Peter's Journey Toward Racial Reconciliation

Sunday was Racial Reconciliation Sunday in the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. I have seen both individuals and a faction of churches within the SBC that have stood up bold-faced on social media to claim that there is NO racism in the SBC, which has over 16 million members. This level of denial and gaslighting is untrue, unhealthy and unwise. 

 Race Relations Sunday, as it was originally called, was begun to counter the blatant racism present in America and it's churches in the 1960's. Here is a statement from the Baptist Press printed in 1965 that sheds light on the issue. 

When this special and necessary day was instituted there was sinful partiality and exclusion occurring that should not exist between brothers and sisters in Christ. Such sinful attitudes and behaviors have gone on for a long time. The SBC has made some strong statements and taken some positive steps forward, and while some overtly racist churches have been rightly expelled from the organization, there are still a few churches and plenty of individuals in the darkened corners of our family of churches that attempt to hold on to such sinful, racist and disgusting ideals.  This is an age-old problem and the Bible is not at all silent on the issue.

To indicate that no racism exists within 16 MILLION people is ludicrous and denies the reality of human sinfulness and the necessity of sanctification. When we are saved, we are justified and put into a right standing with God. But we also embark on a journey of sanctification where we are meant to become more and more like Jesus. Part of that pilgrimmage is learning how to love our new brothers and sisters in Christ, and sometimes that seems like the part people struggle with the most, especially on social media. Even Peter, one of THE Twelve who Jesus chose, one of the Big Three disciples that Jesus spent the most time with, the apostle himself had to be taken on a voyage of discovery and acceptance to reconcile him with people who were not of Jewish descent. Come with me on a brief exploration through Scripture to look at how Peter grew, and how he had to be corrected.

1. Peter Misses the Point

As children, we frequently studied the feeding of the 5,000. It was almost a yearly favorite. But we almost never discussed the feeding of the 4,000, which happened on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Mark 8 records the miracle that occurred when Jesus fed 4,000 men plus their families from just 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. This miracle occurred in the region of the Decapolis, on the Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, where a crowd had gathered which included both Jews and Gentiles.  Jews did not eat with Gentiles because they considered them to be unclean, but on this occasion Jesus sat the crowd down to eat a meal together which was a sign of acceptance, fellowship, equality and a foretaste of things to come. The symbolism was powerful, but not everyone got the point. Peter, for example, was present, but he would need further schooling before he understood the lesson. 

 2. God Gets Peter's Attention

Peter had been raised an environment of prejudice toward outsiders such as Gentiles, a word which refers to anyone not of Jewish descent. God's law required His people to accept foreigners who chose to live among them as if they were native born Hebrews, which of course included following God's laws. Leviticus 19:34 declared:

You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.

 It seems this provision had long been forgotten or neglected by the time the first century arrived as prejudice was common. 

Acts chapter 10 records the famous vision Peter received from God of a large sheet full of every type of animal being lowered from heaven. God said to him Arise Peter, kill and eat. Peter protested because there were animals on the sheet which were forbidden and considered unclean under the Old Covenant. He did not fully understand that Jesus' work on the cross had changed things. He was under a New Covenant now. The Lord told him: What God has made clean, do not call impure. Most people stop right there, celebrate the privilege of eating Bacon and don’t read any further. But that was not the primary lesson Peter was meant to learn. He was sent to eat together and share the Gospel with a group of Gentiles gathered in the home of a Roman centurion named Cornelius. The lesson God had prepared for Peter to learn was this:

Now I truly understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Peter proceeded to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to them and they were saved, receiving the Holy Spirit the same way the Jewish believers had. He was criticized by Jews for meeting and eating with Gentiles and so he shared with them his account of events, explaining what had occurred until they too understood:

And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

This reconciliation is a major theme running through the New Testament. Jesus has not only reconciled those of us who believe with God, but he also wants us to be reconciled with our brothers and sisters in Christ. This requires effort on our part, it doesn’t just happen as Peter demonstrates... 

3. Peter Backslides in His Behavior

Galatians 2 recounts a time when even after the events of Acts 10, Peter gave into pressure from Jewish leaders and stopped eating together with Gentiles. Paul had to confront him publicly to his face over his sin of partiality. Peter preferred to eat with men who shared his physical lineage over his spiritual brothers in Christ. He showed partiality to one ethnic group based on bloodlines instead of on the blood of Christ. Others followed Peter's example and began shunning the Gentiles as well, creating a serious racial rift in the church. Their actions bore false witness by denying the spiritual reality that all believers have been made family through Jesus. While I love my earthly family, the spiritual reality is that I have more in common with a born again baptized believer and they are more my brother or sister than any unbeliever, even if their last name is Schultz. Matthew 12 and Mark 3:21,33 record that when Jesus' own mother and brothers heard a crowd was gathered around him, pressing into a house so that they couldn't even eat, they thought he was overwhelmed and came to remove him from the house, but when Jesu was told that they were standing outside waiting for him, he looked at those listening and said: 

Whoever does the will of my Father is my brother, sister and mother. 

Any time we identify more with a racial group, ethnic group, or family group than with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in sin. Jesus' half brothers were not yet his followers. I am grateful that my family are believers--my parents are also my brothers and sisters in Christ, but we all must remain on guard that we don't just view people who look like us or are related to us as our brothers and sisters, but that we view all people who place their faith, hope and trust in Jesus Christ as our brothers and sisters in the truest sense. 

Galatians 3:27 addresses our equality before God:

For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

In God’s eyes, all believers are his children. All of us are Abraham’s true descendants and equal heirs who will inherit God’s promise. The writer of the book of Hebrews calls us Holy brothers and sisters who share in a heavenly calling. (3:1) And we are all brothers and sisters. The challenge is living like it. When we have wronged our siblings, we must own up to it. When others have wronged our fellow believers, we must stand up for them. God loves justice and righteousness. When we witness partiality, unfairness and wrongdoing among the Body of Christ, it is our responsibility to try to make it right.

If even the Apostle Peter had to go on a journey of sanctification that included learning to accept his brothers and sisters in Christ and receiving correction, then surely you and I should examine ourselves to see if we need to do the same. This issue comes up over and again throughout the New Testament. Nowhere is it made more clear than in the Great Commission where Jesus said:

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. -Matthew  28:19-20

Jesus sent us on a mission to all the people of the world, to share the Gospel, to teach them to be disciples, and to bring them into our family, the family of God, and to keep doing this until the end of the age. Revelation 7:9 describes that scene:

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

At that time there will be a great feast with hugs and celebration, singing and dancing, familial love and acceptance among the family of God and our troubles and struggles will be no more. We will be fully conformed to the image of Christ and sinless, harming each other no more and able to fully embrace and perfectly love our brothers and sisters. Until that day, for the sake of the Gospel, let us keep doing the work of reconciliation.