Love The Sojourner

I really think we will remember the 2016 Presidential Election specifically for its polarizing nature - the isolating differences that emerged from both sides. It seems like now more than ever people can only be on one side of the aisle or the other.  Facebook in particular seems to be the magnifying glass that creates this sort of polarity of thinking. On Facebook we scroll across hundreds if not thousands of reactionary posts, click-bait headlines, and memes on a daily basis. We go from being a people with diverse viewpoints and the ability to respect one another in person, to people who become disillusioned at the "other side." It is nearly impossible to look at Facebook now and not walk away feeling hurt, frustrated, or disappointed in someone else's viewpoint. We start to look at people in different ways than used to, and we start to put them into groups. We make assumptions about people based on one thing that influence the way we think about them in everything. On Facebook and other social media sites, the dynamic nature of the individual with all their thoughts, ideas, personality traits, hopes, dreams, and dimensions actually shrinks to categories of thought. We start to align ourselves with those we agree with and we distance ourselves from others. This is a problem. It divides us, alienates us, and influences our worldview.

I feel compelled today to write about the idea of partiality, namely as it pertains to God and the Bible. I pray that if you don't believe in Christ and aren't interested in hearing about the Bible that you would at least consider reading further for the sake of promoting unity and understanding. And I pray that if you are a follower of Christ and believe the Bible that this post would challenge you to appreciate Jesus all the more and encourage you to be more like him.

In the Book of Deuteronomy, God is reminding Israel of the nature in which he chose them and made a covenant with them in love. He is reminding them of what he has done for them and will do for them. He is reminding them and encouraging them to walk in his ways, love him and serve him with all their heart. He does all of this by reminding Israel of his nature and character.

"Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 10:14-19)

The God of heaven and earth set his heart in love on Israel. This amazing creator God who rules over all things specifically chose and set his love upon Israel. That is astounding! In light of that fact, God says that Israel should, "circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn."

God further reminds Israel of who he is by telling them that he is the "God of gods...great, mighty...the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe." God reminds Israel that he executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, that he loves the sojourner. Lastly he reminds Israel to love the sojourner - for they themselves used to be sojourners! Because God is this way, so shall Israel be. God loves the sojourner, so shall Israel, for they are to be like God and not be stubborn to resist him. This is important to God. Israel was chosen (in part) to reflect God's nature to the foreigner and the sojourner so that others could see that God is the one true God.

Among the aspects of God's nature is that he is impartial. God accepts no bride. God executes justice for the fatherless, the widow, and the sojourner. If God is impartial, he expects and demands of us that we should be impartial as well.

In the New Testament, James touches on the reason why partiality is an affront to God.

"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 transgressors." (James 2:8-9 ESV)

James is warning us to be aware of a key gospel principle. God shows no partiality but judges all by the same law, and by the same grace he redeems all who put their faith in Jesus. Therefore, if God is just and impartial in all his dealings so shall we be. It is sin to show partiality because if you do, James says, you are violating the royal law according to Scripture that "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Partiality is a sin and an affront to God because he is impartial, and we are to be like him. Partiality according to James leads us to make "distinctions" and we become "judges with evil thoughts." (James 2:4)

When we are showing partiality to others, we are not loving others as ourselves. We are missing the whole point of the gospel.

James appeals to the gospel to remind us all to be impartial. "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?" (James 2:5) As followers of Christ, as "beloved brothers" we are called to treat the "poor in the world" with no distinction. We are not supposed to make distinctions or judge others with our "evil thoughts," but rather to remember the gospel. We were the sojourner, the spiritually poor person in need of a Savior and now we have received Christ and we are "heirs of the kingdom." God has promised to all who love him that they will be heirs of this kingdom. Therefore we must love the sojourner, the spiritually poor person, as ourselves. As Israel was chosen and reminded to be impartial and love the sojourner so are we who are in Christ.

Paul also tells us about distinctions and why the gospel overcomes them. "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:25-29 ESV)

As sons of God we have put on Christ. We must flee from making fleshly distinctions. Are there people in your life who you don't believe can be saved? Do you ever look at someone and think that there is no hope for them? What about on Facebook, do you write people off?

The point and power of the gospel is that God is impartial and does the impossible. God chooses us and brings us into relationship with him. His nature becomes our nature in relationship as we walk in relationship with him and our neighbor. Like Israel we are to know him and be known by him, and we are to be like him.

When the sin of partiality crops up, and the outcry of distinction comes into our hearts against the sojourner, let us remember when they asked Jesus: "Who then can be saved?" and he said "What is impossible with man is possible with God." (Luke 18:27) 

Jesus makes the impossible, possible.
Jesus makes salvation possible for all.
As Hebrews says, "but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:24-25)

God demonstrates the impartial saving power of his grace beautifully through the examples of Levi the tax collector and Saul of Tarsus, in the New Testament.

He takes Levi, a tax collector and sinner, and turns him into the gospel writer Matthew, whose words live to help people know and love Jesus Christ.

R. Kent Hughes says this of Jesus calling Levi, "Whether he was named Matthew when Jesus first called him, we do not know. Many think that just as Simon was named Peter (“the rock”) by the Lord, so Levi was likewise tagged Matthew (“gift of God”). If so, this was divine poetry, because this covetous rip-off artist would become, as his name suggested, a gift of God to his people.

This was utterly amazing, because of all the people in Capernaum, Levi was the most publicly unacceptable candidate for discipleship. Jesus sought out the man no one else wanted, the one who some wished would come under God’s most severe judgment. This is one of the glories of Jesus’ ministry. And this is what Luke has been building toward in his Gospel arrangement—Jesus’ healing the impossibly disfigured leper (thus demonstrating his power to heal the ravages of sin), then his pronouncement to those gathered around the paralytic that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (5:24), and now this. Jesus offers real forgiveness for real guilt!" (Preaching The Word, Luke.)

Nobody would've been a more disgusting individual in Capernaum than Levi, and through relationship with Jesus, he became Matthew, a beautiful and blessed tool in the hand of God!

Further, the apostle Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to God's apostle to the Gentiles. Paul describes himself in Ephesians as the "least of all the saints," because of his vicious past. And here in 1 Timothy he explains further the beauty of the saving grace of Christ, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:15-16 ESV)

Saul was the foremost sinner! Nobody was further away from the truth of the gospel than Saul! But relationship with Christ changed the murderous Saul into the humble apostle Paul, who brought God's word to the Gentiles. We can look at Paul and know that Christ has perfect patience and infinite mercy stored up for even the foremost of sinners!
There isn't a single person in the world who is beyond the reach of God's amazing grace!
Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. Let us always cling to that truth!

When we show partiality, we are not walking in step with the gospel. We are not reflecting God to others, because we are not loving others as ourselves. In this Facebook era, it can become easy to begin to write others off. We can dismiss others and start to believe that they are too far gone. That is deceitful, because we can see that God is impartial. God saves to the uttermost in Christ Jesus, and he makes beautiful things out of even the ugliest. We must remember this truth. We must remember who God is, how he loves us, and what he does for us in Christ Jesus. We must pursue the grace of God for ourselves and for the sake of others in light of this truth. We must not make the mistake of showing partiality, but we must love our neighbor as ourself.

“Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28b-31)

Are there people or groups that you show partiality to? 

How can the saving grace of Christ change your heart toward them?