Study # 38
May 27, 1998
Harlingen, Texas
(Download Audio)

Thesis: James' focus upon the churches' active discrimination against the poor has roots in the heart of God toward those who are rich in faith. Introduction: Last week we saw that God's sovereign election moves primarily in the direction of the materially poor. We saw that this was not a kind of reverse discrimination, or respect of persons,--because God is not a respecter of persons--against the wealthy. The issues are not fundamentally wealth/poverty issues. The issues are fundamentally love/faith issues. The problem of love/faith issues is that they are impossible to develop within the context of idolatry, and they are next to impossible to develop within the context of material wealth. The problem is not wealth, per se; it is man's focus upon the visible and tangible. The problem with love is that time has corrupted eternity in the minds of present-loving men; and the problem of faith is that visibility has corrupted spiritual integrity in empirically insecure men. The bottom lines are two: God's values MUST replace men's, and God's words MUST be viewed as absolutely trustworthy by men.