SCRIPTURE: Revelation 7:9-12 (ESV)
DATE: 1-14-18
It’s good to be with all of you at Gateway Church this weekend. And one thing I want you to know — and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time with us or if you’re worshiping at our North Main campus — one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
And we are in the second week of our series “Under God?” As you know, our nation’s pledge of allegiance ends with the words “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
And one thing I’m sure we can agree on — regardless of your political affiliation — is that our country isn’t living up to its pledge. We’re not indivisible — we’re a nation divided.
We divide ourselves by any way imaginable. Political parties, genders, socio-economic brackets, educational backgrounds, the color of our skin — you name it — we divide over it — we’re a nation divided. And though we say we want liberty and justice for all — not everyone in our nation experiences liberty and justice.
Now my goal — in this series — isn’t just to make political jabs — I try to avoid being political — but there are times when a pastor must look around and ask, “What do the people entrusted under my care need to hear?” And as I look out at our nation, there appear to be a lot of people claiming to follow Jesus and yet they have a greater allegiance to their political party than they do to Jesus.
So I’m trying to remind us that if you claim to follow Jesus — you must have a stronger allegiance to Him than to a political party — and what God has said on any issue should be what you say on the issue. Not only when God’s Word agrees with your political party — but even more so when God’s Word disagrees with your political party.
Last week, we began this series by looking at what it would mean for us to be under God. We looked at who God is and why His view on any topic should matter most to us.
So if you’re just joining us, know that today I won’t be taking time to defend why beginning with God and His Word — the Bible — is the best place to begin when it comes to addressing these issues — that’s what we looked at last week. So if you disagree with my starting point today — that we must begin with God’s view — I’d encourage you to go watch last week’s sermon so you better understand where I’m coming from and why I believe starting with God is the most compelling place to begin.
Next week, we’ll look at God’s view of life — what does God say about the dignity and value of life? Whose life matters to Him? Who exactly should be included when we say “liberty and justice for all”?
In two weeks, we’ll look at God’s view of marriage. How does God define marriage and why should His definition of marriage matter most to us?
And today, we’re going to look at God’s view of race — I want to focus in on race because our country has a deep history of division due to the diversity of races among us.
ANNOUNCE THE TEXT
But first, let’s begin with God’s Word. If you have your Bible please turn with me to the book of Revelation. We’ll be looking at chapter seven — verses nine through twelve.
And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is hear from you. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text your question to the number printed on the handout you were given on your way in or you can submit it on the Gateway app.
RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT
Here are the words found in Revelation chapter seven. Beginning in verse nine.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”” (Revelation 7:9-12 ESV)
SERMON INTRODUCTION
Of all the sermons I’ve preached, I’ve never felt so inadequate than to preach on race. Being that I’m a white male, I went into this series thinking this sermon would be better received coming from someone else. But a conversation last week encouraged me. I took my kids to the Black Heritage Library and Multicultural Center here in Findlay and had a conversation with Jerome, who’s a black man.
And I told Jerome about my hesitation in preaching this sermon. And — I’m paraphrasing — but essentially he said, “I’m glad you didn’t get a black man to preach at your church. When a black man speaks on race no one listens. It’s what everyone expects a black man to talk about — so they tune him out. But if a white man speaks on race — everyone listens. Because no one expects a white man to talk about race.”
Now I’m going to trust more in the power of God’s Word than in me being a white man — and I’m thankful for Jerome’s encouraging words — but I just want to begin by acknowledging my complete dependence on God to use this sermon for His glory and your good as I preach on race.
And I know that our congregation is predominately white — so is our local area. Hancock County is 93% white, 2% Asian, 2% Black. Findlay is about the same — 91% white, 2% Asian, 2% Black, 2% Native American — so we don’t live in a diverse community. I bring this up because — in a non-diverse community — it can be hard to feel the weightiness of the division our nation is experiencing because of race.
- It’s tempting to want to push the issues of race and racism into history and act like we’ve moved past them.
- It’s easy to not think about these issues because — if you’re white — nearly everyone you see, meet, and interact with in Findlay is white.
- But if you’re a minority, I know you feel the whiteness of our community — you can’t help but feel the whiteness.
But division over race isn’t going away in our nation. We’re a nation divided because of the color of our skin. And though we claim to be a nation that promotes “liberty and justice for all” that liberty and justice doesn’t seem to be equally distributed among the races in our nation.
Some quick examples. According to the NAACP’s Death Penalty Fact Sheet, quote “In states across the country, African Americans are disproportionately represented on death row and among those who have been executed. Black people make up 13 percent of the population, but they make up 42 percent of death row and 35 percent of those executed. [i] In addition, many studies have found the race of the victim affect[s] who receives the death penalty, with homicides of white victims more likely to result in the death penalty.[ii]
Federal death row is no different. There are 63 people on federal death row, and 37 are people of color.[iii] Several reviews of the federal death penalty have found troubling racial disparities in charging, plea bargaining, sentencing, and executions.[iv] …a review conducted by the United States Department of Justice found that 48 percent of White defendants were able to receive a sentence less than death through plea bargaining. Yet, only 25 percent of Black defendants and 28 percent of Hispanic defendants were able to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences.” end quote
And as I read those facts most of you weren’t aware of how your skin color affected how you were responding to them. Here’s what I mean. The Pew Research conducted a study to see how your race affects the way you see the issue of racism in our country — including how we respond to statistics like I just shared. And their research found some alarmingly wide gaps in how various races perceive the treatment of minorities in the US.
Quote “The Pew Research Center study reveals wide gaps — of 30 percentage points or more — separating black and white opinions on whether blacks are treated unfairly when dealing with the police, in the court system, when applying for a loan or a mortgage, or generally in the workplace. It also shows half of blacks say blacks are treated less fairly in stores and restaurants.” end quote
Just in our local paper, I’ve seen article after article highlighting our division over race. From white male students in a NW Ohio Christian organization video recording themselves saying racial slurs with a Confederate Flag to a Toledo area middle school having the students sing a song titled “Cotton Needs Pickin’” during its Fall concert.
And I don’t have to focus only on instances of racism towards blacks — it’s just that our black/white division as a nation is just as wide as ever and it’s time we Christians think through God’s view of race. How does God view people whose skin color isn’t white? What’s God’s view of the black man? And how should God’s view of race shape our view of race?
TEXT SETTING
So in our passage — from the book of Revelation — we have a vision of Heaven. The apostle John is caught up in a vision and he’s seen and heard all kinds of things — but I want us to jump right into his vision — because in our verses he sees this beautiful picture of eternity. And I want to try and keep us out of the weeds — as Revelation is a book everyone likes to get way down in the weeds with — and I just want us to see this glorious 30,000 foot — big picture — view of Heaven.
And in John’s vision we see this.
PROPOSITION
“The diversity of races is holy because all races are created by a holy God.” The diversity of races — in our nation and the world — the diversity is holy because all races are created by a holy God.
I’ll be defending this throughout the sermon, but for now — as we learned last week — because God is holy, everything He creates — everything He establishes — is holy. That’s the byproduct of being created by a holy God — what He creates is holy. And what I’m telling you is that the diversity of races — the diversity in the colors of our skin — is a beautiful — is a good — is a holy thing because all of the races — all of the skin colors — are created by a holy God.
Now I want to begin by highlighting two things from our text.
MAIN POINT 1
First, notice “the diversity of Heaven.” The diversity of Heaven. Look with me in Revelation seven — verse nine.
“After this I (John) looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes…” (Revelation 7:9a ESV)
Look at the diversity of Heaven. Every nation will be represented. Every tribe. Every people group. Every language. Every nation, tribe, people, and language will be represented in Heaven for all eternity. If you’re on the path leading to eternal life know that you will spend eternity with people who won’t look like you, they won’t speak like you, they won’t be from the same country as you — in fact — some of them will be from countries you’re scared to travel to — yet they call that country home.
And I bring this up to ask some questions.
- In Heaven, will there be sin? The correct answer is no.
- In Heaven, will there be brokenness? Again, the answer is no.
- In Heaven, will anything be imperfect, blemished, or incomplete? Again, not trying to trick you — and I know one or two of you are thinking — well Jesus will still have the scars from the nails — and you’re right — but what about us — any imperfection, blemish, or incompleteness about us? No. That’s what the white robes indicate — perfection.
So then, the color of someone’s skin is not due to sin and does not make them inferior in any way because — in Heaven — there will be a diversity of races yet every person in Heaven will be perfect, unblemished, and complete.
And — as a church — we should long to represent Heaven on Earth. Now we’ve acknowledged that we don’t live in a very diverse community, but we should celebrate the diversity we do have — and we should strive for even greater diversity — because the church — the people of God as seen in local congregations — should be a small glimpse of Heaven for the world to see. And we’ve seen that there’s diversity in Heaven. And this diversity is a good thing — it’s a holy thing.
The second thing I want us to see is this.
MAIN POINT 2
“The worship of Heaven.” The worship of Heaven. Look again in verse nine of Revelation chapter seven.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”” (Revelation 7:9-12 ESV)
What a beautiful picture of the worship of Heaven. The people — this diverse group of people — have palm branches in their hands — which is a sign of victory. And they cry out together — this diverse group of people are unified — they worship with one voice saying — “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb” — the Lamb being Jesus Christ.
And then the angels, and elders, and the four living creatures — another group John sees — in response to the worship of the people — they begin to worship. And they same “Amen” — “we agree with what you all have said — but we’ll add some worship of our own” — and then they praise God for His glory and wisdom, and power, and so on.
And — again — the point is to notice the diversity and the worship of Heaven. The unity of races that we long for in our nation — that our pledge of allegiance talks about achieving — will be a reality one day in Heaven even if it’s never a reality in the USA. Yet many of us live as if this isn’t even a concern to God. Yet God has a concern for — He loves — people of all skin colors because the diversity of races is His idea — He came up with diversity — and He says it is good and holy.
Now for the remainder of our time, I want to answer one question. And that question is this.
MAIN POINT 3
How is this possible? How will this vision of Heaven become our eternal reality? These are the remaining fill in the blanks you have on your handout. So how is this racially diverse — yet unified — full of worship — vision of Heaven possible? Really what we’re trying to figure out is not what divides — but what unites this diverse group of people. So what are the implications of John’s vision?
First, we all have one ancestor in Adam. We all have one ancestor in Adam. We’ll be looking at this passage in more detail in the coming weeks, but in Genesis chapter one we read, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Genesis 1:26-28 ESV)
Then in Genesis two we get a zoomed in account of the creation of mankind and we see Adam — the man — being formed first from the dust of the ground — and then God breathed life into him. Then the woman — Eve — was formed out of Adam — and all of us have Adam and Eve as our starting point — humanly speaking. And this fact unites us together.
Just like at family reunions — when you hang out with distant relatives who all have a common lineage — maybe grandparents or great grandparents — all of mankind is one big family regardless of the color of our skin. Because if you go back far enough, we all begin with two people: Adam and Eve.
And — here’s something crazy to think about — Jesus shares this ancestry with us. In the gospel of Luke we read a passage we tend to skim through — a genealogy. But the one in Luke three is Jesus’ genealogy — His human ancestry. And after a long list of names, in verse thirty-eight, we come to “the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Luke 3:38 ESV)
Look at that. Even Jesus’ ancestry includes Adam.
Now science, hasn’t discovered anything different — it has some theories — it has some incomplete evidence up to this point — and even with advancements in genetic research and all of the amazing things science is telling us about our ancestry — so far — science has gotten us to a common group of a few thousand people. But I’m sure if science keeps searching, it will discover something amazing — that all of us come from an even smaller group of ancestry. I’m thinking science will eventually discover we all come from one man and one woman.
So the first implication of John’s Heavenly vision is that we all have one ancestor in Adam.
Second, sin is what divides us; not the color of our skin. A second implication of John’s vision is that sin is what divides us; not the color of our skin. Just a few chapters after the creation story, we read, “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:1-9 ESV)
Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve — our ancestors — trusted the Serpent instead of God. One result of their sin is that they passed down their sin nature to their ancestors — including you and me. And one example of this sin nature is found in our pride — our wanting to make a name for ourselves instead of making much of the name of God. And that’s what we see in the story of Babel. The people were prideful — full of themselves — wanting to make a name for themselves — so God confused their language — but it was their sin that divided them.
And that’s what sin does. It causes division between us and God and it causes division between us and one another. Every division we cause, every division we experience, every division we see in our nation has — at its root — is caused by — sin.
Jesus’ half brother James writes, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:1-3 ESV)
The Bible is clear and consistent on this issue. The cause of our division — the cause of all division — is our sin — and sin is within each and every one of us. We want something. We don’t have it. So we do whatever it takes to get it — some are even willing to take the life of someone else to get whatever it is they want.
James says “You want something. You don’t have it. So you fight with others over it. And even when you ask for something, your motives aren’t pure — they’re tainted with sin — so it doesn’t even matter what you want — you want it for all the wrong reasons.”
Do you see how corrupt you are? How sin polluted you are? How impure your motives are? Sin is the cause of our division; not the color of our skin.
Yet rarely do we acknowledge our own sin — and here I’m speaking to those of us who follow Jesus — forget our nation — what about us who follow Jesus — how rare it is for us to acknowledge our sin as the cause of our division — and instead blame our division on other things.
Yet the beautifully diverse worship that’s taking place right now — and will take place in Heaven for all eternity — will only be experienced by those who see their sin as the root cause of all divisions — division in our nation — division in the church — division in our marriages — division between races — all division is because of our sin.
Yet one day sin will be no more and then we will not only know — but will experience — the beauty of perfect unity.
Finally, only one division matters. The final implication of John’s vision is that only one division that matters. The apostle Peter describes it this way. “As you come to him (Peter’s referring to Jesus — as you come to Jesus), a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:4-10 ESV)
The only division that matters is whether or not you believe in Christ. But notice that believing is more than just something done in your head. For Peter says those who don’t believe stumble because they disobey the Word of God.
So true belief in Jesus comes with obedience to His Word — the Bible — which has a huge implication — namely — you can’t obey God’s Word if you don’t know God’s Word. And when you disobey the Word, true belief comes with repentance and sorrow because you’ve been unloving and unkind towards the One who has “called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.”
And did you catch what God does to those who believe in His Son? He makes them all one race — they are now the chosen race. How unifying is that? No longer is race a skin color issues for the Christian — at least God says it shouldn’t be — because through faith in Christ you are a new kind of race — a chosen race — a race that is beyond skin color.
The only division that matters is whether or not you believe in Christ. Are you part of God’s chosen race? For God’s chosen race — is beautifully diverse. The people of God’s chosen race come from all times and all places. They come from all nations and all socioeconomic brackets. They speak different languages and — yes — the people of God’s chosen race will have all kinds of skin colors.
CHRIST CONNECTION
And this is all possible because — as Peter says — Christ is the cornerstone. And either you trip over Him to your eternal destruction or you become united to Him — and to all of the other stones — the other people — who are being built into a Heavenly temple — a place of eternal worship — a beautifully diverse people who are united together because they believe and worship Jesus Christ.
SERMON CONCLUSION
So John’s vision shows us the beautifully diverse worship of Heaven.
And here are some final thoughts on what this vision means for us — here are some things we can do — even in our not so diverse community — when it comes to promoting unity among races in our nation.
First, this is Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Did you know there’s a Unity Walk” in Findlay — to promote racial unity — that’s been going on since 1989? This year the walk starts literally across the street from our North Main campus. The walk is at 6pm on Monday night. They walk to Winebrenner Seminary, have a short time of prayer, and then return to Church of the Living God for a presentation on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. This is a kid friendly event and FREE! And it’s a great first step — especially if you’re white — to show support to people of other races. Be sure to check your email from us this past week to find out more info about the walk.
Second, could you take time to appreciate the people in our congregation who make us racially diverse? Connect to them. Invite them into your home. Ask them to join your life group. Thank them for giving up so much to be part of your dominantly white church. It’d do us white people some good to realize how much some in our congregation give up to be part of Gateway. They’ve given up their black culture or Asian culture — or whatever their native culture is — to come to a completely different kind of church — a white church.
So thank you — those of you who help us to have diversity. You put up with more than we realize. And I’m thankful for your maturity because you’ve given up far more than most of us white folks would ever be willing to give up to be part of a church.
And, finally, don’t stay ignorant regarding race issues. It’s easy to do so in our non-diverse community, but our nation is divided over race and it’s constantly boiling over in forms of violence, in arguments, in soundbites from both political parties that create more division — not unity. And unless we — God’s people — not only demonstrate unity among the races — but fight for liberty and justice for all races in our country — our pledge is nothing more than a dream. And those of us who follow Jesus must never forget that our fight for unity — and our display of unity — will show our nation that the gospel has the power to bring about the hope our nation was founded on. We must show our nation God’s view of race. And He says that all races are holy because all races were created by Him.
Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, You are holy. And all that You have made is holy. And You’ve made humanity in a beautiful diversity of colors. And You have said, “It is very good.” So help us, Father, to be a people who give our nation a taste of the unity of Heaven — of the worship that’s happening in Heaven right now. May we be a gathering of people who recognize we’re all one family — because we have one ancestor in Adam. May we be a people who confess the sin that divides us — because sin — not the color of our skin — is the cause of our division. And may we be a people who know the only division that matters is whether or not a person believes in Your Son, Jesus. Father, help us to so love others that we share with them the Good News of what Jesus has done for people of all races. For Your gospel — Your Good News — is the only power that gives liberty and justice to all who believe it.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
BENEDICTION
God loves every single person in the world — no matter their skin color. So let’s go show them the unifying power of God’s love. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.