January 19, 2014
Exodus 14:10-14 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
This weekend we pay homage to the life and work of a marvelous human being, the late great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I feel a special tie to Dr. King since we hail from the same hometown and same high school – Washington High as in Booker T. not George. Dr. King was a man who carried the blood stained banner all the way to the grave, but he would be the first to say he was not the first to die for freedom. Dr. King proclaimed, “I have a dream” but would be quick to say, mine was not the first dream for freedom.
Dr. King was a drum major but he’d remind us, I did not march alone. I did not sit-in alone. I took the bullet but others died before and after me. I was a foot soldier alongside thousands of others from all races, colors and creeds; from all ages and generations who believed in the eternal dream set into motion by an impoverished carpenter from Galilee that the sons and daughters of former slaves could sit down at the banquet table with the sons and daughters of former slave owners. That the marginalized, and those living by the side of the road could have life and have it more abundantly.
For those of us in the back of the bus, those were volcanic words in our hearts like a river of life gushing up, oozing over with the promise of a new future with a new life. New opportunities. Acceptance. Equality. We were barred from libraries, swimming pools, restaurants, schools and churches, but the roaring sonorous voice of Dr. King convinced us that we were somebody, that God cares what was happening to us. It is quite amazing experience to live so denigrated, denied our basic human and civil rights yet out of the whirlwind you perceive this invisible power confirming, yes, God is on our side. Sometimes that experience causes me to tremble. To know that God was moving for us in the midst of the storm. You had to be there to understand.
I’m sure Dr. King would want us today to know that though he was a brilliant general in the battle, he leaned on the everlasting arm of God who is the real author and finisher of this quest and our faith. King was a foot soldier answering the call to go out into the vineyard. He answered for his time, for his age, for his generation to press toward the mark of the high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus. All the civil rights workers dared stand on high ground risking their lives before the mighty and cruel pharaohs of American power with the putrid afterglow of slavery slobbering over us.
They stood against the citadels of Jim Crow segregation, lynch law, KKK power, disenfranchisement, false imprisonment. They faced Goliath without even a slingshot and 5 stones. By faith they believed God. By faith, they hope in a dream birthed on Calvary’s mountain. By faith, they saw power in the blood that flowed from Calvary Mountain. By faith, they held a hope that their suffering was not in faith. By faith, they clung to that same faith nurtured in the slave shacks of Georgia and Alabama, and wherever Egypt land existed. A faith passed down from their unlettered parents and grandparents that said all God’s children have a right to the tree of life. A faith that believed that they, too, had a right to Equality now. Justice now. Freedom now.
They stood their ground believing in a New Jerusalem built on the bedrock of harmony and peace. But they weren’t the first to have that dream. Over in Exodus 14, we find a bewildered Moses stalled at the Red Sea with nothing but a hope and a dream for his mixed multitude of 100,000 newly freed slaves following an invisible God. Harriett Tubman spoke of coming to the edge of the river with a band of freedom seekers only to find there was no boat for crossing over to Canaan land. From behind, Moses heard the thunder and saw the dust of Pharaoh’s army bearing down. From behind, Harriett heard the hound dogs barking and guns firing. And in front of both Moses and Tubman was a Red Sea, too wide, too swift, too treacherous to swim cross.
And just like Old Man River, the Red Seas of our lives don’t plant nothing, they just keep on rolling along. For Moses, this meant helping the masses of newly freed Hebrews keep their faith because they were
Low in freedom. Low in faith. Low in hope and low in dream power. They were easily excited and easily discouraged. As such they were difficult and dangerous. Ready to turn back to the plantations of Egypt land. Eager to get back to making bricks without straw for massa Pharaoh by day. Eating onion rings and fried fish, onions and cucumbers by night. They longed for a return to slavery. “Moses, didn’t we tell you in Egypt to leave us alone? We’d rather serve the Egyptians than die in the desert.”
Harriett’s little bands of runaways told her the same thing at the riverside. They’d rather pick massa’s cotton by day and eat corn pones and neck bones by night than die at the river. Out of fear of dying in the desert, many African American preachers shunned Dr. King from their pulpits. In fear of dying in the desert, thousands refused to march, refused to boycott, refused to sit-in. They refused to stand their ground for fear of losing a job or their lives.
Today those same naysayers ask what has been gained since the freedom movement? What good did this stride toward freedom bring? We have a black president but the killer of Trayvon Martin walks free. As do the black murderers of thousands of black children, men and women across this nation. We have black elected officials but North Carolina passed a draconian law choking off black voting rights. Black spending is one trillion dollars per year but the imprisonment and unemployment of black men AND women continues to soar. We have over 100 HBCU’s many struggling to survive and black children’s academic boats stay stuck at the bottom of every achievement standard. Why come to the Red Sea to die? Why come to the desert to die? And black history is as lost a cause as the Confederate States of America, so why bother?
But on the backside of a mountain after 40 years of exile, Moses heard a voice from a burning bush tell him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. Stand your ground Moses. At the Red Sea, Moses, stand your ground. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Harriett, stand your ground: The Lord done brung you outta six troubles, he’s not goin’ leave you in the seventh. Stand your ground, Martin. God of our weary years. God of our silent tears. Thou who has brought us thus far on our way. Stand your ground because we’re marching up to Zion.
There at the Red Sea we learned an eternal lesson: no weapon formed against you can prosper if you stand your ground. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world if you stand your ground.
Today, some of look upon the freedoms won in the civil rights movement like money left to the beneficiaries of a will left by a wealthy uncle we never knew. We scorn and look down on the rewards we’re about to reap but have not sown because they’re not enough. We fail to grasp that, as unworthy or incarcerated as we may be, our destination is freedom.
As trifling and pathetic as we are as nation, community, church, family and born again believers, our destination is still freedom. We may have sold ourselves for filthy lucre but our destination is still freedom. Why because God said “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And Paul tells us in Romans 11:29, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. You in the pen for life, Freedom is still your destination because freedom is the irrevocable gift of God. Period.
We cannot be loosed from our gift. Racism might slow us down and trip us up, but it cannot delete God’s blessings on our lives. You might be drugged out, doped up, locked out or knocked up, but freedom is still your destination. God still has a marvelous calling on your life, eternally binding, irreversible. But as Nelson Mandela would tell us, there is no easy walk to freedom. Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, a cross for you and a cross for me.
And while we be cannot be separated from our destination the troubles of the world can turn us around, discourage us on the journey. So I offer now my prayer for the ancestors and living whose crosses have been extraordinary.
Lawd have mercy on those who died on a Roman cross. Lawd, have mercy on those clawed to death in the lion’s den. Lawd, have mercy on those who had to make the middle passage. Lawd, have mercy on those who had to bear the lash. Lawd, have mercy on those who hid from night riders and lynch mobs. Lawd, have mercy on those who had to fight in world wars and dirty wars with traumatic brain injuries and amputations.
May they keep on talking, keep on walking, walking up freedom’s land. To get there, we must stand our ground. And to stand our ground, we must know the ground upon which we stand. I am an activist but as for me and my house, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. And yet, still trouble comes.
America had its great day at the Red Sea on April 4th, 1968 with the assassination of Dr. King. I believe that we failed that day which was our turning point as a nation. God testing to see if we could go forward and with kind of spirit. The dust of greed and self-promotion got into our eyes and we were turned around. We did not stand still to see the salvation of the Lord. We did not stand our ground We lost the battle not the war for God’s word never goes out and comes back void without completing its purpose and promise.
Family is the ancient bedrock and stability of all human societies yet in Matthew 12:50, we find Jesus laying out a new vision for family: “My family is not my blood kin, but whoever does the will of my father in heaven.” Why a new definition, Jesus? Because only a family steeped in the Word of God can defeat boots on the ground. Only a family standing its ground on the love of Jesus can work with God to make Freedom Now a living reality.
At the time of his death, Dr. King was building a new family that he called “the beloved community.” It stretched across racial and faith lines but it got bogged down in useless debates and confrontations. Black folk charging, “White people haven’t changed.” In turn I ask them, “Have you changed?” White people accused, “Why are black people so angry? They don’t seem to like us?” After Columbine and Sandy Hook, I ask white people, “Why are white people so angry? They don’t seem to like themselves.” Each judging the other, seething in unforgiveness, the embryo of the beloved community stopped growing.
We lost ground and like the utility companies in a storm, we lost power. We exalted anger and turned blood revenge into our Sunday best. Kill the Muslims, blame the poor, incarcerate, incarcerate, incarcerate--- oh, but only if you’re black. Beloved, we can preach, we can march, we can demonstrate, we can agitate until our shoes wear out but the battle will not be won until we begin to cross dress.
Somebody needs to escort this preacher on out of here, right now. Yes, I said cross dress because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. To take on the Freedom Now battle, we must put on the whole armor of God so we can stand our ground against the wiles and tricks of the devil.
Right now, before we start this battle everyone must put on the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth and the gospel shoes of peace. In your Bible studies, reflect on what that means. Pick up that helmet of salvation, sword of truth and shield of faith before you begin the battle. And don’t worry about what time it is in your life. God equips every generation for its time in the wilderness. Matthew 20 says don’t worry what time you go into the vineyard, God pays the same to all no matter what time you arrived because God wants redemption and salvation not higher profits. God wants freedom, justice and righteousness not efficiency and domination. God wants us in the struggle for a new earth and a New Jerusalem. The harvest is great and the laborers are few so it’s never too late, go now:
If you’re 60 years old, you can still put in two hours before sunset.
If you’re 70 years old, you have one hour.
If you’re 80, there are 30 minutes left to work.
If you’re 90 years old, you got 10 minutes left.
And if you’re 100, you can put in a full 15 seconds before the sun sets.
So let us stand our ground leaning on and trusting in God.
Knowing that even if we die in their struggle, our living would not have been in vain.
Confident that all things work together for good for them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
We can stand our ground because Jesus kept on standing in Gethsemane.
Rosa Parks sat to stand her ground because Jesus stood his ground from Calvary Mountain. I’m like tree planted by rivers of water, I shall not be moved.
C.T. Vivian, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Cotton, Ralph Abernathy, Medgar Evers and countless more stood their ground because Jesus stood his ground as blood flowed from his body.
Dr. King preached truth to power to stand his ground because early Sunday morning the stone rolled away and Jesus got up with all power in his hand. He crushed the sting of death and stole victory from the grave.
We who come to work in God’s vineyard of creating a beloved community must stand our ground on the promises of God because
They who wait on the Lord, shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Beloved, Stand your ground.