Pastor Brent Clark addresses the lie that some believe that God is a white, male, Republican, but he also addresses the more dangerous underlying tendency to make God in our own image.
Sermon Transcript
In June of 1964, a man took the pulpit of a church and prayed this prayer:
“Oh God, our Heavenly Guide, as finite creatures of time and as dependent creatures of [Yours], we acknowledge [You] as our sovereign Lord. Permit freedom and the joys thereof to forever reign throughout our land. May we… forever have the courage of our convictions that we may always stand for [You] and our great nation. May the sweet cup of…fraternity ever be ours to enjoy and build within us that kindred spirit, which will keep us unified and strong. Engender within us that wisdom kindred to honorable decisions and the Godly work. By the power of [Your] infinite spirit and the energizing virtue therein, ever keep before us our…pledges of righteousness. Bless us now in this assembly that we may honor [You] in all things, we pray in the name of Christ, our blessed Savior. Amen.”
This is a prayer that, for that day, could have been prayed in any church in America. I did update the language a bit to take out the Thines and Thees. It may be a little more formal than we are used to, but it could be appropriately prayed today.
I removed a few words not to give away who prayed it, but this was the prayer of the Grand Chaplin of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh, Mississippi, where within one month of praying this prayer, three black civil rights workers were murdered execution-style.
How is this possible? They prayed to God, acknowledging his majesty and sovereignty. They prayed, as we do, asking for wisdom and courage. They even closed in Jesus’ name, referring to him as their blessed Savior. How is it possible that a group of men who could pray a prayer like this could be so full of hate could and do what they did?
This is a great question and the topic of today’s message in our series called “You’ve Been Lied To (and we’re sorry about that). Today, we look at the lie, God is a white, male, Republican. I realize this statement is controversial and even inflammatory for some. Because there may be some people who think, why would you call this a lie? And there may be others who put off by the fact they know there are those who don’t believe it is a lie. But it certainly grabs your attention.
It is certainly easy with the current state of politics to understand why some might believe that God has been coopted by one political party over the other. But before you check out on me thinking I am about to rail on some parties political platform for the next 25 minutes, not so fast. To be honest, we could have called this message God is a Black, female, Democrat, and that would have been just as much of a lie.
Let’s break down this statement, but more importantly, let’s look at what is behind this statement that is even more dangerous and damaging than this statement itself.
Let’s start with the idea that God is white. If he were, he would be Casper the friendly ghost. No, God is not white. Neither is God black or brown. Behind this statement is more than an identity of color but an attempt to identify God with one ethnicity, race, or nationality. But God is not Anglo-Saxon, Caucasian, Indian, Asian, Hispanic, or any other ethnicity.
We want a God we can look in the face. So we construct an image we can understand. But as we learn in the Bible, God is not limited by a single race. John 4:24 tells us, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
God is not limited by one race, ethnicity, or nationality. God has always desired to be known not just by a single race of people, but by ALL people. This is why when he chose the Jewish people so that they would reveal God to the world, to all nations. And that is also why in the end, when there is a new creation, it won’t be occupied by only one kind of
