Racial divisions. Jesus really is the answer.

Steve Brown:
Racial divisions. Jesus really is the answer. Let’s talk on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and suffers. Because life’s hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author, Steve Brown.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible and by the way, hope you had a great weekend and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. If you have your Bible, open it to Galatians 3:25 through 29. If you’re driving, you just keep your eyes on the road. And we’re continuing with our study in Galatians and we’re taking our time. We’re gonna, we’re going to continue with what we started a week or so ago. Right before Zach spent a week teach, is he something else or what? I love that guy. And I want you to know he’s exactly the way off of mic, that he is on mic. He is the most authentic, gentle, kind, loving young man that I think I’ve ever known. And you’re very fortunate, and I am too, to have him teach us. But just before Zach taught last week, we were talking about a kingdom mentality and the way the book of Galatians talks about that. And we’ll continue with that after we do what we always do on Monday. We pray. It can’t hurt. Father, we come into your presence and we come always surprised and amazed, astounded that we’re here. They lied to us, when they said we had to be good enough. They didn’t tell us the truth, when they said we had to work at it. They really, really told us things that weren’t true when they said that we had to be good. We’re here for none of those reasons, we’re here because you invited us and you made it possible through adoption and imputation and justification. You’ve justified us. You’ve adopted us as your children and you’ve imputed the righteousness of Christ to be the clothing with which we come before your throne. And father, we praise you and we worship you. You know, the people who are listening to this broadcast and you know, the hard places, you know when people are tired and don’t believe they can keep on doing it. Who just wish that the dark would go away, who deal with the demons of loneliness and meaninglessness and loss. You know, all of that. You also know the laughter and the joy, remind us that you’re sufficient for every need and that your laughter joins ours and that you are a God and a God who loves his people. And you’ve got our back. And as always father, we pray for the one who teaches, forgive him his sins, because there are many, we would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. The text is Galatians 3:25 through 29, is a part of our ongoing study of this magnificent book. This is what Paul says.

But now that faith has come, we’re no longer under a custodian,

he’s talking about the law.

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 neither male nor female, for you are all in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Now if you were listening a couple of weeks ago, we took some time to kind of delve into that and the look and what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom. In these days, with politics as angry as it is, Christians have to stop sometimes, and we need just say to ourselves, this is not my city. I’ve been called to be here and to be a blessing to those who are here, but I’m an ambassador from a different place, a different King, a different kingdom, and being a citizen of that kingdom says some things about us. If you were listening, we saw that the kingdom is moral. In other words, it’s about the law. Paul has been talking about the law and we’ve spent a long time looking at what he said, Galatians 3:28.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free.

What’s he talking about? He’s talking about a moral anchor, that is a part of a kingdom mentality. We are all sinners and we need a great savior, but let me tell you something that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t good and evil and that it’s defined clearly in Scripture. It doesn’t mean that the moral base of the universe should not be taught and spoken and applied to ourselves. Now you got to do that with grace, because we’re not home yet. You’ve got to do it with grace, because we’re all messed up. In fact, that is the key that some of the other things that the apostle Paul said, but we as Christians with a kingdom mentality are a part of a kingdom that is clearly moral and ethical. And we need to be clear about that, in all we say and all we teach. Second, we saw that it is incarnational, we talked about, about a second incarnation. And you say, there ain’t no second incarnation. Oh yeah, there is, it’s Christ, God in Christ, and then Christ in you is the second incarnation. And then we saw that the kingdom is international. And we saw that it was a cross, well, we’re going to look at now, not only international, but cross cultural, Galatians 3:28.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free.

Let me tell you something you ought to know, the members of the kingdom of God have been the greatest agents for social change in the history of the universe. In the early church, believe it or not, there were slaves who were officers of the church in authority over the masters, under whom they were slaves in the kingdom of darkness. It was Christians, who were the spearhead for reform of child labor laws, prison reform, abolition of slavery and medical missions. Why is that? Because elitism and Christianity cannot be named together in any sentence uttered from the mouth of a member of the kingdom. Look at Galatians 3:28.

There’s neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.

Biblical Christianity has given women dignity, has given slaves freedom. Have given nobodies, that they’re somebodies, because there is an equality and there is a balance and there is a cross cultural reality that is at the center of the kingdom. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we have some racial problems in America and you do too in Canada. And if you’re listening in other countries, the same with you too, do you know where the answer lies? No, government’s not going to fix it. They’ve tried and it gets worse. Sociologists, aren’t going to fix it. They study the problem, they get it wrong and they determine the future sort of like a priest in a cult in a third country, looking at the end trails of chickens. They’re not going to fix it. You know, the people that are, your neighbors are not going to fix it by being nice. If you’ll be nice, then everybody else will be nice. No, they won’t. That’s not going to fix it. You know what will fix it? Kingdom mentality. What is that kingdom mentality recognize? It recognizes grace of you. Have you ever seen so much self righteousness in all your life? I mean, and I know, by saying that I’m being self-righteous, so I don’t escape either. I have never in my life, in me or in everybody else that I see, and certainly those who are the talking heads on television and the politicians and the leader. I have never seen so much self-righteousness in my entire life. Now, I’ve run out of time and I hate to bring up a subject that’s very important, and then end, but we’ll sort of make that a teaser for tomorrow, so you’ll be sure and listen. How can you fix self-righteousness, without being self-righteous? You can’t. Oops, it’s Jesus. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. That was Steve Brown, teaching us from Galatians 3:25 through 29. And we ended up today, where we will pick it up tomorrow, discussing the persistent problem of self-righteousness. Hope you’ll join us again then. Hey, while you’re here. Can I ask you something? You ever tried to be better? No. No. I mean really try. Oh, you have, well, here’s another question for you to consider. What if it’s not about getting better? What if the reason we’re so bad is that we’re trying so hard to be good. What if our efforts at sin management, not only don’t work, they can’t work. Steve wrote about this in a booklet called Three Free Sins. If what I just said comforted you, or if it ticked you off, you need to check it out. Just call 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email your request to [email protected]. By mail, write us at

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