Talk

Wrecking the Ranking System

Grant Partrick
April, 8, 2018

Rankings. We’re a culture that is obsessed with them.

Check any website these days, and you’ll find any number of Top 10 articles and videos. No matter how old or young we are, we constantly measure ourselves against a system designed to give everyone else a metric of our worth.

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Except for Jesus. In the Kingdom of Jesus, there is only one ranking system, for each has been created in the very image of God. Yet each of us has forgotten this about someone, or a group of people, at one point or another. The question we have to ask ourselves is; what is my default reaction when I see a person in need when I see someone created in the image of God, in need?

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When Jesus died on the cross for us, the ranking system of the world was shattered, and we have to let those broken pieces fall from our own hands. When we see a need, as Jesus’ followers, it must solicit a response.

Scripture References

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26
“What is written in the Law?”
he replied.
“How do you read it?”
27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28
“You have answered correctly,”
Jesus replied.
“Do this and you will live.”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said:
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
31
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
32
So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
34
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35
The next day he took out two denarii
and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him,

“Go and do likewise.”

23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Grant Partrick
Grant Partrick
Grant Partrick is a part of the team at Passion City Church and serves as the Cumberland Location Pastor. He is passionate about inspiring people to live their lives for what matters most. Grant and his wife, Maggie, live in Marietta, Georgia with their daughters, Mercy, Ember, and Charleigh. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned a masters of theology degree.