WWUTT 1470 Responding to J.D. Greear's Pharisee Sermon (Part 1)

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

The sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ are everlasting treasures.

00:06

But then there are men and women whose teaching does not align with the Bible. Their teaching may not be heresy, but it is of little to no value when we understand the text.

00:24

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

00:34

Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

00:40

Here once again is Pastor Gabe. This past week on the podcast, we read through 1 Corinthians 3, 10 -11, where the

00:46

Apostle Paul says the following, According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder,

00:53

I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is

01:04

Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

01:23

The sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness are everlasting treasures, gold, silver, and precious stones.

01:36

But then there are men and women whose teaching does not align with the Bible. Their teaching may not be heresy, but it is of little to no value in building up the church.

01:45

Such materials are wood, hay, and straw. The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention was held in Nashville, Tennessee, June 15 -16, and as you may have heard, it was a divided affair, to say the least.

02:00

Outgoing President J .D. Greer preached his final sermon, addressing the convention before lunch on Tuesday.

02:06

It was such a great sermon, pause for effect, to serve as an example of teaching that contributes nothing of eternal value in the building up of Christ's church.

02:18

In fact, it did more to foment division than forge unity. Greer opened the sermon cordially, expressing his delight for serving a three -year term as president of the

02:28

SBC. He gave thanks for the influential teachers of the conservative resurgence who saved the

02:34

Southern Baptist Convention decades ago from backsliding into liberalism. Greer went on to say that the convention is now facing a different threat, not of theological liberalism, but of the leaven of the

02:46

Pharisees. However, the leaven that Greer described sounded a lot less like the

02:52

Pharisees as Jesus confronted them, and a lot more like the people at odds with J .D.

02:57

Greer. I'll be reviewing the main portion of that sermon and break it up into two parts. This is part one.

03:03

I'm going to skip ahead to 6 minutes and 38 seconds in. Here is Dr. James David Greer.

03:11

You see, Jesus warned that there is more than one way for a generation to lose the gospel.

03:17

The curse of liberalism is real. The curse of liberalism is a way, of course, but there was another leaven, was the word that Jesus used, a leaven that Jesus warned about also, perhaps one even more deceptive than liberalism.

03:35

He called it the leaven of the Pharisees. Maybe what is most dangerous about this leaven is that it grows in the soil of orthodoxy.

03:45

I want us to walk through a few of the characteristics that Jesus gave of the leaven of the Pharisees. Found in Matthew 23.

03:52

If you want to look at them in your Bible, orthodoxy means right teaching.

03:59

Does Greer mean to say that the leaven of the Pharisees grew out of good soil, out of the right teaching of scripture?

04:07

Unfortunately, he never defines his terms, nor does he read the scripture and explain it.

04:13

Yes, even though he just said turn to Matthew 23, but the leaven of the Pharisees is defined back in chapter 16, beginning in verse five.

04:21

We read when the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, watch and beware of the leaven of the

04:30

Pharisees and Sadducees. And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, we brought no bread.

04:37

Jesus reminded them of the miracles he had performed, feeding the 5 ,000 and then the 4 ,000 and all the food that was left over.

04:44

God has always provided bread. So Jesus said, how is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread?

04:53

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the

05:04

Pharisees and the Sadducees. So what is the leaven of the Pharisees?

05:10

In the context of Matthew, it is false teaching. Leaven, like yeast, makes bread rise.

05:17

If you're trying to make unleavened bread, then even a little leaven leavens the whole lump, as it says in first Corinthians five, six and Galatians five, nine, and it ruins the recipe.

05:28

Even a little heresy ruins the whole person. The Pharisees were not

05:34

Orthodox. They added to and took away from God's word. Jesus had been making that point since Matthew five in the

05:42

Sermon on the Mount. Not only were the Pharisees teaching falsely, they also did not meet their own standard of righteousness.

05:49

In Matthew 15, starting in verse seven, Jesus said to the Pharisees, you hypocrites, well did

05:56

Isaiah prophesy of you when he said this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain.

06:06

Do they worship me teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men?

06:13

This is important to establish because Greer attempts to make a case that there are people who are sound in doctrine, but they are wrong in action.

06:21

And this makes them Pharisees. It's the gist of his whole sermon, but that wasn't the Pharisees.

06:27

Bad fruit does not grow out of good soil. Jesus said in Matthew 13, 23, as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.

06:39

He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case, a hundred fold in another 60 and in another 30.

06:47

And does Greer really mean to argue that sound teachers are Pharisees? Then he's making up his own categories for the purposes of this sermon.

06:57

That is not what the Bible says. He can say what he wants to say, but don't say that it comes from Matthew 23.

07:03

Of course, I'll be using the CSB, but before I do, I just want to make clear, please hear me.

07:11

I am not saying that anyone who disagrees with me on something is a Pharisee. No for sure.

07:18

I see some of these qualities present in me also. It's hard for me to actually talk about them because I feel my own conscience and the stare of my wife saying, thou art the man.

07:33

And I pray that you will consider whether or not these present are in your heart also. Now this was, this was actually quite a funny attempt at humility.

07:43

If Greer thinks that what Jesus says to the Pharisees in Matthew 23 are present in his heart.

07:48

Also, he's unqualified to be a pastor, much less president of the

07:54

Southern Baptist convention. Let me do what Greer won't do. And that's actually read

08:00

Matthew 23 addressing the Pharisees beginning in verse 13. Jesus said, but woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.

08:14

You neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

08:21

So does Greer think that this describes him? Does he shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces?

08:26

Notice that Jesus says these men will not enter themselves. Truly Greer does not think his teaching disqualifies him from the kingdom of God.

08:36

Verse 15, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte.

08:46

And when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. So does

08:52

Greer think that he makes people twice as much a son of hell as himself? Does he think that his wife thinks so with his thou art the man reference?

09:02

Now I do not believe that Greer believes that about himself, nor do I think that his wife thinks that about him.

09:07

I do believe that Greer is twisting the scriptures and his attempt to cover himself may actually be his exposure.

09:17

He says he's not calling everyone who disagrees with him a Pharisee, but it sure sounds like that in this sermon.

09:26

First, Jesus said that Pharisees are not content with what the Bible says. So they create a hedge about the law, creating, he said, conflating, he said, the traditions of men with the commands of God.

09:41

It's not that their traditions were bad. It's not that their traditions were devoid of all wisdom.

09:47

It's that they equated those traditions and those secondary applications of biblical command with the authority of God and condemned those who disagreed, even when those same people affirmed the commands of God.

10:02

What does that look like today? Notice that Greer is going right into application when he hasn't even read a word of scripture.

10:09

This is not how to preach the Bible. In the preaching workshops that I've been a part of, this is what we tell people not to do.

10:17

This is eisegesis, meaning that Greer is imposing onto the text what he wants it to mean.

10:25

A pastor must draw out from the text, which is eisegesis. Creating a hedge about the law is not in the text, but what it means is to completely abstain from certain things so to avoid even the potential of breaking

10:40

God's law. The first place that we see this in scripture is in the Garden of Eden.

10:46

In Genesis 3 .1, the serpent asked Eve, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

10:54

And Eve replied, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

11:08

God did not say anything about not touching the fruit. He said, do not eat it.

11:14

Eve put a hedge about the law as though to say, if we don't even touch the fruit, we're less likely to eat the fruit.

11:23

And how did that work out for her? Now, this is something that I can say I've been guilty of doing.

11:29

All believers might find themselves doing this at some point or another. We may have a genuine and willing desire to love

11:36

God and obey his law. We may discipline ourselves by making some precautions so that we don't disobey

11:44

God. But then we start imposing those precautions on other people as if these are laws that they have to follow also.

11:56

For example, I don't want to get anybody sick, so I'm going to wear a mask.

12:02

I'm doing this because I care about my neighbor, and that may very well be true. But then you start imposing that on other people as if it were a command of God.

12:14

Wear a mask because God said, love your neighbor. And if you don't wear a mask, then you're disobeying

12:20

God. This creates a system of extra laws, of rules and regulations that no one can keep.

12:27

And like Greer said, and I agree with him, those extra laws are given equal authority with God's law.

12:34

This is why Jesus said of the Pharisees, in vain do they worship me. It's for their glory and not

12:41

God's glory, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Rather than trusting in God and his righteousness, man trusts in himself and his own righteousness.

12:55

He trusts in his own laws and his ability to keep those laws in order to keep

13:00

God's laws. But we have not kept God's law, nor can we keep our own laws.

13:07

Romans 2 .1 says, therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.

13:13

For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

13:21

Romans 3 .10 says, none is righteous, no, not one.

13:28

But then verses 21 to 22 say, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

13:41

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

13:49

I know I'm taking up a lot of space here, but this is the work that Greer should be doing, reading the word of God and explaining it, giving the sense, as it says in Nehemiah 8 .8.

14:01

But instead, Greer is jumping right out of context into modern application.

14:07

So here are Greer's examples of when traditions and secondary applications of biblical commands have been equated with God's word.

14:17

Well, it happens when we take a gospel non -essential like a cultural or stylistic preference or our application of wisdom in an area where the

14:27

Bible does not give a direct command or our political calculus and we give it divine weight.

14:34

It happens when we make no distinction between essentials where thus says the Lord and derivative applications where liberty is more appropriate.

14:43

Brothers and sisters, we say we believe in the sufficiency of the scriptures, but believing in the sufficiency of scripture means in part not attaching divine authority to something unless it has a chapter and verse.

14:57

It means knowing how to distinguish between thus says the Lord and here's how

15:02

I believe you should apply that. But how can we distinguish between thus says the

15:09

Lord and here's how I believe you should apply that when Greer doesn't read what the

15:14

Lord says? All we're hearing in this sermon is here's how I believe you should apply that.

15:22

Greer is doing in real time what he's telling the Convention of Southern Baptists not to do as Jesus said in Matthew 23 3 for they preach but do not practice.

15:36

Second Jesus said the Pharisees focus on the more minute parts of the law while ignoring the weightier parts.

15:43

They strained at a gnat he said and swallowed a camel. That's verses 23 and 24 woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faithfulness these you ought to have done without neglecting the others you blind guides straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.

16:14

What does this reference mean? We use it a lot. But what does it mean? Well, the law said not to eat anything unclean and a gnat was the smallest of unclean animals.

16:25

So the Pharisees would strain their drinks through a fine cloth to make sure they did not swallow a gnat by accident in their drink.

16:32

But they swallowed a camel meaning they miss the overall point to do justice love mercy and walk humbly with your

16:42

God Micah 6 8. Well, what does that look like today? It probably looks like insisting on accountability in our leadership while allowing gossip and cynicism and slander to go unchecked in ourselves.

16:57

I doubt he's talking about Russell Moore or Beth Moore here might look like any institution that creates unnecessary obstacles for victims of sexual abuse to seek justice by hiding behind legal smoke screens or NDAs.

17:16

I'm unfamiliar with anyone in any SBC institution hiding behind a nondisclosure agreement.

17:22

Perhaps he's making a reference to Ravi Zacharias, but I'm not sure Ravi wasn't part of the SBC, though he did speak at one of the

17:29

SBC annual meetings a few years ago. I think since everything has come to light, it's widely accepted across the

17:37

Southern Baptist Convention that what Ravi Zacharias did, his adultery, his sex abuse scandals and everything else.

17:44

All of that was really, really wicked before his actions were bad.

17:49

His teaching was bad. Bad trees bear bad fruit. I can assure you it happens when we care more about our reputation than the victim's safety or when we defer to protection of the institution rather than the protection of the vulnerable for whom

18:03

Jesus died. This is meant to be a jab at Ronnie Floyd and Mike Stone, and that's how it was received by Greer's base.

18:12

But if he's going to implicate Floyd and Stone, he'd also have to implicate Russell Moore. I'm not going to take up the space with the details here, but for a common sense overview, read the article

18:22

Russell Moore and some basic Baptist baseball by Doug Wilson. It looks like a convention that polices itself rigorously on complementarian issues, but allows female abuse victims to be mistreated and maligned.

18:36

The argument here is that some Southern Baptists are more about keeping women out of the pulpit than they care about sex abuse victims.

18:47

I dare Greer to name one person who does this. Shame on him for hiding behind women who have been sexually abused so he can avoid having to address the very real and growing issue of women preaching in Southern Baptist churches.

19:07

As I've said before, it looks like an SBC that expends more energy decrying things like CRT than they have done lamenting the devastating consequences of years of racial bigotry and discrimination.

19:21

So I went to the Southern Baptist website where you can find every resolution ever adopted at an annual meeting.

19:29

Over the last 10 years, going back to 2011, there has been a resolution decrying some level of racism or our past sins as a convention in every annual meeting but one.

19:43

When you look at the alphabetized list of resolutions, there are 27 references to resolutions addressing either race or racism.

19:53

By comparison, there are 27 resolutions addressing abortion. Now, these resolutions that address racism include condemning the alt -right and white supremacy in 2017 and the

20:07

Confederate battle flag in 2016. Incidentally, there are no resolutions condemning

20:14

Antifa or the Ferguson, George Floyd, or Jacob Blake riots. In 1941, the convention passed the

20:23

Resolution Concerning Race Relations, which urged people pastors and churches, quote, to cultivate and maintain the finest

20:31

Christian spirit and attitude toward the Negro race and to do everything possible for the welfare of the race, both economic and religious, and for the defense and protection of all the civil rights of the race, unquote.

20:48

This was 14 years before the civil rights movement began. The resolution also repudiated lynching.

20:57

The convention expressed grief in the previous two annual meetings over lives lost to lynching in the

21:03

U .S. This was over 80 years ago. In the history of the SBC, guess how many resolutions there are condemning critical race theory?

21:15

Zero. Really. That's an easy answer. Guess how many resolutions on critical race theory were debated at the 2021

21:24

Southern Baptist annual meeting? Zero. As far as I know, critical race theory had never even been uttered at an annual meeting until 2019, when the resolutions committee rolled out

21:40

Resolution 9 and the convention led by J .D. Greer implemented CRT and intersectionality as, quote, analytical tools.

21:50

Greer is one of the ones responsible for starting this whole mess over critical race theory.

21:57

Two years later, he has the audacity to blow smoke up the rear ends of nearly 20 ,000 people in that room when he says that the

22:05

SBC expends more energy decrying CRT than they do lamenting the devastating consequences of racial bigotry.

22:13

Brethren, CRT is racial bigotry, denouncing all white people, especially white men, as morally inferior racist bigots.

22:26

Now, lest you think I'm blowing that out of proportion and characterizing the most extreme side of CRT, Dr.

22:32

Matthew Hall, provost of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the school's chief academic administrator, said the following, quote,

22:41

I am a racist. I am going to struggle with racism and white supremacy until the day

22:49

I die and receive my glorified body, unquote. That comment was influenced by critical race theory, the thing that SBC officers do not want to discuss.

23:02

They will give lip service to condemning CRT, but it's as if they do not want the messengers to learn about it or else people will see just how influenced by CRT, the convention and its institutions really are.

23:15

Prior to the twenty twenty one annual meeting, a resolution on critical race theory and intersectionality was submitted to the resolutions committee with over thirteen hundred co -signers, unprecedented for any resolution in the hundred and seventy six years of the

23:34

Southern Baptist Convention. But the resolutions committee would not allow the messengers to read it or to vote on it.

23:42

They shut it down in committee. It was entitled Resolution on the

23:47

Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with the Baptist Faith and Message.

23:52

Full disclosure, I played a small part in writing it. One of the things I insisted upon about the resolution was that unlike Resolution nine, critical race theory and intersectionality needed to be defined, however briefly, so Southern Baptists would know what these ideologies are and why they're incompatible with the

24:12

Bible. The resolution stated, quote, whereas critical race theory collectively designates people by their social identity groups, example, people of color, women, homosexuals and transgenders, which views people according to the flesh.

24:29

Second Corinthians five sixteen. And whereas intersectionality combines gender, sex, sexuality and a myriad of other identity related concepts in order to allocate power, positions, revenue and opportunities in ways that are contrary to objective biblical standards of justice.

24:51

Leviticus 1915, Deuteronomy 16, 19 to 20, unquote. But rather than letting the messengers see that resolution and allow for discussion, the twenty twenty one committee rolled out

25:03

Resolution two on the sufficiency of scripture for race and racial reconciliation.

25:09

In the resolution, CRTI are not mentioned. Now, on one hand,

25:15

I appreciate what the resolutions committee did. They took all the different statements on reconciliation, including those statements opposing

25:24

CRTI, and they compiled them into one statement. Resolution two that condemned racism and all worldly ideologies and elevated the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only thing that can reconcile us to God and to one another.

25:42

Amen. Hallelujah. I've been preaching that my whole pastoral ministry, however.

25:49

As the debate over Resolution two unfolded, it became apparent that the motivation was not as harmonious as we were led to believe.

25:58

Attempts to amend the resolution to condemn CRTI were not met with understanding and patience.

26:04

Rather, the committee treated these efforts with contempt and the messengers voted down any amendments at the behest of the committee.

26:14

One messenger came to a microphone and said that we needed to address CRTI by its name.

26:19

State run schools and institutions implement it by its name. The largest Protestant denomination in the world needed to be courageous and condemn it by its name.

26:29

Resolutions committee chair James Merritt became visibly irritated and huffed.

26:34

I'm going to say this bluntly and plainly. If some people were as passionate about critical about the gospel as they were critical race theory, we'd win this world to Christ tomorrow.

26:51

Simply astonishing. So according to James Merritt, the world would be going to heaven tomorrow if not for Christians who were passionately opposed to critical race theory over the last two years.

27:08

I had no idea that opposing heresy, that which is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ, was the reason the world was going to hell in a handbasket.

27:18

Did you? Aside from his astoundingly bad soteriology, Merritt was just being a jerk.

27:26

He insulted the messengers and at least half the room applauded him for it. It is because we love the gospel of Jesus Christ that we oppose

27:35

CRT. It is because we love people that we oppose CRT. But our motivations were impugned at the

27:42

Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting and we were characterized as enemies of the gospel.

27:50

If I acted in front of my church the way that James Merritt and JD Greer acted at their podiums,

27:56

I'd either get fired or people would stop giving money. And maybe that's what needs to happen.

28:06

Let me state this clearly and for the record, and if you're going to quote what

28:12

I just said, you need to quote everything I'm about to say also. For something as important as what justice in society looks like, we need robust, careful,

28:23

Bibles -open, on -our -knees discussions about it. Justice is a major theme in our

28:28

Bible and so, of course, Satan, the angel of light is going to produce counterfeits to it.

28:34

And so on this issue, we need to ensure that we are more shaped by the Scriptures than we are by the world.

28:41

The vast majority of Southern Baptists and all of your convention's leaders, both black and white, recognize that CRT is an ideology that arises out of a worldview at odds with the gospel.

28:52

And it is clear, it is clear that as a convention, we need to clarify and strengthen our position on it.

28:59

Then why didn't we? Why was Greer okay with letting Resolution 9 stand that accepts critical race theory and intersectionality as analytical tools in the

29:09

Southern Baptist Convention and all its churches and institutions? He says he's for Bibles -open, on -our -knees discussions.

29:17

So where's the discussion? Brethren, this is political posturing. That's when somebody pretends to have a particular opinion or attitude.

29:26

Greer is bloviating at a podium from which he and the Resolutions Committee shut down the discussion over critical race theory.

29:34

Discussion is not welcome here, only a certain kind of discussion. Last year, the

29:42

North American Missions Board, NAMM, paid for and distributed a video series called

29:47

Undivided, described as, quote, candid, gracious, biblical conversations about race, unquote.

29:54

You can watch this series for free on YouTube. The second part of this series was broken up into five half -hour sessions featuring roundtable discussions with nine evangelical leaders, including

30:08

J .D. Greer. All of these leaders affirmed the reality of systemic racism and the need to make restitution for past injustices.

30:18

In that discussion, Brian Leritz said, quote, true reconciliation means there's equal distribution of power, unquote.

30:28

When you start talking about power dynamics, this is the language of critical race theory and intersectionality, or as you may have also heard it called, cultural

30:38

Marxism. True reconciliation does not mean equal distribution of power.

30:45

True reconciliation means that we who were once enemies are now family.

30:51

Titus 3 .3 says that we were once hated by others and hating one another.

30:57

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us.

31:04

Not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

31:12

Once enemies of God, we are now sons and daughters of God and members of one another.

31:18

And I'm not saying that the whole Undivided series denied that or that it was all bad.

31:24

There were some great points that were made. However, only a certain kind of voice was welcome at that table.

31:30

Those that say whiteness has all the power and all blacks are suffering.

31:36

I have too much respect for people to believe that's true. When a single story goes viral of a black man breaking the law and getting killed by a white cop,

31:47

I respect my black friends too much to automatically assume they're all in grief mode. That's racial stereotyping.

31:55

And there was a lot of that in Undivided to view all white people and all black people as monolithic groups.

32:02

One of the talking points was grieving with the entire black population.

32:08

When something like George Floyd happens, Ken Witten, who's the pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Florida, said in the series that you can't just be against racism.

32:18

You have to become anti -racist. That's the rhetoric of Ibram X.

32:24

Kendi, father of the anti -racism movement and enemy of the gospel. Speaking of Kendi, permit me to note something that has happened in just the past 24 hours.

32:34

Last night on MSNBC, Joy Reed read a quote from Kendi who said,

32:39

I don't identify as a critical race theorist. But just today in an interview with Jason Johnson of Slate, Kendi said that it's through critical race theory that he has formulated definitions of racism and anti -racism.

32:52

Even the think tanks behind CRT are distancing themselves from the name because if people know what it is, they're harder to influence.

33:01

Critical race theory and intersectionality have infiltrated this culture so quickly it's even in the church and we are not helping one another by not addressing it.

33:13

Greer says in Undivided that he, as a white man, bears the burden of responsibility for the long -term damage that's come from slavery and Jim Crow.

33:23

He says he's part of the majority culture. They talk about the need to address whiteness.

33:30

Karen Luritz says that we need to come up with talking points that are outside of scripture. Dahadi Lewis says that we're living in a systematically racist culture that is still trying to oppress.

33:41

These are all critical race theory talking points. There are even sessions in Undivided where they divide the white people from the black people.

33:53

Undivided is divided and that's what critical race theory does. It divides people up.

34:00

Every person in those discussions would likely say critical race theory is at odds with the gospel yet they're implementing a soft form of critical race theory and intersectionality which affects the way they read scripture.

34:13

If they read it at all, and it affects the way they share the gospel. When Greer says that we need robust, careful,

34:23

Bibles -open -on -our -knees discussions about justice and that all the convention's leaders recognize that CRT is at odds with the gospel, he's posturing, oh, he can point to the discussion but not every

34:39

Christian is welcome to the discussion. He can point to the statements condemning CRT while they continue to softly implement

34:47

CRT. But we should heed the counsel of our leaders of color who tell us that our denunciations of justice movements fall on deaf ears when we remain silent on the suffering of our neighbors.

34:59

And we must, and we must make certain that our zeal to clarify what we think about CRT is accompanied by a pledge to fight with them against all forms of discrimination, to make clear that we stand with our brothers and sisters of color in their suffering, lamenting the pain of their past and pledging to work tirelessly for justice in our present.

35:23

First, critical race theory is not a justice movement. It's unjust. But second, how does using the term people of color unify the body of Christ?

35:34

Is this not showing partiality? James 2, 1 says, my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our

35:45

Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Now, I don't believe Greer wants to be divisive.

35:51

I'm sure that he has really good intentions behind that NAMM series and what he's saying here in this sermon and everything else.

35:57

He might want to do a good thing, but you just heard him divide the convention into white people and people of color.

36:05

The definition of critical race theory that I gave earlier from the resolution that they would not present said that CRT designates people by their social identity groups, including people of color.

36:19

This is viewing people according to the flesh. When second Corinthians 5, 16 says we no longer regard each other according to the flesh.

36:27

That whole section of scripture, incidentally, talks about being given the ministry of reconciliation through the gospel.

36:35

But a Christian using critical race theory as an analytical tool does not think the gospel is enough.

36:41

Dehati Lewis has said exactly that. He says the gospel falls short of our needed reconciliation.

36:50

He said, quote, the gospel is not good news without spiritual redemption and restoration.

36:57

But the gospel is also not good news without emotional, economic and social restoration as well.

37:05

Unquote. What happens when someone does not get the economic and social restoration you promised them with the gospel?

37:12

They're going to believe it's a lie. What happens when a person cannot seem to get over their depression or they don't get the financial help they need or they never move up into a more manageable tax bracket?

37:25

They will think the gospel is a lie. This is the health and wealth gospel with ethnicity attached.

37:33

Critical race theory is a false gospel, which Greer might admit, but he will not allow the discussion.

37:40

He talks about listening to people of color. So where's his invitation to Votie Bauckham or Daryl Harrison or Virgil Walker or Hone Cho or anyone on the

37:52

Bar podcast network? Where are they in his discussion? Again, only certain kinds of voices are welcome to the table, because this is about pushing a particular narrative, not about seeking the truth of God's word.

38:08

We're 12 minutes into this sermon and Greer hasn't even read God's word.

38:15

The church is already multi -ethnic. It's been multi -ethnic since Pentecost.

38:21

Go see Acts 2. Preach the gospel to everyone and Christ will build his church.

38:29

Matthew 16, 18, Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

38:39

Far be it from any of us to look at that church and say to God, God, I just don't think you're saving the right people.

38:48

For to say that would truly make you a Pharisee. This concludes part one of this review of J .D.

38:55

Greer's sermon at SBC 21. God willing, and time permitting, I hope to present part two next week.

39:02

You can read a full transcript of this review on my blog at PastorGabe .com. This is

39:08

When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours.

39:15

But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good gospel teaching

39:21

Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more Bible study when we understand the text.