James Chapter Two
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Last week we talked about having joy in difficult circumstances and how we need to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Today James is going to continue by addressing a concern that had come up in the churches he is writing to.
My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
The people that James is writing to had begun to show partiality or favoritism to the wealthier people in their congregations. They had begun to show more preference to these people by giving them the seats of honor at their meetings while poorer believers were left to sit in the more dishonorable places.
What is so dangerous about favoritism?
The idea of partiality and favoritism at its core are anti-gospel.
In today’s culture there is a pressing need for the church to step up and speak out against inequality and injustice. There is a need for the church to be the salt and light of Christ in their communities. To be ambassadors for the Gospel not perpetrators of an anti-gospel ideology. Fighting against partiality begins by seeing the world as Christ sees it.
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?
James points out the hypocrisy of what the church was doing. These poor people the church had been neglecting and treating poorly were their brothers and sisters in Christ. They were redeemed believers rich in faith and heirs to the kingdom of God. They may not have been physically rich but spiritually they were sons and daughters of God. Meanwhile the people they had been showing favor to were the very people that oppressed them and stole from them and even blasphemed God. Yet, the church favored them despite all the harm they had caused them. It is easy to look at the church and say, I would never do anything like that, but I think we all need to take a step back and ask
Do we have any attitude of favoritism in us?
Are there groups of people that you treat as less than?
Are there people that you think don’t deserve your friendship?
Are there people that you think are worth more than other people?
Do you judge someone’s worth by their race, gender, status, or interests?
Human nature is to surround ourselves with people that look like us, think like us, talk like us. We want people that make us comfortable and that make us feel good. When our earthly comforts are in jeopardy we begin to get defensive over our comforts. We begin to act out of a place of fear rather than a place of love and our actions become angry and hateful towards people that threaten our comfort. For the Christian, our comfort is in Christ. Even if every earthly comfort we have is stripped away, we will always have Christ who shows no partiality. As Christians, the call on our life is not to sit ourselves in a place of luxury and comfort, but to serve others.
They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
Who is it that Jesus commands us to serve?
For Jesus’ disciples this had big implications. They hated the Romans, they hated the Samarians, they were men in a culture that looked at women as less than. Who exactly was it that Jesus was wanting them to serve? Lepers? Surely not. Who was it that He wanted them to serve? All. Who did Jesus serve? All.
Was there a group of people that Jesus treated as less than?
Was there a group of people that Jesus thought didn’t deserve His friendship?
Was there a group of people that Jesus thought were worth more than others?
Did Jesus judge a person’s worth based off of their race, gender, status, or interests?
If Jesus didn’t show partiality in anything He did. He sees us all the same and the message for the Gospel is for all people.
Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James gives us some interesting perspective. If we have broken even one of God’s laws we are guilty and are seen as transgressors of the law. It doesn’t matter if we think we are a good person or if we think that our good deeds out way the wrong we have done. James says even if you have successfully obeyed every aspect of the law, if you’re guilty of even one thing you are guilty of it all. That changes the way we see people doesn’t it? There are only two types of people in this world.
sinners who need Jesus
redeemed sinners who have Jesus
So James tells us to see the world in light of this. Don’t look at people with judgement or discrimination but instead speak and act as those under the law of liberty and freedom. See people through the lens of mercy and not judgement. I’m so thankful that Jesus didn’t see me with condemnation. Don’t get it wrong, I was condemned and dead in my sin, but Jesus looked at me with mercy, and now I stand forgiven of my transgressions and made into a new creation because of Jesus. He could have shown partiality. I didn’t deserve His love. I didn’t deserve His friendship. But He gave it anyway.
If you have never given your life to Christ I want to encourage you to do so tonight. Jesus wants to pour out His grace and mercy in your life. He wants to set you free. We are law breakers and only Jesus can give us a new identity.
If you have already made that decision I want you to think through those times when maybe you did show partiality. Maybe you need to look around the room and ask yourself, are there people here that I haven’t shown Christlike love to? Are there people I see as uncomfortable to love or people I have seen as unworthy of my time? The church is the last place partiality should show up. If we can’t show Christlike love to each other here in our own student ministry, we don’t stand a chance of doing it in the real world.
I want a close with a story Jesus used during His ministry. Turn to Luke 10:25.
Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
This expert in the law asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life. Jesus responds with the answer, you must obey the law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Within these two statements rests all of the Old Testament law. Jesus says to have eternal life you must do both perfectly. Now we along with Jesus know that nobody obeys the law perfectly. We fall short and because of that we need Jesus to take our place, and He does so by dying on the cross. However, Jesus understands the heart behind this man’s question. He thought he was good. He thought he obeyed the law and was righteous, but Jesus is trying to point to his greater need for a savior. It says that the man, seeking to justify himself asks, who is my neighbor.
Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’
Jesus tells the story of a man who was in need. He was broken and hurting, robbed of all he had. A priest walked by but when he saw him he passed along with the other end of the street. Now for all the priest knew this man could have been unclean. He could be near death and as a priest you wouldn’t want to touch someone like that. Besides priests are too busy for things like this. It would be a bummer if he got blood on his ornate robes. It’s better to cross on the other side of the street to avoid any contact whatsoever. Next someone from the tribe of Levi came by. Culturally, Levites were the chosen tribe to serve the other tribes in the tabernacle and temple. They were the facilitators of the sacramental aspects of the law. Surely the Levite would help the man. Maybe the Levite was too busy. Maybe he was in a hurry. Whatever it was he too passed the man in need and carried on with his business. The third man was a Samaritan. Israel and Samaria hated each other. Israel saw them as dogs and half breeds, unworthy of the law and unworthy of God. Yet it was this enemy that stooped down along the path, bandaged the man’s wounds, and took care of him. There was no sense of partiality in this man’s actions. He saw someone who was hurting and in need and he acted.
The question Jesus closes with is the one I want to close with tonight.
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
Originally I was going to finish all of chapter 2 tonight, but I think I will save that for another week.