“And I told about equality and it’s true,
Either you’re wrong or you’re right.
But, if you’re thinkin’ ‘bout my baby,
It don’t matter if you’re black or white.” —Michael Jackson
Over the next few posts we’ll continue walking out what I believe is a game-changing perspective on people.
A Game-Changing Perspective On People:
- Your relationship with GOD gets put on display by the way you LOVE, TREAT and RELATE to PEOPLE.
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
—James 2:1-4 NIV
The phrase, “…judges with evil thoughts…” is actually an expression used to describe “judges who take bribes.”
In other words, whenever discrimination and favoritism get a foothold in a church, the church has become no better than a rotten, crooked politician who will take a bribe and subvert justice to get what they want to get.
James is challenging us! He’s saying: “The church should never favor one individual or group of individuals over another based on superficial stuff like class, status, wealth, race, ethnicity, color, talent, good looks, abilities, you name it. The ground is always level at the foot of the cross!”
Love God. Love People.
In Matthew 22, Jesus made His priorities for His people crystal clear.
He was once asked, “‘Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law?’ 37 Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and prophets are based on these two commandments.” —Matthew 22:36-40
Jesus basically said, “Guys, you can boil the basics of Christianity down to core essentials: Love God and love people. Love God. Love people. Love God. Love people. It’s that simple.”
Jesus was letting us know that our relationship with God gets put on display by the way we love treat and relate to people!
- Our truest IDENTITY isn’t based on our financial status, family of origin, ethnicity, race, education or cultural uniqueness. Our truest IDENTITY is that because of JESUS, we can become SONS and DAUGHTERS of God!
Check out Verses 5-7.
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? —James 2:5-7 NIV84
A lot is packed away in this passage. I’ll mention two bullets.
TWO BULLETS:
- We ALL are created in the IMAGE of GOD.
In Verse 5 James indicates that God has chosen “those who are poor…to inherit the kingdom…” He addresses both the poor and the rich as having dignity and worth because they were made in the image of God.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. —Gen 1:26-27 NIV
One author describes how the thought that human beings were created in the image of God actually influenced our Declaration of Independence.
“The belief that all people are made in God’s image has woven its way into our world in a manner we often do not see. The United States’ Declaration of Independence begins,
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’
“There is a raft of ideas here: that people are created, not accidents; that their Creator gives them certain endowments and confers worth on them. This worth means that they come with certain rights that ought to be respected for a society to be considered good. This is true for all human beings— all are created equal.” —John Ortberg [1]
Why are we all created equal? Because we all bear the image of God!
We say it like this at A2 Church:
You have never locked eyes with another human being who doesn’t matter to God.
You have never stared into the face of someone — red, yellow, black, white, Caucasian, Asian, Latino, African, African-American — who isn’t an image bearer of the God we claim to love and worship.
You’ve never shaken hands with someone for whom Christ didn’t die! I’ll write it again:
You have never locked eyes with another human being who doesn’t matter to God. Never! Never! Never! Never!
- We have been CHOSEN by God, ADOPTED into His family and BELONG to HIM!
Notice Verse 7.
Are they [the rich] not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? —James 2:7 NIV84
This isn’t an argument that the poor — or any other group for that matter — are somehow intrinsically more noble, honorable, spiritual or prized by God than the rich — or any other group, for that matter. The issue of importance isn’t the person’s status in life, but the fact that because of the cross, they belong to God! They belong to Jesus!
James is reminding this group of people of their primary identity!
He’s reminding them that no matter how rich, poor, destitute or down-and-out a person might be, the moment they get married or are adopted into a wealthy family, they take on the name and identity of the new family!
This is the idea wrapped up in James 2:7 when James talks about “…the noble name of him to whom you belong…”
He’s reminding this group of believers, “Guys, when you placed your trust in what Jesus did for you when He died for your sins, in your place; you became part of the family of God! You became a child of God! You became an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus! You’ve got a new name and a new family!
“You’re identity isn’t ultimately wrapped up in or defined by your social status, wealth, net worth, education, wardrobe, race, ethnicity, body art or political party! If you’re a believer, your primary identity is formed by the fact that you are a child of God!!!”
Get this! When God looks at his kids, He doesn’t say, “Oh, there’s my black child, white child, Asian child, Hispanic child… There’s my rich kid, poor kid, single kid, divorced kid, or married kid…” Or, “There’s my obedient child, disobedient child, athletic kid, clumsy kid, smart kid, dumb kid, physically challenged kid…” God just looks at us and says, “There’s my son! There’s my daughter! Redeemed by the blood of Jesus! Purchased at the cross!
The truest thing about me…
The truest thing about me is not my “whiteness.” The truest thing about my friend, Derec Walker isn’t his “blackness.” The truest thing about my friend, Sunish Mathew isn’t his “Indian-ness”.
Our truest IDENTITY isn’t based on our financial status, family of origin, ethnicity, race, education or cultural uniqueness. Our truest IDENTITY is that because of JESUS, we can become SONS and DAUGHTERS of God!
We all are created in the image of God!
We have been chosen by God, adopted into His family and belong to Him!
Three years ago Priscilla Shirer made the following statement in a dynamic message:
“I do not describe myself as a black woman, because that gives too much power to my blackness. I don’t want black – my race, to be the defining adjective of who I am as a woman. I am not a black woman. I am a Christian woman who happens to be black.
She then pointed out: “It is the job of your adjective to describe the noun of who you are. And, if there’s going to be an adjective that describes me, it’s not going to be my race. It’s going to be that I am a woman who believes in every single thing that God’s Word declares to be true…
“You may be a black woman, a black man, a white woman, or a white man, but that should not define you.”
She went on to describe how radical God’s claim and call is upon our lives, how fundamental our new identity in Christ is when she said:
“…if your race or if your political party is going in a different direction than the Word of God, you don’t choose your blackness or your whiteness, whatever culture you are, or your political persuasion… You choose what God’s Word declares to be true.” —Priscilla Shirer [2]
He is our peace and has destroyed the
dividing wall of hostility!
Here’s how important Paul thought this was. He spoke to another racially, ethnically, culturally divided group of people in the first century and reminded them of what was most important. It wasn’t that they were Jews — God’s chosen. It wasn’t that they were Gentiles, or maybe even, Roman citizens. Here’s how Paul describes it in Ephesians 2:14-19.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household… —Eph 2:14-19 NIV
Recently, author, theologian and pastor, Tony Evans shared an insightful message at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship where he addressed the issue of Critical Race Theory, otherwise known as CRT.
Evans indicated that depending on who talks about it, CRT can mean many different things and discussion about it had actually divided his congregation and impacted his church.
He went on to say that since there are so many different opinions about what critical theory or critical race theory actually is, and it’s highly unlikely that people will ever agree on a definition, instead of spending lots of time dissecting CRT, he wants to encourage Christians in his church to adopt a new mindset. Instead of CRT, Evans proposed that Christians adopt a biblical mindset he called, KRT — Kingdom Race Theology.
KRT — Kingdom Race Theology
Here’s how Tony Evans defined Kingdom Race Theology or KRT.
Kingdom Race Theology is the reconciled recognition, affirmation and celebration of the divinely created…ethnic differences through which God displays his multifaceted glory, as His people justly, righteously and responsibly function personally and corporately in unity under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
—Tony Evans
Evans went on to say:
“If you’re spending more time discussing CRT than you are KRT, then you’ve been tricked by the world… [Why? Because… Because of Christ] there are new rules. And if [we] will abide by the new rules of Christ, we will create something new. So, while they’re fighting out there, we [can] have peace in here. Because according to Ephesians 2, Christ has created [one new humanity].” In other words, He has placed us in a new family!
Color Blind or Color Blessed?
There’s a popular saying today that is often made with the best of intentions… People say things like, “I’m color blind.” If that’s a physical problem, our office can put you in touch with an ophthalmologist or optometrist. I’m just kidding.
Here’s the point: I don’t believe for a moment that God wants us to be color blind. I think He loves every color He created! God isn’t color blind and He doesn’t want us to be blinded by color!
Instead of being color-blind, what if we started to call ourselves color-blessed? In other words, we are blessed by every color God has created. Further, we are looking forward to the day when Revelation 7:9 becomes reality. When “up there” comes “down here.”
After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” —Rev 7:9-10 NLT
Once again:
Our truest IDENTITY isn’t based on our financial status, family of origin, ethnicity, race, education or cultural uniqueness. Our truest IDENTITY is that because of JESUS, we can become SONS and DAUGHTERS of God!
We all are created in the image of God!
We have been chosen by God, adopted into His family and belong to Him!
Our relationship with God gets put on display by the way
we love treat and relate to people!
In our next post, we’ll continue unpacking the next two challenges contained in James 2.
[1] Ortberg, John (2012-07-31). Who Is This Man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus (Kindle Locations 288-294). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
[2] https://youtu.be/vPhrYgF2Tn8