WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:02.479 Good morning, everybody. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:04.400 Everybody awake yet? 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:05.440 Good morning. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:06.879 Nope, that was worse. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.000 Good morning. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:09.759 All right, come on. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:10.800 This is interactive. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.599 I expect to hear feedback during the sermon. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.719 Well, today we continue in our series in the book of James. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.000 We're to chapter two. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:28.800 And we've talked a little bit over the last few weeks about how James can be a difficult book, especially if we've embraced the gospel of grace that St. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:32.799 Paul so eloquently teaches throughout his letters. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:39.119 But I think a helpful way to look at the book of James is as the New Testament book of wisdom. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:42.960 As the book of Proverbs is in the Old Testament, so James is in the New. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:48.719 It's kind of a collection of pithy statements that don't always fit together too easily. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:58.240 But if you step back and look, James is concerned with how we, as God's people, live in the world according to the patterns that God has created. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:00:58.719 Right? 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.399 Proverbs says the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.719 And that's exactly James' perspective. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:14.719 He wants us to live, to see the world as God has created it, and seek to live as God would have us to live, also fueled by the grace of God. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.000 And I think our passage this morning is a wonderful example. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:19.280 So let's jump right in. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:20.640 Let's look again at verse one. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:29.599 He says, My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:34.719 So point one, partiality and Christianity do not mix. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:41.040 And I think this we just see it here with how James says this first verse. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.480 He says, Show no partiality as you hold to the faith. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:49.280 He says, as you have embraced the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, put your faith in him. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.280 Partiality cannot go together with it. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:55.040 Well, what is partiality anyway? 00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:04.799 Well he he tells us in verses two and three, with this very down-to-earth, very relatable, this is a 2,000-year-old letter, and yet I can imagine this happening this very day. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:24.479 He says, This if a man wearing a gold ring in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothes and says, You sit here in this good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit down at my feet. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:30.719 Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:40.240 Partiality is judging others, and specifically judging between other people based on outer appearance. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:46.000 And this it comes in a variety of forms, a variety of forms that we are all very familiar with, right? 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.159 Don't we judge one another every day? 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.039 Haven't you judged someone as you came in this morning? 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:51.919 Amen. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.520 I mean, you know, put me at the front of the list. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:56.000 Right? 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.080 We judge according to dress. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:00.639 We judge according to job. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.439 We judge according to attractiveness. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:05.199 Uh education, right? 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:06.560 Are you a Bulldogs fan? 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:07.120 Boo. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:08.879 Are you a Georgia Tech fan? 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.479 Yay! We gotta get more Georgia Tech up here. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:13.840 That's all I'm saying. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:18.240 Um what's there you go, I told you. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:18.800 Feedback. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:20.000 That's what we need. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.280 Um and we learn it from a very early age, don't we? 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.800 Like kids know the sin of partiality well. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:34.960 I remember we I grew up in Florida and we moved up to Georgia when I was in the middle of fifth grade, terrible time to move, middle of the school year. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:40.319 Um, but I was excited to, you know, find my place and make some new friends. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.039 I really wanted to be, you know, in the cool crowd. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:44.159 You have this opportunity. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:52.560 Well, I chose my uh outfit uh intentionally that day, moving from the home of Disney World and Mickey Mouse. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:59.599 I wore my best Mickey Mouse shirt, and that was uh a terrible, terrible mistake. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:17.920 Because I was ridiculed for my my clothing choice, and I was immediately relegated to the lower levels of the not cool kids group, and very quickly I learned that it's not fun to be excluded uh because of the sin of partiality. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.759 But I sin just as well as anyone else. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.879 Last year my family moved up from ITP. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:26.879 Do you know what ITP means? 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:28.720 You live OTP. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:30.079 Well, now I live OTP. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.319 ITP is inside the perimeter. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:34.800 OTP is outside the perimeter. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:36.399 Do you know where the cool people live? 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:38.639 Inside the perimeter. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:40.639 Do you know who lives OTP? 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:42.560 Not the cool people. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:48.079 That was the chip I brought on my shoulder into this church, and I apologize and repent. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:50.160 And the Lord quickly showed me. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:51.839 You know, we're often blind to our sin. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:52.800 That's kind of my excuse. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:54.319 It was a blind spot. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:58.000 But um the Lord has remedied me of that. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:00.800 Um but we all we all do it. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:02.000 It comes naturally to us. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.639 That's why James has to hit this so hard. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:09.600 But of course, partiality comes in much more sinister and evil forms, right? 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:16.079 Judging people by their exterior, by the color of their skin, by their age, by their gender. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:25.120 As I read our passage this week, I couldn't help but think of Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream speech from 1963, The March on Washington. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:31.199 What he says here resonates beautifully with James' message to us. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:43.680 He said, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:44.959 Amen. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:52.959 We live in a world, we live in a nation where that is often not the way we treat one another, both inside and outside the church. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:06:00.160 But this is God's heart, not just in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament, from the very beginning. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:10.160 I love uh the story in 1 Samuel where God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as the new king over Israel. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.639 And Jesse had many sons, and they were brought out paraded in front of him. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:20.399 And when the first son comes before Samuel, he thinks to himself, Ah, this must be the one. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.279 I mean, he's tall, he's strong, he's handsome, he's got everything a good king needs, right? 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:36.560 Well, it's in that moment that the Lord speaks to Samuel and he says, This do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:39.759 For the Lord sees not as man sees. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:44.879 Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.120 So this is the sin of partiality. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.040 But why is it so bad? 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:53.519 That brings us to our second point. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:07:02.720 Partiality is a sin because it denies the grace that we ourselves as Christians have received in Christ through the gospel. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:17.199 During my time uh pastoring in this city down in East Atlanta where the cool people live, uh, for a few weeks, a few, I don't know how many years ago, handful of years ago, Ricky Schroeder worshiped in our church. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:19.839 Ricky Schroeder, come on, guys. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:22.959 Childhood star of the 80s, silver spoons. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:23.360 Anyone? 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:25.199 Anyone else 47 years old? 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:26.079 There you go. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:26.800 That's right. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:29.759 I mean, an icon of celebrity. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:31.920 Uh, and it was so exciting. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:32.480 Right? 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:38.720 I couldn't help but tell some of my friends when when we went out to lunch, like, oh, guess, guess who is at our church on Sunday? 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:39.920 Ricky Schroeder. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:41.759 And they were like, who, who is that? 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:48.720 Um, but you know, for me, for my age, for my generation, it was um it was an exciting thing. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:53.360 And I don't get to name drop often, so I take the opportunity when it comes. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:57.680 But it made me think, uh, what is it with celebrity, right? 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:05.839 I mean, if I'm gonna try to jump on the coattails of Ricky Schroeder, you know, uh we all we all feel that pull to celebrity. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:17.120 Paul Miller, in his book, The J Curve, points out that apart from Christ, all of us, no matter what generation we live in, what part of the world, we all live on something called the failure boasting chart. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:18.480 And I have a visual here. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:19.519 There you go. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:23.680 Uh we all live in our culture, we have things that move us up. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:25.680 You could replace boasting with success. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:29.839 What makes you a success in your culture, in your neighborhood, in your family? 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:30.399 Uh, right? 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.519 Is it your education, the level of income, those types of things? 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:39.360 And we have things that move us down uh the chart, down towards failure. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.399 Now, celebrities have cultural cachet. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:51.120 And when we can link ourselves with that person and we can name drop, it moves us up the failure boasting chart. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.879 And we have something to show off with. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:58.320 Now, you know, my example might move me up very little, but that was my attempt. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:11.279 And what James and Paul knows, and what what the gospel teaches us, is that anything we use to move up that chart is where we are finding and seeking our identity. 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:12.960 This is who I am. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:18.240 This is what makes me good, this is what gives me power and influence and security. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:25.120 But the gospel tells us that uh this is a false choice. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:26.799 This is a dead end. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:32.399 You see, as I as I name-dropped Ricky Schroeder, I was I was wanting to be in Ricky Schroeder. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:44.080 Just like the church that James is writing to, they wanted to be in wealth and connected to rich people rather than being in Christ where we are. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:53.840 The problem is that as most of us have experienced, when you live according to the failure boasting chart, or another word for that is the law, right? 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.200 It's exhausting. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:55.759 Right? 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:03.120 You have to work so hard to gain the success, to work your way up the ladder of the boasting chart. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.960 Uh once you get there, you've got to maintain it. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:14.240 You've ever had a friend, or maybe you've experienced this yourself, you experience this great win, and someone's like, oh, congratulations, you've really made it. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:18.080 And you're like, yeah, I know, but I've got to maintain this. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:22.559 I've got to hit the ball out of the park again and again and again. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:26.080 And the failure boasting chart, the law is fickle, right? 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:28.399 You're only as good as your last success. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:34.559 You've got a failure coming up, you're just gonna fall right down to the bottom. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:36.720 Am I wearing the right things? 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:38.240 Do I know the right people? 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.240 Do my kids go to the right schools? 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.240 Am I wearing the right air Jordans? 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.720 I'm trying to connect with the youth. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:50.240 My uh, one of my daughters, at least, like, you gotta have the right air Jordans, man. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:53.120 They're not even sneakers or tennis shoes anymore, they're just Jordans. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:54.639 That's what they are, apparently. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:55.759 Um, right? 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.960 And it's this rat race that promises much, but really delivers the opposite. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:06.000 And James even sees this himself, and he points out the folly in verses six and seven. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:13.840 He says to this church, he says, Are not the rich, these people you're falling all over yourself to honor and give the seat of prominence? 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:18.159 He says, Are they not those who oppress you and drag you into court? 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:24.960 Aren't they the ones who blaspheme the honorable name of the one by whom you are called, the name of Jesus? 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:30.399 You think it just doesn't make sense to try to get up the failure boasting chart? 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:39.200 Because these ones that you're trying to win their approval and get in their good graces, they're the ones that oppress and crush you just like the law. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:47.200 When we try to keep the law, when we try to succeed and make a name for ourselves, the law ends up oppressing and crushing us. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.120 So, what are we to do? 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.120 Well, that leads us to the third point. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:57.360 The antidote to the sin of partiality is embracing our own belovedness in Christ. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.600 And this is James' message to us. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.120 Look at verse 5. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:15.840 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, he says, Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:23.519 See, James is saying that in the gospel, God has destroyed the failure boasting chart. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:26.159 He has destroyed the law. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:40.159 Rather than being in riches or in Ricky Schroeder or in whatever it is that you use to work your way up, we are in Christ by faith, and we get all of his benefits. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:50.720 When we seek righteousness in the law, as we said, we are constantly striving for that place of security, to have enough, to be enough. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:54.799 And then we have to continue to strive to stay at the top. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:02.080 But when we embrace the righteousness that we've already been given in Christ, we can rest. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:14.240 We understand what Jesus means when he tells us to build our house on the rock that does not shift, that does not fall, we are secure. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:16.559 Now why? 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:24.799 Because when I am in Christ, I've been become an adopted, beloved, well-pleasing son. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:32.320 And if you have put your faith in Christ, then you are a beloved, well-pleasing daughter or son. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.960 There's nowhere higher to go, and there's nowhere to fall. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:43.360 You are secure in your identity in Christ, and that is a gift that has been fully given to you. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:49.279 You are heirs with Christ of the kingdom of God. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:14:00.240 Your father, if you are a Christian, is the God of the universe, the high king over all things, the king of kings, and the lord of lords. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.080 That is a bomb to our soul. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:12.559 It destroys the rat race, it destroys the hamster wheel, it destroys the failure boasting chart, it destroys the law. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.159 We can rest and enjoy who we are. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.480 Never to be lost, nothing to be gained. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:19.840 We are free. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:21.519 Hallelujah. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:32.879 And you see, when we embrace that gift, that identity that we've been given, and the good good news is that it's ours even when we forget. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:34.399 It's ours when we fail. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:36.639 It's ours when we show partiality to others. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:38.799 That's the amazing grace of the gospel. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:54.000 But our life improves and the people around us' lives improve as we understand this truth, as we come to know and embrace how high and how wide and how long and how deep is the love of Jesus for us. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:15:08.720 And James's point here in this passage is that now, because I don't have to siphon my worth out of a celebrity or out of what I do or who I associate with or how much money I have, now I am free to love. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:13.120 I'm free to pull up close to a poor person. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.399 I'm free to pull up close to a wealthy person. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:21.919 I'm free to welcome them into my life, into my community, because that's what God has done. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:23.120 Isn't that what James said? 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:29.120 The poor, those who are poor according to the world's standards have become rich in faith. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:31.519 They are heirs according to the promise. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:45.759 Whatever we look like in this life, in the life to come, in the kingdom of God to come, those who are poor, those who are kicked around, those who are mistreated and oppressed, will be sitting at Jesus' right and left hand. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:51.919 And if we treat them, we can't treat them any differently, James says. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.799 We are denying the very gospel we profess. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:00.720 And so again, how do we fight partiality in ourselves? 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:02.879 Remember that we are beloved. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.840 Remember that God does not judge you. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:10.879 God loves you and has adopted you as his beloved son or daughter. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:13.679 And so he has done with others. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:22.559 And because of that lack of partiality in God, we are free to love freely and to have radical acceptance and equality. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:23.840 Let's pray. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.840 Our Father in heaven, hallelujah. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:31.039 Thank you for the way you have loved us. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:33.600 Lord, we long to be a community. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:37.440 We long to be individuals who don't show partiality. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.919 And Lord, I confess for myself that I fall short all the time. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:43.919 Would you help me? 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:52.240 Would you help us to continue to embrace and pull down even further into ourselves how much you love us? 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:57.600 We don't have to earn your love or anything else in this life ever again. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:01.440 Because we've been freely given to all of it in Christ. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:08.000 And may we become a welcoming community, to continue to grow and being a welcoming community. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:09.519 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:10.400 Amen.