Ta-Nehisi Coates once wrote these words in his book, Between the World and Me, a book that reads as a letter to his son, “Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered.”
It’s been a heavy week and I just want to start by acknowledging what we’re all experiencing and we’re all feeling in one way or another. I feel like any words I might come up within this moment would fall short and be inadequate. But as a church, we cannot be silent about the racial injustice in our country. Because of Jesus, we STAND with those who have stood by themselves for far too long and we want to be a part of making things on earth as they are in heaven. Because of Jesus, we SAY that black lives matter and as people of peace we protest against violence, murder, injustice, prejudice, profiling, microaggressions, and the marginalizing or devaluing of others. Because of Jesus we publicly REPENT as a church and as individuals for any time we have in any way participated in racism.
In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools. That was an issue for many of our schools in the south. In 1957, 3 years later, 9 black students were going to attend Central High School in Little Rock, AR. The governor of Arkansas called in the National Guard to prevent these students from entering the school. By law, they were supposed to attend. At that time the Mayor of Little Rock, a white man who had served as an officer in WWII, named Woodrow Wilson Mann, said that he felt compelled to uphold the law as decided by the Supreme Court. So he called the President of the U.S., President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and asked him to send in troops to escort these 9 black students into school. And he did. But that wasn’t the only act of love by Mayor Mann. He started meeting with black groups to listen, learn, understand and empathize. He took down the “White Only” signs around the courthouse and worked to integrate the Fire Department in Little Rock and so much more. But that came at a price. The Ku Klux Klan began burning crosses in his front yard. He lost his insurance business. And before long, his family would have to relocate. His decision to stand with and stand for those who were being oppressed came at a high price.
We live in a world where things are not the way they are supposed to be.
That may be the understatement of the year. But it makes me wonder, When did you first realize that things are not the way they are supposed to be?
When did it first occur to you that the world is broken? That things aren’t fair? That some people have privilege and some people don’t. That the way things are is not the way God intended things to be.
What I want to suggest today is that things are not the way they are supposed to be but the reason for that may be DIFFERENT than you think. And if we could see, really see, what’s going on in the world around us it might help us create lasting change as we strive, as followers of Jesus, to participate in making things on earth as they are in heaven.
Our critics would say that we’re just hiding behind our religion. That praying about this won’t change anything. And that the church has done more harm than good.
And… to be fair, they might be right.
Religion won’t fix our issues. Praying prayers that only give lip service to problems won’t change anything. And there have been times when the church has done more harm than good.
But I still believe that people who are devoted to following Jesus have the power to change the world. That people who are filled by and led by the Holy Spirit of God have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. And that if we would truly follow the way of Jesus, things could be different.
The truth is, this all started thousands of years ago before Jesus made the trip from heaven to earth.
In Genesis 3, we have this ancient story of how the world began. And according to this ancient text, it all began when the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve, were living in the Garden of Eden.
In the Garden of Eden, everything was the way it was supposed to be. There was no sickness, no coronavirus. There was no violence or injustice. There were no natural disasters. God created everything perfectly. Everything was held together in perfect balance. But that all changed one day when Adam and Eve encountered a serpent.
Genesis 3.1-5
1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
Notice, they don’t talk to God. Only about God. They objectify God and choose to do theology rather than simply obey. Their decision to objectify God and disobey his word leads to their demise.
I don’t want you to miss this… anytime we choose to talk about God instead of to God we objectify God.
Anytime we choose to talk about people and not to people we choose to objectify people.
And anytime we turn God or people into objects… we sin. And it may be the greatest sin of all. Because we use objects. We have relationships with God and with the people God created.
Adam and Eve believe the lie, objectify God, take the fruit and eat it. Immediately they felt shame.
Then, later that day, here comes God walking in the cool of the evening looking for Adam and Eve.
God calls out to them, but for the first time in their lives they’re hiding from God. Ashamed.
Do you remember the first time you hid from God? The first time you knowingly did something you knew was wrong? Did you hide? Some of us are still trying to hide from God.
God gathered Adam, Eve, and the serpent together. The tempter and the tempted together before the Creator. There were consequences for their actions. Things couldn’t remain the same because of the choices they had made.
In the aftermath of the first sin there is a prophecy and a promise. This would not be the end of the story.
Here’s what God says to the serpent in Genesis 3.15:
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
God says that the offspring of Eve would one day strike or crush the head of the serpent. That serpent would bruise the heel of Eve’s offspring. But her offspring would be the one who would deal the fatal blow.
Right here, in the aftermath of the first sin recorded in scripture, right after humanity has fallen and the world is no longer the way it’s supposed to be, God says the story is far from over.
This would not be the end of God’s relationship with mankind. Evil would continue to do its best to separate man from God. Even to the point of striking the heel of the woman’s offspring. And it was a severe strike. The day Jesus was nailed to the cross the enemy thought that what started in the garden was now finally finished. Jesus even said, it is finished. Something was finished that day. But it wasn’t Jesus. The enemy struck his heel that day. But three days later, Jesus would strike back dealing a crushing blow to the enemy’s head. That happened on Sunday morning when death was defeated and Jesus rose from the grave!
We celebrate the cross. And we should celebrate the cross, and the resurrection. But that’s not the end of the story either.
Satan was defeated that day, but he’s still on the prowl. In fact Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers would later write that Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” – 1 Peter 5.8
So where is the enemy at work in your life? Where is he working to cause division? What lies are you currently believing? In what ways are you being deceived?
A couple of weeks ago, we wanted to watch a movie with our kids. And it was Emma’s turn to pick the movie. And she really wanted us to watch the new Scooby Dooby-Do movie. I grew up watching Scooby Dooby-Do.
The basic story line of every episode of Scooby Dooby-Do went something like this. Something mysterious is happening in town. There’s a ghost, a goblin, a monster, or some unexplainable event that’s happening so Scooby, Shaggy, and the gang arrive in their psychedelic van to solve the mystery. Pretty much every time, the ghost or goblin is a distraction to keep the people in town from seeing what’s really going on. What’s really going on is that someone is stealing the money from the bank or something like that. And what Scooby and his friends always discover at the end of 30 minutes is that, to everyone’s surprise, the ghost or goblin is really the well respected banker in town. All of a sudden everything makes sense when the villain is revealed and now everyone sees what was really going on all along.
I don’t want in anyway to minimize what’s happening in this moment. I don’t want to take away the personal responsibility that people have for their thoughts and actions. God didn’t do that with Adam and Eve in the Garden. After handing down punishment to the serpent, God went on to spell out the consequences Adam and Eve would face. Consequences that we are still dealing with today.
What I do want to suggest is that we have an enemy. There is a villain who has yet to be revealed. His sole purpose is to perpetrate lies. Divide people from people and separate people from God. He loves nothing more than when we hurt or even kill each other. He’s prowling around like a roaring lion and he’s having his way in too many hearts and lives today.
Paul would write, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6.12
And today I want to remind us that we are called to FIGHT. We are called to stand up and stand against evil. We are called to action. We are called to make a difference in this world. But let’s not forget who the enemy really is today.
If we could call in Scooby and his friends to unmask the real villain, I think we would find that same creature that was in the tree in the very beginning. Weather he wears the mask of serpent in a tree, or a lion that prowls around looking for someone to devour, or weather he wears the mask of hatred, racism, injustice, violence, division, or whatever mask he chooses to wear to wreak havoc in our lives and in our world, let’s not be deceived. We have an enemy. He is real. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. And he delights in our hatred. He rejoices when we kill each other. And he loves to see God’s creation war against itself.
As followers of Jesus, we know that this is not the way the world is supposed to be. We believe that we are called to make things on earth as they are in heaven and that has to start with making relationships right here on earth as they are in heaven.
And we have this promise to remind us that it is not Satan who has the upper hand… because we know this PROMISE is true. That,
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” – Romans 16.20
Satan’s days are numbered. And one day, Satan will finally and fully be defeated.
In other words… in the end, God wins. In the end, everything will be the way it’s supposed to be.
But…
Religion won’t fix our issues. Praying prayers that only give lip service to problems won’t change anything. And there have been times when the church has done more harm than good.
It’s people who are devoted to following Jesus who have the power to change the world. People that are filled by and led by the Holy Spirit of God have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. And if we would truly follow the way of Jesus, things could be different.
Remember the story about Mayor Woodrow Wilson Mann? There’s more to that story.
Just last year in Houston, TX, it was Friday night and a young black man by the name of AJ was playing center for his team. His team was winning and he personally was dominating the defensive lineman who was playing against him. It was late in the fourth quarter when, after the ball was snapped, once again AJ drove the defensive lineman back and to the ground. After the play was over, the opposing player looked up to AJ and called him the N word. Thankfully, AJ knew what to do in that moment and he simply lifted up his hands in the air and walked away.
One of AJ’s friends from church heard about what had happened. They both belonged to the same youth group at the Bammel Church of Christ in Houston, but they went to different schools. AJ’s friend from church was named Trevor. And Trevor, as it happens, went to the school that AJ’s team had played that Friday night. He went and found the video from the game, watched it, and found the moment in the game when AJ threw up his hands in the fourth quarter and walked away from the defensive player on the field. Trevor was able to see the jersey number and the next day at school he found that player and told him, “I know what you said Friday night in the game to my friend and my brother in Christ, and that is unacceptable.” By the way, Trevor’s last name is Mann. All these generations later, this spirit of standing up for others and standing in the gap for others is still present in that same family. And I think that spirit lives in all of us who have decided to follow Jesus.
This story was shared this past Sunday at the Bammel Church of Christ by Sean Richardson, their youth minister. And I believe it highlights what we’re all feeling right now.
It’s our job in this present moment to love and lift up each other.
Because…
Sacrificial Love is God’s answer for every attack of the enemy.
On that night as my family watched Scooby and his friends solve the latest mystery, my kids began to cry as the movie came to an end. They started crying… and I was right there with them… because this time the story was ending differently. The only way to stop the three-headed ghost that had come from the underworld was for either Scooby or Shaggy to go to the other side. One had to stand on one side, and one had to stand on the other. Each had to place their hand on a stone that would then lock the portal to keep the ghost from returning.
Shaggy decided to sacrifice his life for his life long friend, Scooby, and go the other side. And we all lost it. We cried. Why? Because every great story is a gospel story. Every great story is a story of sacrificial love. I won’t tell you what happens next in the movie, but it resembles resurrection.
As a church, we say that part of our identity is that we Engage in what matters most. If that’s true, then it’s time to engage. It’s time to lay down our lives sacrificially for our black brothers and sisters in Christ.
It’s the only thing that will change this world. It’s sacrificial love. It’s the reason that in the end, God wins… because God so loved the world that He GAVE His one and only Son so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
We are all God’s children. And God loves His children with a kind of obsession. None of God’s children should live feeling as if their lives are endangered.
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