Inclusive Exclusivity, Part 2

Today on with JD Greer when your post is wrong, then you will experience conflict is your boast in your race, your face replacing your experience of grace, how much you've accomplished I give a parent you are a bit of a student you are looking you are out of the person you are anytime you post something besides the gospel is going to conflict with you.

Most of the gospel in order to be the most inclusive community on the planet experience division in the church. The first question we should ask is, what are we boasting pastor Judy Greer shows us the three things we tend to best and in writing, contribute to conflict when we understand that while God only accepts those who are repentant. He also accepts repentant people from every background and race.

Only then will we have unity of God's family yesterday titled this message from Romans chapter 3, inclusive exclusivity of our series for the buck around.

That is, our righteousness, something that is her clothing, something that sets us apart makes us acceptable. That is our justification as were pictures I go back to a lot because I really do think you need your mind running as it explains how we all live after we send in the garden of Eden. The first effect according to the Bible of our sin.

Why is a sense of our nakedness, not before that read a story there were already naked, but their nakedness didn't bother them why St. Augustine said the reason why is because they felt clothed in the love and the acceptance of God. They send heavy men stripped of that love and acceptance, they suddenly became aware of their nakedness, or whether they do, they tried to find covering I told you that's a picture of the human race is we feel exposed. We feel unacceptable. We feel shame and sorrow whole life is spent as a quest to reclothe ourselves is, and I want a normal person does little naked right minimal personal Taliban close of told you if you have a problem sleepwalking and you wake up with Walmart but make in the middle the night you don't like hail pick up a few odds and ends for the house. You don't do that you go to the club's action try to cover that by the way, the word righteousness and justification agree are the exact same word to all of us are doing this and all of us, whatever we turned our justification becomes a point of division appointed pride, a point of jealousy and despair. Charles Spurgeon is the 19th century British pastor that I quote so much. He said in one Devonian society of the 19th century there were three primary dividers is amazing how we are more than 100 years later, these are exactly still the same dividers that we see at work in our culture listen. He gives he is in a VOC is a first of all, there is the pride of race for many of their ethnic identity becomes a way of distinguishing themselves above others Jews in that day took pride in their Jewishness.

Romans took pride in the reminisce that led to feelings of racism, feelings of superiority, even xenophobia.

Today, people take pride in their Americanness or their southern notes or their blackness or their agent knows or their Indian culture or their Latinos or whatever. A racial distinctive becomes core to their identity. Don't you hear me, our cultures are beautiful things and there is nothing wrong with taking delight in our culture. There's nothing wrong with feeling a profound sense of dignity in our culture God created our various cultures like like a mini sided diamond to reflect his glory and we glorify him.

Not all about the coming one culture but by delighting in and displaying and feeling dignified in the culture. God made us in the wind that culture.

When that ethnicity becomes our primary distinguishing identity when it becomes part of our justification when it becomes what what gives us a sense of worth and what sets us apart. It will always cause division. As you become really proud of, and then defensive of your culture because your culture establishes your uniqueness is part of your specialness, it becomes your justification say to us.

As I consider them friends do not understand the gospel is only one race of people, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.

We got one core problem. Sin all have sin all fall short of the glory of God is no distinction. We got one hope the blood of Jesus that cleanses us all with black, white, Latino, Asian, Arab, or mixed sequences is all alike.

So where's boasting then from where comes this sense of superiority about your race any kind of ethnic superiority is stupid and completely antithetical to the gospel. What gives us our worth and identity is our Jewishness or whiteness or Americanness or blackness anymore by the keeping of the law or by the preservation of our culture. No human being is justified. In fact, after our identity in Christ. After embracing Apple said all the rest of our defining characteristics all the rest of our success. All the rest of those things should see in our eyes like garbage compared to the surpassing worth of what we have in Christ. Back in Philippians 3, Paul said everything he said that he's Jewishness of all of this Jewishness.

The love that culture basic compared to what I have in Christ. My Jewishness is like scuba now.

Assuming your translations. If you have sort of a soft, you know, friendly translator. I was a garbage really better translations and resolutions. As a young, young scholars tell us that even Dylan is way too weak, but this was scuba light is the kind of war that if your 12-year-old Greek son use that you would wash out his mouth was so.

And Paul said I used to boast about all these things my education I used to boast about my Jewishness. Now I see that is all BS rules people as I think of that when Paul says that's not self-loathing if not embarrassment over his racy love being a Jew is then compared my identity in Christ all seems like scuba liability. Compare in a Timex watch jewel Rolex watch Mrs. Young and one has value, but not compared to the other with open has infinitely more value is really important listen when we become Christians or cultural distinctives do not go away. They should not go away but just become a lot less important in our identity and they cease to be part of our justification.

Tony Evans and African-American operators.

One of my absolute favorite the racial application of Paul's teaching on the gospel is that it is technically incorrect to say I'm a black Christian Ron White Christian because now you may black and white adjectives in Christian the now majority adjectives to modify the now. Thank you Katie got a keep Christian looking like the additive that ascribes it or it ceases to be Christian is a black and white culture have nothing to do with the essence of being a Christian. Better to say I'm a Christian who God made white or I'm a Christian whom God may black Tony Evans continues if we can get enough Christians to be Christian before White Christian before black Christian before Spanish. We might add Christian before Republican Christian report Democrat, it would take 240 years to fix this. It would take about two minutes and 40 seconds God is not telling Jewish people to become Gentiles, not on Gentiles and Jews not tell white people become black people or black people to act like a white people. He still in all people in the church to identify first and foremost as kingdom people having crucified their whiteness or blackness for Jewishness on the cross. And regarding those things is important, as precious as they are regarding Loomis Kubla and given us worth or justification before God.

Sometimes when we experience racial racial division at the root of that is that her ethnic identity is become too large in our identity. We started to look at our racial identity as part of our justification.

In other words, we forgotten the gospel, by the way this happened and no less than the apostle Peter Galatians 2 Paul takes on Peter because Peter is now dividing himself from Gentiles, you will meet with them to fellowship with them. Some places but few will do certain things with them and Paul bases that Peter have you forgotten the gospel which is a pretty bold thing to say to the leader of the church you forgot the gospel. But Paul's not trying to shame and Paul saying Peter you gotta think about what the gospel taught us the gospel taught us that were not saved because of anything that we've done are anything special about us. Jesus came to us when we were outside of the camp. So how would we ever exclude anybody for any reason the gospel teaches us to go outside of our circles just like Jesus when outside of his beer. Here you exclude somebody else. A failure to pursue diversity means that we have forgotten how far it was a Jesus reached out to include us. Jesus was infinitely more different from us than any of us are from each other. Jesus's choice to make us family is the reason that we can and should cross cultural lines to do the same with others. Yes racial reconciliation.

Oneness is costly and inconvenient. Yes, it is sometimes even awkward and painful and human experience that in your small group but you remember that oneness cost Jesus his very life and that's the price he paid for the church to be one.

Who are we to decide that the cost of pursuing multiethnic oneness is too high, too inconvenient a price for us to pray. That's the pride of race pulses are done with that, then there's number B.

The pride of face in place. That's really think of some characteristic of personal accomplishment sets us apart something we've accomplished justifies us before others, we tend to see people in categories right going just everywhere and we will receive a category for successful enough unsuccessful be intelligent and the dull, the beautiful and the ugly to fit in the fat the rich and the poor. When we look down on those who are less than we are in these categories or we feel intimidated by those who are more than we are and there's categories policy that you ability to pride or inferiority.

Do you not understand the gospel.

First, he would say. Do you understand how little of your talent.

You can actually take credit for. Whenever I talk to somebody who thinks of themselves as a self-made man or your self-made woman here in the Triangle always was a really honestly you think if you had been born as an orphan in a village in Somalia. You will accomplish the same things you accomplish today. Probably not, you're probably not a self-made you think you are that your parents were the one to give you the genes you can even choose that God gave you the air to breathe, you got the land of opportunity.

A lot of things are the result of things that God has given to you and that others are given to you. The second thing I would say to them. A bullet they would say to them is going to realize how worthless your talents are when it comes to the things that really matter all your talents could not justify you before God, they did not work. His clothing was here because before God is only one kind of center there's a hopeless dead center.

That's everybody by all are not righteous.

None see God there's not successful high-capacity centers with a lot of potential there is not unpromising centers just hopeless dead sinners. Heaven is not a scholarship program where God rewards the best of the best. Furthermore, the best resume in God's eyes. The best resume God's eyes. Paul says, is a big steaming pile of scribble up. Furthermore, we have now in Jesus. Paul says is worth infinitely more than a mere losing any of those things anyway when you realize what you have in Christ but the things that causes the vision down here because of the pride of face and places just is stupid anything about it like this. Who cares who cares if I'm not that intelligent.

Now one day I'm going to inherit the mind of Christ.

Okay estimate me a lot more intelligent than most intelligent person there.

It wouldn't matter if I'm not beautiful. Now, because one day Jesus is going to make my outside mats. The beauty of the righteousness he is put on my inside folk that means I can be ugly for 70 or 80 years because I get to be beautiful for eternity. Didn't matter. It didn't matter if am not not successful now you want to know why because the weakest saints, the weakest St. Jesus. It is gonna reign with him as a king and queen for eternity right so I got a big old promotion, and I know it's just around the corner and when I get data matter what I had here to see Mike's Kubla when it comes to what I'm giving it a matter of submitting out and appreciate me here when a wife is in Christ he I literally have the Bible tells the Zephaniah 3 a father who was dancing and singing over me so I can deal with your meeting tweets I can do with your comments on Facebook. Okay it doesn't bother me that much because I got a heavenly father behind everyone's comments.

Who is dancing and delighted and if I got his approval. I just don't meet yours.

That much.

The pride of race that make any sense, the pride of face in place makes those that may worsen most nonsensical of all charges. This is the pride of grace, the pride that comes from having lived up a moral or religious upstanding life for like your better because you avoided certain shameful sins and mistakes you littering. I wandered in a prison setting up right in front of Mary and the rimfire of my job leading to divorce my kids and get divorced. I don't have a porn problem is now you feel the sense of distinction you need to let your set apart from others who have gone through some other things but with a friend you not understand the gospel in Christ is a good people is not bad. People are people who have it together in dysfunctional people. There's only bad dead since sick rebels without God and without hope in this world as their Savior over their stated by sheer act of God's grace and just because God in his grace kept you from some of the worst fruition's of your sample that mean you're made out of some different than others who have gone down those roots, like the Puritans you to say the seed of everything is in every heart and of God in his grace is kept you back from the fruition of your depraved heart that's not something to feel proud about it something to feel extremely grateful about because God saved you from yourself. There is none righteous, not even one. There's nobody who sees God.

All that I have. Paul says, is the result of God's grace working in me. So where do you get off thinking your superior because of your race because of your faith or place for because of your experience of grace.

There was no merit of yours that brought you closer to God.

Your acceptance with all the gift righteousness of Christ is undeserved and and and and it was imputed to you.

It was given. He was a gift where then is boasting is excluded public in a law does God really need to say thou shall not be proud even saying this is numbered, accurate, no you idiot thing about the gospel. If you're proud you don't know the gospel because the gospel teaches you that none of these things are things be proud of their all scuba leather all worthless that you and I are saved by a gift of grace and so yes is God the God of Jews only see the God of the successful no is in the God of Gentiles to yes he's got a Gentiles to choose only one God justifies everybody the exact same way and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ is not a single one of us deserve. So yes friend Christianity is exclusive. Christianity teaches us. The only way we can be justified in God's sight is by having Christ's righteousness imputed to us, but that is the most inclusive exclusivity. There has ever been, because it says whosoever well may come in matter the mistakes of your past, it does not matter the problems you got in the present. It is a matter your potential, or lack thereof for the future you come to Jesus and Jesus saved. Whosoever and I know you think you're being inclusive by saying will all people of every good religion are good to go to heaven, you are actually becoming the moralist you despise because you are saying to people that if you meet this dinner whatever it is you're going to get there, and Jesus is no none of you meet the standard, not one. It's all going to be something I gotta give you as a gift and if we would embrace that we would become the most inclusive community there is ever been. Go back and read Romans chapter 3 that lays out the way of salvation and look at all all language, all have sent all come this way. There's only one God justifies everybody the same whether your downtrodden damaged or scarred.

Whether you got or religious background or not.

You need Jesus and Jesus saves everybody a life that will destroy division and I would also note fields make you an easier person to be around you become a lot less judgmental of everybody else.

Whenever your judgment will just shows that you don't really have grappled with the realities of the gospel. You become more accepting. You certainly never look down on people with a sense of smug superiority. If I defer to show empathy for people in their difficult circumstances.

You will just think I made some totally different. That's why I'm not in that you also become a lot less prickly when people point out your flawless. That's because your identity will be built in a long-running perfect you will have to defend this this image of them good and perfect and I'm better and I'm worth it.

And so you'll be able to accept criticism about you because you like why don't my then is not to be a perfect parent mind identity is not being even a flawless Christian identity is, and who I belong to and Jesus will help all trippers taught here before, although he said it.

Nothing can ever be uncovered about me that God is not already seen and covered by the death of Jesus. That means if I'm always Jesus.

If you like we know what a BNC is wrong with you also got you your forgot X, Y, and Z.

There's a lot more that you don't even know I'm a lot worse. You think I am, but there's not a single thing that will ever be brought forward.

That is not already been seen and covered by the death of Jesus and my identity is in him. I don't need you to think of me is awesome because my justification is not an awesomeness. My justification is in him my posts my boosters in him.

My pride is in him. I boast I do, but I don't boasted me I boasting Jesus. So when you are experiencing division when you experience jealousy when you experience feelings of bitterness or insecurity or pride that ought to be a trigger that makes you ask yourself the question first one I boasting it because I would say probably 99 times out of 100 that conflict. That feeling of jealousy that experience of bitterness and insecurity is coming from boasting in the wrong place. And when your boast is wrong, then you will experience conflict is your boast in your race, your face, your place or your experience of grace, how much you've accomplished how good of a parent you are a bit of a student you are how good-looking you are, how good of a person you are anytime you boasting something besides the gospel is currently the conflict we boast in the gospel and were to be the most inclusive community on the planet last verse, verse 31.

We then nullify the law through faith. Absolutely not, contrary, we uphold the law last verse of this chapter, Paul turns one more time to the Jewish person he hears objecting Paul and your so hard in the law you sale wall. The worthless pulses, absolutely not. I'm not saying that I'm actually the one who's upholding the law can see what the law does watches the law does is it reveals God to you and the first thing law does when you see God in you see what he wants you to be. It is like a mirror and suddenly realized what you're not and what you can never be and that drives you in desperation to grace to say God I can be attempted by keeping the law because I admired and want to do it and I can never be good enough and then after you asked receive grace, watch this when you suddenly develop a desire to become like the God who is behind but the law was revealed by the law and so you return to the wall but this time not to earn justification but as an act in pursuit of love, trying to please and become like the God who is saved you a little Jim Wilkin said the law drives us to grace, grace drives us back to the law because we want to become like the God who has saved us.

So as we in chapter 3 were about to go to chapter 4 which is just new levels of awesomeness. I need to make sure you understand. We covered in chapter 3 and you will make.

Okay, here's the big big idea justification versus sanctification everybody gets it wrong.

You gotta demonstrate justification is God's residence were living declaration that we are righteous because Christ's righteousness is the minimum unit. That's what a righteous right because the declaration is not becoming righteous is been cleared righteous because Christ's righteousness is given to you. That's justification. Don't confuse that with sanctification and rotation is the I say this process whereby we become more Christlike as God infuses his righteousness into us as we continue to exercise faith in the gospel he's in, usually into eyes, his righteousness in the process right. She got it get to get the distinction here once I get justification a declaration of our righteousness.

It's a pronouncement sanctification is transformation is a process justification are declared righteous, all lines, same page, you become like little by little. When you come you don't try to become a better person first for becoming a better person thanking God that his acceptance of you has nothing to do with you becoming a better person had to do with the fact is the best person for the worst person you and when you receive that in your declared righteous process and begin to become like God that you love and you start understand that that Latin phrase that we been looking at that Luther use as single use as a back door simultaneously. Just righteous. Even though while storm center is not another, I just got declared righteous. As I got declared righteous in Christ is in Christ, and having embraced that my heart starts to become like God and Satan that leads to a whole new kind of righteousness. Righteousness that is born from desire righteousness, for you see God because you want God righteousness when you do righteousness love righteousness is a righteousness. The law could not produce his righteousness, the gospel produces and it can only be received as a gift to.

Here's a question. Have you ever started with just dictation you ever received Christ because that's where it begins you never see Christ you never see Christ. You can use it right here right now by simply saying Jesus.

I believe you died in my place. I receive your gift I receive you as my righteousness I surrendering you is Lord saved you in your own words of serenity was Lord ever seen you as my saying today from Pastor Jeannie Greer. We are thrilled to be offering a three-part box set Bible study through Romans. This year it's anything in the first volume in the box to store the we want to get you a copy so you can work through the study with your small group mentor or with a friend. The first volume will investigate the first five chapters of Romans, which introduces us to God's righteousness.

Our hope is that we would grow to see the gospel with greater appreciation and to love God with greater passion as we seek to apply the messages of Romans in ways to impact our everyday lives and their witness for Christ. Near communities. It wasn't surpassed the Bible study, but this may not thanks when you donate today to support this ministry takes friends like you partnering with us to make semi-possible so that more people can hear gospel centered Bible teaching on the radio and on the will you join the mission say the suggested donation is $29 and when you can attach a member to ask for a copy of the first volume of our remnants, 866-335-5228 663-3520 online Jeannie Greer.com inviting as we continue diving deeper into the gospel.

Jeannie Greer