This past week, two young black men were shot and killed by police officers this week: Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge Louisiana on Tuesday and Philando Castile in the Twin City area on Wednesday. Then late Thursday night as protestors gathered in Dallas, five police officers were assassinated: Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarippa, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Lorne Ahrens – by Micah Johnson. Each one of these men have now died and entered into eternity.  For those who died without Christ, they have died . This is a sobering reality.

I am not going to cast judgment on these cases here – however they seem to highlight yet again the racial divide and growing tensions in our country. In a world of disunity and separation between races, the church should stand as a counter-cultural community.

From today, I want you to care about what is going on, see the implications from the gospel for racial harmony and diversity in the church (don’t get primary input from news, talk radio, internet blog), and work for racial harmony and diversity.

Politics and politicians cannot save us. Legislation won’t ultimately change things. Political correctness offers no hope. Merely talking isn’t going to help. Because none of these things address the fundamental issue: sin. None of these things can change the human heart with all its native evil. The gospel of Jesus Christ is our only hope! But before I get there, it needs to be acknowledged that:

• There is racism.
• The problem of continuing racial tensions in our country is complex, but at its root it is because of the evil of the sinful, human heart.
• Because we are all born in sin, we all have the temptation to view ourselves as superior to others.
• To be a white American affords the privileges of safety and security that people of other races don’t enjoy.
• The gospel changes everything

1. The gospel is the good news of the Son of God, Jesus, coming to identify with the victims of injustice – and actually become one of them.

Revelation 5 calls Jesus "the lamb".  Jesus identified with the oppressed and victim when he embraced the lepers, interacted with the Samaritans, and ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners.  But let’s look especially at the death and the events surrounding his death. If ever there was truly an innocent person, a victim of injustice, it was Jesus. Consider, Jesus Christ was the only truly sinless man who ever lived – the most innocent and blameless man of all time.  He “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22).  And yet he was put to death at the hands of evil men.

Listen to Isaiah 53:7-9:

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

The events of his death from the bribe of Judas, the false witnesses, the release of Barabbas (an insurrectionist and murderer), being crucified between two criminals were massive injustices.  And yet all of this was a part of God’s plan. If ever there was a man who stood in solidarity with the oppressed, it is Jesus.

2. The gospel is the truth that Jesus died on behalf of sinners; racist sinners in order to forgive sin and provide peace with God.

Notice verse 9 says that the lamb was worthy because, “you were slain and with your blood you ransomed people for God…”  Becuse of his ransoming work which required his blood to be poured out.

Paul just puts in so simply in 1 Timothy 1:15:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

God cannot merely sweep sin under to rug and let bygones be bygones. No, he saves sinners by dealing with their sin, not sweeping it under a rug. And on the cross of Jesus Christ, sin was punished. The accomplishment of the slain lamb whose blood was poured out is that God's wrath has been removed and God's righteousness has been given to all who trust in Jesus.

And because wrath has been removed and righteousness has been given, we now have peace with God. Romans 5:1 – “Having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And this peace with God is the only sure and real foundation for peace with others.

3. The gospel changes our sinful, natural hearts and empowers us to love sacrificially.

The lamb that was slain ransomed people "for God”.  We are no longer our own. Martin Luther King Jr. in a letter from Birmingham jail wrote:

There was time when the church was very powerful – in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. If the church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century.

If our sins were forgiven and God’s judgment was removed, but then we were left to reform ourselves, that would be bad. That’s not the case, however. The gospel reforms our hearts by giving us new ones and empowers us to have a reforming effect on the world through the power of sacrificial love. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."  A new creation with a new heart and new desires and a new power to love - especially to love those who are different.

4. The gospel teaches us that Jesus is not a tribal Deity.

The pictures we see often portray Jesus as a European man with brown hair, blue eyes. That wouldn’t be accurate. He was a Jew in 1st century Palestine. The only thing we know about his looks is that he wasn’t very impressive to look at (Isaiah 53:2).

His phyiscal appreance doesn't matter!  What matter is what the bible tells us about him and the scope of his saving work?

Verse 9 says “With your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Here we see the great aim of God. God’s quest for ethnic and racial diversity; purchased at the infinite cost of the blood of his Son.

The children’s song is true – wonderfully true – “red and yellow black and white, they are precious in his sight.”  This is no coincidence, but God’s intentional, purposeful plan – to fill his church – and one day all of heaven with every tribe and language and people and nation. And we know that God will accomplish this. Matthew 24:14 says, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all nations – then the end will come.”

5. The gospel gives us the hope of eternity where there will be perfect racial harmony forever.

Verse 10 says, “And they shall reign on the earth” Who? People from every tribe, language, people and nation. They will reign with King Jesus. Every injustice will be made right.  There will be no racists, no racism, no attitudes of ethnic superiority, no divide, no separation. It will be glorious!  And one thing that will make it all the more glorious, without which much would be missing is that the glory of every people will be represented there.

Revelation 21:26 says the eternal city that all the redeemed will dwell in forever will have "the glory and honor of the nations" brought into it.  Amazing!  May God equip us to experience a foretaste of this now. 

How Do We Work For Racial Harmony?

1. Don’t shield yourself or your kids from what is going on.
2. Move toward need. Try to get into the skin of others.
3. Seek out friendship with those who are different than you.
4. Love the gospel with all its implications for racial reconciliation. And give the hope of the gospel to a world in need of it – speak the gospel into these divisive and tense times.