How to Be a Human Being - Are You a Racist?

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” James 1:19

Prayer: Father in heaven, speak to us this morning. Help us to hear Your Word clearly, to see the world rightly. Help us to be wise and to be part of the healing and reconciliation that You’re doing in the world. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.

Kim and I moved to Houston over thirty years ago to work with a music production company. They liked my band and my music and they were helping us get a record deal. I know that sounds really impressive but what it really meant was that we lived in a crappy apartment in the Chinatown section near Sharpstown and I worked at Domino’s Pizza to pay the rent. Lifestyles of the rich and famous, eat your heart out. 

It was easily the most racially diverse place I ever worked. The manager was a young East Indian, and there were several other people from India who worked as drivers. There were Pakistanis, Arabs, Nigerians, Mexicans, American Blacks, Asians, and a few white people. Between deliveries we’d hang out in the back of the store, fold boxes and talk about everything under the sun. I got along with pretty much everyone. We were all risking our lives to deliver pizza in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Houston.

One of the people I grew the closest to was a musician named Ralz. We’d go see each other’s bands and we always had plenty of interesting things to talk about. He was black, he was an intellectual and a bit of an activist, he wrote politically charged songs, and he had grown up in the city. I grew up in a tiny little town in central Illinois and went to a Bible college in Missouri. I was still really new to Houston and probably came off a little like a Hillbilly Vampire—I don’t know, I’m just assuming. Ha.

One day we were talking about racism. I didn’t know what I was stepping into.

I said what many of you have probably said a thousand times. I said, “I’m not a racist. I don’t have a racist bone in my body. I don’t even think about race.”

Ever said that?

He said the fact that I don't think about it is exactly the problem. I didn't get it. 

This conversation went on for several days. Maybe weeks. We stayed friends, even when we were frustrated with each other along the way. The assistant manager was a young black lady, sometimes she’d join in the conversation. Sometimes a few of the other workers would jump in—it was our own private little united nations race relations summit.

One day I finally heard what he was saying.

He came back from a run and said, “you know, the difference between you and me is that you can go to that gas station on Harwin, walk inside, and the person behind the counter doesn’t wonder if you’re there to rob the place. It wouldn’t even cross your mind that the attendant is watching you with their finger on the alarm button just waiting for you to pocket something. I’ve known that’s probably what they’re thinking about me since I was ten years old. If you run a red light and get pulled over by a cop, you might get a ticket. I might get handcuffed if he thinks I looked at him wrong.”

I had to admit, I hadn’t ever thought about any of that. Wasn’t part of my world.

I went home and wrote a song called “Blackness.” The next day I showed him and the assistant manager the lyrics—I said, “I’m not going to be done with this song until the two of you agree that what I’ve said is right. Until you agree that I’ve articulated what you’ve been trying to tell me.” They pointed out a few things that I cleaned up but in the end they said they were good with what I had written. 

The song is on the first Atomic Opera album. I’m still friends with Ralz. He calls me “Pastor Drop D”.

Most people think racism is limited to the belief that race is the primary determining factor of human traits and capacity, and they’re only racist if they believe they are inherently superior to people of a different race. That’s pretty much what I thought it was. It’s what I was trying to explain to my black friends.

But racism is also a doctrine or political position based on the assumption of racism. Programs and institutions that are founded on racist principles. 

In other words, it’s not enough to say “I’m not racist” and then pretend like the problem doesn’t exist. We have to weed it out. Get it out of the culture wherever we find it.

Now listen, if you’re white, you don’t have to apologize for being white. If you’re black you don’t have to apologize for being black. Or Asian or Hispanic or whatever.

But you do have to be teachable. You have to be willing to listen. To search your heart for any way that you might have contributed to the problem, contributed to the division.

I don’t personally know anyone, of any ethnicity, who would stand up and say, “I’m a racist! I’m a prejudiced, hateful person, and I think my race is superior to all the other races.” I’m sure there are those people, but I don't personally know any of them. Everyone I know thinks they’re one of the good guys. 

I think there are basically three kinds of people. 

There are the wise, the foolish, and evil people.

A wise person is someone who is willing to learn. Willing to listen. Willing to change something about themselves based on conversation and information. A wise person can learn from their mistakes and own up to them. They can even learn from someone else’s mistakes. If you have a problem with a wise person, you can go to them and talk about it, and things will probably get better.

None of that is true with a fool. If you go to a fool and say you have a problem, they’re just looking for a way to get you to stop talking. They don’t want to hear it. They don’t listen to warnings. It’s always someone else’s fault. They won’t admit when they’re wrong. They’re quick to speak, quick to ignore the problem or fight about it.

And then there’s the evil person. They’ll listen to what you have to say, but only so they can use it against you. They want to hurt you. They just want to win.

With a wise person, it helps to talk with them. With a fool, it doesn’t. The only way to get their attention and get results is with consequences, like a child—until they feel the sting, they’re not gonna change. And with an evil person, it’s either time for lawyers and guns—because you need to get away from them for your own safety.

Those are pretty much the categories of people that the Bible talks about in Proverbs. The wise, the foolish and the wicked.

Sometimes we think of them as heroes, victims and villains. It’s the same thing, though. The hero is a person who’s wise and wants to make a bad situation better. A victim is a person who can’t help themselves, can’t figure out how to help themselves, blames other people. The villain is out to make a bad situation worse and hurt people for their own gain.

But we have to keep in mind—everyone thinks they’re the good guy. Everyone thinks they’re right.

What does this have to do with racism? I think it has everything to do with it.

Are we going to be wise? Are we going to be quick to listen and learn and grow? Slow to speak. Take responsibility for what we’ve said and done. Try to make things better?

Or are we going to get defensive? Not interested in what people have to say. Quick to talk over people and tell them what’s on our mind? Are we going to play the part of the fool? Not willing to learn until there are personal consequences.

No one sets out to be evil. But when we strike out in anger, speak angry words, tear people down, make personal attacks—we’re textbook wicked and evil. Doing the devil’s work.

Are we going to do what we can to make things better? Or when bad things happen to us are we going to get mad and break things? Have you noticed that the only difference between a hero and a villain is how they respond to being a victim? When something bad happens to you, what do you do with it?

I hope this is making you think about how you’ve responded to all the racial tension we’ve all been bombarded with over the last couple weeks. All the headlines about racial tension on the news. All the conversations. Have you tried to understand? Tried to listen? Tried to make the situation better? Or have you just dismissed anyone you disagree with and gone back into the safety of your same old opinions. Red Team. Blue Team. Everyone’s an idiot except me.

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” James 1:19

I think we all agree that racism is bad. I don’t think we need to spend a lot of time proving it. Adam was made in the image of God—all races flow from him. Red and yellow, black and white—we’re all really just shades of brown with almost identical DNA. And since we’re Christians, that means we think the greatest man who ever lived, the only perfect man wasn’t a white dude. Spoiler alert: Jesus is a Jew. We’re all adopted into His family now.

Kim and I were out in west Texas one time. We were visiting her parents and thought it would be interesting to visit a random little church in the mountains. It was interesting alright. The preacher started talking about poor little Jesus, what it must have been like for him to grow up a white skinned, blue eyed boy, surrounded by all those black haired Jews with dark eyes. I actually laughed—you know that forceful puff of air through the nose, kinda catches you by surprise? 

Couldn’t get out of that place fast enough. Heebies and the jeebies. 

Galatians 3:28 puts all this racist nonsense away once and for all, at least for Christians: Because it says for the church,

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The church is to gather people from every ethnicity to be the body of Christ. All brothers and sisters together. That’s our job.

Sometimes people call Christianity the “white man’s religion,” but that’s pretty short sighted. That’d be like calling Tex-Mex “white man’s food.” I don’t think we’re the ones who figured out how to refry beans or melt cheese.

We only get to come to this party because Jesus invited us. People talk about racial reconciliation. Well, that’s what Jesus did for us. He reconciled us to God. He grafted us into the vine. We are the people of God. Jesus is the one true and perfect begotten son of God, He became Israel reduced to one person. Then He invited all the non-Jews to the party. The Gentiles. You and me.

Ephesians 2:11-19 says,

“Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. (That’s some good old fashioned racism right there.) In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. (That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news:) But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. (That’s really good news. You and me have been invited to be part of the people of God. The chosen people. Believe in Jesus and be part of the church, the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. But we’re not only reconciled to God, listen…)

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. (There is a wall of hostility between the different ethnic races of the world and Jesus broke it down.) He did this by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. (A lot of the Old Testament law was to keep the Jews separate from other nations—no more.) He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. (One new people. United in Christ. The church. The people of God.) Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

(I’m just reading Ephesians chapter two. I told you last week, the Word of God is sufficient. Everybody’s talking at each other trying to figure out how offended they should be and who’s on which side—meanwhile, the answer we need is right here.) He (Jesus) brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles (red, yellow, black and white) who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

Jesus secured peace through his death, He demolished all ethnic barriers in the church. The church is the world’s most racially integrated community. One people. One big family.

Everyone’s trying to figure out how to crack the code on racial reconciliation—Jesus already did it for us. The code’s already cracked. Our job is to live it out. Tell people about it. Worship God. Love people. Be wise. Act like a hero but realize that all we really have to do is point to the real hero. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Don’t act like a victim or a fool. Don’t accuse other people of acting like a victim or a fool. There is evil in the world, there is no shortage of villains. Don’t add to the noise. Don’t add to the darkness. You are reconciled with God. You’re part of the family of God. Jesus has made you fully human.

So what does that look like?

This is a series called “How To Be A Human Being.” When we act like a racist, we end up looking like that robot in the opening video. A mockery of what a human being is supposed to be. An abomination. It’s a mockery of God. 

Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at the commandments that God has given us—the heart of God, the will of God. What it’s supposed to look like to be human. How to be a human being.

I can’t wait until next week when we start digging into this. Until then, let’s go out there and be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. God has reconciled you to Himself. He has reconciled us, made us brothers and sisters, with people of every color, every nation and every political persuasion. Let’s go out there and worship God by loving people. Slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to get angry. If you’re willing to do this in Jesus’ name then say “I will with the help of God.” (I will with the help of God.) Sounds good. AMEN.