Reconciling Racism
Last year, I preached a sermon on racism during a series in our church called “Gospel, Culture, and Me”. I want the same message to go out right now because we need it…again.
In the message, I spoke about the sin of partiality. James 2:8-9, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”
What is partiality? Being partial means to favor one side above the other for any reason. Synonyms for partiality: bias, prejudice, discrimination. So, when this is applied to a specific race or races, we have the definition of racism.
In my 26 years as a follower of Christ, I have never heard anyone confess the sin of partiality in racism. Why is this the case? Like any sin, can we please ask God for discernment regarding the degrees of this sin in our life?
Start here regarding confessing the sin of racism…
God, please cleanse my heart and mind from places where the racism of other people have influenced me.
God, protect me from believing that the isolated experiences of my past are reflective of an entire race.
God, please help me see the generational damage that has been inflicted on other races by past generations of my race.
God, give me eyes of compassion to see the hurt and pain experienced by other races and how this impacts their life.
God, bring deep relationships into my life with people from other races and give me the courage to love, listen, and learn from their experiences.
God, give me the humility to listen slowly, fight for understanding, refuse to defend, and look to accept responsibility.
God, lead me to be a champion for diversity, willing to look to the interests of others, zealous for a display of Gospel unity from my life.
1 John 1:9 is clear: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Maybe the reason racism is still rampant in white culture is less about the history of slavery in our country and more about the complete failure of our culture to teach a right and contrite confession of racism and partiality.
God doesn’t fail to fulfill any promises. If you biblically confess, God will forgive and He will cleanse. And you can be freed from the sin of partiality and racism. All real change happens when we allow God’s Word to convict and allow the conviction to drive us to our knees in confession. In response to what we see in our culture right now, let us move quickly to confession. Please join me by first confessing the sin in your own heart and then ask God for a revival of Christians confessing the sin of partiality until it is eradicated from our churches. That must be our response and our prayer.