Skin or Sin?
The Journey • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsYou can overcome prejudice when you undertand that if contradicts your faith, blinds your eyes, and reveals your heart.
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
PIC- RIOT
Like you I have been at once ashamed, angered, and deeply grieved by the racial unrest of the last four or five months. Like a sleeping dragon, the uneasy racial mistrust and prejudice that lived beneath the surface of our polite interactions, resurrected to ignite civil unrest. Maybe you, like me, have found yourself asking the question, “How in the world did we get here?” Even more important, perhaps you’re asking “Where are we headed?”
In this environment lots of people have had a lot to say . . . sometimes a lot to scream. Many fingers have been pointed in many different directions, some of them at the church. Jemar Tisby writes: The failure of many Christians in the South and across the nation to decisively oppose the racism in their families, communities, and even in their own churches provided fertile soil for the seeds of hatred to grow. The refusal to act in the midst of injustice is itself an act of injustice. Indifference to oppression perpetuates oppression.
And yet I believe that pointing the finger at any institution in society fails to effectively address this issue if the goal is real change. Over the last 60 odd years, policy changes have produced surface progress and we should be grateful for that, but the reason we’ve never “slayed the dragon” of racism isn’t because the policy has been wrong: It’s because the heart has not been changed. It was Jesus Who taught us that the outward expression of our actions comes from the inner condition of our hearts. Or as my friend, Ken Fontenot, likes to say: The problem isn’t SKIN; the problem is SIN.
NEED
By now, some of us may be uncomfortable. I am quite aware that, even in this congregation, all that has transpired in the last few months has divided US. Some of us have begun to resent the guilt by association that has resulted from the invective that has come from the most militant. Others of us genuinely fear that the legitimate cry for equality is being hijacked by movements that have something more revolutionary in mind. Others realize that racial injustice is real because they or someone they love has clearly experienced it, yet they aren’t sure of how to respond or even if they should be involved in what is currently happening.
Into all of our confusion, I believe that God’s word speaks clearly if we will just listen. As followers of Christ, it is His instructions we need to hear and His commands which we should obey. We’ve been on this journey through the New Testament and three weeks ago, while I was on vacation, you read the text I want to look at today. It is found in James 2. Let’s read it:
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
This sin didn’t die with the abolition of slavery. It has continued, not because America is less moral than the rest of the world, somehow; it has continued because America, like the rest of the world, is inhabited by sinners.
That’s why the Bible addresses it. We need to address it because it is one of the greatest hindrances to evangelism:
ILL
Pic - Prison lunchroom
Erwin is an Hispanic pastor in Los Angeles, Ca. He was saved from a totally unchurch background and his life was radically changed. Right off the bat, he began to get involved in the outreach ministry of his church. The week after he was converted, he went to the prison to share his faith.
He was almost completely illiterate when it came to biblical knowledge. He had only memorized a few verses that would allow him to lead someone to Christ. When he got to the prison he noticed something very peculiar. All of the Christians sat on one side of the room and all of the prisoners sat on the other. It was a perfect picture of segregation. He felt uncomfortable with this turn of events, so he sat right in the middle of the two groups.
When the service was over, the church group joined the prisoners for a meal. Again the group segregated itself, so Erwin, again feeling uncomfortable, sat down with a group of prisoners and began to talk. In the middle of the meal, one of the prisoners got up to get something else to eat and one of the believers, perhaps, trying to save Erwin from this social mistake, took the prisoner’s chair. The poor prisoner headed back to the table, saw his chair had been taken, and just leaned against the wall on the far side of the room to finish his meal.
Erwin had a heart for these prisoners, so he went over and began to talk with him. He asked him if he wanted to know how to be saved and the prisoner surprised him by saying, “sure.” Erwin took out his Bible and began to turn to Romans. There was only one problem, he had no clue where “Romans” was in the bible. He said as he was turning, “Right here in Romans it says,” he kept turning but was having no luck. “Right here in Romans, it says.” He continued to turn, but still couldn’t find it. The prisoner finally stopped him and said, “Hey, man, I can’t even read.” So Erwin just stopped turning and said, “Ok, right here in Romans it says. . .” He was able to lead that man to Christ because he refused to discriminate against the very people he was there to reach.
Do you see the problem? The only reason you and I continue to live in this world is so that we can make disciples, yet we will allow our attitudes towards the very people we are trying to reach stop us from achieving the mission we have been given. Our prejudice compromises our ability to reach the world.
Hey, Peace Church. Let’s just admit the truth: We are predominantly white congregation. I am so thankful that, over the last 10-20 years, we have become more diverse, but we are not where we should be. We live in a community in which, if you are a Caucasian, you are the minority! If, for whatever reason, we fail to reach people that aren’t Caucasian, we will be telling more than half of our community that we are fine if they don’t find Jesus.
Please hear me today! I am not trying to turn us into a “social justice” church, although biblical justice should certainly be a value we promote. I am simply trying to present a biblical idea of what it means to live out the law of love Jesus gave us. What does it really look like to show that love to Wilson, given the fact that we are the minority?
TRANS:
I believe that begins with us really analyzing our own hearts and asking ourselves some hard questions. I believe that begins with us overcoming the sin of prejudice that lives like a sleeping dragon in us all. The question is how: How do we do that? How can I overcome prejudice. Well, this passage in James gives us three truths we must understand to overcome prejudice. First, we must understand that:
D1 –
PREJUDICE CONTRADICTS OUR FAITH.
PREJUDICE CONTRADICTS OUR FAITH.
EXP
The first four verses of chapter two show us this contradiction very clearly. Verse one begins with a command.
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
James says, “Brothers, do not! And the construction in Greek is very emphatic. He says “do not” and follows it with several exclamation points, saying in effect, “Don’t be caught dead doing this.”
Doing what, James? Holding the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, “with partiality.” That phrase “the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” is interesting. In Greek it is literally, “the Lord of Glory” and that word glory refers back to the shekinah glory of Jehovah that was to be found in the holy of holies. James intentionally refers to the most sacred picture his Jewish readers would have had in mind and he says “Don’t pretend to hold on to the Shekinah glory of God with one hand and hold on to “partiality” with the other.”
Now the word “partiality” is also very descriptive. It literally means to “receive faces.” It carries the idea of you being the usher in the church of God and as people are entering for the morning worship you are standing at the door. You don’t know these people from Adam, but you can see what they look like on the outside. As they enter, you are picking and choosing who you like, and who you don’t like based solely on how their faces look. You are “receiving faces.” In other words, you are going solely on their outward appearance and nothing else, and, on that basis, you are showing “partiality” or “favoritism.”
James says, “don’t be caught dead, claiming to hold to the faith of the Shekinah glory of God which is found in Jesus Christ, while at the same time showing favoritism based simply on external things.”
Pic - Man standing beside a lambergini
And then he illustrates what he means, beginning in verse 2. He describes first a rich man: “for if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel.” The “gold rings” literally is “gold-fingered” in the Greek. The Roman men wore gold to symbolize the fact that they belonged to the upper crust of society. In our day we would say the man was “GQ.” He dresses nicely, he has mousse in his hair; he wears a tommy turtle neck with his designer sports coat, which doesn’t even wrinkle when he sits behind the steering wheel of his Lambergini.
The other man James describes is just the opposite. The word he uses is “filthy.” He describes what we would call today a “homeless” person. There’s a cloud of green fog following him a city block.
Now based on that description, James illustrates the prejudice he is describing by showing how we treat these two people differently. The rich man is given the best seat in the house and the poor man is treated as a nuisance; as someone who must be “put up with” but is not really welcomed. We don’t give him the seat of honor, but we just find a place to stick him so that he is out of the way. We show partiality: we are prejudiced!
For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Now James minces no words in condemning this as sin. In verse 4 he says that the problem with acting this way is that you have become “judges with evil thoughts.” That word “judge” has two meanings. In the first instance it means to “separate or make a difference.” What James is saying here is that when you show prejudice you have turned yourself into a judge and there’s one small problem with that practice. You’re not qualified!! When you set yourself up to judge on the basis of externals, you are exhibiting an arrogance that makes you a fool. You are playing God, and you aren’t qualified!
You see, when we claim to be a believer, and to hold within our hearts the shekinah glory of God, and yet we are prejudiced and we show partiality, we, in essence, drag the shekinah glory of God through the muck and mud of our own prejudice. You see, prejudice and faith do not go together. Prejudice is sin because it contradicts our faith.
It is realizing this truth that causes you to come to a crossroads in your discipleship: will you continue to try to follow Jesus while contradicting everything he stands for, or will you ask for his help to let go of prejudice. You can overcome prejudice when you understand that it contradicts your faith, but you can also overcome prejudice when you understand that:
D2 –
PREJUDICE BLINDS YOUR EYES
PREJUDICE BLINDS YOUR EYES
EXP
As we have seen, it seems that the church which James addresses were favoring the wealthy above the poor. In the next three verses, he exposes the foolishness of the prejudice he condemns. He tells the church that their partiality defies logic: it makes no sense. He gives them several reasons why this is undeniable.
First, verse 5, he tells them that the choice of favoritism they had made directly contradicts the choice of God. He says:
Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
James tells them, listen you’ve got it backwards! God’s preference is not the wealthy, but the poor. Your choice is illogical because it defies God’s will.
But in verse 6, he shows them that their choice is also illogical because of the danger they face from the very people they favor.
But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?
He asks, “do the rich not oppress you and drag you into court.” And they obvious answer that he expects is, “yes, they do.” In the first century, Palestinian food chain there was only one person lower than the Jew: it was the Christian.
The Roman philosopher, Celcus, attacked poor, uneducated Christians portraying them as vulgar . . . “like a swarm of bats or ants creeping out of their nests, or frogs holding a symposium amid a swamp, or worms in a convention in a corner of mud.” (Wow! Kind of sounds like a presidential debate doesn’t it?) It understates the case to say that Christians were not well thought of.
Evidently even their fellow Jewish country men were their worst enemies. Rich, Jewish Landlords were using their influence to steal the property and liberty of Christians, and James is here accusing them of favoring the very people who were doing them harm
But it wasn’t just believers who were being harmed, for in verse 7 James takes his accusation a step further when he asks,
Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
“Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you were called?” He says that these wealthy people who were being shown partiality were the very people who actually blaspheming the name of Christ.
Which just leads to the obvious question: Why, if their prejudice contradicted God’s desire; Why if their prejudice contradicted their own well-being; Why if their prejudice contradicted the faith that they professed; Why, if all of these things were true did they insist on holding it?
The answer is really very simple. Their eyes were blinded. They were not thinking clearly. They were not seeing things as they really were, and you see that is the problem with prejudice: it always blinds you to the truth!
And since prejudice blinds us to reality, Isn’t it just possible that you have feelings that are hindering your ability to reach others for Christ, and you don’t even know it. May I challenge you to pray this prayer? “O God, show me my heart. If I am harboring any prejudice that would make me ineffective, please show me.”
You see, in the final analysis, even though prejudice contradicts our faith and blinds our eyes, its evil roots grow much deeper than that. In these last few verses of our text, James reveals that, if we are to overcome prejudice, we must realize that
D3 –
PREJUDICE REVEALS OUR HEART
PREJUDICE REVEALS OUR HEART
James, verse 8, speaks of the law. He says,
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
He calls it, here, the “royal law” and he states that the royal law is “love your neighbor as yourself.” Does that ring a bell? Yes, you’ve heard it before. You heard it in Matt. 22:37 when Jesus summarized all the law and the prophets into two direct commands. When he was asked which was the greatest command, he replied
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
James shows the absolute sinfulness of prejudice by linking it to the very command that Jesus said summarized all the law and the prophets. In verse nine he says “if you show partiality, then you break this one command that summarizes all the rest. You are guilty of being a lawbreaker.”
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
But he’s not done. In verses 10-12 he counters the person who may claim that their prejudice really isn’t all that bad. He can almost hear the dismissive attitude of all those who excuse their prejudice and minimize the sin of their partiality, and he proves his case. He basically tells us, in the tenth verse, that the law is indivisible. If you break one command, you might as well have broken them all. If you don’t commit adultery, yet you murder, he says in verse 11, you are still a lawbreaker, and showing partiality breaks the very heart of the law, the overriding principle that Jesus gave when he told us that loving God and loving our neighbor summarized the very will and law of God.
One commentator said: “God’s law is unified; it all hangs together and is inseparable.
Pic - Shattering a glass
It islike hitting a window with a hammer. You may hit it only once, and that rather lightly, but the whole glass is shattered.”
You see, it’s a serious thing! Showing partiality is serious because it violates the very will and character of God. He is holy. He is impartial. He is just.
It’s also serious, not just because of what it says about God, but of what it says about us. Prejudice shows you and i to be the lawbreaking, sinful rebels that we really are. In a very telling fashion, prejudice always says more about the person holding it than it does about the person against whom it is held. Prejudice reveals your heart!
ILLUSTRATION:
Pic - Old bus
In the 1970’s many conservative churches like ours discovered bus ministries. In most cases we didn’t have the money to buy buses that were immediately road worthy. We would by the school system castaways that had to be strung together bailing wire and shoe strings and sent them out to reach kids who might otherwise have never had an opportunity to hear about Christ on a regular basis.
When I was in Jr. High, i remember being a part of such a ministry in the church where my dad pastored. Everybody thought the bus ministry was great when it first began. If you really worked it, bringing all those kids in could really swell your attendance and most importantly, some of them made decisions for Christ.
But what everyone thought was great at first began to turn sour. We made an amazing discovery: not all the people in our neighborhoods were the same color as we were. As the ethnic mix of the congregation grew so did the concern of some on the deacon board. They finally told my dad that someone might need to stand at the door and turn away those who were the wrong color. Dad told them, if you want to turn them away, you stand at the door. I’m not going to be the one to have to answer to God for turning children away from the kingdom of heaven.
Now may i hasten to say that these were not men you would have thought of as being wicked. In another context you would have even called them Godly. They were leaders of the congregation. They were deacons. But their prejudice revealed more about their hearts than their position ever could, because God calls them lawbreakers, transgressors, sinners. You see your prejudice always says more about you than it does about the person, or the group you hate. It says you’ve got a heart problem. It says you have a sin problem. The outward expression of our actions comes from the inner condition of our hearts. It’s not SKIN it’s SIN!
Which just leaves us with this question. What are we going to do about it?
Interview Colin