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Our text today comes
from verses 12 and

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13 of James 2, a
portion left out of the

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pericope, so listen
carefully. So speak

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and so act as those
who are to be judged

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by the law of liberty,
for judgment will

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be merciless to the
one who has shown no

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mercy. Mercy triumphs
over judgment. This

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is our text, maybe
seated. You're not

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supposed to like our
reading from James,

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thoroughly shaped
into a Lutheran ethos

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that rightly
exalts in the full

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forgiveness of sins
by grace through

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faith in Christ
alone, a tradition that

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unswervingly and
ardently maintains

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justification apart
from any human works

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as the heart, the
center, and the essence

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of the entirety
of right Christian

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teaching, knowing
all that you're

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supposed to chafe
at our verses from

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James. With all of
his talk about dead

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and worthless faith
and his forthright

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shameless
celebration of eminently

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visible, grandly public,
gaudy good works,

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you're supposed
to recoil in disgust at

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this strawy epistle.
I mean come on,

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this pericope has
everything that a works

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righteous,
grace-earning, self-reliant,

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self-deceived,
pseudo-Christian can love.

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And yet somehow or
other somehow James

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made the cut and
incredibly found his

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way into the Canon.
Well at least most

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people's Canon,
there have been some

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notable holdouts. But
since James is part

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of our Canon, we have
found a way to deal

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with all his works
talk. In fact, it is

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a rather ingenious
theological move that

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we make. We
invoke the simple and

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obvious doctrinal
truth that faith is

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never alone. Genuine
faith always, always,

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always produces
genuine good works.

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That's just how it
goes. Faith in the

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heart means good
works in your life.

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It's so axiomatic
and so automatic that

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it leads us to a host
of corollary, much

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loved Lutheran
aphorisms like, a

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congregation lethargic
and good works

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does not need more
law but more gospel.

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Or you empower
Christian people to good

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works and generous
stewardship only by

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reminding them of
who they are in and by

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the power of God's
grace. Or trust the

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gospel so much
that you don't have to

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teach or exhort
anyone to obey. Or my

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favorite, the
Christian life is not the

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pursuit of virtue
but the flight from

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virtue. And of
course there's always

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never end a sermon
with the law. Based

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on our reading, it
seems likely that the

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brother of Jesus
and the author of our

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text might suspect
that there is just

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enough truth in
these maxims to be

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dangerous. But then
what does James know?

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Yes, we know how
to handle James. But

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James is on to
us. It's right there in

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verses 12 and
13, that part left out

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of the pericope. So
speak and so act as

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those who are to
be judged under the

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law of liberty.
What could be more

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oxymoronic than
the law of liberty? And

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that's the point.
You see the law of

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liberty isn't law.
It's the gospel. To

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be judged by the
law of liberty is to be

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judged in the
judgment-free zone of

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Christ's forgiveness.
That's why mercy

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trounce his judgment.
In other words,

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James actually fully
agrees with all of

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our little gospel
catchphrases. Well

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maybe with all of
them. Some he might

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just tolerate for
the sake of charity

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and unity. At least
that's what I do. But

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the point here is
that James gets it.

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People who know
the gospel live like

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they know the gospel.
James does not

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need to be tutored
by our gospel loving

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tradition. He already
knows exactly what

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we know and he
cherishes the gospel just

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as much as you
or me or any radical

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Lutheran. And yet
somehow James still

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thinks that it's
right to exhort good

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works and to encourage
acts of Christian

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love and to admonish
the church when she

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fails to live and
look like the church.

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It seems to be an
old and persistent

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problem of those
who seek to follow

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Christ. It turns out
that following Jesus

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is not such an easy
thing to do. Stuff

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gets in the way.
Well mostly our own

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egocentric,
arrogant, indifferent,

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judgmental, stupid,
sinful self. That's

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what gets in the way.
You know it's true.

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I'm not sure we in
the church today are

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so prone to stumble
over one another in

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an effort to impress
wealthy people. The

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abhorrent behavior
that James laments in

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his church. With the
standard garb today

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of people who are
rich and famous being

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t-shirts all the
time. It's hard to

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tell who the wealthy
are anyway. But we

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Christians still
manage to fall into our

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own traps of petty
preferences, personal

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favorites, and
dismissive judgments.

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The temptation to
cater to the rich is

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probably not our
biggest problem. Our

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more pressing
problem and the one that

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vexes us is having
to cope with the

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collapse of Christendom
and the harsh

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reality of living
in a post-Christian

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culture that is
gleefully and recklessly

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focused on the
cultivation of individual

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fulfillment and
the pursuit of any

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marginally licit
pleasure while being

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utterly disinterested
in the church

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except on occasion
to mock and ridicule

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her. Given our
context it's not

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surprising that
Christians struggle

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mightily to love
a world full of

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deliberate sinners
who wantonly malign

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all that Christians
hold and cherish as

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sacred. We don't
handle our newly

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marginalized status
very well. It hurts

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to be labeled as weird
and even immoral.

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And so we Christians
do what most people

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do when they have
been treated badly. We

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become offended and
shrill and angry and

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resentful. And even
if we manage to keep

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quiet about our
frustration and our hurt

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feelings we find it
very hard to invest

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in the demanding
and thankless work of

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actually loving a
nasty world that

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does not love us
back and that frankly

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doesn't even really
like us very much.

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And so our actions,
our witness to the

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world end up
being half-hearted at

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best. The guy on
the off-ramp with the

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cardboard sign
that ends with a little

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benediction, he's a
complicated problem.

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And so you hand
him a water bottle and

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a granola bar and
a little gospel tract

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and tell him to take
care. The girl who

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has decided that her
pronouns are he, him

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and who shows up
at your youth event is

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an even bigger problem.
And so you smile

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wanly and tell her
to remember that God

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made her special
just the way that she

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was born and then
secretly hope that she

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finds another church
to attend. There are

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so many hard
problems out there. The

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striding guy with his
God guts and guns

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cap or the neighbor
with her we believe

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sign in the yard
or the guy flying a

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huge Confederate
flag from the back

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of his truck or the
one with a flying

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spaghetti monster
decal stuck on his car.

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It just gets so
tiresome trying to love

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them all and to
show it and to mean it.

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So much easier.
Tune out. Just leave out

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all of that loud
bewildering noise out

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there and focus on
something that does

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matter like how
often faithful

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worshippers should
use DS4 or why 2K-R

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really is the ultimate
duality or what

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constitutes a
properly pious posture

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during the Gloria
Patri. Like it or not

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we are still routinely
and determinedly

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doing exactly what
the beloved brothers

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of James were doing.
We're deciding who

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counts and who doesn't.
We're determining

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which issues matter
and which don't.

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We're picking
our favorites and

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shunning whatever
and whoever makes us

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uncomfortable. We're
choosing who's right

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and who's wrong,
who's worth our effort

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and who isn't, who
deserves our attention

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and who can be
ignored, who's fit for our

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fellowship and who
still needs a little

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more reformation
before they're ready

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for our ranks. We
are doing the very

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judging we claim to
hate. We're honing

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the critical skills
we pretend to

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despise. We're
preening our own

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appearance
while we insist that

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externals don't
matter. This is the core

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problem that confronts
and condemns us.

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Flooded in gospel
grace we still manage

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to live self-absorbed,
self-promoting,

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judgmental lives
that look little

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different than the
God-rejecting pagans

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all around us. Our
lukewarm attempts at

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good works for the
sake of the world are

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overshadowed by
our hesitant investment

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and our critical
attitude toward the

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world and towards
one another. We know

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far better than we do.
Our eager, generous,

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gospel-fueled new
man is dragged back

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down into the
foul fallen world of

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self-absorbed
judgmental legalism. Mercy

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and grace
smothered by fear and

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judgment and we
choose it. But God does

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his own choosing
and God does his

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own judging. God
chooses what is not

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sparkling, splendid,
and self-sufficient.

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God chooses what is
poor and broken and

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sinful and stinking.
God chooses what is

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helpless, utterly
failed, and incapable of

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change. God chooses
you. God chooses

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00:13:03,272 --> 00:13:11,366
you. He is calculating
and deliberate and

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will not be dissuaded.
He chooses you.

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Your salvation is
the very definition of

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mercy. Mercy wins.
When God is at work

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mercy walks all over
judgment. Judgment

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loses, mercy
conquers. This is

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the vital essence
of our Christian

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confession. Mercy
wins. Even when you

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don't follow Jesus,
even when pettiness

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wins out over
generosity, even when

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criticism overtakes
kindness, even when

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you work harder at
doing wrong than you

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work at doing God's
will, even then God

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still chooses you.
His mercy is yours

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even when you do
not deserve it. Indeed

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then more than
ever mercy is the

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hallmark of our
faith. Mercy is the

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reality that must
pour out of our lives

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and flood into the
world around us

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starting with those
next to you. James is

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right. Those who
receive mercy will give

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mercy. Those who
know the grace of Christ

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will live the grace
of Christ. Those who

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delight in the
freedom of the gospel

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will choose to work
hard learning to

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deliver the gospel.
There is no conflict

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00:14:48,867 --> 00:14:52,366
and no contradiction.
There is the simple

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reality of God at
work overcoming sin

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with grace and
beating down judgment

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00:15:00,966 --> 00:15:07,686
with mercy. Christ
Church must do the

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same. You must do the
same. Amen. We stand

247
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for the creed.