Not Black,
Not White, But, Human
We Need a
New Man
By Jim Howe
The
ongoing drama of politics with the pandemic, and now the death of George Floyd,
has deepened the crisis America is facing.
America needs prayer and we need a new humanity. I miss my friends Rev. Isaiah
Jones and Rev. Henry Gaines. These outstanding men of God were great, not
because they were black, but because they were men who knew how to talk to
Jesus. Both were covenant brothers I shared life with at different times. They talked to Jesus like he was in the
room. Of course, Christ IS with us as
the Spirit of God lifts us to approach the throne of God. Underlying all this is the deep reality that
we need a whole new humanity. The human
dilemma in America needs a new creation.
The problems we face are so deep that nothing less than a rescue from
God can save us now.
A new
Adam in Christ is precisely what the Jewish Apostle Paul preached to Jews and
Gentiles in the 1st century when another racial divide ripped the
Roman world wide open. Let the Word of
God inspire hope as you read:
“But in fact Christ has been
raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as
by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his
own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to
Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father
after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed
is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when
it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted
who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to
him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in
subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:20–28,
ESV)
Paul had just explored the implications of Christian faith
without the resurrection. Now he turns
our attention to the reality “the fact” of resurrection. He saw Jesus alive and so did the other
apostles. This reality gives us home because the new man is now seated in
heaven. And through faith in Him we are
made new. O, how we need this miraculous
new birth. Jesus Christ is the new
humanity we desperately need. When we put our faith in Him, and not in our
former way of living, life from the future of humanity floods our lives. Paul
put it this way: “…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies.” (Romans 8:23, ESV) The Holy
Spirit that dwells in every real Christian is assurance of a better way. There is more of Jesus to come as we live by
faith and invite the Spirit into our lives. As the Church on our knees, there
is a way forward, and it is as we go to our knees. The Spirit works in us God’s way of bringing
heaven close. Instead of talking about
peace, we taste it and display Jesus to one another.
All
around us are the signs of Adam. Death, hatred, violence, and disease. They all are inherited from our common root
in Adam. The only recourse for the power of man is to destroy and tear down.
These forces are strong in America currently. It is loose in so many on both
sides of the issues. It is at work in me
as a sinner. It has to be confessed and
overcome by the work of the cross.
But more is coming in Christ as we
grow. Those who are “in Christ” through
faith and baptism are being made into the new humanity. Any sign of hope, mercy, life comes from
Jesus Christ. Our solidarity with Jesus Christ is hope of a bright future. My
prayer for us as a people is that we pass over into the spiritual reality of
life in Christ so that we grow in grace.
Praying this morning when I woke up that I want to live in God. To
actually live in the Father, by the Son, through the Spirit. To experience life in Christ alive with me.
Violence
breeds violence and death bears more death.
Rioters and reactionary hatred breeds a boiling pot of more death. That
is man’s way of fixing things. It is so sad.
Tit for tat. But there is more. God
has put the number one enemy to death, by the death of His Son, so that we can
have hope and so that in us we display the first sign of what is to come. Jesus
is alive as the first fruit. Like the
first blossom in spring with more to come.
Instead of living in the darkness overcome by despair, faith calls us to
look to Christ who is alive. There is
more life to come. The one who believes
and lives by faith in Christ will be made alive with Him. This is just as true
as all in Adam die; all who are in Christ live.
There is
nothing I need more than for God to be my “all in all.” How about you? When I go to the store and rub shoulders with
others, do people just see me or do they see Christ living in me? As we await
the day of reopening worship and being together, do we long for the manifest
presence of Christ among us that is unique to gathered worship? I can taste the longing. But, this is just the first taste of the final
wedding feast of the Lamb when we all will be together with God. It is in prayer that I am closest to that
coming reality. May I live in prayer more, so that I can taste this “more” that
Christ gives. May you as a people experience Him in a deeper way today as this
reality opens before you as you trust him and live.
When the
congregations I served in Waldport and Siskiyou County worshipped with Rev.
Isaiah Jones and Rev. Henry Gaines, there was more going on than we saw. New life from Christ was at work making the
people of God to be the Church in which there is no Jew nor Gentile and no
black or white. May we be such a foretaste in Redding and Weed that there is
more to come. It is Christ’s work to
tear down evil forces and to do it in such a way that there is more life, not
death. Extremist politics grab and force their way. They tear down instead of buildup. Jesus
Christ is alive, and he brings together all things in Him.
Stephen Curtis Chapman, Beauty will Rise https://youtu.be/rJynET3b3PM
God, help us all to pray
continually. Live in us Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit fall upon us leave the mark of
the of new life. When the Church first began the gathering of Jew and Gentile
demonstrated to the Roman Empire that there is a third race. We are already that
new people. But Father move in us to be more alive in Christ than we are alive
in the politics of man. For the sake of Your glory, glorify Your Son in
us. Father, we pray that out of these
ashes all around that you will bring beauty. In Christ’s name, Amen.
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