How Different Are We? (Genesis 3:20)

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis chapter 3. Bring my mic down a little. I'm a little loud. I can already tell, and I'm going to get louder. You tell me to shush.

I tell you what, if there's one place I won't be shushed, it's here. I do want to give you a little heads up today. Today's message may seem a little different, and it is different by design. I'm going to be dealing with a subject which is not only relevant to our current situation in our world, but I'm dealing with a subject that some would say is too difficult, maybe shouldn't be mentioned.

I'm going to be talking about the subject of racism, and I'm going to be addressing not only the sin of racism, but I'm going to address some of the ways that the world is wrongly addressing the sin of racism.

So we're going to be looking at that on a larger scale, and we're going to be doing so from Genesis chapter 3 and verse 20. So I want to invite you to stand. We're going to stand and read the Word. Only one text today.

This text will be somewhat of a focus springboard, if you will. I know springboarding is not the best way to do exegesis, but I do believe the heart of this text tells us something that the rest of the Bible reaffirms.

So this is what we're going to begin with this morning is Genesis chapter 3 and verse 20. The man called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. Father in heaven, I thank you for your Word.

I thank you for Brother Mike who's already prayed this, but I'll pray it again. Lord, keep me from error and from cowardice, that I might preach with accuracy and boldness. And Lord, that your people might hear your Word, that the Word might go through their ear, through the mind, and to the heart by the power of your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name, amen. Please have a seat. The title of today's message is How Different Are We? It is amazing when we look around the globe, the amount of diversity that exists on this small planet. Among the living things on this planet, there seems to be an infinite amount of variations.

It ranges from giant animals that tower over human beings all the way down to microscopic organisms that are invisible to the naked eye and yet are still alive. My wife and I, every year, we get a pass to the zoo.

The zoo's 10 minutes from our home, so every year we get a pass to the zoo. And we go to the zoo and my kids get to see the living skyscrapers, the giraffes, and they get to see the living torpedoes, the penguins.

And it's amazing to see all of the variation of life that's there. Evolutionists would argue that such grand diversity is the result of billions of years of mutation that has brought forth all of the diversity of life on this planet from a single living cell.

But creationists, especially biblical creationists, are convinced that the diversity did not come from random mutation over billions of years, but rather through the creative genius of Almighty God. And such diversity does not exist only in the animal kingdom, but it also exists within the kingdom of man.

Cultures vary all around the world in how they dress, what they eat, how they behave. But there's an even more obvious diversity among people and that is the diversity of appearance. Oftentimes we describe these diversities as racial distinctions.

Well, that person is of this race or that person is of that race. But race is really just a term that we use to associate the way people appear. Usually we begin with the melanin count, right? More melanin, darker the skin.

Melanin is the chemical in your skin that causes it to be darker or lighter. And so we all have a certain amount of melanin. And so the more melanin, we would talk about race of black people and white people or brown people.

But then we notice there's also characteristic differences. If you look at the face of a white person, a European, Nordic face will look different than the face of a person that is of Asian descent or African descent.

The orbital cavities, the nostrils, the lips are often shaped different. And we see these distinctions within humanity. Secular anthropologists recognize three main basic physical divisions, the Caucasoid, the Mongoloid, and the Negaroid.

The Caucasoid is typically the European Nordic, the Mongoloid of Asia, and the Negaroid of Africa. And these can be further broken down into 30 or so subgroups, the Aryan, Hamite, Semite, Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, Eskimo, Native American, Melanesian, Papua, Aboriginal, and go on about 30 or so.

And what's important to note is that these groups and subgroups are based primarily on the distinction of appearance and secondarily on the distinction of cultural distinction, the way they behave. And all of this variety within the human race would make one think that there are different types of humans.

There's black humans, there's white humans, there's brown humans, right? But the Bible declares something different. The Bible declares there really is only one race. There really is only one family. And it makes that claim in our text today.

Because it says that every one of us is a son or daughter of Adam and Eve. Now we all know what racism is. Racism is the belief that a group is somehow superior by nature to another group based upon superficial features.

Often this is demonstrated in prejudice, discrimination, antagonism directed at someone of a different race. And while it is certainly not the only thing to blame, I think that we can at least impart look to the ideas that stemmed out of Darwinian theory to at least discuss why some would believe that some races are superior.

Now I'm not saying Darwinism is the reason for racism because racism certainly is older than Darwinism. But you see Darwinism gave racism an intellectual foundation. You see Darwinism said the reason for the different races are the different people are at different levels of evolution.

And therefore you have the higher evolved versus the lower evolved. And how do you know? Well how they look. The look would determine whether someone has a higher level of evolution or a lower level of evolution.

I'll give you an example. In the book Aborigines in White Australia, this is what it says. It says, In 1859 Charles Darwin's book on the origin of species popularized the notion of biological and social evolution.

Scholars began to discuss civilization as a unilinear process with races able to ascend or descend a graduated scale. The European was the fittest to survive. The aboriginal was doomed to die out according to natural law just like the dodo or the dinosaur.

Listen to what that's saying. The whiter European is the higher of the evolved and therefore he is destined to succeed. And the aboriginal is destined to go the way of the dodo or the dinosaur. And again this is based on the theories of Charles Darwin.

Now as I said I'm not saying everyone who believes in evolution is a racist. There are racists of every stripe. There are racists who call themselves Christians. But the point is simply to say that the theory of evolution was used by many people to justify racism.

To justify the idea that sure we're better than they are because we're higher on the scale. We've all seen the scale, right? We've all seen where it starts with the ape and it goes up to the less bent over ape and then the more erect ape and then you finally get to the one erect man, right?

And the idea is that people of different races are somewhere lower on the line than we are. And that of course leads to not only the feelings of racism but the justification of racism, right? We are more evolved.

We are by nature better. What I want us to see in our lesson today is that with all the diversity that exists within the human race, all human beings, red and yellow, black and white, are all image bearers of God.

Our divisions show the great complexity and creativity in God's design but our divisions should never be used as an excuse to perpetuate hatred and bigotry because there's much more about us that is the same than is different.

Did you know that between the person next to you and you, there are somewhere in the vicinity of three million different genetic differences? Even if it's your twin brother, where are they at? Where's Zoe?

Okay. Yeah, you don't sit next to your twin brother in church, I understand. You're close enough for nine months, you don't have to be connected right now. But between the person next to you, there's about three million genetic differences even if it's your mom and yet you're still 99 .9 the same on a DNA scale and that includes whether you're black or white.

That includes whether you're a man or a woman. This shows the amazing complexity of DNA that you can be three million differences and yet still be 99 .9 the same. And this is why I want to press this into you today.

If you get nothing else from this message, if you take nothing else home, which I hope you take a lot more home because I've got a lot more to say, but if you take nothing else home, we are all human beings of the same race made in the image of God.

That's it. That's the message today. Now I'm going to say a lot more about that, but that's really the heart of it. That's the thesis. Now I want to base that thesis on what I call the threefold foundation of biblical anthropology.

Now you know what anthropology is, right? You all were in high school and maybe even some of you in college. You took science class and in science class you may have studied biology and in biology the subset of biology called anthropology.

Anthropology comes from the Greek word anthropos which means man and so anthropology is the study of man, right? There are three things the Bible tells us about man that we should all keep in our minds.

Number one, all mankind are descended from a single pair of human parents. Number two, all mankind are descended from a trio of brothers. And number three, all mankind share a common psychology and physiology.

Now I didn't put those on the board, I'm sorry. I'll say them again for those I see some people writing. All mankind descend from a single pair of human parents, that's number one. All mankind descend from a trio of brothers, we're going to see that, and all mankind share a common physiology and psychology.

So let's look at number one. All mankind descend from a single pair of human parents. We see this in Genesis 3 .20, we've already read it. Why did Adam call his wife Eve? Because it says right here, she was the mother of all living.

The word Eve, the name Eve, literally means life giver. Why did he call her Eve? What's interesting about this text, and I don't have time to really dive into this today, but what's interesting about this text is this shows us that Adam at least understood that God's grace was going to extend to them having children.

Because you remember the judgment on this day you will die, the day that you eat of the fruit, right? But Adam received grace, and even though he died spiritually, it would take another 930 years for his body to actually die, and so he would go through 930 years of having children.

The Bible says he had many sons and daughters. We know about Cain and Abel and Seth, but the Bible says they had many more. And we are all descendants of Adam. You are all an Adamite. It sounds like an insult.

I promise it's not. It simply means that you are all of Adam. How do we know this? We know this because, one, this says Eve is the mother of all living. Two, the Bible doesn't tell us of any other created human beings.

God created one man and one woman. He didn't create a whole race of men. He didn't create a whole race of women. He didn't create Adam and a bunch of wives. He created Adam and Eve, and all of the human race came from those two.

And we can prove this, if we want to, by going into the New Testament in Romans chapter 5. You know what Romans 5 tells us? Romans 5 tells us death spread to all men because all men sinned in Adam. It tells us through one man sin entered the world, and sin spread to all men.

1 Corinthians 15 tells us in Adam all die. You know why sin plagues all of human beings? Because all human beings have a universal father, one single ancestor. And that one single ancestor worked as our federal head in the garden.

And he operated in our place and took our position as the head of the human race. And when he sinned, he plunged us into sin with him. Why? Because we are his posterity. We are all genetically linked to Adam.

Which means we are also all genetically linked to one another. All mankind descended from a single human pair. That's number one. Number two, all mankind descended from a trio of brothers. Now who are they?

Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now who is Shem, Ham, and Japheth? Sons of Noah, right? If you would, in your Bibles, I want you to look at this. I want you to see this. Go to Genesis chapter 9. It's only a couple pages to the right.

And look with me at Genesis chapter 9. And go down to verse 18. While you do that, I'm going to get a sip of water. Genesis 9, 18. The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Ham was the father of Canaan. And when we get to the text, I'll explain why that matters. Verse 19. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. Pretty clear, isn't it?

In fact, if you have a New American Standard Bible, it says this. It says these three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. Because that's what it means. From those three men.

What's interesting to me, that there were three. Because if you remember a few minutes ago, I said secular anthropologists subdivide men into three primary groups. Remember I said the Caucasoid, the Mongoloid, the Negroid?

That's the three primary groups that are usually decided as the foundation heads of race. Isn't it interesting that we go back in history and we find a place where all mankind came from three brothers?

In Genesis 10, verse 1, it says these are the generations of the son of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. And after this, and we'll see this when we get to chapter 10, we start getting the listing of all the sons.

One of those sons is going to be Abraham. But what's most important about this list is it doesn't mention Noah having any other sons. It doesn't say there were any more Noahites. So here's the thing, we're all Adamites.

We're all Noahites. But that's where we start to break down. Not everybody in here is a Japhethite. Not everybody in here is a Hamite. Not everybody in here is a Shemite. I don't know what you be. I don't know what I be.

But we be one of those. In fact, you've ever heard the term anti-Semitism? Know where that term comes from? The descendants of Shem. The Jews trace their heritage back to Shem. And therefore, when they say anti-Semitism, it's referring to their being descendants of Shem.

Some people say, well, maybe some people survived the flood. Maybe there's some non-Japhethites. Maybe there's some non-Hamites and non-Semites. You don't have to turn there, but I'll read to you Genesis 7 .23.

It says, He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark.

It doesn't seem to give you the option. It doesn't say, oh yeah, and the Nephilim survived. No, they did not. And we'll talk about that when we get to Chapter 6. But the importance is there's nobody else survived.

So we're all Adamites, we're all Noahites. Then we have this distinction. And it's because of this we now can look at mankind and we can say, yeah, there's diversity, but there's also commonality. There's distinction, but there is also unity.

And this leads me to my third point. Don't get excited. I'm not even anywhere near done. This is just the third point of the first half. Because I've got a lot more to say, but I'm making my argument for the second half.

The third point is that all mankind share a common physiology and psychology. Within the human race, and as I've argued already, there is only but one. Within the human race, in the midst of diversity, there is great commonality.

Think about it like this. I really want you to think this for a moment. No matter how someone looks on the outside, you can still do blood transfusions. You can take blood out of a black person, put it into an Asian person.

Take blood out of a person who is white, you can put it into a black person. Isn't that right, Dan? Dan's a nurse, he'd know. They don't have bags of black blood at the hospital. This is the African-American blood.

This is the white people blood. No, they don't work that way. Now, they do have different types, the A, the B, the O. That refers to your blood type, but not your race. That's not distinguished by how you look on the outside.

That's just how your physical makeup is made up on the inside. Let me ask you this. If you're pouring out blood because you've just been the victim of a terrible accident, are you going to say, now wait a minute, I don't want blood from Muhammad?

I'm serious. You're not going to care, right? So, we have blood that can be transfused. Organs can be transfused. Or, rather, transplanted. Take the heart out of a woman, put it in a man. Amazing. Children can be produced between people of different colors.

Body temperature, pulse rates, blood pressures, all fall within the same limits. Liability to disease is basically the same. There are some diseases that are more likely to affect certain people of certain descents, such as sickle cell and things like that.

It might affect black people in a different way than it affects white people. But, in general, we all get headaches. We all take aspirin. Right? We all go to the hospital. You don't do a different surgery on a black person for appendicitis that you do for a white person.

Right? So, there's a physiological unity. And the reason why is because we're all human beings. But there's also a shared psychology. All people share the ability to think. They share the ability to emote.

They share the ability to reason. They share the ability to get on to their children. Because I'm about to get on to mine. JJ! Sit up in that chair and stop that. Alright? So, we all share that. Parents.

Amen. Everybody knows the feeling. We are distinguished. The Latin. Homo sapiens. What does homo sapiens mean? The thinking being. Or the thinking man. The wise man. And that is not limited to one color.

We see this in morality. Men of all nations understand that there is a right from wrong. Romans 1 tells us that every man knows that God exists by what is formed in creation. Because every man can look at what God has created and know that God, the order maker, the creator, has made all things.

In fact, Acts 17, 26. Write that down. Because I want you to later on in your time of personal devotion, this is what it says. It says, God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Hear it again. God made from one man every nation of mankind. See, I don't have to prove anything to you today. I just got to read it. This is not interpretation. This is just the Word. But even with all that I have said, even in the midst of the truths that I have said, mankind seems irreparably divided.

And this is taking me to the second half. We have a world, we have a nation, which seems irreparably divided by color, by culture, by national heritage, by ethnic distinctions. Rather than seeing the unity that we have by coming from a pair of the same parents, we rather see all of our differences.

And often these differences are exaggerated. Often these differences are used for the foundation of hate and bias and bigotry. And for a moment, I want to say something controversial. And I'm going to invite you to buckle up.

Because what I'm about to say may seem like I'm taking a right turn. I read this sermon to my wife, and she gave me a thumbs up, so I figured it's okay. She's the theological. She's the other theologian in the house.

And when I have a question, oftentimes we talk about it. And I said, this is hard to say, what I'm about to say. And we prayed about it, and this is what I want to say. Racism exists in this world, but the means to deal with racism that the world has provided us are unbiblical and immoral.

I'll say it again. Racism exists in this world, but the means to combat racism that the world provides are unbiblical and immoral. And I'm going to give you three examples. And I'm going to tell you these three things.

I'm going to explain them to you. And you may think we're fixing to switch to college lecture mode. Well, we will for just a minute because these are important. The first is called critical race theory.

The second is called intersectionality. And the third, and this is the one that's really going to hit a few, is the exaggeration of white privilege. I'll say it again. The three things that I think the world tries to use to combat racism that is immoral and ungodly is critical race theory, intersectionality, and the exaggeration of white privilege.

Now, let me explain what I'm talking about. You may not have ever heard of critical race theory before, but you will, especially if you are in college or you're sending your kids to college. You will hear about it.

Critical race theory is a theoretical framework that seeks to interpret history and society through the lens of race, and in particular, racial injustice. There are two major presuppositions of critical race theory, and they are this.

Number one, racism is ingrained in the fabric and system of American society. And number two, power structures based on white privilege and white supremacy exist and must be overthrown. Therefore, the resultant teaching often is this.

If you are white, you are racist. If you are white, you are the beneficiary of racism. Therefore, if you are white, you are inherently unjust and oppressive. The term, quote, all white people are racist, end quote, has not only become accepted, it has become applauded, and it is being taught in our universities.

In fact, if you think that I'm exaggerating this, I just happen to have in my hand right here an article. This is from the University of Kentucky. The article's not, but it's in regard to the University of Kentucky.

It says this. In accordance to their residential assistance training, you know what a resident assistant is, right? If you ever lived in a dorm, an RA. The resident assistant training program will now be segregated by race, and white people will be sent to white accountability space.

They will be trained differently than their non-white counterparts to understand the 41 common racist behaviors and attitudes of white people. It goes on to say that they will denounce the American flag, the National Anthem, and Independence Day, all as being the stuff that makes America racist.

I don't know how much you keep up with politics, and I know people say politics don't belong in the pulpit. I'm not up here talking about politics today, but I do want to mention the president for a moment, because the president recently came out and said, we are no longer going to teach critical race theory in government programs.

And everybody lost their mind. You mean you're not going to teach racial sensitivity training? He said, no, we're not going to bring white people in and tell them that they're guilty simply for being white.

You know what the sad thing is? Trump is smart enough to realize how dangerous that is, but the SBC is not. The Southern Baptist Convention has adopted critical race theory. Last year at the Southern Baptist Convention, Resolution 9 was the adoption of critical race theory as a, quote, analytical tool that can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences.

So Donald Trump says, yeah, we shouldn't do this because it's inherently racist to tell people that they are naturally racist simply because of the color of their skin. But the SBC says, no, that's all right.

You see the problem? It's in the church. Jennifer and I went to a conference two years ago and they were talking about this. The Founders Ministries was talking about this two years ago. We left and we were really surprised.

We were like, we don't have any idea what they're talking about. I don't think it's going to be that big of a problem. Little did we know. You ever heard of Tim Keller? Tim Keller is a pretty famous Presbyterian minister, has a church in New York, several thousand members.

This is what he said. Now, this was a couple of years ago, but this was this is all leading into this. Tim Keller said this. If you have white skin, it's worth a million dollars over a lifetime. And if you have that asset of white skin right now, that historical asset that you have to say, I didn't deserve this.

And to some degree, I'm the product of I'm standing on the shoulders of other people who got it through injustice. So the Bible actually says, yes, you are involved in injustice. Mike, you're white. You're involved in injustice because of the color of your skin.

That's not some rando on the TV or the Internet blog. That's Tim Keller, y 'all. Max Lucado. If you've ever been in Lifeway, you've seen books by Max Lucado. Back in August of this year, took himself publicly to get on his knees and beg forgiveness for the sins of his ancestors, saying all of us white people are sorry.

You see the problem with this, and you may think I'm crazy for even talking about this, y 'all. But the problem with this is what what this is, is this is cultural Marxism. Marxism is the philosophy that the whole world can be divided into the oppressed and the oppressor.

That it's the oppressed and the oppressor, and therefore you have to put yourself into one of those categories. And if you are white, you're automatically on the side of the oppressor. That's the goal of social justice, by the way.

If you ever heard the term social justice, the idea is to bring down the oppressors and bring up the oppressed. And somebody says, well, that sounds good, right? The problem is it becomes what's called identity politics.

You become an oppressor by the fact of what you look like. There's nothing more inherently racist than that. That you are naturally oppressive because of your skin color. And this leads to the idea of intersectionality.

Now, intersectionality is the idea that oppression comes in scales. So therefore, if you are a white, heterosexual, cisgendered male, me, then you have all of the benefits. And every one of those that you don't have is a deficit.

So if you're a woman, that's one area of oppression. Because we know that patriarchy is so deadly. So if you're a woman, you have one area of oppression. But if you're a black woman, that's two. And they intersect.

That's where the term intersectionality comes from. Because now you have two levels of oppression and they intersect with one another. But what if you're a transgender black woman? Now you got three. And then what if you're gay?

You say, aren't all transgender people gay? No. That's a whole other category. So if you're a white, cisgendered, heterosexual male, you're the oppressor. But if you're a black, transgender, homosexual female, then you're the absolute highest of the oppressed.

And your voice gets to be louder because the oppressor has to sit down and shut up. The oppressor is no longer allowed to have a voice or an opinion. By the way, if you don't like what I'm saying about this, I would encourage you to maybe read or listen to Votie Balcom.

He's a black man. He's a preacher. He's been preaching these things for years. And here's the problem, though. If you think his voice is more important than my voice because he's black, then you have a problem.

If you think that the amount of melanin in someone's skin automatically gives them a lesser or greater voice, then you've bought into the lie. And that's where I go to where I say the exaggeration of white privilege.

The very idea that white privilege exists is not debated anymore. It's taken as a given. And somebody says, well, I believe it. Don't believe it because the news tells you it's true. Don't believe it because your sociology teacher tells you that it's true.

There are many arguments, many sound sociological arguments. I have a degree in social science. There are many sound sociological arguments that prove that the concept of white privilege is actually more an example of majority privilege.

You'll hear one of the arguments. They'll say, well, every movie that we watch has white people in it. Or every book that we open has pictures of white people in it. I say, yeah, well, go to China. Because if you go to China, all the movies are going to have Chinese people.

All the books are going to have Chinese people. It's not about white. It's about majority. And as of right now, white people are still the majority. You see, you believe things because you have been force-fed them.

Not because they are true, but because they sound right. Why did Eve listen to the devil? Because what he said sounded right. I want to read something to you. This is from, this is an article from Striving for Eternity.

It says this. Critical race theory is a blatant Marxist theory. And as such, it is not only atheistic, because Marxism is atheistic, by the way. It's not only atheistic, it's materialistic. Critical race theory is completely incompatible with the Bible.

The Bible teaches us that we are sinners in need of salvation. Critical race theory teaches us that the primary aspect of life is a fight for power. The privileged oppressors versus the oppressed. You see, the argument is wrong.

The argument is wrong. Racism exists, but the answer is not critical race theory. Racism exists, but the answer is not intersectionality. Racism exists, but the answer is not denouncing white privilege.

The answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the answer. They don't ask me, but I tell them I have the answer to racism. It's found in Galatians, chapter 3, verse 28. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is neither male nor female. There is neither slave nor free. But we are all one in Jesus. That's it. So I want to say this to you today as I draw to a close. If you're knowingly engaging in racism, stop and repent.

If you cannot love your neighbor who is a different color, stop and repent. But if you're harboring the guilt of your ancestors because of somebody on the news or a teacher that told you that you're inherently guilty because of the color of your skin, repent of that too.

Understand this. Every person of every color is made in the image of the same God. And the gospel unites all of us at the foot of the cross. And in heaven, the elect will be made up of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

Let us pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that your word unites us rather than divides us. And that we can find true unity, not in the social constructs and silliness of men. But in the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lord, may we love the gospel. And when we come around this table to be reminded of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, may we remember that there are people all around the world of every color that are sharing in this same table with us today.

In Jesus' name, amen.