AS FOLLOWERS OF JESUS WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT RACISM?

“Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1:26-27.

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress. This act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels, discriminatory employment practices, and segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools. But 60 years later, race and racism remain a hot topic.

As Christians, we believe this is a gospel issue. It is not just a social issue. Or a political or economic issue. This is an important issue for the church and all of us who are followers of Jesus. The Bible condemns all forms of racism and teaches that every human being is created with equal dignity and God-given worth.

If we take a few seconds to remember that every person was conceived by God before they were conceived by your parents. They were loved by God before they were known on earth. And every person is made in God’s image.

Genesis tells us that all people have been created in God’s image. When we say everyone is made in God’s image, everyone has great value, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. This belief, which is central to Christianity, helps us understand that every person has value regardless of ethnicity, nationality, creed, sexual orientation, or outward appearance.

People have been searching for the antidote to racism for years. The antidote is to love as Jesus does. You can’t love someone like Jesus does and harbor racism and prejudice in your heart toward another person. Jesus gets very specific about this in John 15:12: “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” Jesus loves every person unconditionally, freely, completely, and continually.

If God created every ethnicity, died for every ethnicity, and brought every ethnicity into His everlasting kingdom, then we need to get in line with God’s view of every ethnicity. We share the same beginning, the same problem of sin, the same solution at the cross of Christ, the same destiny of heaven if we are children of God. We have a whole lot more in common than sets us apart. The things that unite us are bigger and better than those that make us different.

Revelation 7:9-10 adds, ”After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

Discussion Questions:

1. What does it mean to be created in the “image of God”?
2. Do you find it difficult and/or scary to enter into the conversation about diversity and racial issues? If so why or why not?
3. What kind of conversations do you think that Christians need to have that will lead to real change?