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Voddie Baucham - Racial Reconciliation - Ephesians 2 10-11 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Ephesians chapter 2, as I was saying, we're
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: going to look at the redheaded stepchild of Ephesians, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that's Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 and following. Most people,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we all love Ephesians, amen?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: And we all love Ephesians.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Chapter 2, up to verse 10, right? Amen. You say
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 2, everybody starts quoting. If we just started
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: quoting and just, you know, just reciting it from memory,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: we'd be good. All the way up to about verse 10.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: And then people are like, wait, there's more? And the
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  Speaker 1: answer is absolutely. There's more in Ephesians chapter 2.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: It's all good. Amen?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 2 is just good, but I mean... in
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: verse 11, it just gets gooder. And that's not even
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: a word, you know? And so we are going to
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  Speaker 1: look at that part of the chapter. But as we do,
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  Speaker 1: here's what I want us to understand. That in the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: midst of all of this, in the midst of these
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  Speaker 1: discussions about social justice and race and sex and all
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: these other things, at the end of the day, the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: question is, what does God say about us? What does
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: God say about us? And is what God says about
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  Speaker 1: us sufficient? And when we start talking about who we
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: are in Christ, when we start talking about our unity
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  Speaker 1: in Christ, our brotherhood and our relationships, do we believe
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  Speaker 1: that the Bible is sufficient in that regard? And one
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  Speaker 1: of the scariest things.
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  Speaker 2: About all of this talk.
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  Speaker 1: Is that we're beginning to see a new hermeneutic develop.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Where now sin is institutional as opposed to being in the.
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  Speaker 2: Heart of man.
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  Speaker 1: We're reading things differently here. And not only that, but
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: we're starting to develop a new canon. To where if
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: you're not seeing things rightly on these issues, people are
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: not saying you need to go to this text. They're
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: saying you need to read divided by faith. You need
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to read Ta-Nehisi Coates.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: You need to read, right?
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: If you're not getting this, then here's a list of
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  Speaker 1: books that you need to read in order to then
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  Speaker 1: be able to read the scriptures rightly as it relates
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to our unity with one another in Christ. That is
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  Speaker 1: a problem. Because I believe that the Bible is absolutely sufficient,
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  Speaker 1: not just inerrant, but absolutely sufficient for all matters of
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  Speaker 1: faith and practice. And how we deal with one another
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  Speaker 1: across ethnicities is a matter of faith and practice. The
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  Speaker 1: Bible is sufficient for that.
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  Speaker 2: Again, I am not arguing.
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  Speaker 1: That we shouldn't read other things. I've quoted other things
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  Speaker 1: over the course of this weekend. But the Bible is sufficient.
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  Speaker 1: Let me put an even finer point on it. I
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  Speaker 1: worry when we begin to hear people say things that
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  Speaker 1: would suggest that I've had the Bible All this time.
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  Speaker 1: And I've had relationships with brethren of different ethnicities all
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: this time. But it wasn't until I read this book
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  Speaker 1: that I finally understood God's heart on this issue of
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  Speaker 1: justice as it relates to race and ethnicity. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. That.
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  Speaker 1: No. No, and it's not even, it's when I finally
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  Speaker 1: read this book, and this book was an exposition of... No.
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  Speaker 2: When I read this sociology book... And so now.
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  Speaker 1: We've got sociology overriding and governing.
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  Speaker 2: Our theology.
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  Speaker 1: That's not okay. That is hugely problematic. Again, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: suggesting that we don't read sociology. One of my degrees
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: is in sociology. We didn't have anyone to teach sociology.
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  Speaker 1: sociology class for our undergraduates at ACU. So for the
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  Speaker 1: last couple of years, I've been teaching intro to sociology.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, loving every minute of it because it
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  Speaker 1: is an incredible tool in understanding how worldview is shaped
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  Speaker 1: and how worldview has been co-opted. because there are few
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  Speaker 1: things that have been.
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  Speaker 2: More potent.
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  Speaker 1: In driving our culture in certain directions, antithetical to biblical truth,
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  Speaker 1: than sociology. And so it is no coincidence that a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the texts that people are now referencing as
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  Speaker 1: our new canon You know, one of the famous phrases,
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  Speaker 1: one of the phrases that you'll hear over and over
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  Speaker 1: again is, if.
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  Speaker 2: Someone is, excuse me, on the wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Side of this debate on social justice, they need to
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  Speaker 1: do their homework. Meaning, here's a list of texts that
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  Speaker 1: Most of them, sociology text or some history text or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: They need to do their homework. They need to read
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  Speaker 1: these things. Then they'll understand. And when people are preaching
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  Speaker 1: something that is considered to be on the right side
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  Speaker 1: of this issue, they are lauded. for having done their
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  Speaker 1: homework and for the number of books on the subject
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  Speaker 1: that they read before they got up and said ABC
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  Speaker 1: or XYZ. Do you see what's missing there? The text,
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  Speaker 1: the text, the text. Is the Bible sufficient For racial reconciliation.
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  Speaker 1: And again, that's the catchphrase. Racial reconciliation is the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Can you and I sit down with our Bibles and
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  Speaker 1: achieve racial reconciliation? Or are there other texts... And other
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  Speaker 1: ideas and other ideologies that have to inform our reading
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  Speaker 1: of the text in order for us to achieve justice
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  Speaker 1: and righteousness in this particular field. That's the question. Before
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  Speaker 1: we get into this, let me explain something to you.
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  Speaker 1: I believe in racial reconciliation. I have to because I
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  Speaker 1: believe the Bible. Amen? I have to believe that. And
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  Speaker 1: perhaps it would help you to know this about me.
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  Speaker 1: We've been in Zambia for the last three and a
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  Speaker 1: half years. The last three and a half years, we've
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  Speaker 1: been in a church where most of the people look
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  Speaker 1: like us. Now, granted, we're foreigners, right? We're outsiders. But
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  Speaker 1: it's been over two decades since my family has been
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  Speaker 1: part of a church where most of the people look
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  Speaker 1: like us. And that was back in the day.
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  Speaker 2: Design.
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  Speaker 1: In the early 90s, Promise Keepers movement was huge. And
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  Speaker 1: I was invited to preach at a number of different events.
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  Speaker 1: Racial reconciliation was just on on everybody's agenda. And I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it was a big movement. It was a massive movement.
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  Speaker 1: And during that time, in the early to mid-1990s, here
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  Speaker 1: I was. I had come to faith in the late 1980s,
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  Speaker 1: in 1987. I was a member of a black fraternity.
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  Speaker 1: I married a woman who was a graduate of historical
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  Speaker 1: black college and university. I was the founder of black
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  Speaker 1: student fellowship at Houston Baptist University and had been a
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  Speaker 1: member of and was preaching at a predominantly black church.
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  Speaker 2: It was just black, black, black, black, black. That was
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  Speaker 2: my world.
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  Speaker 1: And now all this promise keeper stuff is happening and
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  Speaker 1: the racial reconciliation conversation is happening. And for me, It
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  Speaker 1: brought me to a crossroads because I'm looking and listening
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  Speaker 1: and meeting a lot of my white brethren who were passionate.
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  Speaker 1: about racial reconciliation and basically asking, how do we do this?
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  Speaker 1: How do we not have our church continue to look
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  Speaker 1: like it looks? How do we have our church, which
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  Speaker 1: is predominantly white, in a neighborhood that is not predominantly white,
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  Speaker 1: begin to reflect the broader community. I'm beginning to be
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  Speaker 1: invited into places where you come preach. We want to
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  Speaker 1: have this event. We want to reach our community. We
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  Speaker 1: want to reach the different ethnic groups in our community.
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  Speaker 1: And this is not an indictment of all black churches.
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  Speaker 1: This is not an indictment of all black... This is
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  Speaker 1: me and my experience. I looked in my circle and
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  Speaker 1: I realized that I was not hearing that from my side.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know black pastors who were staying awake at
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  Speaker 1: night because their churches were too black.
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  Speaker 2: Who were on their knees weeping.
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  Speaker 1: Before they went and stood up and preached because most
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  Speaker 1: of the faces that they were going to preach to
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  Speaker 1: look just like them. But this is what I was
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  Speaker 1: running into from white pastors. Again, I am not saying
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  Speaker 1: that it didn't exist. I'm saying that in my experience,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't see it. And I was convicted and made
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  Speaker 1: a decision in the mid-1990s that my family and I
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  Speaker 1: would not continue to go to churches where everybody looked
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  Speaker 1: like us. that if I was serious about racial reconciliation,
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  Speaker 1: that this is something that we would do.
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  Speaker 2: And it was hard. It was hard.
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  Speaker 1: Took a position at a predominantly white church. And it
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  Speaker 1: was tough.
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  Speaker 2: It was tough.
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  Speaker 1: We faced a lot of things. Sometimes we faced overt racism.
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  Speaker 2: Rarely.
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  Speaker 1: More often than that, it was just insensitivities, ignorance. But
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  Speaker 1: it was what we signed up for. And it was difficult.
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  Speaker 1: It was hard for my children because they were too
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  Speaker 1: young to really understand what we were doing and why.
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  Speaker 2: And it was.
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  Speaker 1: Hard to be the only black kids around. But if
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  Speaker 1: I believed what I believed, then what were the options?
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  Speaker 1: What were the alternatives? It was difficult from another perspective
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  Speaker 1: as well. It was difficult from the perspective of having
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  Speaker 1: conversations on more than one occasion. Where people to my
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  Speaker 1: face accused me of selling out. I was like, wait
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  Speaker 1: a minute. Wait a minute.
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  Speaker 2: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Because, because.
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  Speaker 1: You go to promise keepers rallies and you will do
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  Speaker 1: pulpit swaps and you will do all of these sorts
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  Speaker 1: of things. But but now that I've decided to take
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  Speaker 1: this to another level and make a personal commitment with
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  Speaker 1: my life and my family's life.
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  Speaker 2: I'm selling out. Then what are we really trying to do?
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  Speaker 1: I was accused, and this one was always difficult, of
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  Speaker 1: robbing the black church of its best and brightest. Now,
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  Speaker 1: on the one hand, thanks for the compliment. But on
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, what do I do with that? Because
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  Speaker 1: part of me is going, what a horrible way to
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  Speaker 1: think about the church. You're black, therefore you belong to.
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  Speaker 2: This group.
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  Speaker 1: And your gifts and graces and talents and abilities belong
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  Speaker 1: to this group. And it's robbery for you to take
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  Speaker 1: them and for you to give. But on the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: I distinctly remember when I graduated from Southwestern Seminary, receiving
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  Speaker 1: a questionnaire. from a black PhD student, I forget what
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  Speaker 1: school they were at, black PhD student who was doing
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  Speaker 1: research for their dissertation and wanted me to fill out
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  Speaker 1: this questionnaire because less than 15% of all black ministers
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  Speaker 1: in this country, according to their research, had seminary education.
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  Speaker 1: So this was their research project, trying to figure out, okay,
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  Speaker 1: what is it that led you in this direction and
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  Speaker 1: what is it that helped you To stay the course.
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  Speaker 1: And what is it that, can you see how I'd
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  Speaker 1: be torn? Having conversations with my wife and children when
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  Speaker 1: certain things would happen. Constantly having that wrestle and that
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  Speaker 1: struggle with, is this tokenism or is it real? And
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  Speaker 1: regardless of what it is, is this the commitment or
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  Speaker 1: is it not?
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  Speaker 2: And if I do have a problem.
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  Speaker 1: With the way people understand me or don't understand me,
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  Speaker 1: Can I simultaneously fault people for not understanding me and
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  Speaker 1: then not make myself available so that they can have
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  Speaker 1: a relationship with me and learn to understand me? How
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  Speaker 1: dare you white people who don't have relationships with black
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  Speaker 1: people not understand us? Do you see the dilemma? And
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  Speaker 1: it's a double-edged sword because ironically now that part of
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  Speaker 1: my history is often leveraged against me in this entire discussion.
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  Speaker 1: You don't get a voice in this discussion. You don't
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  Speaker 1: get a dog in this fight because you abandoned your people.
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  Speaker 2: I just want you to.
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  Speaker 1: Sit with that. And then I want to answer the
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  Speaker 1: lingering question. Why would you do that? And what do
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  Speaker 1: you hold on in the middle of that when it's hard?
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 2. And in the time we have left,
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  Speaker 1: I want us to just walk through this and see
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  Speaker 1: the truth from God's sufficient word. about our unity and reconciliation.
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  Speaker 1: That exists. We don't have to achieve racial reconciliation. It exists.
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  Speaker 1: It has been achieved. It is a reality that we
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  Speaker 1: must walk in. But it's not something that we have
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  Speaker 1: to accomplish. It's already been accomplished. Therefore, remember that at
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  Speaker 1: one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision
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  Speaker 1: by what is called the circumcision, which is made in
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  Speaker 1: the flesh by hands.
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  Speaker 2: Remember that you were at that time.
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  Speaker 1: Separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
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  Speaker 1: to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without.
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  Speaker 2: God in the world. That's bad news.
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  Speaker 1: There's a parallel here to the first part of the chapter, right?
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  Speaker 1: In the first part of chapter 2, we start.
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  Speaker 2: With bad news.
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  Speaker 1: Dead in trespasses and sins, alienated. I mean, it's just
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  Speaker 1: bad news. And then we have that but God. Here
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  Speaker 1: we have bad news and then we have but now.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get to the but now, let's rest
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  Speaker 1: here in this bad news chapter. Because in order to
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  Speaker 1: understand the magnitude of the reconciliation, you have to understand
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  Speaker 1: the magnitude of the division.
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  Speaker 2: And look again at it.
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  Speaker 1: You Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what
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  Speaker 1: is called the circumcision. I want you to understand that
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  Speaker 1: the division that God overcomes here is more.
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  Speaker 2: Significant than anything that we face. Why? Because race is arbitrary.
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  Speaker 1: Racial classifications are not real classifications. There is but one race.
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  Speaker 1: There's virtually no genetic difference between us. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: if we were not of the same race, we couldn't
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  Speaker 1: reproduce with one another.
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  Speaker 2: There is one race. We have the same original parents.
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  Speaker 1: Amen? We're a multiple ethnicities, but one race. And the
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  Speaker 1: racial distinctions between us are arbitrary distinctions based on certain
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  Speaker 1: features that we have, but not based on real differences.
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  Speaker 1: They are arbitrary. And sometimes we see these. When the
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  Speaker 1: Hutus and the Tutsis experienced genocide in Rwanda, People look
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  Speaker 1: at that and we go, I don't get that.
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  Speaker 2: These people look the same to me.
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  Speaker 1: Do you realize that the genetic difference between the Hutus
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  Speaker 1: and the Tutsis is small, but the genetic difference between
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  Speaker 1: white people and black people is almost as small. But
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  Speaker 1: the difference between Jew and Gentile was established by God
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  Speaker 1: himself and was not arbitrary but real.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know what that means?
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  Speaker 1: If God can reconcile those who have real faith And
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  Speaker 1: God ordained distinctions between them. He can certainly reconcile people
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  Speaker 1: who have arbitrary and artificial differences and distinctions between them.
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  Speaker 1: And look at this, verse 12. Remember that you were
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  Speaker 1: at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no
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  Speaker 1: hope and without God in the world. It's not just
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  Speaker 1: that the Gentiles were outsiders related to another ethnic group.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just that Gentiles were separated from the cultural hegemony.
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  Speaker 2: If you will.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just that there were systems that were oppressing them.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just that they didn't have access to wealth.
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  Speaker 1: It was you are alienated from God and from Christ.
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  Speaker 1: This is real. This is significant.
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  Speaker 2: This is significant.
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  Speaker 1: And this is not to make light of anyone else's
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  Speaker 1: experience of alienation or separation. But nothing compares to this.
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  Speaker 1: Having no hope and without God in the world What
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  Speaker 1: compares to that? Sitting in the back of the bus? No.
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  Speaker 2: Lynching?
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  Speaker 1: No. Being, having no hope and being without God in
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  Speaker 1: the world is worse than slavery. Slavery is bad news. Amen? Amen?
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  Speaker 1: This is more significant than that. Now we can look
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  Speaker 1: at verse 13. But now. We take a praise break
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  Speaker 1: right here, right? But now. When news is so bad,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter what comes after the but now.
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  Speaker 1: Because it's got to be better than what was before it. Amen? Amen.
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  Speaker 1: But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far
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  Speaker 1: off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Make no mistake about it. This language is clear. This
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  Speaker 1: is temple language. As we go through this, it's clear
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  Speaker 1: that this is temple language.
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  Speaker 2: And it's clear that what.
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  Speaker 1: We're dealing with here is the whole idea of, you know,
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  Speaker 1: here's the Holy of Holies and the Holy of Holies,
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  Speaker 1: the high priest one day a year gets to go
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  Speaker 1: into the Holy of Holies. And only the high priest
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  Speaker 1: gets to go in there. And then there's the court
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  Speaker 1: where the priests do their work. And only the priests
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  Speaker 1: get to do their work there. And then there's the
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  Speaker 1: court of the Jews. And Jewish men get to go there.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's the women who would get to go here.
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  Speaker 1: And then further and further and further back, you would
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  Speaker 1: have Gentile proselytes who could come but could only get
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  Speaker 1: so close. But now through the blood of Christ, you
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  Speaker 1: who were way back there.
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  Speaker 2: Have been brought near.
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  Speaker 1: You've been reconciled.
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  Speaker 2: You've been reconciled.
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  Speaker 1: And how, how, how, how, how? Through reading the right
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  Speaker 1: sociology books? How? Through feeling sorry enough about what your
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: ancestors did to someone else's ancestors? How? By having enough
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  Speaker 1: of your grievances addressed? No.
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  Speaker 2: The blood of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Christ died to reconcile us to himself and to one another.
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  Speaker 1: The blood of Christ died The blood of Christ. Don't
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  Speaker 1: you dare add anything to this. The blood of Christ
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  Speaker 1: is sufficient to reconcile us. It's enough. It's enough. The
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  Speaker 1: blood of Christ is enough. And it's the only thing
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  Speaker 1: that can reconcile us. This is why looking for reconciliation
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  Speaker 1: through other means is futile. It's futile. It cannot be achieved.
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  Speaker 1: Not only is it futile, it's blasphemous because it becomes
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  Speaker 1: the blood of Christ. And for he himself is our peace,
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  Speaker 1: who has made us both one and has broken down
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  Speaker 1: in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing
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  Speaker 1: the law of commands expressed in ordinances that he might
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  Speaker 1: create in himself one new man in the place of two.
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  Speaker 2: So making peace.
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  Speaker 1: And might reconcile us both to God in one body
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  Speaker 1: through the cross, thereby killing one. The hostility. There's so
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  Speaker 1: much here and time won't permit me to deal with
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: all these things. But notice this, that four times we
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: see this word, peace. And Christ is our peace. Christ
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: not only gives us peace and brings us peace, he
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: is our peace. He not only accomplished our peace, he
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: is our peace.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: It is Christ.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: And by the way, this peace that Christ brings is
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: not just a peace where two sides decide to put.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: Down their arms and no longer fight. That's wonderful. Wonderful.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: And it's wonderful to have that kind of peace. Last week,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: we were in New Orleans and we took our children
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: to the National World War II Museum. Amazing museum there
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: in New Orleans. If you haven't been, it's worth the trip.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: And go through this process and, you know, they've got
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: it designed to where you start from the beginning and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: from the Nazi buildup. And you then have, you know,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor and, you know, and now all of a
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: sudden there's the buildup of the American war machine. And
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: then there's the road to Tokyo and the road to
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Berlin and the road to... And then you go to
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the end of the museum and it's like, here is
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: the victory that was won.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Here are the peace treaties that was signed.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: And we say, amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord that arms
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: were put down and peace treaties were signed. But that
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: is not the reconciliation that Christ brings. He himself is
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: our peace who made us both one. and has broken
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: abolishing the law and commandments expressed in ordinances that he
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: might create in himself one new man in place of two,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: so making peace and might reconcile us both to God
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: We don't just put down our arms and no longer
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: fight with one another. We become one another. He makes
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the two into one. That's the reconciliation that we have.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: The reconciliation that makes the two into one. The reconciliation
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. The reconciliation
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: that is so real. That if you belong to Christ
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: and if you've been a Christian for any amount of time,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: you understand this reality. There are people in the kingdom
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: of God who are far closer to you than your
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: blood relatives in some cases.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Because blood might be thicker than water, but it's not
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: stronger than the cross.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: It is an amazing reality. And you can go anywhere
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: in this world and find a church. You don't even
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: have to understand the language. But in the worship of God,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: in the presence of the saints, you are at home.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: You're at home. with your brothers, and with your sisters.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: And you don't have to read sociology texts in order
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: to achieve that. Is it important for us to understand
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: each other? Absolutely it is. At our church in Houston,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: and I told you guys, Houston is the most ethnically
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: diverse city in America. Anybody have paper towels or something
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: like that that I can.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: But in our church in Houston, the last six months
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: before we ended up going to Zambia, there was a
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: growth spurt.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: Our church went through a growth spurt.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: And in this growth spurt, God sent us people from
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: 11 different nations in a six-month period. Not whose ancestors
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: were from 11 different nations, not people from 11 different
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: ethnicities in that six-month period. Thank you. Thank you very much.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: But people who were born in 11 different nations, Russia, France, Germany, China, India, Argentina,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, Nigeria, in this very brief window, And sometimes
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: there were hurdles to overcome with that. But guess what?
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: The Bible is sufficient. I didn't have to go get
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: a sociology textbook on each one of those nations or
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: ethnicities in order to have a brotherly relationship or a
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: pastoral relationship, pastoral commitment to those people. It was the
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: unity that has been achieved through the blood of Christ
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: and the grace of God and presence and power of
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: His Holy Spirit uniting us in faith and And giving
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: us what we needed in order to come to know
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: and understand and appreciate each other. It was sufficient. It
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: was sufficient. Now, let me hurry to say, there were
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: ways that we could grow in our understanding and our unity.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: And those things were great. It was great to go
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: over to the home of the Russian family and have
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: a Russian feast and to learn about Russia. I mean,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: that was great and absolutely beneficial, but not necessary. The
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: blood of Christ is the necessary element. The rest of
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: it is gravy. Amen. And here's the other side of
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: that and the other problem that I have with that.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: I've talked about stereotypes on a number of occasions, but
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: the problem that I have with this and I've dealt
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: with this in apologetics. One of the difficulties in the
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: way that we often practice apologetics is we think, OK,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: this person is a Muslim. This person is a Buddhist.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: This person is. So what I need to do is
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: I need to go read up and study up. on
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: that religion so that I can then come to this
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: person and have a conversation with them about their, because
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: now I understand them. Well, no, actually, you don't. Because
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: they're a person. They're not a collection of facts. They're
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: not a stereotype. They're not a stereotype. They're a person.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: So don't tell me that you've read books about the
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: black experience and about black people and therefore now you
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: understand me. Because I'm unique and black people are unique.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: We're not all the same.
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: Amen, somebody.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: Sufficient.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: Again, let's move.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Verse 18. Verse 17 first. He came and preached peace
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: to you who are far off and peace to those
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: who are near. We can't miss this. We can't miss this,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: we can't miss this, we can't miss this. This is
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: incredibly important.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Here's why.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Because the way we think about things often is this.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: We think, well, there's the Jews and the Jews, these
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: privileged people who have all of these things. They do
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: have the... the covenants and the promises they do have
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: the history. They do have all this. They do.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: They do have the scriptures.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: They, you know, so, so what we really need to
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: do is Christ needs to come and get those Gentiles
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: up to speed and up to where the Jews are.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: And oftentimes the, what was the Judaizing controversy about the
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Judaizing controversy was in many ways, this, it was a,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: it was a kind of ethnic Gnosticism. Yeah. You see, see, we,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: we have the stuff, right? You got to get to
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: where we are in order to then get to God.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: You got to become a Jew before you become a Christian.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Because there is something very significant about being a Jew.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Look at this verse again. He came and preached peace
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: to you who were far off and peace to you
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: who were near. The Gentiles needed the cross of Christ
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: and the blood of Christ in order to be reconciled
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: to God.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: And so did the Jews.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Because God is no respecter of persons.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: It's interesting. You know, so many times in missions, you know,
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: there's all this.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: The oppressed and the poor and the downtrodden and the
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: you know, and so we feel like if you really
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: love God and you really are going to obey the scriptures,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: you're going to find those areas in those neighborhoods where
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: poor and oppressed people are. And you're going to do
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: ministry there and you're going to establish churches there. Can
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: I ask you a question? Do we believe that rich
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: people automatically know God? That they don't need churches planted
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: among them? Do we really believe that? Do we really
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: believe that we need to go to the inner city
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: because inner city families have difficulties and inner city families
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: face hardships and inner city families face obstacles, but we
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: don't need to go knocking on the door of the
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: wealthy family because obviously they don't need our pastoral care. No,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: they need Christ. They need the gospel. All people need
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: the gospel. All of them. Verse 18, for through him,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: and watch this amazing reversal that comes. We both have
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: access in one spirit to the Father. You were separated
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: from Christ. Amen? But now, through the Spirit, we have
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: access to the Father. You see the Trinity there? Right?
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: You see the Father and the Son and the Spirit?
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: Up in verse 12, your problem was you were separated
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: from Christ. In verse 18, through Him, we both have
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: access in one spirit to the Father. Jew and Gentile.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: Verse 18.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: Amen? So then you are no longer strangers and aliens.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: In verse 12, you are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: In verse 19, so then you are no longer strangers
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: and aliens.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: Up in verse 12.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: You are, I'm sorry, strangers to the covenants and promises.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: And now you're no longer strangers and aliens. In verse 12,
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: you are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. And now
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: in verse 19, but you are fellow citizens with the
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: saints and members of the household of God.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: This is better.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: This is better. What you have now is better than
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: what you didn't have then. Because you could be part
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: of the commonwealth of Israel.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: And lost.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: You could have the covenants and promises and they do
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: nothing but condemn you.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: But now you have access in one spirit to the
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: Father and.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Now you are no longer strangers and aliens, and now
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: you are federal citizens with the saints and members of
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: the household of God.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: Not only did he fix what was broken, he.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Didn't just come to your dilapidated house and repair it.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: You got a new house.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Amen?
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: And I want you to notice something.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: He starts off talking about what the Gentiles didn't have.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: And we end up talking about what Jews and Gentiles
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: now have because of the cross. This is sufficient. This
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: is who we are. And then he finishes. Built on
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: being the cornerstone. in whom the whole structure being joined
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: him you also are being built together into a dwelling
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: place for God by the Spirit. That's racial reconciliation. And
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: it's not something you and I have to achieve. It's
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: something you and I have to believe because Christ has
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: already achieved it.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: It is done. It is real. We are one in Christ.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: And the rest of it is just walking in that reality.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: It's kind of like a married couple. If a married
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: couple has difficulty, if a married couple becomes alienated and
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: estranged from one another, They don't need to get married.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: They're still married. All the married folks should have said
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: amen right there. Let me try that again. If a
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: married couple becomes estranged or alienated or has difficulties, they
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: don't need to get married.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: They're already married. Okay, thank you. Thank you.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: You didn't stop being married. You didn't stop being in
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: a one flesh union just because things got hard. Amen.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: You need to be reminded of your union. You need
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: to strengthen your union. But you don't need another union.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Same thing with racial reconciliation. We are reconciled in Christ.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: We don't need to achieve racial reconciliation. We just need
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: to walk in the racial reconciliation that Christ achieved at
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: the cross. It's ours. It's real. And I don't need
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: sociology books in order to walk in this reconciliation. I
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: need God's book in order to walk in this reconciliation. Again,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: that's not to say that.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: It may not be helpful or informative.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Just like when there's an issue between me and my wife,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: helpful and informative for me to hear from her. what
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: her grievances are, what her heartaches are, that can be,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: that's helpful. Amen? But that happens in the context of relationship.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: Here's what I don't do. My wife and I are
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: at odds with one another. My wife and I are
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: having these problems and these grievances with one another, so
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: I go read books about her. No. No. No. And
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: this is why sometimes it can seem like splitting hairs
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: in this current debate. Because nobody's going to argue that
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: it's a bad thing to learn about each other. Amen?
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Nobody's going to argue that. Nobody's going to argue that
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: it's a bad thing to understand our history. Nobody's going
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: to make that argument. But the problem comes when we say,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: if you're relying on the scriptures and you are not
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: being informed by these particular sources and or perspectives, then
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: you cannot achieve reconciliation in this area because you haven't
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: done your homework. You haven't done your homework. you me
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: the Bible not enough you gotta have sociology history and
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: again I teach sociology So I'm not going to argue
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: that somehow it just can't be a relevant thing. That's
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: not my point. That is not my argument. I'm simply
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: saying the Bible is sufficient. And we use the Bible
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: to critique all other books and not other books to
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: critique the Bible. And it worries me greatly when in
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: the midst of this movement, if you will, I'm hearing
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: at the forefront of it, this new canon, this ever-growing,
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: very specific list of books that that we need to
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: read in order to properly understand and execute racial reconciliation.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: And the implication, of course, is because the Bible's not sufficient.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: Where else would we do that?
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: And it's interesting. It's not just on this issue.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: Now we're beginning to hear this on the gay Christian issue.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: Here's a list of books that you need to read
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: in order to understand these issues of sexual orientation. What
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: is it? Matthew Vine's book. you know, God and the
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: gay Christian. Here's these six passages of scripture that have
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: been misunderstood because they haven't been read in light of
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: these other realities that have to be brought to bear.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: A new hermeneutic and a new canon so that you
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: can then properly understand and apply the Bible. And I'm saying,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: the Bible is sufficient. Not as an.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: Ignorant, fundamentalist, biblicist, bigoted idiot.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: No.
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: No.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: The Bible is sufficient.
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: Let's pray.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: God, we thank you for your goodness and mercy and
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: kindness toward us in Christ. We rejoice in his finished work.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: And we rejoice in what he has accomplished through the cross.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: May we ever embrace it and grow in it and
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: rejoice in it. In Christ's name.