Matt Chandler's Use of Scripture at ERLC, TGC, #MLK50

Matt Chandler’s Use of Scripture at ERLC, TGC, and MLK50

Now, I'm a simple guy. If you can demonstrate something to me in the Bible, I'll believe it. I mean, I take the Bible as words straight from the mouth of God, and so, you know, very simple way to sort of demonstrate or prove something to me.

Show me in the Scriptures. That's really what it comes down to. And so a viewer asked me to respond to Pastor Matt Chandler's use of Scripture in his speech that he did at the ERLC Gospel Coalition MLK 50 speech.

I've obviously been very critical of that speech, and he wanted to know if I had any counterpoints to sort of the scriptural points that Matt made. And you know, Matt Chandler is a good Bible teacher.

I don't want anyone to think these videos are me sort of writing off Matt Chandler or saying that I don't recommend his writing or his speaking. That's not the case at all. But I did want to talk about these Scriptures and how Matt chooses to use them.

There's a lot to agree with, with what he says in this section, but there's also a lot of assumptions that are, you know, kind of underneath it all that really sort of, you know, make his use of these Scriptures inappropriate.

So let's jump to it. This is right around minute 16 of his speech at this conference.

John 10 and the One Flock of Christ

Constantly confronted, broken thinking around ethnicity, and I think we miss it because we blow through our Bible too quickly and read it like we're reading a blog.

So he's, he's making, he's going to start to talk about Scripture and saying that, you know, we miss what this is teaching us about ethnic issues because we read our Bibles too quickly. And I think it's so interesting that the Scriptures he uses, chooses to use, because these are very well known, you know what I mean?

So I don't think that a lot of people are missing this. I'm sure some are, but these are very well known passages in the Bible. I just find it so interesting that he just assumes that we just don't get it.

Oh, you got a steep in it. John 10, 16, Jesus looks at a crowd and says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold and I must bring them also. And they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd.

And I'm just telling you that his inbox on Monday was full.

So I want to be, I don't want to be too serious here, but, but, you know, it's, it's a good passage. Jesus is, is talking about, you know, bringing in Gentiles. He's talking about bringing in people that were overlooked at the time in Israel and saying that they're also part of my fold.

They're also part of, of my people, my sheep. And that was sort of a scandalous thing. And okay, I'm with you there. I absolutely, um, if there are people running around today that think that that blacks and Latinos and Asians and, and so on, they're not part of Jesus's fold because of their skin color, they're wrong.

I mean, absolutely. They're wrong. And you could, you could, you could show that sort of mentality from this passage, I suppose. Um, but are there really that many people that are, that are, that are, if, if I find it very hard to believe that if, if Matt Chandler said something like this on a, on a Sunday, yeah, black people are part of his fold too.

So we got to preach the gospel to black people and Latinos as well. Um, that his inbox would be full saying what? No, they're not. I mean, I'm sure there are some people out there like that, but even the, even the kinest, like kinest are, are, are, are, are racists.

You know, they're, they're, they're vile. They have vile beliefs. Um, but even the kinest wouldn't say that, that, that, that blacks aren't part of Christ's flock. They just worry about intermixing. And I, I, I oppose that.

I mean, that, that, that kind of attitude, I, I, I find it abhorrent, but even they wouldn't say that. So who's saying this? That's what I'd like to know. Um, Jesus's inbox on Monday was full of people saying what?

Is that how your inbox is, Matt Chandler? I'd like, show me the receipts on that one.

Don't you know we're the chosen people?

He's, he's serious about this. He, I would like to see even one email where it says that whites are the chosen people. I would like to see that. And that, that seems so farfetched that I can imagine, I can't imagine he even has one email that says that maybe he does because he seems very serious.

So I, a lot of this, this speech, I think he's, he's talking about specific instances and specific people. Um, so I, I'm not going to say that there aren't, um, he doesn't have those examples, but I find it very hard to believe that his inbox is inundated with people saying, don't you know that, you know, fill in the blanks where the chosen people, I find that so hard to believe.

Don't you know the Bible, Jesus? Don't you know Moses and the Lord? Don't you know about the tabernacle?

Exodus 12 and the Passover for the Stranger

Right. So that's interesting because don't you know the Bible, Jesus? Yeah. Jesus knew the Bible and it would be very easy to demonstrate using the scriptures that their attitude was wrong. Here's Exodus chapter 12.

Okay. This is the institution of the Passover and look at what it says here. It says all the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised.

Then he may come near and eat it and keep it. And he shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.

So if somebody would have said, don't you know the law, Jesus, the Bible, Jesus could have turned around and said, yeah, I do. Here's, here's where it says that, um, I've got sheep of another fold, essentially, you know, if a, if a foreigner, if a nonbeliever wants to become a believer, his males should be circumcised and he can keep the Passover in faith as well, just like all of you.

And there should be one law from the native and the sojourner. You should treat him like a native, even though he's a sojourner, even though he's, he's an alien. You should treat him like a native when he converts.

It's just that simple. And so, uh, it's very easy to demonstrate in the Bible why this is incorrect. Okay. Um, and so I would like to see again, you know, sort of the scriptural proof. I'm a very simple man.

Just show me in the Bible where it talks about white privilege and where it talks about the white church and the black church, and you're dividing and you're chopping up the church into different ethnicities, show me the Bible where it does that, and I'll believe it.

Show me the Bible where it tells you that, that, uh, economic inequality, you know, income inequalities are sin. And then I'll believe it. I'm a very simple man. See, I could, I can go to the scripture and tell you why that attitude is wrong.

It's very easy to do. Show me my mistake. Here we go.

The Good Samaritan and Love of Neighbor

Luke 10, 25 through 36.

So the point is like, okay, that was a pretty decent, you know, Bible reading. He, he, you know, again, he's a good Bible teacher, but he's not applying that to today. He, he kind of makes some kind of vague accusations, but is he saying that there are, there are rampant people running around, again, he's not talking about fools in this presentation, right?

He's talking about run-of-the-mill Christians, good Christians, people that he thinks are believers. Are there tons of believers out there saying, well, blacks and Latinos, they don't need the gospel because they're not part of Jesus's fold.

What's he saying? Again, he's okay. He read the scripture appropriately, but how does that apply to today? That's what I'd like to know.

Seven, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor is yourself.

And he said to him, you have answered correctly. So to Charlie's point, he's got his orthodoxy down. Jesus replied, well, actually, but he desiring to justify himself, my white brothers and sisters, that sentence is huge.

My white brothers and sisters, that sentence is huge. Okay. So he's trying to make some kind of an application to today. Um, I wish that he would explain this very carefully because he's making a distinction here.

He's saying my white brothers and sisters, you really need to pay attention to, um, desiring to justify himself. Okay. Why? Why do Latinos not? Why do blacks not? You see, this is the thing like, okay, fine.

Can you explain? I mean, I just don't understand addressing sort of a certain ethnicity and not explaining it. Um, that doesn't make any sense to me. And frankly, quite frankly, it strikes me as a little bit partial showing partiality.

Um, blacks need to hear that warning as well. Why, you know, Latinos need to hear that warning as well. I had a, I had a, a woman comment on one of my videos and she said that I lost her when I started saying that blacks could be racist as well.

And she told me to go read a book. I don't know what that part meant. That was, I thought that was kind of funny, but yeah. Even the idea that blacks need to hear some of this stuff is, is almost seen as almost a racist, laughable thing.

Like no blacks need to hear that as well.

The Good Samaritan, the Samaritan Woman, and Neighbor-Love in Leviticus

Pastor Matt Chandler, but desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus and who is my neighbor and Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. So now what's happening in this, you've got this story that's taking place and you've got kind of the Hebrew Mount Rushmore, you got Hebrew Tom Brady going on right here.

What, the Levite? Surely, the Levite who knows the law is going to act upon the law. What, the priest? Oh, man, the priest knows what God's charge. Surely, the priest is going to... No, look who Jesus makes, the hero.

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion and he went to him and he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him and whatever more you spend, I will repay when you come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be the neighbor of the man who fell among robbers?

And he said, the one who showed him mercy. He wouldn't even say it. He couldn't say, the Samaritan. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise and don't let it... Don't miss on the fact that the first person that Jesus reveals, that he is the son of God, who is a Samaritan woman at the well, who was exchanging sex for rent.

Let's not forget that one. So, you got to say something. I wouldn't start with white privilege, but you can start... You see what I mean?

Do you see what I mean? Great. Good Bible teacher. Again, there's really nothing I would want to disagree with in his presentation of the good Samaritan. In his presentation of the Samaritan woman at the well, I mean, he just kind of mentioned that at the end.

But yeah, that was a very important passage. And it does have definite ethnic tensions in it. And it has sort of a subversion of what you expected. I don't have anything I really want to disagree with too much on that.

I mean, again, you could quibble with anyone's Bible teaching, but I'm not going to do that here. So, he says this passage that's very well known, that everyone sees. And most people see the ethnic tensions in it.

Okay, great. And then he says, so you got to say something. That's where you lose me. Where's the connection there? To me, it's just like, okay, he teaches this passage and then he says, okay, white people, you need to say something.

How does it connect to what you're talking about here? How does it connect? Because you're talking about loving your neighbor as yourself. And look, this is the thing here, right? This is where love your neighbor as yourself.

A lot of people don't know this, but love your neighbor as yourself comes from the book of Leviticus, right? And he talks about you shall not steal. You shall not oppress your neighbor. You shall not rob him.

And what he's talking about oppression here is the wages. You should give him what you say you should pay him. You shall not do injustice in court. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. And here it goes.

You shall not take vengeance or bear grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. And then he continues. He says, you shall keep my statutes.

And he gives you all the statutes. He starts talking about the various statutes that he has for this people. And he says, that's how you shall, you know, love your neighbor. You shall do all these things and then don't do certain things.

And that's how you love your neighbor. Look, when a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as you would treat the native among you.

You shall love him as yourself for you are strangers in the land of Egypt. Okay. That's all great. I agree with all of that. That's, that's wonderful. Yeah. That's how you love your neighbor. You don't do bad things to them and you do good things for them.

That's absolutely true. Okay. So what does that have to do with income inequality? What does it have to do with income inequality? What does it have to do with, with any of these disparities? You have to show how that has something to do with it.

Because if there's an income inequality, because white people are stealing from black people, okay, well then we have something there and we need two or more witnesses and we can talk about it if there's, um, you know, if there's, uh, disparities in crime statistics, because, um, white people are framing black people and they're putting up witnesses against them and to, to, to put them in jail for crimes that they didn't do, okay, then we might have something there.

You have to prove that though. You can't just jump from the story of the good Samaritan and say, okay, so white people, you have to say something that doesn't mean anything. Okay. That's using, I'm sorry, that's abusing the text of scripture, not using it.

That's abusing the text of scripture. He's not mistranslating it. He's not exegeting it poorly. He's misapplying it because he's not applying it at all. He's just saying that it goes with, with what we have going on today and he's not demonstrating it.

Show me how income inequality is treated. It is, is a matter of treating your neighbor, loving your neighbor as yourself, and I'll believe you. I'm a simple man. Show me.