From the Pulpit...

According to the definition of woke by its advocates—being aware of racial injustice and actively combating it—our church is not woke. Christian theology in general is not woke. Church work properly focuses on the gospel, which is the true and only solution to sin of all sorts, and that certainly includes the sin of racism. There is another real sense, however, in which individual Christians and churches do take a stand against some of injustices of the sort that woke advocates are concerned about. We believe in just treatment of all people regardless of color, culture, economic position, etc. This is because the Bible shows us that God Himself desires these kinds of things. There are other so-called injustices that we do not go along with (gender identity change, for instance, or sexual immorality). Even in those cases, however, the Bible does not advocate for mean or unloving treatment. Part of love is encouraging reform of thinking and behavior. Exodus 23:6 says, “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.” In other words, you cannot treat a poor person worse because he is poor. But you also cannot treat a poor person better because he is poor. Leviticus 19:15 says, “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.” You cannot discriminate for or against. You cannot even do that when you are trying to “undo” past wrongs. Truly focus on undoing those wrongs by making things right in the present. Do not redo the wrongs of the past!