Encouraging Words

Words Matter

Have you ever stopped to feel the incredible power of words? They’re more than just sounds—they’re tools that can lift a soul to the heavens or crush it to the ground. A single, heartfelt word of encouragement can be a spark, igniting hope and transforming not just a day, but a life. Yet, what happens when our words or actions are clouded by favoritism or judgment?

Think about those moments when you felt invisible, brushed aside, or unfairly judged because of how you looked or seemed. Or maybe you’ve watched it happen to someone else—a person overlooked or dismissed, their worth reduced to surface-level impressions. It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it? Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or even within the sacred walls of a church, it’s all too easy to favor those who shine brighter on the surface, while forgetting or misjudging those who may quietly hold immeasurable value.

James is telling us to rise above worldly standards, rise above how the world wants us to see others and judge them and embrace mercy. James, the brother of Jesus, challenges us to reflect God's heart by choosing mercy over judgment. His words remind us that God’s kingdom is built not on outward appearances or human preferences, but on grace, mercy, and love for all people—especially those often overlooked by society. Everything in the Gospel is ordered to extend the maximum grace and mercy to His people.

In the early church, showing favoritism was common and there was a reason for this. The synagogues, where they were still meeting at the time of this epistle, were used both for worship and judicial proceedings. The Jewish courts had jurisdiction over certain religious and social matters. Some were showing partiality. The rich were being favored and the poor were pushed aside or ignored. James warns them that this is contrary to their faith in Jesus Christ (v. 1). Stop judging people on the basis of their outward appearance (vv. 2–4)!

James shows how the world treated people then and warning against this today and that we should not judge based on simply what our eyes can see, not on appearance because by doing so we are undervaluing what God has created, we are stripping value from God’s priceless creation and we see this all the time in our lives.

We often take the long way around when we see someone on the street, in a parking lot that is looking for help, they often make us uncomfortable, maybe simply from the disparity in class as we see it, maybe we don’t want to look into their eyes and see what pain and desperation looks like. Maybe we don’t want to realize just how close any of us could be to being in their position, where we are the ones looking for help. When I was at AC this year in Winston Salem, standing on the street corner waiting to cross the street there was a guy that asked for a few dollars to get something to eat and someone gave him some money and I watched out of the corner of my eye someone else standing there watching this take place that just rolled his eyes that someone actually helped him with some money and I was thinking that here we are, at a church conference, discussing the future of the church and the work of that church in the world, and someone standing here obviously affiliated with the church, willing to do the business of the church in a nice well appointed conference center with a look of total disgust on his face watching the work of the church taking place on a street corner.

It’s not fair and it runs contrary to the very nature of God when we proclaim in our prayers, our places of worship when we begin to favor one over another for whatever reason we do not show the mercy of God, the same mercy God has shown us, “mercy for me, not for thee.”

Sometimes we forget who God is and who Jesus is in the world. Jesus today would be the activist we see advocating for fair treatment of the marginalized by culture, poverty or race. He would be the one on the corners of the world offering a hand up and not kicking them back down. He would be offering a way out, a meal, a rough, offering love and not condemning them.

He would be helping in more ways than just praying for them, he would have his hands dirty from holding them up, getting on their level and being the God that He is. Jesus constantly broke down social barriers. He shared meals with outcasts, touched the untouchable, and called sinners into His presence. Jesus' life exemplifies mercy. In Mark 2:17, He said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." This is the heart of God—a heart of mercy that triumphs over judgment.

The preponderance of the Lord’s concern is shown for those who are towards the bottom of the world’s heap. This appeared in the Old Testament’s fundamental historical event, the Exodus. In Egypt the Lord chose out for himself the slave people. Marvelously, this act was not prompted by their misery as such, but by the Lord’s inner heart of love (Deuteronomy 7:7–8 “ 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; 8 but it is because the LORD loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers…)

In other words, love of the poor, downtrodden and helpless is written into the divine nature. Or again, we read that in taking the initiative to save Israel the Lord ‘made a name for himself’ (2 Sa. 7:23 “What other nation on earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name, and doing for them great and terrible things, by driving out before his people a nation and its gods?).

We see this pattern throughout Scripture. God chose David, the youngest and least impressive of Jesse’s sons, to be king. He chose Mary, a humble young woman, to be the mother of the Savior. Again and again, God chooses those whom the world would consider unworthy or insignificant. His mercy lifts up the lowly, and His love knows no bounds. What does all this mean for us?

We must change the way we see people, look beyond what the world sees and look at them with a heart of God and see the value that God places on them and every person. We must remember that the last will be first. We can show the love of God when we can show God’s love to others, especially those that can not do anything for you in return. We must put our faith and our works into action.

Faith and Works: Living our God’s Love

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Faith, Works And)

Faith and works are as inseparable as sun and sunlight. Faith is the sun; good works are its rays.473

I was hungry, and you formed a committee and discussed my hunger. I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health. I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God. I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me. You seem so holy, so close to God, but I’m still very hungry, and lonely, and cold

A genuine faith is one that is actively at work. Paul said the works of the law could never save a man. James says that works of faith are proof of salvation. James goes on to talk about the faith of Abraham and Rahab. Abraham’s faith was not an empty profession but a principle of action (vv. 21–24). The same is true for even a prostitute, like Rahab (vv. 25–26). Just as Abraham showed his faith by his willingness to offer Isaac, so Rahab showed her faith by aiding the spies.

God himself had already promised Joshua that he would give them this land and that no one would stand before them (Josh 1:2–6). So based on the testimony of a Canaanite prostitute, were the spies finally convinced that God would do what he said? Of all the examples that James might choose, why this one? Just as Abraham was willing to risk the life of his only biological heir to demonstrate his faith, Rahab was willing to risk her own life to demonstrate her faith that God would do what she had heard he would do. Not only are she and her family spared (Josh 6:17, 23–25), but she appears in the lineage of Jesus (Matt 1:5) and is heralded elsewhere as a model of faith (Heb 11:31).

Faith and works cannot exist separately and alone. They must go together.11 W. C. Fields, “James,” in The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, ed. H. Franklin Paschall and Herschel H. Hobbs (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1972), 783.

It’s simply not enough that we love others, we must show it through our actions. If we claim faith but have nothing to show for it, our actions don’t reflect the love of God, then our faith is dead. Our faith must be lived out in tangible ways, not just what we believe but in how we treat others in need. God calls us to be people of action, people who demonstrate our faith through our love and service to others… As 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

James (James 2:17–18)

Problem?: Batteries are a common source of electricity in our society. It is not the battery itself that has value, but the charge that is stored in it. Figuratively speaking, it is the application of faith that provides benefit. Faith without works is just as dead and impractical as a battery without any electrical charge.

James shows us clear warning about how we treat others, we are to treat people as God treats them, see them as God sees them - with love. Now, the world is going to try and corrupt you but don’t give in to that, the world is going to want you to treat them badly, not pay any attention to them, to leave them alone. We are to honor and uplift the poor and lowly knowing that in God’s kingdom they are rich and heirs of the kingdom. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

This coming week, look around you and look for opportunities to put this message into practice. Who in your life might need to experience God’s love through you? How can you serve those whom society often overlooks? Remember, faith without works is dead—so let’s be doers of the word, and not just hearers.

What are some examples of individuals in the Bible that God chose, according to the sermon?

How did Jesus exemplify mercy in His interactions according to the sermon?

According to the sermon, how is God's nature described in relation to the marginalized?