Pastoral Letter for a Faithful Church                                                 

May 19, 2022

 

Dear Church Family,

 

It’s been a horrific week, probably not for you, but for many people around the country (and the world). While we continue to pray for peace in the Ukraine, perhaps we’re not praying often enough for peace here in our own country. In just the first half of May, there have been 33 mass shootings in our country, 7 of which are being investigated as hate crimes. Just this past week, there were multiple shootings of Black, White, Asian, and Hispanic folks in Buffalo, Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee, and at a church in Laguna Woods, California – all motivated by various forms of racism and hatred.

Last Sunday, we said that the 10th Commandment serves as a summary command for the whole of the Ten Commandments. That means it’s connected to each of the other commandments. Of course, Jesus said much the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²²  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” 

And the Apostle John said, 1 John 2:11, “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

So, what is the Christian answer to racism? Well, it cannot be less than that racism and hatred are antithetical to the Gospel. Ephesians 2:11-22 makes clear that Jesus’s blood breaks down dividing walls of hostility, and the account of Acts shows a church becoming multicultural as the Gospel goes forth into the lives of people that were radically different from the Jews. Think about all the ways they were different. Politically, ethnically, and culturally. That meant they probably reacted differently to nearly every issue. The early church was highly diverse, likely with more viewpoints on any number of topics than we even have in the church today, and yet Jesus unites them by His blood. Basically, our identity in Christ supersedes everything. 

Thus, as Dr. Hunter Baker wrote in WORLD Magazine on Tuesday (edited), “Investing in a tribal concept of a subgroup of human beings such as white people is irrelevant in the light of eternity. What has happened in Buffalo and other places will likely happen again as those working out frustrations … seek to vindicate visions of racialized supremacy … The ideological poison they are injecting into their spiritual veins is potent and requires the anti-venom of the true gospel.

The church must deliver the fully orbed content of the gospel. Jesus Christ is the king of the entire world and all the people in it. He died for sinners and loves the people of the world. The Christian church is a community open to all who want to follow Christ. It is more apparent than ever that this gospel must be preached in its broadest scope and that application must be made to questions of race. The gospel leads us to share the Good News of Christ’s sacrifice, resurrection, and provision for our redemption as the message for all mankind.”

I encourage you to read the entire article …

So, how do we apply this to our own situation? People often think that things like these shootings would never happen here … until they do. What happened this past weekend may seem miles removed from us, and yet the seeds of hatred and racism exist within our church. Friends, racism and hatred begin in the human heart, and it’s the gospel that’s needed to change those hearts. If we become aware of people being radicalized into extremist views by conspiracy theories and sources of misinformation that encourage violence and hate, we have to speak up, we have to speak the gospel into their lives — for their sake, for the sake of others as well, and for the sake of our Christian witness. 

 

While we rebel against the idea of considering ourselves as filled with racism and hatred, isn’t that what Jesus is telling us in Matthew 5? Truth be told, far too often we see anger with our brothers or sisters within the church. Maybe it’s frustration over different responses to COVID, differing views on the latest issues causing political polarization, unkind words spoken behind someone’s back while chatting after church, or feeling a righteous anger that quickly leads to sin as we judge people — as if we have the authority or righteousness to stand in the seat of judgment. Friends, this is why it is vitally important that we pursue each other in the Gospel … even over the little things. Because as often as we say that the Gospel is needed to change hearts, that Gospel work is ordinarily done by people who are willing to stick with one another, even when they find the other’s views to be aggravating and/or repulsive. That’s what the covenant of grace calls us to.

So, this Sunday, we’re going to step out of Deuteronomy and all the warnings against breaking the covenant and look at the covenant itself. Rev. Porter Harlow of Christ Presbyterian Church in Burke (Porter preached at Potomac Hills last summer) will be preaching on “Demonstrated Faithfulness” in Genesis 22 and how it points us to the true gospel in Matthew 28. And then we will follow that covenant emphasis with the last two sermons in Deuteronomy on “Renewing the Covenant” (May 29th) and “Sharing the Covenant” (June 5th). Of course, the only one who kept the covenant perfectly was our Lord Jesus. And so the covenant always points us to Him and to His gospel. It’s clear that our world needs nothing less.

Grace & Peace,

    

Dr. David V. Silvernail, Jr., Senior Pastor

Potomac Hills Presbyterian Church

P.S. Please be in prayer for our Officer’s Retreat this Friday and Saturday. Porter will be teaching us on the life of Abraham as a picture of the Christian life.