Racial Harmony and the doctrine of grace

Last Sunday, I had the privileged to travel to London to hear Pastor John Piper preach at Jubilee church. It was great to be there and I thank God for Jubilee as they love God and are committed to racial harmony in their community. Below is a summary of what John piper preached on racial harmony and the doctrine of grace.

- We are all sinners (Rom 8:7-8. We cannot make ourselves live,(eph 2:2), Lazarus didn't raise himself from the dead (1cor 2:14), Jesus raised him. All human beings are equally dead, blacks whites and every shade in between. Hell will be totally racially diverse,(Rom 2:9)because God is no respecter of persons of who is thrown into hell. This should humble us of our own sins and make us more patience with those who sin against us.

- God Almighty before the foundation of the world chose to save you, (Acts 13:48). Those who believed where those who were ordained and that was why they believed thus it is unconditional because it is based on no spiritual or ethnic selection,(Rom 9:11). You should be watchful that there is no pride in you or despair. This doctrine is liberating for sinners because no one is to terrible a sinner to be saved because the choice has nothing to do with your deeds. If you accept Jesus, then you belong to him. This smashes the superiority of racial selection, its totally unconditional.

- In the death of Jesus, a wide door is open to all, He made salvation free to all,(Isa 55),(john 3:16). But also in God's mind, Jesus knew exactly who he was dying for,(eph 5:25),(john 10:12),(John 17).Rev 5:9 does not say that Jesus purchased the tribe but that he purchased people from every tribe. The church should be united to each other regardless of culture or ethnicity.
Interracial marriage is an issue even though people may remain silent about it but the Church welcomes interracial marriage because the church is a family that is filled with people of different ethnicity.
God paid a price to purchase his people and the price was the death of His Son,(Jesus). Therefore the racial issue is not a social issue but a bloody issue because Jesus ransomed people from all tribes. It is costly for Jesus so dealing with racial issues will also be costly for you.

- God comes to us and overcomes all our rebellion,(John 6:44). This is triumphal grace because it overcomes your rebellion. Eph 2:8, if you have faith, it's a gift, God gave it to you. Your ethnicity did not contribute to the rise of faith in your heart- non of your racism can stop God from saving you and yes this extends to the most racist person that you may know, no racist is excluded.

- God keeps his own to the very end and brings them home because what you received was a gift from God and he is committed to bring you to glory. Those who are justified are glorified,(Rom 8:30). I am justified therefore I am glorified,(Phil 1:6).

- Therefore, keep working on the racial issue and you can't always get it right because someone somewhere will always have something to say. Just keep on persevering in the hard situations, it is hard work. Keep working on it expecting to succeed and fail in reconciliation but keep going. Don't walk away from the issue and don't get sick of it, keep on persevering.

k.Oni