Well, good morning again, and thank you for that song, ladies. The price was high, and yet he paid it on our behalf. By His grace, we will glimpse a little bit more closely at what that means for us, that He did pay that high price, even through this passage in James today. As we go before the Lord in this passage, let's go ahead and pray together. Thank you, Father, for your grace to us. And Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice. And thank you that you were willing to pay that price that was so high. We rejoice in your goodness and your kindness to us. And we ask for wisdom as we look at this text here today. In Christ's name, amen. During the 19th century, craniometry was the most popular means for measuring intelligence. Scientists reasoned that intelligence obviously resides in the brain. Because the skull houses the brain, the size and shape of the skull should be an accurate reflection of the size and shape of the brain. Therefore, the skull could be used to measure human intelligence. One of the most famous craniometricians, I think that's what that word is, of the 19th century was a Philadelphia physician named Samuel George Morton. And there's going to be a little bit of an extended quote here today, but hang with me. Morton provided the facts that won worldwide respect. for the American School of Polygeny. Morton began his collection of human skulls in the 1820s. He had more than 1,000 when he died. Friends and enemies referred to his great house as the American Golgotha. To promote his scientific facts, Morton devised a method for measuring cranial capacity of the skulls in his collection. His first technique involved filling the brain case of each skull with white mustard seeds. Once the brain case had been filled with seeds, Morton poured the seeds into a container and measured the volume of seeds used to fill the skull. Mustard seeds, however, could be packed into the skull at various densities, giving inconsistent results. Therefore, Morton eventually settled on BB-sized lead shot for his measurements. Thus, he was able to determine how many cubic inches of cranial capacity the brain case of each skull contained. You following where we're going so far? So he pours BBs into these skulls and measures how much volume is in the brain and then he can determine how smart you are. Alright. Sounds pretty scientific, right? Probably not. Morton was particularly interested in Native Americans. In 1839, he published his famous Crania Americana, which was based on a study of some 144 skulls. He found that the mean cranial capacity of Native American skulls was five cubic inches less than that of Caucasian skulls. Because of their smaller cranial capacity, Morton concluded that Native Americans were intellectually incapable of obtaining the same level of civilization that Europeans had achieved. Okay, there's a little bit of evolution coming in here as well. Later in another book, Morton examines some 100 skulls from the tombs of ancient Egypt. He separated these skulls into five categories, Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians, all Caucasians, as well as Negroid, which would be mixed Caucasian and Negro. what they call here a Negro. In that study, Morton found that the cranial capacity of Negroid and Negro skulls was below that of Native Americans. Therefore, Morton thought that he had proven scientifically that Caucasians had larger brains than Native Americans and that Native Americans had larger brains than Negroes. Consequently, Morton's study of cranial capacity were thought to prove the validity of biological determinism and thereby vindicate the social order of pre-Civil War America. Whites with their larger cranial capacity were the ruling class, Native Americans with their somewhat smaller cranial capacity were savages, but blacks with their small cranial capacity were destined to be slaves. The author goes on to write here, today we recognize that Morton's conclusions were totally false. Because of the influence of cultural bias, however, neither Morton nor his fellow scientists nor the general public at that time recognized that Morton's work was badly flawed. By reanalyzing Morton's work, Gould has shown that Morton had apparently unconsciously manipulated his data to arrive at culturally acceptable conclusions. Among the errors that Gould identified in Morton's work are the following. He omitted skulls that ran counter to his theories, number one. He failed to take into account the correlation between body size and brain size. People with larger bodies have larger brains. He failed to take into account the fact that males have larger bodies than females. He rounded the numbers upward when they favored Caucasians and he rounded numbers downward when they favored non-Caucasians. Wow. Now we would today look at something like this and say this is absolutely ridiculous. This is completely false and even if you could prove that something was, this doesn't eliminate the fact that all people are created in God's image and whether or not your brain is larger than someone else's brain, that has nothing to do with your intelligence or with the fact that you're made in God's image. And we recognize that there were a lot of things done like this in our history that gave us excuses to be discriminatory towards others, to show favoritism, and to put people into different kinds of classes. And yet what James is going to do today in the same kind of way is he's going to remind us that we have this same tendency in our own hearts. Whether or not we demonstrate it in this particular way, whether or not we say these kinds of studies prove that certain classes are better than others, In some ways, maybe not quite as obvious as this way, but in some ways we demonstrate this same kind of favoritism, this same kind of bias in our own hearts. What James is going to do here today is he's going to continue his topic of belief that behaves. belief that behaves, and this time his discussion centers around this idea that our human tendency is to discriminate and to show partiality, and what he's going to tell us today is that discrimination, like other sins, is incompatible with Christian faith. Let's look at our text here today in James chapter 2. I originally was going to go down to verse 7, but I'm actually only going to go up through verse 4 today, I think, just because of the amount of content that's here. But in verse 1 of chapter 2, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 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 a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? These verses here really are centering around verse one. And now that my slide is up to date here, I can go to this illustration here that I was going to show a minute ago. This is just an example of one individual who says, obviously, this was an Italian criminal. And part of all this evolutionary thing is this guy is more like an ape than other people. because of his facial features and therefore he's a lower class citizen. And that's not true, obviously. But that's what these people are saying. And they're coming up with excuses to confirm their biases so that I can be discriminatory towards certain people. And so this one person in his book actually puts this photograph up there saying, see, we knew it was right. These people are savages and we're higher than them. What James is doing here in this passage is he is going to start off in verse one by really setting the stage for us, and really everything else centers around verse one. Verse one is his command, and everything else in this passage that we're going to see today serve to illustrate and to explain this admonition that he gives in verse one. He says this, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Don't show partiality. The word partiality is actually a very interesting word in the Greek. And I want to just go to another passage in the book of Luke, and we see a very similar statement there in Luke 20, verse 21. So they asked him, teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but teach the way of God. If you are actually in Luke 20, verse 21 right now, And if you have an ESV Bible, if you look at the footnote, you will see this footnote in Luke 20, 21. It says this, Greek and do not receive a face. You say that's kind of an odd statement to have in there. The word partiality, the footnote says it means this, do not receive a face. In Luke 20, verse 21, this statement, which is translated, show no partiality, in the Greek is two different words. And it is a word, number one, that can be translated as receive. The word receive. And then the second word can be translated as face or appearance. So when he says, show no partiality, it literally says, do not receive a face. Paul uses this same construction, these same two words in Galatians 2.6 when he says, God shows no partiality. God doesn't receive a face. Now, it seems a little bit odd and awkward to us until we understand what he's getting at here. And this really is a phrase that's carried over from the Hebrew. And it was really imported into the Greek language and probably was just as kind of awkward to the Greek mind as it is to our minds. What do you mean receive a face? It was kind of this phrase that came out of the Hebrew. One writer says this about what this phrase means. To receive the face means to make judgments about people based on external appearance. I'm going to look at their face or their appearance, and I'm going to make judgments on them based on what I see on their appearance. Now, when we get to our text in James 2 verse 1, these words actually are merged into one, and it's this newly developed word. in the Greek, and we only see it in the New Testament, perhaps had some in Jewish literature, perhaps. We haven't seen any, but perhaps it was in there. But really, the only place we see it is the New Testament, this newly developed word. And other translations will render this phrase as this. Respecter of persons. Or favoritism, or one translation says this, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance. That's more of a paraphrase, but perhaps gives the greatest idea of what this means. You must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance. This is a call for us to be consistent in our treatment of other people. And let me remind us here that this admonition to not show partiality is an admonition that is rooted in God's character because God does not show partiality. 1 Samuel 16 verse 7, But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Or Deuteronomy chapter 10, Verses 17 through 18, for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty and awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves a sojourner, giving him food and clothing. God is impartial in his dealings and he expects us to do the same. Note, however, the rest of the sentence. We ought to be impartial, the text says, as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're going to come back to this idea in a second here of being impartial, but to merge this sentence together here, he says that our impartiality needs to take place as we hold faith in Jesus Christ. What is he meaning when he merges those sentences together and he says, be impartial as you hold faith? And it's very one simple, straightforward point, and that is this. Partiality, favoritism, and discrimination are incompatible with Christian faith. to demonstrate this kind of behavior, this kind of discriminatory action, is to be incompatible with Christian faith. It doesn't go together. They don't follow from each other. And in a very concise, direct way, what James is doing is he is touching on the broader theme of the book, belief that behaves. And if we were to look at the particular, that is the details, in light of the general, that is the bigger picture, what James is continuing to emphasize over and over and over again is that genuine faith produces action. Genuine faith produces good works. Good works do not produce faith, but faith produces good works. And any so-called, quote unquote, faith that doesn't produce good works reveals this, a faith that is not genuine. Partiality is inconsistent with Christian faith, and partiality is inconsistent with the character of our God. Notice how that character of our God, of our Savior Christ is described. He says he is the Lord of glory. We know the term glory has to do with brightness, radiance, majesty, greatness, honor. And here's the thing, we cannot give glory to Christ and simultaneously show partiality to different people. They don't go together. We are not glorifying the greatness and the majesty of Christ when we do this. And just in case we come across this passage and perhaps it comes across to us as a little bit dry and we say, well, I don't know what James is saying here, okay, don't show partiality, let's move on. James is going to give us a very clear example in order to illustrate his point. And if you look at verse 2 here, he says, for if a man the word if there, introduces a third class conditional clause. What's the big point about this? Well, what he's doing here when he introduces this if statement is he is introducing a hypothetical example. Let's just say, for example, that this were to happen. That's what he's introducing here. Now, without knowing the details surrounding the occasion of this letter, perhaps this was going on within this context, and he was specifically addressing something. Whether or not that prompted his writing for it, at least the syntax of the sentence, at least the way he writes it, he's introducing it as a hypothetical. Let's just say, for example, this were to happen. And that's how James introduces it. He says, if, what is the scenario? For if a man comes into your assembly, and wearing a gold ring and fine clothing. And a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. So these two different guys come into your church service. And by the way, just as a side note, this word assembly here is not the traditional word for church, which would be ecclesia, but rather it's the Greek word for synagogue. And perhaps, as we said in our introduction to James, this is indicative of the fact that James is writing to a Jewish Christian audience. But regardless, we've got two people that come into our church service. And one person, by all appearances, is a rich man. And the other person, by all appearances, is a poor man. Shabby clothing versus nice clothing. OK. Nothing wrong there. That happens. Normal. Good. OK. But that's not where the rub is. The rub is in verse 3. And it comes to our response to that scenario. Verse three indicates that our response is favor towards the rich and disdain for the poor. What does James 2.3 say? And if you pay attention to the one who wears fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, and you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, what's happening here? We have made judgments about individuals based on their external appearances. What we do when we do this is we say to people, your worth is tied to your bank account. That's where your value lies. We say your worth is tied to your status. Oh, thank you for coming and visiting our church. Your worth is tied to your appearance. The truth is that there is only one thing that gives us, as human beings, worth. And that is in Genesis 1, verse 27, when he says this, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. God created us in his image. And that is where our value lies. Our value does not lie in our bank accounts. It does not lie in our appearance. It does not lie in how many metal BBs fit inside of our skulls. Our value is tied to the fact that we are made in the image of God. Your first thought when you look at somebody should not be a thought about their appearance. Your first thought should be that person is made in the image of God. Try that for a day. You wanna start having compassion on people. View them as image bearers of God. You want to talk about changing your world. That co-worker that you work with that dresses kind of poorly, you know. The person in the grocery line that smells a little bit bad and you wonder when the last time they took a shower was. The church member who doesn't fit in your clique or whatever it might be. start viewing people as image bearers of God. I was driving around Oroville a few days back and it just struck me all of a sudden and rebuked me that I don't think in these terms more often, but I was just driving down the street, and I'm just driving, people are walking on the sidewalk here, walking on the sidewalk there, and all of a sudden I'm looking at these people, and it's like, I want to minister to that person right there. That person who's walking down the street, who's got the hoodie on, who's bent over like this, just walking down, like, kind of keep the world out. I want to minister to that person's soul. I want to minister to this person. I want this person to come to our church. I want this person to be saved. And I don't know their salvation, so I'm not saying they're unsaved, but they're image bearers of God. They're not just these objects that are out there. Life is too short for us to stand around and say, because I don't like your appearance, you are a lower class citizen. What? What are we saying when we do that? And it becomes very disheartening when we begin to look at our hearts and recognize how we really view people. You know how we view people? You know how you view people? You know how I view people in my own sin nature? This is how we view people. As objects that advance or hinder my own kingdom. You helped me build my kingdom and so I like you. You're a roadblock for me getting my kingdom. I don't like you. That's how we view people. You are an object. And you know, we as people, we point our fingers at a culture that discards babies like they were trash. And we, rightly so, point our fingers at those people. We point our fingers at a culture that eliminates the personhood of babies and treats them like objects that can be thrown in a dumpster. And that finger pointing, really going after those people and by God's grace changing that. That's justified. The anger, the righteous anger and indignation that we feel is justified. But my question when it comes down to this text is how often do we view our co-worker as an object that helps or hinders me from getting what I want? And the very sin that causes people to view babies as objects that advance or hinder my kingdom and throw them away as trash, that very same sin is the same sin that's in my own heart. and you think your life is okay because I'm tidy and I'm cleaned up, and I look great on the outside, and I don't do these horrible things, and yet that same sin that drives people to say, this is a piece of trash, drives us to say, you are a piece of trash, you are an object that gets in my way, or you are an object that helps me. We should be viewing people as image bearers of God, not as objects. People are not objects, they are not expendable, and they do not exist for your pleasure. People are people. And James is condemning us for showing partiality to different people. We talk about this idea being rooted in God's nature, that God is a God who doesn't receive the face. or show partiality. And when I think of a passage like this, what better example comes to mind but the example of the gospel? Because what does the gospel say? What does Jesus Christ himself say? He says, anyone may come. See, the gospel doesn't assign us value based on some skewed standard of how much you're worth. Oh, you're worth this much, so I'll save you, but you don't have any value, so I won't save you. No, that's not what happens in the Gospel. If someone is willing to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, then you can come without regard to your appearance or your perceived worth. You can come to Christ and He will save you regardless. Jesus will satisfy your thirst. And Jesus will treat you like a person, not an object. Place your trust in him. And what is unique about the church, or what is unique about what the church should be, is it should be a place that reaches beyond traditional cultural barriers. A place that says, the world standard is you have value and you don't have value. And the church should say, no. No, that doesn't exist. You all have value because you're made in the image of God. This should be one of the defining marks of the church. As a Christian, you're not rich, you're not poor, you're not famous, you're not obscure. You are an image bearer of God. And if you are a believer in Christ, then you are in Christ. That is your definition. You are in Christ. That is who you are. That's what James and that's what God is calling us as a church to embrace, that perspective. Verse four says this, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? So let's back up for a second here and get the whole context again as we go into verse four. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Here's the command. The main part of this is verse one. Here's the command to you. Partiality and Christian faith are incompatible with each other. And so now he gives us an example to understand exactly what he's talking about when he says verse two, 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 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, Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? So verses 2 through 3 are this example of what's going on. And he says, when you do this, when you make assessments of people based on this kind of a standard, he's saying in verse four, you've made distinctions among yourselves and you've become judges with evil thoughts. Here in this verse, there are two things that are revealed to us by a heart that shows partiality. Number one, it's that you've made distinctions. You've made distinctions, number one. And the second one is that you've become judges with evil thoughts. So when I show partiality, when someone comes in, And by the way, I see this all the time. And we are a little bit more refined in the way we do it. But I like to observe how people interact with each other. And I've been to a couple of conferences recently. And one of the things that I notice when I go to some of these conferences is, who talks to who? And how long do they talk to this person? And I watch this interaction amongst people. And sometimes it's very telling to see someone who quickly ends the conversation with someone who maybe is perceived to be not as successful or lower status. And then you see them quickly transition to someone who has a higher status, who is really, this is a successful person, and I really need to get to know this person. And I do the same thing. I mean, it's this tendency that we have to say, no value there, no help to my kingdom over there. Help to my kingdom? Yes, let me talk to you. And we do this all the time. But the word distinction is a word that means separate or conclude that there is a difference. And that's where we're putting people into different classes. So if you are discriminating or showing partiality, you're making distinctions. Rich people are more important than poor people, tying their value to their position. But the second thing that he says here is that we become judges with evil thoughts. And I think this perhaps reveals something at a deeper level than the other. And we, when we make these kinds of distinctions, are becoming judges. And what he's saying here is that partiality reveals this. What does partiality reveal? That my motives are impure. I have impure motives when I am demonstrating partiality. I am a judge with evil thoughts. What are those evil thoughts? I think it's self-interest. It is self-interest, self-preservation, self-whatever you want to say, self-worship. I am interested in myself. It's always interesting to me when I see one of my friends periodically, once in a blue moon, I'll see someone, they've taken a little selfie here with someone they've met in the airport that's famous. This famous actor or this famous politician, and all of a sudden it's like, wow, that's pretty neat. I wish I could have met that person. And a lot of times you'll see, I've never seen because I don't meet famous people, but you'll see flocking around in an airport, everyone with their cameras out trying to take pictures of themselves or this person. And you wonder, what is this person thinking? I can't go anywhere without these cameras and these cell phones and people wanting to take selfies with me. And I always thought that one thing that would be neat is if it actually happened the other way around. You sit down, and you're talking. You're in an airport, and you meet this famous guy. And maybe you're sitting in the airplane with him. And you're talking to this person. And all of a sudden, it's like they really start like, wow, they think this is a neat person. Oh, they think I'm neat. Wow, this is great. And all of a sudden, it's, hey, can I take a picture with you? You're like, wait, what is that? And then this famous person takes a picture up and snaps a picture of both of you together. And then they go on their social media and say, hey, met this great person. I mean, imagine walking your group of friends like that. Like, hey, you may not have pictures of you taking a picture, but they posted me on there. I mean, that would be awesome, right? That'll never happen to me. Probably say, who is this loser, whatever. But it's fascinating to me. And by the way, I'm not saying that that's wrong. If you ever have a picture of you and someone famous on your Facebook page, I'll probably like it and say, awesome. But what is it in our hearts that causes us to treat that person different than the quote-unquote ordinary person? What is it in our hearts that causes us to say, they have more value to me? And going back to this idea, I think it is self-interest. It is this idea that you can benefit me in some way. Now maybe it's someone who's wealthy. And wow, if that wealthy person knew me and liked me and had a good relationship with me, perhaps I could benefit financially from that person. Perhaps they would gift me with some kind of financial help. or maybe if they're famous and they notice me, perhaps maybe by extension, I could be famous for just a moment. I could be up on their Facebook page for just a second, and the world would see me and realize that I'm someone special too. And what drives us to give that attention and to treat people as having different values comes back to the fact that I want worship for myself. I want to tap into the resources that they're able to provide for me in order to make myself great, in order to make myself wealthy, in order to do something good for me. We treat the famous person, the rich person, the put-together person, as if they had more value than the, quote, regular person. By the way, another point that I think is important to make here is James is not telling us that we cannot make judgments at all. Now, some people will come to a passage perhaps like this and say, well, you can't tell me I'm doing anything wrong because you're showing partiality. I don't think that's what James is saying because what he's saying is that we have become, not judges, But we have become judges and he qualifies that statement. How does he qualify? Look down at the text there. Judges with evil motives. Different kind of a judge, right? There are judges who have evil motives and there are judges who don't. Some judge who takes a bribe, we would classify as a judge who has an evil motive. but some people who are motivated by a selfish desire to throw off all restraints and not be held accountable wanting to live in a world free from judgment might embrace a passage like this and say, well, you know, you can't, I'm invincible, you can't touch me. And I don't think that's what James is saying, so perhaps maybe a slight rabbit trail, but I think perhaps it's important to look at this as we look at this passage as a whole. James, more than any other book of the Bible, as we've already said, talks about our actions and right living, right? Because what does James do? He has more imperatives than any other book in the New Testament. He has all these commands to us and this presupposes judgment and accountability. Primarily judgment to God, but judgment is required throughout this book. Judgment is required in 1 Timothy chapter 3 when calling a pastor. You have to make judgments. Judgment is required when counseling a brother through a sin in Matthew chapter 7. Judgment is required when confronting a brother in sin, in Galatians chapter 6. One cannot live the Christian life without making judgments of some sort. It has to be part of the Christian faith. And yet we ought to be careful not to be judges with evil motives. But the difference when it comes to this passage that James is talking about is this. Here's the difference. Number one, what is the standard for your judgment? And number two, what is the motivation for your judgment? You see, in this passage, what James is condemning is he is condemning people who make judgments based on worldly standards. The standard that's used in verses two to three is a standard that says your value is tied to really whatever the world says your value is. And then secondly, the motivation is a self-interest motivation. When in fact, what needs to happen is that the standard is God's word and the motivation is the glory of God. That radically transforms the way that we perceive people and we interact with people. Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 through 5. In fact, I don't think I put that up here, but I'll go ahead and read this. Matthew 7, 1 through 5, you can turn there if you'd like. that you be not judged." Wow, that's a highly wrongly used verse. Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. What is Jesus saying in this passage in Matthew chapter seven? You know, we've probably heard verse 1 quoted more times than we can recall. Judge not that you be not judged. And all of a sudden, you know, you walk up to someone and you say, you know, I don't know, I feel like, are you, are you struggling with sin in this area? We confront someone in sin. Judge not lest you be judged. Untouchable over here. that comes from a misunderstanding of this passage. Because in verse 2 he says, "...with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." So if you go up to someone and say, you know what, I'm really seeing that you're struggling with gossip. Can you tell me what's going on there? You're going to be judged in that same way. And what's happening here is Christ is talking to a group of people who are gossiping and yet pointing the finger at others who are gossiping. That's where he's saying is the error. In fact, he goes on later and he says in verse 5, let's actually look at the last part of verse 5, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Let's look at that statement for just a second. Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. After all his instruction in verses 1 through 4 and the first part of 5, He says, still take the speck out. He says, don't stop taking specks out of eyes. Do that. But there's a qualification. Before I can take specks out of eyes, what is it that I have to do? Verse 5a, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye. This passage actually to me is a little bit comical in a sense. I kind of chuckle to myself when I come to this passage because it's like, how does a log fit in your eye? I mean, you imagine this huge log and it's like, let me fit this into my eye. But the point of the passage is you've got sin in your own heart, and perhaps even to a greater degree. And don't stop taking specks out of people's eyes, but first start getting logs out of your own eyes. Start looking at your own heart, and instead of just pointing the finger at other people, pray Psalm 139, 23-24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And then when I go and do that, then I can go take specks out of other people's eyes. But what James is talking about in our passage is he's talking about people who are making judgments on other people, and they're doing it with the wrong standard and with the wrong motivation. They're not willing to get logs out of their eyes before they go and get specs out of other people's eyes. So the point of this passage in Matthew 7 is that we don't stop taking specks out of people's eyes. We just take logs out of our own eyes first. And so that perhaps is a little bit of a rabbit trail here to simply make the point that when we get to a passage like James, we have to understand that what he's saying is not to throw off all restraints of accountability. No, accountability is there. He's just saying there has to be a certain way in which we go about this in which we demonstrate impartiality to other people and we ought not to show favoritism or make judgments based on the world's standards. I want to draw a couple of points of application. We could spend a few minutes on this and maybe just review the text here and look at these points of application. Number one, this passage is calling us to view and treat all people as image bearers of God. This is easier said than done. And what this means is that we stop viewing people as objects. That annoying, babbling co-worker that never stops talking is an image-bearer of God. And that person is not an object that causes inconvenience in your workday. That person has a soul. View and treat all people as image-bearers of God. Number two, and we talked about this briefly in the passage, meditate on God's impartial treatment of us through the gospel. And we need to come back to the gospel. If we are going to understand what this looks like, then let's look to the greatest example, and that is when Jesus Christ demonstrated impartiality towards us and said, it doesn't matter what you look like. Now, there is accountability in that, okay? Some people say, you know, this idea of come as you are, you know, and I'm personally all about that. You know, come to our church or come to us, come to Christ as you are. But the subtle implication in that statement is come as you are, leave as you came, right? And that's the opposite of the gospel. The gospel says, come as you are, but leave different than you came. And so when we say, meditate on God's treatment of us through the gospel, yes, Jesus does demonstrate impartiality. And he says, anyone can come. Come as you are. But this is not just, no more restrictions, no more accountability. Don't leave as you came. Number three, demolish the cultural and personal barriers that you have raised up in your heart. Demolish the cultural and personal barriers you have raised up in your heart. Now my guess is probably most of you in this room don't make judgments based on how many BBs fit inside someone's head. Now recently, Our daughter had to have a MRI CAT scan because her head was growing at a fast pace. So on that basis, I could say Madeline is really smart. She is like surpassing all of us. And they ended up finding out that everything was OK there and she wasn't growing too fast. But that's not how those judgments are made. And my guess is you probably don't make that judgment. You probably don't say, wow, I wonder how many BBs fit inside his head. But we have cultural barriers in our own hearts, do we not? We have those things in our hearts that we raise up and we say, here's my value scale. My value scale is appearance, is your bank account, is how socially refined you are. You know, you can carry on a conversation. These kinds of things are important to me. No, no, no. He's saying break down those barriers, those cultural, personal barriers that we erect that determine people's value. So number three is demolish cultural and personal barriers you've raised in your heart. And number four is judge according to God's standards. Here's the caveat. After you perform log surgery. We need to do that so desperately. We're comfortable in pointing the finger at other people, but we're not comfortable at pointing the finger at ourselves. Judge according to God's standards after you perform log surgery. Jesus Christ never showed partiality toward us when he came to rescue us from our sins. He was impartial while rescuing us from our partiality. And so the call here today is to model the example of our Savior by trusting Him to deliver us from this particular sin and to live out our Christian faith with consistency. Father, thank you for this passage that you've given to us. A few verses here that as we look at, we are really humbled and recognize the fact that we are insufficient for these things. And I think if all of us had to be honest here, we would have to say that this sin does lurk in our own hearts, and we make value judgments based on how people can benefit us or not benefit us, instead of making value judgments based on people being made in the image of God. I pray that we would embrace that viewpoint and that we would view every single human being as an image bearer of God, that we would view people as having value because they're made in your image, and that we would value their souls. Please, I pray, God, that we would not trample over the hearts of people, but that we would stop and be patient And we would help people by demonstrating the love of Christ to them, and by ultimately introducing them to the Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us be concerned about that, and not be concerned that our status has been ruined because we were caught talking with someone who is such a low-status person. We already are low-status people. And so we ask that you would help us to recognize that and recognize that all that we have is because of who you are. All that we have is all that we have in Christ. Let us view people as being made in your image. Let us view people as people and not as objects in Christ's name. Amen.