Sin of Racism

Black is only beautiful if it's biblical, and white is only right if it agrees with Holy Writ. Dr. Tony Evans says the Church has excused the sin of racial bias for far too long. It is your culture conforming to Christ, not Christ conforming to your culture. And that is what God is asking for today. This is the Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Almost every day, we're faced with stories of prejudice, injustice, and cultural clashes. Dr. Evans says we're long overdue to recognize the spiritual nature of the problem. In this special message delivered at a live rally, he uncovers the truth about the sin of racism. Let's join him. Satan has done a yeoman's job in splitting up the people of God along racial, class, and cultural lines. He's done a magnificent job of keeping us from being the one people of God. And as a result, man, we haven't seen the revival in this country everyone's praying for. For God will not bring a revival to part of his church. He won't bring a white revival or a black revival or a Hispanic revival or an Asian revival. He's only going to bring a Holy Ghost revival. And that means we've got to be the one people of God. But he has split up the coalition. He gets us talking about unity on Sunday. and then leaving from our churches or meetings like this, going back to our segregated neighborhoods, having been at our segregated churches with our segregated mentalities, forgetting that we're only a part of the body of Christ. And until we're willing to be the one people of God publicly, this is like a huddle in a football game. 65,000 people don't pay to watch their team huddle. What they want to know is what difference does the huddle make? It's easy to be a Christian here today. There's no competition in the house. But the test of your faith is what you do when you break huddle and go public for Jesus Christ. That is the test. You know, the Bible says that Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But I've discovered that many Christians don't know when lions roar. Lions don't roar when they're getting ready to kill their prey. Lions sneak up on their prey. Lions only roar after they kill their prey. And the reason why is because lions rule by intimidation. You see, lions are terrified of hyenas and jackals who travel in packs of five and ten and are scavengers. and so in order to scare them off the lion will roar over the deer he's killed to keep the jackals and hyenas from coming and taking over the carcass the jackals and hyenas are so terrified by the roar of the lion that they back up and don't bother to come and take over the carcass if those hyenas and jackals only knew that all they had to do was show up if they would simply just keep on coming in spite of the roar in spite of the loud noise if they would just keep on coming the lion would gladly give up the carcass rather than tangle with five or ten jackals or hyenas satan has got a big mouth he's got such a big mouth he's intimidated us oh but if we only knew if all we just did was keep on coming if we just came as the one people of god he'd have to give us back our cities, give us back our communities, and give us back our families because we stopped letting him intimidate us. One of the problems we're having is that we've allowed Satan to set the agenda for the church. When you're in a war, you don't care about the color, class, or culture of the man fighting next to you as long as he's shooting in the same direction you are. That's the only issue in a war. It's amazing that we have failed to see that until we become the one people of God, until being Christian is more important than the color and race and class that you are a part of, forget the revival, forget the cultural transformation, and get ready to hand this over to Satan because God's spirit will only work in an environment of harmony and unity. And until we become that kind of people, nothing else will work. Some of you are looking to politics to get us out of this mess. Well, I'm here to submit to you today that God doesn't ride the bats or donkeys or elephants. That God is not here to satisfy the politics of men. It's like the story in Joshua 5. Joshua was getting ready to go into battle. This huge man came along dressed in battle array. Joshua said, whose side are you on? Because if you're on our side, we got an extra army to help us. But if you're on their side, I've got to think again about even going into battle. The man looked at him and said, you're thoroughly confused, Joshua. You are thoroughly confused. I am the captain of the Lord's army. I did not come to take sides. I come to take over. God has come to take over. He has not come to take sides. He has not come. to be limited to the agenda of men. God is establishing his own kingdom made up of his own people. And if those people can't come together, God is not going to let his kids embarrass his character. What would you do? What would you do if people were living in adultery in your church? You wouldn't wait 250 years to get it right. What would you do with people having poor business ethics in the church You wouldn take 250 years to get it right What would you do if people adopted gay lifestyles in the church You wouldn say well let give them a few hundred years they were raised this way You would say, I can't help you until you're willing to call sin, sin. And if adultery sin and the gay lifestyle is sin and bad business ethics is sin, racism is sin, classism is sin, culturalism is sin. and it's nothing but sin. We've got to call it what it is. God has spoken and he has not started on the matter. There are two answers to every question. God's answer and everybody else and everybody else is wrong. I did not have to go through trauma about it. I know what some of you are saying. I know in the South, I know some of you are going to say what somebody would have said to Peter. He was raised this way. He couldn't help it. His mother was like this. His father was like this. His grandparents were like this. How do you expect this man to change overnight? Jesus says, if you would be my disciple, you must hate your mother and hate your father and hate your sister and hate your brother and if necessary, hate your own life. that you might be my disciple and we need a group who are willing to say if that means that i lose my friendships it won't matter because i'm only concerned about what jesus is gonna call me that's what we need that's the kind of Radical Christianity. Now, don't misunderstand me. Don't misunderstand me. And I am not asking that you give up your culture. I am not asking white people to become black. And God is not asking black people to become white. God has created all of this variety because he likes variety. And he wants it this way. Maybe you didn't know it. But whatever race you are now will be the same race you are in heaven. White people now will be white in heaven. Black people now will be black in heaven. Asians now will be Asians in heaven. Why? Because John said, when I saw them around the throne, I saw people from every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue. So since that's how it's going to be, let's practice right now. That is the way it is. That's the way it is. So listen. God is not asking blacks to become whites or whites to become blacks or Hispanics to become Asians or Asians to become Hispanics. He's just asking all of you, whatever you are, be biblical. Black is only beautiful if it's biblical and white is only right if it agrees with Holy Writ. There is a standard that governs who we are. And unless that standard overrules what our families have taught us, unless that standard overrules what our community has taught us, unless the biblical standard rules, then we're going to be in this chaos and never see revival. God is not asking you to like soul music and he's not asking me to like country and Western, thank God, but he's asking all of us. He is asking all of us to love him more than we love our race, our culture, or our class. In fact, it's technically incorrect to call yourself a black Christian, white Christian, Hispanic Christian, or Asian Christian. Once you introduce color, you make color an adjective. Black, white, brown, yellow becomes an adjective. Christian becomes a noun. It's the job of the adjective to modify the noun. So you must always make the noun whatever the adjective said it should be. No, Christianity must always be in the adjectival position. Your color must always be in the noun position so that if anything changes, it is the noun of your humanity and not the commitment of your faith. It means Jesus Christ must always be the defining adjective of your life so that if anything conforms, it is your culture conforming to Christ, not Christ conforming to your culture. And that is what God is asking for today. He's asking for radical Christianity. He's asking for men who will intentionally, that's the word, intentionally build a bridge cross-racially, who will go out and say, I will not live the rest of my life never having built an intimate bond with another part of the body of Christ who's different than me. And it's got to start with us. Listen, if you are a messed up man and you don't get this thing right, then you're going to contribute to a messed up family. And if you are a messed up man contributing to a messed up family and your family goes to church, then your family will contribute to a messed up church. And if you are a messed up man contributing to a messed up family that results in a messed up church and your church is supposed to be the light to the neighborhood, then your church is going to contribute to a messed up neighborhood. And then if you are a messed up man contributing to a messed up family resulting in a messed up church that is leading to a messed up neighborhood and your neighborhood is in a city, then your neighborhood is going to contribute to a messed up city. And if you are a messed up man contributing to a messed up family resulting in a messed up church causing a messed up neighborhood leading to a messed up city and your city is in a county then your city is going to contribute to a messed up county, and then if you're a messed up man contributing to a messed up family, resulting in a messed up church that's bringing about a messed up community that's a neighborhood, leading to a messed up city, resulting in a messed up county that's causing a messed up state, and your state's in the country, then your state's going to contribute to a messed up country and if you a messed up man contributing to a messed up family resulting in a messed up church causing a messed up neighborhood leading to a A messed up city bringing about a messed up county causing a messed up family resulting in a messed up church causing a messed up neighborhood leading to a messed up city bringing about a messed up county causing a messed up state that leads to a messed up country And your country's in the world, then your country's going to contribute to a messed up world. So if you want a better world composed of better countries made up of better states, inhabited by better counties composed of better cities, made up of better neighborhoods, illumined by better churches, made up of better families, It starts with you becoming better men. It starts with us. It starts with us becoming better men. We'll return to Dr. Evans shortly with more on the sin of racism. Don't go away. Brokenness isn't the end of the story. It's where God's work begins. Listen to hip-hop artist Lecrae as he talks with Dr. Tony Evans on the Unbound podcast. God uses broken things to paint a picture of His glory and His goodness. Hip-hop was this broken thing. Growing up in a broken home was this broken thing. I was fascinated at how God could use something like this. Listen now to The Unbound Podcast. The Unbound Podcast is available 24-7 on Tony's YouTube channel, as well as on all major podcast streaming platforms. In just a moment, we'll return to Dr. Evans as he continues his message on our spiritual values and how they relate to the issue of race. If you'd like to go deeper in building unity in your church, your community, and even our nation, Tony's current message collection, Love Will Overcome, is designed to help. This eight-lesson series explains how believers can set a powerful example by focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us. It offers an honest look at how the sin of society has crept into the church, along with a clear biblical pathway toward healing wounds and shaping a better future. We're making this collection available to you right now on digital download, as well as on either USB flash drive or CD album. This limited-time offer also includes Tony's popular devotional book, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart, which explores how prayer can help overcome anger, disagreements, and misunderstandings. Together, these resources can help you restore relationships, discover common ground, and make a meaningful impact in the world around you. Request your copy today by visiting TonyEvans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat our contact information after the second part of today's lesson. Here's Tony. once again. I know this won't make you feel good, but some of you would rather your children marry a person of the same race unsaved than marry a person of a different race saved. That's how mixed up our spiritual values are until we're willing to say, yes, there are problems and yes, there are difficulties, but I'm going to trust the sovereign hand of God to that. If I build relationships according to his will that he'll raise up a balanced family that will impact the world. And if we ever do this, let me tell you what'll happen. If we ever do this, and then if we ever get our churches to cooperate with one another. See, all the churches don't have to be integrated, but they have to be cooperative. If we got every suburban church to develop a sister relationship with an urban church, let me tell you what you could do in less than 12 months. you could get every Christian off of welfare. So the church has got to demonstrate it. So here's what you do. The urban church sets up a job bank so that every unskilled person in that urban church can now go and learn a computer skill, get their GED. And the suburban church provides job opportunities for the people that come through the urban church and they partner and they show the world what the church can do in getting people off of welfare so that some of you men become big brothers to boys in the inner city who don't have a father and there are not enough men in the inner city to be a surrogate dad. You say, okay, one of the ways I'll expose my kids is by taking one of those kids who's the son of a Christian single parent and including them in things I do with my kids so that I expose my kids to them and give that kid some exposure he'll never get. You're talking about turning things inside out, upside down when the churches get together and demonstrate the oneness of Jesus Christ. And that is what it will take, the people of God. That is what it will take. I know. I know some of you are scared. You're shaking in your boots. You're saying, look, I came here to just get some nice spiritual nourishment. I ain't come here for all this. Well, you'd better have come here for all this because I'm going to tell you something. if the Christians don't step forward and do something about this madness and there's no way you can run there's no suburb you can go to anymore it's tracking you wherever you go so unless the Christians start running and start turning and fighting in the name of Jesus Christ then you won't have much to turn over to your kids the way Satan is ruling the day-to-day if Jesus doesn't come back for 200 years that's five more generations that's got to grow up in this world It means that we will hand them nothing unless Christians take the lead. And by the way, a word to my black brothers who are here. Listen, when a white man comes to you and repents, when a white man says, I was wrong and I'm sorry, don't you then go back to what his great granddaddy did. You don't bring that up again. You let that forgiveness start with where that confession began. And you never bring that up again. You let that sin go as far as the east is from the west. because we have a lot of guys who are making black people like me try to feel guilty because we're willing to forgive well what's good for the goose is good for the gander and if we've got to tell our white brothers to to repent of their racism we can then jump and then ask god to okay that it works all the way around It got to be even righteousness that we demonstrate as the people of God That what we need So I know, I know this is difficult. Some of you are going to be intimidated to go down the street if there's a neighbor in your street or to invite a person at work over for dinner to get to know them and their family. You're going to be intimidated. That's why I like Paul. You couldn't intimidate him. They came to Paul one day and said, Paul, we're going to kill you. He said, that's cool to die is gain. They said, well, since you're that nonchalant about it, we're not going to kill you. We're going to let you live. He said, that's cool to live is Christ. They said, well, since you're that nonchalant about it, we're not going to let you live or die. We're going to make you suffer. He said, that's cool. I reckon that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed unto me. Now, basically what he was saying is if you kill me, I'm going to live with Christ. If you let me live, I'm going to stay here and serve Christ. If you make me suffer, I'm going to get more reward from Christ. Bring it on home. It don't matter to me. It's all Christ. And that's what we need. That's what we need. That's what we need. I'm looking for some men who will start the day and say, Lord, I'm sorry. I haven't raised my kids to be racist. I didn't accept the racism in my church. I let my neighbors get away with racist jokes and I laugh instead of condemning it as wrong. And I made myself comfortable with racism. No more. I'm going to build bridges. And if I got to lose some black friends, so be it. If I got to lose some white friends, so be it. As long as I gain Christ, so be it. That's what it's going to take. Man, my favorite program growing up was Superman. I love me some Superman. As Clark Kenney was a bumbling idiot. Lois Lane couldn't stand him. Jimmy Olsen didn't respect him. Perry White wouldn't use him. But oh Lord have mercy, don't let him find a telephone booth. The criminals in Metropolis would come out wreaking havoc in the city. Somebody would say, where's Superman? I'd be sitting on the floor next to my brother. Clark Kent would take off his glasses, unhook his tie. I'd look at my brother and say, there he go. My man would go inside a telephone booth or a closet and come out with a red and blue jumpsuit on. He wasn't Clark anymore. Now he was faster than a speeding bullet. I mean, this guy now was more powerful than a locomotive. I mean, he had now the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bow. My man would go streaking across the sky. They say it's a bird. No. It's a plane. It's Superman. All of a sudden, the topography of Metropolis was transformed because this guy would catch bullets with his bare hand, break knives in half and squash guns. you know why because he wasn't from here he was from a place called krypton but when he got transferred here he brought the power of the other place and made it work down here he brought the power from up there and made it come down here and when that man changed clothes the environment in which he lived was transformed. Some of you need to take off those old clothes. You need to take off that old way of thinking, that old way of walking, that old way of talking, and take a trip to God's telephone booth and come out with your red and blue jumpsuit on. Come out. And when you come out, come out faster than speeding sin, more powerful than public unrighteousness, able to leave racism in a single bound so that when they see you coming, they say, it's a bird. No, it's a plane. No, it's God's super saints on the move. It's time to go public for Jesus Christ and let men see that you're saved, sanctified, and are a saint. It's time now to take the power of heaven and bring it down to earth. God bless you as you take back our communities for God. Dr. Tony Evans, pointing out the mandate for all brothers and sisters in Christ to join forces to make a real difference for our world. Well, before we wrap things up today, I want to remind you to take advantage of that exclusive package of resources I mentioned earlier. You can request your own copy of Tony's current eight-part teaching series, Love Will Overcome. We're packaging all the audio lessons from this series, along with his popular devotional book, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart, Powerful Prayers to Unite Us in Love. This resource package is offered to you as our way of saying thanks for your contribution toward the support of this ministry. Contact us before time runs out at 1-800-800-3222, where members of our team are standing by to help with your request. or visit TonyEvans.org where you can make all the arrangements online. Again, the number 1-800-800-3222 or on the web at TonyEvans.org. A dream can be powerful enough to set a whole new direction for our lives if we don't allow discouragement to crush it. Be sure to join us next time as Dr. Evans takes a look at the amazing difference we can make when we dream and follow God's dreams.