Before receiving Jesus thirty years ago, I lived in Annandale, Virginia, in a neighborhood where there were folks of a variety of ethnic groups. There I had a friend, Derick, who is African-American. He had a great smile. His passion was basketball, and he and our 6th grade teacher had much fun jousting with each other that year when the Washington Bullets played the Seattle SuperSonics in the championship series. Our teacher, Mrs. Henderson, was a transplant from Seattle. That was the beginning of a number of blessed friendships I have had with folks who are African-American.
In this year of the pandemic catastrophe, we have had another tragedy involving racism, violence, and hatred. Racism is a sin. God has revealed in Genesis 1:27 that all people were made in the “image of God,” both males and females, which involves all people having a soul. Scripture reveals all people came from Adam and Eve. And Scripture reveals in Galatians 3:28 that no Christian is superior over another, which was the way God created the human race in the first place.
From the Samaritan woman at the well, to the robber on the cross next to him, Jesus loves all people. Jesus loves all people to the extent that He died for all people, all people of every ethnic group of all time, as the substitute for our sins. Christ died for every single human being! Now all have the opportunity to receive His gift of eternal life.
Once I was unemployed and desperately in need of a job. Filling out a job application for a place I really wanted to work, I got to the question, “What is your race?” I checked “Other,” and then wrote “human.”
Hate for people is a sin also. Jesus taught that someone being angry with his or her brother or sister is in danger of hell in Matthew 5:22.
Tragically we are at a time where much sin and much division haunts our culture. Why? I am convicted the reason is that many people, for decades, have ignored, distorted, or even refuted the Scriptures, which are the sacred writings from God. In the 1990’s, there was a huge movement arguing the Scriptures could not be taken literally. When a number of Christians are disputing the authenticity of the witness of Christ, their outreach to people in the culture who are not in the Church will fail, because people are not going to embrace a muddled god, who is not really God.
So what can we followers of Jesus do? Keep loving God and keep loving people. Being such a loving person requires receiving love from Jesus. And it requires growing in the love of Jesus, thus we must be students of Scripture. And remember, telling people the Gospel is always loving people!
In my years of following Jesus I have seen much love towards people of all ethnic groups. When I was a new Christian, I worked a job in Washington, D.C. There was a fellow employee there, Sheila, who is African-American, and a longtime Christian. She was so caring for me, like a sister. I remember once I treated her to lunch, and that one hour made my entire week.
How about Bill McCartney? Attending Promise Keepers in 1995 and 1996, I learned of Coach McCartney’s passion for racial reconciliation. He loves people of all ethnic groups. And at those revivals I got to hear from many great African-American preachers such as Tony Evans and E.V. Hill.
The first Christian music album I ever purchased was “Jesus Freak” by dcTalk in 1996. That one album had a huge influence on the Christian community at that time. One of my favorite songs on the album was all about racial reconciliation.
I served as a youth minister for an internship under an African-American pastor who was truly special. I have served as a college pastor under a young man from Africa who was the student leader of the group. And every church I have ever been an active parishioner in had at least a few people of various ethnic groups. We are all family.
And praise be to God I have given love to people of countless ethnic groups. Going back to Promise Keepers, a highlight for me of the final one I attended in 1998 was being asked to pray with a young man who is Latino-American whose parents were going through a divorce. I will never forget that.
Many Christians have been loving people of all ethnic groups for 2,000 years. And a number of Christians have been pioneers for racial harmony.
Granted there have been some Christians who have hampered racial harmony over the years, just as there are divisions among Christians to the present day regarding other areas of morality. Even genuine Christians have different interpretations of the Bible. For example, a number of ministers and leaders of various Christian denominations in the south in the 1800’s interpreted the Bible as permitting slavery. Yet the abolitionist movement was fueled by Biblical conviction. Truly, many Christians are the pioneer lovers.
So keep loving people indeed. Hate and hypocrisy is going to continue, tragically. Yet God instructs us: “…overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Rely on the Scriptures, since they contain revelations from God. And rely on the Holy Spirit, who will enable a follower of Jesus to be loving. No need to shy away from identifying sin! If you love someone, you do not want them to get hurt. Sin always results in hurt, thus you do not want people you love to sin.
In my view, Christians often get treated like Scripture: ignored, distorted, or refuted. Yet when disaster strikes, there is a unique opportunity to be a light for Jesus, who is the Messiah. Keep being a pioneer of love, as hard as it can be. Keep loving all people! Jesus does!
Hunter Irvine
P.S. - I was blessed by Wintley Phipps back in 1995 when he gave this same talk and then sang the song.
