One Place of no Prejudice: Galatians 3:28, Acts 2:47
Is there a place of no prejudice? If there is, how do we get there?
Do you think it’s possible to pass laws that take us to the place of no prejudice?
The American experiment has sure tried to pass laws to remove prejudice and have that place where there’s none! The first American law is the Declaration of Independence. The second paragraph begins with these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” It’s important to understand that those words were chosen carefully and were not there by accident!
The Declaration of Independence was ratified on July 4, 1776. The constitution was ratified over 12 years later, September 17, 1787. The exclusion of slavery, exemplifying all men are created equal didn’t make it into the constitution. Why was that? The southern states wouldn’t vote for and ratify the constitution with slavery being banned. The constitution was unable to deal with slavery as it wouldn’t have passed into law with slavery excluded.
Abraham Lincoln led the fight for ridding the country of slavery in the Civil War! The country payed a huge price between 1861 and 1865 to deal with the issue of prejudice! The history of that era has been distorted to make the civil war about states rights. It was about states rights, but for the purpose of the southern states maintaining slavery under states rights. Slavery was the main issue, while states rights was an issue as it related to slavery.
More than 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War dealing with prejudice as it relates to slavery! More than half of them were Union soldiers fighting to free the slaves! A Republican president named Abraham Lincoln led the fight and was assassinated a week after Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant. Lincoln literally died to free the slaves!
The 13th amendment to the constitution abolished slavery on December 6, 1865. The 14th amendment to the constitution gave citizenship to all former slaves on July 9, 1868. U.S. Grant became president and continued the fight for freedom and removal of prejudice for the former slaves. The 15th amendment was ratified in 1870 giving African American men the right to vote.
This country has passed law after law doing all possible to create a place of no prejudice.
I remember an encounter in a locker room preparing for football practice in 1964. Two of the players in the locker room were African American guys, name Melvin and Coop! Coop came in yelling about getting a ticket for J-walking on his way home from practice the night before! Melvin was working him over with humor about his dilemma. Melvin said, “Coop, if you were a white guy like old West here, with blond hair and blue eyes you would not be a criminal with a J-walking ticket on your record!” It was all said in jest, but it was true! There was, almost certainly prejudice involved!
We have made progress in the last 56 years since that locker room adventure with my friends Melvin and Coop! We have elected an African American president twice! Our efforts and laws have helped, and we’re better, but we still have some prejudice hanging around. So, America hasn’t become the One Place of no Prejudice!
Where can we find that place of no prejudice? Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (ESV) Differences based on prejudice fade and create a place of no prejudice! Where’s that place? It’s “in Christ Jesus.”
Churches can get this all wrong and have throughout history so, don’t assume “in Christ Jesus” just means the church! It means what it says, “in Christ Jesus.” Those people united by being in Christ comprise the place where there’s no prejudice. “In Christ” should be the church, but often is not! The authenticity of being in Christ will remove prejudice if Jesus reigns and rules as “in Christ” assumes!
When Jesus lives and rules inside a person’s heart in the presence of the Holy Spirit, He scrubs the heart clean of prejudice! Only He can do that and the only place free of prejudice is “in Christ.”
There’s only one way to turn America into a place that’s free of prejudice, and that’s authentic revival that really sees people surrender to the rule of Jesus creating the prejudice free zone of “in Christ.” How does that happen?
Acts 2:47, “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (ESV) When Christ followers find favor with all the people by authentically walking with the Lord and proclaiming the death of Christ to pay for sin and His bodily resurrection from the dead, people will start to come to the Lord daily and when they do a society can be transformed! If our country becomes a place “in Christ,” then it can become a place of no prejudice. It’s the only way for all prejudice to fade! Pray for revival in America. There’s no other way for our country to become a place of no prejudice!