRT when it views the world through an us vs. them, oppressed vs oppressor mentality.
#3 Does White Privilege Exist? = White privilege has certainly been a part of American history, which was evident in American slavery, Jim Crow Laws, the redlining that took place during the Civil Rights era. It gave white people a massive head start in society, the job market, housing communities, and our educational system. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once called The Declaration of Independence and Constitution a bank of justice...a great vault of opportunity. He said our Founders signed a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir, but for African Americans it’s a bounced check that came back insufficient funds. King said, “We refuse to believe the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.” His point is our Founders wrote a promissory note of opportunity for every American, it’s just not every American’s been able to cash it in yet. Things like the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement certainly lead to great changes, but we can’t deny the existence of white privilege. How much of it still exists today, is what’s hard to determine.
#4 Should we be critical of Black Lives Matter? = Okay to be clear the phrase black lives matter isn’t saying only black lives matter. It’s saying black lives matter too, which is something Christians can agree with. Black lives should definitely matter to us like Paul teaches in Ephesians 2 and Galatians 3. So the issue isn’t with the phraseblack lives matter, it’s with the black lives matter organization because its founders admitted to having a Marxist ideological agenda. One of its founders Patrice Cullors states, “We actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers...We are trained Marxists.” You can even hear their Marxist oppressed vs. oppressor agenda in some of their core beliefs which states, “We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work double shifts...We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family...We foster a queer‐affirming network, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking...” It’s oppressed vs. oppressor language involving a much deeper agenda than caring for black lives. So yes, we should disagree with the agenda behind the black lives matter organization, but Christians should also care very much about black lives and do everything we can to fight against racial injustice. I’m actually thankful the phrase black lives matter became so trendy, because it opened the door for much needed conversations about racial injustice. I know a lot of Christian leaders having great conversations about the care and lack of care for ethnic minorities. They’re helping lead the way in providing great gospel centered alternatives in response to the BLM organization. So disagree with the organization, but capitalize on the conversations. Capitalize on the conversations by standing against racial injustice, and by sharing the gospel as the better transformative alternative. We need to be careful not to villainize BLM followers. Be careful not to villainize, so we can still evangelize. We need to remember both CRT and BLM people need Jesus, just as much as we do.
#5 How can we live with a graceful resistance? = How can we live with a graceful resistance, when it comes to our country’s cultural narrative on racial issues?
#1 Think Critically = Think critically before aligning yourself with any movement. Don’t be so emotionally reactive and quick to join movements, blindly following the cultural heard.
#2 Think Biblically = Ask yourself things like “Is this in alignment with the bible? Is it in alignment with gospel centered solutions?” If you don’t know your bible, talk with other trusted Christians who do, especially ones who understand biblical justice and diversity.
#3 Dialogue = Dialogue with others in your small group, with close friends, with other strong Christians. Don’t engage in tokenism, don’t be like, “Hey you’re a different color. Can we talk?” Instead start by having a genuine love for others, developing friendships, then the dialogue will flow more naturally instead of awkwardly like tokenism. Too many Christians are running from their church in disagreement over these issues, instead of dialoguing within the church.
#4 Listen = Listen to the perspectives of other ethnic groups. If they’re willing to listen to your perspective, then explain it. If they aren’t, then let it go. Don’t feel obligated to agree with their perspective, just be willing to listen, be humble, and grow in understanding their perspective.
#5 Share The Gospel = Keep sharing the gospel of Jesus, because it’s the gospel of Jesus that’s the solution. It’s the gospel that can change our hearts so we’ll view each other as family, care for each other as family, and view oppression against one of us as oppression against all of us. The gospel has already given us everything we need to tear down racial walls, to heal racial wounds, and to enjoy unity within diversity. The reason we aren’t seeing it as much as we’d like is because Christians aren’t living it out. We’re quick to jump on a cultural movement, instead of living out the gospel movement. We’re quick to follow slogans, instead of the bible. We’re quick to be sheep in the culture, instead of being followers of Jesus who transform the culture.
It’s easy to critique Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter, but the harder thing is to critique ourselves. Christians need to look in the mirror and ask why we aren't leading the way on these issues? Why is the culture leading the way and not the church? Why are we the taillights instead of the headlights in these conversations? In the words of Pastor Tony Evans, the first African American to earn a doctorate of theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Evans states, “It’s my contention that if the church can ever get this issue of oneness right, we can help America finally be the ‘one nation under God’ we declare to be. The reason we haven’t solved the race problem in America after hundreds of years, is that people apart from God are trying to create unity, while people under God who already have unity, aren’t living out the unity we possess. The result of both these conditions is disastrous for America. Our failure to find cultural unity as a nation, is directly related to the church’s failure to preserve our spiritual unity. The church has already been given unity, because we’ve been made a part of the same family.”
The Big Idea:
The big is that it’s the gospel of grace, that can heal our issues with race. Racism is a sinful offense against Jesus and his atoning work on the cross. Jesus died on the cross to open the door of salvation not just for whites, blacks, or latinos. It’s for all people so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but shall have eternal life! So if you’re a skeptic believe Jesus died for your sins, and join the eternal family of God. If you’re a believer help us keep the unity we’ve been given, let the gospel heal your racial wounds, let the gospel tear down any dividing walls in your heart, and let’s show our city the gospel’s the better way. Our city and country’s looking for solutions in movements that’ll never provide long term transformation. But we have the hope of the gospel...We have the hope that God so loved the world that he gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but shall have eternal life. We’re capable of so much more than any other movement in the world, because we have a living Savior Jesus who can transform hearts and lives, allowing us to view each other not as enemies, but as family. Only the gospel of grace, can heal our issues with race.