RACISM
OR CHRISTIANITY?
You Can’t Have Both!
Recently, a friend of mine, who
was pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in
Needless to say, my friend resigned his pastoral
office. Several members also left the church. Now they are seeking to establish
a church where the gospel can be preached, and where all who love Christ and
his gospel can freely gather to worship, regardless of their skin color. I
publicly applaud this pastor and these people! Their decision is not merely a
political one. It involves the very glory of God and the gospel of his grace.
Racism is far too common among religious people. It needs to be denounced in
unmistakable terms.
You can have either racism or Christianity; but you
cannot have both. In Christ there is no such thing as black and white. Our Lord
has sent us to proclaim the gospel to all men, because all are sinners in need
of his grace. We invite all men to come to Christ in faith, confessing their
sins. And all who come are our brethren. Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male
and female, black and white, all are one in Jesus Christ. We are all chosen by
the same love, redeemed by the same blood, regenerated by the same power,
called by the same grace, clothed in the same righteousness, members of the
same body, and heirs of the same promise.
Can I love Christ and despise my black brother for
whom Christ died? Perish the thought! "This is my commandment that ye love
one another as I have loved you." "He that loveth not knoweth not
God; for God is love." I say, Where Christ lives in the heart and reigns
as Lord, racism must die! In this place, we welcome our black brethren who
desire to hear the gospel of God's free-grace and serve the honor of Christ. We
know that the Church and
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o'er all the earth!