ETHNICITY

We live in a culture where we are constantly submerged in discussions about race and racism. We have conversations and host forums, sponsor debates and foster dialogues, write articles and give speeches about how to solve racial tension in our culture. But could it be that the gospel not only counters culture on this issue but reshapes the conversation about race altogether?

Consider the starting point in the gospel: the creation of man and woman in the image of God with equal dignity before God. This means that no human being is more or less human than another. All are made in God’s image. It is a lack of trust in this gospel truth that has led to indescribable horrors in human history. Slavery in America, the Holocaust in Germany, the Armenian massacre in Turkey, the genocide in Rwanda, and the Japanese slaughter of six million Koreans, Chinese, Indo-Chinese, Indonesians, and Filipinos all derived from the satanic deception of leaders and citizens who believed that they were intrinsically superior to other types of people. From the first chapter of the Bible, however, this much is clear: all men and women are made in the very likeness of God. The Bible’s story line depicts a basic unity behind worldly diversity.

Throughout history Christians have failed to understand how the gospel affects the way we view and love people of different ethnicities. My hope and prayer is that this would not be what historians write concerning the church in our day. The body of Christ is a multicultural citizenry of an otherworldly kingdom. By the sheer grace of God in the gospel, we are compelled to counter selfish pride and ethnic prejudice both in our hearts and in our culture. For this is not the culture to which we ultimately belong. Instead, we are looking forward to the day when “a great multitude that no one [can] number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9) will stand as one redeemed race to give glory to the Father who calls us not sojourners or exiles, but sons and daughters.

PRAY

Ask God to:

• Open the eyes of all believers (including your own) to selfish pride and sinful prejudice and to grant repentance.
• Protect and provide for immigrants and their families and to put believers in their paths to minister to them.
• Give the leadership of the United States (and other governments) wisdom in addressing the issue of immigration.

PARTICIPATE

Prayerfully consider taking these steps:

• Talk with the leadership of your church about partnering in ministry with a church whose members are of a different ethnicity from yours.
• Open your home to someone from a different people group. Consider specifically international students, as the vast majority of these individuals never have an opportunity to go inside the home of an American family.
• Begin a ministry to immigrants in need in your local area. Provide food, shelter, and help with the language. Most important, proclaim the gospel to them.

PROCLAIM

Consider the following truths from Scripture:

• Acts 17:26: “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”
• Deuteronomy 10:19: “Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
• Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

For more (and more specific) suggestions, visit CounterCultureBook.com/Ethnicity.