I
really don’t understand the ‘Racial Reconciliation’ movement in the PCA.
Apparently, it started at the GA in 2015 as a time to seek forgiveness for
being non-active during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. It seems
that it has turned into a denominational-wide movement for the sins of some to which
we may have all become guilty. My question then for the people leading
this movement is, ‘What are the charges that are being made against us
today that require reconciliation?’ For if there is to be reconciliation,
we first need to identify our sins and then make confessions and repentance of
them.
Many more questions come to mind in the discussion of reconciliation. Do we
see that the primary need of all people is not racial reconciliation but
Spiritual reconciliation? Do we distinguish between the injustice of
racism between men, and the offense of sin that all mankind has before a holy
God? Are we teaching that even the political realm needs to come under the Lordship of Christ? Did the leaders of the Civil Rights movement persuade men to trust
in Christ or to seek legislation from the federal government? It’s one thing to fight for civil rights and it’s
a completely different matter to proclaim the gospel of Christ. I believe
the church’s primary responsibility is in proclaiming the need for salvation
and Spiritual reconciliation in Christ alone. From this foundation, all ministries found in Scripture can be developed.
The
church should ask what priority, therefore, the Racial Reconciliation movement comes
under. We should first consider the priorities
from the Scriptures of – the Gospel, Discipleship, Family,
Vocation, and then Missions. In the inner cities or suburban
areas, all churches are called to the Word of God and the whole counsel of
God. We must worship God in all of life because of the gospel of grace in
his Son Jesus. Then we are called to grow in our knowledge and
Spirituality as disciples in all aspects of faith and practice. We are
also called to Christian marriage and family, to be responsible to protect and
provide for our children, and to raise them in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. In addition, we are called to fulfill the vocation of the
creation mandate in being fruitful and multiplying and having dominion over all
creation and to seek first the kingdom of God. This all leads to the
various missions we are called to by going into the world with the gospel
to all people. Foreign missions and
mercy ministries are just two aspects of missions for which Christians are
called. But we are first called to be reconciled with God and then with our fellow men.
The Spiritual reconciliation
of the sinner to Christ is the only reconciliation that will bring a change to
the broken and sinful heart. Before all the various aspects of ministry
that the Christian church will be engaged in, we must first remember the words
of Jesus in John 3:3, “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We
must also proclaim that all people and races need Christ because we all are
sinners. For Paul reminds us in Romans 3:9-12, “What then? Are we
Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both
Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no,
not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have
turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not
even one.” And Paul continues in Romans 3:22-23, “For there
is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and
are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.” The primary mission of the Christian church is always to proclaim the Spiritual reconciliation that comes from the gospel of
Christ alone.
This gospel of Christ proclaims that “both Jews and Greeks, are under
sin,” which means all races are sinful, that we all need Christ for salvation.
Spiritual reconciliation also refocuses all our ministries toward Christ
as he taught in Mark 12:29-31, “The most
important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Our primary calling is to love the Lord God with
all our being, and this becomes our joy and strength. The second then is, as Jesus taught, to love our neighbor.
This is the
perspective that all Christian churches need whether in urban or rural areas, whether in our country or in foreign missions. In this love for God, by the love we have from God, we are then able to
love our neighbor with the same agape love we have been given in Christ. Spiritual
reconciliation gives us a Spiritual orientation for all of life
so that we then can seek to do all things to advance the kingdom of God.
The church must recognize the first priority of loving God and proclaiming the gospel of Christ as this also empowers us for ministry. I believe
that ‘Spiritual Reconciliation' is the primary mission of the church
from which nothing can compare, and by which the gospel can truly reform the
city of man.
