In perhaps one of the most subtle and sneaky sermons we’ve ever heard on the topic, Zachary Bradley, pastor at Atlanta’s Brookhaven Presbyterian Church, which is a Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), does something very interesting: he introduces Critical Race Theory and Ibram X. Kendi’s notion of “The heartbeat of racism is denial” in a way designed to appeal to conservative, reformed Christians.
Buttressing it with the Westminster Confession of Faith, Bradley argues that because we are sinners stained with original sin, we can never get to the point where our sin is so minimal that it is no longer an issue. Being aware of our sin, when someone accuses us of being a racist or having racial undertones, rather than acknowledging the effects of sin in our life and the possibility that the sin may have impacted our thinking, Bradley says our propensity is to deny it, which he describes as a form of Christian perfectionism which claims that we don’t or can’t sin anymore in the realm of racism.
This is why when white Christians are accused of being guilty of racial injustice, we ought to be honest with ourselves and the reality of our sin nature. We should assume we are guilty and there is truth there, given that we cannot be sanctified to the point of sinlessness in this area.
It’s very tricky stuff, and he intermittently weaves some excellent truth into his sermon that any reformed person would give a hearty amen, which is what makes it one of the most dangerous sermons we’ve ever heard on the matter. Here are just a few sermon highlights from one clip, but @wokepreachertv, who provided the video and transcript (save the last one) has a whole series of tweets where he went off on the matter, being as disturbed and affected by it as we were.
—TRANSCRIPT HIGHLIGHTS—
If, in discussions of race or riots…people post something along the lines of “I’m not gonna make any sort of statement here on anything that has happened, what we just need is more revival.” Or something like that. That the solution to unrest in our country is revival. What I want to suggest to you is that that is coming from a place of Christian perfectionism…The idea that I can get to a place where my sin is so minimal that I don’t really have to deal with it on a daily or even minute-by-minute basis.
...If you’ve seen anybody suggest, “The problem here is not a race problem. It’s just a sin problem and what we need is more people to come to Jesus…” That’s rooted not in identifying sin in my own heart and then repenting for it. That’s rooted in Christian perfectionism. The idea that, as long as I just become a Christian, that everything else will be okay…To say all we need is revival, as if to say once people are Christians, now all of our other problems will go away, is to subvert and fail to identify what are the specific sins that are going on that need to be addressed?
…The place on a daily basis where most of us encounter our tacit Christian perfectionism is our quickness toward defensiveness when we are confronted about anything…If you encounter me on a normal day, usually, if you challenge me, I’m going to say, “That’s not true! I didn’t do X.” That’s me not leading with the idea of saying, “My sin is so wrapped up in my entire being that of course I’m sinful, and let’s try to untangle where it is.” But even moreso, it’s also me saying, especially on issues of race and such in America, saying, “The way that I think must be right, and therefore you must be wrong, and now let’s get into an argumentative stance.”
…The [Westminster] Confession comes in and says you cannot trust the way that you think. You cannot trust basically anything that you do, that it is free from sin…Christianity looks at you and me and says, “It’s not that you are innocent until proven guilty. It’s not even that you are guilty until you are proven innocent. You’re just guilty.” That’s just all it is.
This is why it’s hard for us to deal with, but the Confession is very clear and scripture is very clear. Your sin is literally everywhere. Literally everywhere. It is in the way that you think, it is in the things that you do, it is in the way that you process things, it is in your relationships, it is in your emotions. And when we get defensive about something, then it betrays the idea that I think that, and particularly if I justify it, because I’m a Christian, I must be right about something, instead of leading with saying, “I must be wrong, and so if you present something to me, you’re probably right. Let’s investigate that a little bit more.”
So if somebody drops the term ‘White Privilege’ and your immediate reaction is to get defensive, that’s probably a problem…If someone says ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and my immediate response is to get defensive and say something along the lines of ‘All Lives Matter’ – that’s a problem. That’s defensiveness. It is a tacit Christian perfectionism which is what I am kind of saying...If someone mentions the term ‘reparations’ or ‘Critical Race Theory’ and the immediate response is to get defensive and give arguments, that’s probably a problem. As opposed to saying, ‘Look, every human being here is made in the image of God, I probably have something to learn from you and I am probably sinful – and not just probably but most assuredly sinful – in some area if not every facet aspect of this area. So let’s try to work through this in some ways in humility.’
This is in some ways just a sermon in praise of gospel humility.
