To View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lDiMPkPpMy8
SHOW NOTES
Welcome to a new week of the Hope Rescue Podcast, and our last episode in our four-part series on privilege. This week we are discussing white privilege, as well as sharing our top six ways to use your privilege for good. Tune in to the podcast or keep reading to find out more!
Tim starts by discussing the concept of white privilege. Tim explains that the adjustment of our privilege is not the government's responsibility, it is our own responsibility. God doesn’t tell us to take privilege from some and make it equal for everyone; He tells us in His Word to use our privilege to benefit others. God assigns privilege, and He asks us to adjust our own privilege.
In the United States, the dominant culture has historically always been white. Should white people hate themselves because their ancestors treated Native Americans, South Americans, or Africans poorly? No, but they should do what they can to correct social injustices. We all should, no matter our color. This doesn’t mean that white people need to apologize for the actions of their great, great, great grandparents. It is appropriate though, to acknowledge that harm was done to minority cultures and try to be a part of the solution going forward.
As Christians, we need to be the healers in our society. Micah 6:8 says, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This has been our anchor verse over the last four weeks, and a perfect outline of how we should use our privilege for good. We should do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
Tim and Kimberly go on to share six practical ways we can use our privilege for good.
6 Ways to Use Your Privilege for Good
Don’t oppress others with your privilege. James 2:1-5 says, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 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?” The rich should not be favored over the poor, but at the same time they should not be ostracized because they are rich. We need to love and treat everyone equally.
Set aside privilege for Christ’s mission. Philippians 3:7-11 says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Our privilege is not the mission of God, and we can count all our earthly privilege as loss compared to knowing Christ as our Lord. To know Jesus Christ and make Him known to others is the most important mission we have while on earth.
Don’t boast about your privilege. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says, "Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” If you’re going to boast about anything, let it be about Jesus and all He has done.
Use your wealth privilege for a just wage. James 5:1-5 says, "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." Riches will not last beyond this life. If you are a business owner with employees, make sure you are paying your employees well. Don’t allow them to do all the hard work, and then reward them with crumbs.
Use your privilege to rescue. Psalm 82:3-4 says, "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” If you give justice to people, you will change their condition. You can change the trajectory of a life that was headed downward simply by acting justly towards a person.
Use your privilege to share. Luke 3:10-11 says, "And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” James 2:14-16 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” We are called to enter into the world of the hurting and take action.
To close, Tim shares 1 John 3:17 which says, “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” If God’s love abides in us, it will drastically change the way we see and love others. Let us go forward by acknowledging the privilege the Lord has granted us, and leverage our privilege to benefit others.
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