Dr. King and the Gospel
Written By Derek Carson in 2014. Republished in 2020.
At the March on Washington in August 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously declared his dream of seeing this nation "rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
Elaborating on his dream, Dr. King shared that he wished "sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners [would] be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood" and that "little black boys and black girls [would] be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." Dr. King shared that he longed to see his "four little children . . . one day live in a nation where they [would] not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." In 1963, this was indeed a dream--and not a reality--because, as Dr. King noted in his speech, one hundred years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, black Americans were still not free.
By God's grace, our nation has seen great progress in this regard. And yet, a sad reality is that the Christian church in America, Fort Worth included, is still largely segregated. An even sadder reality is that, for many within the church, this is not considered sad.
As we reflect on Dr. King and his legacy, it seems fitting to ask ourselves two questions: (1) Is it important for the local church to be racially diverse? (2) If so, what is our hope for seeing this happen?Fortunately, the Bible speaks to both of these questions.
Beginning with the first, Scripture makes it clear that Jesus' desire for his church is that she be both diverse and unified. Jesus said that He was the good shepherd and that he had only one flock. (John 10:14-16) One of His final prayers on earth was that his church would be "one" as He and the Father were one. (John 17:21-23) Building on this, the Apostle Paul emphatically sought unity in the early New Testament church, urging that that there be no divisions among them and that they "be united in the same mind and the same judgment." (1 Corinthians 1:10)
Through the pen of Paul, God has told us that race and ethnicity are artificial barriers that serve no legitimate basis for separating people or churches: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28) He says that "if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:29) And by looking at God's covenant with Abraham, we know that it was God's intention from the very beginning that "all the families of the earth" would be blessed in Christ. (Genesis 12:1-3)
It should come as no surprise to us, then, that gathered together at Pentecost were "devout men from every nation under heaven." (Acts 2:1-11) And as one of my former pastors used to regularly point out, Paul's practice was to go into a town, share the good news of Jesus with the people there, and then start one church for the Christians. He didn't start a north-side church for the Jews, and a south-side church for the Gentiles, and so on.
Consider, moreover, what a powerful testimony diverse fellowship is to an unbelieving world.
Jesus said that "[b]y this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35) When homogenous people gather to worship, it is easy to explain it away: "they all like the same music"; "they all come from the same background"; and so on. But when people of different backgrounds, races, and cultures come together under the banner of Jesus, there is no other compelling explanation for their unity than this: that the gospel they profess is true.
But the message of the Bible is not simply that we must have diverse local churches--it's that we get to. Revelation describes a beautiful scene in which people from every nation, tribe, people, and language stand before the throne of God, wearing white and singing "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9)
There is a richness to authentic diverse community that must be experienced to be understood. Churches should seek diversity now because it is a foretaste of heaven.
East Fort Worth from The Paradox Church on Vimeo.
With that said, realizing what a daunting task it is to seek diversity in our current church landscape, we turn to our second question: what hope do we have?
We have the gospel. In Ephesians 2, Paul tells us that we were dead in our sins but that God made us alive through Jesus. God reconciled us to himself because of his mercy and His great love for us. It is nothing we've done--it is solely his gift to us.
And fortunately, God has redeemed horizontally as well as vertically. Ephesians 2 further informs us that the blood of Jesus tore down the "dividing wall of hostility" and reconciled the difference races together as one body. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and what Jesus accomplished on our behalf, we can be confident that blacks and whites, hispanics and Asians, and people of every race and ethnicity can worship together as one body.
Indeed, a view of the gospel that doesn't lead to reconciliation of races within the church is an incomplete view of the gospel. Jesus conquered death. Jesus can conquer this.Dr. King knew these things. His hope was rooted in Jesus and that "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
Dr. King believed that through faith in Jesus "we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."My prayer for us at The Paradox Church, especially for my white brothers and sisters, is that we would see the corporate sin of racism in our midst, experience the grace of God and repent, and then pursue the joys of multiracial fellowship.
Not because we have to--but because we get to. Dr. King believed that the freedom of blacks and whites were "inextricably bound" together. "We cannot walk alone," he shared.
I pray we don't.