WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.459 All right, we're going to read together from the letter of James, chapter 2, verses 1 to 13. 00:00:07.520 --> 00:00:10.540 And Gene Stewart is going to come and read for us. 00:00:10.620 --> 00:00:13.519 Let me invite Gene up, and let's read God's Word together. 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:21.580 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:26.560 For a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:30.579 and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. 00:00:31.099 --> 00:00:35.320 And if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:39.420 you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, 00:00:39.739 --> 00:00:42.799 you stand over there or sit down at my feet, 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:49.399 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:51.920 Listen, my beloved brothers, 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:59.060 has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, 00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:01.700 which he had promised to those who love him? 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:04.400 But you have dishonored the poor man. 00:01:04.939 --> 00:01:10.520 Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, the ones who drag you into court? 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:16.180 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:21.100 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, 00:01:21.940 --> 00:01:24.860 you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:26.360 You are doing well. 00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:35.300 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 00:01:35.880 --> 00:01:41.880 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:47.640 For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. 00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:54.619 If you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 00:01:55.239 --> 00:02:00.299 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 00:02:00.759 --> 00:02:05.479 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:08.539 Mercy triumphs over judgment. 00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:11.079 And I'll just pray briefly for us. 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:16.199 Lord, prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your word. 00:02:16.899 --> 00:02:21.899 Silence in us any voices but your own so that we may hear your word and do it. 00:02:22.419 --> 00:02:24.500 And we pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:24.879 Amen. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:28.639 Back to Martin Luther again this week. 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:35.219 Luther, the great reformer, remember he said that the epistle of James is an epistle of straw. 00:02:35.219 --> 00:02:36.800 So here's the quote. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:38.960 I didn't quote him last week but I have the quote today. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:46.599 He said, the epistle really is an epistle of straw compared to St. Peter's, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians. 00:02:47.060 --> 00:02:47.419 Why? 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:51.680 And he said, because it has nothing of the savor of the gospel in it. 00:02:52.819 --> 00:02:55.560 Now, I learned this week what he meant by that a little more. 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:00.240 And what he meant by that was not that it's not useful as a book. 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:06.039 But he said that you don't build on a foundation of straw but on rock. 00:03:06.219 --> 00:03:08.319 So if you're going to build a house, you build on stone. 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:09.360 You build on a good foundation. 00:03:09.740 --> 00:03:14.400 So he thought that you've got to build on Romans, Galatians, Ephesians. 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:19.060 And then James becomes like straw that you pack the roof with. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:23.599 So he said it's an epistle that teaches you all about the law but not the gospel. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:28.120 Now, that helps a little bit with what Luther said. 00:03:28.259 --> 00:03:32.139 But we said last week, and I'll say every week, that he was wrong about that. 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:34.939 James does build on the rock. 00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:36.359 It does build on the foundation. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:39.959 It does tell us the gospel over and over again. 00:03:40.019 --> 00:03:43.879 And it's assumed, it's hinted at throughout the text most of the time. 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:48.900 But it's right here, right here in verse 1 this week. 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:50.659 Because when James says, 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:56.960 Brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:04.319 He's telling us the rock upon which the command, don't show partiality, is built on. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:11.000 So when he says, as you hold the faith in Jesus, that's a word, a verb really for wearing clothing. 00:04:11.519 --> 00:04:12.859 So you could say it something like this. 00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:19.240 As you are wearing the faith of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, don't show partiality. 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:24.560 In other words, he's saying if you are dressed in the righteousness of Christ, the Lord of glory, 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:27.439 if you've put on the clothing of the word of truth, the gospel, 00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:33.600 then that gives you the basis for showing no partiality within the church. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.400 And so he's assuming the gospel. 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:43.960 He is even hinting at it and preaching the rock every single week in some way that we are not accepted by our performance, 00:04:44.379 --> 00:04:46.260 but accepted by mercy. 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:51.780 And so here this week, he's telling us that if you have received mercy from God, 00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:57.500 he's picking up on last week's command to visit the orphan and the widow in their affliction 00:04:57.500 --> 00:05:04.060 to become a community of mercy, that the church has to be a place of mercy and known for mercy. 00:05:04.699 --> 00:05:12.439 And he's really teaching us about that this week, that the gospel that changed you is the gospel that keeps remaking you. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.920 The gospel that brought you in is the gospel that keeps changing you from the inside out. 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:23.839 And so we run back to the gospel that we've received mercy in order to grow into a community of mercy. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:27.459 And that's the logic that he gives us right there from verse 1. 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:31.259 He's teaching us the gospel and how it can change us from the inside out. 00:05:32.099 --> 00:05:39.659 And so the question today is, how can we, St. Columbus, this local church, become a community of mercy? 00:05:40.739 --> 00:05:45.679 And that's a community of love for the afflicted, as he commanded us last week, 00:05:45.979 --> 00:05:47.799 to pure religion, what is it? 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.339 To love, to pursue those who are afflicted, the orphan and the widow. 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:54.359 And so how can we become that? 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.679 And that's what he's treating this week in these first 13 verses. 00:05:57.419 --> 00:06:03.459 And to do that, to get to the positive, which is next week, so come back for the positive side, 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:08.279 he first has to clear the ground and say, if we're going to become a community of mercy, 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.579 there is a cancer that actually has to be rooted out of us. 00:06:12.739 --> 00:06:19.359 So he's saying we cannot be people of mercy until we have dealt with the deep problem that's getting in the way. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.439 And so that's this week. 00:06:21.540 --> 00:06:22.520 That's these 13 verses. 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:23.460 And so let's see it. 00:06:23.520 --> 00:06:32.199 Let's see the diagnosis he gives us, the gravity, why the cancer that he's talking about matters so much. 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:34.860 And then lastly, the cure. 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:39.420 So the diagnosis, the gravity of it, and the cure. 00:06:40.099 --> 00:06:41.139 So first, the diagnosis. 00:06:41.899 --> 00:06:43.120 Now it's right here in verse 1. 00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:45.459 We'll look at the first four verses in this point. 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:47.060 Verse 1, he tells it to us, 00:06:47.259 --> 00:06:50.419 Brothers and sisters, show no partiality. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:53.699 So the cancer is partiality. 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:55.219 And what is that? 00:06:55.659 --> 00:06:57.599 Partiality is just favoritism. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:59.540 It could be translated favoritism. 00:07:00.280 --> 00:07:06.080 So he's saying that the problem that we have is favoritism based on social status. 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:13.379 Hierarchies of performance, hierarchies of race, hierarchies of wealth, economic status that we build. 00:07:14.080 --> 00:07:15.080 So the command is this. 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:18.620 He's saying show no favoritism based on social statuses. 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:24.300 And he's pointing us to something deep within that is causing that problem, that there's a cancer deep within. 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:31.300 Now, in verse 2 to 4, it's really clear that this is obviously happening in the church that he's speaking to. 00:07:31.960 --> 00:07:32.780 And so he says, 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:36.540 When the poor man in shabby clothes comes in the door, 00:07:37.460 --> 00:07:40.319 and then the rich man bathed in gold comes in the door, 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:45.699 you can't give the rich man the best seat in the house and tell the poor man to sit at the back. 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:52.300 Now, the word for shabby clothing really is more like rags. 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:56.560 It's more, for us, it's the kind of clothing that you think. 00:07:56.620 --> 00:07:57.699 That's not nice clothes. 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:01.319 But really, what he's talking about is first century poverty. 00:08:02.100 --> 00:08:07.879 And first century poverty means the man who walks in the door in tatters, in rags, smelling. 00:08:08.699 --> 00:08:10.360 That's what the word's conveying there. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.319 So you can imagine the great temptation in the first century, 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:17.740 that when a person comes in and you can smell their poverty, 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:23.500 and they're half naked because nakedness was a real problem for people in the first century, 00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:26.219 and the man comes in dressed in wealth, 00:08:26.740 --> 00:08:28.699 who everybody is going to be attracted to, 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:31.939 and who the people are going to want to stay away from. 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.360 So it's a little tricky for us because of a couple reasons. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.300 One is there's clearly an issue of giving seats of honor in the local church here, 00:08:41.460 --> 00:08:43.480 and we no longer have seats of honor, 00:08:43.659 --> 00:08:46.800 though in our past we have had seats of honor. 00:08:47.180 --> 00:08:51.340 So one of the things we can say is there should never be seats of honor in a church. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:52.940 There should never be special seats. 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:57.620 I think it's really tricky for us because when I think about what are the seats of honor in our church, 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:03.100 probably the seats that people fight most for are the back seats, not the front seats. 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:09.019 And that means that it's hard for us to understand what's going on in his context. 00:09:10.139 --> 00:09:12.120 But there were seats of honor in the local church. 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:18.139 In fact, Thomas Guthrie, who built this church, planted this church before it was St. Columbus, 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:22.360 the original minister who designed this fine pulpit we'll be using soon, 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:27.240 he planted from Greyfriars just down the street. 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:28.500 He was the assistant minister there. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:34.879 And one of the main reasons he planted this church was because there were hardly any spaces for the poor in Greyfriars, 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:40.220 even though this was a community covered with poverty, the grass market, places like that. 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:44.100 And so back then you had to pay pew rents, and they were very expensive. 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:46.460 And so the poor didn't have a seat at Greyfriars, largely. 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:49.879 And so he planted this, and he reserved half the seats for the poor. 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:51.340 They were free, no pew rents. 00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:53.960 And that's how this building actually got started. 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:57.080 And so we see this has been an issue in the church throughout church history. 00:09:57.080 --> 00:09:59.120 Now, that's the surface. 00:09:59.300 --> 00:10:03.480 Let's get to the heart, the diagnosis, because he gives us the diagnosis in verse 4. 00:10:04.280 --> 00:10:09.080 And he says, what's going on when we do that is we are, quote, judges with evil thoughts. 00:10:10.040 --> 00:10:11.060 So there's the answer. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.800 Why do human beings express favoritism based on social statuses, 00:10:14.800 --> 00:10:18.780 which could include wealth or race or anything like that? 00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:22.480 And he says there's something going on inside of us. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.100 We become judges with evil thoughts. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:31.279 And thoughts, it's not just the normal word for regular thoughts. 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:34.620 The word is deliberations or calculated reasoning. 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:38.840 So he's saying there's something that goes on with us when we see people who are not like us, 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:45.420 where we, without even knowing it, will calculate and judge them deep down in the soul. 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:47.279 We might not even be aware it's happening. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:48.420 It's so automatic. 00:10:48.419 --> 00:10:51.159 It's so normal for a human being. 00:10:51.259 --> 00:10:53.039 Now, let me make a careful distinction here. 00:10:53.099 --> 00:10:53.979 And the distinction is this. 00:10:54.339 --> 00:10:59.860 He's not telling any of us that you can't make judgments in general. 00:11:00.459 --> 00:11:01.500 So we know we have to. 00:11:01.599 --> 00:11:04.839 If we see a person on the street who's sleeping on the sidewalk, 00:11:05.379 --> 00:11:09.059 we make a natural judgment, a good judgment, and say, that person's poor. 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:09.719 They're homeless. 00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:14.440 Without that type of judgment, the judgment of mere, we might call it the judgment of perception, 00:11:14.899 --> 00:11:17.580 we won't be able to know that we can help them, how to help them. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.279 But he's talking about something different than just perceiving. 00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:24.540 So we might see the man in shabby clothes and recognize, obviously poor. 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:25.879 That's not what he's talking about. 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:26.139 No. 00:11:26.500 --> 00:11:30.379 There's a difference between mere perception and the judgment of verdict. 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:38.659 And the judgment of verdict is when our hearts, in their deep, devising calculations, 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:46.659 reason this person is less valuable than the man that walked in with rich, wealthy clothing. 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:49.120 There's a big difference in perception and verdict. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:54.440 And he's talking here about the evil verdict that the human heart naturally creates. 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:57.960 And so we know that when he says brothers and sisters is the headline of all this, 00:11:58.060 --> 00:11:59.020 he's talking to the church. 00:11:59.020 --> 00:12:01.140 And he's saying this is happening in the local church. 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:04.540 And so Christians, we're not immune, not at all, because we're human. 00:12:04.640 --> 00:12:06.880 And so this is happening in our cultures as well. 00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:13.780 Now, I'm thankful to say today, I think St. Columbus is down the road of health on this issue. 00:12:14.280 --> 00:12:17.480 That we, I can look out in my experience and feel like here, 00:12:17.900 --> 00:12:23.480 you are a community that is very healthy, but not immune. 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:26.640 Healthy, but of course we're sinners. 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:30.880 Of course we are struggling with creating cliques, with creating inside groups. 00:12:31.300 --> 00:12:32.200 And so we're not immune. 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:38.780 So C.S. Lewis, 1944, wrote a famous essay called The Inner Ring after a lecture that he had given. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.080 And he defines the inner ring as this, the inner circle. 00:12:42.460 --> 00:12:48.040 The inner ring is the unofficial, fluid, invisible hierarchy and clique that exists 00:12:48.040 --> 00:12:50.740 within every institution and social group. 00:12:51.540 --> 00:12:53.020 Every workplace has one. 00:12:53.019 --> 00:12:56.500 Every school has one. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:59.559 Every university, culture, subculture has one. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:01.220 And every church has one too. 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:04.439 Because we're human and we're sinners and we're struggling. 00:13:05.439 --> 00:13:07.480 And so it's not, it's less the official structure. 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:09.679 It's less who are the elders and who are the deacons. 00:13:09.779 --> 00:13:11.240 It's more something that's felt. 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.360 Something a little more quiet under the surface. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.240 So Lewis warns us of the temptation of this. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:31.360 And he says, of all the passions, the passion for admittance to the inner ring is the most skillful in making a man or a woman who is not yet a very bad man or woman do very bad things to get in. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:38.519 And the other reason it's so different for us now is we live in an age of social safety nets. 00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:45.259 And so we don't face the same problems where somebody is going to walk in the church covered in tatters. 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:46.799 That's less probable. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:53.220 Even those who are sleeping rough on our streets have far better clothing than a first century person would have had. 00:13:53.220 --> 00:14:01.279 And so one of the ways to point out the issue in us is really to say that it could be economic poverty, but poverty of all kinds. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.940 There's so many ways to be poor, so many ways to assess people. 00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:09.879 So it might be that we're the poor, but we think we devalue the rich. 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:16.540 There's so many ways that this can cross-pollinate and we can create inner rings and social hierarchies and value others less. 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.580 And really, we rank people by usefulness is probably the primary way to say it. 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:23.080 We measure value by what we can get from people. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:29.879 We turn people into instruments of our gain instead of seeing their dignity that's been given by God. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.879 You think about how you choose conversation partners. 00:14:34.660 --> 00:14:40.360 How, and even in something like tea and coffee after the service, how we decide who to move towards. 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:46.080 And we have inner judgments, inner judgments, evil thoughts. 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:48.080 What can this person do for me? 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.900 We don't, we'd never say it out loud, but it's going on in the bottom of our souls. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:59.780 When I was in seminary, we had a number of what you might call celebrity Christians, oxymoronic. 00:15:00.040 --> 00:15:03.500 But celebrity Christians come to the seminary I was at and teach. 00:15:04.520 --> 00:15:09.700 Far bigger of a problem in America than here, but I did train in America, so it was a big problem. 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:15.540 And we had a number of celebrity Christians come and teach or give a lecture series or something like that. 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:20.740 And the sociologist would have had a field day because as soon as the person finished talking, 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:27.140 you could see everyone in the room vying for positioning, moving closer to the inner ring. 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.600 Could I get a, could I get a lunch out of this with this guy? 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.940 Networking, trying to climb the social ladder of the Christian hierarchy. 00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:38.640 And I certainly was not immune to that because we're, none of us are. 00:15:38.900 --> 00:15:44.820 We, different ways, different people, different things we desire, different longs for causes us to instrumentalize people. 00:15:44.920 --> 00:15:49.360 Now I have to speed up here in Luther, Luther, no, James, not Luther. 00:15:49.740 --> 00:15:54.420 James is taking us back to realize that there's something going on in the bottom of our soul. 00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:55.720 And he's already told us what it is. 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:58.160 And that's in James 1, 14 to 15. 00:15:58.259 --> 00:16:02.540 Remember the epithumia, the deep desires that he told us about. 00:16:02.540 --> 00:16:11.680 We have disordered desires in our souls for approval, comfort, security, control, power that are actually driving the way we think, 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:13.899 the way we behave, the way we act all the time. 00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:18.740 And so he's calling us here to know ourselves, to know ourselves. 00:16:19.420 --> 00:16:21.080 And so it could work something like this. 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:31.440 We see a person, let me ask you, which idol, which idol in your heart is creating tendencies towards partiality, towards favoritism? 00:16:32.520 --> 00:16:34.420 So approval might look something like this. 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:36.580 If you struggle with needing people's approval all the time, 00:16:37.040 --> 00:16:40.639 I need to be thought well of by very important people to know I have value. 00:16:40.820 --> 00:16:43.360 That's the quiet logic at the bottom of my soul. 00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:48.000 And so when that happens, when we need other people's approval that are important, 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.980 we become enslaved to the opinions of others. 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:56.900 And then we move towards people we think can give us approval, and we flatter them to get something back. 00:16:56.980 --> 00:17:02.840 And actually, what's happened is we've devalued them as well, because we've instrumentalized that relationship. 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:07.500 We're not actually going to them to recognize their dignity and value, but to get from them, 00:17:07.980 --> 00:17:09.120 to get the approval we seek. 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:10.400 Or it could be power. 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:13.880 You could struggle and say, at the bottom of your heart, there's a logic. 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:15.059 I need to be significant. 00:17:15.059 --> 00:17:21.579 And so when we see the poor, the awkward, the bad networker, the person who has not climbed the social ladder, 00:17:21.819 --> 00:17:26.579 we do not want to move towards them, because we don't think that they could give us any power in life. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:30.659 Clearly, they've displayed already that they have not performed well enough, 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.619 so they're not going to give me anything that can raise my social ladder. 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:39.159 So we become social climbers, and we instrumentalize every engagement. 00:17:39.639 --> 00:17:40.739 Or it could be comfort. 00:17:40.879 --> 00:17:46.599 You could be a person that's addicted to comfort and entertainment in the bottom of your heart. 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:52.839 And you look out, and you think, I know what that person's going through, and their life is messy. 00:17:54.139 --> 00:18:02.359 And so it would be a great disturber of my peace and my Netflix time if I move towards them and have to get into their mess 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.199 and help them and walk through them with the pain they're going through. 00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:09.639 Comfort then curates avoidance of anybody that might be hard. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:13.599 Boy, the problem runs deep. 00:18:13.659 --> 00:18:14.719 How can we grow? 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:15.579 How can we change? 00:18:15.579 --> 00:18:16.919 So that's the first point. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.759 It's our long point, and now we have two short ones to see how James addresses it. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:21.859 Secondly, the gravity. 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:23.599 Here's how we begin to address this. 00:18:24.019 --> 00:18:28.240 He teaches us here why partiality, favoritism, is such a cancer. 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:32.679 There's three brief reasons, and they're the starting point to change. 00:18:33.379 --> 00:18:34.399 Okay, and the first is this. 00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:41.579 The first is general, and it's that the Bible teaches us that every single person is made in God's image, 00:18:41.699 --> 00:18:43.839 full of dignity, full of value, 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:47.559 so we can never be partial, value people less. 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:52.960 So in verse 1, you can see that because he calls Jesus Christ the Lord of glory. 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:54.700 Why does he do that? 00:18:55.159 --> 00:19:01.299 He's pointing the man, the incarnate man who was dressed in shabby clothes, poor his whole life. 00:19:01.299 --> 00:19:03.659 He's pointing out he is the Lord of glory. 00:19:03.659 --> 00:19:08.559 That's a word for connecting us to creation, and he's saying that he is also the creator. 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:14.799 He's reminding us there that when we looked at Jesus Christ and we saw shabbiness, we saw poverty, 00:19:15.180 --> 00:19:18.419 we saw a man, Isaiah tells us, who was not much to look at. 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:21.380 That that was the Lord of glory. 00:19:21.580 --> 00:19:24.180 And he's pointing us back to, he is the creator, 00:19:24.600 --> 00:19:28.039 and he's reminding us that every single person possesses something of that glory. 00:19:28.820 --> 00:19:31.940 That in our city, and that's why it's wonderful to be in a city, 00:19:32.060 --> 00:19:35.440 because when you walk down the Royal Mile, and there's so many people, 00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:37.640 boy, in August, you've got to say this to yourself, 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:42.640 there's so many people, but there is so much image of God per square inch here. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:46.960 Everybody's so full of dignity and value. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:51.500 If you were at Open Forum a couple weeks ago, I'm sorry I'm using this illustration again, 00:19:51.600 --> 00:19:54.420 but we just had Valentine's Day yesterday, 00:19:54.620 --> 00:19:59.100 and when somebody in your life says, do you love me? 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.759 And you say, yes, I love you. 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:03.740 And they say, why do you love me? 00:20:04.060 --> 00:20:06.560 You've got to be very careful about what you say after that. 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:09.240 Why do you love me? 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:11.180 Now, we tend to say some good things. 00:20:11.180 --> 00:20:13.299 We say, because I think you're beautiful, because you're intelligent, 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:14.240 because you're compassionate. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.120 And those are good answers, but they are also answers that are instrumental. 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:21.360 In other words, they're instrumentalizing. 00:20:21.580 --> 00:20:23.180 That person's going to lose their beauty. 00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:24.779 They're probably going to lose their intelligence. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:27.420 They might, on a Monday, lose their compassion. 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:32.799 And you see, the difference, when you know you're created in the image of God, 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.220 you don't have instrumental value. 00:20:34.320 --> 00:20:35.660 You have intrinsic value. 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:38.539 Dignity that can never be taken away from you. 00:20:39.539 --> 00:20:40.900 And we've got to see everybody like that. 00:20:40.900 --> 00:20:41.519 That's the first reason. 00:20:41.580 --> 00:20:46.320 Second reason, the gospel creates a fresh reason here, 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:48.960 a reason that is not normal in any other community. 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:51.000 And that's what he teaches us in verse 5. 00:20:51.080 --> 00:20:52.640 So in verse 5, you can see it. 00:20:52.700 --> 00:20:54.360 He says, listen, beloved brothers and sisters, 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:59.740 has God not chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith, 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:04.660 heirs of the kingdom, heirs of the promise to those that he loves? 00:21:05.060 --> 00:21:07.259 Verse 6, you've dishonored them. 00:21:07.259 --> 00:21:08.480 And they're deserving of honor. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.140 You see what the logic is here? 00:21:11.299 --> 00:21:11.759 Oh boy. 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.460 Something that only the Christian community, based on the gospel, can say. 00:21:15.539 --> 00:21:15.920 And here it is. 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:20.180 He's saying, when the economically poor person walks in the room in shabby clothing, 00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:24.079 he's saying, do you not know that that is an heir of the kingdom of God? 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.359 That that person is an heir of the promise of the covenant of Abraham? 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:32.959 That person is an inheritor of the kingdom, co-heir with Jesus Christ, 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.759 brother and sister of the great elder brother. 00:21:36.159 --> 00:21:41.479 Do you not know that that is an eschatological king or queen that's going to rule the angels? 00:21:42.219 --> 00:21:46.579 You know, you see them in their poverty, but God has blessed them with wealth. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:51.179 And that wealth is that that person is going to rule the world alongside the older brother, 00:21:51.299 --> 00:21:53.039 Jesus Christ, in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:57.519 Do you not see how rich they actually are in the blessing that God has given them 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.119 through union with Jesus Christ? 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.839 C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory, at the very end of that wonderful little essay, he says, 00:22:05.539 --> 00:22:07.259 there are no ordinary people. 00:22:07.859 --> 00:22:09.599 We've never talked to a mere mortal. 00:22:10.460 --> 00:22:14.279 He argues that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can think of in your life 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:18.740 may one day be a creature by which if you saw them now, 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:20.240 you would be tempted to worship them. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:24.500 Do you not know that the poor person who is a believer in Jesus Christ 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:31.319 is destined to be an inheritor of the kingdom of God, rich in union with Christ? 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:34.099 And he said, you got to, in other words, you got to put on kingdom glasses. 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:39.400 And he says this, verse two, he says, this is happening in the assembly of faith. 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:40.319 And what is that? 00:22:40.380 --> 00:22:43.400 He's saying that when the church gathers on a Sunday morning, 00:22:43.400 --> 00:22:48.259 it is to be a signpost of what the new heavens and the new earth are going to be. 00:22:48.259 --> 00:22:54.119 A place where there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, rich nor poor, slave nor free. 00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:55.539 It's a signpost of the kingdom. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.099 We're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper tonight. 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:02.960 The Lord's Supper is a foreshadowing in the local church on a Sunday 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:05.420 of what the new heavens and the new earth will be. 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:08.559 A place where you will feast at the table with God. 00:23:09.099 --> 00:23:12.339 In the same way, when you come in here and you say every single person in here 00:23:12.339 --> 00:23:15.319 is deserving of every seat of honor that we could ever create, 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:20.379 you're saying, we're giving a foretaste as an assembly of what the kingdom is going to be. 00:23:21.199 --> 00:23:24.059 The world says, climb the ladder to find value. 00:23:24.159 --> 00:23:26.119 The kingdom says, the first shall be last. 00:23:26.899 --> 00:23:28.339 He said, take up the ethic of the kingdom. 00:23:28.500 --> 00:23:29.879 It flips everything on its head. 00:23:30.199 --> 00:23:35.139 Lastly, here in verse eight to 11, he gives us a warning. 00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:40.980 And this is the final reason that he says that we've got to step towards seeing why 00:23:40.980 --> 00:23:43.560 never showing favoritism is so important. 00:23:44.600 --> 00:23:48.060 And it's all about, verse eight to 11, this idea of the royal law. 00:23:48.520 --> 00:23:51.060 If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scriptures, 00:23:51.660 --> 00:23:53.200 you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:23:53.320 --> 00:23:54.040 You're doing well. 00:23:54.580 --> 00:23:57.840 But if you show partiality, you break the whole law. 00:23:57.940 --> 00:23:59.380 You're a transgressor of the whole law. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:01.480 Now, I think what he's doing here is he's saying, 00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:08.400 listen, in the local church, we could be showing partiality, creating cliques, favoritism, 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:12.200 and it doesn't relatively feel like that big of a deal. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:14.700 So he mentions committing adultery. 00:24:15.339 --> 00:24:17.720 And he says, boy, you can say, I've never committed adultery. 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:22.240 And yeah, I do create cliques sometimes, and I do show favoritism. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:26.120 And he's saying, but don't you see that when you break one aspect of the law, 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:27.220 you've broken the whole law? 00:24:28.360 --> 00:24:30.480 That it's all the law of God. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:32.700 And he says, instead, live by the law of liberty. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.940 And the law of liberty is this, not to stop with the bare minimum, 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:38.000 to say, well, look, I've never committed adultery. 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:38.900 I've never murdered anybody. 00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:39.940 I don't steal things. 00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:42.759 He's saying, no, that's just the starting point. 00:24:42.940 --> 00:24:46.220 But the law of love, the law of liberty, the royal law, 00:24:46.380 --> 00:24:51.420 is to say, am I fully loving every person that walks into this room 00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:54.279 as much as I can in the way that Jesus Christ loved me? 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:58.420 You see, the old law says just keep the bare minimum. 00:24:58.420 --> 00:25:00.539 That's mere religion, but pure religion says, 00:25:01.100 --> 00:25:02.900 I want to obey the law of liberty by loving, 00:25:03.100 --> 00:25:05.279 by stretching my neck up to the heavens, 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:07.340 not just standing on the bare minimum of the ground. 00:25:08.019 --> 00:25:10.980 I want to learn to love everyone fully and completely. 00:25:11.080 --> 00:25:12.620 Now, these are the three reasons he gives us, 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.840 the three arguments of change. 00:25:14.940 --> 00:25:17.360 And then he points us, boy, again, 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:20.320 you think about the approval, the comfort, the security, 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:23.800 the power at the bottom of the soul that's driving partiality. 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:27.079 You say, I don't always think through a kingdom lens. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:28.980 Can we say that today? 00:25:29.579 --> 00:25:33.220 You say, I know that this has not been a big deal to me, 00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:34.599 but James says it is. 00:25:34.879 --> 00:25:38.879 And we look and say, where can we really find hope and solution in this? 00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:41.500 And so the last thing he gives us is the cure. 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:42.919 The cure. 00:25:44.159 --> 00:25:45.960 It's that beautiful language at the end, 00:25:46.139 --> 00:25:47.480 mercy triumphs over judgment. 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:49.759 But it starts in verse 12 and 13. 00:25:49.940 --> 00:25:50.980 So he says, here's the conclusion. 00:25:50.980 --> 00:25:53.519 So go forward, go from this place today, 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:56.680 go now and speak and act in such a way 00:25:56.680 --> 00:25:59.960 as those who are to be judged according to the law of liberty. 00:26:00.700 --> 00:26:01.660 In other words, he's saying, 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:05.160 we need to know that when we are people 00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:07.559 who are not growing towards showing mercy, 00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:10.500 or we are entrenched in favoritism, 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:13.940 that God is going to judge that. 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:18.700 That if we are not people growing into a community of mercy, 00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:22.120 into a community that's learning the law of liberty, 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:23.840 to love like Jesus loved, 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:25.880 he's saying that is showing over time 00:26:25.880 --> 00:26:27.860 that we may be deserving of judgment 00:26:27.860 --> 00:26:29.920 because maybe we haven't yet received mercy. 00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:33.759 And he's pointing us back in the last line to mercy 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:35.279 and saying you've got to revisit something 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:38.220 and you've got to revisit the claim. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:40.920 Mercy triumphs over judgment. 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.039 Now, as we finish, 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:47.060 I think there in that line, 00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:48.800 he is pointing us to something very important. 00:26:50.360 --> 00:26:51.740 I think he's trying to get us to see 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:55.340 that mercy triumphs in our lives over judging people. 00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:58.700 Mercy triumphs in our lives over judging people 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:01.759 with calculating evil thoughts about their value, 00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:02.960 their instrumental worth. 00:27:03.580 --> 00:27:03.960 How? 00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:09.680 Only when we see that mercy has already triumphed over judgment. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:13.500 So mercy is only going to triumph over judgment in our lives 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:17.059 when we see that mercy already has triumphed over judgment 00:27:17.059 --> 00:27:18.640 for us in our life. 00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:20.759 And that's why I think in verse 1, 00:27:20.860 --> 00:27:23.660 he calls us to think about Jesus in a particular way 00:27:23.660 --> 00:27:25.960 in this passage as the Lord of glory. 00:27:27.500 --> 00:27:29.019 Who is this Lord of glory? 00:27:29.840 --> 00:27:31.100 Why is he highlighting this? 00:27:31.099 --> 00:27:35.259 The Lord of glory, the one who hung the stars, 00:27:35.639 --> 00:27:37.859 the God of all galaxies, 00:27:38.779 --> 00:27:41.919 he, Jesus Christ, is the one who came in the incarnation 00:27:41.919 --> 00:27:45.579 veiled in poverty, veiled in shabby clothing. 00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:48.679 Veiled in flesh, yes. 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:50.419 The Godhead, see, yes. 00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:55.319 And veiled in the shabbiest of clothing in this life. 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:57.859 And we looked at the Lord of glory 00:27:57.859 --> 00:28:02.839 and he became the man we rejected. 00:28:04.019 --> 00:28:05.159 You see, James is saying, 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:06.339 some of you in the church, 00:28:06.419 --> 00:28:08.979 you're seeing the man in shabby clothes walk in 00:28:08.979 --> 00:28:10.000 and you're rejecting him. 00:28:10.119 --> 00:28:11.219 But you've got to see, 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:14.759 Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory 00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:16.740 dressed in shabby clothing that you rejected. 00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:21.479 He's the poor man that you put upon the cross. 00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:23.799 He's the one that you said crucify him. 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:27.339 He's the one who came to make you rich in faith. 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:29.779 But you wouldn't recognize that you're poor in spirit. 00:28:31.180 --> 00:28:32.159 And so you rejected him. 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:33.139 You sent him to the cross. 00:28:34.059 --> 00:28:35.159 In other words, it's like saying this, 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:39.220 I should be under God's righteous calculation 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:42.419 because of all the ways I've put other people 00:28:42.419 --> 00:28:44.419 under my evil calculation. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:46.720 But when Jesus Christ went to the cross, 00:28:46.819 --> 00:28:47.619 the Lord of glory, 00:28:47.619 --> 00:28:52.799 boy, he passed by every calculation that I deserved 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:54.659 and he gave me his righteousness 00:28:54.659 --> 00:28:57.699 so that I could realize mercy has triumphed over judgment. 00:28:57.819 --> 00:28:59.599 I can look in other people's lives 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:01.379 and give them that very same mercy. 00:29:01.500 --> 00:29:02.599 He's asking us to wake up. 00:29:03.459 --> 00:29:06.459 Back to the Valentine's Day illustration. 00:29:07.699 --> 00:29:10.379 If you were to ask God today, 00:29:11.659 --> 00:29:14.000 Lord, why do you love me? 00:29:15.439 --> 00:29:16.379 What would God say? 00:29:16.380 --> 00:29:16.500 Why? 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:19.220 And you could ask, 00:29:19.340 --> 00:29:20.920 is it my instrumental value that I bring? 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:22.380 Is it the performances I've had? 00:29:22.460 --> 00:29:24.020 Is it how well I've done 00:29:24.020 --> 00:29:26.740 climbing up the social ladder of my corporation? 00:29:27.900 --> 00:29:30.660 Is it the distinction that I made in uni? 00:29:30.980 --> 00:29:33.320 Is it the way that my parents are proud of me? 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.380 And the answer would be none of those things. 00:29:36.520 --> 00:29:38.640 God does not love you for your instrumental value 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:41.600 because we all know that there is such a lack. 00:29:43.040 --> 00:29:44.500 What would God say if you asked him 00:29:44.500 --> 00:29:46.319 why do you love me, Lord? 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:47.000 He would say, 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:48.720 I love you because I love you. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:49.740 He would say, 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:50.720 I love you because I love you. 00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:52.319 I love you because you're mine. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:52.799 I love you. 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:54.960 The cross says that the Lord of glory 00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:57.019 loves you because he loves you. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.940 He would give his life away for you 00:29:59.940 --> 00:30:03.000 so that mercy would triumph over all calculation, 00:30:03.500 --> 00:30:04.420 over all judgment, 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:05.859 the calculation we deserve, 00:30:06.299 --> 00:30:07.599 the judgment that we deserve. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.459 So he says here in verse 12 and 13, 00:30:09.619 --> 00:30:13.159 now therefore go and love people in the same way, 00:30:13.199 --> 00:30:14.079 in the same logic, 00:30:14.579 --> 00:30:16.099 according to the law of liberty. 00:30:16.879 --> 00:30:17.879 And I'll finish with this. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:20.159 Here's how you can. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:21.779 If you believe the gospel today 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:24.259 and if you received the mercy of Jesus Christ, 00:30:24.919 --> 00:30:28.159 every single idol that is driving your favoritism, 00:30:28.299 --> 00:30:29.519 driving your partiality, 00:30:29.879 --> 00:30:30.859 it's been answered. 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:32.699 It's been cleansed. 00:30:32.700 --> 00:30:34.620 So if you're a person today 00:30:34.620 --> 00:30:36.860 who is really seeking approval, 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:38.519 you can say, 00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:40.240 in Christ, I'm already approved. 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:42.680 I don't need to treat people in a way 00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:44.640 and use them to get approval from them. 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:46.640 In Christ, I've already been approved. 00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:47.819 If you are a person 00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:51.259 who desperately wants power and significance in this life, 00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:52.960 you can look out and say, 00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:55.140 in Christ, I'm an inheritor of the new creation. 00:30:56.019 --> 00:30:59.080 What better power can I be gifted than that? 00:30:59.120 --> 00:31:00.299 I don't need to use people 00:31:00.299 --> 00:31:02.299 to gain power in this life or significance. 00:31:02.299 --> 00:31:03.859 If you are a person 00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:06.180 who desperately wants comfort and security 00:31:06.180 --> 00:31:08.220 and entertainment in this life, 00:31:08.299 --> 00:31:08.819 you can say, 00:31:09.059 --> 00:31:11.419 in Christ, I am secure forever. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:13.099 I do have an eternal rest. 00:31:13.579 --> 00:31:16.119 Therefore, I can get into the lives of people 00:31:16.119 --> 00:31:17.200 who have messiness. 00:31:17.460 --> 00:31:18.859 I can get stuck in. 00:31:19.139 --> 00:31:21.200 I'm not supposed to be comfortable right now. 00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:23.539 Christ has given me an eternal rest. 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:24.599 It can never be taken away. 00:31:24.899 --> 00:31:26.019 In Christ, I'm free. 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:28.539 The gospel gives me everything I need. 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:31.279 So the next time you walk into a room, 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:32.259 let me give you an exercise. 00:31:32.299 --> 00:31:33.919 The next time you walk into a room 00:31:33.919 --> 00:31:36.639 and you quietly think, 00:31:37.220 --> 00:31:39.579 I don't want to interact with that person. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:42.720 I don't want to move towards that person. 00:31:43.099 --> 00:31:44.539 I don't want to talk to them. 00:31:45.539 --> 00:31:46.500 Ask yourself, 00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:48.639 what functional savior 00:31:48.639 --> 00:31:50.879 has got a grip on my heart right now 00:31:50.879 --> 00:31:52.519 that's causing me to think that? 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.359 And then you can say to yourself, 00:31:55.919 --> 00:31:59.079 because Jesus Christ is my Lord of glory, 00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:01.419 every single person I look at 00:32:01.419 --> 00:32:04.539 is either a poor beggar in need of Jesus 00:32:04.539 --> 00:32:06.799 or was a poor beggar 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.439 that has become rich in Christ. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:11.559 Let us pray. 00:32:11.559 --> 00:32:16.519 Father, we ask that you would create in us hearts 00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:19.700 that reject favoritism and embrace mercy, 00:32:19.860 --> 00:32:22.840 that we would know that the mercy we've received 00:32:22.840 --> 00:32:24.500 is the mercy we can now give. 00:32:24.620 --> 00:32:26.380 And so, Lord, teach us this. 00:32:26.940 --> 00:32:30.759 Show us this in your gospel as we read it. 00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:33.820 Train our hearts anew. 00:32:33.819 --> 00:32:37.279 Forgive us for our favoritism and partialities. 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:40.740 Forgive us for our social hierarchy buildings 00:32:40.740 --> 00:32:44.299 where we really do in our evil judgments 00:32:44.299 --> 00:32:46.059 believe people are worth less. 00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:49.319 And reshape us, remake us, Lord. 00:32:49.539 --> 00:32:50.619 And then on the light of that, Lord, 00:32:50.639 --> 00:32:51.679 we pray that you would grow us 00:32:51.679 --> 00:32:53.439 into a community of unity 00:32:53.439 --> 00:32:55.200 that values people deeply. 00:32:55.659 --> 00:32:56.759 And we pray that in Christ's name. 00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:57.279 Amen. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:57.419 Amen.