Walking As One

Christians are members of the body of Christ, and we recognize the force in this world that the expression of Christ through His Church can be if we stay together and act as one.  1st Corinthians 1
states:
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

So, we can identify issues that divide us - disagreements don't have to divide us, but can actually strengthen the body if we're willing to communicate.  Our diversity doesn't have to divide us, either, because we recognize that each of us has a contribution to make to God's Kingdom plan for the earth. But, the enemy knows what a force we can be as we walk in the love of Christ, so he works to keep believers separate so that we cannot fulfill what God wants to do through His body, His Church.

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It is an almost unimaginable truth how God can take a human being, a sinner without hope in the world apart from Christ, transform the heart through the presence of Jesus, and to give him or her a new life. And, He brings us into a body of believers where He intends for Christ to be expressed.
Galatians 3 addresses the unity we can have in Christ:
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Will Ford III is an African-American man whose ancestors were slaves. Matt Lockett was descended from those who owned the ancestors of Will Ford.  Together, according to a press release, they led communion at the base of Stone Mountain recently during the OneRace event. The release said that they "fulfilled another one of Dr. King’s dreams as 'the sons of slaves and sons of slave owners sat down together at the table of brotherhood.'"

Ford asked those in attendance, "What storyline do you want to be a part of?...The healing or the hurt? The curses or the blessings?”

Later, two Atlanta pastors - Dennis Rouse of Victory World Church and Lee Jenkins of Eagles Nest Church - "used the symbolic deed of washing each other’s feet to showcase unity."

Co-founder of the event, Bishop Garland Hunt, a recent guest on The Meeting House stated, "We choose to love beyond our own race, culture and ethnicity,” adding, “We commit as a generation to love one another.”

The press release continues:

OneRace leaders released and encouraged attendees to sign the Atlanta Covenant, which outlines the responsibility of the Church to lead in eliminating racism, prejudice and division in our society; encourages individuals to take a stand against racism in all of its forms; and affirms that cultural reconciliation, Christian unity, and both the righteousness and justice of God were established yesterday.

The Stream estimated the crowd as over 20,000.  Over 500 area pastors were said to have participated.

The organizers of this event, as I do, believe that the Church has a role to play in racial reconciliation. And, it's unfortunate that the enemy seems to be working overtime to divide us along racial and cultural lines.

Earlier, I had made reference to John MacArthur's excellent series on the topic of social justice.  He writes in the most recent installment:

...as the issue of racial division has become more and more a focus in the secular academy and in the news media, evangelicals eager to engage the culture have taken up the issue. Unfortunately, many who have spoken on this issue have simply echoed the wisdom of this world rather than addressing the issue in a truly gospel-centered way. As a result, rancorous discourse over ethnic differences has eclipsed the gospel and divided the church—even among those evangelicals who might be most likely to self-describe as “gospel-centered Christians.”

MacArthur targets matters of race as a by-product of a heart that is not right before God. He writes, regarding a particular view of what is termed, "social justice":

So by this view of “social justice,” a person’s skin color might automatically require a public expression of repentance—not merely for the evils of his ancestors' culture, but also for specific crimes he cannot possibly have been guilty of.

There’s nothing remotely “just” about that idea, and certainly nothing related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The answer to every evil in every heart is not repentance for what someone else may have done, but repentance for our own sins, including hatred, anger, bitterness, or any other sinful attitude or behavior.

Darrell Harrison writes on his blog, Just Thinking...for Myself:

For evangelicals, the social gospel has traditionally been defined primarily in terms of the joining together of ecclesial and secular resources toward the (re)formation of systems and structures that are consistently just and equitable to all, but especially toward those who are deemed to have been unjustly oppressed and marginalized by those systems and structures. It is a visage that was shared by American theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, an important yet veritably unknown figure in the social gospel movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, who once asserted that: “The kingdom of God is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven.”

Harrison also refers to the corruption of the human heart, writing:

This sobering reality – that sin is so pervasive and universal as to affect every aspect of our existence and experience as human beings – is not often considered in the ongoing discourse about social justice. Consequently, we continually find ourselves forging ahead on our righteously indignant treadmill, choosing to expend our energies debating this issue from the standpoint of the societal effects of injustice as opposed to the spiritual causes of it...

Darrell Harrison, John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham, and others are among the initial signers of what is called The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel.  In the introduction, it states:

Specifically, we are deeply concerned that values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity, manhood and womanhood, and human sexuality. The Bible’s teaching on each of these subjects is being challenged under the broad and somewhat nebulous rubric of concern for “social justice.” If the doctrines of God’s Word are not uncompromisingly reasserted and defended at these points, there is every reason to anticipate that these dangerous ideas and corrupted moral values will spread their influence into other realms of biblical doctrines and principles. 

The answer for the Church and the culture is the change of heart that comes from the gospel and the subsequent repentance of past sins so that we may live in the present and face a bright future in Christ.  That's why you could say the Church's prime assignment is evangelism.  Right and reconciled relationships can grow out of the right alignment with God through Christ.

That's our first takeaway for today.

We also have to keep in mind the "one body" principle and what it takes to live out what God has already accomplished in Christ.  MacArthur, in an article, called, No Division in the Body, accompanying the release of the social justice statement writes:

White evangelicals are told they need to repent for sins committed by their ancestors. Black evangelicals are made to feel like hapless victims who have every right to resent any privilege enjoyed by others. Members of both groups are scolded if they don’t affirm and adopt the narrative. We’re all told that “racial reconciliation” cannot even really begin until everyone in the church affirms and embraces this particular notion of “social justice” as a matter of first importance—perhaps even a “gospel issue.”

What does this mean? That even though we are spiritually united in Christ, having confessed our personal guilt, there is still some lingering corporate guilt that keeps me from being truly reconciled with my black brother? Or is the real issue even more sinister—namely, that I’m an unconscious racist, subliminally guilty of a sin that I consciously and categorically deplore? And even though I would never hold any animus toward my black brother in my own heart, anyone who is truly “woke” knows full well that I’m guilty of it anyway?

So, it does get back to the heart, doesn't it?  And, perhaps these discussions can help us to allow the Holy Spirit to search our own hearts, to expose legitimate sin and harmful attitudes, and to get it right, the way God would intend.

Finally, it is easy to get into a "blame game."  It's important that we don't attach blame for certain conditions in the past that are not the fault of people in the present.  Certainly, we can repent of past actions that we individually have taken and also point out past failures, but ultimately, I believe that God calls us to move forward - together.