John Piper's Sermon of the Day is a challenge to us as evangelicals if we will accept it. The topic is racial harmony. It is not a pretty picture that Piper paints....one in which he is painted right in the middle of it. It is a problem. We need introspection here....and we need to understand the outside forces that drag us down into various forms of racism.
During the 2020 presidential election campaign President Trump through Tweets and rallies....promised white suburban voters that he would keep low-income housing out of their neighborhoods. They would not have the problems associated with it nor the financial loss from property devaluation. How did we miss this back then? This isn't even subtle racism. It was no coincidence that golf cart parades in gated communities....and pleasure craft flotillas made news during the campaign.
We attempt to assuage our guilt by promoting republican minorities who are elected to government or who are celebrities of one sort or another. We highlight the economic statistics during the Trump administration to prove that we are anything but racist....but we confuse the sound conservative economic theories that we have fought for since Reagan....which does help everyone....with the overall MAGA strategy of American First. Ultimately we only want what is better for us. We will take credit for others being helped but altruism is not our objective.
All of this though is only the surface of the problem....for our only true hope is in the gospel of Jesus Christ....and the preached word is the main conduit for spreading the gospel....but our pulpits have been infected as much as any of us. Thus as serious as it is....racism showing itself in our political actions....the most serious effect....is that it neuters our pulpits. Oh they speak words against racism....but it is what they do not do that hurts the most....for they do not warn the sheep.
We can claim to be pro-life all we want as it pertains to abortion....but in many other areas....the pandemic being one....we were not pro-life. We can proclaim liberty and freedom to all....except those whose liberty works against our pursuit of happiness. So also we can claim not to be racist....but at the same time accept the political benefits derived from racist political campaigns.
We ourselves are at the heart of all of our problems....because God is looking at us first. We want Him to destroy our enemies....but He may have our enemies destroy us....so that we might return to Him. Habakkuk had these same questions that many of us have. Why was God sitting by with all the plundering and lawlessness and violence everywhere? God told him that He was raising up the Chaldeans for works that even he....Habakkuk would not believe. The prophet still wondered why....but God told him to write it down....the wicked will have their day....but then God will have His. Habakkuk then prayed...and/or sang the words given to him....of judgment and even plague. This short book of prophecy contains the words....repeated in Romans....words that transformed Luther....
"The righteous shall live by faith."
Habakkuk....after the vision of judgment....ends with this....
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer's feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills."
We too wonder why God is letting all of this happen. This is where the introspection comes in....and if we should come to see where we have culpability in all of our afflictions....we might also humble ourselves....and take comfort....and rejoice as did Habakkuk earlier in these words....
"For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea."
Note: John Piper's Sermon can be Googled at....John Piper....Racial Harmony And Interracial Marriage. As I mention many times....I have been following/involved in politics now for over a half century. I don't post that much on Biden and the Progressives because....quite frankly....unless we are blithering idiots....we already know who these people are....and who funds them. Conservative news doesn't saturate us with this stuff to inform us....they do it to keep us rabid....malleable....gullible and easy to lead. I was anti-RINO before being anti-RINO was cool....but this new group meeting under the Conservative banner is a darker shade of red. Our pulpits failed to warn us of a false prophet in our midst...."Our best is yet to come".....and failed to warn us of the dark side of politics.
