Embracing Unity: God's Kingdom Perspective on Race

The issue of race has dominated America since its inception. Our inability to resolve and solve this challenge has been an asterisk on an otherwise impeccable reputation for our country. Divisions show up in race and class and culture that has created wars, created internal conflicts, family divisions, riots, and all manner of other expressions of this horrible divide. [00:00:37]

What's even worse is that eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is often the most segregated hour of the week. While people will play basketball together, while people will do drugs together, while people will do a whole bevy of things together, when it comes to racial relationships, especially in the Christian context, they often break up and go their separate ways. [00:01:14]

God's design was for there always to be racial differences among people. In fact, those differences go all the way into eternity. For example, in Revelations chapter 7 verse 9, the Apostle John said he looked up to heaven and when he did he saw people from every nation, every tribe, every kindred, and every tongue. These people in eternity still had their racial differences and they were visible. [00:03:40]

Unity can be defined as oneness of purpose. It's not sameness of being. It means you're moving toward a common goal. You're moving toward a common agenda, utilizing, embracing, recognizing, and appreciating the differences everyone brings to the table. Now, this is no small issue and here's why. Jesus, in His high priestly prayer, prayed a prayer that will blow your mind and that will underscore why this issue of unity, particularly racial unity, is absolutely critical. [00:04:47]

Jesus Christ says unity is absolutely critical if His name is going to be made great and if God's glory is going to be revealed. I don't care what else we do as Christians, if we do not address the unity issue across race and culture and class lines, we're blocking the witness of Christ and we're limiting the reflection of the glory of God. [00:06:09]

God calls this unity one new man. In Ephesians, for example, chapter 2, Paul is writing to this church and he wants them to know how important unity is for the advancement of God's kingdom in history. And when he writes them he says this, "But now in Christ Jesus"—verse 13 of Ephesians 2—"you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [00:07:05]

How the cross is the emulsifier, and the process of emulsification is very interesting. It's the process of bringing things together that otherwise wouldn't fit. For example, you take mayonnaise. I love me some mayonnaise on my sandwich. I am definitely a mayonnaise man, not a mustard man. But mayonnaise is made up of products they can't get along: oil and water. [00:08:09]

Emulsification is that process where you introduce another object that can relate to the objects that do not connect in order to bring them together and hold them together so you can create something brand-new—mayonnaise. When it comes to mayonnaise, the emulsifier: eggs. Eggs are introduced to oil and water. The eggs grab the oil, the eggs grab the water, and hooks them up—brings them together so that they stay together so I can have some good sandwiches. [00:09:08]

Guess what? God has provided some emulsification. Ephesians 2 says it's the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ reaches out to people from different histories, different backgrounds, different cultures, different classes, and pulls them together and holds them together as long as they don't abandon the cross. You abandon the egg, you don't get the mayonnaise. You abandon the cross, you don't get the unity. [00:09:47]

Teams are made up of people of different races, different backgrounds, different histories, different cultures, but you still only have one team, in our case, the Dallas Cowboys. When they take the field, their humanity stays intact, but they're covered by another uniform, and that uniform is the same on every player. They have oneness of uniform and function with oneness of purpose without denying their created humanity. [00:10:57]

God wants you to score some touchdowns for the kingdom of God, but you can't do it as a lone ranger. You can't do it by yourself. You got to do it as part of a team. And if the Church can ever get it right and we can ever let everyone know who enters our doors or who leaves them that you're part of something bigger than you, and that, as James chapter 2 says, there's no place for discrimination because discrimination interferes with the advancement of God's kingdom. [00:12:37]

Are you blocking the kingdom of God, or are you advancing it? Be proud of what God has made you. Embrace it. Just make sure you're headed toward God's goal line and not your own. [00:13:13]