Rob Grunden
Partiality is something the world is dripping with in recent years. Okay...it's been more than in recent years. It's really been around since...well, the fall of man in Genesis. However, in recent years, at least in our nation, we've seen partiality rear its ugly head in many ways, and we've seen it more frequently. In fact, putting our individual and corporate partiality on display for all to see and as an example to be mimicked; well, that's something that we're all expected to do. Now, I don't need to write much more about this for you to "get it" since we're all in the middle of living in it. We see it every time we turn on the news. We see it often when we turn to our favorite podcasts. We hear about it in sermons. We read articles about it in the paper. Our culture is very much dripping from saturation in narcisistic virtue signaling, and when expanding and creating more partiality isn't at the top of your list of priorities, then your need to turn from your sins against the world is brought up. Well-known pastor/preacher Matt Chandler displayed a perfect example of this thinking, a display that I fear will be with him for the rest of his life. In his attempt to be clearly on the side of fence mending, he clearly demonstrated what the Scriptures call partiality, and was, I'm convinced, too blind to recognize it. This is where we find ourselves in culture.
This whole conundrum got me thinking about caring for ones own people. Is that a crime? Is it truly wrong to have a deeper desire to see your people (however you'd like to define that) come to faith. Is it wrongheaded to long for your own people to be discipled, learn and grow in their faith? We know that the Scriptures tell us we should care about and love everyone. We know the Scriptures would tell us...even command us to show no partiality in gospel proclamation or hospitality or anything else. However, is it sinful to have a special care and longing for your own people; a care and longing that, for whatever reason you don't have for another people? Doesn't that sound terrible?
Well, I was reading in Nehemiah recently. Nehemiah is mostly about the wall of Jerusalem being rebuilt after the exile of God's people. But in the very beginning of the book Nehemiah gets word of the state that Jerusalem is in and it breaks his heart.
They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who remain from the captivity are in great calamity and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire." Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." (Nehemiah 1:3-4)
This is not a picture of a man who didn't care anything for the people around him physically at the time. It wasn't a picture of a man who didn't long for all people to know the Father he knew. It was simply a man with a connection to his kin that he didn't have with others. This is also something with which we can identify, practically, on a familial level. There are several people in our church that I've spoken with who have particular struggles and brokenness for their unbelieving family members. Some of them are Roman Catholic and unbelieving. There are some who are back in another state influenced by the Church of Jesus Christ (a Jesus Christ of their invention for sure) of Latter Day Saints. And there are those who are simply living in the muck and mire of the world, and enjoying every minute of their rebellion against God. We all have those family members. And if there is any solid definition of "your people," that would be it. Family. So is it weird or sinful that we have a special connection with our family and long for all of them to come to know Christ, to learn him, to grow in him, to come to spiritual maturity in him? Is that wrong. Of course not!
Now, if we broaden the idea and move beyond blood relatives we'll see that the same concept is transferable...and it doesn't have to be an ethnic thing. What about the people in the town of your childhood? Maybe you have a deeper connection with those folks. What about the city or community in which you live today? Wouldn't it be weird if you didn't have a deeper longing for the people with which you physically interact to come to saving faith? I think so. What about ethnicity. Sure, let's go there. Could there exist a godly longing to see people of your ethnic group come to the knowledge of the Lord? Sure there could! We identify with people groups. It's normal. It's a good thing that so many Aftican Americans are working to bring the gospel to their communities! It's a good thing when Hispanic people care about their communities, and for the salvation of the souls around them! The problem arises only when we intentionally overlook some, for the sake of others. So, if I live in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood and I walk past them every day to get to my ministry work in a mostly white neighborhood...then we certainly have a problem. If our local church is putting up barriers for certain people groups to make it difficult for them to worship with us, then that's a problem. Of course we can unintentionally and unknowingly have barriers in our own lives and in the ebb and flow of church life, and those are barriers that should be dealt with as they are made known to us.
The problem arises only when we intentionally overlook some, for the sake of others.
Something else that should be made clear is that it's not quite that clear. Because there is also something to be said about the selfishness of humanity. There is a certain level of pride in a person who assumes the local church is for them and that things should be conformed to their culture or ideas. In our culture, this is typically where the "woke" person would say, "Yep...and that's exactly what you are doing with your reformed services. You're alienating those who aren't as reformed as you. You're decor is white. And your music and preaching isn't lively enough." And to that I would say...stop being selfish! Lol. That kind of thing proves my point as much as it would prove anyone else's.
This is a complicated issue. And honestly, spending too much time thinking about it has become a sad distraction within our churches in America. The best any of us can do is tackle the sin that is laid before us as it's revealed to us. By that I do not mean broad stroked accusations of sin. Rather than saying, "Well, you're a racist...so work on that," the accuser should be able to say, "This particular thing you do seems like partiality." Sins are specific. They are each a going against the law of God. That's what sin is. Only specific sins can be dealt with, because they are tangible. They are seen. They can be discovered and subsequently put to death.
Perhaps the best biblical example of the things I've talked about is Paul. He was a Jew and an incredibly learned Pharisee. Yet, the majority of Paul's ministry was to the Gentiles. God told Ananias, just after Paul's new birth on the road to Damascus, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Paul, himself said in his letter to the Galatian churches...
But when God, who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might proclaim him as good news among the Gentiles... (Galatians 1:15-16)
Paul spent his life on mission to a people with which he did not identify. Yet his heart longed for the salvation of his own people. He longed for the salvation of the Jews. He wanted more than anything for the Jewish people, his kin, his family, to know, love, and serve the same Jesus Christ that blinded him while on his way to persecute the church. Paul said as much at the beginning of Romans chapter nine.
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh... (Romans 9:1-3)
Here's the takeaway. Paul was given a task from God. It was to proclaim the gospel to those who were unlike him. It was to proclaim the truths of the Christian life to those with which whom he did not identify as closely as some others. Paul hurt for, longed for, cried for his own people as they wallowed in their unbelief yet the work that God gave him didn't fall to the wayside. It didn't suffer because of the distraction. God has given each of us a task. He's given each of us people around us that need Christ. So, as you go about your days, living alongside those in your household, perhaps working outside your home with many who are unbelievers, taking walks around the block in a neighborhood filled with unbelievers or nominal Christians, buying groceries, and filling your car with fuel...remember that God's calling for you is to live as a Christian in all of those places and circumstances, in both word and deed. Part of doing that successfully is to be that Christian to all who come across your path, regardless of what their bank account looks like, what kind of lifestyle they currently live, and yes, even the color of their skin. Christians don't skip over certain people to get to others.
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