James 2: Mercy Triumphs Over Judgement
Notes
Transcript
What evidence of faith do you look for in a church?
What evidence of faith do you look for in a church?
Most people look at appearances
Are the right things said?
Are the right things worn?
Are the right people there?
When was the last time you looked at what a church does?
What we do is often our best testimony of who we are
James warns against partiality
James warns against partiality
He transitions from pure religion into specific practice
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
James is speaking to Christians
Partiality may have come natural to the Jerusalem Church
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?
The terms are not restrictive
rich = powerful/important
poor = worthless
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
2 ways to interpret “distinctions”
first is as we see it
second is “doubt”
“don’t you show doubt in your mind and become judges with evil thoughts?”
The church does not trust God to take care of them
Many think politics and courting the powerful will fix their problems
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?
We often think the same people who oppress us will save us
God has promised to show Himself through the meek
And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
Instead we have a law that shows no partiality
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.
Christ left us with a simplified law and the Holy Spirit
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
We violate this law when we show partiality
Instead, we are to act as Christ acted toward us
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
partiality is judgement
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
But we were taught mercy in humility and repentance
mercy cannot be known without action
Faith is demonstrated and known through works
Faith is demonstrated and known through works
James wishes to convince his readers that their faith requires action
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
He starts with a rhetorical question to show the emphasis of acts of mercy
Don’t take the question to mean more than what was stated
James gives a practical example to prove his point
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? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
How we treat people is how we demonstrate our faith
empty words = empty faith
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
A faith without action is similar to the faith of demons
The evil one knows God, but he is found out by his actions
Abraham’s binding of Isaac is an example of faith and works
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
faith was active and completed by his works
Genesis 15:6 (ESV)
And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
This was proclaimed many years before Isaac
It was proven when he took Isaac for sacrifice
This is not about sinners moving into forgiveness, but the forgiven living in righteousness
And James gives one more example before stating his point clearly
And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Faith apart from works is dead
Faith apart from works is dead
We will always demonstrate our true faith
by trusting the oppresive world
or trusting the word/will of God
Does your life demonstrate the justification you represent?
A dead faith is worthless to God and man