“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.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Some see the victory of the Civil Rights Movement as the fulfillment of MLK’s dream above.  Others point to the election of America’s first Black president, Barack Obama, as the fulfillment.  I would say that while we have made inroads into eliminating external racism, there is much work yet to be done.  Society can dictate and indoctrinate us with laws and education to ensure a certain measure of racial equality, but there is only one way that anyone will ever change their heart, where they have eyes to see beyond color, beyond culture, to see a child of God, created for His purpose and His glory.  The Way is Jesus.

Much can be made about what should be done to eliminate sins of sexuality, abortion, racism, without looking to Jesus for the answer.  To the extent that we have victory over the external manifestations of sin without Jesus, all we have accomplished is created whitewashed tombs – we produce a salve for the souls of those who are perishing to deaden their hearts against the urgency of their deadly condition.  The world would sing our praises, but we would have accomplished nothing – in fact we are more likely to be found to be working against God and His plan for the salvation of sinners through Jesus.

Jesus was surrounded by rampant sinning in ways that would make people cringe today, yet His goal was not to stop the external sinning, but to put to death sin in the hearts of His followers.  A person can will themself to make external changes, but only Jesus can changes someone’s heart.  Consider Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.“

Racism does not exist at the external level, it is a heart issue that views someone as less than a unique creation of God purposed for His glory.  It has its roots in pride, the same pride Adam had in the garden to desire to become like God.  This sin persists in the heart of men today to want to view themselves as greater than another.  That kind of heart has no place in a Christian, it is not the heart of Jesus.  Jesus rebuked his disciples for having prideful hearts in Luke 22:24-27 – “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.  For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” 

I could go on about how Paul called himself the chief among sinners, how the apostles served others to the point of death in ministry of the gospel, how the early church spread throughout all of their surrounding regions without any pretense of greatness, save Christ alone.  The heart to serve and a unified Church reconciled to God and each other through Jesus Christ is all over the Bible.  I have a dream that one day I will hear with glorified ears the praise of God from every tongue of every tribe of every nation.  This is promised in Rev 7:9-10.  Until that day, we press hard into the ministry of reconciliation that we have been given, to proclaim the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ to all people.  We ask God to remove all pride, to make our hearts like his to serve and love another another for His glory.  Only God can truly accomplish racial reconciliation because the root of the issue is a matter of the heart, but Christ is able to accomplish this and more.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Happy Monday!  I thought I’d start off the week on a lighter note by talking about angels and demons.  Nothing like starting your week off with a sip of good coffee and demon talk.  Obviously I kid, but this is what God’s brought to my attention lately, so all I can do is share what I’m seeing.  I mostly want to open our eyes, to the reality of spiritual warfare as Christians.  When Satan decided to make war on God, Michael and other angels made war against him.  Satan was defeated, but he took 1/3 of the angels with him (these are now known as demons).  Revelation 12:3-4, 7-12 – “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.  His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.”  “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.  And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.  And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

We should rejoice in the conquering of Satan through the blood of Christ, but also heed the warning that is given.  The devil has come in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.  1 Peter 5:8-9 tells us “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”  What is interesting to note here, is that it is expected that Christians will experience suffering and temptation from the devil, and need to resist him.  Peter is not directing his message to non-Christians, but the “brotherhood throughout the world”.  Satan does not concern himself greatly with those who are non-Christians.  Why would he?  They are no threat to him, but we are.  Satan focuses his efforts against us.  It’s important for us to understand the gravity of our enemy.  What are satan’s resources?  He has more demons than can be counted.  Where does this come from?  First the language used above in Revelation 12, referring to 1/3 of the stars as the amount of angels that fell with Satan.  Referring to the number of stars which cannot be counted, should give you an idea that the number of demons with satan are likewise many.  Second, in Revelation 5 we are told that they are “myriads and myriads of angels”.  Revelation 5:11 – “ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands”  A myriad is 10,000.  Myriads of myriads is equivalent to saying ten thousand ten thousands, or 100 million.  Forgive my math use here, but let’s assume the low end and say that there are only 100M angels in Heaven, and that is 2/3 of the number that was original there before 1/3 fell with satan.  That would mean satan has 50 million demons at his disposal.  My purpose here isn’t to try to give you an exact number, except to say that it is a great many more than most people imagine.

If this seems bad, it’s about to get worse.  Let’s consider what we know about satan and his demons.  They have seen the living God.  They know more about God than we will ever know on this side of eternity, so they are able to craftily attempt to veer us off-course in our worship of Him.  Second, they are vastly more powerful than we are.    Third, they know they have been defeated and their time is short, so they are ruthless in their attempts to destroy us.

What does all of this mean?  In the Lord’s prayer, we are told to pray that we would not be led into temptation, but delivered from evil – we should be praying for this often.  We should constantly remember and proclaim the victory of Jesus in the gospel over the power of sin and death.  We should belong to a group of Christians that can encourage and stengthen us, and we should seek to encourage and strengthen them.  Christian loners make easy targets.  Last, that we have an enemy we cannot see that is vastly more powerful and intelligent than we are should remind us to never become compacent or prideful, but push us to embrace the grace and mercy of God alone for our salvation.  We are helpless, weak, and poor, but we belong to the King and no one will remove us from His hand or separate us from the love of Christ. 

Grace and Peace,
Adam