Tonight we’re going to keep going in James, we’re going to be looking at verses 1-13 and we’ll be focusing on 

our common bond as the family of God

we’ll look at the issue of partiality or favoritism in the family of God

and we’ll talk about the results of our obedience. 

But first I want us all to take a trip together. 

We’re going to time travel back to when you were on your way here tonight

You’re in the car on the highway and change lanes to exit. 

You glide onto the off ramp and as you do - you notice a particular piece of road infrastructure flanking you.

What are those called? Guardrails! Yes!

And what are they for? 

To keep us from going off the road - right? 

I bet in a room of this size there are at least a few people who have some first hand experience with guardrails.

And if so - I bet you’re very thankful for them. 

Their purpose is to protect us.

And they only consist of 2 parts, 

The metal strips which is generally the piece you see rolled up like a cinnamon roll

And the posts that hold those metal strips. 

Those posts that they’re mounted on are strong and thick

These posts are embedded in the earth 4 feet deep, while also being reinforced with concrete where they enter the ground.

These things do not mess around.

Guardrails have to be strong because of what’s required of them.

Their job is to keep people from driving off a bridge or into oncoming traffic.

That’s a very important job, right?

But they’re not only sturdy - guardrails are also soft.

The big metal strips need to have a certain amount of give or flex in order to keep those who are crashing safe.

If they weren’t engineered to crumple, car crashes would be a lot more dangerous.

If we crashed into an immovable object our vehicles and our bodies would incur a lot more damage.

It would be like an airbag made of cement.

A cement airbag would be really effective at keeping your face from hitting the steering wheel, right?

But there’s a problem with that design. 

If you get in a crash your face is now hitting a cement block.

That kinda defeats the purpose of an airbag completely. 

No - guardrails are designed to cushion impact, cradle the crash victims, and in so doing preserve their lives.

They’re there to save our lives. 

I hope you don’t have firsthand knowledge of how exactly they do that.

But no matter if you’ve had to “use them” or not I hope you can appreciate their function.

So guardrails are strong, and keep us confined to our lane, but they’re also soft so as to protect us in the event that we do crash. 

By now you should be wondering if you accidentally wandered into the wrong building

We’ve spent a long time talking about safety infrastructure

Maybe some sort of transportation safety meeting or something

But I have a purpose in telling you this!

I think that guardrails are a great metaphor for the gospel.

The gospel keeps us.

The gospel keeps us from straying outside of the path to life.

It’s strong enough to do that! 

It’s strong enough to overcome our sin and keep us until the end.

And not only that, when we careen off in the direction of sin the gospel softly redirects us.

Scripture tells us that it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. 

The gospel is tender, but also strong and unmoving.

And what’s more the gospel offers us a life of joy.

We can have that joy in life because we know what’s on the other side of those barriers.

We know the destruction that would meet us if the guardrail wasn’t there.

Have you ever thought about who you would be without Christ?

If you don’t reflect on your sin or what your state would be without Christ - you should.

It’s a great way to appreciate what Christ has done in your life

It’s a healthy way to fuel joy in your salvation.

I’m starting tonight with the gospel because the text I’m teaching tonight is full of the gospel.

And if you’re not familiar with the gospel it is simply this -

God created everything, and so He owns everything - even us.

And every human on earth has a self-inflicted problem. And that problem is sin.

Sin is anything we do that is wrong. 

When we lie, steal, cheat, or harm ourselves or others.

Even one sin makes us completely guilty because we have no way to repay that. 

God hates sin - he hates it so much that he wants to punish it.

Because of our sin, we deserve to be punished by God. 

And this punishment isn’t a slap on the wrist. 

It’s an eternity of pain and torment.

This punishment is hell.

So to avoid this punishment we need forgiveness.

But God is gloriously merciful to us, and offers us a way to escape this punishment.

Our way out comes by way of His son, Jesus, who He sent to die in our place.

God’s son took the punishment that we deserved so that we could be right with God.

and as a result of that we can be saved now! Today! 

That’s the gospel.

If this is the first time you’ve heard this - you now have a choice to make. 

You have to decide if you believe this. 

This is the most important decision of your life.

And if you want to talk with someone about this, come find me after service. 

If you’re believing this now for the first time - then I want to be the first to welcome you into the family of God. 

We’re going to be talking about the family of God a lot tonight. 

And just like every family, we need to learn how to treat each other. 

And that’s what our passage is about tonight. 

Tonight we’re going to study James’ ground rules for the family of God

Let’s read our passage now to orient ourselves.

James 2:1–13 ESV

1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 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, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Like I said earlier this text is grounded in the gospel

First it’s written to those who profess faith in Christ and who recognize their salvation as being from Christ.

That’s clear from the first verse, right? 

“My brothers, show no partiality as YOU hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ”. 

The gospel groups us together through the common bond we share - which is our identity in Christ.

I don’t think it’s an accident that there’s a little reminder of our family ties

James wants us to see each other as family

Calling us brothers, reminding us of that all believers are children of the same God

It puts common ground beneath our feet.

Our text for tonight is also grounded in the gospel in that our obedience to James’ family rules is motivated by the gospel

The gospel motivates our obedience because we know what the gospel saved us from

Because we know what’s on the other side of those guard rails, we’re joyfully obliged to stay close to God’s word and obey it.

And tonight we’re going to briefly explore how our salvation through the gospel gives us an opportunity to earn rewards for that obedience.

More on that later.

Last week Pastor Matthew taught on hearing and doing God’s word. 

We learned that hearing and doing is a package deal. 

You can’t just hear and not do. 

And if you’re doing without hearing - you’re likely doing the wrong thing

And James doesn’t waste any time in giving the church something to hear

He starts immediately in our passage tonight and what he’s putting in your ear contains in it something to do

An imperative - like Pastor Matthew talked about last week.

So after tonight you’ll have heard the word and then you’ll go out into the world with an opportunity to do the word that you heard!

So James starts off with this imperative “show no partiality”.

And now he’s going to illustrate what he means by setting up a hypothetical situation for us

This situation serves to demonstrate his point.

He begins his illustration in verse 2

James 2:2–3 ESV

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, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”

He contrasts a rich man with a poor man. 

And he zeroes in on the differences between how people treat these two people.

James is building a picture for us here

We can all see this in our heads right? 

Let’s start with the rich man

This person walks through the doors of the church, and they’re just oozing class. 

They’re well dressed, expensive shoes, tasteful shirts, well fitting pants, gold jewelry.

As they walk past you, you can smell just the right amount of their cologne or perfume. 

Wow. 

This person should have a place of prominence!

We want people to associate our church with people like this.

We want to be associated with them!

That’s a church growth strategy isn’t it? 

People will be attracted to our church if the people inside the church are attractive. 

The welcome team hops into high gear and makes sure they have a bulletin in their hand and a warm greeting with eye contact. 

Ushers guide them to a comfortable seat that’s prominent in the sanctuary and they’re immediately greeted by the pastor, worship pastor, and everyone sitting around them. 

And you turn to see the next person walk in. 

I don’t have to tell you this is the poor man.

You turn your head and see a plain looking person, with long messy hair and absolutely none of the trappings of wealth that we just pictured. 

They’ve got worn out clothes that don’t fit well, and shoes that should have been retired long ago.

In James’ hypothetical illustration, this person isn’t given the same red-carpet treatment. 

They barely get a bulletin, before they are told to stand in the back of the room, maybe even told to sit on the ground.

They’re out of sight, greeted by no one. 

There’s a difference between how the two are treated isn’t there? 

We can feel the weight of the inequality when we read that the poor man was told to “sit on the ground”

There’s no indication that there was a lack of seating - and yet the poor man isn’t even allowed to sit in a chair. 

Which makes it all the more clear that the distinction they made is unnecessary and evil.

They’re devaluing this person.

Their difference in treatment is the focal point of this passage.

And James addresses that disparity in treatment in verse 4

James 2:4 ESV

4 Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

He says if you do this, if you treat one another differently on the basis of something like wealth you are doing two things

First - you’re making distinctions among yourselves

Second - you become judges with evil thoughts

Let’s take a look at making distinctions first

What’s so bad about there being distinctions between us? 

That’s what makes us who we are, right? 

I’ve got brown eyes, you’ve got blue eyes. 

I’m a man, my friend Maria is a woman

There’s natural distinctions among us, right?

That’s true - yes But that’s not the type of distinction that James is talking about.

The word that’s being used for distinctions here is diakrino which carries with it the sense of passing judgment or regarding something as superior. 

Drawing lines between things or people and elevating one person or one group over another

So the types of distinctions that James is referring to are value judgements. 

Making a decision or judgment on someone’s value or their place in the pecking order

Or one person’s superiority over another

Making distinctions is sorting people into categories based on various criteria 

In this illustration the categories are rich and poor

The distinctions being made are between wealthy and impoverished

BUT James isn’t only warning us against being partial to wealthy people

We can tell because word he uses for partiality in verse 1 is plural, and it literally means to “receive the face”

That’s a funny turn of phrase, but it carries the sense of giving someone preference based on a judgment of their external appearance or some other aspect of a person.

So if we take these two things together we can surmise that any type of judgment on the basis of a meaningless difference is wrong.

We’re not to make distinctions for any reason. 

This can be hard because the world we live in loves putting people into categories.

The world is dead set on sorting people

Based on wealth or beauty

Athletic performance

Your SAT or ACT score

What college you went to

Based on what kind of car you drive

Or How closely you conform to the world’s standards for motherhood or fatherhood

There are entire TV shows dedicated to ranking sports teams, or potential soul mates.

Why? Why does that happen? Why all the sorting? 

It’s because that’s all the world has on which to base identity and value 

Everyone wants to be liked, respected, adored, and admired

And if you don’t have Christ all you have to rest your soul on is your place in this world.

All you can do is accumulate wealth, or optimize your appearance to gain attention and favor. 

And hopefully that will demonstrate to the world that you’re valuable, that you’re worthy of love, that your personage is meaningful.

The world loves to assign people into categories, and the church isn’t immune to this either.

Christians are also guilty of turning life choices into value judgements. 

Recently a well known woman in the Christian community spoke during a debate on sending her children to public school.

What happened?

People slammed her all over the internet. 

They shoved her into the category of a mom who doesn’t care about her kids.

A woman who is more concerned with her career than her duty to raise her children.

They spewed their opinions, making distinctions among the body, and showed themselves as judges with evil thoughts

But God desires His children to be different.

There’s only one category that we all belong in

Follower of Christ

Our identity is in Christ  

Our value is in Christ

We all share a common source of worth - Christ. 

Galatians 3:27 and 28 capture this perfectly

Galatians 3:27–28 ESV

27 For as many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I love that first line “we have put on Christ”

We have all put on Christ - like a garment that covers all the old ways we defined ourselves.

We are now defined by something or someone else.

 - Christ. 

God doesn’t make any distinctions between us, and he doesn’t want us to either.

And here’s something else to consider - you’re going to see your fellow brothers and sisters again. 

We’re going to be spending eternity with one another

This fact is illustrated very well in a quote from C.S. Lewis in his book “The Weight of Glory”

There are no ordinary people.

You have never talked to a mere mortal.

But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory

That’s a great quote

There are no ordinary people. 

Everyone is eternal. 

If you and I are both believers, we’re going to spend eternity with each other.

You should think about the next time you’re tempted to speak a harsh word to someone or discount them based on a preference of your own. 

So we shouldn’t be making distinctions in the body.

But it goes beyond sorting people into categories among the body. 

The sin starts before that. 

See what James says at the end of verse 4?

“become judges with evil thoughts”

When we make distinctions among ourselves we become judges with evil thoughts

Our harsh, critical thoughts are evil. That is to say they’re sinful!

You know - I’ve heard someone say that gluttony is the least condemned sin in the body of Christ

But I bet this kind of judgmental thinking is even more prevalent and far less addressed.

I hope one day to not struggle with critical, biting thoughts

James is encouraging us to take stock of our thought life and work to capture evil thoughts and submit our minds to scripture.

Later in this book James will spend more time talking about judging one another later

This is just a bit of foreshadowing on what James has to say about judging one another

James then goes on to show how flawed our judgment can be

Let’s start in verse 5 and read

James 2:5–7 ESV

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, 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? 

6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?  7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

So James really goes to work here pointing out the upside down reasoning employed in making these distinctions

He knows his audience understands this idea of the poor being chosen by God to be rich in faith. 

He asks them a rhetorical question as if he knows they know the obvious answer is yes. 

He’s appealing to their experience and their understanding that God does often choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith.

And this concept is all over scripture - isn’t it? 

God often chooses the lowly, the weak, the humbled, the broken. 

We find this in Luke 6:20 

Luke 6:20 ESV

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Similarly in 1 Cor chapter 1 Paul writes that God chooses the weak and foolish to shame the wise and powerful.

This is certainly not to say that wealthy people don’t come to faith.

That’s not true at all - I would say that most everyone in this room is proof to the contrary 

But the point here is an illustration of God’s desire to fill his kingdom with those the world would consider undesirable.

The poor in the world aren’t just those who lack financial resources.

The poor in the world are those that the world considers undesirable.

And God chooses those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.

But in James' illustration - how does the church treat the poor?

Their flawed, evil judgment motivates them to dishonor the poor man. 

This is completely opposite of how God views and treats those who are poor. 

God sees the poor and weak how they really are - and James is calling us to do the same here.

And so if the church in the illustration is not honoring the poor man - who is being honored?

The rich man of course. 

Does James think the rich man is worth honoring here? 

NO!

James lists off several reasons why - but in short it’s because the rich are 

Abusing the church

And blaspheming the name of God.

And if we’re not careful our warped judgment will tell us to show these people preference

We’re so allured to wealth, or beauty, or power that we’re tempted to repay their abuse with kindness. 

That doesn’t make any sense does it?

Why do this?

Well, what is the normal motivation for flattering or schmoozing?

Generally you hope to ingratiate yourself to the person.

Salespeople are notorious for this

They butter you up to increase their chances of making a sale off of you.

We might have a variety of different motivations 

Maybe you want to be known as a friend of the powerful

Or you’re hoping that your own beauty will benefit from the glow of someone else’s aura

Whatever your reasoning for putting yourself into someone’s good graces, you’re doing so because you’re hoping for some kind of repayment

You’re hoping that whoever you’re buttering up will respond in kind

But I’m going to say something very plainly - so listen up, if your kindness towards someone is motivated by what this person can give you - your heart is in the wrong place.

If we’re trying to get something from someone by flattery, we’ve forgotten where all our provision comes from anyway!

Everything comes from God.

We depend on God for our lives, our well being, our wealth, 

Everything!

He alone is sufficient to provide for our every need

So who is worthy of our honor? 

The person who extorts the body of Christ?

Or our cosmically powerful God who mercifully upholds and sustains our being?

I’ll leave that answer up to you.

So in review we’re not to be partial as we hold the faith

We’re not to make distinctions

We are not to dishonor the lowly

Or flatter those who are high on the horse by the world’s standards.

So what’s next? Where do we go from here?

James is going to answer that question for us in verse 8

Let’s read on

James 2:8 ESV

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

A part of that verse should sound familiar to our ears

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”

We all know this, right?

I remember when I was a kid seeing this plastered all over Sunday school classrooms

We call it the golden rule. 

Jesus had another name for it

He called it the second greatest commandment.

If you’re unfamiliar with that story you can read it in Matthew 22.

So James refers to the golden rule as the royal law

We can take this to mean “the preeminent law”

Or “the greatest commandment”

This is the biblical standard for how Christians should treat everyone. 

Treat them as you would want to be treated!

If you would desire people to be warm, inviting, generous, and deferential to you

Then you should be warm, inviting, generous, and deferential to them

It’s such a concise, wise standard

We show honor, kindness, and love to each other

and we do so genuinely

Because that’s what we would want others to treat us

We can all pick up on when someone is being fake nice, can’t we? 

And it makes us put our guard up.

We desire people to have genuine care for us, so must show genuine care for others

Alright let’s keep going - 

Because James knows that he’s writing to a primarily Jewish audience, the next verses softly quotes old testament law to further drive home his point

Let’s read verses 9-11

James 2:9–11 ESV

9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

James references the Mosaic law here

And specifically he’s referencing Deuteronomy 1:17

Deuteronomy 1:17 NASB95

17 ‘You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

If you’ve studied this section of scripture before, you’ll remember that this law was given to judges appointed to handle disagreements among the people of Israel.

The judges were to be fair and hear both sides of the case.

That seems like common sense to us right?

Like page one in the handbook

“ Hear both sides.”

But the law again serves to illustrate how crooked our hearts can be. 

It’s clear that God was concerned about partial judges

Otherwise this law wouldn’t have been written

God really cares how we treat each other. 

AND God knows how easy it is for us to show favoritism - even when doesn’t make sense - like in the case of James’ audience

Notice now how James tightens the screws in verses 10-11

Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

This is to address those who want to downplay this sin.

To those who would say - “look it’s not the big of a deal it’s not like I’m committing adultery or murdering someone”

James accepts the premise of this imaginary person and points out the flaw in their thinking

He’s saying “Alright then, what if you were a murderer? And then when someone addressed your sin, you said ‘Look, it’s not like I committed adultery.’ It’s just murder.”

Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?

Do you hear the foolishness in that line of thinking? 

That folly is what James is trying to show us.

And what about the standard of righteousness that Christ has called us all to? 

His words in Matthew 5 should be ringing in our ears right now

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jesus Christ is equating disliking someone or being angry at someone with murder 

Disliking a fellow believer seems like such a small thing

But to Christ sin is sin and partiality is just one degree away from murder.

This should change how we act towards each other!

Next time someone comments on your parenting. Or you’re tempted to dislike someone because they have different political leanings than you, I want you to think about Matthew 5 and James.

This is serious.

Scripture contains so many calls to love the body of Christ

And choosing to disobey those commands carry with them consequences

real consequences

Let’s take a look at what James means in verses 12-13

James 2:12–13 ESV

12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Now if you were here last week, you might recognize that phrase “law of liberty”

As a refresher the law of liberty is a euphemism for the post-Christ way of life for Christians

It’s a reference to our freedom from the bondage of sin, and our freedom from the restrictive requirements of Old Testament law.

In short - live in a way that’s consistent with Christ’s greatest commands. 

Remember the ones we talked about earlier?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

And James lets us know that we’re going to be judged on our obedience to this law

See that in verse 12? Speak and act as those who are to be judged.

He’s telling us that our obedience to the law of liberty is going to be judged.

There are consequences for how we choose to act on earth.

Now scripture talks about two judgements

One for believers

One for non-believers

Which one do you think that James is writing about here? 

The one for believers! 

Let’s take a quick look at 2 Corinthians 5:10 to get some context for that judgment

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV):  10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 

Paul is writing to believers here, telling them that they’ll be judged by Christ and given what they earned for what they’ve done.

And I want to be clear - this judgment is not about our salvation. 

This judgment confers reward or lack of reward based on our obedience.

A judgment always brings about a consequence.

And consequences aren’t always bad, even though we tend to associate that word with punishment

Some consequences are good. 

I used to work in a place that would reward those who went above and beyond with a spot bonus.

A little extra money in your paycheck as a token of recognition of good work.

By offering spot bonuses, the employer incentivized high quality, consistent work. 

God is no different. 

He doesn’t promise money, or health, or even an easy life as a reward for obedience

But God desires for His children to follow his word and abide by the law of liberty.

And He’s making it as easy as possible for us to obey!

He knows that it can be hard to obey His word. 

So He gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us and He also incentivizes us with eternal rewards.

Reward that exists in heaven.

If he didn’t incentivize us we would have an even tougher time following these commands!

We might feel comfortable in picking and choosing where we obeyed. 

Or maybe we would decide that salvation was enough for us and obedience wasn’t really our thing.

Scripture addresses those who live like this 

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 talks about the one who is a true believer, but doesn’t produce any fruit

Let’s take a look at that passage now.

1 Corinthians 3:13–15 ESV

13 Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

So the believer who chooses to sit on the sidelines, putting in the bare minimum or maybe actively avoiding obedience - their work will be burned up. 

They won’t receive reward - but their soul will be saved.

But the man whose work remained will receive a reward.

Now there’s something on the line! We miss out on reward if we choose to disobey.

James and Paul’s voices are harmonizing on this point

DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE - BUILD UP TREASURE IN HEAVEN

James is pleading with us, telling us 

“judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy”

Another way of saying that is “There is no reward for those who don’t love their neighbor as themselves.”

The reverse of that is what I want you to remember tonight.

There is a reward for not showing partiality - for seeing everyone the way God sees them. x 2

There’s no reward for leveling judgment with evil thoughts. 

Mercy triumphs over judgment in this way. 

When we show mercy in how we treat someone who would be considered 

undesirable, we’re being obedient and we’ll receive reward for that obedience.

So let’s zoom back out and review what we’ve covered tonight.

We’re sinners - saved by Jesus’ death on the cross. 

We understand how ugly our lives would be without Jesus.

The gospel is a guardrail for us keeping us from making distinctions among ourselves because we know we’re all damned without him.

The gospel is common ground under all our feet. 

We should not show partiality among believers based on earthly or fleshly criteria

Nobody is elevated because of their financial status, or looks, or friends, or intellect, or abilities.

God sees us all as equals, so why should we insist on treating each other differently? 

And lastly God rewards us for doing this.

For loving each other equally

Honoring the rich and the poor alike

For not making distinctions among the body

This is our first opportunity to do what we’ve heard.

So let's go out from here honoring one another equally, knowing that our obedience to God will be rewarded. All the while joyfully savoring our salvation.