Good evening, everybody.
Thank you.
Let me start by reading a couple of these verses once more so we can focus our attention.
Galatians chapter 3, verses 26 to 28.
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither slave nor free.
There is no male and female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
In Paul's culture there were deeply distorted ideas about race and about class and about gender.
Some of you are familiar with the prayer that was sometimes prayed by Jewish men.
It went like this.
Blessed be God that he did not make me a Gentile.
Blessed be God that he did not make me ignorant or a slave.
Blessed be God that he did not make me a woman.
When Paul wrote Galatians 3, verse 28, he was directly challenging the distorted ideas that are reflected in that prayer.
What's more, in the letter he is offering something better.
He's showing us how the gospel redeems race and class and gender as a part of the redemption and renewal of us and God's world.
And we're reflecting on this over the next few weeks because we also have deeply distorted ideas in our culture about race and about class and about gender.
And so we're looking at this and we're looking specifically at this verse and we're asking how does the gospel challenge our distorted thinking and then how does the gospel offer us something better?
A vision of renewal.
And a couple of weeks ago we looked at race and we did as much as we could in the time that we had and I feel like we just barely scratched the surface.
But this week we're shifting our attention and we're going to look at class.
Social class.
When you see someone sitting in Whole Foods wearing Lululemon, eating a quinoa and heirloom tomato salad with an NPR canvas tote bag, listening to the serial podcast on AirPod wireless headphones, that's not a coincidence.
You're seeing class markers.
You're seeing indicators that this person, and I'm describing anyone here, no offense intended, I'm simply being descriptive.
You're seeing markers that would indicate that that person is a member of a particular social class.
There's a sociologist named Elizabeth Curried Halkett who says that this is the aspirational class.
And this is how you tell.
In the aspirational class, we don't show status through our bank accounts or through driving nice cars.
Our status indicators are connected to a shared cultural knowledge.
It's not so much about conspicuous consumption as it is inconspicuous consumption or even conscientious consumption.
And these class markers are important because they indicate the boundaries.
If you walk into a room full of people who share some of these class markers, that will immediately tell you whether or not you have a shot at belonging.
Whether or not you will be welcome in that community.
And we are unconsciously reading these signals all of the time trying to figure out where we stack up next to this person or that person or within any given community.
And this isn't just specific to us.
Even though I do believe that class is a major factor in society in Washington, D.C.
Maybe the most divisive.
It's not unique to us.
And in fact, there are societies all throughout history.
Most every society has had some form of caste or class system, which is essentially a status hierarchy based on differences in birth, wealth, privilege, education, etc.
And so Paul is making a very bold claim here.
He's claiming that because of the gospel, the Christian community is one of profound social equality.
Now I use that term broadly.
But he's saying that the gospel makes possible a community where class no longer divides.
Where the hierarchy is collapsed.
Those with wealth and privilege and those without live together as equals.
And so the question tonight that we're asking is, how is such a thing possible?
So we're going to look at this in three parts.
The origins of social equality.
The limits of social equality.
And then we're going to draw out a couple of implications once we've looked at those points together.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
And we thank you for the power that your word has.
Unlike our words and unlike our wisdom, your words have power.
They formed and shaped the heavens and the earth.
And so we pray that they would now reform and reshape us.
That you would speak words of recreation.
That would renew our imaginations.
That would renew our hearts.
That would renew our relationships.
With the hope that is only to be found in the gospel.
We pray this in your son's holy name.
Amen.
So the origins of social equality.
Some of you may be wondering, well, why are we talking about social class when the passage is very clearly about slavery?
Right?
There's no longer slave or free.
And the reason is most people don't realize that in the ancient world, slavery was universal.
In all the great ancient civilizations, slavery existed.
Any society that could afford to have slaves had slaves.
And so it was virtually everywhere.
In Rome, you know, Greece and Rome were two of the first slave societies.
Meaning they were economically dependent on slaves.
And in Rome, around the time that Paul wrote Galatians, it is assumed that slaves made up around a third of the population.
So a lot of slaves.
All of the glory and all of the splendor of Rome.
None of that would have been possible had there not been slaves to make it possible.
But unlike the North African slave trade, which is what most of us associate this with,
most slavery in history, in the ancient world, was not race-based.
Some people were born into slavery.
Some people became slaves after military victories.
They were captured in war.
A bunch of people became slaves to improve their station in life.
It was a way to get an education and to make connections with other elites.
And maybe give yourself a chance at a better life.
Some people became slaves voluntarily to get out of debt.
And there were people who became slaves for a while.
And they made connections and built networks.
And then they bought their way into freedom.
So lots of different ways that people became slaves.
Some slaves were menial laborers.
But also some worked in business.
And some worked in politics.
Most all of the actors and musicians in the ancient world were slaves.
Little different than the Hollywood culture.
They were all slaves in that society, right?
The gladiators, the prostitutes, mostly slaves.
And so the point I'm trying to make is, in the ancient world, particularly in Rome,
a slave was a social class.
On the status hierarchy.
And so when Paul talks about a slave versus a free person,
these represent very different positions on the social ladder.
Now one of the reasons that slavery was so widespread
is that it makes the most economic sense.
There's simply no better way to build a society.
If you're purely utilitarian, purely Darwinian, right?
Then you have this massive free labor force.
And so they're able to produce far more than it requires to feed and clothe them.
And so it makes a lot of economic sense.
But there's another deeper reason why slavery was so universal.
And this is the reason.
In the ancient world, notions such as equality, universal human rights,
simply did not exist.
It didn't exist.
It didn't occur to anybody.
And if you talked about it, people might have thought you were crazy.
These were honor-shame societies.
The values that these societies were built around were values such as personal strength,
and power, and glory, and honor.
And so, of course, in such a world, the strong trample the weak.
Why wouldn't you?
It's a demonstration of your power.
Why wouldn't you?
And so when it comes to slaves, people like Plato and Aristotle believed that slaves were,
by nature, subhuman.
They either had incomplete souls or no souls at all.
And so they didn't have rights.
They could be owned like livestock.
And in fact, the argument was made very often that slaves benefited from having masters,
that a soulless, subhuman slave without a master would be aimless,
and that a master gave a slave purpose.
And so, you know, some masters would say,
well, I'm actually doing my slaves a favor.
Aristotle at one point writes,
from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.
So this is the common thinking in that society.
And this is the society that Paul is writing into, right?
And so the question becomes, why did things change?
If this is basically the way most societies operated, why did things ever change?
Rodney Stark, who's a historical sociologist, says this in one of his books,
of all the world's religions, including the three great monotheisms,
only in Christianity did the idea develop that slavery was sinful and must be abolished.
And this is because of a couple of things.
Not only did Christians believe, along with the Jews,
that every human being was created in the image of God,
which gave them a certain amount of dignity and worth,
but Paul goes on to write on top of that in Galatians 3.26,
that in Christ Jesus, both slaves and free people are all sons of God through faith.
In other words, he's saying that slaves and free people alike,
when they put their faith in Jesus Christ, they gain the ultimate status, the ultimate place in society.
They are firstborn sons of the living God.
And this was a radical, massive, sort of tectonic shift of a thing to say.
And so over the centuries, these ideas began to take root,
and then they began to flower, and then they began to produce fruit.
So the first person to articulate that slavery as an institution is wrong was Gregory of Nyssa in the late 300s.
So you began to see Paul looking, or these leaders looking at Scripture,
looking at the writings of the apostles, beginning to put these pieces together.
He says we can't abide this institution.
And then by the Middle Ages, we began to see the idea that human beings do have certain inalienable human rights.
The concept of universal human rights begins to emerge.
And then later on in history, Galatians 3.28 becomes one of the primary inspirations for the abolitionist movement.
And so we see this kind of movement through history, a shift in the way people think about what it means to be human.
Now, these days, it's fashionable to point out, and we have to recognize,
that there have been many churches, many religious leaders in ancient and modern times,
who have supported and upheld slavery, supported and upheld racism.
It continues into today.
We have to acknowledge that.
But we also have to acknowledge this,
that when it comes to something like slavery,
our question from our vantage point,
when we look back on that,
we ask,
how could anyone ever think such a thing is possible?
When we look at the places where slavery still exists today,
all around the world,
how could anyone ever think that this was possible,
or something that we should be doing?
But the real question,
if you look at history, is the opposite.
The real question is,
why did anyone ever begin to think that it was not okay?
That's the real miracle.
Why did anyone begin to think that it was not okay?
And the answer is the Christian gospel.
The whole idea of social equality as a value,
the whole idea of universal human rights,
is rooted in the Christian gospel.
And you see, when Jesus Christ came,
he completely overturned the social hierarchy of the day.
And it becomes obvious from the start
that Jesus has come to institute,
to initiate an entirely new way
of being human together in the world.
So even though Jesus was a king,
he lived in a working class family,
and he worked a blue-collar job for most of his life.
Although Jesus was a great religious leader,
he preferred the company of prostitutes,
and known notorious sinners,
over the religious elites.
And although Jesus could have chosen anyone
to be his primary disciples,
by the end of his ministry,
people were lining up.
He could have had anyone he wanted.
But he picked uneducated people,
fishermen,
even a tax collector,
one of the most hated classes in his society.
And so it's clear when you look at Jesus,
his life,
his ministry,
his relationships,
his priorities,
that he is paving the way for a new humanity.
But there is a problem.
We talk about the origins of social equality,
but there's also,
when it comes to social equality,
there are limits that we need to recognize.
So now we'll focus a bit on the limits of social equality.
Since the Enlightenment,
social equality has become its own stand-alone goal.
More and more and more,
our society in the West has taken the fruit of social equality
and cut it off from the roots of the Christian gospel.
And so these days,
especially in a place like Washington, D.C.,
the pursuit of social equality,
the pursuit of social justice,
that has become its own religion.
And so there are many people I know who are not religious,
who don't believe in God,
for whom the pursuit of social justice has become its own religion.
It's become an identity,
with its own set of values,
its own community.
And there are many people who would hear that and say,
well,
what's the problem?
Social justice,
social equality,
that's going to benefit everybody.
See,
most everyone these days wants some form of social equality.
Here's one of the problems with that.
No one seems to be able to agree on what social equality is
or how to achieve it.
What is it?
Is it equality of opportunity?
Is it equality of outcome?
Is it something else entirely?
What role should the government play?
Should we have more regulation?
Should we have less regulation?
How much should we tax the rich?
How many advantages should we give the poor and those without privilege?
Should we pursue only free market solutions?
Or are there other options that we should be pursuing?
Right?
Should we try to abolish class altogether?
That's what Karl Marx set out to do,
a classless society.
Is it true that when the tide comes in,
all boats rise?
Or is it just the yachts?
Right?
These are the conversations that are happening in our society.
And these are important conversations.
These make massive differences
in how we construct and operate our society.
But ultimately,
it seems impossible to find a workable solution for everyone.
And the simple truth is that some people are not born like other people.
In other words,
Jefferson was wrong.
People are not born equal in the sense that many of us hope they might be.
People are not born into equal circumstances.
Some people are born with opportunities that other people don't have.
Some people are born wealthy.
Others are born into debt.
Even if you eradicate all of the racial and financial economic differences,
you still have the issue of IQ.
Some people are born with an IQ of 80.
Other people are born with an IQ of 145.
That's going to profoundly impact your ability to pursue and to have a good life in this society.
It makes a massive difference.
Right?
So figuring out how to level the playing field,
figuring out how to bring the right set of circumstances into place
so that everybody has a reasonable shot at a good life,
that's incredibly hard to do.
It's incredibly complicated.
Now, I don't have to tell you that.
In fact, I know that many of you here understand these things,
and you study them, and you write about them,
with a level of complexity that goes way beyond where I can go.
But here's the thing that we need to see.
Liberal, conservative, doesn't matter.
At the end of the day,
any pursuit of true social equality that is cut off from the roots of the gospel
will be limited.
It will be limited in what it can do.
Because true social equality,
the kind of social equality that Paul is talking about in Galatians 3.28,
is fruit.
It's a byproduct of the renewing power of the gospel in the human heart.
In other words,
social equality is the fruit of spiritual equality.
So what do I mean by spiritual equality?
Well, I mean three things.
The gospel says first,
that every single human being is equal
in that we all bear God's image.
What I said before.
God has imprinted himself on every human being.
Which means there is no such thing as a subhuman.
Every human being deserves dignity.
Every human being is infinitely valuable.
Every human being deserves certain rights
simply by virtue of the fact that they are a human being.
Right?
So that's the first way the gospel declares that we are equal.
The second way the gospel declares that we're equal is this.
Every single human being is born sinful.
We're all born guilty.
We're all born broken by sin.
Now, you might hear that and say,
well, that's not very uplifting
and I wouldn't prefer to really focus on that.
And that may be true for us.
But for most of history,
if you were a person who was oppressed
or poor or powerless,
you were at the bottom of the social ladder,
it was assumed that when you looked up that ladder
at the wealthy, the elites, the kings, the rulers,
that they were up there because they had divine favor.
Right?
The king is the king because the gods chose him to be king.
The wealthy are the wealthy.
The elites are in power because that's the divine will.
They're up there because someone in heaven has looked down on them
and given them a special blessing.
And if I'm down here, it means that I must have screwed up
or my family ancestors screwed up.
And God doesn't think very highly of me.
Most of history, most societies, that's how you would think.
And the gospel says that's absolutely false.
The gospel says no one is born,
no one can earn divine favor.
There's no such thing as divine favor.
The gospel says at the end of the day
that no matter where you are on the social hierarchy,
if you're up here or down here,
that you're all equal.
No one deserves grace.
No one deserves favor.
And then the gospel says that your only hope,
your only hope is the free gift of grace.
It doesn't matter who you are.
It doesn't matter what your resume says.
That's your only hope.
Which leads us to the third form of spiritual equality.
The gospel says that this grace is available to all people.
Everybody.
Right?
It says that Jesus, who had all the power,
who had all the privilege,
who had all of the status,
gave all of that away,
sacrificed himself to deal with sin,
to offer this opportunity of free grace
to anyone who asks.
Anyone at all.
Right?
And so you hear this and you realize
how profoundly equalizing this is.
It doesn't matter if you're a king or a commoner.
It doesn't matter if you wear royal finery or rags.
Everyone has to go down on their knees.
And you have the commoner and the king next to each other on their knees,
both crying out for mercy.
And Jesus gives it to them both.
Rich or poor,
well-educated or uneducated,
morally upright or morally bankrupt,
anyone can come and receive grace
on the same terms.
It doesn't get more equal than that.
Paul says in verse 27,
for as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ.
There's neither slave nor free
for you're all one in Christ Jesus.
That's what I mean by spiritual equality.
Christianity is the great equalizer.
So the origin of social equality
is the Christian gospel.
This is where those ideas were planted in history.
But as we talk about social equality today,
it has limits.
If we try to pursue it apart from the gospel,
it will always be limited.
Now this does not mean that the work that we do,
the work that many of you do,
is not important.
As I said before,
it makes a major difference
in the quality of life.
And some ideas are better than others.
Some policies are better than others.
But at the end of the day,
all of those efforts apart from the gospel
will be limited.
So now we want to ask,
well, what does this mean for us,
practically speaking, as the church?
And I want to offer a couple of applications
that come out of this
that hopefully will counterbalance each other.
The first is this.
The primary focus of the church
should not be social equality.
It should be gospel ministry.
The primary focus of the church
should not be social equality.
It should be gospel ministry.
It is very tempting to look at verses
like Galatians 3.28,
extract a principle,
social equality,
and then to pursue that principle.
And there are a lot of churches
that have done that,
that say,
well,
this is what we're about,
and we're going to pursue this
no matter what,
and this is what Jesus
really would have wanted.
But what we need to understand is
there's a reason
why this verse
shows up at the end of chapter 3
as opposed to the beginning of chapter 1.
Right?
Paul knew
that the major issues in Galatia
were issues of racism
and classism
and gender discrimination.
He knew that there was
all kinds of division,
but when Paul set out
to write this letter,
he didn't write,
like Galatians chapter 1,
verse 1,
stop being racist.
Stop being classist.
Stop discriminating.
Be one.
Right?
He didn't take that approach.
In fact,
he takes three full chapters
to explain
and to clarify
exactly what the gospel is.
Let me remind you
what the gospel is.
Let me make sure
you're clear on that.
And then once you're clear on that,
and once that seeps
into your blood
and your marrow
and your bones,
then Galatians 3.28
begins to emerge
once you are centered
on the equalizing power
of the gospel
for all human beings
before God.
Then you will begin
to rethink your relationships
with those people around you.
It's the only way
it works.
So we can't make the mistake
of offering political solutions
to spiritual problems.
Right?
If we aim at social equality
without the gospel,
we're not going to get the gospel,
and we're not going to get
social equality.
I think this is one of the reasons
why Marxism failed
so spectacularly.
It was an attempt
to compel
a way of life
that is only able
to be found
as fruit.
Right?
The fruit of a heart
that has been utterly transformed.
You can't compel
that kind of thing.
And any subsequent attempt
to compel that
in people
has been met
with disaster.
This is fruit.
We can't legislate it.
We can't force it.
It has to come
from a heart
that has been renewed
by the equalizing power
of the gospel.
Right?
So, you know,
the last thing
I'll say about this
is remember
the striking words
from Jesus
in John chapter 12
where Jesus says,
the poor
you always have
with you
but you do not
always have me.
Right?
You read that
and you say,
well, what in the world
does he mean by that?
He doesn't mean
the poor don't matter.
In fact,
on every page
of the gospel
you see Jesus'
profound concern
for the poor
and the marginalized
and the oppressed
and the vulnerable.
What he does mean
is get your priorities
in order.
What he does mean
is
get your own
oxygen mask on
before you help
the person next to you.
Right?
What he does mean
is the only way
you're going to have
anything to offer
a world full of
brokenness and poverty
and injustice
is if you're
one with me.
If you have
the spiritual power
that I impart.
If you have
the changed heart
that I can offer you.
That's the only way
you'll have anything
to offer.
Right?
So the first thing,
the first point,
our church
cannot primarily
focus on social equality.
We have to focus
on gospel ministry.
Second point
counterbalances that though.
If we are a church
that is focused
on gospel ministry
then we should be
a place of social equality.
Right?
In other words,
if we're actually serious
about gospel centered ministry
then one of the qualities
that should emerge
in our community
is that we would be
a place of profound
social equality.
You know,
Jesus tells this parable
in Luke chapter 14
about the wedding feast
and about people
jockeying for places
of honor at the table
and at the end
he says in verse 11
for everyone
who exalts himself
will be humbled
and he who humbles himself
will be exalted.
And essentially
what he's saying
is this,
to all those people
at the wedding
who are climbing
the social ladder
he says for Christians
for my followers
you no longer live life
on the social ladder.
You come off the ladder.
that for us
life is lived
at the foot of the cross.
That's a very different
way to live.
The gospel calls
each of us
to see our place
in society
in light of the cross.
Right?
If you're on the lower rungs
of the social ladder
then you look at the cross
and you glory
in your exaltation.
Right?
You glory in the fact
that society
may look down on you
society make you feel
like nothing
make you feel like
you're worthless
and have nothing
to offer
but look what the God
of the universe
did for me.
And now I've been
lifted up
I've been exalted
I've been given
a place
at the head of the table
in the kingdom of God.
And guess what?
This life is a blip.
That reality
is the only one
that matters.
Right?
So if you're
at the bottom
of the ladder
you will be lifted up
you can glory in that.
If you're high up
on the ladder
then glory in
revel in
your humiliation.
And what I mean
is this
is that
out there
people may think
that you're
a pretty big deal.
You know
you have the education
you have the credentials
you have the network
people are impressed
and they want to be
your friend
and they want to hang out
with you
and your social calendar
is full
for months.
Right?
Everybody wants you
to come work for them.
But the truth about you
is that
you were so wretched
so hopeless
such a lost cause
that it took nothing
less than the death
of the Son of God
to give you any hope.
Right?
And so the cross
brings those
who are high up
on the ladder
down.
The cross lifts
those who are low
down on the ladder
up.
This is the equalizing
power of the cross.
And so this transforms
the way we see ourselves
it transforms
the way we see
people around us
and as a church
I believe that we are
meant to be salt
and light
in the world.
Many of you work
on these issues
and there are times
when political battles
need to be fought.
Right?
Like slavery.
Right?
There are times
when Christians
need to step out
we need to make a stand
we need to fight the fight
these are
and all through history
you see those times.
But the primary calling
of the church
is to be salt and light.
In other words
to be spread around the world
communities
within communities
where people
from the outside culture
come in
and experience
a completely different
way of life.
Because out there
especially in this city
is a meritocracy.
It is a meritocracy.
If you have
the right education
if you have
the right parents
the right family
if you have
the right connections
and credentials
if you have
the wealth
if you have
the right color skin
you're going to be okay.
You have a good shot
at a good life.
But if you don't have wealth
if you don't have
the education
if you don't have
the status markers
if you don't have
the right color skin
it's going to be
a very different story.
And for many people
you're told
every single day
in a thousand
different subconscious ways
that you don't matter.
That you haven't achieved
anything worth valuing.
And so you're not worth
valuing.
But when you enter
the church
who you are
out there
ceases to matter.
All of those
status markers
whatever we wear
and whoever we go to
for our news
it all just drops away.
Where we buy our food
none of it matters.
Right?
Because in the church
the church is a place
where a slave
may very well be
in spiritual authority
over his master.
The church is a place
where you may
very well see
a former prostitute
serving the chalice
to a priest.
You know
the church is a place
where the rich
wash the feet
of the poor.
The church is a
completely different society.
Because in the church
you're not defined
by your achievements
you're defined
by Christ's
achievement
alone.
Everybody's equal.
We all have
the same resume.
Jesus Christ.
It's his name
at the top.
So you're told
in the church
again and again
not that you don't matter
but that you're loved
unconditionally
and infinitely
irrespective of anything
that you've achieved
or failed to achieve.
So church
I think this is our calling.
I think this is who
we are called to be
in this city.
And I think people
out there are longing
for they're starving
for a refuge
from the meritocracy
where it's never enough
where you're always
having to strive
where you're only as good
as your latest
great achievement
where you're always
having to prove yourself
where you're never
feeling good enough.
The church is a refuge
from that place.
The church reminds us
that this earthly life
like I said before
is just a dash
between two dates.
And in the eternal reality
of the kingdom of God
we all have an opportunity
to have the place of honor
alongside Jesus Christ.
And you know
in my preparation for this
I've become painfully aware
of my own status markers
and my own class indicators
and the fact that
every time I'm up here
I am doing things
that are communicating to people
either you could belong here
or you probably won't belong here.
And I'm very conscious
of the fact
that my limitations
could very easily become
the church's limitations.
Right?
That who feels welcome here
could be limited by me.
And so if you leave it up to me
it's going to get worse.
Right?
The only way we become
the kind of church
where anybody can feel welcome
regardless of education
regardless of skin color
regardless of achievement
is if every single person here
is willing to proactively
cross those barriers
and to proactively love
in self-sacrificing ways.
And the way I know
that strategy works
is because that's what
Jesus did with us.
And so I think that
that's what we're called to do.
It's going to take
every one of us.
And of course it will take
the powerful working
of the Holy Spirit in us
because ultimately
this is not about our glory
but it's about God's glory.
So Lord we pray
that this would be
a reality
not that we bring about
or impose on ourselves
or strategize into being
but rather that this would be
a fruit
of the work
of your Holy Spirit
in our hearts and lives.
that the gospel
would saturate this community
and impact us so deeply
and so profoundly
that it would transform
how we see ourselves
and how we measure ourselves.
And it would transform
how we see those people
around us
in a city that is riven
by class division
and race division.
Lord,
I pray that we would be
an instrument of unity
and reconciliation.
Lord,
a refuge from the meritocracy.
We pray this,
Lord,
in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.