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A Time For Humility

 

Ezekiel 28-29

 

Holiness and humility are inextricably linked. Jesus showed us that at the heart of holiness is humility. On the other hand, pride is at the root of all sin. It was pride that led to Satan’s downfall. According to the biblical world-view, behind the evil in the world there lies the devil. The Greek word for devil, diabolos, translates the Hebrew word satan. We are not told very much about the origins of Satan in the Bible. But this passage is one of the few that might give some hint of the origin of Satan.

 

Although the original context is the fall of the King of Tyre, it seems that Satan, the ruler of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), was behind the ruler of Tyre.
Read alongside Isaiah 14:12–23 and Revelation 12, it appears that both humans and Satan were created good: ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God’ (Ezekiel 28:12–13).

 

It appears that Satan was an angel: ‘You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God’ (v.14). Satan had access to the throne of grace and to the presence of the Lord. He was blameless in his ways (v.15). Instead of worshipping God on the mountain of God ‘his heart became proud, going around saying, “I’m a god. I sit on God’s divine throne, ruling the sea”’ (v.2, MSG). He was ‘trying to be a god’ (v.3, MSG). ‘By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud’ (v.5). Just as great skills and wealth can lead to pride, so can good looks: ‘Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour’ (v.17).

 

 

This is a description of self-worship, which happens when we put our success down to our own wisdom, skill and abilities (v.4), without realising that these things come from God and that we should worship him alone. Instead of worshipping the Sovereign Lord, the temptation is to worship success, wealth and beauty – the gods of our culture – they are ‘god-pretentions’ (v.7, MSG).

 

God brings down the proud and exalts the humble. As a result of his pride and sin, Satan was expelled from the presence of God: ‘you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you’ (v.16), ‘So I threw you to the earth’ (v.17; see Isaiah 14:12; Luke 10:18). Satan’s final destruction is assured (Ezekiel 28:18b–19). Jesus defeated Satan by his death and resurrection.

 

The attitude of Jesus is the complete opposite to that of Satan. He took the opposite path: ‘Who, being in very nature God… made himself nothing… he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Philippians 2:6–11).

 

Worship Jesus today. As you draw close to him throughout your lifetime you will experience these benefits – happiness, holiness and humility.

 

Lord Jesus, today I bow my knee to worship you and confess that you are Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Reprinted with permission, bibleinoneyear.org
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Feeble Evangelical Efforts at Educating Away Racism

Guest Writer: Dr. David D. Daniels

The silence about institutionalized racism from White Evangelicals is deafening and deadly. These pro-life followers of Christ would seemingly be at the forefront of the protest against racial injustice and the campaigns to eradicate racism, but they aren’t. For the most part, they stun us with their silence.
In “Untangling the White Evangelical Mind,” Mark Matlock identifies “ignorance” about race as the reason for the silence around race among these conservative Christians. According to him, “this ignorance entails whites believing they know more than they do about Black people’s plight and the United States’ racial realities. Therefore, their ignorance hinders them from critically hearing the topic of racism.”
So, is white ignorance about racism why, for nearly 45 long years, the White Evangelical movement has vociferously and vigilantly campaigned against the senseless killing of innocent unborn and yet been deafening silence on the senseless killing of innocent Black people? So, is white ignorance about racism why the senseless killing of innocent Black people warrants no righteous indignation or even quick mention in the prayers or sermons of White Evangelicals? So, is white ignorance about racism why their pro-life movement skips over the senseless killing of innocent Black people as a topic worthy of denouncement and efforts to end this injustice? In practice, does the silence of the White Evangelical movement implicitly legitimate pro-death policies targeting Black lives?
When Black Evangelicals and other conservative Black Christians explain to White Evangelicals the contradiction of being pro-life about the unborn and pro-death about Black lives, white ignorance is the cause of their inconsistency being incomprehensible? When White Evangelicals are told how race mars and kills Black people, are they, then, incapable of recognizing how race defines, privileges, and benefits them because of their ignorance about how race serves them? Is white ignorance or the lack of education regarding racism really the problem? For those who advocate the “education solution” to racism, it is.
For “education solution” proponents, reading books about race, racism, anti-racism, and white supremacy dispels ignorance. For them, White Evangelicals can read their way out of their complicity with racism into being in solidarity with anti-racism. Book sales related to publications on race shot up exponentially in June of 2020. Yet, the percentage of White Evangelicals committed to struggling against systemic racism has not. Reading alone is insufficient in confronting racism.
Others in the “education solution” camp propose interracial “friendships.” Like Matlock, they believe that interracial relationships will foster changes in attitudes about race where debates about the travesty of racism fail. While interracial relationships might change micro-aggressive anti-black behavior in some converts to the reality of racism, do these converts join the ranks of those engaging in the dismantling of racial structures and erecting structures of racial justice? If not, interracial relationships alone are inadequate in confronting racism.
What role can Christian education offer pastors and principals, you may ask? It can do a lot it appears. Christian education can introduce congregations to the “sin of racism.” Racism is more than a violation of the civil rights laws, a drain on the economy, a waste of human talents, and a crime against humanity; racism is a sin against God. For Christians who take the Bible and their faith seriously, this should shock them out of complacency about and complicity with racism. Anti-Black micro- and macro-aggression is to be denounced publicly from trafficking in racial stereotypes to racial bias in policing and hiring to racial disparities because racism is understood as a sin. White Evangelicals are known for denouncing sin, except, historically, the sin of racism. Unfortunately, they do not denounce racism today in any substantive terms.
So, why has the “education solution” proven to be ineffective? Most likely, it is because “education alone” must be joined with other approaches. For Christians to depend on education in reading about race, hearing about race through interracial relationships, or learning about racism as sin from sermons or Sunday School underestimates racism’s gravity and pervasiveness. Racism being sin shows that sin fails to be educated away. It is a heresy to teach that the sin of racism can be educated away.
Just recall for a moment that the police killing of George Floyd on 25 May, 2020 ignited the current outrage about racism. A best-selling book, an award-winning televised interview, a mesmerizing viral sermon, a paradigm-shifting set of congressional hearings, or a renowned educational curriculum on race was the cause. A death sparked these current protests. The death of George Floyd sparked this particular national reckoning about race. Along with Breonna Taylor and others’ death, his death opened many eyes about the American racial reality. Black people had to be killed before some White Evangelicals “realized” that racial injustice existed in the United States.
Since this is the case, the “education solution” is obviously inadequate. Yet, it is immoral for White Evangelicals only to begin to realize that the system of racism is deadly after police blatantly kill Black people. For the sake of the gospel, White Evangelicals must find a better way to break their silence about structural racism and enter into solidarity with anti-racism without needing the shedding of more Black blood. Education can not be their sole strategy. So, which multi-facet and multi-dimensional approaches might they borrow or develop to break the silence about race, dismantle the system racism, and institutionalize racial justice?
We welcome solution based responses from you, the reader, that can begin to move the country forward in a positive way.

 

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Reflections On Being A White Male In A Time Of Racial Unrest 

Guest Writer:  Mark Matlock

 

White guys are under attack, or at least it feels that way. I’ve been reflecting on what this means and what I’ve learned and continue to learn about myself.

 

1. I can’t help that I am a white guy. It’s who I am, but I recognize that this does not excuse me from hurting other people knowingly or unknowingly. In fact, I may have added responsibility for undoing the wrong being done.

 

2. The “unknowingly hurting people” aspect is what I struggle with most. I don’t like to be considered ignorant and I don’t like being blamed for doing something I don’t think I did. Yet, I’m coming to realize more and more that I am part of a problem even though I’m not consciously participating. This is white privilege, I don’t like that word, because it sure doesn’t feel like privilege, but the world I live in was built by white men for the benefit of white men. Does a fish understand water? Only when they leave it.  I am the fish.

 

3. If I engage the conversation, I will eventually say the wrong thing. That’s okay. I need to learn from that. Better to engage and stumble than remain in my ignorance.

 

4. I unknowingly hurt people of color because of systemic racism. Systemic Racism really exists, my use of the dictionary definition of “racism”  to prove it doesn’t is, in fact, an example of systemic racism.

 

5. This thing called white fragility is real. I don’t like it because I’m not fragile, or maybe its because a woman wrote the book (“she has an agenda,” “she doesn’t know me,” “I’m not fragile you’re trying to make me that way”… wait is this my racism coming out?)

 

6. … but I read the book and wow… for the most part it captures my experience and what I observe in my other white guy friends. I’m tired of talking about race, being aware of myself as a white person all the time. It’s exhausting… oh wait everything I just wrote about being white is almost exactly what my friends of color have been saying for years. Hmmm.

 

7. What I consider to be healthy, vibrant conversations about race are often seen by people of color as a display of my white supremacy. Has my whiteness shaped the way I interact and discuss this topic?… it appears that might be the case.

 

8. I like to have an opinion about everything, I argue and move on, but these issues are deeply felt to affected people and they can’t move on. I need to treat this discussion with the  respect and weight it deserves.

 

9. I hide behind reason, logic and rational thought as superior tools,  forgetting this is a conversation about relationships, and that requires some other tools in the toolkit I don’t use as often like humility, submission, empathy, and love.

 

10. I like to be funny, my humor on this issue doesn’t reveal my cleverness, it often hurts people and gets me in trouble.

 

11. I’m not as curious about people as I give myself credit for. I need to ask more questions to learn why “I don’t get it.”

 

12. I want my friends of color to rescue me, to give me props, to validate me as one who gets it. They are true friends when they don’t but rather confront me.

 

13. White guys will most likely never be woke. There’s a moment you might think you are, then you realize you aren’t. It’s not about being “woke”, it’s about people experiencing equality, understanding is what is important.

 

14. Time… straight white cisgender men want to solve problems and move on (don’t believe me ask your spouse) … reconciliation is a relationship word. It’s not all in the head, this isn’t an easy fix.

 

15. Re-read your first point.

 

Mark Matlock has been working with the parents, ministers and non profits for nearly three decades and he’s spoken live to more than 1 million teenagers. He is the principal at WisdomWorks, a consulting firm that helps Christian leaders leverage the transforming power of wisdom to accomplish their mission. Mark is the former executive director of Youth Specialties and the creator of PlanetWisdom Student Conferences. In all his free time, he has written more than twenty books for teens and their parents including Faith For Exiles with David Kinnaman, President Barna Research.
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Creating Space for Grace

 

“If you make yourself the main character in the story,

then you’ll evaluate everything that happens by its effect on you

not the affected.”

 

As Christians grapples with the issue of race, it has become apparent that many don’t perceive reality the same. Most are operating under different beliefs and stimuli which come from experiences, something heard, or something read. Facts and truth have differing definitions.  When we interpret through the lens of our self-centered view, the actions of others often make no sense, and frustrate, hurt or infuriate us. But can you see that it can cause problems, inhibit understanding and empathy. 

What you believe about a person or event will determine how you label them. The labels you use will allow you to project valence and dictate your actions to engage or disengage.

As used in psychology, valence means the intrinsic attractiveness (positive valence) or averseness (negative valence) of an event, object, or situation. It is typically easier to use the “other” as a projective object. Efforts, by Blacks, to change their conditions are labeled as social justice, Marxism, critical race theory, cancel culture, or progressive Christianity. Push back or disagreement by Whites is labeled as fragility, racism, privilege, or conservatism. Somehow, Christianity has settled into cultural norms rather than setting the standards for cultural norms based on God’s Word.  We abandon Kingdom conversation of unity for cultural dialogue that divides. America is becoming more and more multiracial, warranting a broader recognition of those who do not fit into a society’s clear-cut notions of race.

Language matters and there is a confusion of the slogan Black Lives Matter – a plea to secure the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans, especially historically wronged Blacks, with the organization called Black Lives Matter – which has a specific and stated agenda. Maybe a new slogan should be created to separate the movement from the organization. These three words are dissected ad nauseum. We have to unravel the narratives taught in some churches today that assume this movement of Biblical justice being worked out within society is about property and jealousy. Those that oppose the movement use “Thou shall not steal or covet” as the defense to ignore reality. Let’s be clear, the movement is about how you got it, not that you have it. Others say using the word “Black” as the presupposition ignores the transcendent God-ordained meaning of life – The Imago Dei. Some pastors are asking to whom and in what way does it matter? I’ve even heard pastors say that the phrase assigns guilt based on ethnicity which isn’t Biblical. We are all imperfect sinner who moves in faith.  These are brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s stop throwing other Christians under the bus from the pulpit. A mist in the pulpit can become a fog in the pews. Let’s not forget Sunday’s became and still is the most segregated day of the week.

These pastors cap off their messaging by labeling it ALL as Communism or Marxism. Using the old playbook, going back to the ’50’s and ’60’s, labeling any principle that attempts to obtain a level playing field for all. M.L. King was viewed as a Communist for calling out the situation people faced. The reality was that King’s view of Communism was that it was fundamentally incompatible with Christianity. The central issue King was calling out was the defense of the gulf between superfluous wealth and abject poverty.

As Christians, we cannot ignore or excuse the past sins. We must confront them, repent for them, and find ways to correct the actions that may allow them to continue. If you see God’s image in you as more valuable than the image of God in those different from you, you have lifted yourself to be better than the other person. That is about “have no other idols before God” and “thou shall not bear false witness”.  God’s summarized the commandments because we tend to prioritize to fit our needs – “Love God and to Love your neighbor.” One cannot say “I love God” but hates their neighbor or has nothing to do with their neighbor. Because God is love, we are able to love. Love pleases the Lord and makes one worthy of the Lord’s saving grace. From God’s love, mercy and compassion follow.

My prayer is that when our strength is fading in a world of moral decline, self-interest, and cultural confusion that integrity will shine as a light upon a hill.  Only by coming together across geography, race, class, denomination, age, across all the differences that really do NOT matter, will we be able to listen to each other. It’s only by embracing one another in a spirit of love and collaboration that we create space to grow in grace together.