Is "Social Justice" Biblical Justice? (Part 2) | Tom Pennington | Selected Scriptures

i've entitled last week and today's messages is social justice biblical justice is social justice biblical justice our culture has rejected the biblical teaching about the sin of racism and at the same time rejected the biblical solution and has embraced instead the social justice movement with its marxist philosophy we're looking at this together so we can understand it and respond appropriately now last time we began by looking at a functional definition what does it teach i'm not going to cover these points at any length so if you missed last week you need to go back and catch up but let me just tell you where we went we looked at a functional definition and at the heart of the social justice movement is the philosophy called the critical race theory secondly we considered its philosophical formation how did this idea develop well it developed in three basic stages beginning with marxism karl marx taught you have two basic categories the oppressed and the oppressors and it's out of that philosophy that the second stage developed and that was the critical theory or cultural marxism again based on classical marxism the critical theory taught at the top are the privileged oppressors and at the bottom are the oppressed victims that's true in every culture and every setting and you're either in the the empowered oppressors or you're in the underprivileged oppressed now that developed then into a more specific form yet and that is the critical race theory or crt which i'll refer to it that way just in the interest of time in the critical race theory the critical theory is applied specifically to race sex and gender now last time we we looked at this in detail we examined this theory and we concluded in the end that we must reject everything about this godless ideology its redefinition of key words like justice and racism its philosophical basis and presuppositions it's overt teaching it's wrong in identifying the problem and it's wrong in the solution that it represents but where did it come from well thirdly we considered last time the spiritual foundations what is its source how did the social justice movement with its its critical race theory come into into such prominence well there were a couple of innocuous ways that i mentioned are relatively innocuous the first is i think it comes from the residual image of god and the desire for justice there is in every human heart that residual image of god and therefore there is a misguided flawed view of justice but a desire for the justice to be done nonetheless secondly there is a national sense of guilt for slavery now notice i didn't say objective guilt but a subjective sense of guilt or shame you could even say some people don't understand this if you grew up in certain sections of the country you you may not be aware of the sense of shame but in places where slavery and the jim crow laws were especially prevalent i assure you it's still very much a reality then we went on to consider what is really at the heart of the spiritual foundation of this movement thirdly we considered a sinful distortion of biblical justice we learned that we are not personally guilty because we belong to a culture where certain sins predominate and we considered uh genesis 18 where abraham has that conversation with god about the sins of sodom and gomorrah and god himself acknowledged that there could be righteous people living in a culture that was overcome and overwhelmed with certain sins secondly we are not personally guilty because our ancestors sin ezekiel 18 is is very clear about this reality instead we will be judged solely by god's standard of justice and we saw this in romans chapter 2 verse 6 god will render to each person according to his deeds the idea of collective guilt based on the sins of the people around me or the sins of those who live before me is a violation of the basic standards of god's justice but really at the foundation of the critical race theory and the social justice movement is a theological rejection of radical human depravity the issue is not an economic system the real location of racism as we saw from several texts is not in society or a political or economic system but every fallen human heart and the real cause of racism is radical human depravity because we are by nature apart from grace prone to destroy relationships with everyone around us regardless of the reasons now today we come to a fourth observation about the social justice movement and that is the cultural expressions how is it trending what does it look like around us well there's so much that could be said here and i want to get to to the biblical correction so i i'm not going to spend a lot of time here but there are three main cultural expressions of the social justice movement today as it is informed by the critical race theory first of all there is academic indoctrination this is really where it started you remember i told you last time that there were those marxists who who developed the frankfurt school eventually were chased from germany by hitler ended up in 1935 at columbia university and began to indoctrinate their students with this and it spread across in the following decades across our country crt has permeated the academic world and is now the prevailing system of thought taught to college students yes probably even in your alma mater william jacobson a cornell law school professor has created a list of more than 200 colleges and universities in the u.s that promote critical race theory but it doesn't stop in higher education in elementary middle and high schools and you've seen this some of you told me stories from your own families that the administration and teachers in many of schools even here are either intentionally teaching and promoting crt being systematically re-educated to embrace it or in other cases are simply unwittingly embracing some of its key tenets but under the guise of different names like diversity and inclusion according to education week website which is is not excited about this is simply reporting it as of the end of august 27 states have out of concern about how this is spreading through our educational system 27 states have introduced bills or taken steps that would restrict teaching critical race theory and 12 states have enacted bans either through direct legislation or other avenues a second cultural expression is cultural re-education this is how things always move through our world right they start at the academic level the ideas are taught to the elite they end up leading corporations and government and then they end up dispersing those ideas through the culture that's what's happening with this idea so the second expression is cultural re-education this re-education is happening in government and in corporate america it involves openly teaching crt or teaching the same concepts as diversity inclusion or sensitivity many businesses because their leadership were taught this indoctrinated with this in their academic institutions or because of public pressure many businesses have become outspoken supporters of the social justice movement and critical race theory public statements advertisements and a systematic re-education of employees again several of you have mentioned to me what you have faced in your own workplace in these ways owen strawn in his book christianity and wokeness cites the now infamous example of diversity a diversity training session caught on video in 2016 that went viral the trainer this diversity trainer said to a room of women many of them white this all white people are racists you are always going to be racist even when you're on a path to be a better human being i believe all white people are born into not being human in quote she finished by saying that white people grow up to be quote demons end quote now i think all of us who are followers of jesus christ understand how wrong that is regardless of the context regardless of what else you believe but this is where this is where things are going this is the kind of re-education culturally that's happening both in government and in corporate america as well as in the schools as i've already mentioned large international corporations even use their clout to punish states cities and other businesses that don't support these ideologies the third expression a little closer to home is evangelical assimilation evangelical assimilation the evangelical struggle with the social justice movement grew out of what many of you are familiar with and have heard about the young restless and reform movement it was a calvinistic resurgence in evangelicalism and there were many good things about it but out of this group voices in that movement began just a couple of years ago to really champion ideas that were clearly influenced by the critical race theory in 2018 matt chandler of the village delivered a lecture entitled a house divided cannot stand understanding and overcoming the inconsistencies in white evangelicals on racial issues he reflected in that address some of the ideas that we've talked about to beti and wabidle began to teach the crt concept of collective guilt in that same year also in 2018 at the together for the gospel conference and i and our staff our pastoral staff were there along with our wives and david platt delivered an opening message in that t4g conference in which he used amos 5 to argue that evangelicals are guilty of systemic injustice in 2018 eric mason wrote a book entitled woke church an urgent call for christians in america to confront racism and sin and then the next year in 2019 jamar tisbee wrote the color of compromise the truth about the american church's complicity in racism now all of that happened within a very short period of time and in response to this aggressive promotion of the social justice movement in the church a group of our friends gathered here in dallas and wrote the statement on social justice in the gospel called the dallas statement the key signers of that were john mcarthur voted backham and tom askle it was a it was a response to this quick onslaught of what was happening in evangelicalism also in 2019 and many of you are aware of this because of your southern baptist roots at the annual southern baptist convention this issue created a firestorm connected to resolution 9. now if you've never heard of resolution 9 or even if you have let me tell you that it's it's not it didn't start the way you think it started it actually began as a southern baptist pastor's call for the sbc to reject crt and cultural marxism that's how it began but it was reshaped by progressives into a statement which actually affirmed the value of crt as a helpful set of quote analytical tools end quote then in 2020 last year the council of seminary presidents of the sbc released a statement in which they repudiated crt and in essence resolution 9. now i share all that history with you just to have you get this point evangelicalism has been infiltrated by and has assimilated much of the ideology of the social justice movement and crt now don't misunderstand me i am not accusing all of those whose names i have just mentioned of being cultural marxists i'm not even saying that all of them are consciously promoting crt however i think what we do have to recognize and i think it's apparent is that many evangelicals are being influenced by this worldview you can tell that's true by the definitions they use by the organizations they support by the views that they hold by the methods that they are using to achieve those goals of what they call justice so be alert at the same time please be gracious not everyone who supports the social justice movement supports or even is aware of the critical race theory and not everyone who even claims to support the critical race theory fully understands what it teaches are the godless philosophy on which which it's based so so don't just start writing off everyone who uses the language of the social justice movement instead be wise listen carefully critique wisely and let me add graciously first corinthians 13 says love believes the best until there's evidence to the contrary so don't be one of those christians who reads a comment that somebody somewhere posted that one of your favorite teachers is now a raving our tear and believe it and continue to promote it be gracious wait and see if it's true wait and see it could be true but it may not be true so please be careful if you want to read more about how crt has permeated the evangelical church i would encourage you to read toby smith's booklet the rise of woke christianity a brief introduction he documents that history and there's also a helpful section in vody boccum's book fault lines explaining how this unfolded in the sbc if you're interested in that now that's how it's expressing itself culturally but i want to spend the rest of our time together focusing on what is really the key and that is the biblical correction what is the truth what does the bible teach instead of the tenets of the social justice movement so important for us to start with this question my father-in-law who i had for a number of classes before i met his daughter taught theology for 50 years he used to always say this and it's so true the first question to your mind whenever you hear of anything is what does the bible say what does the bible say who cares what the people around you say what does god say in his word so let's consider that together what is the biblical correction to the social justice movement with its critical race theory well first of all the bible would say this the real problem is sin the real problem is sin it's not about economics it's not about whether you're in the majority or the minority it's not about whether you're you're in the the privileged group or the unprivileged group the real issue is sin and there are several sins that ultimately feed both the historical problem as well as its current manifestations so let's consider those sins first of all and most obviously the sin of slavery the sin of slavery now let me just be crystal clear i am not talking about crt's version in which they argue that our country was started to advance the institution of slavery and that the american revolution was motivated primarily by a desire to keep the institution of slavery and they would say there has been no substantive change or progress since the first european settlers came to this country i'm not talking about that rather i'm talking specifically about the biblical sin let me say it as clearly as i can slavery by kidnapping in other words american slavery is a sin condemned in both the old testament and the new testament let me show you go back with me to the book of exodus exodus chapter 21 verse 16. here in the law of god moses writes this exodus 21 16 he who kidnaps now you'll notice if you have the new american standard and you have marginal notes literally the hebrew word is he who steals a man but obviously the idea is a man stealer or a kidnapper he who kidnaps a man whether he sells him or he is found in his possession or in his hand literally he shall surely be put to death the intention in that day as it was in the day of american slavery was to enslave this person you kidnap them you steal them in order to sell them to someone who's going to use them for slavery or you yourself are going to use them for slavery and god says let them be put to death go over to deuteronomy deuteronomy chapter 24 in the second giving of the law this is reiterated in slightly different terms deuteronomy 24 verse 7. if a man is caught kidnapping again the hebrew is if he's found stealing any of his countrymen or the sons of israel and he deals with him violently or sells him then that thief shall die so you shall purge the evil from among you now what is very clear in these two passages is that kidnapping in order to enslave is sin against god because those people are made in the image of god and it is a sin against that person and under old testament law in israel such a person who was involved in the slave trade in that way should be put to death they should die because of their complicity in such actions turn over to first timothy chapter one the new testament only underscores this as crucial to god first timothy chapter 1 verse 8. paul says but we know that god's law is good if one uses it lawfully if you use it like it was intended verse 9 realizing the fact that god's law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious for the ungodly in sinners for the unholy and profane in other words to show them their sin and then he gets specific for those who kill their fathers or mothers for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers kidnappers those who steal people in order to enslave them and liars and perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching so understand then that american slavery is sin it's sin from the old testament it's sin in the new testament it was wrong let's just admit that acknowledge that that's what god himself says and yet that is exactly what went on in our in our country let's start with just a brief historical survey i'm not going to spend a lot of time here but i want you to understand this it begins of course with the british because we were after all a british colony originally the british national archives describes the origins and growth of slavery in british america it began in earnest in the 1640s when dutch merchants introduced sugar to barbados and showed barbadian planters how to grow and process sugarcane the problem is sugarcane requires large numbers of laborers eventually it was discovered that the dutch could provide such laborers by enslaving africans and bringing them to the new world started with the dutch as far as the europeans portugal and britain were eventually became the two greatest exporters of slaves slave trading countries accounting for about this is the british national archives accounting for about 70 percent of all africans transported to the americas it's estimated that britain transported 3.1 million africans tragically of whom only 2.7 million arrived so 400 000 of them died in being transported across the ocean to the british colonies here in the caribbean north and south america and other countries now some of those who were enslaved were captured directly by british traders slave traders but sadly the vast majority of those sold to european slave traders had been captured and were sold by west africans now let's come to the u.s to u.s history i think you understand the first two settlements european settlements on this continent were characterized by different priorities the first was in jamestown virginia in 1607 its chief priority was economic the second was in plymouth massachusetts in 1620 and the primary point of plymouth was the pursuit of religious freedom sadly however both settlements and their streams accepted and practiced the biblical sin of slavery original source documents show that by 1662 slavery was recognized in the statutory law of the jamestown colony in 1641 the massachusetts bay colony adopted laws that made slavery legal in the cases of prisoners seized in just war those who sold themselves into slavery both of those are commented on in the old testament and were allowed although strictly regulated but they sadly also made it justifiably legal to own slaves purchased from other places and that's how american slavery really took its foothold let's fast forward to 1776 the year in which our country was was birthed all 13 states that entered america at that point allowed slavery but during and immediately following the revolution several states passed laws outlawing it and all the northern states had legally abolished slavery by 1805 although the actual freeing of slaves was more gradual congress banned the import trade of slaves in 1808 but of course smuggling was common and continued and it still allowed for those slaves who were here and their offspring to be kept enslaved in 1860 a government census was taken that clarifies the state of slavery in the u.s just before the civil war at that time just before the civil war there were 15 slave states and 20 free states the total u.s population was 31 million with 4 million of them being slaves the percent of u.s households with slaves was 13 but that that's a bit of a of a misleading number because remember there were 20 of the states in which there were no slaves no slaves allowed or reported if you take the slave holding states in slave state enslaved states the percent of households with slaves was 26 percent and when you take the far south states south carolina georgia alabama mississippi louisiana texas and florida the percent of slaves to total population was 49 percent on january 1st 1863 as you know president lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation it stated that all persons held as slaves within the succeeding states are quote are and henceforth shall be free in quote of course it was in the right direction but as i think you may know it exempted the loyal border states and portions of the south that had already been captured by the union armies then came the 13th amendment ratified in december of 1865 which ended chattel slavery any place under u.s jurisdiction but then came reconstruction and i think you understand that during reconstruction former slaveholding states instituted what came to be called the jim crow laws here's how the encyclopedia britannica describes them from the late 1870s southern state legislatures passed laws requiring the separation of whites from persons of color it was codified on local and state levels and most famously with the separate but equal decision of the us supreme court in plessy versus ferguson in 1896 that continued until 1954. in 1954 the supreme court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional reversing plessy in brown versus the board of education by extension that ruling was applied to other public places and facilities and jim crow laws began to be dismantled i can tell you as a boy growing up in the south and in mobile alabama in the 60s i witnessed firsthand the fruit of nearly 100 years of jim crow laws and the separate but equal doctrine and of course as you know in 1964 the civil rights act passed a comprehensive legislation intended to end discrimination based on race color religion or national origin now that is a thumbnail sketch of slavery in america let me just make some appropriate conclusions based on that little historical sketch first of all we need to acknowledge that slavery by kidnapping and prejudice are undeniably a tragic part of our nation's history secondly we need to acknowledge that at different points in our nation's history and in different places in our country racism has in fact been systemic now i would argue that has only been true when it was intentionally written into and supported by specific laws as was true under legalized slavery in the jim crow laws but i reject the crt idea that racism can be systemic unintentionally or that individuals can be guilty of racism simply by being in the majority or having a certain color of skin thirdly we need to acknowledge that the u.s has made significant progress as one author in the wall street journal put it quote in its long and torturous journey to realize its promise and abide by its founding principles end quote number four we need to acknowledge that the sin of slavery continues to have lasting effects on subsequent generations and then finally we need to acknowledge that the biblical sins of prejudice and partiality are still prevalent in the hearts of many individuals in our country both those in the majority and those in various minorities because it's part of the fallen human heart and that brings me to the second sin not only the sin of slavery but the sin of racism now i am not talking about crt's definition of racism but rather the definition in webster's it's when you believe your own race is superior and has the right to rule others now where does that kind of racism which is endemic to the fallen human heart where does that come from what are the biblical sins that are involved in that label that we use the word racism is not in the bible obviously but the concepts the sins involved would be these first of all partiality and prejudice partiality and prejudice turn to james chapter 2. james as he issues a series of tests of people's faith includes this as one of those tests of faith i don't have time to walk through this in the detail it deserves go back and listen to the messages i preached on this when i was working through james but just look at the context of the first three verses my brethren do not hold your faith in our glorious lord jesus christ with an attitude of personal favoritism now understand this he is dealing both with favoritism and it's opposite which is prejudice he's dealing with treating a person partially either for good or for bad based on external factors and here's the specific factor in the early church verse two for if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say you sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down by my footstool have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives james is saying it's wrong it's wrong to look at external factors in this case how a person's dressed or their socioeconomic standing and to treat them either better or worse because of those external factors on the one side it's partiality on the other side it's prejudice and both are equally wrong he goes on down in verse 8 to say if however you are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself you're doing well there's the solution just love everybody regardless of those external differences treat them equally verse 9 but if you show partiality or prejudice you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors it's sin now i think we are tempted to think that that sort of judgment we make in our hearts about other people based on external factors like like race or their prosperity level the car they drive the neighborhood they live in etc we are tempted to think that's a little thing it's not a little thing look at the next verse maybe you don't know this is the context of this verse for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point he has become guilty of all in other words you could keep god's law perfectly your entire life but if you allow this sin in your heart even once where you look at someone and based solely on external factors you arrive at a conclusion where you treat them better because of those external issues or you treat them worse because of those external issues it's sin and you've shattered god's law why because you're not loving that person as yourself you just failed the standard that's partiality or prejudice we must never show it toward anyone based solely on external factors it's a sin against god and let me just say this contrary to crt you can show prejudice or partiality regardless of what group you're in whether you're in the majority or the minority often this sin of partiality and prejudice is combined with another to make it even more virulent and that's hatred as we saw last week in titus 3 3 unregenerate people are hated and hate one another this is just how the fallen human heart is prone every one of us apart from christ has been guilty of this but it is not a sin brothers and sisters that as followers of jesus christ we can tolerate in our hearts according to james 2 if you practice these sins you have shattered god's law to love others as you love yourself racism we need to deal with it i love what daryl harrison who works out at grace to you says he says you don't end racism you repent of it a third sin that has contributed to our current mess is the sin of anger bitterness and violence or the sins of anger bitterness and violence many who champion the social justice movement and crt they do so because hateful individuals have committed terrible sins against either them and or their people and historically many of those sins have been horrific and this is where we fall back on the on the character of god let me just tell you that god is just and that means every sin will be punished god will either punish christ for that sin and forgive the unrepentant sinner or he'll punish the sinner but god's justice will be done in every single case however listen carefully god never permits the person who has been wronged however horrifically to hold a grudge or to take revenge leviticus 19 18 you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself i am the lord that's the divine standard sinful anger and bitterness are sins before god even when they are prompted by the sins of others ephesians 4 31-32 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and by the way wrath and anger are two different nuances one is blowing up anger in the form of blowing up the other is anger and clamming up let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor that word just means yelling and slander that's not like legal slander that's name-calling but all bitterness and blowing up and clamming up and yelling and name-calling be put away from you along with all malice that's a vicious disposition where you just want to hurt the other person instead be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving each other just as god in christ has also forgiven you god never justifies sin even when it's in response to the sin of others but sadly that is the spirit that drives much of the social justice movement so what does the bible say the real problem is sin secondly briefly the right goal is justice the right goal is justice why because it's our god's character our god is unwaveringly committed to justice without prejudice psalm 89 verse 14 justice is the foundation of your throne oh god in other words god god's entire rule is based on justice he loves justice he hates injustice and in the exercise of his perfect justice our god listen to this never shows prejudice our partiality to anyone acts chapter 10 verse 34 peter says god is not one to show partiality peter in first peter 1 17 says if you address his father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work then conduct yourselves in fear god never treats anyone differently for good or for bad because of mere external factors like we are so tempted and prone to do and since he's our father we should be equally committed to justice without prejudice again i'm not talking about crt's version of justice i'm talking about true biblical justice we looked at that a little bit last time it's what theologians would call first of all distributive justice we should be committed to justice in our laws and in their enforcement and we should be committed secondly to communicative justice that's how all of us are supposed to be treating all people fairly and with respect since they're made in the image of god we must root out the sins of partiality prejudice and hatred from our own hearts folks we should be equally committed to justice for all regardless of the color of their skin or the color of their uniform god doesn't treat people differently because of race occupation or their group identity in the same way we should never make sweeping verdicts about any group good or bad we must also insist that our leaders practice justice without partiality this was a big deal to god in old testament israel in deuteronomy chapter 16 verses 18 to 20 listen to this and especially listen to this if you are in government or in law enforcement but for all of us understand this is a priority you shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment you shall not distort justice you shall not be partial justice and only justice you shall pursue end quote when a crime is committed whether by a citizen or a law enforcement officer they should be prosecuted fairly equally in keeping with the law we should also insist on laws that ensure equal and fair treatment before the law the dallas statement on social justice makes this point it says quote believers can and should utilize all lawful means that god has providentially established to have some effect on the laws of a society so the real problem is sin the real goal is biblical justice a third point of biblical correction is the only real solution is the gospel the only real solution is the gospel folks we must seek justice but in a fallen world we will never root out prejudice and hatred only a change of a person's heart can do that that means the only lasting cure for racism is the gospel of jesus christ i read it to you this morning turn back to ephesians ephesians chapter 2 paul here beginning in verse 11 talks about jews and gentiles and what's happened through the work of jesus christ now think about this for a moment jews and gentiles could not have been more different they were different in every conceivable way not only ethnically but also culturally religiously and the list could go on they were poles apart and yet what happened in jesus christ he brought them together for he verse 14 he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall verse 15 goes on to say so that he could make the two jews and gentiles into one new man that's the church thus establishing peace listen jesus christ is the only one who can grant us peace with god and he's the only one through his gospel that can grant us true and lasting peace with the people around us if you if your relationships are in shambles jesus christ is the only one that can help you fix that he is our peace not only with god but he's the one who brings peace between us and others through his life-changing gospel by god's sovereign plan in the church there are people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation we see just a little taste of that here in our church but someday we're going to gather around the throne of god and we're going to see it in ultra high definition this is the only real lasting solution so we must show not only show the love of christ we must not only pursue as much as we're able reasonable justice to be done in our world but folks let's concentrate on the assignment we've been given which is the only lasting change and that is the gospel the fourth point of biblical correction is the only perfect ruler is jesus christ in isaiah chapter 42 we we encounter the very first of what are called the servant songs there are four servant songs in isaiah talking about the messiah this is the first one isaiah 42 and he focuses a good bit on what christ would do in his first coming but in the middle of that he shifts and talks about what christ will do one day when he establishes his kingdom on this planet listen to isaiah 42 3 and 4 he the messiah our lord will faithfully bring forth justice he will not be disheartened or crushed until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands meaning the continents all over this planet will wait expectantly for his law that's the only time on this planet there will be true justice and he will bring it he will faithfully bring forth justice you know we should do what we can we've talked about that but understand that the injustice in this fallen world and there always will be there always will be to some extent in our country just face that reality as long as they're fallen people that's what's in the heart but the injustice in this fallen world should make us long for the kingdom of our lord jesus christ when there will be only perfect justice well there's so much more that could be said about this subject in fact i found myself a little frustrated trying to fit it into two messages but if you want to read more about it here are some recommended resources i recommend all of these but the first two are especially helpful fault lines by voting backham christianity and wokeness by owen strong what every christian needs to know about social justice by jeffrey johnson if you want to know more about what's going on in christianity the rise of woke christianity by toby smith and by what standard which is a book edited by jared longshore but it includes articles by vody backham by tom askle and others all of those are very helpful but if you're going to read just one pick one of those first two they are especially helpful but folks can i just admonish you don't buy into every new idea that comes sweeping across america or sweeping through the church be committed to the faith once for all delivered to the saints come back and say what does the bible teach and what have christians believed and championed and made their priorities for two thousand years and make that what you aim for and not keeping up with what's trending let's pray together father thank you for your word for its clarity and truth lord help us to be people of the book to know our times but mostly to know our god and to know his truth lord forgive us for for being so tempted to be swept along by by what's trending help us instead to be tied to the truth and father i pray for those who may be this morning who don't know you who still don't have peace with you may this be the day when they recognize the the beauty of the gospel its attraction lord help them to look at to look at the mess that they've made of their lives as all of us have at some point or other and to recognize that the only solution is jesus christ may they repent and believe in him even today we pray in jesus name amen

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Published: Tue Sep 07 2021