Who Keeps the Royal Law? Not Us, Jesus.

James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18

Who Keeps the Royal Law? Not Us, Jesus.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Love your neighbor as yourself. Those are familiar words. God spoke them through Moses in the Old Testament. Jesus repeated them when he lived and taught on the earth. His brother James calls them the Royal law- a kind of King of laws because these words summarize seven of the Ten Commandments. Honor your father and mother; do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not covet; these are all examples of what it means either to love your neighbor as yourself or to show a lack of love for your neighbor.

You probably remember the man who came to Jesus asking what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus asked him what do the Scriptures say? The man answered, 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. Jesus commended him, you have answered correctly. Then Jesus said, do this and you will live.

The man realized a problem. How was he doing at keeping the royal law? It says love your neighbor as yourself, but there were some people who were hard to love. What about those tax collectors and sinners, did he have to love them? What about those dirty gentiles, and those disgusting Samaritans, did he have to love them? He asked Jesus, who is my neighbor? Do I really have to love everyone? Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to show him that everyone, even his enemy is his neighbor whom he is to love if he wants to keep the royal law.

James says, if you keep the royal law found in Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right/well. So, how are you doing? You might say, “I haven’t murdered anyone. I haven’t committed adultery. I haven’t robbed a bank. Maybe I am doing right. Maybe I am keeping this royal law of God. What do you think?”

James makes sure that we can’t justify ourselves with this kind of thinking. Maybe you have not committed any of those big sins, but he asks, do you show favoritism? Are you prejudiced? Do you discriminate and judge people based on their outward appearance? Do you treat some people better than others based on what you assume about them by the way they look?

“Here’s a test for you,” James says. If someone shows up at church in need of a bath, wearing smelly, dirty clothes and dread locks, would you treat that person the same way that you treat another visitor who is clean and well-dressed and wearing expensive jewelry? Would you treat a visitor differently based on the color of their skin? What about on the basis of an accent that indicated they were from a different part of the country, or the world? If someone spoke with an English or Australian accent, would you faun over them, but ignore or look down on someone with a Hispanic accent?

I read a story about a pastor of a large congregation who decided to put his congregation to the test. He disguised himself as a person who had been living on the streets for a long time. He wandered around through the parking lot for a while as members were arriving for church. He came into the building and walked around in the entry area. He wandered down the aisle and took a seat. As it was time for the service to begin, he walked up to the altar and as he began to reveal who he really was, he talked about how he had been treated when others thought he was a bum. I’m sure there were many who felt embarrassed.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that no matter how hard we might try not to judge by outward appearances, if we had been present in that pastor’s congregation and had seen someone we thought was a bum wandering into the service, we would probably at least thought, if not have commented to those sitting next to us, “who is that and what are THEY doing here?”

James takes it even farther. He pictures people scrambling to make sure the rich person got a good seat, while the poor person is told to stand, or to sit on the floor. James says you have become judges with evil thoughts. Maybe you acted this way because you were thinking, “this rich guy might give a big offering; but this poor man probably wants us to take up an offering for him.”

Gotcha, James says. If you were thinking you were doing well and keeping the royal law, think again. Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

God doesn’t say, “be good, try hard, and you will be fine.” God says, be perfect. You either keep every law of God perfectly all the time or you are a lawbreaker. Just one sinful thought—just thinking to yourself, “why is THAT person here”, or “maybe that rich man will give a big offering;” just one lustful thought, or a moment when you wished for revenge on someone, or a moment when you coveted what others have, or just one unkind word—just one sin of any kind makes you a lawbreaker. God says that those who break his laws deserve his eternal punishment in Hell.

So, how are you doing? Are you keeping the royal law?

It’s because we don’t keep the royal law that we are so thankful for Jesus. In our Old Testament reading Isaiah pictured Jesus the Messiah as the obedient Servant of the Lord. He set his face like flint and endured anything and everything, every temptation and every injustice, in order to be faithful to the Father and carry out his will. As Jesus walked the earth he took our place under the royal law. As our substitute he never showed favoritism. In fact, even his enemies admitted we know you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men because you pay no attention to who they are. They looked down on him because he ate with tax collectors and sinners and let a sinful woman anoint his feet with perfume. Jesus always and perfectly loved his neighbor because he always perfectly loved his heavenly Father above all things. He fulfilled the royal law for us, in our place.

Then, as he told his disciples what it would mean that he was the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord prophesied by Isaiah, he allowed himself to be beaten and mocked and spit upon and crucified, still keeping the royal law and praying for the forgiveness of those who hurt him.

Peter objected when Jesus talked about his suffering and death. He didn’t want to think about such things. But these things had to happen so that Jesus could be punished in our place for all the times that we have judged by outward appearances and all the times that we have showed favoritism or prejudice. His resurrection on the third day assures us that everything he did in our place was sufficient and accepted by the Father. All our sins have been paid for in full and the Father has covered us with the robe of Jesus’ perfection.

How thankful we are that God does not show favoritism. He didn’t send Jesus to be the savior of only certain people, just the rich or just the poor or just people of a certain nationality or political party. He sent Jesus to be the savior of the world. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

How thankful we are that Jesus lived and died for our sins and chose even poor sinners like us to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him.

Now that you know this, what will you do? James makes it clear that, even though we are forgiven, saved by what Jesus has done in our place, the royal law still applies. It’s not a means of earning eternal life; James has already made that clear. But it is a way of letting our light shine. It is a way of showing our faith. In fact, Jesus says that he will use acts of love shown to the least of those around us as evidence of faith on the last day.

James’ example of a person simply wishing someone who is in need well, but not doing anything to help, reminds us again of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite saw their brother in need, but they passed by on the other side of the road. They would have claimed “I have faith.” But claiming that you have faith and that you love your neighbor doesn’t fly if you don’t put it into practice. Jesus makes it clear that where there is faith there will be fruit. Faith will produce the fruit of love for God and for our neighbor.

Do you remember what Jesus said in his parable about the unproductive fig tree in the vineyard? “Cut it down.” The servant begged for mercy for the tree. Give it a year and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. But even he agreed that if it still didn’t produce fruit, if it still claimed, “I’m a fig tree; I’m a believer,” but had no fruit, it would be cut down and thrown into the fire.

James is saying the same thing when he says, faith without works is dead. Faith that’s all talk and no show is no faith at all. He challenges anyone, show me your faith without deeds. That’s impossible. You can’t see faith. It’s like the wind. You can’t see wind; all you can see is the effect the wind has on things. So it is with faith, it can only be seen by the deeds it produces. You can’t separate faith and works. Where there is true faith evidence of that faith will be seen. James says, I will show you my faith by what I do.

Keep the royal law. How are you doing with that? We all fail at keeping the royal law- we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves. But Jesus didn’t fail. He kept the whole law of God, never breaking it at any time. Through faith in him, by God’s grace, his perfection has been credited to us. We are forgiven. Now in the peace and joy of your forgiveness let your faith show. Out of love and thanks to God strive to keep the royal law. Love your neighbor, all people everywhere, as yourself.