the day since Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC
and delivered what is regarded as one of the top five speeches of the 20th century at least in the
English speaking world it is the I have a dream speech many people have heard just at least a
smidgen of it which is probably the bit that I'm going to quote now there's a speech that went on
for about 17 minutes but in that speech he said I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of its creed that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men
are created equal I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves
and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi a state sweltering with a heat of
injustice sweltering with a heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character I have a dream it's a dream that
he unfortunately didn't see come to reality at one minute past six in the evening on April the 4th 1968
a shot rang out as King stood outside room 306 on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine motel
in Memphis Tennessee the bullet struck him in the side of the face he died an hour and four minutes
later at seven five minutes past seven p.m. according to one of his biographers a taylor branch
king's autopsy revealed that though he was only 49 years old sorry 39 years old he had the heart of a
60 year old which branch attributed to the stress of 13 years leading the civil rights movement in the
united states the fight for freedom and justice and equality for african americans cost martin luther king
his health and his life he articulated and symbolized a great dream of racial harmony and social justice
and it's a dream as we've been seeing in the last four weeks it's a dream that aligns with god's purposes
for this world it's a dream that i believe uh must start with christians and must start with the
church the local church and it and it ought to start here at st paul's the biblical vision that we've been
engaging with um in this fifth week now is much bigger than how black and white people relate to one
another in the united states and i'm pretty sure king knew that one of the ways um to understand the
issue and understand god's purposes in the issue um is to look at the end and to see how god's been
driving in that direction and that's what we're doing today we're arriving at the end in the book of
revelation to see where god is taking history and so if this is where god's taking history that means
this is what history is about it means it's what st paul's is about it's what chatswood is about it's
about what australia is about it's about what the nations are all about and so you can learn your reason
for being by looking at the goal of god in history where's he taking it all
now we're going to go there in a moment we're going to go to the end of all things but let me
just recap the trajectory we've been heading over the last four weeks and how each bit comes together
to get to that ultimate end we saw in the first week genesis chapter one that god created adam and eve
in his image and what flowed from there was that every person born of adam and eve which is every
person uh also carries the image of god which has massive implications of how you treat another
individual um there is solidarity in our image even though we are all individually unique
but as there is solidarity in image so we saw in the second week solidarity in sin
as adam sinned in rejecting god what we saw from that is that all of humanity is tainted by sin
as a result our natural bias is towards sin it's part of our nature and one of the big consequences
of that is genesis chapter 11 where god judges all people where he scatters them and confuses their
language so that they will not work together again in order to storm the heavens and depose god
but god doesn't just act in judgment he also has the plan to reverse it all and genesis chapter 12
is the turning point in the bible it's the hinge where god starts his plan of redemption
um it is his beginning and he begins with a promise to an insignificant bloke called abraham
and he says to abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him and we saw in the third week
how this plan is worked out through all of history and finds its culmination in the death and resurrection of jesus
and this is how galatians 3 puts it
you are all sons of god through faith in christ jesus for all of you who are baptized into christ have clothed yourselves with christ
there is neither jew nor greek slave nor free male nor female for you're all one in christ jesus
if you belong to christ then you are abraham's seed so if you put your trust in jesus it means
that you are an inheritor of the promise that god made to abraham back in genesis chapter 12
and as a result of that reconciling work where god pulls people to himself through jesus
jesus calls his disciples to go and share this message of reconciliation to the world that they too may be partakers of it
but he tells them to wait for the holy spirit to come who will pull them together and empower them as his people
and the holy spirit comes on the day of pentecost it was just read out to us just then
and in the coming of the holy spirit what you see there is a symbolic reversal of the tower of babel
as god comes and dwells with his people by his spirit and gathers his people to himself
people are gathered and even on that day in the day of pentecost language is not a barrier
as all these people of diverse languages hear god's plan of redemption through jesus christ
the one who shed his blood to unite all bloodlines
jesus is the one who brings unity and harmony from all the division and diversity
and you see it there at the end of chapter two of acts where this new community is formed and born
and people together in unity and harmony of all their differences together in unity and harmony
sharing with one another and caring for one another
what is symbolic in acts chapter two is reality in revelation
in chapter five verse nine of revelation we get a picture of chapter five of the heavenly realms
and in verse nine john tells us why jesus is worthy to open the book of the end of history
so that things unfold according to the plan of god jesus is worthy because of how his death
relates to all races and tribes and peoples and languages of the world it says you are worthy to take
the scroll and to opens its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchase men
for god from every tribe and language and people and nation you have made them to be a kingdom and
priests to serve our god and they will reign on the earth and so the reason that jesus has the right to
open the book of history is that by his death he has ransomed people for god that is for the glory of god
and the worship of god and the worship of god from every tribe and language and people and nation
that was god's design
in the death of jesus to ransom some from every kind of race and language and make them one kingdom
one kingdom
they would have one king that is they would all live with jesus as their supreme treasure and lord
jesus is the one who would unite them
and they would be priests that is they would be full-time worshipers jesus died to ransom
subjects for the king and worshipers for the king from all languages and races and nations and peoples
and so the consummation of god's plan for human history includes the reversal of all the judgmental
aspects of genesis 3 to 11
the curse is removed
they return to enjoy fellowship with god the scattered ones once separated from god and separated from each
other and now brought together under the reign of jesus
and finding god's blessing
as he promised to abraham
and we see the vision fulfilled in verses 11
sorry 13 to 14 of revelation 5
then i heard every creature in heaven
and on earth
and under the earth
and on the sea
and all that is in them
singing
to him who sits on the throne
and to the lamb
be praise and honor
and glory and power
forever and ever
and the four living creatures said
amen
and the elders fell down
and worshipped
see the
picture of the end of all things
it is all things
worshipping the king
that's the trajectory
of human history
that's the trajectory of all created things
it's what
we were created for
it's what this world was created for
it's what history is about
it's what the nations are about
it's what the races are all about
it's what the languages are all about
it's what St Paul's is all about
it's what my life is meant to be all about
it's what your life
is meant to be all about
that is the end of all thing
all things gathering around the throne praising their king.
And so it is inconceivable that we should believe that this is the goal of God in history
and the aim of the death of his son
and not care about racial harmony in this city and in this church.
It is critical that we today visualize the body of Christ and the people of God correctly.
Christians who gather around the throne of God are going to rub shoulders with people of all races.
God's intention for his people is to be multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-generational
but all united in their fellowship and their worship of God.
How easy it is for us to think that God is just like me.
Just type in Google at some point and come up with images of Jesus
and have a look at how often we make Jesus in our image.
There's a black Jesus.
There's a white Jesus who...
I mean, Jesus was white, wasn't he?
I mean, when you see all the pictures of Jesus, he's got these beautiful blonde curly hair.
He's got blue eyes.
He looks more handsome than me, for sure.
And then there's Asian Jesus.
And I looked at Asian Jesus.
Well, Jesus wasn't Asian.
I mean, he was white, wasn't he?
And then there's cool Jesus.
There's hip Jesus.
There's all sorts of different Jesus.
We think God is just like us.
And yet the picture revelation is that the whole diversity of God's people
is going to be more astounding than we realized.
And I'm pretty confident that Anglican worship won't be necessarily front and center.
Pretty confident of that too.
My contention here is that we need to work towards that ideal if that is our future together.
It's unfortunate, however, that our worldly associations and identities...
It's unfortunate when we allow those things to determine the composition of our churches.
Here's a quote from American theologian Michael Horton.
He said,
South African theologians have pointed out that this principle in mission work laid the groundwork for apartheid.
Now that racial segregation is less explicitly deployed as a church growth strategy,
we carve up Christ's body into socioeconomic and generational segments.
Some churches use demographic marketing to appeal to different music styles with country western or rock or jazz services.
I read recently of a growing movement of cowboy churches where preachers deliver brief talks from their horses to other riders in their saddles
and they all depart with the song Happy Trails.
It's what's called the homogenous unit principle.
People like to be with people who are like them.
It's a principle that's propagated by the church growth movement in the 1990s.
It has led to churches planting or churches being planted to target specific demographics,
particular segregations of people,
and for churches putting up congregations for individual purposes.
We segregate people based on traditional service or a family service or an Australian-born Chinese service or a youth service.
It is the standard practice of church life on the North Shore of Sydney.
It's the standard practice for church life in Sydney Diocese, the Anglican Church of Sydney Diocese.
It's how we operate.
It's how most of my ministry life has been.
It was St. Paul's up until a few years ago.
We'll get to that in a little while.
But this is not the picture that you see in Revelation chapter 5.
Now, I understand that not all churches will be multicultural.
It's hard to have a multicultural church if you're living in a monocultural context.
But that's not the context of St. Paul's.
And so we have to labor hard to see God's ultimate intention lived out now as much as possible in this church.
God's intention for us is to be multi-ethnic, multicultural, multilingual, multi-generational,
but united in our fellowship and our worship of God.
And that intention will cost us corporately and it will cost us individually.
It will cost us because, as I read recently,
evangelical Christians have a strong in-group identity
that gives us a sense of distinctiveness from the rest of the world.
That is, we like to see how we are different from everyone else.
The negative of this is this in-group mentality has led ultimately, I think implicitly,
to the degradation of other people not as part of that group.
We are the elite.
Everyone else is not.
And while the evangelical church historically has led the charge
in pursuing racial justice on a society level,
it appears that it does not trickle down into interpersonal behavior on a local church level.
We fight the battle out there in Canberra,
but not here in the local church level.
And again, I think it's an implicit racism rather than explicit.
An extensive research project in the United States
discovered that mainline Protestant churches, that's what we are,
were less welcoming to racial minorities
due to the implicit belief that they wouldn't fit into their congregations.
And one reason for that
is that mainline Protestant churches, like St. Paul's,
use liturgies, music, and readings historically rooted in European culture,
which is incredibly wordy.
And so because of our way of doing church, which is culturally formed,
it's less likely to appeal to people who are not part of that culture.
In fact, studies have found that expressive contemporary worship styles
are most effective for transcending racial boundaries.
And this possibly may be, at least potentially,
one question we should be asking ourselves,
of Sydney Anglian churches,
why we struggle to build multicultural churches,
even though we really want to.
We really struggle with it.
Now, one of the changes we made here at St. Paul's
in our corporate worship
is to move away from the homogenous unit principle,
which divides us based on age and stage of life
or ethnicity or tradition or whatever it is.
We've started doing that since 2011.
We did not advertise our services based on personal preference.
Our services are advertised based on language only.
It's the only church I know of the North Shore doing that.
Language only.
It's the only distinction that I can see in the Bible.
The only thing that should cause difference between us.
Now, that change has cost us dearly since 2011,
as I expected it would,
but I'm committed to it.
And I'm really pleased as I look around,
particularly at our English congregations today,
and I see a much higher level of ethnic diversity
than what we had four years ago.
Because God's intention for this church
is for his people to be multi-ethnic,
multicultural, multilingual, multi-generational.
The reason I say that is because that's exactly
what Chatswood is,
and that is our mission field.
That's our place.
That's our context.
That's where we exist.
And that's why we have a mission statement of our church
that says that we exist to know Jesus,
to treasure Jesus,
to represent Jesus for God's glory
and the joy of all people.
And we have core values like treasuring Jesus together.
It states that we're committed to things
like welcoming people from every background.
We are committed to openness towards new people
and the avoidance of clickiness.
We are open to purging our lives of sin
that causes division
and pursuing increasing visible, authentic,
and practical ways of loving each other.
My point is that we must treasure Jesus
above every other association that we have in life.
The gospel is what this world needs.
The gospel achieves unity
where unity is not possible.
The gospel is the power of God
that breaks down the dividing wall of hostility
between Israelis and Palestinians
and Russians and Poles
and Jews and Nazis
and white and blacks
and male and female
and the Asian and Cantonese and Mandarin.
The gospel is a power that breaks down all those walls.
It breaks through every wall that this world puts up.
And so that means that in the gospel,
the church has a resource like no other resource
for spanning cultural and generational divides.
No institution, including the United Nations,
no organization, no entity or group on the planet
has more power to turn cultural and generational tension
into cultural and generational harmony.
Jesus himself is building his church
and Jesus himself, therefore,
is the great meeting place for his people.
And particularly people who would naturally be at odds with one another.
The end of ethnic pride
and the pursuit of racial harmony
cost God the death of his son for us.
It's a high price.
It cost Martin Luther his health,
Martin Luther King Jr.,
cost him his health and his life.
And we've got to expect
that for us to pursue this,
it will cost us dearly as well.
When our Redeemer
and our great Reconciler
and his gospel
are what we hold as first importance,
then we are empowered
to listen to those who have different perspectives,
to evaluate fairly and change as we need,
and to be proactive in reaching across lines
that traditionally cause divisions amongst us.
The cross causes us to take Jesus-like initiative
to foster relationships with people who are not in our group.
And when Jesus is our greatest treasure,
and we say that he is here at St. Paul's,
we see that our lifelong preferences
are not our ultimate hope.
It means that we can actually become eager
to have them changed
if it means that there are less barriers
to others embracing Jesus
and living out the gospel.
When Jesus is of first importance,
we see that the power for real change
and real church building
is in fact Jesus.
It's not in our tradition.
It is in spirit-strengthened message
of Christ crucified
and risen for sinners.
You see, when the cross is our salvation
and our daily strength,
we're eager to crucify our pride
and our love for self
and for our type
and our comfort
and our way
and take the extra steps
to reach across generations
and cultures
with kindness,
with grace
and always with a listening ear.
I think that little bit
is so important for us to grasp.
You see, unlike Martin Luther King,
I have been part of the dominant group
all of my life.
I'm, in fact,
part of the group
that's the oppressor,
not the oppressed.
I've never felt
the sting of racial vilification,
ever.
And what that's meant for me
is most of my life
as I never felt it
and I've never seen
the need
or the urgency
of this issue of racism.
I've always assumed
that while I might be
a little bit racist,
it's only a little bit racist.
I'm not a white supremacist after all.
I don't have, you know,
skinhead or anything.
I'm not one of those guys.
And so my racism
is excusable.
It's taken a while for me
to listen
and to try and understand
what it would be
to be oppressed.
And to help me,
I read a letter
that Martin Luther King wrote.
He wrote this letter
to some white clergy
that,
and I think it might help us
to see,
to have the shoe
on the other foot,
what it feels like,
the sting
of racial vilification.
In April 1963,
King was arrested
in Birmingham, Alabama
for a non-violent protest
against racism.
And the local newspaper
published a letter
from,
excuse me,
a letter
from eight
white
Christian and Jewish
clergymen
of Alabama
criticizing King
for his demonstration.
And the white
clergyman
had all said
he should be
more patient,
he should wait,
he shouldn't demonstrate.
And in response,
King
wrote
what has become
known as
the letter
from Birmingham
Jail.
And he wrote
this.
Perhaps it is easy
for those
who have never felt
the stinging darts
of segregation
to say,
wait.
But when you have
seen vicious mobs
lynch your mothers
and fathers at will
and drown your sisters
and brothers at whim,
and when you've seen
hate-filled policemen
curse,
kick,
and even kill
your black
brothers and sisters,
and when you see
the vast majority
of your 20 million
Negro brothers
smothering
in an airtight
cage of poverty
in the midst
of an affluent
society,
and when you
suddenly find
your tongue
twisted
and your speech
stammering,
as you seek
to explain
to your six-year-old
daughter
why she can't
go to that
public amusement
park which has
just been advertised
on television,
and see tears
welling up in her
eyes when she
told that
Funtown
is closed
to coloured
children,
and see ominous
clouds of
inferiority
beginning to
form in her
little mental
sky,
and see her
beginning to
distort her
personality
by developing
an unconscious
bitterness
towards white
people,
and when you
have to
concoct an
answer for
your five-year-old
son who is
asking,
Daddy,
why do white
people always
treat coloured
people so
mean?
And when you
take a cross-country
drive and find it
necessary to sleep
night after night
in the uncomfortable
corners of your
automobile because
no motel will
accept you,
and when you are
humiliated day in
and day out by
nagging signs which
read white and
coloured,
and when your
first name becomes
nigger,
your middle name
becomes boy no
matter how old
you are,
and your last
name becomes
John,
and your wife
and mother are
never given the
respected titles
of missus,
and when you are
harried all day
and haunted by
night by the
fact that you're
a negro,
living constantly
at tiptoe stance,
never quite knowing
what to expect
next,
and are plagued
with inner fears
and outer
resentments,
and when you are
forever fighting a
degenerating sense
of nobodiness,
then you will
understand why we
find it difficult
to wait.
There comes a
time when the
cup of endurance
runs over,
and men are no
longer willing to
be plunged into
the abyss of
despair.
I hope,
sirs,
that you can
understand our
legitimate and
unavoidable
impatience.
if you're
white,
let that
sit.
Just let it
sit.
The first time I
read that,
I just burst
into tears,
and I
realized
that
my racism
mattered.
it mattered
deeply.
Now,
as far as I
can tell,
we don't have
that level of
blatant
segregation here
at St.
Paul's.
What I've
become more
aware of is
the implicit
racial biases
that we
have.
these are
the stereotypes
and attitudes
that affect
how we
unconsciously
think about
and act
towards someone
who is
different from
us.
These will
lead us to
treat someone
differently
without us
even realizing
that that's
what we're
doing.
And so
while very
few of us
would say
that we
are racist,
discriminatory
behavior persists
almost everywhere.
more often
than not,
I can't
see it in
myself.
I need
others to
help me
see it.
And when
the cross
is our
daily salvation
and our
daily strength,
we are
eager to
crucify our
pride and
our love for
self and
our own
type and
our own
comfort and
our own
way and
take those
extra steps
to reach
across
generations
and cultures
with kindness
and grace
and with a
listening ear,
I need to
hear from
you how
it feels.
Because I
don't feel
it.
Martin
Luther King's
dream was a
beautiful one,
but it was a
partial one.
God has
the ultimate
dream and
the ultimate
purpose for
all nations
and all
languages and
races,
that is to
unite together
to display the
majesty of
Christ.
And that's
our passion.
And I would
call you to
dream your
own personal
dream,
your corporate
dream for this
church and a
city-wide dream
and finally,
ultimately,
a kingdom
dream,
and to pray
and to act
by God's
grace to make
it a reality.
The cross
of Christ
creates a
cross-cultural
and cross-generational
community.
And at
St. Paul's,
we call that
treasuring Jesus
together.
Amen.