I'd be grateful if you grab your Bibles.
Also, if you've got the St. Paul's app,
that would be particularly useful for you this morning.
I've got lots of things to run through.
And if you don't have the St. Paul's app,
pen and paper will also do.
You just might want to just write down
heaps of different references as I go through.
Let me pray.
Gracious God,
Lord, every one of us are dealing with the issue of the fall
from Genesis 3,
where we have rejected your glory, your majesty,
your purpose for our lives and chosen it for ourselves.
One of the enormous consequences of that has been
throughout the history of your world from that moment,
prejudice in the heart towards other people.
Lord, we pray that that might be your conviction upon us this morning
as we look forward and towards in the coming weeks
of Christ being the solution to that.
So, Lord, give us tender hearts to ourselves, we pray.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
It was November 2005.
I was in Alice Springs,
the centre of our country here,
on the invitation of the Bible Society
to be the main speaker at event.
It was an event to raise awareness
for their ministry to remote areas of Australia
and in particular to Aboriginal communities
and the necessity for the word of God
to be translated into various languages
for those Aboriginal communities
that might have God's word in their own hand.
The plan was I would speak at an event
in an aircraft hangar
with the Bible Society plane behind me
on the Friday night.
Saturday was a free day to explore
and then Sunday I was to preach in a local church.
A friend of mine came along with me for the trip.
We, in fact, spent the Saturday
exploring many parts of the outback,
which in those days had no speed limits
and I didn't realise you could get a Corolla
up to 190 kilometres an hour,
but it turns out you can.
Then we came back, dropped off the hire car
and we spent the evening in the main part of Alice Springs
and then we walked back to our hotel.
It was pitch black along this pathway
which wove its way along the riverbank,
dry riverbank in Alice Springs.
We noticed as we were heading back to our hotel,
we were the only white guys around,
in fact, we were the only people around,
until we noticed a group of about 20 Indigenous Australians,
Aboriginals in the riverbank
drinking what it appeared to be drinking alcohol
and then we walked up, we noticed that
and the upper cross on the right-hand side
was more of a slummy area of Alice Springs
and we were noticing quite a lot of commotion,
a lot of yelling going on in that area.
And let me just pause there for a moment.
I think it's fair to say that in that moment,
both of us were a little bit nervous.
We were fully aware of our whiteness at that point,
if you like,
that this was a moment that both of us
had experienced previously.
It is fair to say that I grew up
marinating in a culture of prejudice towards Aboriginals,
even as I said last week,
that I still had friends who were Aboriginals.
It came, that prejudice came from the rhetoric of the culture,
but also my own negative experiences
at both school and in the workforce.
You could say my friend's experience was even more acute than mine.
He spent a good part of his childhood
growing up in a town in New South Wales called Walgett
and it's a very troubled place in terms of race relations.
So in this moment,
on this Saturday evening in 2005,
both of our prejudices came to the surface.
And as we walked along the path,
I said to him quietly,
do you see the group down on the left?
He said, yeah, I see them.
And then he said,
what about the one on the right
that's now coming out of the slum?
It's about 20 Aboriginals of all sorts of generations
coming out of the slum area.
And in that moment,
both of us came up with what we would call an escape plan.
What are we going to do if things deteriorate?
As both of us had personally experienced in the past.
We both experienced it.
We noticed that as we walked along the riverbank
that this group that was coming from the right
was going to intersect us on the pathway
unless we either started walking slower
or we started speeding up.
And we were sort of hoping on one level
that they would notice the two white guys.
Walking along in the pitch back in an area
that you don't see any of the white guys in Alice Springs.
And then they did see us.
And as it was very obvious,
as we approached,
this group was going to come to the,
almost hit us on the pathway.
And as we almost hit, as we crossed,
the lead elderly Aboriginal lady
put her arms out like that.
And she stopped the group.
And they all stopped,
all pulled up
and allowed us to walk through.
And as we walked through,
she said,
good evening, gentlemen.
We turned and said good evening
to her, to the group,
and walked on in silence
for about another 20 metres.
And my friend said to me,
how bad do I feel?
I went, yep, absolutely.
God used that moment
to expose something of the sin
of racial prejudice
that lurked in my heart.
And it did not escape my moment,
my attention,
even that night,
that the night before,
I was speaking at an aircraft carrier
with the Bible open,
imploring the people there
to put their resources and finances
behind gospel ministry
to remote communities in this country,
and prejudice lurked in my heart.
There was a disconnection
between what I knew
to be right and good
and part of God's purposes
and what still was lurking in my heart.
I was treated with more dignity
than what I afforded them in my mind
and in my heart in that moment.
And it was a long way
from my starting point last week
where I said all people
have one origins
by divine design.
And the implication of that last week
is the dignity,
the extreme dignity
of all human beings.
The creation doctrine,
the view of creation,
the Christian view of creation
does in contrast
with every other philosophical system
in our world,
in that sense.
And particularly,
the underlying system
that's operating in our society
at the moment
of atheistic evolutionary theory
that's broadly accepted as fact
in our secular society.
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species
gave rise to the separation
and the classification
of plant and animal species.
Enormously helpful in so many ways.
A breakthrough in so many ways.
Unfortunately,
it flowed over
into categorising humans
into a hierarchy
which arranged them
according to evolutionary advancement.
Now, that's not to say
racism didn't exist
before Charles Darwin's Origin of Species.
I'm not saying that.
But I do agree
with what Stephen Jay Gould
wrote on this issue
between the connection,
the connection between racism
and evolutionary theory.
Now, Gould was an evolutionary biologist himself
who significantly opposed creationism
and he hated Christianity.
Hated Christianity.
And he wrote,
biological arguments for racism
may have been common before 1850.
That is, before Darwin's Origin of Species.
But they increased by orders of magnitude
following the acceptance
of evolutionary theory
which he himself did.
And that's where I think the problem is.
As I said last week,
it is difficult to deliver
as our secular culture wants to do
on the equality of all people
when at the same time
you explain the differences
in terms of some people groups
being less evolved than others.
And as we saw last week,
the Bible knows nothing
of the hierarchy of races
as evolutionary theory does.
In fact, the biblical view is
there is one race.
One race.
The human race made in the image of God.
And yet, as I said last week,
while the Christian faith
has got enormous to contribute,
there's blockages here
for people accepting it
because of the failures
of the institutional church
over the years.
And one of the most serious
and damaging interpretations
of the Bible
on this whole issue of race
is in Genesis chapter 9.
So if you've got Genesis chapter 9,
go there quickly with me.
Genesis 9 verses 18 to 27.
It's at the end of Genesis 9.
As I said, Noah and his family
settling down into life
after the flood.
Noah plants a vineyard,
drinks a little bit too much
of the vino,
and ends up lying naked
in his tent.
His son Ham,
right, Ham,
sees his father's nakedness,
thinks it's a joke,
goes and tells his brothers
about it.
And when Noah finds out
what his youngest son has done,
he pronounces a curse
on Canaan,
who is Ham's youngest son.
So Genesis 9, 25.
Cursed be Canaan,
the lowest of slaves
he will be to his brothers.
He also said,
Blessed be the Lord,
the God of Shem.
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
May God extend the territory
of Japheth.
May Japheth live
in the tents of Shem
and may Canaan be his slave.
Now throughout the last 20 centuries,
numerous Christians,
Jewish and Muslim writers
have connected the curse of Ham,
their curse of Canaan,
to black Africans in particular.
This text became the standard text
in defence of slavery in England,
the southern states of America
and apartheid in South Africa.
That is,
because they translated the name Ham
as black or burnt,
the curse was applicable
in their view for all black people.
They also concluded
that Ham's brother,
Japheth,
represented white people
and therefore God commands
the slavery
or the subjugation,
if you like,
of black people
by white people.
Now,
I won't go into all the details.
There's extensive details around this,
but simply to say,
you've got to do some fancy,
I mean some really fancy
dance work
with the text
to come to that kind of a conclusion.
I mean some really,
really fancy work.
But some people have done it
because I believe in the end
it has supported
a particular prejudice.
Now,
I'm glad we've got the Bible
and God's perspective
on the history of humanity
and the Bible does not relate
to our racial
or ethnic differences
in terms of lower life forms
or in terms of God
having favorites,
but in terms of sin.
As we read there
in Genesis 5,
our rejection of God.
You see,
on that night
in Alice Springs
in 2005,
my prejudice,
my sinful heart
was the problem.
Not the government,
not institutions.
My prejudice,
my sinful heart
was the problem.
But it doesn't just identify
sin as the core problem
of racial prejudice
and ethnocentricity.
Like in terms of the Bible
it doesn't just identify that,
but it also reveals
a solution for us
as we will pick up
in the next couple of weeks
as well.
You see,
the Bible sees the fracturing
of all relationships
due to the rejection
of God in Genesis 3.
I think it was fantastic
what Zoran said
when he got up here
and talks about his role
supporting God's work
of reordering
a disordered creation.
God did create order
out of chaos
and sin
in Genesis 3
made everything
back into chaos again.
That's the consequence
of sin.
A disordered
creator,
a creation.
Adam and Eve
were created
in God's image
to display
his majesty
and when they
rejected God
and his purpose
and wanted to make it
all about them,
everything broke.
And consequences
was that all relationships
were smashed.
Before sin,
they were both
naked
and felt
no shame.
No shame.
Naked
and no shame.
There was intimacy
and acceptance.
And neither of them,
I'm assuming,
were supermodels
or anything like that.
They felt no shame
for the other.
And as soon
as they rejected God,
they ran for clothes.
They hid
from God's presence.
A barrier
immediately went up
between Adam
and Eve.
Judgmentalism
came in
for the very first time.
Assessment
came in
for the very first time.
Shame
and self-preservation
kicked in.
From the moment
they reject God,
the unity of humans
in the image of God
became mirrored
by the unity
of sin.
Romans 1
is the Apostle Paul's
version of the fall
of humanity,
making clear
that all
of humanity
is contaminated
by sin.
It's an ugly picture
of sinful behavior.
Read it when you go home.
It's an ugly picture.
And then
he says
our unity
in this
is explicit
in Romans 3
23
all
have sinned
and fallen short
of the glory
of God.
You see
the Bible's picture
here is
that
the unity
that we have
as sinful
people
rejecting God
is not
because we
sin
but because
we're already
sinners
by nature.
One of the most
I think the Bible's
most important
passage on this issue
is Romans 5
verses 12
to 19.
Write that one down.
It explains
right there
that Adam's
sin
right at the
beginning
brought to
the entire
human race
that flows
from him
which is all
of us
both
sinful
natures
and
God's
judgment
and
condemnation
for it.
Every
single
human
being
from
Adam
is
connected
to his
sin
by nature.
We are
born
into this
world
with sinful
natures
that trace
back to
Adam's
sin.
So
Romans 5
12
sin
came into
the world
through one
man
and death
through sin
and so
death
spread to
all
people
because
all
sinned.
We are
born
with inner
lives
that are
directed
towards
ourselves
and what
we want
and not
directed
towards God
and what
he wants.
and because
we have
inner
lives
bent
away
from
God
and as
the
great
church
reformer
Martin
Luther
said
a German
theologian
said
we are
curvedly
into
ourselves.
Our
sinful
nature
means we
are curved
in
towards
ourselves
and
because
we are
curved in
towards
ourselves
right from
the moment
of conception
when we
are old
enough to
know right
from wrong
we act
in sinful
ways.
We sin
because we
are already
sinners.
Perhaps a
helpful way
to think
about that
would be
an apple
tree,
not specifically
an apple
tree,
pick on
any fruit
tree if
you like.
Ask yourself
the question
whether a
tree
produces,
an apple
tree produces
apples because
it's an
apple tree
or does
the tree
become an
apple tree
when it
first produces
an apple?
That's not
a chicken
and egg
thing,
all right?
Talking about
its very
nature.
The reality
is an
apple tree
can grow
for many
many years
before it
produces
its first
fruit and
when it
does finally
produce apples
we'd say
that tree
is producing
fruit in
accordance
with its
nature.
Psalm 51
5,
surely I
was sinful
at birth,
sinful from
the time
my mother
conceived
me.
We are
sinners by
nature who
show themselves
to be
sinners by
choice.
Now,
everyone who
is a
parent knows
this to be
true from
experience.
I didn't
have to teach
my children,
I've not had
to teach one
of them to
say no,
to disobey my
directives,
to throw
food on
the floor,
to pinch,
to poke
out the
tongue,
to throw
themselves on
the floor
to kick
and scream.
Didn't have
to teach
any of
them,
although
there have
been times
when I've
joined them
in the
throwing
myself on
the floor
kicking and
screaming
thing.
Didn't teach
them any
of those
things,
and if
those of you
are prejudiced,
neither did
that,
so it didn't
come from
her either.
they did
get it
from me,
but didn't
teach it.
Same as
my parents
didn't teach
me any of
those things,
but I did
get it
from them.
I, like
my parents
before me,
have spent
my time
trying to
correct that
which comes
by nature.
There is a
solidarity in
being created
in the image
of God
for the glory
of God,
and solidarity
in all of
us falling
short of
God's glory
because of
our sin.
And we
see this
solidarity
in sin
and its
consequences
being played
out in
this racial
ethnocentricity
terms in
Genesis chapter
10 and
11.
So if you've
got your
Bibles,
flick there
fairly quick.
Genesis chapter
10 is
the so-called
table of
nations.
And Genesis
chapter 10,
the one point
that Genesis
chapter 10
makes,
or the one
point I can
find in
any way
that it
makes,
is that it
stresses
the common
origins of
all people.
That's what
Genesis 10
does,
the common
origins of
all people.
And the
relationship
between Genesis
10 and
11 is
also very
significant
because the
generational
account of
the common
origins of
all people
in the
original language
begins at
chapter 10
verse 1
and it
ends at
chapter 11
verse 9.
That is,
the Tower of
Babel account
in chapter 11
explains how
and why people
spread out
and fill the
earth with
all their
different languages.
even though
we have a
common origin.
It reveals
that the
division
into
different
people
groups
with
different
languages
was a
consequence
of sin.
Verse 4,
come,
let us
build,
let us
build a
city,
build
ourselves
a city
with a
tower that
reaches to
the heavens
purpose,
so that
we may
make a
name for
ourselves
and not
be scattered
over the
whole face
of the
earth.
The
Tower of
Babel
is a
collective
attempt by
humanity
to do
what Adam
and Eve
attempted to
do in
the Garden
of Eden
in Genesis
3.
God
and
make a
name for
ourselves.
Let's do
it together.
We've got
numbers now.
Let's do
it together.
And God's
judgment on
them was to
forever hinder
their working
together.
He scatters
them,
confuses their
language as
an act of
judgment.
And so
taken together,
Genesis 10
reveals our
unity as
one blood
together under
God's
blessing.
And Genesis
11, our
diversity into
many languages
and groups
under God's
judgment.
And the
foundational
problem here
is the
human heart
that wants
to reject
God.
The Bible
doesn't just
tell us
why we have
racism and
ethnic pride,
it also gives
us a solution
to it too.
Genesis
10 and
11
sets the
stage
for the
great
plan of
redemption
that begins
in Genesis
12.
It's the
hinge of
the Bible
that holds
the Bible
again.
In Genesis
12, it's
the promise
to Abraham.
The Lord
said to
Abraham,
leave your
country,
your people,
your father's
house,
or to go to
the land,
I will show
you, I
will make
you into a
great nation
and I will
bless you,
I will make
your name
great and
you will be
a blessing.
I will
bless those
who bless
you and
whoever curses
you I will
curse,
and all
peoples on
earth will
be blessed
through you.
Tower of
Babel, let's
make a great
name for
ourselves.
Let's
storm depose
God.
Genesis
12, God
says, no
Abraham, I'll
make a great
name out of
you and
through you
and your
great name,
all nations
of the world
will be
blessed.
God's
call on
Abraham here
is a
direct
response to
the disastrous
situation
described in
Genesis 3
to 11.
This is the
turning point
of the
Bible that
drives the
rest of the
biblical
narrative.
This is the
introduction to
God's
spectacular plan
of redemption
for all
people, a
plan that
culminates in
Jesus.
God's focus
on Abraham in
this moment is
not exclusive,
but to use
this one
individual and
his descendants
to bless the
entire world.
The purpose of
God in
choosing Israel
was to
witness to
the universal
power and
love of God
for all
people.
Even in the
Old Testament
you see that
again and
again, God's
plans for all
the nations is
amazing in its
scope and its
vision.
This God, the
God of the
Bible, is not a
racist in any
sense.
He does not
have favorites in
any sense.
The choosing of
Israel was not
for ethnocentric
purposes, but for
universal redemption.
But Israel,
oh,
curvedly in on
itself with its
heart,
failed consistently
in living for that
purpose.
They took the
role,
ultimately,
of being
racially,
morally
superior.
They
consistently
forgot the
reason God
chose them.
And it was
still the case
when Jesus
enters the
scene in the
New Testament.
But with
his coming,
the coming
of God
himself in
human flesh,
with him
coming, a
radically new
way of
defining what
the people of
God is,
arrives, namely
faith in
him.
Faith in
Jesus trumps
ethnicity and
heritage.
And over and
over again, you
see this in the
Gospels.
story of the
good Samaritan,
Luke 10,
the healing of
the ten lepers,
and only the
foreigner is the
one who comes
back with humble
gratitude in Luke
17.
The healing of the
Syriaphonician's
daughter in Mark
7, the worshipping
of the wise men
from the east in
Matthew 2, and in
Luke 4, as we just
had read out to us
by Flora, Jesus
tells a story taken
from 1 Kings 17 in
the Old Testament.
It's a story about
God's passing over
all the ethnic
Jews to bring a
miraculous blessing
to a foreign
Gentile from the
land of Phoenicia.
And the second
story from 2 Kings 5,
again, the point
is, of all the
people in the
world that God
might have chosen
to heal of
leprosy, he
chooses a foreign
king, a Syrian,
not a Jew.
And so when they
heard Jesus tell
that story, what
did they do to
him?
In that very
moment, they
attempted to kill
him.
Ethnic pride ran
deep.
And the point
that Jesus was
making is that
he is the
end of
ethnocentricity
and racial
pride.
He says that
he has come
to redeem
people from
every ethnic
group, not
just one
or a few.
God's plan
of redemption,
which starts
with the
promise of
Abraham, finds
his fulfillment
in the life,
the ministry,
the death,
the resurrection
of Jesus
Christ.
And we're
going to talk
more about
on that next
week.
But for now,
let me give you
a taster.
Galatians 3
verses 13
and 14.
Christ redeemed
us from the
curse of the
law by
becoming a
curse for
us.
For it is
written,
cursed is
everyone who
is hung on
a tree.
That is,
he redeemed
us by his
death on the
cross.
And then it
continues on.
He redeemed
us in order
that the
blessing given
to Abraham
might come
to the
Gentiles
through Christ
Jesus.
The plan
of Abraham
gets worked
out in
Christ and
his death
on the
cross.
With
Abraham,
God set
in motion
a plan
of redemption
that overturns
every curse
for everyone
who receives
the blessing
of Abraham.
And that
blessing
is the
forgiveness
of sin,
forgiveness
for our
rejection of
God,
the acceptance
of God,
the adoption
into his
eternal family,
whatever your
racial,
ethnic group
is.
And it all
comes through
Jesus Christ,
the descendant
of Abraham.
As Matthew
1-1 tells us,
Jesus Christ,
the son of
Abraham.
God's
redemptive
plan
has always
been to
save and
bless people
from all
peoples of
the earth
and to
unite them
together
with him
as his
people
through his
son Jesus.
And it's
remarkable,
in fact,
that 2,000
years later,
the geographical
spread of the
Christian faith,
as I've said
before,
is virtually
identical on
every inhabitable
continent in the
world.
That is
very
unusual.
That is,
the point
is,
Christianity
hasn't appealed
just to one
or two
racial groups,
ethnic groups,
cultural groups.
It has equal
appeal across
the board.
And the main
point of today
has been to
show us
that the
source of
racism,
ethnic
pride,
is a
sinful
human
heart.
Racial
prejudice
runs deep
in every
single
human
heart.
That's my
point.
We are all
unified in
it.
Our problem
is not
primarily
biological,
it's not
evolution,
it's not
people's
interpretation
of the
Bible,
it's not
politics,
it's not
institutions,
it's not
governments,
it's the
heart.
Your
heart,
my
heart,
that's
the
problem.
It's the
sin and
the
prejudice
in the
heart.
I need
a new
heart
in order
to see
all people
made in
the image
of God
and in
just as
much of a
need of
God's
great plan
of redemption
through Jesus
as I
am.
racism.
So as
we tackle
this issue
of racism
and
ethnocentricity,
I think
it's so
much more
essential for
us to go
deeper than
just the
attitudes and
the behaviours
of racism.
Much of
the talk
about racism
and
ethnocentricity
in our
world at
the moment
has to
do with
the
behaviours
and the
attitudes,
but not
the root
cause.
if we
don't go
deeper into
the reason
why people
are racist
and why
you and
I are
therefore,
then the
impact of
that will
be quite
simply
an increase
in racism,
an increasing
prejudice
and pride.
it will
be too
easy,
as many
do in
the secular
world,
to conclude
that racists
or those
who are
indifferent to
racism are
just morally
inferior.
There we
go.
That's
making an
assessment of
someone else's
heart.
And
therefore,
if they're
morally
inferior,
they are
worthy of
being judged.
They're
worthy of
my prejudice.
And that
is incredibly
dangerous.
Those who
denounce
racism can
feel morally
superior and
lose the
sense of
the common
fall of
sinfulness.
The only
way to
deal with
racism and
prejudice and
ethnocentricity
is to see
all of us as
complicit in
it.
I was
watching the
Winter Olympics
last night.
Not much
else on at
the moment.
And there
was one
event that I
was watching
where four
snowboarders
race down
this circuit
together and
jump and
crash and
all other
things.
Really, it was
very exciting.
And at the
start, they're
lined up behind
these gates and
they launch
themselves off as
soon as the
gate falls.
And immediately
that happens.
Up on the
screen, they've
got all the
competitors there.
up on the
screen comes
reaction time.
How fast they
reacted to the
gate dropping.
Some are
faster than
others.
But they all
have a reaction
time.
They all have a
reaction time.
No one's
standing there
going, oh,
gate's gone.
There we go.
No one's doing
that.
They all have a
reaction time.
Some are faster
than others.
All of us have a
prejudice in their
heart.
It takes just
seconds for the
most part for
that sin to
rise itself as
we externally
assess another
individual as
they cross the
road in front of
us.
And we've
categorized them
already.
We see
something on
television.
We see an
interaction and
we categorize it
already of what
it is.
Racism is
just one of
the poisonous,
destructive
manifestations of
something that
absolutely every
single person is
doing in their
heart.
All of us have a
prejudice heart.
It takes just
seconds.
It's so strange
how we can call
out structural
racism but be
okay with a
prejudice and a
resentment that
lingers in the
heart towards
others.
God's
love.
It's so strange
that we can call it
in the first four or
five of our sermons in
this is to lay out a
world view.
eternity according to the
Bible coming from the
creator God.
It begins with the
creation of all things by
a merciful God including
making people in his
image.
We have sinned against
him and we have
marred that image and
we will see in the
coming weeks that this
worldview, the God
himself comes into his
world in the person of
Jesus Christ to restore
that image, to bring us
back into the fold of
God's people and we
will see that God's
final goal is the
unity of all kinds of
people from all nations
and people and
languages and ethnic
groups in perfect love
with one another and
their God.
Naked.
I think we're in heaven
going to be naked.
Naked and no shame,
no judgment, no
assessment and joy for
all eternity.
And so many times we
lose sight of that as
Christians and therefore
our prejudice lingers on.
But there's another big
story running around in
our culture that
significantly influences
this issue on racism and
I think you've got to hear
about it.
It too is a world view,
make no mistake.
It wants you, it gives
you a way to read the
world, to understand the
world.
It tells you how to live
and how to treat people.
It's a world view.
And this particular
world view, the main
foundation of it is it
runs from oppression to
liberation.
And it divides the world
into two main categories.
All people are either in
the dominant group that
oppresses or the
marginalized group of the
oppressed.
Breaks the world up like
that.
And as such,
its goal is that we
either need to divest
ourselves of power to
seek the liberation of
others or we need to
acquire power personally
and liberate ourselves
and to do that primarily
by dismantling all social
structures and institutions
that we think oppress.
Others, scholars in the
Western world have called
it cultural Marxism,
another version of it.
Where we wipe out any
other alternative view.
It's called critical
theory and its subset in the
issue of race is critical
race theory.
And we are exposed to it in
a secular world like ours
even if we don't know the
titles and the names
associated with it.
It separates the world
into those who should be
ashamed of their race and
culture even if you're not
complicit in directly doing
involved in it.
You should be ashamed of
yourself just purely because
you're white.
That in itself is racism.
And those, on the other hand,
who are therefore justified
in their racism and
ethnocentricity as they seek
personal liberation and the
liberation of their group.
That view, critical race
theory, is becoming dominant
in the Western world.
And it's connected to all
sorts of issues to do with
sexual ethics and gender and
other things like that.
And I have to ask the
question because I see it on
Facebook.
Incredibly, those who are
committed to critical race
theory, how
prejudiced they are
towards anyone who does not
agree to them.
How on earth does that bring
an end to racism when
prejudice against another
individual is okay if I've
categorised them as part of a
majority group?
Now, this series is not about
politics.
This series is about checking
your sinful prejudice
heart.
If we're going to be a church
that is aligned with God's
mission, his vision, his goal
to bring all people into his
kingdom forever in joy, united
in Christ, then racial pride and
ethnocentricity must end.
And it ends when the gospel
breaks my heart.
Thank you.