James 2

Welcome and good morning. We have made it through the book of Acts so if you will turn to Acts 1, we are going to …. just kidding. I would like to challenge you though, while it may have seemed like we were in Acts for a long time we have only scratched the surface of the depth God’s Word goes. I want to encourage you to take the chapters as we go through the books of the Bible and spend time digging deeper on your own through the week. There is so much depth and content in just one verse of the Bible that we can only scratch the surface each week.

We also want to pray for David as he ministers at Christ Community Church this morning. We want to partner with other churches and be involved as part of the church capital C and not just be focused on the church, little c. When we can truly come together in unity across denominations, and different theological beliefs, we can truly function as the body of Christ and work to build each other up in the faith.

*When we study the Bible, we want to work to understand it through proper historical context and understand it in its relation to the whole of scripture. Too often we look at the Bible as a compilation of multiple books written but different men under the direction of God’s Spirit, but we must realize that the Bible in its entirety is one book. It does not contradict itself; it does not show partiality, it is a singular testament through which we are told the story of Christ and the Gospel. The entirety of the Bible points to Christ alone.

The book of James was written to the church. It was not written to the unsaved but to those already following the way of Jesus, to give a roadmap of how to live the Christian life. How we as followers of Christ, should imitate Christ, and continue the process of sanctification in our walk with God. The theme of the book of James is “faith”. Our faith in Christ and our walk in that faith, that we would follow the heart cry of the reformation that we are saved by faith alone.

*James 2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 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, 3 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,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 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. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

One of the first things James talks about here is the sin of partiality, or the sin of showing preference.

Some synonyms for what Partiality is in the 1828 Websters dictionary are

*Partiality - bias, favor, non-objectivity, one sidedness, partisanship, and prejudice

James here lays out the scenario to the church of a rich man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into the church and another man who is poor and wearing shabby clothing comes in, one is seated in a place of honor while the other is told to just find a place and be out of the way.

This distinction in treatment between the two men is considered a sin as it breaks not only the “royal” law, the greatest commandments to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself; but is also an afront to the person and attributes of God. One of the attributes of God is He is completely impartial. Throughout scripture we are told multiple times that God treats all equally.

*Deuteronomy 10:17 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

*1 Peter 1:17 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

*aprosópolémptós: not accepting the person, i.e. without respect of persons

The Greek that is translated as impartially is aprosopolemptos. The word is “often used with reference to God’s judgment before which there is no respect of persons.

God does not care who you are or how much money you have or possessions you have. The only thing He cares about is Judgement and righteousness. Our material possessions do not matter. If we fall under the law for salvation, then none of us would be able to achieve that. If we fail in just one point of the law, we are condemned in the eyes of God. The whole purpose of the law was to show mans need of a savior, and that is how we escape the wrath of God and instead are adopted as sons and daughters into His kingdom. We are covered by the mercy and grace of Jesus through His sacrifice on the cross, and in this we show mercy and grace to those around us.

While there is nothing wrong with being wealthy, most of the early church were people that were poor. The church would have related to James talking about the mistreatment by the rich that the poor endured. This preference given to the person that appeared rich is something we see carried over in our way of life today as well. We will automatically judge someone many times by how they dress, how they speak, where they come from, but this is not an attribute of God.

*The way we behave toward people indicated what we really believe about God! We cannot – and dare not – separate human relationships from divine fellowship.

*1 John 4:20 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen.

*God looks at the heart of man and sees one of two things. He either sees a dead man that is lost in the bondage of sin and worthy of condemnation and eternal damnation or He sees Christ as our propitiation for our sins. This means that Christ took our punishment on Himself. He who did not sin took all our sin past, present, and future on Himself, so that when God looks at those He has called to salvation, He sees only Christ and not the sins that would damn us to hell for eternity. The entire story of God’s mercy is put this way by Paul Washer, “It is as if in one hand God is holding judgment and damnation and is holding it back while the other hand is reaching our in Love saying come.” God sacrificed for our sins allows God to remain true to HIs character and provide a way out for us because He no longer sees our sin and the judgment we deserve but He sees Christs righteousness on us.

*God does not show partiality to people, and He does not show partiality in judgement. While we may look at sins and categorize by how some sins are much worse than others. James shows us here, by lumping the sin of Adultery and the sin of Murder in one sentence, that in the eyes of God they are all the same. Romans 6:23 tells us the wages of sin is DEATH….sin kills and there is no difference in what the sin is. All sin brings death. Thank God that the verse does not stop there but continues, BUT the Gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

How beautiful is it to think that this is a gift. There is nothing we can do to earn or achieve it. It is freely given and while freely given to us it came at a great cost. The ultimate price was paid for this gift by God, so that we could accept it.

Another area to consider is while God does not show partiality in judgment, He also does not show partiality in reward. We see in the parable Jesus told, in Matthew 20, the man who went and got workers first thing in the morning and told them he would pay them a denarius to work in his vineyards. Three hours later he goes and finds workers standing idle and tells them to go to his vineyards and he will be fair with them. He repeats this the 6th and 9th and 11th hours of the day. When the day ends, he pays all workers the same. Those that had only worked the very end of the day received the same pay as those that had spent the entire day in the vineyard working.

Yes, we should focus on the heavenly and not the earthly while we are in this life, yes, we should seek to store up treasure in heaven, but this very attribute of God, that He is an impartial judge, means that we will all be rewarded for following Him, whether it is our entire lives, or we turn to him in our final hours. God’s grace and His mercy are more infinite than our feeble human minds could ever comprehend, and He will reward.

*The last shall be first and the first shall be last. The poor and the rich will cease to exist and we will all be rich in the heavenly mercies of the Father and while on this earth we will be rich in the faith that God has given us.

*Faith Without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 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. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 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? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

This next section is one that can foster controversy if not studied in the proper context. Many may say that James is contradicting the writings of Paul here where Paul repeatedly says we are justified by faith and not works.

*Romans 3:28 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

But James says we are justified by works and not faith alone

*James 2:24 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

This apparent contradiction caused people like Martin Luther to be suspicious of the Book of James. We must remember we want to study the Bible as to who it was written to and in the historical context in which it was written. James was writing to Jewish Christians at the time. Many of the Christians at this time had been raised in Judaism and by this time Judaism had become a completely works based salvation. There was only the law and keeping the law to obtain God’s favor. Instead, now with the sacrifice of Christ they now got to experience a grace like no other. One that provided salvation from sin outside of the law. T

So, when we look at this, we must understand that Paul and James were addressing two different audiences.

Paul was addressing non-believers, explaining what happens when we become a Christian, while James was addressing believers as they learned to walk in the faith. It is very possible that due to the change from law to grace that some of the professing believers at this time had fallen under the impression that all they had to do was believe and then nothing else was required. This belief of antinomianism is literally translated as anti law. That those who had been under the fear of the law for so long, now that they experienced God’s grace, were living like there was nothing else God required of them. James was addressing this heresy in the early church at this time.

This is a false teaching that is still prevalent in many churches today. How many people can you think of, especially here in the buckle of the Bible belt, that claim the name of Christ and the title of Christian yet are doing nothing to follow Christ. They believe that because they said a prayer or were baptized, they are safe from hell and nothing else is required of them. This is what I like to call in the modern church Sloppy Agape. That God just loves us and we can live our lives however we want and do what we want, and “live our best life now” and still make it to the throne of God. This is a belief and a faith that will not save. James shows us that while we are saved by faith in God and His grace, a natural reaction to that faith will be works and if we don’t see works then it is a dead or non-saving faith.

*Alfred Adler (Clinical Psychiatrist) had this to say about the psychology of how people act – Trust only in movement. Life happens at the level of action. We are not what we say but we are what we do. What we do is the real key to our intentions. Trust only in movement. ~Alfred Adler

We are not what we say, we are what we do. Are we living out a living faith in Christ or are we just talking the talk while not walking the walk? We are saved or justified through grace alone. It is the grace of God and faith in God that saves us. There is nothing we can do to earn it, but it is works and the process of sanctification that will carry us through this world to be with Christ.

*True faith will always be seen in works. Dead faith will not be seen at all. – John MacArthur

Jesus tells us multiple times the importance of works in our lives.

*Matthew 5:16 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[b] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven

*Matthew 7:21 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

People believed that Jesus was sent from God, but it was not a saving belief. Believing is not enough unless you are transformed. James tells us that even the demons in hell believe and tremble at the name of Jesus. The demons know that Jesus was the son of God, they know that He rose from the grave, they know He returned to Heaven, they believe but they don’t have a belief that saves. They don’t have a faith that saves. Here is the kicker;

*You cannot have a true personal encounter with the sovereign God of all creation without coming out the other side changed. When we encounter the power of the almighty God it will change our lives. We will become new creations. Thats the difference between a saving faith and a dead faith. We will no longer want to talk like we used to, we won’t want to do the same things we used to, we will be changed through that encounter with God and His grace.

Even in the story of the fig tree in Matthew 21 when Jesus sees that it has not produced any fruit it is cursed and withers up and dies. We must produce fruit in our lives if we have a true saving faith in Christ.

Some of the fruit evidenced is listed in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians

*Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

These are fruits that are evidence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Love that no matter how we may feel wronged by someone we respond in love and through the lens of the Gospel instead of hurt or anger. Joy, that no matter whether circumstances are good or bad we can still find joy in Jesus. Happiness is fleeting and can come and go but the joy of the Holy Spirit is continual and doesn't’ change. Peace, that when troubles come, and the waves of life try to knock us over we find peace in the presence of God and we trust in Him and He speaks for the waves of our troubles souls to be still. (I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. ~ Charles Spurgeon), Patience, that we know that all things happen in God’s timing, and we are willing to wait on His will and His plan to be made known.

James knew that true faith will generate obedience to the Word of God, and so he encourages the church to live a life that is worthy of their profession of Jesus as the Christ. We are called to look at our faith not only what we believe but how we believe.

*Are we simply filling our minds with facts and theology, speaking eloquent words with our mouths, and quoting the Bible while not carrying it out? There is a sermon from Pastor John Piper, that is probably one of his most famous sermons he has ever given, it has impacted many lives for the Gospel, called Don’t Waste Your Life, in which he challenges us to take risks for the kingdom, to forsake the American dream of wealth, health, and prosperity for the call of Christ to give all we have to the poor and to follow Him. To have a passion for God and the things of God that will carry us into eternity with Him!

St Francis of Assisi is a great example of faith accompanied by works, or action. He was born into a wealthy family of merchants. He was destined to live a life of luxury but came to follow Christ and desired to go into the priesthood as a monk and devote his life to the study of God. Instead, his father came after him in an attempt to stop him. Before any accusations were made, Francis “without a word peeled off his garments even removing his breeches and restored them to his father.” Completely naked, he said: “Until now I have called you my father on earth. But henceforth I can truly say: Our Father who art in heaven.” Francis was given a cloak to wear by the astonished bishop in the village and went off to the woods of Mount Subasio above the city. Francis went on to develop the Franciscan order of friars and preach the Gospel to any that would listen. He renounced everything this world could offer him to follow Christ.

So, as we have moved to the basics, and we return to learn the foundations of salvation through the 5 Solas, the heart cry of the reformation. We are saved by the grace of God alone, by faith in His finished work alone, according to scripture alone, through the sacrifice of Christ alone, all to live our lives to show the Glory of God to all we see. We must have a faith that is living and moving, and the works that we do as a result of that faith will always bring glory to God, not to us.

*What is the evidence seen in our lives of a faith that is alive? Do we come to church on Sunday and speak a dead faith with our lips while we go the rest of the week living apart from God’s truth? Do we find pleasure and joy in things that don’t glorify God? We must have a faith that is alive and is moving.

We will fail. Again and again, we will fail but the sign of a faith that is alive, a faith that brings salvation, is that even though we fall we keep moving. We keep working to that process of sanctification.

*Are we allowing God to continually sanctify us? We are supposed to have the old man passed away and we are new creatures in Christ. God is continually refining us as Gold is refined in the fire. This means we will go through pain; we will go through struggle, God has not called us to a life of ease but to a life of refinement so that we can be sanctified and in the end, we can come out of that fire pure, with our faults and our failures melted away.

*Are we wasting our life or are we living it for the glory of God alone? Are we passionate about the things of God or are they just an after thought? Have we grasped so tightly to what God says that our heart breaks for every lost soul, that we can’t go where we used to go, we can’t do the things we used to do, because we don’t want to waste our lives! We want to live them for the Glory of God, and we want to tell as many people as we can of His goodness and His mercy!

*Christian faith is not merely assent to a set of propositions about Jesus. It is a living trust in the Lord which leads to a whole new way of life. – L.O. Richards

Our faith must be alive, it must be moving, it must be not just spoken of with our mouths, but seen in our actions in all we do.