Our church’s Statement of Faith is the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. All our members sign this statement when they join the church. Some may not be aware how the BFM 2000 speaks directly to what is happening in our country after the killing of George Floyd. Article 15 in the Statement is on “The Christian and the Social Order.” It says this:

“All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.”

The first sentence says that Christians are obligated to “seek to make the will of Christ supreme in…human society.” Human society needs to know about, submit to, and learn to enjoy the supremacy of Christ in all things. This starts in our individual hearts, then moves into our relationships, our churches, our jobs, our communities, our cities, and to the nations.

The next sentence of the article says that something more than our godly example is needed to do this: “Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.”

In other words, new people are what make a new world. Regeneration, or the renewing of the individual spiritually, is the only means that will result in true and lasting change. Protests can address racism, but they cannot change a racist’s heart. Only the gospel can do that.

Charles Spurgeon said it this way, “There will be oppression unless the gospel is spread. This is the one balm for all earth’s wounds…Oh, let us then, since this is the best thing that can be, show our love to God and man by spreading his saving truth.” Only through the gospel can people’s lives be changed, and only then will real change in society take place.

The article then lists several issues Christians should be addressing in the world. It says that Christians should care about things like sexual immorality, racism, adoption, and abortion. We must be careful here. To say that we must oppose or support certain things is not to say that we must all oppose or support them in the same way. We must allow freedom for Christians to pursue these things in different ways. Why? Because it’s wrong to bind someone’s conscience where the Bible does not. Legalism is adding to the Word of God, putting burdens on people that Scripture does not, and should be carefully avoided.

For example, as those who want Jesus to be supreme in our society, we should “oppose racism.” How we do this will vary. Some will protest. Some will raise political awareness. Some will run for elected office. Some will write. Some will teach. Some will move to the inner city and give their lives to help and bless minorities.

We all must pray and search our hearts. We must all pray for peace and unity in our communities. We must all ask God to show us how we view ourselves as superior and people of other ethnicities as inferior. We all do this and we need God’s help to see it.

The Statement of Faith that unites our church says we must make Jesus supreme in our hearts and in our society. What are you doing to “oppose racism” in your heart and in our society?

With You in the Cause of Love and Justice,
Pastor John