In our study from the Westminster Shorter Catechism this evening, we're looking at question and answer 68, which is a reflection on the Sixth Commandment, so let me also read question 67, too. Which is the Sixth Commandment? The Sixth Commandment is, thou shalt not kill. Question 68, what is required in the Sixth Commandment? The Sixth Commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others. I love the way that catechisms like the Westminster Shorter Catechism realizes that even though most of the Ten Commandments are phrased in the negative of things we're not supposed to do, we can take those principles and see what is the positive then, what's the other side of the coin in calling us to do. And we see the positive statement here is that we are commanded to preserve life, to help it to propagate, to help people to live well. And so we see that there is the mention of the care for our own lives, but then there's also the mention of the care for the lives who are around us. So, how do we care for our own lives? One of the ones that this time of year I'm a little bit more aware of is eating well, exercising. You guys don't have to laugh so hard. No, just kidding. No, but it's just this thing. It's like, what do we see? The way that we take care of these bodies is not simply a non-spiritual issue. How so is that? If we're people who, because we are sluggish, because we're eating things that make us unhealthy, or we're just not living a healthy lifestyle, we're too tired to be able to come and gather. We're too tired to go out and minister. So there is a value and then just the fact that God enjoys the physical world that he made. It's not only just because of the spiritual side effects but he loves the earth and his plan is to restore this whole world and so there is an echo of the recreation when we take care of these bodies that God gives us. Now, unfortunately, there's a limit to what we can do. There's an end to the care that we can give to these bodies, but it is an act of worship to God when we do what we can to help ourselves to be able to flourish. And then, more obviously, when we think of the opposite of the sixth commandment, to not kill or to not murder, this means that we should be taking care of other people. And so there are going to be things where the way that we. and the condition we leave our homes in or the places of work that we're a part of, we don't want to leave any traps or pits for people to fall into and get hurt, because like we said last week, murder is not just going to include those who willfully were trying to end somebody's life, but if somebody was carelessly just being reckless, not valuing the lives of other people in a way that causes somebody to get hurt, that would break this commandment as well. So one of the commandments we see in the Old Testament is that a lot of the people, the rooftops, they had these flat rooftops and so this was another place where people could gather and so if you did not have railings or something to make it, make it more difficult for people to fall off your roof, and then if somebody does fall off your roof because you didn't protect it well, well then, that would be evil in the sight of God, because we did not value the lives of others. And just one other thing to recognize, again, we can't avoid all risks. There's always risks in life, so even if you wrap one of your kids up in bubble wrap, there's still a possibility they're going to get hurt. Right, Cohen? We can tell that story later. That's a good one. But yeah. And then it's just thinking, too, of what can we do that's positive in terms of trying to help the flourishing of other people. And so one of these great visuals, if you've ever seen people making videos of digging clean wells for people in Africa who don't have access to clean water and just the joy of the people, realizing just the good that is accomplished there, that helps to promote life. getting a chance to visit different places in the world where you see that the powers that rule over different regions and how much corruption there can be that leads to so much death and poverty and illness. One other thing that we can do is try to establish communities where we don't have corrupt leaders, where the people are stealing or abusing the members that serve under them. So there are a lot of ways that we can apply this, but we want to seek life. Spiritually, yes, but also the physical well-being of others. All right, now our passage that we're gonna be diving a little deeper into, James chapter two, verses one through 13. well-known, well-loved letter, very practical. But at this point, you know, in the series Roar, you know, we're taking this method of R-O-A-R for engaging with the lies of our society. We've gone beyond the mama bear apologetics, you know, using the different lies and the themes that are in those cultures. There are some other lies in our culture that are very prevalent and I think have become a bit more obvious since this book was written. This week I want us to consider critical race theory and then next week consider queer theory. What are some of the ideas that come behind it? These are so pervasive and it just surprises me especially one like critical race theory how there are a lot of churches that in most regards I would say are solid churches where they are right on and yet this is a lie that has crept into some of these sister churches because It's able to mimic a lot of biblical language, biblical ideas, but the underlying concept is again that false religion of Marxism. So we need to be aware of the lies so that we don't accidentally ingest poison into our church. And so, we're gonna be thinking of critical race theory, what is this lie? Essentially, it's Marxism now applied to ethnicity, and then we're gonna be thinking of what does this letter in James teach us, and how does the principles of what God has for his people, how is that the true source of anti-racism? Not the way they use this term, but the really one that seeks to bring an end to things like racism. So let's offer this prayer before we study God's word. Father, bless us with wisdom and understanding. This is what the letter of James asks us to do. We lack wisdom, pray to you because you are generous to give it to us. So help us to understand your purpose for your people, how we can love each other well, how we can love the nations of this world well. And as there is a strong cry for justice between groups of people in our country and throughout this world, help us to see that that justice is only truly established by your hand. So let us be those who understand and speak well for you in this world in need. Father, we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. I now invite you to stand in body or in spirit as we look together at James 2, verses 1-13. These words of the Lord. 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? 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? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blasphemy the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as a transgressor. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. And if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you've become a transgressor of the law. So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the ones who have shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over justice. Brothers and sisters, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever. You can be seated. As we look at these verses here, James is not speaking directly to the issue of racism, but hopefully you can already see how the principles that are laid out here about partiality can easily help us in our discussion around things like critical race theory. We see that James is calling for there to be no partiality between people. And what's the foundation for the reason there should be no partiality between people? Well, it's if we hold the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We hold this faith, and well, what is this faith? This faith is an understanding that we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God, and yet he is one who is fierce in justice, but also rich in mercy, who lifts us up from our condition. So it's like the passage of everything earlier. When we know ourselves in the presence of God, then we are going to be more kind and sympathetic to those who are around us. But he thinks, as James gives us a warning about the way that we create partiality between each other, he gives us one of these distinctions as it can easily be seen in the matters of wealth. Verse 3 and 4, 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? James is speaking of a cultural practice of how they demonstrated the levels of authority between different people, and so when they would gather together in synagogues, for example, although they practiced this in other places too, that they would have a few chairs that were kind of lined up in a horseshoe shape, and that was going to be for the elders. That was going to be for the men who had the most respect, the most regard in that community, and then you would have one in the center at which the elder whose turn it was to read the word of God would speak from, but you would have those who have the high authority, they would be seated while other people would stand and listen or they would sit at the seat in front of the elder by which they looked up to. They gave their, maybe not allegiance, but they saw as the elder who takes responsibility for them. And this is kind of just one of these interesting practices that we see over time. How do we right now in our worship settings, how do we show the one who is teaching and those who are listening, I stand, you guys sit, right? Well, for centuries, it used to be the other way around. You guys would have to stand as long as I preach while I'm the one who gets to sit in a chair. Now, maybe some pastors think that would be nice. I don't think I could sit still while preaching, so I'm fine with this arrangement. Don't misunderstand me. And yet, you see this cultural practice, how there is a very distinct visual way of showing respect, showing who they believe deserve to have recognition over others. And this cultural practice was easily abused. It was easy to assume that we can judge a man's spiritual maturity by the amount of money that he has, rather than the actual wisdom by which he speaks and acts, rather than his ability to speak biblical truths. And so this is where we see here, it says, but you have dishonored the poor man. Well, I guess go before that. Verse five, 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? How often do we see in history, and even just in God's Word, that He delights in choosing those who seem small, those who are poor, those who are weak, those who are not, so that He could shame those who are strong, those who seem wise in the eyes of the world. And just to have that theme of like when we think of maturity. You know, in the beginning of James' letter it says, count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And so how often does God use hardships, people who have had to go through a great deal, as a way to mature them? And so is it not often that those who in the world's eyes seem small would actually be the ones that should be our spiritual leaders in our communities? But on the flip side, what do we see of those who are rich? Although this is not going to describe every person who is financially wealthy, but Does this happen more often than, well, maybe not, more often than not, but when we just see the trends, is it not easier for those of wealth and of power to be those who are abusive? Verse six says, but you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? It's just saying, it's like, all right, friends, we've got this upside down. Who are the people in our society that you are most afraid of? Who are the ones who are giving you the most trouble? It's not always going to be the rich, but is it not often the rich who are doing this? This is one of these things that we know about human nature is that wherever there's wealth, wherever there is power, the corrupt tend to gather in those places. And so we see it's just, yeah. It's not always going to be the case. You know, because we don't want to make the opposite mistake and show partiality in the opposite way of, oh, well, the wealthy people are always criminal and the poor people are always good. Actually, that starts to sound like Marxism as we've been talking about it over the last few weeks, right? So we don't want to make the same sin of partiality running in the opposite direction. But if we're going to judge people's spiritual maturity by their physical affluence, then we are now judges with evil thoughts in our hearts and in our minds. And I can just, I can think of how I've seen this principle in effect of previously being a part of a church where you're looking for nominations for elders and for deacons and having it where there was a man in the community who was one of these pillars of the local community who who was really super active, helped to give jobs to a lot of the other men in the church and in the community. And so they said, look at that mature man. He is such a great guy. And let's make him become one of our elders. And all sorts of people are saying, yeah, let's have that guy do it. Then talking with him later, I like the church. But just so you know, I'm not actually a Christian. And it's just one of these things that for years, people had just assumed that because he was so wealthy and because he showed so much maturity in the way he did business, that that must mean that he is mature in his faith. That's not a guarantee of anything. So fortunately, he was not the kind of rich man who was oppressing people and dragging them into the courts. He was the opposite of that, but yeah. when we judge people, what are the standards by which we're going to judge? By what we think is good and wise, or are we going to let God be the one who judges, and that he applies his wisdom to us? And this is where we see just that idea that if we want to be people who judge by our own standards, where we can try to bring low whoever we want to bring low, and we think of judgment as one that lacks liberty, well then, That harsh judgment is going to come back on us. Verse 13, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over justice. And so we want to be these people who show the kind of judgments that Jesus Christ showed us. Not that he ignores truth, not that he ignores righteousness, but that he applies his righteousness to us by taking the judgment upon himself. And so we see this tremendous love that we have that Jesus shows to us while we're still sinners, while we're still the enemies of him. His judgment is a judgment that is rich in mercy. And this is the way that we want to be able to love other people, no matter what kind of values that we might try to measure people by. We want God to be the judge, and we want Him to apply His standard. There's no room for partiality based on wealth, ethnicity, gender, any of the other things that we want to look at that Marxism wants to apply and try to divide us in our culture today. No. We do have, like I was saying earlier, unity. Unity around the truth of God and the love of God. And so when we think about how this heart of division, this partiality, is applied in our culture today. There's language by the name of critical race theory. Who's heard this term used before? There's a lot of different variations of it. It's gonna get caught under things like diversity, equity, and inclusion. There's just a lot of different terms that they use. And this is just part of the Marxist tactic of If you keep changing the language, it's hard to pin people down. But I find that critical race theory is one that has actually, as I pointed out earlier, has actually had a lot of churches that are, in every other standard to look at, to be solid churches, have been fooled into thinking that this is wisdom. because it calls itself anti-racist, and we think, hey, I don't like racism, so this must be a good idea. But the definition for anti-racism is actually not the end of racism, but it's a reverse racism. And so it makes, again, the same mistake of partiality, just the other way. So, using the four tools of Mama Bear apologetics, first we want to recognize the message, what is the underlying principle that brings this lacking worldview, one of deception. Well, one of the first principles we need to understand, as I've already hinted at, critical race theory is ethnic Marxism. So Marxism, just this whole worldview of division, creating bitterness and envy between people so that others can manipulate the system to gain power themselves. Instead of applying this to money, instead of applying this to gender, instead of applying it to religion, now we're going to apply it to different ethnic groups, pitting them against each other. Another principle that is very important to understand with critical race theory is that it is a critical theory, which is right there in the name, is it not? What is a critical theory? Well, this is critical to understand because there is a very clear system of understanding and engagement known as critical theory, which is where this whole idea applies from. So critical theory comes from the root word of crisis. So it is a crisis theory. It is an idea that the way that we are going to advance as a civilization, the way humanity is going to evolve, is by crisis. Crisis is a good thing, not a bad thing. But a critical theory or a crisis theory, where do we, how does this principle operate? Well, maybe if you remember in your science classes when we're thinking about creating a scientific hypothesis, it is a form of critical theory. I'll explain how that works and hopefully it's clear enough, but if you wanted to test a scientific premise, you are going to start with your theory. This is going to be your standard. This is our best understanding at the moment on how the world operates. And so this is going to be the normal. So this is my theory right here. But how do we know if this theory is true or not? Well, we are going to bring crisis against it. We are going to bring, instead of starting with our thesis, is a term I should have said, instead of just sticking with our thesis, we are now going to have an anti-thesis, and a thesis that works against it. So when we're thinking anti-racist, it's the same idea of saying anti-thesis. It's not trying to, It's not the, well yeah, so anti-thesis. So what is this? We are going to do the best that we can to destroy our understanding of normal. We're going to find whatever weaknesses we can, we're gonna throw anything that we can at our thesis, because if we can break part of our thesis, if we can destroy it or dismantle it, then what we're going to now be able to replace it with is going to be superior. And so whenever we throw enough antitheses or antitheses at our thesis, once we've broken it, Now we can kind of blend and merge the two together and we're going to have a synthesis. And so in science we see this process of, this is what we think we know, let's try to break it, let's try to tear it down. And if we can, every time we can do it, we are going to end up with a better understanding of the world. Okay, well, this actually is a good process when we're dealing with physics, scientific understandings, but this gets incredibly complicated and messy and full of evilness when we want to apply it to society, the way that we are going to work alongside of each other. Because again, we're going to have this idea that there is a norm in our society. This is going to be the thesis. This is the way that we have operated until now. And in critical race theory, that thesis, that starting normalcy, is known as whiteness. Now, you don't actually have to have a light-colored skin in order to be accused of whiteness. Whiteness is really, it is a culture. It is a culture that is built on the Judeo-Christian ethic. And so we see a lot of this is really not attacking about ethnicity and skin colors. It's really trying to attack Christianity, but because so much of Western culture And those who have grown up of European descent come with a Judeo-Christian ethic. We're trying to then now attack the essence of whiteness that's there in our society. So if whiteness is where we're beginning and we want to find something superior to whiteness, what are we going to do? throw in now something that we think is contrary. We're going to try to do whatever we can to break and bust down whiteness. And so this is where there's the belief that minority groups, those of other skin colors, they are going to be the tools by which we're going to create as much crisis as possible between those of a white culture and those of a non-white culture. We are going to try to create as much antagonism as possible between these two groups of people. Because anytime we can break and tear down whiteness, what is the end result? what we're going to replace whiteness with is going to have to be better, right? Because if whiteness can be destroyed, then the thing that destroyed it must be superior. So this is a notion of sociological evolution. We are going to advance as a society by tearing somebody down. So, all right. Anybody still kind of halfway with me at this point? A few noddings there, but it's just, I guess just the thing I want you to understand is that this is a worldview that is not actually seeking peace. It is seeking crisis. It is not trying to build up. it is trying to destroy, and it is looking for any avenue, any aspect that we can use to tear down whiteness, which again, is the Judeo-Christian ethic, which is why we see this being applied to issues of wealth, of gender, of, you know, of religion, and sexual orientations, and any aspect of society that we can, there is an effort by crisis to destroy our culture. Because if something can destroy our culture, because we're seen as the norm, we're seen as the ones who are on top, if we can be destroyed, then what comes after us must be better, right? If you break something, then we win. Hey! offering discernment to critical race theory. What are some certain things that we can say that are good about it? Because like I said, there's a lot of brothers and sisters in other churches that are ingesting some of this language into the way that they teach in their church. So hopefully there's got to be something good about it. And there are certain things we can say. One is that it is wrong to elevate somebody with a lighter color skin over those who have a darker color skin, or to assume that those who have a darker color skin are less valuable. I mean, that's evil. That's showing partiality. We just talked about that there's no room for partiality, because we are all fallen in the sight of God. We cannot stack one person over another. And so, yeah, there is real racism. Racism is evil. Second thing that we can say is that crisis can cause us to go through tremendous periods of growth in our lives. I already read, count it all joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. And so even though the crisis itself is not good, God in his wisdom and his patience allows us to go through a lot of crisis so that we can be matured and perfected. And so there is, a level of truth to this worldview. However, there are many problems with it. One is that reversing racism does not actually solve the problem of racism. It just rewards racism by running racism in the other direction. But still, it is seeking conflict. It is not desiring of unity. It sees, if we were unified as society, if we solved all of our problems, then we would stop growing as a people. They want the conflict. We don't want conflict. And then just along with that, if we turn crisis into a virtue, then we will never have peace. And this is just what we see. Because if you go back into like the, I forget what the numbers are, I should have looked this statistic up beforehand, but if you look back around the year 2000 and people's opinions on racial unity within our culture, there was an overwhelming number of people who thought, hey, we haven't fixed all the problems of racism, but we are better off than humanity has ever been when it comes to one group of people and the way that we love and treat another group of people. But as we have applied critical race theory to the United States, we have seen the peace between people of different ethnic groups has plummeted drastically. And so critical race theory has not ended racism, it has created racism. And so, arguing for a better approach, what is the better way of doing it? Well, realizing that the Bible teaches that there is only one race of people, and that's the human race. Yes, some of us are going to have different levels of melatonin in our skin, but some of us are taller than others. Some of us are going to be better looking than others, like John over here. Yeah, good on him. But there's all sorts of different traits that we're going to have. And that doesn't mean that we should be divided among each other. We all, in the sight of God, are created with a level of equality. We're all created in the image of God. Not some people in the image of God. All people are created in the image of God. We were created to bear His name, created to bear His image. So that's what our purpose that we have. What's the problem that we've been dealing with? We've all, as I said, fallen short of the glory of God. We are all sinners, total depravity. None of us has a claim on our own gifts to cite ourselves as being better than another. And so the Bible does not give us any room for excuse to try to bring oppression over others. And then we see the better approach that Jesus is the only way that we can have true reconciliation. The reason we're divided between each other is because we're divided from God. And this relationship between us is not going to be repaired until things are repaired with God. What did Jesus do? He died on the cross to take those who were broken, those who were weak, those who were small, lift them up, and giving us exalted positions in his home and in his family, that we are made brothers and sisters of Christ, we are made co-heirs with Christ. So we go from being as low as you can go to as high as you can go, and these are those two positions, and this height is not something that we've earned for ourselves. So we understand who we are in the sight of God. We cannot have partiality between one another. So we want to end racism. The Bible's the way to go. Anything else is just going to be another form of racism. And then reinforcing through discernment, discipleship, and prayer. How do we really see this? How do we put this into practice? You hear the language of racism nowadays. Do you feel like you hear this term being used way too much nowadays? Maybe I'm just listening to the wrong people, but I feel like it is being way overused. And I think of just a few summers ago, the Smithsonian Institute put out a chart of of whiteness, things that are white, that are in our society, that we need to take down from its position of prominence. So again, think that idea of thesis, normalcy, antithesis, we want to tear things down. What did they think were things that were white? They said things like, hard work is white. Being on time, that's white. Nuclear family, if you've got two parents and kids and grandparents, that is a white thing. Math, that's white. Objective, rational thinking, those things are white as well. And you look at this list and just being like, I'm pretty sure The people who made this list are the ones who are racist. You're trying to tell me that it's only white people who know how to tell time and can do math and do hard work? Where is this coming from? You know, you should be careful the kind of things that you Google because you never know what you're going to get. But if you, I've seen people do exercises where you just put in, is blank racist? And then like you just kind of put in there, it's just whatever random thing you can think of. Is there an article on the internet where somebody's accusing that thing of being racist? And it is scary how often you will find somebody accusing something of being racist out there. So, like, we have ruined the word, because racism is a real evil, but we have made it into a joke. We need to think about how is this language being used, and why are we applying it to things that are considered white, when what are some of the other things that we know that are going on right now? There are so many cultures in this world that are not white cultures, but other cultures around this world where they are still practicing chattel slavery. And yet, do we hear any criticism of these nations? Like we think of over in China and the Uyghur Muslims that are there, millions of people who are being enslaved, they're using their organs for organ harvesting so they can sell it to rich people around the world. Do we hear people being concerned about that kind of slavery that's happening right now? No, because they're not. representative whiteness. We think of in the Middle East or places in Africa. Like right now there are more slaves in the world right now than there was back in our nation's founding when chattel slavery was a real problem and an evil. The problem is way worse now than it was then. And I even heard an investigative report that was done this week of, there are Chinese nationals that have bought land in places like, in Oklahoma, where they have large sections of land where they are practicing actual chattel slavery of foreign citizens in the United States to grow different kinds of drugs that they can then sell on the streets to make the citizens of our own nation addicted. and yet are people calling out this kind of racism? No, because it's not whiteness. And so every time you hear them talk about whiteness, what are they talking about? It is people who hold to Judeo-Christian ethic. So it's going to be those who are Christians or at least people who are influenced by Christianity. And so it breaks my heart to see how many Christians and how many solid churches are really squishy on this one issue. But I hope that you're aware now of some of these tricks that are played out there. We wanna see an end of racism. But we're not gonna do that by ending the influence of the gospel. It is only through the gospel that this reconciliation is going to be achieved. And that will fully happen someday. But we all, people of every tribe, tongue, nation, language, come and bow before the throne of Jesus Christ together. And I look forward to that day. Until then, let's pray. God, thank you, praise you, and bless you, and ask that you would give us wisdom to really seek justice as you desire in the world today. It's messy and complicated, but use us for your glory and for this world's peace. We pray this now in Jesus' name, amen. So friends, let's stand together, body and spirit, as we are blessed with these words from Revelation chapter one, To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom. Priest to His God and Father. To Him be glory.