Jesus and Prejudice

Father, your word tells us that we're very easy seeing specks of sin in other people's eyes and blind to the huge log sticking out of our eyes.

And your word tells us that we flatter ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin.

And Father, we know that your word says that, but we confess before you, Father, that we often don't really feel it and don't really practice it or think it.

Father, as we read your word today, Father, your word really is going to challenge us in this.

And so, Father, we invite and give you permission with nothing held back to have your word speak into the depths of who we are.

We hold nothing back that your word might speak into the depths of who we are, might reveal who we are, might bring the gospel to who we are, might rule in who we are in our daily lives.

So, Father, we ask in your kindness that you would have the Holy Spirit bring your word to us.

And this we ask in Jesus's name. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, the Bible text today addresses one of the main issues that is sort of tearing apart modern society in North America.

So, if you turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 1, verses 26, we'll look at the text.

James 1:26

James chapter 1, verse 26 and following, and we'll look at the text.

James 1:26

And here's how it goes.

It doesn't sort of get right at it at first, this issue which is tearing apart much of the fabric of society in North America,

but it's going to get there.

And here's how it begins.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

James, tell us what you really think.

It's worthless.

Do you want to nuance that?

No, it's worthless.

Religion, verse 27, that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this,

to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

And we're just going to pause that.

We're sort of looking here.

So, right off the way, we're right off the way.

Well, just one simple thing, if you're not aware of it.

The Bible, all the way through the Bible, right from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible,

Old and New Testament, when you see the phrase orphans and widows or widows and orphans,

depends on the, it's the same type of thing,

what you have to understand is it's talking about the poor and the powerless.

That's a poetic way of talking about the poor and the powerless.

The poor are always powerless.

Some people who aren't poor are also powerless.

But that's what it's talking about, poor and powerless.

But the problem we're going to have right away with reading this text is the word religion.

And those of you who might be watching or those of you here who are seekers or trying to figure out

or you got dragged here, you're not familiar with the Christian faith.

One of the things that evangelicals like us tend to say is when we see the word religion,

it's two thumbs down.

It's only bad.

We would echo the phrase of that famous theologian Bono from U2,

who says that religion is what you have when the Holy Spirit has left the room.

Or the religion is what you have when Jesus has left the room and what you got left is religion.

And that's what we would say.

We would say as well, we're not into religion, we're into relationship,

a relationship with Jesus.

And that's what we would say.

We would almost always use the word religion in a bad way.

And that in fact fits with how most Canadians would understand it.

If I told people that I was very religious, they'd go, what?

In their mind, they'd go, what?

He said he was really religious?

Like in a positive way?

But if I said that I was very spiritual, people might go, oh, that's sort of interesting.

You know, spiritual, not religious.

It's not a phrase you hear very much anymore.

But for most Canadians, we might tolerate religious people as long as they keep their religion private.

In other words, spiritual.

But religion is generally a bad word in Canada.

And spiritual or spirituality is generally a neutral to good word in Canadian society.

So right off the bat, when we're reading the Bible, we're going to have a hard time.

We're going to misunderstand what the Bible says.

Listen to it again.

And by the way, it's not always going to be easy to have the words on the screen.

It's one of the reasons why it's really important for those of you who are Christians to bring your own Bibles.

Or to bring your phone and have the Bible text and try to control your desire to check Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

You know, maybe in fact you need to have a locking mechanism.

It only opens the Bible.

Don't check the weather for the afternoon.

Just the Bible.

Most of us would be wiser if we spent less time on electronic devices, actually.

But that's a whole other topic of conversation.

And by the way, if you're watching this online,

there's a bit of an exception for the service.

We don't want you to turn the service off right now.

We're really glad you can join online.

Okay?

So anyway, the verses again, it goes,

If anyone thinks he's religious,

and right off the bat we're going,

Boo, yeah, yeah, boo, boo.

But then it goes,

And does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart.

That person's religion is worthless.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this,

to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,

and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

So what is really going on here with the use of the word religion?

And by the way, as I've said many times,

Christopher Hitchens, the New Atheists,

Deconversion Blogs,

none of them can top the New Testament for critiquing religion.

None of them can top the New Testament for critiquing religion in the bad sense.

What's going on here is a different word, a neutral word.

And in fact, it captures, when I was a young man,

there used to be posters and stuff like that that would ask this question.

If you were put on trial for being a Christian,

would there be enough evidence to convict you?

If you were put on trial for being a Christian,

would there be enough evidence to convict you?

And so the religion here is being used about the external life that you live,

the things that people can observe.

And that's what it's being talked about.

So in a sense, you know, if all of a sudden your co-workers,

you know, they're, I don't know,

they're just sort of, they see how you are at work,

and maybe they happen to see your credit card bill or your financial statement,

and they say, well, he doesn't spend money like a Christian.

I don't know, he likes to curse and swear and use foul language,

and I've seen him on Pornhub, and I don't know, like, he's a Christian?

Really?

It's a bit of a shock.

That's the question.

If you were put on trial for being a Christian from your behavior people could observe,

would there be enough evidence to convict you?

So now that you understand it, you're saying it's very, very interesting what John,

sorry, James is saying, is this is what,

these are going to be, in a sense, three tests that we're going to have

in terms of trying to evaluate religion,

how you actually live your life as a Christian.

And it's very, very interesting.

Like, whenever I prepare a sermon, I spend some time in prayer thinking about what would happen

if this was the Sunday, or if I was to share this text with some of the non-Christian friends

that I have, some of the non-Christians that I know,

and I try to guess how they'd, I try to figure out a little bit from conversations

how they might react to the text.

And just as a group like us will have problems with the word religion,

they would have problems with the word religion.

But it's an interesting three set of tests.

Tests, and I was thinking about it.

I think for my secular friends, they'd like the first test.

Because I think most people would say, like, in fact,

if you could write a self-help book on how to control the tongue better,

people would buy it.

Like, people would buy it.

If you could come up with some proven techniques to help you control the tongue,

people would buy that.

Because lots of people would acknowledge that they say stupid things.

And that's not even counting foul language and all that other type of stuff.

That most of us would acknowledge.

In fact, if there could be a book,

Men, How to Finally Talk Perfectly to Your Wife,

lots of men would buy that book.

It'd probably have to be written by a woman, by the way,

because a man, most of us men are, as our wives would put it,

shockingly slow learners in terms of how to speak to their wife.

But so most Canadians think, that's a pretty good test.

And then be interesting about how you relate to the poor and the powerless,

that people who are actually practicing a good religion, like externals,

there's a particular way, in a sense, an openness,

a visiting, a caring for the poor and the powerless.

And I think most Canadians would say, yeah, that's two thumbs up.

That's a pretty good test.

And then I was thinking about the fact that the worldly thing,

keeping yourself unsteamed from the world,

and here's where it would get a little bit tricky.

I think for those of you who are watching who aren't Christians,

you'd go, I don't even know what that means.

Like, it sounds a bit weird.

But it would get very, very uncomfortable.

Like, you know, one fellow that I have,

who I'm friends with, very friendly with,

one of the things he likes to do in his spare time, he's gay,

and he loves to go see drag queens.

That's one of the things he loves to do,

like go see a really good drag show.

And if I was to tell him that that would be an example of the world,

that you're supposed to keep yourself unsteamed for,

there'd probably be a bit of an awkward silence there.

Right?

So on one hand, this is a sort of an interesting list,

and just a bit of a clue here, or a precursor.

Most of the rest of the book of James

is sort of woven around these three themes.

How you use your tongue,

how you deal with the weak,

how you deal with the poor and the powerless,

how you deal with the weak,

and how you keep yourself unstained from the world.

That, in fact, is sort of how the rest of the book,

most of the rest of the book unfolds,

around trying to dig into that

in terms of what exactly it looks like.

And you still might,

but one of the other things,

before we get into the rest of it is,

it might be a bit shocking,

it is a bit shocking to us,

as to why it says that these three things

are the test of religion.

Like, you might say,

okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Like, why isn't it talking about communion,

baptism,

like Bible reading,

proper worship,

church attendance,

like small groups,

your personal prayer life?

Like, why is it,

what's going on here?

So there's two things to understand,

because that's a very, very good thing

to be puzzled over.

The first thing is that

you could talk about

all the different spiritualities

and religions of the world

in terms of how they try to balance

the vertical and the horizontal.

Or in other words,

the God word aspect of religion

and the human aspect

and creational aspect

of what it means to,

in that religion.

God word might be better

than vertical

for those religions

who sort of see God everywhere.

But, you know,

in a sense,

you could put a bit of a thing,

you know,

some emphasize more the horizontal,

some emphasize more the vertical.

But there is,

in fact,

the Bible calls us

to a type of balance around that.

And if you read the Gospel of John,

Gospel of John is big,

big, big on the vertical.

Like you read,

I mean,

in fact,

it even comes right out

and says at the end of the book,

why did I write this book?

I wrote this book

so you would know

who Jesus is and follow him.

Like,

he tells you why he wrote it.

Like,

it's almost all vertical.

James,

but it's not just vertical,

there's other things in it

that talk about the horizontal,

how you live

in terms of with other people

and with the creation.

I just sort of,

a bit of an aside.

Do you want to know something

which is really cool?

This isn't actually known very much.

We all know,

like,

who was it

who invented the Society

for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals?

The people who were responsible for it.

Wilberforce was one of the people,

the same guy

who was responsible

for abolishing slavery,

and also,

one of the guys responsible,

you can talk to James Lenny afterwards,

for the Christian,

the outreach to Israel,

which,

in fact,

created,

helped create eventually

the whole nation of Israel.

It was evangelicals

that wanted people

to come to a relationship

with Jesus

who started the Society

for the Prevention

of Cruelty to Animals.

So,

anyway,

so John is primarily vertical.

James is a book

that really majors

on horizontal things.

And why is that?

And so,

we're going to see,

it's not that he ignores the vertical,

but he really is going to try

to get us to think

far more deeply

about how shall we then live.

And to see why this is important,

just imagine this scenario.

After the service,

you go out for coffee with somebody,

and they say to you,

with no type of embarrassment,

said,

you know,

you get in talking

about spiritual things,

and,

you know,

whatever that means.

You know,

your walk with Christ.

And he says to you,

gosh,

you wouldn't believe it.

just yesterday afternoon,

just yesterday afternoon,

I had this spectacular sex

with my mistress.

But after it,

while she was still

dozing in bed,

I had this most awesome

devotional time

in the Bible

with Jesus.

And when I left,

I gave her a peck

on the cheek,

she was still in bed,

and I just was going,

left feeling so high

about my walk with Christ.

Now you'd go,

I mean,

in fact,

you might not even know

what to say,

my guess is many of you

would be so gobsmacked

by that statement

that you would go,

because what you would

want to say,

those of you who are

far more direct,

is that you had a crappy

time in the Bible.

You can't have sex

with your mistress

and then say you've had

a powerful time

with Jesus.

It doesn't fit together.

It's like pouring water

on a fire.

It doesn't make

the fire better.

Unless your devotional time

was to be massively

convicted of sin

and say,

Lord,

have mercy upon me.

I need counseling.

I need therapy.

I need prayer buddies.

I need responsibility partners.

I mean,

if that didn't happen,

you had the worst

devotional time imaginable.

Right?

And so that's what

James is going to emphasize.

What are some of the things

that mark

a true walk

with Jesus?

Jesus.

And that's one of the reasons

why the book of James

is so important.

So what is the very first thing

that he starts to look at?

Well,

the very first thing

he starts to look at

is, in fact,

an issue which is

a profound human problem

and is, in fact,

one of the issues

which is tearing apart

the fabric of society

in Canada,

Canada in a small way,

but the United States

in a very big way.

Like, what is it?

Let's look.

Chapter 2,

verses 1 to 7.

And it goes like this.

My brothers and sisters,

show no partiality

as you hold the faith

in our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Lord of glory.

I'm just going to pause there

for a second.

We're going to camp on that verse

just for a few moments.

It says, once again,

my brothers and sisters,

show no partiality.

It can also be translated

as prejudice.

It can also be translated

as discrimination.

It can also be translated

as favoritism.

Show no prejudice,

partiality,

favoritism,

discrimination

as you hold the faith

in our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Lord of glory.

And it's a bit awkward

in the English translation.

You can sort of see it

if you look at it

very carefully,

but in the original language

it's very obvious.

Is you can't have,

if you say you have faith

in Jesus

but are showing prejudice,

it's destroying your faith.

In fact,

it'll be on the slide later on.

There's one really big idea

to this section.

It's a really big idea

I want you to take away

from the sermon

and we'll show it

on a slide later on.

And it is this.

The more real

the biblical gospel

is to your heart

and the more real

the triune God

becomes to your heart,

the more you see

the deep sinfulness

of favoritism,

partiality,

and prejudice.

I'll say it again.

It's the big idea

of the text.

that the more real

the biblical gospel

is to your heart

and the more real

the triune God

becomes to your heart,

the more you see

the deep sinfulness

of favoritism,

partiality,

prejudice,

discrimination.

And as many of you know,

and if you don't,

heart here refers

to the very command center

of who you are,

the depths of who you are.

That part of you,

that from that part of you

the mind comes,

the imagination comes,

the will comes,

the emotions comes,

memory, planning,

where that one,

the Bible says

there's one source

that all of these things

emerge from

and the biblical word

for that is the heart.

And so as the biblical gospel

becomes more,

is more real to your heart

and the more real

the triune God

becomes to your heart

because of the gospel,

the more you see

the deep sinfulness

of favoritism,

partiality,

and prejudice.

One of the things

which is very interesting

about this text

in the original language,

it doesn't make good English,

so it's not translated this way,

but it actually says

partialities.

It's plural.

And it's plural

for two reasons.

It's plural for emphasis.

Like, you know,

you're reading, reading,

whoa, reading, reading, reading.

You know,

I was walking the dog

and then this happened.

It's something like that

to shout at you,

so to speak,

put it in bold.

But it's also by saying

in plural,

it's saying all the different forms.

Left-wing prejudice,

right-wing prejudice,

white prejudice,

black prejudice,

North American prejudice,

African prejudice,

Chinese prejudice,

you know,

First Nations prejudice,

all types.

In a sense,

it's unprejudiced

about prejudiced.

It's impartial,

impartial,

about partiality.

It shows no favoritism

to the sin of favoritism.

And it says,

these things

are like fire and water.

They don't go together.

There's faith in Jesus

and there is prejudice

and favoritism.

And so this is really important to see

because as we all know,

gosh,

we would have a hard time

writing a book of the glory.

In fact,

if you wrote a book

called The Glorious History

of Christian Opposition

to Prejudice,

Discrimination,

and Racism,

people would mock it

mercilessly

everywhere.

So,

let me tell you,

I am not,

I mean,

who is it needing prayer?

It is me,

it's me,

it's me,

oh Lord,

standing in need of prayer.

But the thing

which is really interesting

is long before

the Enlightenment,

long before secularism,

and not emerging

out of the pagan world

of ancient Greece

in the very,

very early days

of the Christian faith

is this stern

denunciation

of all prejudice,

favoritism,

partiality,

and racism,

completely and utterly

rebuked

as being incompatible

with the Christian faith.

In other words,

if you read

the book of Proverbs,

one of the things

which is so cool

about the book of Proverbs

is that in a sense

it talks about

the shamelessness of God.

And God is shameless

because he can use

all manners of conditions

of men and women

to shame you.

I've shared with you before,

I'll share it with you again.

What motivated me

to a deeper Bible reading?

It wasn't listening

to a Christian preacher.

That is not a,

I'm not being proud

about this.

It's just one

of the shocking things.

It wasn't because

I read some more

C.S. Lewis

or some great

Christian writer.

You know who inspired,

who in a sense

rebuked me

into Bible reading?

Was my first year

philosophy professor

who was an atheist

and a proud member

of the Communist Party

of Canada

where he ran

for federal

and provincial elections

on the Communist Party

platform.

and it was taking

his class

because he would

regularly

throw up Bible passages,

make fun of them

and I would be,

that's in the Bible?

But I realized,

I had to start,

I have to start

reading the Bible.

Gosh,

you know what,

I just can't read

Philippians over and over

and over again

and the Gospel of John

over and over

and over again.

I got to get

into the weeds.

I got to read

those lists.

I got to read

what really happened.

And so you read

the book of Proverbs.

One of the things

about it is that

that's just exactly

how God is.

Excuse me.

He's shameless.

He'll get your attention

with somebody

whose guts you hate.

He'll get your attention

with some

atheist,

communist

professor.

He'll speak to you

and Christians,

we have to be open

to rebuke

wherever it comes from.

But here's the thing.

To learn that

prejudice is a sin,

you don't need to read

post-modernism.

You don't need to read

critical theory.

In fact,

the matter is,

is that critical theory

encourages

prejudice

and favoritism

and partiality.

Part of the problem

we have in our culture

is that the knowledge class

is increasingly

influenced

by critical theory

and that is

increasing

prejudice

in our society.

In fact,

as is not

that well known,

if you want to go

to the greatest

centers of

anti-Semitism

in Canada,

you go to universities

with their

boycott,

divest movements

and other types

of things

which basically

want to see

the Jewish people

annihilated.

but you don't

have to go

to reading

Rousseau

or something

like that.

You go to the Bible

and if you read

the Bible,

the Bible says,

what does it say?

My brothers and sisters,

show no partialities,

no prejudices,

no racisms,

no favoritisms,

no discriminations

as you hold

the faith

in our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Lord of glory.

And it says,

as it holds it,

it says,

one moment,

you can't be

holding on to

prejudice and say

you're holding on

to Jesus.

You can't be

holding on to

discrimination and say

you're holding on

to Jesus.

You can't be

holding on to both.

The more you're

holding on to this,

it means you're

letting Jesus go.

And the more you're

holding on to Jesus,

the more he's going

to convict you

of the sin

of prejudice,

discrimination,

and favoritism,

and of course,

racism,

which is one example

of all of those things

which are great sins.

And what prejudice

is all based upon

is the discriminations

that we make

based on appearance,

on sort of the things

which matter not

to God at all.

Things like appearance,

race,

and how many dollars

you got in the bank.

None of those things

matter to God.

It's not a sin

to be low income.

As the book of James

is going to say,

some of the things

that keep certain people

in low income,

boy are they sinful.

Wait till we get

to chapter,

I think it's chapter 4.

It's going to be

very stark about

some of these types

of things.

But the fact of the matter

is,

is that we make lots of,

and the Bible

is just saying,

anything which is based

on these types of decisions

about the color

of your skin,

about how old you are,

the color of your hair.

You got tattoos,

you don't got tattoos,

you got piercings,

you don't got piercings.

You know,

the way your accent

shows your social class,

that you might be

from a working class background

or a rural working class background,

your ability to speak,

the way we may be distinguished

between somebody

who's obviously,

you know,

working class

and somebody

who went to Oxford

or Cambridge

and has that type of,

all of those externals,

they're all examples

of prejudice,

favoritism,

discrimination

and they're all wrong.

And the Bible

is going to give us

a very,

now James is going to go

and try to bring this

home to us

by giving us

a very simple example.

And one of the things

we have to understand

about this simple example

is this.

The simple example

reveals

the role

of micro decisions

or unconscious decisions

in our life.

Most of you,

most of us,

if you're like me,

if our lives

were only formed

by the big decisions

that we make,

you know what,

we'd probably be

pretty good.

You know,

who you marry,

you know,

whether you go to school

or not,

like big decisions.

But the fact of the matter

is that most of our life

is made with

unconscious decisions

or micro decisions,

small ones,

and it's a micro decision

that James is going

to use as an example.

And look what it says.

Verse 2.

For if a man

wearing a gold ring

and fine clothing

comes into your assembly

and a poor man

in shabby clothing

also comes in,

and if you pay attention

to the one

who wears the fine clothing

and say,

you sit here

in the good place,

while you say

to the poor man,

you stand over there

or sit down

at my feet,

have you then

not made distinctions

among yourselves

and become judges

with evil thoughts?

judges based on,

James,

why don't you tell us

what you really think?

Evil

is what is

forming this

small action.

Evil

thinking processes,

both in terms of

the logic is evil

and the premises

are evil

and the result

is evil.

So it's saying,

you know,

it's a day

where the church

is almost completely full

and somebody comes in

just a few minutes

before 10

and they're obviously

very, very well off

and rich

and we respond to them

one way.

We say,

hey, listen,

you know,

there's the best seat

in the house.

We'll move,

Brian,

get out of the way

or Kat,

get out of the way.

This is the best seat

in the house.

We'll have you sit there.

Oh yeah,

we'd love to do it.

You have the best seat.

A poor person comes in

and you either tell them

to pick the worst seat

in the house.

I'm sorry,

you don't even give them a seat.

You say,

you have two options,

dude.

You can go stand

throughout the entire service

way back in the shadow

where we can't see you

or you can sit on the ground.

Those are your options.

Now, obviously,

it's a bit of an exaggeration

but it's a...

I don't know

if he's going to be

watching the service.

Usually,

when I give examples

about things society-wise,

I'll try to either be neutral.

I would have used

like a Trump.

I don't know

what I'm going to use

for neutral political things anymore

because Biden and Trudeau

are like two peas in a pod, right?

So, I don't know

what I'm going to quite do

for when I make a...

Maybe I have to say

those who watch Fox News

and those who watch CNN

or something.

I don't know

because it's just hard

but I either try

to be even-handed

or I'll talk about

Nazis or Soviet Union

or Cambodia

or something like that

and so one person

at coffee time,

back when we could

have coffee time,

he said,

George,

why don't you ever

use Canadian examples?

And I said,

well, you know,

the problem is

if I use Canadian examples,

I could lose people

in the sermon

because it becomes political

and they start,

you know,

nattering away

in their mind,

you know, at it.

And so,

I'm going to take a risk.

If he's watching,

he knows who he is.

He might remember

having this conversation

with me.

So,

here we have this example

of treating people

different in terms

of economics.

And in this example,

we could say,

by the way,

there's no way

we would ever do this

or think this,

right?

Come on.

I mean,

this is Church of the Messiah.

There's no way

we'd think about this

or do this.

So,

let's try to bring it home.

How many of you

are very bothered

by the fact

that teachers want to have,

here's how I'm taking a risk,

be vaccinated earlier?

Doesn't it show

a class bias?

Doesn't it show,

James 2,

that we don't stand up

and say the people

who serve us coffee

at Tim Hortons

and stock the shelves

in Metro

should be served

way before the teachers?

Let's be very honest

about it.

Teachers,

I know it's the unions,

I'm not blaming

particular teachers.

Teachers are amongst

the best paid careers

in Canada.

Absolutely

in the top bit.

Teachers

didn't have to work

last March,

April,

May,

June,

or I mean,

go outside,

they could all work

from home.

The guy

and gal

who's probably

a new Canadian

and maybe

if they're not

a new Canadian,

they don't have

a high school education,

they're working

in Tim Hortons

serving you

your coffee.

The guy

or gal

stocking the shelves

at the Metro,

on top of that,

if it's Tim Hortons,

they're probably

new Canadians

and probably

not white.

But why is it

that there's no

conversation

amongst Canadians

about why is it

that teachers

are even there?

Good grief,

I mean,

they were doing

everything at home.

Like,

we should be

honoring

those faceless

people

who work

in Tim Hortons

in Metro.

They should have

it way before

teachers.

In fact,

you know,

teachers and all,

they often have

a lot of protections

about people

coming in.

Tim Hortons

probably have none.

Who knows,

it could be

hacking up

COVID fumes

by the gallon

and come

and get their coffee.

See,

I might have

lost a whole

pile of you

and I might

now get

a few angry

emails

from people

who are part

of the teachers

unions.

That's fine.

I think

my point

is valid.

When I read

papers,

I don't think

I've seen

any,

there's debates

about the order

of teachers

getting it,

but nobody

has said

that Tim Hortons

employee

should get

it before

teachers.

Why?

Because there's

an unconscious

decision

and micro decisions

of class

bias.

Right?

I mean,

think about it

for a second.

I mean,

the civil,

I'm not putting

down civil servants,

but the upper

level civil servants

who make

these decisions,

they're of the

same social

class as

the teachers

and the union

leaders.

And parliament

is filled more

with people

who are like

that than

people who

got election.

Imagine in the

next election,

the only people

who could run

are current

people who

serve you

coffee at

Tim Hortons

or stock the

shelves at

Metro.

Now,

just as a

side,

we might

actually have

a better

house of

commons

if that

happened.

But now

I'm really

in trouble.

But anyway,

William F.

Buckley famously

said that he'd

rather be ruled

by a random

selection of

people from

the Boston

phone book

than the

faculty of

Harvard.

But anyway,

sorry,

now I'm really

losing you.

That's maybe

why I shouldn't

use these

examples.

I don't know.

I'm sorry.

But the point

is that we

make these

types of

decisions and

their micro

decisions,

their class

decisions,

we're unconscious

to them and

the Bible

says it's

wrong.

The Bible

says it's

wrong.

In fact,

if we just

go on,

we'll see a

little bit.

Remember I

said the

big idea

of the

whole sermon

is that the

more real

the biblical

gospel is

to your

heart and

the more

real the

triune

God

becomes to

your

heart,

the more

you see

the deep

sinfulness

of

favoritism,

partiality,

and prejudice.

Look at

what goes

on in

verses 5,

6,

and 7

as James

rounds out

this section

and starts

to launch

into the

next thing.

Look at

what he

says.

He says,

listen,

my beloved

brothers and

sisters,

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?

Now,

just two

things here.

We're going

to see

here,

it's sort

of a bit

beyond the

Bible here

is not

saying that

every poor

person goes

to heaven

because they're

poor and

that every

rich person

is damned,

which is

sort of the

next verse.

It's not

making that.

It's making

a bit of a

more general

statement and

the fact of

the matter

is this,

that God

chooses people

who are poor

and powerless

to be his

children.

I've had many

people over the

years say to

me,

Jesus,

but I don't

know if

Jesus would

ever choose

me.

But what

James is saying

here is the

fact of the

matter is,

how does

conversion work?

Jesus chooses

you before

you choose

Jesus,

and that is

true of every

single human

being.

Whether you

are a person

who cannot

remember,

you became a

Christian so

young in your

age that you

can't remember

really becoming

a Christian

because you've

always loved

Jesus,

or whether

you've had a

dramatic

conversion

experience,

the fact of

the matter is

that Jesus

always chooses

you first,

and after he

has chosen

you,

you choose

him.

And the

fact of the

matter is that

Jesus chooses

people who

are poor

and powerless.

He does.

And if God

has chosen

those who

are poor

and powerless

to be his

children,

how can you,

if you believe

the gospel,

if he is your

Lord,

discriminate and

put them in a

lower place?

If God chooses

those who are

poor and powerless

to be part of

his kingdom,

how can we say

that we don't

care about that?

there's a

higher standard

than who's

in his

kingdom than

what he has,

and we're

going to

treat them

in a

different way.

And then in

verse 6 it

says,

but you have

dishonored the

poor man.

Are not the

rich the

ones who

oppress you

and the

ones who

drag you

into court?

Verse 7,

are they not

the ones who

blaspheme the

honorable name

by which you

were called?

And this

language of a

name by which

you were called,

in the original

language,

what it's trying

to capture is

an invoking of

a name over

you in terms

of now who

you belong to

or what family

you're in.

In a sense,

what it's saying

is this,

if God the

Father,

God the Son,

and God the

Holy Spirit

had a last

name,

if they had

a last name,

when you put

your faith in

Jesus,

when I put

my faith in,

let's just say

whatever,

I'm not going

to say,

whatever God's

last name was,

when I put

my faith in

Jesus,

I now have

a new

last name.

I'm George,

with the last

name is now

the name of

the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy

Spirit.

And that is

true whether

you are in

Nairobi,

whether you

are in

Moscow,

whether you

are in

Tehran,

whether you

are in

Ottawa,

and it is

true whether

you are part

of the

Billionaires

Club,

or you are

an untouchable

in India.

the moment

you respond

to the

invitation of

Jesus to

have him

be your

Savior and

Lord,

to trust

that he

has done

everything that

needs to be

done to make

you right with

God,

and that when

you put your

faith and trust

in him,

everything that

is needed to

be made right

with God has

been accomplished

by him,

and he

takes you not

weighing your

merits,

but pardoning

your offenses,

he clothes

you with

his righteousness,

he gives

you new

life,

and he

takes you

as his

own,

his precious

possession,

you are now

part of his

family,

your last

name is now

his name,

you have a

new identity,

and that is

true regardless

of your

income,

regardless of

your race,

regardless of

your age,

regardless of

your nationality,

regardless of

your educational

attainment,

that is what

the gospel is,

that is who

the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy

Spirit are,

they are a

God of love,

he is a

God of love,

from all

eternity,

and out of

an abundance

of his

love,

God has

done this

and offered

this for

his people,

and if that

is what it

means to be

a Christian,

how can you

show prejudice

and partiality?

How can you

not desire

to have

any class

bias,

any racism

in your life

removed from

your life,

as this

grips you?

chapter 1,

verse 18,

it talks about

how God

only gives

good gifts

and the

greatest gift,

he's only a

giver,

he's a

potential,

always giving,

and that's

why it

comes out

that the

more than

only the

triune God,

the more

as well you

see the

abhorrence of

prejudice,

discrimination,

favoritism,

racism.

It is evil.

So just

to close

up,

once again,

the big

idea of

the whole

sermon,

the more

real the

biblical

gospel is

to your

heart,

and the

more real

the triune

God

becomes

to your

heart,

the more

you see

the deep

sinfulness

of favoritism,

partiality,

and prejudice.

And then

one other

particular thing

to take away

is,

Lord,

help me to

see the

prejudice

log in

my own

eyes

before I

see the

prejudice

speck,

in the

eyes

of other

people.

You know,

on one hand,

what this is

telling us

to is to

dive deep

into the

gospel,

to say

to the

Lord,

Lord,

not just

help me

to rid

prejudice

of my

life,

but help

father the

gospel to

become more

real to

me.

Help me

to know

you,

father,

son,

and holy

spirit,

more,

and to

be known

by you.

Fan into

flame within

me a

longing and

yearning to

know you,

and to be

known by

you,

and to

know about

you,

to be

formed by

the

gospel,

by the

gospel as

is portrayed

in the

Bible.

Father,

make that

true,

and father,

as you

make that

true,

in your

mercy,

deliver me

from seeing

the prejudice

and favoritism.

I mean,

don't deliver me

from ever

seeing it,

but father,

help me to

look first

for whatever

logs there

are in

my own

eyes.

You know,

when Jesus

says to

look for

the log

in our

own eyes

before we

see the

speck in

the others,

he's not

calling us

to moral

blindness in

the world.

that what

he's calling

you to is

the path

to moral

clarity,

a moral

clarity

based on

humility

and penitence

about yourself

and being

gripped by

the gospel,

a moral

clarity that

can see the

evil of

prejudice

in all

its forms,

while at

the same

time realizing

that it's

me,

it's me,

it's me,

oh Lord,

standing

in the

need of

prayer.

please

stand.

If there

are any

watching this

or hearing

this who've

been troubled

by the fact

that they

think,

well I

don't know,

I think I

like Jesus

but I

don't think

he'd like

me.

He wouldn't

like me

because of

my views,

he wouldn't

like me

because how

messed up

my life

is,

he wouldn't

like me

because nobody

else likes

me,

he wouldn't

like me

because I

don't like

myself.

You know,

if that's,

you've now

been told

that in fact

the matter

is,

if you feel

any tug

to Jesus

at all,

you need

to know

that that

tug you

feel for

Jesus is

because Jesus

has chosen

you and is

calling you

to be his

own.

And there

is no

better time

than right

now to

say,

Jesus,

thank you

for calling

me.

I say

yes.

I say

please be

my Savior,

be my

Lord,

let me

be in

you and

be in

me,