Pastor Matthew Peters,
High Prairie Bethel Baptist Church.
Is Christianity a “white man’s religion” as some have asserted?
No!
Jesus Himself wasn’t even white. He was a Jew. Is it therefore a Jewish religion?
No!
It comes from the Jews but reaches the whole world!
The issue isn’t skin colour. The issue is sin. Man doesn’t need to be less white, or less black, or less native. These are all judgments based on outward appearance which divide.
Without God, mankind identifies itself primarily on its characteristics and everyone thinks their brand is better. Their country is better. Their culture is better. You name it. In all the differences, there is a common problem in all of them.
And it’s not skin but sin!
The Church of Jesus Christ recognizes this. Therefore, she is made up of all these different races, cultures, and languages. The Church must aim for different unity than race. It must be a unity in a common conviction.
That is, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That natural man, apart from the Spirit of God, is an enemy of God and enslaved to sin.
That Christ Jesus became a man, lived a sinless and holy life before His God and Father, that He died and suffered the punishment our sin deserved, and rose again, defeating sin and death.
That anyone who repents of their sin, and believes this message is born again, and will not be condemned on the day of judgment along with the world.
All this, true Christians are unified in because all of this comes from God’s Own Words in the Holy Scriptures.
This is the unity Jesus prays for in John 17. Without it, even if we are together, we do not have unity. Unity without truth is not unity but compromise. Unity means oneness and where people’s beliefs are diametrically opposed, there can be no unity. That does not mean you hate people who do not agree with you. It just means that you cannot be one with them.
That being said, the apostles in the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 also work hard at not having all the Christians be uniform, meaning the same form. Though unified around the person and work of Jesus, there are many different cultures, languages, and backgrounds that people have that make them unique. This is the glory of the worship of eternity, some from every tribe, tongue and nation will worship the Lamb. (Revelation 5:9) Their unity is they worship the Lamb. Their difference is, they are from many different languages and nations.
The world combats racism. Yet often, they combat racism with becoming racist themselves. The only way to ever overcome this truly is to be unified in Christ. Then you can begin to critique every culture and Christians within it can depart from its areas of sin.
But you can also delight in some of the uniqueness and beauty that different cultures bring. Not trying to force people into your culture but calling all the followers of Jesus to worship the Lamb through their unique language, upbringing, and practices, and to walk away from anything contrary to Him. It is a new Kingdom that will never fit with any other kingdom or country on this earth. It is the Kingdom of God, that takes in every culture in the world, transforms it, fills it with the Spirit of Christ, and unites those within by a common appreciation and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has become their life.
Some may argue, “The church has historically tried to force culture upon a people. It has sought to unify people culturally more than spiritually.”
Yes, it has! And in many cases, it has erred extremely. Evidently though, this is a problem of man’s sin creeping in. This is clearly not the intention of God because, as we noted above, there will be some from every tribe, tongue, and nation worshipping the Lamb.
The sad thing is, when people get hung up on history and throw out something good just because it has been used for evil. It’s like a man, walking through the woods, with wolves howling around him, all of a sudden recollecting that people have killed other people with guns. In disgust, he throws his gun away. Now what’s he going to do when the wolves come?
If you are walking through this world, and consider the claims of Jesus Christ, and then hear that some have taken that and used it to commit evil, what do you do? You’re so bothered by it, you throw Christ and His Scriptures away. But what are you going to do when the day of judgment comes? You had the truth, just like the hunter had the gun, yet you threw it away because some had abused it.
The hunter has no protection from the wolves, and you have no protection from the Lord, when He comes to judge the world in righteousness and to condemn all who rejected Him.
The Lord will not reject you because you are white, black, or native. But He also will not accept you on that basis. Your race won’t save or condemn you, only God’s grace will.
And it’s only around that message that humanity will ever have true unity.