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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:00 Every 4 years, there are the Olympics where the elite athletes of the world come together to compete. They have worked0:12 hard to be viewed and understood and seen as the very best of the best. And so they come and they compete against other athletes from other0:23 countries aspiring ultimately for the gold medal, the ultimate recognition of their superiority. However,0:35 when the gold medalist stands on the platform to receive the gold medal, they do not ask him or her what's their favorite song.0:48 They play the national anthem of the country of which they are a part with their flag flying high because it is understood while that1:00 athlete used their talents and their skills and their efforts and their hard work, they represent a bigger country. They1:11 represent a bigger kingdom. It's not just about them. It includes them. It utilizes them, but it's bigger than them. And so they want1:23 it to be made clear that they did this under the banner and under the flag of the kingdom that they represent.1:36 God has a kingdom. It's made up of citizens. Some black, some white, some red, yellow, Spanish backgrounds.1:49 And his intention was never that their individual uniqueness is whatever caused them to lose sight of the flag flying over them. The flag of the2:00 cross and the flag of our commitment to Christ. America, in particular, is reaching an all time low in this issue of2:12 race and culture and class. Just under the surface, there's this ever bubbling problem that has2:24 gone unresolved. This sinful evil disease of racism, culturalism, and classism2:37 is too deep for over the counter remedies. Radical surgery is needed. Any any sicknesses last2:49 this long and run this deep. We need something more radical and much deeper3:01 to address this chaotic confusion in the culture. So as clearly as I know how, I would like to, as specifically as possible, address3:13 this issue of race, of culture, of class that has been muddied by 1000000 different voices.3:27 We've got voices about which life matters. All life is created in the image of God. All life is created in the image of God.3:38 Therefore, all lives matter. However, underneath the banner that God has created all people in his image,3:52 there are equities that must be addressed. For example, the life of the unborn matters.4:03 And so there's this emphasis on injustice in the womb. But that injustice in the womb must be under the umbrella that that is4:15 life. And because all life matters, that life matters. Black lives matter as a subset of all lives4:27 matter. So any injustices to a particular group must be addressed specific to that group, but under the banner4:38 that all life is created in the image of God and so on and so forth. But once you extract any4:50 specific scenario and remove it from the umbrella of God's creation, you create your own independent cause. There5:03 is no discussion of sociology that at least from a Christian point of view that should not be plugged into theology. That is God's view about it.5:16 So I'm going to seek today to give you God's view of race, culture, and class because the principles can apply to any 1 of those areas so that when you5:28 leave here, you have a better view of you, and you have a helpful understanding bibliocentrically of how to help others to look at this from5:40 God's point of view. Now let's make it clear. If people do not start with God, they're not going to stay with you. So5:51 so we're make that clear. They're not if they reject that, they will reject you. But the Bible says that is to be expected. That if they rejected me, they're gonna reject you if you bring me into the6:03 equation. But what he does not want you to do is leave him out just because they don't bring him in. So I must speak to this issue from a6:15 theocentric, Christocentric, and bibliocentric perspective. God, Christ, and scripture. In John chapter 4,6:28 we have a definitive statement on this issue coming out of an event that took place in Jesus' life. Jesus has become popular. We're told in6:40 verse 1, he's now baptizing more people than John, and it has become clear he is emerging. And people are beginning to see that this was no ordinary6:52 man or prophet, but Jesus is not yet ready to make his full public declaration of who he is, the eternal son of God.7:05 And so he leaves Judea and goes to Galilee, but we're told in verse 4, he had to pass through Samaria. A little geography.7:17 Judea is in the south. Galilee is in the north, and right between Judea and Galilee is Samaria, so it was part of the direct route. But the reason John puts7:29 it here is because no Orthodox Jew had to pass through Samaria because in Samaria lived the Samaritan dogs. That's what they were called by7:40 Jews, the unclean ones. A little bit of history. In 7 22 BC, Assyria invaded Israel as part of God's judgment.7:53 They took many of the Jews back to Assyria and transplanted some Assyrians into Israel, so there was interracial marriage. The interracial8:04 marriages created this new group of people called the Samaritans who were despised, as you'll see in a moment, by the Jews because of this interbreeding racially.8:17 And so they wouldn't deal with the Samaritans because they were half breeds and they were unclean, and so they they wouldn't have anything to do with them. But the Bible says that Jesus had to pass through Samaria.8:30 The reason he had to pass through Samaria is because at 12 o'clock noon or as the scripture says, the sixth hour, that's 12 o'clock, there's a woman coming to the well.8:40 We're told in verse 5, and so he came to the city of Samarit called Sychar near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, and Jacob's well was8:51 there. So Jesus being wearied from his journey was sitting by the well. It was about the sixth hour there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink.9:05 Notice a lot of attention is given to this well. We're not just totally stopped by a well. We just the well is described. This is Jacob's well that he gave9:17 to his son, Joseph, located in the vicinity of Sychar, which was a city of Samaria. He he wants us to know that this is not an ordinary well. This is a Jacob given9:29 to his son well. Why would that be important for the author of John, John the apostle, to tell us that? Well, in a moment, you'll see the9:41 Jews didn't get along with the Samaritans, and the Samaritans didn't get along with the Jews, but they both love Jacob. For Jacob was the father of the Jews and the Samaritans. Of course, of the9:52 Jews, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but also of the Samaritans because the Samaritans accepted the first 5 books of the Bible. Genesis is the first book of the bible. Jacob is in the first book of the bible. Since they10:04 accepted the first book of the bible, they accepted Jacob. So in order to make this thing work, Jesus met her on common ground. He met her at a place of agreement,10:16 and the place of agreement was scriptural related because they were both related to Jacob. The Jews didn't like the Samaritans. The Samaritans didn't like the Jews, but they both loved them some Jacob.10:28 So he met her at a place that they could both agree on. He meets her there, and we find out that he wants a drink of water10:41 from her cup. You got to be kidding me. You're gonna put your Jewish lips to this woman's Samaritan cup. Now we know it's a shocker because look at verse10:52 9. Verse 9 tells us, therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you being a Jew asked me for a drink since I am a Samaritan11:04 woman for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans? Now before I go on, I wanna call your attention to verse 8. For his11:16 disciples had gone away into the city to buy food, probably chicken, because they were all preachers. So11:30 they've gone into the city to buy food, and he just drops that in and then goes back to the story because that's gonna become a critical part of the story in just a moment that they're in town buying food.11:43 The Samaritan woman looks at Jesus after Jesus is offering to drink from her cup, and she is shocked, stupefied, mesmerized. She she can't figure out. You, being a11:54 Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink of water? Why is this important? Question number 1,12:06 how does she know he was a Jew? He never identifies himself as a Jew. He never says that he's a Jew. So, evidently, he's obviously a Jew. Just by looking at him,12:18 seeing his dress, hearing his accent, because all she does is see him and hear him, he's obviously Jewish. So recognizing he's a Jew, she shocked.12:30 In other words, Jesus didn't stop being who he was to reach somebody else. He didn't go to Samaria and find out how to speak Samaritan and12:42 then find out how they dress so I can dress like them in order to hide who he was. He was visibly, verbally a Jew, and it was evident.12:54 So he didn't give up his own creation to talk to a different kind of creation. He was able to maintain his racial and cultural13:06 identity. But even though he maintained his racial and cultural identity, he didn't let it get in the way of doing what his father13:18 had called him to do. And that is to reach across the railroad tracks to somebody who was different than him, who the rest of his13:29 culture would not reach out to. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. While God is not calling any of us to give up how he made us, He13:41 is not expecting us to use how he made us to relate inappropriately to people he has made different than us.13:53 God is not asking you to be anything other than what he's made you as long as you submit to how he has made you, to how you relate to other people who he has made14:05 different than you. It is technically incorrect, technically, to call yourself a black Christian or a14:17 white Christian or Hispanic Christian Because then you make your color or your culture an adjective. It's the job of an adjective to modify14:28 a noun. So if you put Christianity in the noun position and your color or culture in the agitival position, you have to keep shaping the noun14:40 so that it looks like the adjective that describes it. So if your color or culture stays in the agitival position, you gotta keep shaping Christianity to look black14:52 or to look white or to look red or to look yellow because that's the agitival description you've given it.15:05 Position. Your color and culture must always be in the noun position so that if anything must be adjusted, it is the noun of your humanity and not the adjective15:17 of your faith. You and I are to define our our humanity in terms of our faith, not our faith in terms of15:29 our humanity. Jesus stayed who he was, but he operated from heaven's point of view. He didn't give up15:41 being a Jew to reach her. God is not asking you to give up who you are to touch somebody else, but don't let the15:53 fact that all them other folk in your race won't drink from a cup to keep you from drinking from a cup. Don't be so committed16:05 to your own race that you operate outside of the Christian faith. While16:17 staying true to what God has made you. And so Jesus Christ says, can I have a a drink of your water?16:29 The woman is the woman is overwhelmed because he's doing something no Jew does. He's doing something that his people don't do. And this has been going on since 7 2216:41 BC. So this has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years. And so she is awed by the fact that he's gonna put his Jewish lips to my Samaritan cup. Now16:52 please notice something. He hadn't given her any bible yet. He hadn't preached to her yet. He hadn't witnessed to her yet. He hadn't he hadn't given her theology yet. She doesn't even know who he is. All she17:04 knows is he's a nice man. That's all she knows. See, a lot of folk wanna tell folk about Jesus who are not willing to drink out of the cup.17:17 I wanna get your soul to heaven. I just don't wanna deal with you on earth. I'll witness to you, but I won't eat with you. I'll witness to you, but I won't drink with you. I'll talk about God. Jesus17:29 hasn't even talked about who he is yet, but he demonstrated by his touch and by his soci his sociology gave validity to the theology that was to come.17:41 And a lot of folk have rejected God because how can I believe in a God who who's not social enough for you to sit down and eat and drink and17:53 fellowship with me because I'm a Samaritan, because I'm of a different history and background and race and culture? So the woman is just shocked18:05 just because he's gonna put his Jewish lips to her Samaritan cup. He's gonna do what his own race won't because it was the right thing to do. So18:17 Jesus tells her in verse 10, if you knew the gift of God and who it was who you were talking to, who said give me the drink, you would have asked him and he would18:29 have given you living water. A little transition to the spiritual. He'd have given you living water. Everyone who drinks your water, verse 13, is gonna thirst again.18:41 But whoever drinks the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I give him will become a well springing up to eternal life.18:53 A woman says, well, I want that water. I don't have to come out here at 12 o'clock every day and do this do this well thing if you're gonna do that. What is this living water? I don't I don't know where you're going with19:05 it. What is this? Well, he says to her, go call your husband. Okay. Now he didn't gone from drinking water to who she's sleeping with.19:18 He didn't gone from drinking water. He's all up in her boudoir. He's all up he's all up in her business. He's all up in her stuff. Go call your husband. She says, I don't have a husband. Jesus said, you got that right.19:29 Verse 17. You have correctly said because you've had 5 husbands, and the 1 you have now is mister Jones. Me and mister Jones. He's19:41 the 1 you have now is not your husband. This you have truly said. He confronts her with her sinfulness, her looseness,19:54 her improprieties. He could have never gotten that far if he wasn't willing to drink from her cup. But his sociology opened up an opportunity for theology.20:07 She says, sir, verse 19, I perceive you are a prophet. I guess so. He's all of in your stuff like that. He knows about your life just having met you. I20:19 perceive you are a prophet. She says, our fathers worshiped in this mountain, verse 20, and you people,20:34 a racial slur if I ever heard 1, you people, say that in Jerusalem is the place where you are to worship. Jesus says, woman, believe me, the hour is20:45 coming, and now neither in this mountain nor Jerusalem shall you worship the father. You worship that which you know not. We worship what we know for salvation is of the Jews, and hour is coming. And now is when the true20:54 worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for such people. The father seeks to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. Notice something. When race comes21:06 up earlier, he was a Jew, she was a Samaritan, he asked to drink from her cup, Jesus makes no comment. None at all. That's the reality. You're Jew, I'm Samaritan, no21:18 comment. But now she brings up race in relationship to Jesus' father where we21:30 worship. Our father's worship in this mountain. Behind her is Mount Gerizim. Mount Gerizim is where the the Samaritan temple was located, and that's where we go to21:41 church. We go to church at Mount Gerizim. You people, y'all y'all go to church over there. Y'all go to church over there. You go to21:53 church in Jerusalem. Yeah. Watch this. We were raised different. Uh-huh. Because she says our father. Our father. That's how you were22:05 raised. Jesus, let me explain this. My daddy told me that when you wanna get close to God, you you go you go back here to Gerziel. And my daddy told me that because22:17 my granddaddy told my daddy who told me that this is God's way. And the only reason my granddaddy told my daddy who told me is because my great granddaddy told my granddaddy who told my22:29 daddy who told me that this is how we live. This is how we worship. This is our view of God. This thing has been passed down from my fathers. It's part of my history. It's part of my heritage. It's22:41 part of my background. It's how I was raised. And you people, the only reason you do what you do is because your daddy told you, because your granddaddy told your daddy who told you, and your great granddaddy told your22:51 granddaddy who told your daddy who told you. We got 2 different histories. We got 2 different backgrounds. We were raised on different sides of the track, Jesus, but different.23:04 When she brought up race the first time, Jesus had nothing to say. But when she brought his daddy into it, he gives her a whole lecture.23:16 We can have our racial differences, lady, but when you bring my father into the discussion, I gotta clarify. And, boy, does he clarify. You worship what you know23:28 not. Your daddy was wrong. Your granddaddy was wrong. Your great granddaddy was wrong, and your great great granddaddy was wrong. All your people are wrong.23:41 They're all wrong because they're not worshiping correctly. They're not worshiping the true God. You're following a tradition passed down by your parents, passed down by your23:53 race, and all of them are wrong when you bring my father into the equation. Because theology must rule anthropology and24:04 sociology and all the other allergies. You're you're you're wrong. Because when24:16 you bring my father into it, it has to have 2 qualifications, spirit and truth. It's gotta be the right heart, spirit. It's gotta emanate from24:28 the right motivation. And truth. It must operate on an objective standard. Oh, here's a24:39 problem. We are operating on illegitimate standards that are not rooted in God, rooted in culture, rooted in history,24:51 rooted in background. And all of that may be facts. Yeah. Yeah. But the question we must ask is, is it the truth? Because you can have facts25:03 and it not be the truth. Your information could be accurate and it not be the truth because the truth is an objective standard by which reality is measured. It's25:15 God's point of view on any subject. So just because you were raised a certain way, once how you were raised disagrees with what God25:27 says, how you were raised was wrong. And I'm talking about your mama and your daddy. I'm playing the dozens on you.25:41 And the problem is people reach back in their history to legitimize their decisions today when their decisions today go against the kingdom of God and25:52 God himself, but because this is me, this is my background, this is what my daddy told me, this is what my people say. So that goes on forever, year26:04 after year, decade after decade, and in our country, 240 years later. It looks like we've made some progress, but then we back up to very little progress26:16 because it's rooted in facts that are not necessarily truth. The story I like to to visit on this is you can26:28 read it sometime. Galatians 2 verse 11 through the end of the chapter. My boy, Peter. Peter. Peter was a super Jew. If26:41 Peter was a soul singer, his favorite song would be say it loud. I'm Jew and I'm proud. Isn't he not? He's he's a super Jew. 1 day, he's having devotions on his26:53 rooftop, and a sheep comes down from heaven with all these unclean animals on him. And God tells him, eat.27:05 Peter said, I can't eat that. I can't eat that. That's all unclean. All unclean. God says, don't call unclean what I call clean. I27:17 don't care about your background, your history. I don't care about all that. If I call it legit, it's legit whether it's part of your history or not. So what I want you to do27:29 is I want you to go to Cornelius' house, and I want you to tell him about me, and he's a Gentile. I know you know, you didn't grow up with Gentiles. You're not used to Gentiles. You don't like Gentiles, but I told you27:39 what to do. And so don't you talk about those people like you've been raised to thinking about those people because I just told you from heaven what I want you to do with those people27:51 in spite of the background you have. And so Peter obeys. He goes to Cornelius' house in acts 10, and he tells them about God and Cornelius, and they they all make a commitment to God. And28:03 now it's Jews and Gentiles, and they're Christians and stuff. And Peter discovered something. Then people knew how to cook. Peter discovered28:15 something. He discovered food he knew not of. He discovered pork chops because he couldn't eat pig. God but God told him you could eat anything now. So he discovered hog moss, chitlins, pig feed.28:27 He's discovered this Gentile menu. He now knows he can have bacon with his eggs now. He he has discovered he's discovered some some good28:39 stuff. So in Galatians 2, Peter is eating with the Gentiles. He's eating. He's I mean, he's that sweet Georgia brown. He's28:51 eating with the Gentiles because he can eat he can eat pork now. So he's he's eating with the Gentiles and, you know, he's sucking on the neck bone. He's he's he's he's just enjoying his29:03 pork pig eating self. We're talking pork ribs here. This guy is now eating with the Gentiles, something he would have never done growing up until he ran smack dab into God.29:15 While he's eating with the Gentiles, some of his boys from the hood show up. It says some of his Jewish brethren came29:28 and saw Peter eating with the Gentiles. Wait a minute, Pete. Wait a minute, Pete. Wait a minute, Pete. Now we're gonna have to live with them in heaven, but we don't have to hang out with them29:40 on earth. This is unacceptable for you to be with them people. They they the Bible says, the circumcision, the Jews who showed up intimidated Peter so29:52 much that Peter got up from his chair and left the Gentiles. It says the rest of the Jews who were with him got up30:03 too and walked away from the Gentiles because they didn't want to offend their own race. Peter gets up, and he's the leader. The rest get up because a mist30:15 in the pulpit is a fog in the pew. See, if our pulpits were right, we would have solved this problem of30:26 racism a long time ago. Slavery would have been solved. Jim Crow would have been30:38 solved. Segregation would have been solved. All this would have been solved. But because the pulpits were anemic and allowed to take place, the evil in America,30:50 we are still fighting that evil today because the pulpits were silent biblically on this issue, maintaining a manifest destiny31:02 ideology that was in contracts to biblical theology. But that also explains why the31:14 civil right movement was able to change it because the church got out in front of it. So Peter Peter gets up, he walks away, and there's another31:26 statement made in the story in Galatians 2. It says, even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. Oh, not my boy, Barney. Anybody31:38 but Barney. Why is Barnabas' he's the only name of the group that was there who singled out. Why you why do you say even Barnabas? What was so special about31:49 Barnabas? Well, when you read the life of Barnabas, he's the encourager. He's the 1 who who encouraged folks. He's the 1 who who when when Paul wanted to get rid of John Mark, he said, no. Don't get rid of32:01 John Mark because he's got potential. He he's the guy who's keeping things going, giving you hope. Well, the reason he singled out is because we're told in scripture Barnabas was born in Cyprus.32:13 Cyprus is a gentile colony of Rome. So he lived with Gentiles, grew up with Gentiles, went to school with Gentiles, played ball with Gentiles.32:25 He he he grew up in a Gentile environment, so he knew what it was to live with other folks. But that's how bad racism is. It'll make a good man bad.32:37 Even Barnabas, not Barney. But to satisfy not offending his own race, he disobeyed God. He'd have probably gotten away32:49 with it, except Paul wanted some pig feet too. Because according to Galatians 2, Paul says,33:01 when I saw what Peter was doing, I condemned Peter before them all. He acted a fool in public. I,33:13 in public, said to Peter, you are embarrassing the truth of the gospel. You're making Jesus Christ look bad.33:25 You're you're this is not some social decision you made. You have embarrassed Jesus Christ and the good news of the cross, which means he brings people together across racial and cultural33:36 lines at the cross. The only qualification you need at the cross is you're a sinner who needs a savior regardless of your class or your culture, and you have messed with that message.33:51 1 of my favorite verses of scripture, Galatians 2 20, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I as Christ who lives in me, the life which I now live. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and34:00 gave himself for me. That great verse many people don't know comes at the end of this story. So Paul is giving that verse to Peter to tell Peter, you got the wrong identity. Your identity34:12 first is not in your culture, your class, your background, and your history. Your identity first is in your Christ and in your Christian commitment. Because, Peter, truth34:25 overrides tradition. Truth overrides color. Black is only beautiful when it's biblical. And white34:37 is only right when it agrees with holy writ. There must be a standard by which you judge your race.34:49 And as long as it's under that standard, then you have the right to be different. God is not asking you to like soul music, and he's not asking me to like country and western. Thank God. He you you you can have35:01 all the differences you want as long as it doesn't conflict with the authority of God, the rule of God, the person of Jesus Christ, and your Christian35:13 commitment. You must be Christian first. And if we could get enough Christians to be Christian before white, Christian before black, Christian before Spanish. It35:31 doesn't take 240 years to fix this. It takes about 2 minutes and 40 seconds. We had a guy who came in our church some years ago, and he35:43 was noticing more and more Anglos coming to the church, and he's getting a little upset. He said, we get more and more Anglos joining our church. I said, yeah. He said, well, you know how they are. I said, what you mean?35:55 And, well, you know, they got this way of doing things. They don't try to take over. Blah blah blah. He went through all this stuff. And I could tell he had some bad experiences maybe. And so so he he tell me, he says,36:04 so I said, well, you better keep winning blacks to Christ so we outnumber.36:19 He said, well, I don't know if if I can stay here. I said, bye.36:31 It ain't take long.36:43 I didn't offer him a seminar, a workshop, a let's get to know each other program. Okay. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had some negative experiences racially36:55 that affected how was feeling. Good. Okay. I understand it. That happens. So we will work with you to deal with that. But what we will not let you do is let your experience control how the church of Jesus Christ works.37:14 And so what we have done is we've allowed culture and color to overrule the faith, and so you got even Christians divided all over the place. Don't know where to stand on issues. Don't know which position to take.37:26 That's because you're trying to dissect it culturally and color wise rather than biblically and spiritually, which would save you a whole lot of time. The37:38 bible said, let God be true and every man a liar when they conflict with him. And so37:51 so the story thickens as we get to this last section. The woman says, verse 25, I know when Messiah comes,38:03 he's called the Christ. When he comes, he gonna make everything alright. Boy, that doesn't that sound spiritual? When Jesus comes,38:13 everything's gonna get better. When we all get to heaven Yeah. What a day of rejoicing that will be.38:25 When we all see Jesus. Well, sing and shout the victory. Jesus said, I who speak to you am he.38:37 Lady, I'm already here. I'm already you waiting for something that you don't have to wait for.38:49 By the way, let me explain something. Whatever race you are now will be the race you will be in heaven. Let me get that straight. Whatever race you are now will be the race you are in heaven. You are eternally39:01 black. You are eternally white. You are eternally Spanish, Indian. You know, you're whatever you are39:13 now will be what you are in heaven. You are intentionally, racially profiled by God.39:24 John says in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, Revelation chapter 7 verse 9, he said, I looked up in heaven. And when I looked in heaven, I saw people from every nation, every tribe, every39:36 kindred, and every tongue. He says, I could see the differences among you. So whatever you are is what you will be. So stop putting that cream on your face.39:47 Stop staying out in the sun all day to become something different than you've been made. You have been made that way eternally.40:06 Remember our disciples remember our disciples? Verse 27. At this point, the disciples came, and they were amazed that he had been speaking with a woman, yet no 1 said, whatShow more
The Prison of the Past Tony Evans
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