by The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
SCRIPTURE READINGS James 2:1-9, Ephesians 2:8-22
Transcribed from the sermon preached on JANUARY 18, 2026
James 2:1-9
1 My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2 For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
3 and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while you say to the poor man, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,”
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren. 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?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you, is it not they who drag you into court?
7 Is it not they who blaspheme that honorable name which was invoked over you?
8 If you really fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Ephesians 2:8-22
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God --
9 not because of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands --
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;
18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
This passage from Ephesians 2 invokes a most central tenet of the Christian faith. By grace we are saved through faith. This is not your own doing; it is a gift from God.
So many of the divisions of life are predicated on a cultural idea of who is worthy. Women, people of color, immigrants, Gay and Queer folks some say, are not worthy of equality, not worthy of voting, not worthy of equal treatment under the law. Not worthy of kindness and love or God’s grace. Paul is talking to Ephesians who are struggling with division. Some say that Gentiles, or non-Jews can’t be Christian unless they follow the letter of the law. Then in the letter of James, he is talking to folks who show favoritism to the wealthy and exclude the poor.
The wealthy get favoritism because people hope to get a favor back. And sometimes, having been blessed they are talented and impressive. Or people may want to be on the side of the rich so they don’t feel the wrath of the rich, so they are not dragged off to court by the rich. We see examples of favoritism and partiality today: Yesterday a Latina member of this church was putting groceries in her car and someone in a group of young people yelled out, ICE is coming, run, ICE is coming. Then the group laughed. Even in Berkeley there is a growing meanness as our leaders set such poor examples. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act which Martin Luther King and so many others fought to get enacted are currently under assault. Rather than an independent bipartisan committee to help judicate districts, they just want free reign to limit who can vote and draw up boundaries to negate equal representation. We see convicted criminals who flatter the guy in power get pardons, while anyone who dares to take a position he doesn’t like is fired, deposed and dragged off to court. How quickly that works to get people in line behind - to show partiality!
The basic Christian tenet is that life is a gift, we are each created as children of God, everyone, no exceptions. And while each of us are fallible and finite human beings, we mess up, we sin, we only have to ask forgiveness, to recognize we are off track, and God puts us back on track or back to be our best selves.
Now the problem with this notion of salvation by grace is that we might be tempted to believe we don’t need to be good because we know we are forgiven. But the Christian understanding is that if we understand how great this gift of grace is, then in gratitude we will want to not only be saved by Christ, but we will also want to live a Christ like life, a life of good works. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit supersedes the law.
The law is good for what it is worth. But we know that humans cannot write enough laws to cover all the ways we sin. And the law always follows sin. We don’t write the law until a problem gets so bad that society has to say don’t do it. Also, the powerful, wealthy and privileged pay to write laws that benefit them. And their expensive lawyers are so good they are more than happy to drag you off to court. The law is important and has its place, but the church, and I would argue a healthy society needs citizens who on a level deeper than the law, want to be good, fair and just, who hope and work to show no partiality, who want to make the attempt to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Paul argues that the Spirit works ahead of time to set our hearts toward the good, so that we are not constrained in the negative, but motivated to be positive, loving, peaceful and just. So, the Spirit in our hearts, which is a gift from God, guides us to good works. It is not our own doing, lest we boast.
Lest we boast. There is that warning again against arrogance and self-righteousness. Humility is such a frequent theme for Jesus that it is a sign of the Spirit. Remember the disciples argue about who will be at the right hand of Jesus and Jesus says the one who would be first must be a servant of all. We are to be first in service. As Martin said, it is ok to want to be a leader out front, a Drum Major, but let us be a drum major for justice, a drum major for peace. So, if someone gives themselves a prize or says they deserve it more than anyone else ever has, we suspect this person has no idea what the fruits of the spirit are, and the ultimate prize of God’s grace has not been grasped.
The Spirit goes where it wills so I don’t think the list in Galatians 5:22-23 is exhaustive,
[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Ephesians 2
[17] he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; [18] for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19] So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God
In Christ, in the grace of Christ, those who were strangers and foreigners, excluded by the law and marginalized are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Of course, a nation has laws and a definition of citizenship, but as the church who worships the creator of all and the one who sacrificed his life for the love and peace of all, no matter the nation, culture, race, language, class or gender we identify or are identified with, we are all members of the household, the family of God. And while we may pledge allegiance to the flag, or some ideal of the nation, and serve on its behalf, we honor and work for free and fair elections, conceding defeat honestly when we must, we worship and bow down to nobody but God and live by the Spirit which unites us all into one family.
The Spirit within guides us to avoid animosity and hatred, lying, greed, arrogance, prejudice and partiality. The Spirit give us courage to stand with those marginalized and bullied because we know God’s Truth is marching on.
Today the forces of prejudice, racism, selfishness, arrogance and unrestrained power are having a revival. Our institutions are shaking. Heavily armed poorly trained officers are in the street and told they have immunity. Parents are captured and taken away from their children without due process. Renee Good was shot and the national government denied local and state law enforcement from seeing evidence and instead investigate Renee’s partner. Freedom of press is under assault. Separation of powers is under assault. International treaties and contracts are being denied. So many things are happening, it is impossible to list.
But it is helpful to know there have been other faithful who have come before us. I am a preacher because of Martin Luther King Jr. When his assassination was announced on the evening news, my mom cried. It was the first time I ever saw her cry. My father, a history and government teacher brought home a movie projector and an old film strip of I have a dream. I was only five years old, but it made a huge impression on me.
The march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama was the catalyst for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices and increased black voter registration, fulfilling the promise of the 15th amendment. The Student Christian Leadership Conference and Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee and other activists and other local African Americans were working to register black voters. At least one of our St. John’s members, Eddie Black, worked with SNCC to register voters down South. In a march in February 1965 Alabama state troopers shot Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old church deacon from Marion, as he attempted to protect his mother from a trooper’s nightstick.
In response 2,000 activists set out to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. The first time they reached the bridge into Montgomery there was a sea of troopers and police who beat demonstrators brutally. The TV coverage of Bloody Sunday, as it came to be called, sparked national outrage. As an aside, for those of us old enough to remember, the band U2 wrote a song about it back in 1983:
“How long, how long must we sing this song.
How long, how long?
...
The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”
After they were turned back, bruised and battered, King sent out calls for religious leaders to come and join the march. Hundreds showed up. I think the late great David McPhail joined the march. By the last day the number of marchers swelled to 25,000. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/selma-montgomery-march
The sea of police and state troopers had parted. It was one of the historically great victories for non-violence.
On the steps of the capital King delivered his speech entitled Our God is Marching On. Here are a few excepts.
“We are on the move now.
“Let us march on ballot boxes, until we send our city councils, state legislature, and the United States Congress men who will not fear to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God…
“For all of us today the battle is in our hands. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad highways to lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. We must keep going.
“…I must admit to you there are still jail cells waiting for us, dark and difficult moments. We will go on with the faith that nonviolence and its power transformed dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.
“Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate… We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. That will be a day not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man.
“I know you are asking today, ‘How long will it take?’ Somebody is asking how long will prejudice blind divisions of men. I come to say to you this afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth pressed to earth will rise again.
How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.
How long? Not long, because you still reap what you sow.“How long, not long, truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future and behind the dim unknown standeth God among the shadows keeping watch upon his own.
“How long, not long. Because the arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
“How long? Not long, ‘cause mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, he’s trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lighting of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpets that shall never call retreat. He is lifting up the hearts of man before his judgement seat.
“Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him. Be jubilant, my feet. Our god is marching on.
“Glory Halleluiah, Glory hallelujah, Gloria hallelujah, His Truth is Marching on.”