Judgement, Compromise and the Way of Mercy

Recap last week

James introduced it in the passage we studied last week. He essentially asked the question: How will your faith stand when you encounter trials in life?

We looked at 3 Signs of an unstable foundation for our faith.

A Corrupted heart- shown in our words and ways we live

A Superficial faith- shown in our willingness to be shaped by the Word of God

A Self-Centered Religiosity- shown in how we love and care for the needs of others

James is laying out here, and throughout the letter, a test of true faith, true religion, to give those reading pause to consider how their lives reveal the genuineness of their faith.

Building on last week, James is making the case that how we view others and treat others reveals the genuineness of our faith.

Remember how he ended chapter 1...

James 1:26–27 CSB

26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Genuine faith in Jesus isn’t self-centered and individualistic. It is shown in compassionate care for others, especially those in need.

With that as a transition and an introduction we have James 2:1-13.

James 2:1–13 CSB

1 My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 2 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, 3 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,” 4 haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 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? 6 Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you? 8 Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. 9 If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. 11 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. 12 Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James get right to the point in verse 1 with a strong and direct imperative to not show favoritism in the family of God.

The church was giving an inappropriate amount of attention and favor to the wealthy or higher class than they were the poor.

The odd thing is that most of the church, James included, would not have been in the upper class that was getting all the attention.

So this minority group, who has no physical needs, was being given attention at the expense of the majority, the poor who are very much in need.

The hypothetical story James tells seems to paint the picture of what is actually happening.

In response to this James makes 2 related rebukes.

One specifically pointed at the attitudes and actions of these believers and one that seems to be pointing to the root of their specific sin.

Two Related Rebukes

1) Specific Rebuke

The first rebuke is clear and straightforward- Don’t show partiality. Don’t play favorites.

Partiality or favoritism is the act of judging someone’s value based on outward appearances.

The way they dress, how they look, the color of their skin, the kind of car they drive, the neighborhood they live in, their family name, or a variety of other characteristics our culture looks at that decides how important someone it.

James is making the case in verse 1 that partiality is incompatible with the Christian faith.

Favoritism is plural in the verse, so we should read it “do not how FAVORITISMS”

No partiality, no one favored over another.

The issue isn't the rich being treated well, but the poor were being treated poorly.

And the motive behind WHY the rich were being treated well.

There “thoughts” or “motives” were evil in their intentions.

There is a tendency in all of us to treat certain people in a certain way in order to gain something for ourselves.

James is confronting this sinful act in the lives of those he is writing to.

Then, in verse 5, he gives the grounding (the why) for not showing favoritism.

James 2:5 CSB

5 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?

To show favoritism of any kind based on worldly standards requires us as Christians to ignore 2 very significant things:

The first is what James points to: The Way of God revealed in the Word of God.

James has in mind the words of his big brother Jesus

Matthew 5:3 CSB

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

The idea of poverty here is JUST concerned with finances, just like in Jesus’s case in Matt 5:3. There is a spiritual neediness that comes from a heart of genuine faith.

God has chosen those who know they are needy.

James isn’t saying the financially poor are better off in the kingdom of God, but that the spiritually poor will find God.

So for anyone who believes in Christ, how can we show partiality toward any group of people.

Galatians 3:28 CSB

28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:13 CSB

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

To show partiality is to ignore the call of the Gospel, the Word of the Lord.

It also requires that we ignore the example of Christ.

Jesus showed us in His life what it meant to show NO partiality or favoritism.

He welcomed the poor, the lame, the sick, and the possessed. He welcomed the religious elite (like Nicodemus), the wealthy (Matthew and Zaccheus), the deeply poor and the working poor. Jesus didn’t turn away from any who genuinely and humbly came to Him.

The Gospel word and the example of Jesus is a clear and compelling call to show no partiality, but to love others like Christ has loved us.

2) Broad Rebuke

There is a deeper issue at play here as well that James goes on to rebuke...

Don’t succumb to the sinful influence of Godless culture.

James 2:6–7 CSB

6 Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?

What James says in these two verse reveal some things about those James is writing to that we must take note of.

The very ones the people are elevating over those truly in need are the ones James says is are “oppressing them”, “drag you into court”, and blaspheming the names of Christ.

The very ones causing much of the trials these Christians are encountering are being treated like royalty when they walk into a church gathering.

This attitude and practice, as James has already pointed out, is counter to the way of Christ, the Gospel way.

It seems the church was being influenced by the culture they were in.

The culture these believers were living in elevated those who were wealthy above those who were poor.

They were the one worthy of honor, they got the best seats and the clout that comes with being rich.

So these Christian brothers and sister, who seemingly knew the Gospel, were being influenced by the ethics of a pagan culture.

That cultural ethic led them to adopt a similar culture that ignored their needy brothers and sister, and ignored the way of Christ shown to us throughout the Gospels.

When we face opposition in life, or challenges and trials, there is a strong temptation to give in and compromise our strongly held beliefs in order to make life a bit easier.

These believers were honoring people who were oppressing them, and suing them for money they likely didn’t even have.

These very people were the ones making a mockery of the name of Jesus, yet they were not standing up for their faith in Jesus as the risen Lord.

The temptation to compromise our faith in order to fit into the world or to gain something from the world is a real and pressing issue for each and everyone of us.

We are bombarded on every side with ideas, opinions, arguments, and agendas that are challenging the convictions that we believe to be Godly.

The more we hear, the more we are challenged, the more we are ridiculed because of what we believe, the easier it is for us to slip, to begin to question, and ultimately to compromise.

These were fairly new converts to the faith, and maybe things started off going well, but the lure and temptation of the world creeped in, perhaps without anyone really even noticing.

We mustn’t loose sight of the glory of God and the goodness of His Word if we are to keep ourselves from compromise.

Two Important Commands

James give us 2 ways to keep from compromising.

1) Embrace the BETTER way.

James 2:8 CSB

8 Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

The better way really is the way of love.

unhindered, unconditional, unselfish love for others.

The “royal law” James is speaking of is the law of the Kingdom of God.

James is saying, “if you are listening to God and doing what He says, you will love others more than you love yourself.”

Jesus’s greatest commandment “love the Lord your God and Love you neighbor”

The “new commandment” Jesus gives… Love one another.

Yeah you may be a pretty great person, hard working, faithful in church, don’t cuss, drink, smoke, or chews, or date women who do.

But do you love others well?

You can’t pick and choose the parts of God’s Word you are willing to follow and just ignore the rest.

James 2:10 CSB

10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.

Embrace God’s better way, the WHOLE thing.

2) Let MERCY flow freely.

James 2:12 CSB

12 Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

Jesus said “those who show mercy will receive mercy.” Matt 5:7

James turns that around— “those who have recieved mercy will be merciful.

Mercy flows freely from a heart that has experienced true mercy.

It is hard to make the case that someone who claims to have known the mercy of God in Christ would struggle to have mercy toward others.

As James shifts in the next section to confront the empty faith of those he is writing to, he is here challenging the idea that someone who lacks mercy can really have experienced the mercy of Christ.

A merciful attitude is one of the evidences that a person truly is alive in Christ.

How can we not be merciful if we have been shown so much mercy.

Jesus shares a parable in Matthews 18 of a servant who is mercifully forgiven of an enormous debt by his master. One he would never be able to repay. Yet once he leaves, he goes to another servant who owes him only a small amount. Rather than following the example of his master and being transformed by the mercy he has been shown, the servant has the other arrested for nonpayment.

The mercy of the master made no difference in his hard heart.

So as we close today I must ask, have you? Do you know the mercy of Christ is a real way?

That he would offer to you, a broken, rebellious sinner eternal hope and unearned forgiveness?

That He would welcome you without conditions into His family and give you an inheritance that is indescribable, only if you were to believe, to trust, and to come to him?

If you have received that mercy, may it triumph over judgement and may we be a people who let mercy flow freely to those around us, without condition.