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Matt Chandler defends Critical Race Theory in vague sermon

Every year since 2009, Matt Chandler says he has given the “same” sermon on race. But only in recent years has this been controversial. One might ask whether Matt Chandler was woke on every MLK day sermon he has given. This sermon was brought to the attention of Woke Preacher Clips who took issue with Matt Chandler’s tolerance for heretical ideology and willingness to read Cultural Marxist material and not be up front about the ideas he does or does not agree with.

So I decided to suffer through Matt Chandler’s sermon because it was recent. Matt Chandler spends an ample amount of time trying to defend his own reputation. It’s entirely self indulgent the extent at which he spends talking about himself. However he is being very deceptive about his record. He talks about Ephesians going through how this book is about “racial reconciliation” but in addressing Matt Chandler in the past. Ephesians 1 would be the passage for the last viral sermon by Matt Chandler. As noted in the verdict on Matt Chandler:

In this video[4] Matt Chandler is giving a sermon where he invokes many of the ideas and arguments of the Social Justice Gospel. Chandler chastises the church to suggest that Christians have “turned over their inheritance” over not fighting for social justice. Matt Chandler clearly believes that social justice is a legitimate form of justice. Consider this quote[5] from that sermon:

“Our inheritance and what we are being robbed of as believers in Jesus Christ right now in this moment is the unity of spirit between all ethnicities born of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what this passage [Ephesians 1:18] says: That our inheritance in the saints is that men and women from every tribe tongue and nation on Earth are part of our family.”

This is a somewhat Eschatological passage. When Jesus returns to establish the New Heavens and the New Earth, it will feature his followers who will be members of every tribe, tongue, and nation. This inheritance cannot be robbed or removed from underneath us. This is a promise of God. Matt Chandler wrongly assumes that perceived racial tensions in the increasingly post-Christian American society are reflective of divisions in the Body of Christ. The Social Justice Gospel often requires the misapplication of Scripture and this instance would be no exception.

Matt Chandler would have no shortage of woke lines in this sermon. However, he remains intentionally vague. He says he’s talking about ethnicity, but the only stance on ethnicity that is relevant to the application of Scripture is a defense of Critical Race Theory as an analytical tool. Despite calling it a demonic ideology, Chandler maintains its usefulness.

The problem is that Critical Race Theory is non-falsifiable; therefore, it cannot be used as an analytical tool. An ideology that can find racism in any situation cannot be trusted to identify racism. Furthermore. I explain how Cultural Marxism has its own definitions of racism, whiteness, and white supremacy. Therefore the critiques that he gives against Critical Race Theory using conventional definitions are inadequate, especially given his history of teaching this ideology.

Matt Chandler defends Critical Race Theory on two occasions in the sermon, towards the beginning and at the end. But ultimately he talks a lot but says very little. He is so focused on not taking a stance and defending his reputation, that he contains much of his own ideology. Matt Chandler is on the defensive, just as John Piper and much of the SBC Presidents. They know Critical Race Theory by name will not fly anymore. And that is a good thing. But we cannot let up whether we are dealing with Jemar Tisby or someone a lot less honest about their beliefs like Matt Chandler.

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3 Responses

  1. One of the goals of pushing this on the Church is to divide us. Calling someone racist who isn’t is almost as bad as falsely calling them a rapist. And CRT calls everyone a racist and makes defending yourself against those accusations racism in itself! It is demonic. Christ is not enough, you have to do x, y, and z for all your sins to be truly forgiven. Its sick and I’m glad more people seem to be seeing it for what it is. We have to keep pushing back against it. Don’t be afraid of false accusations!

    1. I’m not disagreeing with you. However, we also have to remember that Satan is a two edge sword. He uses CRT to divide the church on both ends. On one side you have the woke church which has embraced this demonic theology, and is leading an entire flock of its people into Hell.

      On the other side, however, the church has fomented a lynch mob that seeks out anyone who has even the vaguest appearance of CRT, fills in the in “unspoken” gaps in the message, then castigates someone as a closeted CRT advocate.

      CRT is a poisonous, devastating pill that must be rooted out, but not at the expense of the grace and forebeaance we are commanded to extend to one another as believers. We can’t just assume that someone is CRT unless they have explicitly stated CRT ideologies. If we read between the lines and imply evil therein, we are doing exactly what the CRT advocates do: Hallucinating an evil that may not, in fact, be there.

  2. Ray – thanks so much for writing this brother. This is an excellent analysis. It’s a non-falsifiable argument
    that has no place in the church. It is Satanic and has at its root what Tom T mentions: division. Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy God’s people and God’s Kingdom. Satan will use any tools available to do this.
    Keep bringing the Word brother!
    Best wishes,
    Kyle

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