James: Practical faith

James 2

Good morning and welcome to Horeb Baptist Church. We thank you so much for joining us this morning. This week we are continuing in our series of James: Practical Faith. And really, the point to every week is to point at this main thought, that it’s practical faith for the good of others. In the first week Nohan walked us through some of the history and this idea that even in the midst of our struggles we have a God who is with us. Last week he finished up chapter 1 with the fact that as “believers our job is to give this great love of service to our communities.” If you haven’t had a chance to check out the last two weeks, please watch them and get caught up.

James 2:1–13 ESV

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? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

As a reminder, James is writing to a dominantly Jewish people, and the way it’s written, it was meant to be read to several churches. So the issues he is writing about, the sins he’s bringing in to view, and the cure, is being applied generally and generously. I believe that if we look at our own churches and definitely if we look at ourselves we’ll be able to apply so many portions of this letter. This is the beauty of God’s word, its application is necessary, sometimes painful but if done correctly it’s always a balm. It kind of like going to get a massage. In order to break down a knot, you have to go through some pain. That’s what james is doing through the whole letter, working through the knots that he’s hearing about the dominantly jewish churches. I like the way a commentary put it:

The Epistle of James is the most Jewish book in the NT. Except for two or three references to Christ, it would fit rather well in the OT. The life to which the epistle exhorts is that of a profoundly pious Jew who is fulfilling the law in every regard. Gospel, redemption, incarnation, and resurrection are not mentioned. The interest is in the fruits, not the roots. The author is indeed a Christian, writing to believers, but the focus is not on how to become believers. It is on the second stage—on how to advance along the way of holiness and to tr. the ethical implications of the new faith into practical realities (Tasker, James, p. 11). The Gospel fulfilled the law.

That being said its amazing how well and how often James reflects the words of Jesus himself. I guess it makes more sense because Jesus was speaking to a 99.999999% Jewish crowd. Something that was noted was that James didn’t directly quote, but reflected as I mentioned above. He heard and learned and taught. He may not have been a believer at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, but he was listening and he sure was a believer now.

Something that was widely accepted and part of culture in those times was maintaining a seat of honor. a place where someone of high regard would sit. It was a known, yet not commanded part of temple life as well. the people who gave the most, the ones who looked the wealthiest the ones who were more put together looking, they would receive the seat of honor in a synagogue. The ironic portion is that it wasn’t usually that someone would just take the seat but that someone in leadership, or someone from the church or synagogue would not only ascribe worth to that seat, but they would judge and give it to someone that they thought was worthy to sit there.

So much of our values and heart condition are shown here. This is something that still shows itself to us today. We ascribe more worth to some people than others, it plays out in the celebrity culture that exists and in all versions of social media. but that’s a convo for another day…

The churches in James’ day were in the same boat, do the things that were part of their cultural tradition, but if we’ve learned anything from God is that He, God is no respecter of men. And especially not a fan of any of the glory going elsewhere.

In verse 5 James says something that sounds rather familiar.

Matthew 5:3 NASB95

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

He, in essence, is repeating the words that Jesus said at the sermon on the mount. Not just in verse 5, but 5-11.

James reminding the people of God how Jesus came and turned the faith economy on its head. It was believed that the more wealthy you are the more blessed you were by God, the more righteous you had been in your life. Your earthly blessings were directly related to your righteousness. Almost as if they had ignored Job’s life and sufferings. Jesus came and put that thought process right again. (Beatitudes)

In doing so Jesus also pointed that the law wasn’t just about your outward actions, but about the inward thoughts and intentions that only you and God know. v10-11

The Law of Liberty

v.12-13

This is the second time this term comes up in this letter and barel chapter two. James is setting us up to understand the whole rest of the letter. So what is the Law of Liberty you might ask, and that’s a great question. Simply put, the law of Liberty are the implications of the Gospel. Let me use someone else’s words to explain:

James here refers to the gospel, which, although it is called here a law, is not, strictly speaking, a law comprised of requirements and enforced by sanctions. Rather, it is a declaration of righteousness and salvation by Christ, an offer of peace and pardon by Him, and a free promise of eternal life through Him. The juxtaposition of the two contradictory terms—“law” and “liberty”—made the point, especially to the Jews, that this was an entirely new way of thinking about both. Paul uses this same technique when he refers to the “law of faith” in Romans 3:27.

Romans 3:23–27 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

This also points us to James earlier statements, that since we have been Justified by grace and not by our works specifically, then, how can you judge someone else?

Knowing the Law of liberty is basis and foundation for understanding this letter and how to live as believers. We cannot earn our salvation. Nohan put it well when he said that often times we look at this letter and try to measure ourselves or worse, we try to measure those around us. When in reality it’s meant to help us realize who we are in christ and how to love one another.

We so often try to put a yoke on ourselves or on each other by remembering that we are to be doers and not hearers only, but forget that we are to rest in the finished work of christ. We forget

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

It becomes easy to forget this amazing set up when we get into this next portion. So many focus on the doing and forget the It is done. To do so is to neglect the reality we live in.

Dead Faith

v.14-18

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 2

Faith that yields no deeds is not saving faith. The NT does not teach justification by works, but it also does not teach justification by the profession of faith or the claim to faith; it teaches justification by the possession of true faith, and true faith always bears the fruit of love of God and neighbor. James has in mind a genuine, living faith that produces fruitful works, which is evidence that will vindicate (or prove) the validity of one’s authentic justifying faith at the last judgment.

In v.18 James is challenging us to show our faith apart from works, and we can’t. And it’s not because we need to prove our faith to God, but because we encourage each other with our works, we serve each other with our works. Sometimes we get this view that we are blessed and that blessing is ours. No! Jesus has eternal life, you know what he does with it? Dies and rises from the dead that we might live. Our blessings whether they be earthly or spiritual are not for us, but for one another. Our lives are for one another, like our sermon series on 1John, giving up our lives for one another. I’m not a fan of qualifiers like true or genuine and so on, when it comes to faith and the life we have in christ, we either have possessed faith or we haven’t. But to repeat the above,

James has in mind a genuine, living faith that produces fruitful works, which is evidence that will vindicate (or prove) the validity of one’s authentic justifying faith at the last judgment.

v.19-20

hooooof, this is sucha difficult passage took look at, especially without knowing everything that comes before it. This is where we have to remember that there is not one verse that sits by itself. To ignore where the bible verse sits is to ignore its true meaning. We have to allow scripture to interpret scripture. That’s not to say I have all it worked out. I’ve learned from the people around me and from several theologians who are alive and several that have passed already. I digress.

Here again James is pointing that it is not enough to merely say that you believe in God, but that you possess faith and live it out. It’s like the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is knowing information, wisdom is applying information. A cool break down was this

wisdom involves a healthy dose of perspective and the ability to make sound judgments about a subject while knowledge is simply knowing.

I was having a conversation with a Field Technical Specialist at my work and as per the usual, we often get into conversations about grammar and definitions and proper uses of words. We were talking about the difference between hearing and listening and how people often mix those two up. Hearing is passive, like this…Listening is active, like what you should be doing worship in music and worship in the word. processing and acting on what you are listening to.

to say you believe and possess faith look different. The demons know of God, but does the fear of the Lord abide in them? No.

V.21-26

This is where people often pit Paul against James. Paul says that we are Justified by faith and James just said that we are justified by works. This is where holding the whole context of the letter and the rest of scripture is important. What’s really cool is this thought I read about the two sided use of the word justification. John Calvin said this:

Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles Chapter 2

Paul means by it the gratuitous imputation of righteousness before the tribunal of God; and James, the manifestation of righteousness by the conduct, and that before men, as we may gather from the preceding words, “Shew to me thy faith,” &c. In this sense we fully allow that man is justified by works, as when any one says that a man is enriched by the purchase of a large and valuable estate, because his riches, before hid, shut up in a chest, were thus made known.

Paul speaks of our standing before God, and James speaks of our standing before each other. another cool note that I read was that Paul’s reference in Galatians 3:6 was quoting Gen 15:6

Genesis 15:5–6 ESV

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Where as James reference here is of Genesis 22 .

Some things to ultimately take away today.

In light of the Law of Liberty:

Where the Law of Moses condemns, the law of liberty liberates. Where the law of moses commands us to do, the law of liberty liberates us to or enables us to do.

Where a possession of faith Justifies us before God, a possession of work justifies us before each other.

And nohan said something great last week, “Doing is impossible without hearing, hearing without doing is worthless.

We are called to live out our faith, not for salvation’s sake, but for each other’s sake. We get to love God and love our neighbor. Something amazing I got to experience and enjoy yesterday was the celebration of our 54yr anniversary as a church. A church that has taught me about God, a place that has taught me a deeper meaning of what it looks like to Love God above all else and to love one’s neighbor. A church that when I started coming here opened their arms to me and treated me with great love and compassion. I absolutely love the older generation that exists here. I pray to God that I can get older,, wiser and more loving. That when I’m the oldhead sitting in the front, that the youngens feel like their my grandkids.

What perfect liberty we now enjoy! What a blessed privilege to have received mercy, to be redeemed (liberated) from the bondage of sin, and to be empowered for service by our Creator! Our love for others proves the reality of our faith (1 John 4:7–11). Let us love one another even as He has loved us (1 John 4:19).