The Righteousness of God and Racial Division (Part 2)

In 2nd Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (English Standard Version)

I argued that there are two realities noted in this verse and context that speak to the churches role and relationship to racial harmony: Two realities are expressed, contextually, in this verse that speak directly to the role of the church in the problems of racial exclusion: 1) the church - those reconciled back to God by faith in Christ - is to be a visible expression of what the righteousness of God looks like in a human being; 2) the church reconciled must be the active agent of reconciling all things to the Lord. We considered the first of these in the previous blog. You can read that post here.

Today I want to consider the second point, namely, that the church (Christians) must not simply reflect God's righteousness to the world but seek to conform the world to the righteousness of God. By this I mean that the church is to set right the wrongs (moral and social) that we see in society. The church is not an institution on earth that is only to be preoccupied with the reality and hope of heaven. No, we must be as desirous in making the will of God to be reflected in all of life and society as we are to get to heaven.

In 2nd Corinthians 5:18-20 Paul can be summarized as saying that the reconciled must become (have become) the reconcilers! We are not simply the reflections of God but we are the mouthpiece of God as well, seeking to bring near men and women to the grace and love of God in and through Christ. This involves both relational and social reconciliation. We are not simply concerned with human beings - though this is our greatest focus - but also with all of creation and the social order of things.

One fact about the growth of Christianity in history is that it blossomed as the church engaged in life and society bringing the mind of God to bear on all aspects of life and culture. Thus, today, the church is in a time that is incredibly difficult but, at the same time, incredibly ripe for gospel fruit and transformation. The racial challenges of our day are gifts to the church to speak life and unity over what is bringing death and disunity.

We must speak not simply to individuals; this is not enough. We must speak to, engage, and address the institutional, systemic and socially constructed realities of superiority that have long been evident in this country. This superiority complex, sadly, invades and permeates even the church and the denominations to which they belong. All institutions must be called to order themselves around the virtues of relational and racial unity.

The church must right the evils of the world with the righteousness of God. That is not a side hustle for the church. This is the focus of the church. Christ's glory is vested in His people calling all of life and reality to submission to His rule and authority. This cannot happen outside of the church. It must and can only happen in and through the church. If, however, we are not given to this design we are failing to honor the Lord as ambassadors of His kingdom. That's what ambassadors do, right? They represent the interests, goals, ethics and agenda of their country while living in another country.

As ambassadors of God we don't have a right the have an agenda that is not his agenda. We clearly don't have the right to dismiss His agenda and create our own. Therefore we must be about the task of righting the world back to God since this is His agenda. One way in which we can do this is by challenging injustices where they exists by bringing and demanding the justice of God to prevail upon and in them. God did not birth the church as ambassadors to simply exists in this world. He reconciled us and gave us the mandate to take over, on earth, for His glory!

Part of the problem of racial exclusion within the church is due to our inability (unwillingness?) to be single minded ambassadors of heaven. I think sometimes we want and defend this world's agenda in ways that, too often, evidence that our interests lay more in this country than heaven.

Let's be the righteousness of God by conforming all things to His praise and glory. May we right the evils of social injustice and racial exclusion so that heaven invades earth and that the unified ambassadors of heaven give shape to this world to reflect the will of the One who sent us.