Our problem is we want the cross to adjust to history, background, race, and culture. And so we keep this thing going. But Dr. Tony Evans says it doesn't work that way.
So we end up with divisions both in society and in the church. And whenever Christians allow race and culture and class to get in the way of the truth of God, we are messing with the gospel. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Prejudice takes practice, and Dr.
Evans says most of us have been training in it since childhood. Unlearning prejudice isn't easy, but it is possible. As background for today's message, Dr. Evans makes this important point. There needs to be a call, first of all, to the Christian community, but even broader, to understand God's perspective on race and culture and to begin to respond to that perspective rather than all the opinions of men.
God created the races. He had an intent for it. He has explained how he wants the races to work and to work together. And that's what we should be promoting. And so these messages are designed to call attention to God's solution for the current racial crisis our nation is experiencing.
Well, today we're going to look at exactly what Jesus has to say about race and culture. and how things get changed when he gets involved. Let's get started. When I wrote the book Oneness Embraced to deal with the issue of race, From a biblical perspective, it was born out of the fact that this issue keeps popping up. It just doesn't go away.
It lays... just beneath the surface. And any little thing can trigger it. And it can become a big thing. And when I was writing the book and studying the scriptures in relationship to this, It was apparent to me that the central thing that was missing was our common commitment to the advancement of the kingdom of God.
The illustration I like to use On any given Sunday, three teams take a football field. There's the home team There is the visiting team, and then there is the team of officials.
Now the team of officials don't belong to the home team. They don't belong to the visiting team, they belong to the league office. Their commitments are to neither team on the field. Their commitment is to a higher order. And that is the commissioner of the NFL.
He sits high on Park Avenue. And no matter what official you are or what game you are officiating, you've been handed a book. And this book gives you the governing guidelines for how you're to operate on the field of play. It doesn't matter whether the home team likes you. Or the visiting team hates you.
And it doesn't matter whether the crowd booze or cheers. Your commitment is to the book. In fact, Once you leave the book, you've lost the commissioner. The commissioner is judging you on the field. by your loyalty to the book regardless of what the other teams on the field think about you.
If you choose a team. And you are an official. You've illegitimized your presence. Unfortunately, today we have Christians who've chosen teams.
Some have chosen the black team, some have chosen the white team.
Some have chosen the Democratic team, some have chosen the Republican team. And the commissioner, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's saying, well, if you're gonna choose teams, and not realize you working for this bigger kingdom up here. I'm not going to be involved with you. In John chapter 4, there are many passages we could talk about.
This one is my favorite. Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. She is racially different. In verse 9, therefore the Samaritan woman said to Jesus, how is it that you being a Jew? Ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman.
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. We don't get along. We don't talk. We don't hang out together.
So I can't believe you want to put your Jewish lips to my Samaritan cup. We don't do that in this neighborhood. The woman says to Jesus in verse 20, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. And you people. You people say that in Jerusalem is the place men ought to worship.
She brings a question up about where you ought to go to church. She says um The reason we worship over here is because our fathers taught us that. And so y'all over there and we're over here and That's the way it is. He says to her in verse 22, You worship what you do not know. You worship in Raw.
We worship what we know for salvation. is from the Jews. He tells this woman, your daddy was wrong. Your daddy daddy was wrong. Your people were wrong.
You worship what you do not know just because your culture endorsed it. And your background affirmed it, does it make it all right? She was appealing to legitimate worship based on background, history, race, culture, and family. And Jesus said, it's all wrong. It is illegitimate worship.
Even though it's your heritage.
So Just because it's in your background doesn't make it all right. Your culture and race. is never to determine the legitimacy of your worship.
So he makes this a spiritual discussion, although he's talking about culture. If you say you're a black Christian or white Christian, put any color in it that you want, then you make that color an adjective and you make Christian a noun. The job of the adjective is to modify the noun.
So if you have the color in the adjectival position and your Christianity in the noun position, you must always change the noun to reflect the color of its adjectival description. Uh You must always have your color in the noun position and your faith in the adjectival position so that if anything changes, it's the noun of your color and not the adjective of your faith. Christianity must define who you are. Whether you're a black ref, a white ref, a Chinese ref, you belong to the same commissioner. And he sets the agenda for what happens on the field of play.
And if he doesn't set the agenda, it's illegitimate. You worship what you know not. He says, you're letting your culture block you being able to make contact with God. And I would submit to you: there are a lot of churches meeting today where Jesus didn't go. Because they're so interested in promoting culture.
Over the reality of who God is. That God won't be a part of the worship no matter how much fun they have it in church. Because he says you don't know what you're doing. Because we have reduced God. And colored him in our color and made him A certain kind of man.
Yeah, that's true. He says when it comes to worship Verse 23. An hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers, now, If you have true worshipers, that means you can have false worshipers. And he's talking about culture, my fathers, Samaritans, our background, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. In other words, Jesus says when I go to church, I'm looking for two things.
Spirit. And truth. I'm not looking for black or white. Or Jamaican or American? I'm looking for spirit.
And truth. And if that's missing, I'm missing. 'Cause you become a false worshipper. Spirit has to do. With the hard attitude.
It was as opposed to formalism. Formalism simply says I do it externally without my heart being engaged in it. I mean you can go to church because it's Sunday. You can do the external thing because I'm supposed to do it, and there be no spirit, no desire to connect with the living and true God. That becomes false worship.
Whenever you worship merely to have an external presence, it's false worship. Because God wants to speak to the heart. He wants to relate to the heart. He says, You must worship me in spirit. It must be authentic.
Not merely fulfilling a job description or satisfying a scheduled program or meeting a racial quota. Dr. Evans will elaborate on true worship when he returns in just a moment. Don't go away.
Sometimes you need a spiritual lifeline to get through the day. The Unbound podcast with Dr. Tony Evans dives into timeless truths and offers hope for daily struggles. Listen to guest speakers like Dan Wallace. God said, my grace is sufficient for you.
That's a huge lesson for us to understand. It does not matter how much I suffer. I know that God is there. He's going to bring me into his kingdom for Christ's glory. Listen now to the Unbound podcast.
The new Unbound Podcast with Tony Evans, available now on all major podcast platforms.
Well, Dr. Evans has been challenging us today to move beyond surface-level faith. and into authentic unity. As we've been learning, real community doesn't happen by accident. It's built on truth, grace, and love.
If you want help cultivating those qualities in your home, church, or relationships, You can get clear biblical guidance from Dr. Evans' current message series, Love Will Overcome. This eighth-lesson collection addresses the root causes of division. and shows how God's love brings healing and restoration. If you make a donation to the alternative ministry today or tomorrow, We'll send you the full audio series, along with an added bonus.
Tony's popular devotional book, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart. It's a powerful resource that leads you in focused prayers to help navigate difficult conflicts and misunderstandings. Get the details today at tonyevans.org. or call 1-800-800-3222. or a friendly team member is ready to assist with your request.
I'll repeat that information after the second part of today's lesson. Here's Dr. Evans. He says, and then you must worship me in truth. Truth.
Truth may be simply defined as an absolute standard by which reality is measured. Truth. He's speaking about race and culture here because she's arguing the Samaritan. He says, You worship what you know not, you don't have the right information. There's no truth.
Here's when you know truth is working. Let me help all of us out here. When truth is at work, it doesn't take you 250 years to solve a problem that could be solved in two minutes. Why can't we solve this race problem? We do not have a sufficient enough standard that sits over it.
to make the decision for you. That's called truth. In Galatians 2. I love that story. Because it's a racial story.
It's a Galatians 2.
Now, let me tell you about Peter. PETA was living in the 60s. His favorite song would be, Say It Loud, I'm Jew and I'm Proud. He was a committed Jew. He was committed to.
He's having devotions on the rooftop in Acts chapter 10. And a sheet comes down with pig feet, pork chops, ham hocks, chitlins. It says it came down with this unclean food. And Peter, being the Jew, he was, I can't eat that, that's unclean. And then God, he says, no longer call unclean what I call clean.
In other words, you measure things by me now, not by your history, your background, your preferences, or what your mama taught you. You measure things by what I say about it. And you've been rejecting Gentiles all your life. I'm telling you, that's over now.
So God now sends him across the railroad tracks. to hook up with the Gentiles.
Okay, he starts with Cornelius. He discovers when he crosses the railroad tracks that the Gentiles know how to cook. He discovers they know how to cook.
So we find him in Galatians 2 eating with the Gentiles. He was just going at it in Galatians 2. He is eating with the Gentiles. The problem is some of the boys from the hood show up. And want to know why their Jewish leader is eating with them people.
Why are you eating with them people? Those are not your people. We'll get together with them in heaven. We don't have to deal with them down here. Yeah, I know they're saved and all that, but that's a different race.
They are different. Why are you eating with them? It says, Peter got so intimidated, he got up. And backed away from the Gentiles. When Peter got up, it said the rest of the Jews who were with him got up too.
Now the problem is Paul showed up too. Paul says In Galatians 2, when I saw their hypocrisy. He says, I condemn Peter before them all. He acted a fool in public. I condemned him in public.
And then he goes on to say in Galatians 2: and this is what I said to Peter. He says, you are not being straightforward about the truth. Of the gospel. Yeah. You're messing with the gospel.
You are making the truth of God appear like a lie. And whenever Christians allow race and culture and class to get in the way of the truth of God, we are messing with the gospel. My favorite verse in the New Testament, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. As Christ lives in me, the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20. That one of the greatest verses in the New Testament comes at the end of this story. In other words, your identity, Peter, is to come from your faith first, not from your Jewishness. Don't get me wrong. He's not canceling your Jewishness, Peter.
He is just saying, in your Jewishness, it must submit to me. That's our problem. Our problem is we want the cross to adjust. to history, background, race, and culture. Mm-hmm.
And the commissioner doesn't adjust to rests on the field. And so we keep this thing going. Truth! There must be a standard by which reality is measured. And one of the reasons why things stay divided so long, and therefore God doesn't show up, is that the truth is missing.
In other words, God's viewpoint doesn't have the last word. We want to know what my mother taught me, what my daddy taught me, and what my people think, and all of that. And God says when the commissioner speaks, it overrules. Don't care what your background is. Don't care what your race is.
Don't even care what your preferences are. He says, and if you want to worship me, that's why this is a spiritual issue. He says, if you expect me to be involved, then I must have the last word, or you have your worship services where I don't go to church. Black is only beautiful when it's biblical, and white is only right when it agrees with holy writ or is wrong. And see, the beautiful thing about it is.
When truths show up, Problems get solved quicker. You don't need 200 years when you have truth. That is God's truth, divine truth. Because when you come into the house of God, you don't get God adjusting to you. You adjust to God.
in the house of God.
So, you are to embrace what God has made you, but you are to submit. That uniqueness of culture. He's not asking you to like soul music. He's not asking me to like country western, thank God. He is asking all of us.
To submit our uniquenesses and preferences to his authority so that he overrules. Let's get to the truth. And if you get to the truth, and I mean as God calls it the truth, let's get to the truth. Apply the truth. And then God will show up at the meeting.
The woman says in verse 25, she says, The woman says, I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called Christ. When that one comes, he will declare to us all things. Ah, interesting. She says When Jesus comes.
Things are gonna get better.
Well, I like Jesus' response. In verse 26, he said to her, I'm already here. Stop looking for something you already have. You're looking for a Jesus to come who has come. The problem is you don't want to deal with my way of coming.
So you don't even know I'm there. You looking for somebody who's standing right in front of your face. Jesus says in verse 35, Do not say they are four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are already white to harvest.
Okay, stop putting this off. Don't say four months. And then we'll get around to it. Don't say next year things will be better. Don't put it off for months, and certainly not years, and certainly not generations.
He says, if you open up your eyes, guys, and look on the field, you'll see they're ready.
Now when they lifted up their eyes, what do you think they saw? the Samaritan men crossing the field. You were either gonna have a race riot or an evangelistic campaign. You could have a race ride because Peter would cut off your ear as quick as look at you.
Okay. Are you going to have an evangelistic campaign? Guess what he said? He said, guys, let's stop talking about unity. Let's go to work.
Why? Because unity is not a meeting. Unity is not a discussion. What unity is, is moving toward a common purpose. purpose.
Unity always involves service, not seminars. Unity involves working together to a common goal in the same way different players on a football team from different backgrounds and different histories and different races are all moving toward one goal line. That's the basis of unity. It's not having a unity meeting or a unity gathering or a unity celebration. It is what effect are you doing by service?
And then he closes with something that is simply. Nothing short. Mm-hmm. Verses thirty, nine, and forty. From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him.
So many of them got saved. Because of the word that the woman had testified, he told me all the things I have done.
Now watch verse 40. This will blow your mind.
So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed with them two days. That is unbelievable. Why is it unbelievable? Because the Samaritans and the Jews had nothing to do with each other since 722 BC. That's how long they've been divided.
722 BC, we're now in 33 AD. And since 722 BC, this Samaritan thing started up, and they haven't liked each other since. Hated each other since. Jesus has been talking to this woman an hour. He's been talking to her one hour and now they say, why don't you come and spend the weekend?
Says he honors it with two days and we haven't even gotten together since 722 BC. Hundreds and hundreds of years, Jesus solved in two days. Why? Because God got in the mix, because truth was being exalted and culture was being submerged to that truth. Because when Jesus Christ gets in the mix, he can fix things in an hour that you've been working on for 25 years.
It doesn't take that long when there is a standard by which culture must submit. Dr. Tony Evans on the wisdom of following God's lead.
Well, as a quick reminder, tomorrow is your last chance to get a copy of Tony's current message compilation, Love Will Overcome. bundled with the powerful devotional book Stronger Together, Weaker Apart. Followers of Christ can be part of an authentic community that leads the way to racial reconciliation, healing the deep divides that lead to the kind of violence we've often seen around the nation. The Love Will Overcome Resource Package is our way of saying thank you for your support of the alternative. This special offer expires to morrow.
So visit tonyevans.org today to request yours. Or call 1-800-800-3222 to speak with a team member who can help with your request. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. I'll tell you about what's coming up tomorrow, right after this. What if Jesus had spent the night before his crucifixion in the park down the street from your house, or changed water into wine at a wedding in your neighbor's backyard?
These stories wouldn't just be stories anymore, they'd be memories because you were there. Tony Evans wants you to have that kind of experience every time you read scripture. That's why he's hosting TIS Israel Tour. You'll visit the site of the Sermon on the Mount, tour the Old City, including the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the upper room where Jesus washed his disciples' feet. You'll overlook Nazareth, stand on the Mount of Olives, and walk the road where Jesus made his triumphal entry.
You'll gather as a group for great music and worship, and Tony will have messages that will give you new insight into familiar Bible stories. There's a lot more on the itinerary. Check it out at tonyevans.org and make your reservation before spaces run out. Don't miss this chance to add a whole new dimension to your faith. Visit tonyevans.org today.
When a team works as a team, they're stronger and more effective than any of the individual players. Tomorrow, Dr. Evan shows why that's especially true within the church. Be sure to join us for the final message in his Love Will Overcome series.
