Racists Miss the Biggest Point

I am the biggest sinner I know.  I say that with all sincerity.  I know me.  I know my thoughts.  I know my desires.  I know my weaknesses.  I know my dreams.  I know my sins.  I cannot fathom that other people have the same messed up mind that I have sometimes.  I am the biggest sinner I know.  I try to remind myself that constantly.
 
Paul felt the same way about himself.  In writing to Timothy, he said, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:15-16).  Was Paul literally the most wretched sinner that has ever walked the face of the earth?  I’ll leave that for real scholars to debate.  But we can rest assured of this, Paul believed he was the most wretched sinner that had ever lived – because Paul knew Paul better than anyone else knew Paul. 
 
As I peruse the news from the past several days, I cannot help but wonder how those supremacists…those that view themselves as superior to others…I cannot help but wonder how they view themselves.  It seems quite apparent that they don’t see themselves as the “foremost” of sinners.  Such an attitude of superiority is certainly not a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Such “rivalries, dissensions, divisions” – these are the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:20).  The idea that we are somehow superior to another person based on skin pigmentation is a fairy tale – and certainly does not recognize that, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6).
 
These groups that view themselves as superior to others fail to see some important, basic and fundamental truths.  First of all, they seem completely ignorant of the fact that “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).  Every person with every skin tone fell with Adam when he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – a willful act of rebellion and defiance to his Creator (Genesis 3).  And when he sinned, we sinned right along with him.  It was just like we ate the fruit ourselves.  You are no “less lost” than the next guy.  You are no less depraved than the next guy.  Adam, the corporate head of the entire human race, condemns us equally.  Our skin tone has no effect on that whatsoever. 
 
Secondly, these supremacists seem to miss point that each of us has personal guilt before God.  First century Jews who had been “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2) had every reason to see themselves as a superior race.  Yet, Paul asked the question, “What then? Are we Jews any better off?” (Romans 3:9).  His answer? “No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.”  Then, he follows it with this scathing condemnation of all mankind, “‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” (Romans 3:10-18).  Maybe it’s just me, but my mind cannot help but wonder if these supremacists have ever so much as read these verses.
 
Until we see our own personal guilt before God, we’ll never see our need for Jesus Christ.  Until we come to feel that we are the biggest sinner we know, the likelihood that we’ll be very repentant is slim to none.  Those that see themselves as greatly superior to others don’t appear to have tasted of the grace of God.  I’m not making a judgment of anybody’s salvation – don’t misunderstand the point.  But the idea that you are worth more than another person (and this, based on skin pigmentation) is an unbiblical thought.  It ignores the Fall.  It ignores personal guilt.  It doesn’t seem to understand even the textbook meaning of grace.  And it certainly doesn’t seem to understand that, as Christians, all our righteousness is founded in Christ alone – nothing of our own. 
 
I am saddened as I see people march because they think they are superior to others.  I am saddened by so much hate and division and violence – all which are opposed to the Holy Spirit inside us.  But I think I am most saddened by the fact that the majority of those that believe they are superior to others do not appear to have ever seen themselves as sinners before a righteous and holy God. 

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