Race, Culture & the Gospel

If you are anything like me you enjoy a pithy quote that hits hard and makes you think. I recently came across a quote by Tim Keller that did exactly this. He states, "Racial pride and cultural narrowness cannot coexist with the gospel of grace. They are mutually exclusive." When I read this so many thoughts flooded my mind. To get the full impact of what Pastor Keller is saying the quote needs to be defined and to some extent dissected.

Racial pride- To some extent the term race rubs me the wrong way, because it is not a term that is entirely biblical. It is more of a modern term to explain one's ethnicity or ancestry. The term racial pride I would take to mean as a sense of arrogance or superiority in ones ethnicity over another's. These attitudes are completely contrary to the scriptures. As a Christian, in 1 Peter 5:5 we are admonished to show humility toward one another and also reminded that God resists the proud. It also, inherently has a sense of finding one's identity in their ethnicity.

Cultural Narrowness- This is a belief that one persons culture is the ONLY way something should be done. A silly example would be where I grew up, carbonated beverages are called pop and I stubbornly refuse to call it soda, coke, or worse compromise and call it soda pop or any other foolishness. Of course I say this in jest. This attitude can move from a small matter like what we call food or drink to how we respond to others who are different, or worse how we craft our churches to be only one culture. Neglecting the myriads of other cultures in our area that may identify with Christ.

Both of these are extremely troubling in our society and in our churches. The reason we call ourselves Christians is not because we are white anglo-saxon in heritage that was passed on from our Western European ancestors. We are called Christians because we are followers of Christ and IDENTIFY with His death, burial and resurrection as the payment for sin debt that by faith we through identifying with Christ are now IN Christ. We no longer identify with race or culture.

Gospel of Grace- The gospel of grace is the good news that God's wrath against sin was poured out on His Son instead of me, and by God's gift of faith, His grace and mercy is given so that I am given the life that Christ secured when rose victorious from the grave. This good news is not to a certain race, nation or even culture. Galatians 3:28 is clear, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, their is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This is stating two important truths for our topic. Race and culture are not to be boasted in and that our identity is found in Christ.

If we are to carry out the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations then Tim Keller's quote must be truly thought through. The Apostle John writes of a vision where he hears a song being sang in heaven, where it is not merely one style of people but literally ALL groups before God. Revelation 5:9-10, "And they sang a new song, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth."

May we have the heart of Christ and take part in the ministry of reconciliation to see this ransomed people from every tribe and language and people and nation come to their Lord and see them grow in the gospel of grace.

The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:15-20, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

I was drawn to this passage after viewing this sermon put to video on youtube by John Piper. The supremacy of Christ and all of its implications are often neglected in this day of weak and watered-down Christianity. We must see and savor the supremacy of Christ. For believers it is to realize the glory and grace of God to be reconciled to Him in spite of our sin. This same supremacy is what will bring God’s unbridled wrath upon His enemies and supply vengeance for the martyred and persecuted Bride of Christ (The Church).

In the following video John Piper proclaims this message of Christ's supremacy in a way that will draw you to praise Christ for His mercy, love and grace. It is a bit lengthy, but definitely worth the time to watch.

“God hates sin and His wrath is infinite against sin. We are all stamped and defined by sin.” God demands complete perfection and because of our sin we have this wrath of God abiding on us in our unbelief (John 3:36). “The Gospel is your only hope. Christ came into the world and bore the wrath of God…and He performed a righteousness for us that only He could perform, which is now, by faith alone imputed to you. So, you may now, be united to this perfect Christ. Him bearing all the curse, Him providing all the perfection and know that paradise is open. I can know him. I can begin to grow in knowing Him. I can actually begin to enjoy knowing Him. He’s not against me anymore, in fact the wrath of God has so totally absorbed by Jesus and the perfection that I must produce, has been so totally produced and provided by Jesus. That now only one thing governs God’s attitude toward me and that is MERCY!...The best gift of the gospel is seeing and savoring the supremacy of Jesus Christ and we had no access to that joy until he took our place.” – John Piper

Theological Misconceptions Part 4: Does God's love overrules His justice?

In America it is extremely popular today to speak of the love of God, or God is love, which is absolutely true (1 John 4:8). The question remains then, how is God's justice reconciled? The assumption is that God's love overrules or negates the justice of God. Or put in another way, if God was truly loving He would never allow anyone to spend eternity in the torments of hell. The theological misconception here is that God is under no obligation to show mercy and be gracious to man. Over and over in the Scriptures, God's glory is played out not only by His mercy and grace, but also His justice. In punishing the guilty God's righteousness is put on display.

We all understand this when a murderer or pedophile is brought to justice. However, we want God to stop evil, but where do we want this to stop? "The murder level? The lying level? or the thinking level? If we want Him to stop evil, we gotta be consistent, we can't just pick and choose. That means you and I would be eliminated right? Because we think evil stuff." - Lecrae. Jesus in multiple instances deals that sin and evil is not merely actions but flows from the heart and mind.

So how is God's love for sinners and His justice toward sin reconciled? Jesus, the God-man who lived in perfect obedience to the law was sent to suffer the condemnation of the law to bear the wrath of God against all sin. In other words, Jesus took your penalty and mine so that God's justice and His wrath would be satisfied (Romans 3:21-26). Shai Linne, who in His song, "Judge of All the Earth," inspired this series as well as the premise for this post. Finishes with this, "So now God is able to be just and the justifier of all who turn from their sin and place their trust in Messiah. The resurrected Lord is our infinite treasure truly, He gives us new eyes to see His justice in all its beauty!"

Theological Misconceptions Part 1: "If I am good enough God will accept me."

Over the next few posts, I wanted to take the time to address a number of common theological misconceptions held by non-Christians and nominal Christians. The first misconception I would like to address is the thought that, "If I am a good enough person God will allow me into heaven and accept me."


Like virtually every theological misconception they start with a wrong foundation. Like any strong building if the foundation is poorly done the building will eventually decay and be destroyed. The foundational issue here is one that is asked regularly in our society but mostly answered incorrectly. Is man inherently good or is he inherently evil? 

The Old Testament is clear in Ecclesiastes 7:20, "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." In the New Testament the Apostle Paul deals with this issue in Romans 3 quoting portions of Psalm 5, 10, 14, 53, 140; Proverbs 1 and Isaiah 59.  

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” - Romans 3:10-18

Paul later says in Ephesians 2:1-3 the plight of men without Christ. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."

Mankind according to Paul is by nature children of wrath. One might say this is a hopeless plight! There is no way that we can be accepted by God. You would be right in and of themselves man cannot be accepted by God. God must intervene and perhaps two of the greatest words in all of scripture appear right after this statement in Ephesians 2:4..."But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved."

God intervenes and provides a way for sinful men who were once objects of God's wrath to be forgiven and reconciled to God. By sending His Son to be the object of wrath in our stead, by faith in substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ + nothing else we may have life.

Romans 3:21-26, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Do You Teach Your Kids the Gospel or Law? | The Resurgence

From The Resurgence:


Everything that isn’t gospel is law. Let us say it again: everything that isn’t gospel is law. Don't breed despair in your kids. Every way we try to make our kids good that isn’t rooted in the good news of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is damnable, crushing, despair-breeding, Pharisee-producing law. We won’t get the results we want from the law. We’ll get either shallow self-righteousness or blazing rebellion or both (frequently from the same kid on the same day!). We’ll get moralistic kids who are cold and hypocritical and who look down on others, or you’ll get teens who are rebellious and self-indulgent and who can’t wait to get out of the house...  Read the rest of the Article @ The Resurgence