Confront the Scandal of Our Prejudices—Part 12
READINGS – Part 1
Director Spike Lee’s movie Malcolm X hit the theaters in 1992, spawning a revival of the Black Muslim leader’s controversial and powerful rhetoric of the sixties (not to mention X hats and tee shirts sprouting from coast to coast). In one scene in the movie, a white coed approaches Malcolm X as he arrives on the campus of Harvard University to give a speech. She assures him that even though she’s white, she’s sympathetic to his cause.
“What can someone like me do to help?” she asks earnestly.
“Nothing,” he answers coldly.
Part of Malcolm X’s great appeal to the black community was that he stood up for black self-determination. He challenged blacks to stay in school, get off drugs, get off welfare, get a job, and take responsibility for their families. But unlike Martin Luther King, Jr., who walked hand in hand with whites as he challenged the American conscience, Malcolm’s message-at that time-was: “We don’t need whites to make it.” Many blacks still believe that. They desire independence and disdain whites as controllers.
In the realm of Christian fellowship and effective growth in the church, many still believe blacks and whites can go their independent ways and remain effective. In the mid-’80s, C. Peter Wagner of the Church Growth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, published two books discussing the factors that characterize growing churches. One of the more controversial principles growing out of the Institute’s research is the homogeneous factor-that is, people feel most comfortable with people like themselves; therefore, churches must take this human tendency into account if they wish to draw in new members.
Wagner is partially correct; the human tendency is to seek those like ourselves. “Birds of a feather do flock together,” and when it comes to church, Christians generally sort themselves out by race, class, and culture. It’s not only black and white, either. Most Georgia farmers would feel quite out of place in a highbrow Episcopal service; Cambodian refugees are forming their own congregations under the umbrella of a sponsoring American church; Spanish-speaking and Korean congregations feel the need to preserve their distinctiveness.
Do we need each other? Those who believe in “homogeneous churches” and “niche marketing” or Afro-centrism and self-determination don’t necessarily think so. Other than trying to avoid race riots, why should we go through all the grief necessary to achieve racial reconciliation? Why fight human nature? Why not just let “them” have their church, and “we” will have our church?
The real question, however, is do we solidify the human tendency to flock together with our own kind into a “principle” for the body of Christ? Do we accept a “separate but equal” mind-set for Christian fellowship and relationship?
Our answer is no. We cannot get along without each other if the body of Christ is to be salt and light to a world tom apart by racial strife. The principle of interdependence recognizes our differences but realizes that we each bring something to the table that the other person needs, resulting in equality (key verses: 2 Corinthians 8:12-14). Interdependence demonstrates the transforming nature of the gospel and declares that we do need each other if we are to live out the ministry of reconciliation. (Where would the gospel be today if Christ’s disciples throughout the centuries had not accepted His challenge to be ambassadors of reconciliation across racial and cultural barriers?)
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Breaking Down Walls, Raleigh Washington and Glen Kehrein, Moody, pages 169-71.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
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For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
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