#SC15 The Gospel and Ethnicity

Got a package in the mail today at the office. Excited to take a look at this study called "Red Revolution" by Adam Thomason.

Adam is a part of my doctoral cohort and it has been an honor to get to know him. Adam is one of the smarter men I have ever met and definitely worth having on your radar.

"Native of Detroit, Michigan, A.D. has made it through adverse circumstances, be it violence, broken homes, racial discrimination and more. A.D. has over seventeen years of experience as it pertains to preaching and teaching the peace of Jesus in ethnically divided countries, cultures, sub-cultures and relationships." (from www.iamredrev.com)

For more information on Adam, check him out here.

This is an area that is very important and should be addressed in the Church. The host of Secret Church, David Platt, will talk on this next Friday, and addresses the issue of the Gospel and ethnicity in his latest book "Counter Culture." He writes,

"Within chapters of the Bible, that wickedness spills over into wars among nations and conflicts among clans. The more different people mix together, the more they mistreat one another. The pages of the Bible and human history are thus filled with an evil affinity for ethnic animosity.

These same pages reveal a God with a passion for all people groups...God calls one group of people to become his own in Genesis 12. God promises to bless these ethnic Israelites, but the purpose of his blessing extends far beyond them...This promise is reiterated over and over in the Old Testament as God declares his desire for all nations to behold his greatness and experience his grace...

When Jesus comes to the earth in the New Testament...Jesus came not just as Savior and Lord of Israel; he came as Savior and Lord of all.

This realization became the foundation for the call to ethnic unity in the establishment of the church...

These words beautifully describe the unique power of the gospel to reunite people from (and, for that matter, within) different ethnic groups. And it makes sense doesn't it? For in the beginning, sin separated man and woman from God and also from one another. This sin stood (and stands) at the root of ethnic pride and prejudice. When Christ went to the cross, he conquered sin, making the way for people to be free from its hold and restored to God. In so doing, he paved the way for all people to be reconciled to one another. Followers of Christ thus have one 'Father' as one 'family' in one 'household,' with no 'dividing wall of hostility' based upon ethnic diversity." (Platt, Counter Culture, 197-200).

What a great reminder and challenge that I look forward to hearing Platt expound upon during Secret Church next Friday! Looks like we will just have to wait one more week. In the meantime, Mary and I are sitting down to watch the movie "Exodus: Gods and Kings" which is based on the opression of the Hebrew people in Egypt, and their escape to wander in the wilderness before entering the promise land. What a great Biblical story and representation of the Gospel, that we are slaves that can only be rescued from our oppression by a redeemer that will lead us into the Promise Land where we will dwell in the presence of God!