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James. Chapter two is where we are together. James writes the book of of James to call the believers to real faith. If you read in the beginning of James, you’ll see that he writes to the diaspora of the Jewish people that are scattered abroad to the 12 tribes. Israel was made up of 12 different tribes. When when Christianity was preached, it was first preached to the Jews. So when James is writing, he’s writing the first book of the New Testament, and he’s really writing to the first Christians that exist because they are Jewish Christians. In essence, this book, though it’s talking about the Jewish people, represent the church because the church started in, uh, in among the Jews. And so when James writes this book, it says he’s writing to the diaspora, the 12 tribes scattered abroad. But what he’s calling them to is, is to a real faith in Christ. And it’s indicated throughout the book of James because, as James writes, he writes in the form of an imperative. Over half of the book is in the imperative form, meaning it’s a it’s a statement that James desires for us to live out within our lives. This is what it looks like to be a Christian. And James lays it out for us. He doesn’t want us fooling ourselves that we we love Jesus when there’s no evidence in our lives. In fact, next week we’re going to get to the, uh, probably one of the most out of context verses and one of the most quoted passages in James chapter two, Faith without works is dead.
What does that mean for us as believers? But as we begin this journey together, when James opens up in chapter one, what he discusses with us is something that every Christian goes through, and that is trials and temptations. First week we talked about trials. Second week we talked about temptations. Trials are something that we experience tend to be external. When you’re talking about the early Christians, they faced persecution for their faith in Christ. And so there was peer pressure to get them to conform and relinquish their position in Jesus and to walk away from that. And so James talks about understanding how to live your life in joy in light of Christ. And second, he he couples that with the idea of temptation. Generally, when trials come, there also comes with that temptations. Temptations tend to be what happens to us internally. It’s the areas of our life where we are prone to surrender to sin rather than to Jesus. And so James outlines in chapter one both trials and temptations in the life of the believer. It’s where we are most attacked and giving the evidence of our faith the fruit of what it means to follow after Christ. As believers, we anticipate this, that following after Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean it’s it’s going to be easy.
I say it like like this, that to follow after Christ is simple. But it’s not easy. There are challenges that come with it. And James says to us in the book of James, this is how you live the evidence of your Christian life. In fact, in James chapter one, we’re going to begin in just the very end of James one, before we jumped into James two, because it sets the background for what James discusses today in chapter two. Uh, James gives us an example of what it what it looks like for us to live as godly believers. And so he says in James chapter one and verse 27, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James talks about trials and temptations, and he says this is ultimately what we’re driving to as a church. The evidence of Jesus being made known in our lives. If you want to know how, you know that evidence is there, here, here it is. It’s loving the widows and the orphans. And let me tell you why. It’s because the widows and orphans aren’t the typical person that has a lot to give in return. When you’re loving them, your expectation isn’t what you get from them, but you’re loving them because of what Christ has done within your own heart in transforming your life.
When James talks about religion in this passage of Scripture, we we differentiate here as a church. We say. We say that we aren’t about religion, but what we’re about is relationship. We’re driving towards that intimacy and walking with Christ. God has created us for relationship in him. And when James uses this word religion, it’s it’s kind of to slight the religious thinkers of this time, meaning most people think that you do good and you, based on your merit, earn God’s favor. And what the Bible tells us is that is impossible. You can never merit God’s favor. In fact, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more. But there’s nothing you can do to make God love you less. And God’s grace has been extended to all of us despite our sin. No matter how religiously you try to live. The standard of law has condemned you. The James in this passage when he talks about religion within the New Testament, it’s also translated with the idea of worship. Colossians 218 takes this very same word in the Greek text and translates it as the word worship. And what James is saying to us here is that when you get what your relationship with Christ is all about, and you are really engaged in worship to him, and you honor him with your life, then through your life you will bear his image. And the people that you choose to love are people that may not have the capacity to love you back.
And you ever been in that place in your life where you’re just so hurt that you have nothing to give in return? You think of the first century when James is writing this? To be an orphan or to be a widow could ultimately lead, and typically did lead an individual to a life of slavery or prostitution. They’ve got to have food to eat and they’ve got to have income to provide. And so in order to do that, they they subject themselves into into those sort of things, which ultimately leads, leads them to some sort of hunger and disease that they face. But when we understand the idea of Christ as Christ comes into our life, is that the person that God cares about is is the weak and the vulnerable, those who recognize within their life just how dependent we are for Christ, because we are created by Christ, and therefore our purpose is only found in him. Matthew 25 says this. This is talking about the tribulation period, but it gives evidence of of the way a Christian life should be lived. It says this then, then the King will say to those on his right, come, you are blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you, for the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? And when did you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And then the King will answer and say to them, truly I say to you. To the extent that you did to the one of these brothers, even the least of them. You’ve done them to me. James gives the indication of the Christian life that when we have relationship with Christ, it is seen on the external of of our living. Meaning, if Jesus transforms your heart, he transforms the way that you live. James describes that in James chapter one, because James is then about to lay down the law in chapter two, this is what it looks like, guys, and this is where I think you would get if you read to the end of chapter one, you would say, man, yeah, that’s awesome James, I like that. That makes me feel good inside. And then James starts chapter two and he says, why aren’t you doing it? In chapter two and verse one, he says to us, my brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
Playing favorites. For if a man comes to your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a man, a pawn, a poor man in dirty clothes. I try to picture these two in my head. I couldn’t get Flavor Flav out of my mind. I don’t know why, but if they come in right, and you pay special attention to the one who was wearing the fine clothes and say, you sit here in a good place, and you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit down by my footstool, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? James talks about the idea of playing favorites. When we play favorites in life, the tendency when we play favorites for another is or for one is to reject another. I can tell you in this room, there is not a person among us that likes to be rejected. Even the nerdiest of groups, when they tell you that you’re not wanted, you’ll be like, I don’t want to hang out with you. But you know that hurts. Like, maybe I want to be a nerd. I don’t know, you know, it’s the new cool anyway, right? Um, but all of us have this longing within us to to to be connected to, to community and to feel worth.
I mean, God created you in his image. And the first thing that he did when he created is to create marriage. God made us in his image. God is already a triune community, therefore within us, at the deep seed of who we are as people. We want to belong and we want to know that we’re significant. And James brings up this passage, because these gentlemen and the women that represent this church here are living contrary to the identity through which God has created us as people. They’re playing favorites. And the favoritism that James is talking about here is displayed in the outward appearance, meaning we have an unhealthy way of judging someone’s worth here. In this illustration, he chooses the unhealthy way through the means of rich and poor. But we can do it differently within our society. But the struggle that they had was among the rich and poor, something I think I’ve noticed in society today. I might do this with the next kid. If you want your kid to be rich, it seems like like the name Donald now is the way to do it, man. Donald Trump, Donald Sterling, Donald Duck or whatever. But but to play favorites and to judge someone’s worth by the outward appearance, or contrary to the way that the nature of God has attributed the worth to someone is wrong.
And James, at the end of this, talks about the thought of judging with evil motives. When we talk about judgment, can I tell you that God gives us the ability to judge? I hear this taken out of context all the time. Judge not right. The Bible says judge not right. That is that is we take that and we run with it. Like as if God never wants us to judge anything. And none of us live like that in this world, right? If you go up the canyon and you’re next to the cliff and you feel like that’s a stupid spot to stand, you’re using sound judgment, right? You judge. There are times in your life where where judgment is actually in your life. Judgment is important. But when you buy things, the things that you do, the decisions you make, the moral choices of your life, judgment is a good thing. God has given you that ability so that you make rational choices within your life. Judgment is important. It is important to determine right from wrong. Just because someone else doesn’t think right from wrong is aligned with what God says. God has already determined that, and it’s our I ability and purpose and God’s desire for us to walk in that truth. And so it’s a it becomes significant for the believer to judge between right and wrong. But here’s where it gets wrong.
When we use our judgment for the purpose of devaluing another human being to place them beneath us. That’s where the problem lies. It’s good for us to recognize what’s healthy and what’s not, what’s right and what’s wrong. But not for the purpose of looking at another human being and lowering them in position. And sometimes we use judgment for that reason. You’re less than me, you know. Sometimes. If you’ve ever experienced a religious setting in your life, you get a distaste for it because you recognize that the people in a religious system tend to use that to build up pride within themselves, because they they live this law and they’re better than you. And so when they look at you, they look down upon you. And James comes to this passage and says, listen, you’re using external things that God never deemed worth using to determine the worth of another, but the worth of another is based on them being made in the image of God. It’s nothing that I have any ability to weigh on. In my judgment, I don’t use right and wrong to lower someone in their worth. When we do that, we use judgment poorly. It’s important that we learn not only to judge right and wrong, but how that works in relationship to each other, not devaluing one another. So this is what Christ has called us to do in this world, is to hold each other accountable.
God wants nothing more than for you to walk with him all the days of your life, which means as a body of Christ, it becomes important for us to encourage each other in the steps it takes to do that. You know, in my own life, there are ways that I struggle in my relationship to Christ that I am blind in. I don’t even realize I do it sometimes, and it’s not unless a brother in Christ loves me enough to talk about it with me, that I walk with Christ in it. Galatians six one says, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Meaning we don’t devalue them, but we talk about right and wrong for the purpose of them walking with Christ together. I care enough about you for that reason. It’s not about playing favorites, and it’s not about judging someone as less than you, but walking with Christ together. We recognize everyone has struggles. But even in struggles, no one is less than me. James is talking about rich and poor here. I don’t think James is saying that being rich is wrong. I don’t think James is saying being poor is wrong, but what I think James is saying is the way that you treat the rich people in this passage, treat everyone like that. Honor everyone for the worth that they carry in Christ.
And James goes on and shares with us in chapter two and verse five, when he when he discusses just in further detail, he says, listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? Listen, you’re treating the rich people in the wrong way, and the rich people aren’t even really walking with Christ in a godly way. He mentions it in six and seven. But listen, the people that are close to God are actually the ones you’re turning your back from. The poor in God’s eyes are actually rich. Meaning, if you’re so interested in pleasing someone and you want someone to really pray for you, go to the one who doesn’t have anything because they recognize how much they are in need of Christ in their lives. The people you want praying for, you are the people who are struggling because in their struggles, they are finding the time to get on their knees and already get with Jesus. It says in Matthew five, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In first Corinthians 127, God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.
In Second Corinthians 12, Paul says this therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Those that know. How dependent life really is on Jesus. Are the ones who are truly rich in Christ. And James looks at the moment and the standards that they’re placing through rich and poor. And he’s saying to them, treat everyone equal. You’re blind to the fact that those that feel that they are in a desperate situation are the ones drawing most near to Christ, because in our lives, it’s not until we really need someone that many of us just don’t get on our knees and talk to the good Lord above. It takes a need to rattle us in our spiritual lives. James points out the significance of elevating the life of every person before Christ. And, you know, I look at our American society and I recognize this, that we are a nation that likes to harp on equality of all people. We are we have roots in a Christian foundation. And so when James discusses this, I feel like sometimes we look at this passage and we and we can say generally as nation may be compared to other nations, that sometimes we we tend to do this in an okay way. But not always. And so I asked myself, as I look through this passage of scripture, knowing maybe I don’t struggle with rich man and poor man, but God, where are the weaknesses in my own life? Where I play favorites, where I look at people and I say that they don’t deserve love and attention, but someone else does.
God, where is that? That I’m not displaying what it is that you desire by loving people the way that you have called me to love them. How do I justify my negative treatment to others? Maybe. Maybe you’re biased to mean people, right? Or maybe stinky people. Or maybe people that make poor life choices. Or. Or maybe you live a religious life and you just think everyone’s beneath you. All of us somewhere have some form or some way that that we play favorites in our lives. Can I tell you, maybe as Americans, where that might be for all of us, maybe not this church, but as an American society as a whole. I think when we look at a passage like James chapter two, we’re not even to the point of of differentiating between rich man and poor man, because our society has gotten so good at just pleasing me. Me. I don’t show favorites to anyone because I am the favorite. Everything I do in life is about me and I’m doing it all for my glory. I am the rich man in James. And so whatever satisfies me in life, that’s what it’s all about.
And that’s what I’m living for. Forget the poor and forget the rich man. I’m doing it just for numero uno. Whatever your struggle is in playing favorites, recognize that what God has called us to do is to to recognize and call out the worth of all people in Christ and call them to relationship in him. And so the question we ask is, is then how do we do that? Looking at James two and you think, maybe in my life I do have a blind spot where where there’s someone I’m not loving, the way that God has called me to love and reaching them the way that God has called me to reach them. So. So how do I do that in my life? How do I make sure that I’m not living this way? I tell you, when I was, I was thinking about my place as a favoritism. I started driving my mind crazy just trying to think of something. I think I was trying to invent stuff where, where, where’s my favorite? And I started getting obsessive about that. But but good news, James two and starting in verse eight, then discusses for us the way to set our mentality in this world that we don’t play favorites. But we love people the way that God has called us to love them. And so he says this to us as believers.
If, however. You are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. James first discusses Just the Thought of Love, which we’ve talked about even just last week, and the importance of understanding love. But I love the way that James talks about love here because he calls it the the royal law. Meaning this is. This is the way of the King. You look at James discussing in chapter two in the beginning, and he’s recognizing that the people have set these rules in order to demonstrate how they live their lives and proving the worth of others. And then James says, let’s let’s scratch those rules irrelevant towards the life God’s called you to. And let’s recognize this, that the royal law is what it’s about, and his law is about love. The greatest commands are to love the Lord your God and to love others. The King’s law is lived within his own life. The Bible tells us that God is as a father to the fatherless. He is a, a husband to to the wife or his church. He is a king protecting his people that he was willing to come to this earth and give his entire life for you and for me, sacrificing it all in our sin while we were proving our unworthy ness to be loved, he still chooses to love. On our broken life caused him to give his own on our behalf.
The way that we begin to understand how to treat one another, regardless of their social status and position in society, is to understand the love that has been given to us through Christ, this royal love that he has called us to live in this world. We don’t set the standard of who was important. God has already set it. And so by love we live it in this life. We love. As James says in chapter one and verse 27, both the widows and the orphans. The ones who suffer and the ones who don’t. Because we recognize that what God has created us for, his community and that community starts in him, and it grows throughout his church. And the church manifests the joy and glory of the Lord in in this world, understanding the love of God is where it starts. And he goes on in verse nine and he says, but if you show partiality, you are committing sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not commit murder. Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. James very plainly says this about us everyone is guilty when you talk about God’s law. Here’s the purpose of God’s law you are guilty.
None of us deserve the love that we read about in in verse eight. We all stand guilty before the law. And so if we’re to distinguish between people, as James talks about in two and verse one to to seven, the rich and the poor, what James then comes and says in verses 9 to 11 is this to us? There are two kinds of people in this world, but it’s not rich and poor. The two kinds of people in this world are this there is Jesus, and there is everyone that needs Jesus, and we all fall under that. And so when we talk about understanding the worth and the value of a human being, Jesus loved them enough to give his life for them. So who am I to lower them in their position before God? Consider your own poverty. Nine, 1011. We have all broken the law. As an unbeliever away from Christ. We need to understand that that brings death and separation from God. But God has called us to relationship and unity in him, and he has died for you because that is a payment you can never pay. That is a bridge you you can never close in a gap you can never fill between you and God. And so he has given it all for you. And the life of a believer, as James is doing in this passage of Scripture, it’s to say, I care enough and love you enough to talk about you in this relationship with God, that we can walk in this together.
Let’s honor him. And our commitment and love to our King. And so James closes with this. He says in verse eight, if you struggle with favoritism, consider the love in verse 9 to 11, consider the bankruptcy of your own life, and that Jesus is even come when he closes with this in 12 and 13. So speak, and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment. And this is what I think it’s okay to do. I think it’s completely okay. To come to God and just say, God, I’ve got nothing. And I am bankrupt and I am broken and gotta look at the standard of your holiness and perfection and God. I feel so distant from that. Because in recognizing that we find in Christ there is this law of liberty, and that in Christ, while judgment could be given to us, that Jesus, what he brings is his mercy as he reigns down with his love in grace because of what he’s done on our behalf, knowing that he has created us for relationship, that we could never reconcile between us and him. No matter how good you do, it will never undo anything wrong that you’ve done to the holiest of kings.
It stands as an offense against him forever. And we need mercy. Meaning when we talk about stumbling and walking with each other, when we when we come before one another and we talk about walking with God in joy, and we recognize our shortcoming in the Lord, we get to a place in our lives where we need to come back and just say, I failed and I need mercy. Maybe in James chapter two, the rich and the poor people being divided in this church. Could you imagine how humiliating this would be for the group? Like you’re reading this letter from James, who’s leading this church, and all of a sudden, as you open up the letter, you realize, uh oh, you’re looking at each other, knowing that you’ve been showing favoritism. And at the end of the service, you’ve got to walk up to that person and be like, hey, I want you to know something. It was wrong. Your worth is so much greater. And God has shown me mercy in this, and God has shown you mercy in this. And it’s it’s not about proving our worth, but it’s about showing the value that we carry in Christ and just encouraging each other closer to that in him. Can imagine after the church service this day when they read this letter. What happened among the body of Christ. I don’t know where our prejudices are.
You know that in your heart. And God knows it about you. I don’t know where our favoritism lies, and I don’t know how we judge people, but I know what God has called us to. And the way of escape from a life that lays out religious law to put people underneath of you. The way that we escape such thinking in this world is to meditate and saturate ourselves in the life of the gospel, and recognizing what Christ has already done on our behalf. Maybe it’s to say to us this morning, let’s get get out of the comfort zone for Jesus and the places that make you uncomfortable. If it’s poor people, hang out and show their worth with Christ. If it’s people that make you angry, demonstrate the love that God has called you to what what Jesus wants in, in in James 127 tells us this. He wants a beautiful community of worship in him. No recognize. And our lives were sometimes blind to our own prejudices. But the way that we avoid it is the gospel. The gospel isn’t just the ticket of heaven where Christ has come to pay your payment to eternity, but the gospel is intended to be a life that we live from the moment we trust in Christ for all of eternity. As Jesus has given his value to me, he has merited his sacrifice upon me. I have the opportunity to merit that love of Christ into this world, and I find that resting in the truth of the gospel.
Maybe I say this with us this morning. Here’s my prayer for you. If you’re here today. And you have been a part of anything contrary to the nature of Jesus. Meaning if you have gone to church in your life, if you have been in religious assemblies, in your life, in all you have felt like is shoved under the rug and treated worthless and looked down upon. Can I tell you this morning that Jesus loves you? He sees your worth enough to die for you, to call you into relationship with him and other people. Other people may look at you as poor, but Jesus sees your heart. And this is what he wants. He wants to pour his mercy and his love in your life. He wants to pay the penalty of your sin, to reconcile you to him, that you may enjoy him, and he may lift you up all the days of your life as you walk with him. And this is how it happens. You stop in the moment of your heart and you just cry out and you say to God, God, I need your mercy. And God, I know that you’ve sacrificed for me and you’ve given it all for me and God. I’m just trusting in that. Thank you for loving me. And to us. Stop playing favorites.
Maybe it’s about laying self down. Maybe we get rid of the me ism of America. And maybe we look at the worth of other people and we do something for it. We don’t even look at rich men and poor men. We just look at self. But maybe we look outside of self and we say and looking at this gospel, recognize, you know, I haven’t done that. If Jesus has given me this in my life, I do need to let go. And I and I do need to stop worrying about what other people think about me for once in my life. And I need to talk about this king that has given me such love that other people just need to know about it. Who cares what they think about you? I mean, just think of all that you have in Christ and for the joy set before you endure for him. Saturate yourself in the gospel. It’s the way that we walk in this world and acknowledge the worth of humanity around us, and bring to them the joy of just knowing the Lord. Can we do that together? That’s what James is talking about. Here is the body. And as a body we represent that as Christ. And when there is division among us, regardless of what it is, the beauty of Jesus is hidden under the rug. And so our prayer for us as a church this morning is that we just saturate ourselves in the beauty of what the gospel is about.