WEBVTT 00:00:00.420 --> 00:00:00.720 James. 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:02.560 Chapter two is where we are together. 00:00:03.340 --> 00:00:08.060 James writes the book of James to call the believers to real faith. 00:00:08.100 --> 00:00:13.730 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. 00:00:14.100 --> 00:00:16.570 Israel was made up of 12 different tribes. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.240 When Christianity was preached, it was first preached to the Jews. 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:27.620 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. 00:00:28.060 --> 00:00:35.320 In essence, this book, though it's talking about the Jewish people, represent the church because the church started 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:38.560 in, in among the Jews. 00:00:38.620 --> 00:00:43.700 And so when James writes this book, it says he's writing to the diaspora, the 12 tribes scattered abroad. 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:48.100 But what he's calling them to is to a real faith in Christ. 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:53.210 And it's indicated throughout the book of James because, as James writes, he writes in the form of an imperative. 00:00:53.380 --> 00:00:59.560 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. 00:01:00.080 --> 00:01:01.880 This is what it looks like to be a Christian. 00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:03.940 And James lays it out for us. 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:10.220 He doesn't want us fooling ourselves that we love Jesus when there's no evidence in our lives. 00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:17.880 In fact, next week we're going to get to the, probably one of the most out of context verses and one of the most quoted passages in James chapter 00:01:17.880 --> 00:01:19.980 two, Faith without works is dead. 00:01:20.380 --> 00:01:22.360 What does that mean for us as believers? 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:30.600 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 00:01:30.600 --> 00:01:32.880 through, and that is trials and temptations. 00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:35.020 First week we talked about trials. 00:01:35.060 --> 00:01:36.380 Second week we talked about temptations. 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:39.890 Trials are something that we experience tend to be external. 00:01:40.740 --> 00:01:45.520 When you're talking about the early Christians, they faced persecution for their faith in Christ. 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:51.100 And so there was peer pressure to get them to conform and relinquish their position in Jesus and to walk away from that. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:56.380 And so James talks about understanding how to live your life in joy in light of Christ. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:59.310 And second, he couples that with the idea of temptation. 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:02.840 Generally, when trials come, there also comes with that temptations. 00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:06.380 Temptations tend to be what happens to us internally. 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:12.180 It's the areas of our life where we are prone to surrender to sin rather than to Jesus. 00:02:13.420 --> 00:02:18.060 And so James outlines in chapter one both trials and temptations in the life of the believer. 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:25.280 It's where we are most attacked and giving the evidence of our faith the fruit of what it means to follow after 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:25.460 Christ. 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:34.720 As believers, we anticipate this, that following after Jesus doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:34.960 easy. 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:39.980 I say it like this, that to follow after Christ is simple. 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:42.000 But it's not easy. 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:45.900 There are challenges that come with it. 00:02:45.980 --> 00:02:52.200 And James says to us in the book of James, this is how you live the evidence of your Christian life. 00:02:52.220 --> 00:02:59.280 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 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:04.370 the background for what James discusses today in chapter two. 00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:10.820 James gives us an example of what it what it looks like for us to live as godly believers. 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:18.440 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 00:03:18.440 --> 00:03:24.520 orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:31.820 James talks about trials and temptations, and he says this is ultimately what we're driving to as a church. 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:34.880 The evidence of Jesus being made known in our lives. 00:03:34.880 --> 00:03:39.140 If you want to know how, you know that evidence is there, here it is. 00:03:39.540 --> 00:03:41.260 It's loving the widows and the orphans. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:41.920 And let me tell you why. 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:46.580 It's because the widows and orphans aren't the typical person that has a lot to give in return. 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:54.660 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 00:03:54.660 --> 00:03:57.140 in transforming your life. 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:03.780 When James talks about religion in this passage of Scripture, we differentiate here as a church. 00:04:03.880 --> 00:04:03.980 We say. 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:07.370 We say that we aren't about religion, but what we're about is relationship. 00:04:08.660 --> 00:04:11.460 We're driving towards that intimacy and walking with Christ. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:14.540 God has created us for relationship in him. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:22.620 And when James uses this word religion, it's kind of to slight the religious thinkers of this time, meaning most people think 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:27.640 that you do good and you, based on your merit, earn God's favor. 00:04:27.940 --> 00:04:30.250 And what the Bible tells us is that is impossible. 00:04:31.640 --> 00:04:33.680 You can never merit God's favor. 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:37.360 In fact, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more. 00:04:38.440 --> 00:04:40.640 But there's nothing you can do to make God love you less. 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:45.950 And God's grace has been extended to all of us despite our sin. 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:50.400 No matter how religiously you try to live. 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:53.480 The standard of law has condemned you. 00:04:55.960 --> 00:05:01.320 The James in this passage when he talks about religion within the New Testament, it's also translated with the idea of worship. 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:08.600 Colossians 218 takes this very same word in the Greek text and translates it as the word worship. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:18.020 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 00:05:18.020 --> 00:05:24.680 in worship to him, and you honor him with your life, then through your life you will bear his image. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:29.840 And the people that you choose to love are people that may not have the capacity to love you back. 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:35.320 And you ever been in that place in your life where you're just so hurt that you have nothing to give in return? 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.880 You think of the first century when James is writing this? 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:47.100 To be an orphan or to be a widow could ultimately lead, and typically did lead an individual to a life of slavery 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:47.770 or prostitution. 00:05:50.080 --> 00:05:53.460 They've got to have food to eat and they've got to have income to provide. 00:05:53.640 --> 00:06:00.820 And so in order to do that, they subject themselves into those sort of things, which ultimately leads, leads them to some 00:06:00.820 --> 00:06:03.300 sort of hunger and disease that they face. 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:12.480 But when we understand the idea of Christ as Christ comes into our life, is that the person that God cares about 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:19.900 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, 00:06:19.900 --> 00:06:23.060 and therefore our purpose is only found in him. 00:06:24.440 --> 00:06:26.040 Matthew 25 says this. 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:31.000 This is talking about the tribulation period, but it gives evidence of the way a Christian life should be lived. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:36.540 It says this then the King will say to those on his right, come, you are blessed of my father. 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:39.720 Inherit the kingdom prepared for you, for the foundation of the world. 00:06:40.020 --> 00:06:42.780 For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:45.640 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. 00:06:45.700 --> 00:06:49.500 I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me. 00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:51.120 I was sick and you visited me. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:52.620 I was in prison and you came to me. 00:06:52.880 --> 00:06:58.280 Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:03.400 And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:04.680 And when did you? 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:07.780 When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? 00:07:09.440 --> 00:07:13.700 And then the King will answer and say to them, truly I say to you. 00:07:14.440 --> 00:07:19.780 To the extent that you did to the one of these brothers, even the least of them. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:21.820 You've done them to me. 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:31.920 James gives the indication of the Christian life that when we have relationship with Christ, it is seen on the external of our living. 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:37.660 Meaning, if Jesus transforms your heart, he transforms the way that you live. 00:07:40.080 --> 00:07:47.200 James describes that in James chapter one, because James is then about to lay down the law in chapter two, this is 00:07:47.200 --> 00:07:54.360 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, 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:56.580 that's awesome James, I like that. 00:07:56.580 --> 00:07:58.280 That makes me feel good inside. 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:03.180 And then James starts chapter two and he says, why aren't you doing it? 00:08:05.400 --> 00:08:12.440 In chapter two and verse one, he says to us, my brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ 00:08:12.440 --> 00:08:14.920 with an attitude of personal favoritism. 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:16.240 Playing favorites. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:24.460 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 00:08:24.460 --> 00:08:25.760 poor man in dirty clothes. 00:08:26.300 --> 00:08:27.520 I try to picture these two in my head. 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:29.760 I couldn't get Flavor Flav out of my mind. 00:08:29.840 --> 00:08:36.940 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 00:08:36.940 --> 00:08:43.980 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 00:08:43.980 --> 00:08:47.680 and become judges with evil motives? 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.540 James talks about the idea of playing favorites. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:01.860 When we play favorites in life, the tendency when we play favorites for another is or for one is to reject another. 00:09:03.560 --> 00:09:08.060 I can tell you in this room, there is not a person among us that likes to be rejected. 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:13.780 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. 00:09:13.780 --> 00:09:15.040 But you know that hurts. 00:09:16.880 --> 00:09:18.740 Like, maybe I want to be a nerd. 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:21.960 I don't know, it's the new cool anyway, right? 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:28.660 but all of us have this longing within us to be connected to community and to feel worth. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:31.900 I mean, God created you in his image. 00:09:31.920 --> 00:09:34.850 And the first thing that he did when he created is to create marriage. 00:09:35.160 --> 00:09:36.320 God made us in his image. 00:09:36.400 --> 00:09:41.340 God is already a triune community, therefore within us, at the deep seed of who we are as people. 00:09:41.620 --> 00:09:44.040 We want to belong and we want to know that we're significant. 00:09:46.460 --> 00:09:53.860 And James brings up this passage, because these gentlemen and the women that represent this church here are living contrary to 00:09:53.860 --> 00:09:56.700 the identity through which God has created us as people. 00:09:57.800 --> 00:09:58.800 They're playing favorites. 00:10:00.540 --> 00:10:07.900 And the favoritism that James is talking about here is displayed in the outward appearance, meaning we have an unhealthy way 00:10:07.900 --> 00:10:10.020 of judging someone's worth here. 00:10:11.260 --> 00:10:17.140 In this illustration, he chooses the unhealthy way through the means of rich and poor. 00:10:17.140 --> 00:10:19.000 But we can do it differently within our society. 00:10:19.380 --> 00:10:24.350 But the struggle that they had was among the rich and poor, something I think I've noticed in society today. 00:10:24.760 --> 00:10:25.760 I might do this with the next kid. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:30.020 If you want your kid to be rich, it seems like the name Donald now is the way to do it, man. 00:10:30.020 --> 00:10:34.340 Donald Trump, Donald Sterling, Donald Duck or whatever. 00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:41.780 But to play favorites and to judge someone's worth by the outward appearance, or contrary 00:10:41.780 --> 00:10:46.200 to the way that the nature of God has attributed the worth to someone is wrong. 00:10:47.300 --> 00:10:52.010 And James, at the end of this, talks about the thought of judging with evil motives. 00:10:54.280 --> 00:11:00.540 When we talk about judgment, can I tell you that God gives us the ability to judge? 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.440 I hear this taken out of context all the time. 00:11:03.620 --> 00:11:04.260 Judge not right. 00:11:04.300 --> 00:11:05.550 The Bible says judge not right. 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:09.660 That is that is we take that and we run with it. 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:11.610 Like as if God never wants us to judge anything. 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:14.300 And none of us live like that in this world, right? 00:11:14.560 --> 00:11:21.800 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? 00:11:21.800 --> 00:11:22.500 You judge. 00:11:22.760 --> 00:11:27.000 There are times in your life where judgment is actually in your life. 00:11:27.040 --> 00:11:27.900 Judgment is important. 00:11:28.760 --> 00:11:33.980 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. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:39.060 God has given you that ability so that you make rational choices within your life. 00:11:40.160 --> 00:11:42.460 Judgment is important. 00:11:43.640 --> 00:11:46.680 It is important to determine right from wrong. 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:52.200 Just because someone else doesn't think right from wrong is aligned with what God says. 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:59.240 God has already determined that, and it's our I ability and purpose and God's desire for 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:00.800 us to walk in that truth. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:06.720 And so it's a it becomes significant for the believer to judge between right and wrong. 00:12:07.940 --> 00:12:08.740 But here's where it gets wrong. 00:12:10.540 --> 00:12:15.840 When we use our judgment for the purpose of devaluing another human being to place them beneath us. 00:12:17.550 --> 00:12:18.640 That's where the problem lies. 00:12:20.780 --> 00:12:25.160 It's good for us to recognize what's healthy and what's not, what's right and what's wrong. 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:30.470 But not for the purpose of looking at another human being and lowering them in position. 00:12:31.640 --> 00:12:34.180 And sometimes we use judgment for that reason. 00:12:35.300 --> 00:12:36.820 You're less than me, you know. 00:12:38.160 --> 00:12:38.760 Sometimes. 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:46.240 If you've ever experienced a religious setting in your life, you get a distaste for it because you recognize that 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:53.560 the people in a religious system tend to use that to build up pride within themselves, because they live this 00:12:53.560 --> 00:12:55.460 law and they're better than you. 00:12:55.560 --> 00:12:57.740 And so when they look at you, they look down upon you. 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:07.120 And James comes to this passage and says, listen, you're using external things that God never deemed worth 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:14.240 using to determine the worth of another, but the worth of another is based on them being made in the image of 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:14.620 God. 00:13:14.680 --> 00:13:17.720 It's nothing that I have any ability to weigh on. 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:23.280 In my judgment, I don't use right and wrong to lower someone in their worth. 00:13:25.760 --> 00:13:28.070 When we do that, we use judgment poorly. 00:13:30.760 --> 00:13:38.360 It's important that we learn not only to judge right and wrong, but how that works in relationship to each other, not devaluing 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:38.800 one another. 00:13:39.880 --> 00:13:43.210 So this is what Christ has called us to do in this world, is to hold each other accountable. 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:52.060 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 00:13:52.060 --> 00:13:56.280 becomes important for us to encourage each other in the steps it takes to do that. 00:13:57.900 --> 00:14:03.140 You know, in my own life, there are ways that I struggle in my relationship to Christ that I am blind in. 00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:11.240 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 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.140 walk with Christ in it. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:21.800 Galatians six one says, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in 00:14:21.800 --> 00:14:23.420 a spirit of gentleness. 00:14:24.280 --> 00:14:31.110 Meaning we don't devalue them, but we talk about right and wrong for the purpose of them walking with Christ together. 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:34.440 I care enough about you for that reason. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:44.030 It's not about playing favorites, and it's not about judging someone as less than you, but walking with Christ together. 00:14:44.640 --> 00:14:49.120 We recognize everyone has struggles. 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:53.890 But even in struggles, no one is less than me. 00:14:55.100 --> 00:14:57.720 James is talking about rich and poor here. 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:01.040 I don't think James is saying that being rich is wrong. 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:08.680 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 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:09.440 everyone like that. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.120 Honor everyone for the worth that they carry in Christ. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:23.780 And James goes on and shares with us in chapter two and verse five, when he when he discusses just in further 00:15:23.780 --> 00:15:30.900 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 00:15:30.900 --> 00:15:32.880 which he promised to those who love him? 00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:34.880 But you have dishonored the poor man. 00:15:34.900 --> 00:15:38.620 Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 00:15:38.640 --> 00:15:41.860 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:50.040 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. 00:15:50.040 --> 00:15:51.940 He mentions it in six and seven. 00:15:52.300 --> 00:15:57.300 But listen, the people that are close to God are actually the ones you're turning your back from. 00:15:58.740 --> 00:16:01.980 The poor in God's eyes are actually rich. 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:11.100 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 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:14.660 they recognize how much they are in need of Christ in their lives. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:22.840 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 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:24.700 their knees and already get with Jesus. 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:31.420 It says in Matthew five, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:16:32.420 --> 00:16:39.320 In first Corinthians 127, God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. 00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:47.180 In Second Corinthians 12, Paul says this therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, 00:16:47.280 --> 00:16:49.700 with difficulties, for Christ's sake. 00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:56.210 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:16:57.680 --> 00:16:59.080 Those that know. 00:17:00.220 --> 00:17:02.840 How dependent life really is on Jesus. 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:06.260 Are the ones who are truly rich in Christ. 00:17:08.560 --> 00:17:12.640 And James looks at the moment and the standards that they're placing through rich and poor. 00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:15.460 And he's saying to them, treat everyone equal. 00:17:15.800 --> 00:17:23.060 You're blind to the fact that those that feel that they are in a desperate situation are the ones drawing most near 00:17:23.060 --> 00:17:29.140 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. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:35.110 It takes a need to rattle us in our spiritual lives. 00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:42.840 James points out the significance of elevating the life of every person before Christ. 00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:50.020 And, I look at our American society and I recognize this, that we are a nation that likes to harp on equality 00:17:50.020 --> 00:17:50.560 of all people. 00:17:51.900 --> 00:17:54.880 We are we have roots in a Christian foundation. 00:17:55.260 --> 00:18:02.260 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 00:18:02.260 --> 00:18:05.940 nations, that sometimes we tend to do this in an okay way. 00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:08.320 But not always. 00:18:10.660 --> 00:18:17.880 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 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:19.340 weaknesses in my own life? 00:18:19.340 --> 00:18:25.500 Where I play favorites, where I look at people and I say that they don't deserve love and attention, but someone else does. 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:26.800 God, where is that? 00:18:26.800 --> 00:18:33.160 That I'm not displaying what it is that you desire by loving people the way that you have called me to love them. 00:18:34.540 --> 00:18:38.630 How do I justify my negative treatment to others? 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:40.480 Maybe. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.360 Maybe you're biased to mean people, right? 00:18:44.040 --> 00:18:45.460 Or maybe stinky people. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.240 Or maybe people that make poor life choices. 00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:48.440 Or. 00:18:48.620 --> 00:18:52.460 Or maybe you live a religious life and you just think everyone's beneath you. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:58.360 All of us somewhere have some form or some way that we play favorites in our lives. 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:07.740 Can I tell you, maybe as Americans, where that might be for all of us, maybe not this church, but as an American society 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:08.260 as a whole. 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:17.860 I think when we look at a passage like James chapter two, we're not even to the point of differentiating between rich man and poor man, because 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:20.400 our society has gotten so good at just pleasing me. 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:21.760 Me. 00:19:21.780 --> 00:19:24.140 I don't show favorites to anyone because I am the favorite. 00:19:25.860 --> 00:19:29.900 Everything I do in life is about me and I'm doing it all for my glory. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.960 I am the rich man in James. 00:19:33.260 --> 00:19:36.680 And so whatever satisfies me in life, that's what it's all about. 00:19:36.760 --> 00:19:37.720 And that's what I'm living for. 00:19:38.800 --> 00:19:40.960 Forget the poor and forget the rich man. 00:19:42.460 --> 00:19:43.680 I'm doing it just for numero uno. 00:19:46.100 --> 00:19:53.180 Whatever your struggle is in playing favorites, recognize that what God has called us to do is to recognize and 00:19:53.180 --> 00:19:59.170 call out the worth of all people in Christ and call them to relationship in him. 00:19:59.260 --> 00:20:02.540 And so the question we ask is then how do we do that? 00:20:03.860 --> 00:20:10.960 Looking at James two and you think, maybe in my life I do have a blind spot where there's someone I'm not loving, the way that God has called 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:15.940 me to love and reaching them the way that God has called me to reach them. 00:20:15.940 --> 00:20:16.060 So. 00:20:16.280 --> 00:20:17.860 So how do I do that in my life? 00:20:17.860 --> 00:20:20.020 How do I make sure that I'm not living this way? 00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:22.900 I tell you, when I was, I was thinking about my place as a favoritism. 00:20:23.660 --> 00:20:26.400 I started driving my mind crazy just trying to think of something. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:29.700 I think I was trying to invent stuff where, where's my favorite? 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:31.320 And I started getting obsessive about that. 00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:38.720 But good news, James two and starting in verse eight, then discusses for us the way to set our 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:42.120 mentality in this world that we don't play favorites. 00:20:43.380 --> 00:20:46.160 But we love people the way that God has called us to love them. 00:20:47.660 --> 00:20:49.340 And so he says this to us as believers. 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:50.920 If, however. 00:20:52.360 --> 00:20:58.850 You are fulfilling the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:20:59.760 --> 00:21:00.780 You are doing well. 00:21:05.020 --> 00:21:11.740 James first discusses Just the Thought of Love, which we've talked about even just last week, and the importance of understanding love. 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:19.040 But I love the way that James talks about love here because he calls it the royal law. 00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:21.540 Meaning this is. 00:21:21.940 --> 00:21:23.170 This is the way of the King. 00:21:24.340 --> 00:21:31.520 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 00:21:31.520 --> 00:21:35.830 demonstrate how they live their lives and proving the worth of others. 00:21:35.860 --> 00:21:41.240 And then James says, let's let's scratch those rules irrelevant towards the life God's called you to. 00:21:41.560 --> 00:21:47.460 And let's recognize this, that the royal law is what it's about, and his law is about love. 00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:51.590 The greatest commands are to love the Lord your God and to love others. 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:56.640 The King's law is lived within his own life. 00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:01.820 The Bible tells us that God is as a father to the fatherless. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.120 He is a husband to the wife or his church. 00:22:06.120 --> 00:22:13.600 He is a king protecting his people that he was willing to come to this earth and give his entire life 00:22:13.600 --> 00:22:20.740 for you and for me, sacrificing it all in our sin while we were proving our unworthy 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:24.680 ness to be loved, he still chooses to love. 00:22:26.040 --> 00:22:31.530 On our broken life caused him to give his own on our behalf. 00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:40.960 The way that we begin to understand how to treat one another, regardless of their social status and position 00:22:41.360 --> 00:22:48.500 in society, is to understand the love that has been given to us through Christ, this royal love that he 00:22:48.500 --> 00:22:50.920 has called us to live in this world. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.920 We don't set the standard of who was important. 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:56.920 God has already set it. 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.540 And so by love we live it in this life. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.400 We love. 00:23:03.420 --> 00:23:08.320 As James says in chapter one and verse 27, both the widows and the orphans. 00:23:10.320 --> 00:23:13.590 The ones who suffer and the ones who don't. 00:23:14.800 --> 00:23:21.540 Because we recognize that what God has created us for, his community and that community starts in him, and it grows throughout his church. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:29.000 And the church manifests the joy and glory of the Lord in this world, understanding 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.900 the love of God is where it starts. 00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:39.000 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 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:39.880 as transgressors. 00:23:40.360 --> 00:23:46.920 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 00:23:47.180 --> 00:23:51.260 For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not commit murder. 00:23:51.580 --> 00:23:58.540 Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 00:24:00.140 --> 00:24:05.840 James very plainly says this about us everyone is guilty when you talk about God's law. 00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:08.980 Here's the purpose of God's law you are guilty. 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:13.940 None of us deserve the love that we read about in verse eight. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.700 We all stand guilty before the law. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:23.940 And so if we're to distinguish between people, as James talks about in two and verse one to seven, the rich and the poor, 00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:27.780 what James then comes and says in verses 9 to 11 is this to us? 00:24:28.120 --> 00:24:30.940 There are two kinds of people in this world, but it's not rich and poor. 00:24:31.260 --> 00:24:38.340 The two kinds of people in this world are this there is Jesus, and there is everyone that needs Jesus, and we all fall 00:24:38.340 --> 00:24:39.100 under that. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:47.100 And so when we talk about understanding the worth and the value of a human being, Jesus loved them 00:24:47.100 --> 00:24:49.960 enough to give his life for them. 00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:54.080 So who am I to lower them in their position before God? 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:58.860 Consider your own poverty. 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:02.380 Nine, 1011. 00:25:03.840 --> 00:25:05.760 We have all broken the law. 00:25:07.660 --> 00:25:09.900 As an unbeliever away from Christ. 00:25:10.120 --> 00:25:14.520 We need to understand that brings death and separation from God. 00:25:14.620 --> 00:25:21.720 But God has called us to relationship and unity in him, and he has died for you because that is a payment you can 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:22.560 never pay. 00:25:22.580 --> 00:25:28.220 That is a bridge you can never close in a gap you can never fill between you and God. 00:25:28.220 --> 00:25:30.120 And so he has given it all for you. 00:25:32.780 --> 00:25:39.880 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 00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:44.640 to talk about you in this relationship with God, that we can walk in this together. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.130 Let's honor him. 00:25:49.340 --> 00:25:53.120 And our commitment and love to our King. 00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:56.870 And so James closes with this. 00:25:58.020 --> 00:26:05.700 He says in verse eight, if you struggle with favoritism, consider the love in verse 9 to 11, consider the 00:26:05.780 --> 00:26:10.600 bankruptcy of your own life, and that Jesus is even come when he closes with this in 12 and 13. 00:26:11.520 --> 00:26:17.260 So speak, and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:25.660 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy, but mercy triumphs over 00:26:25.660 --> 00:26:25.760 judgment. 00:26:28.860 --> 00:26:30.490 And this is what I think it's okay to do. 00:26:32.560 --> 00:26:34.660 I think it's completely okay. 00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:39.880 To come to God and just say, God, I've got nothing. 00:26:41.580 --> 00:26:48.680 And I am bankrupt and I am broken and gotta look at the standard of your holiness and 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:49.900 perfection and God. 00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:51.420 I feel so distant from that. 00:26:53.720 --> 00:27:00.800 Because in recognizing that we find in Christ there is this law of liberty, and 00:27:00.800 --> 00:27:07.860 that in Christ, while judgment could be given to us, that Jesus, what he brings is his mercy as he reigns down 00:27:07.860 --> 00:27:14.980 with his love in grace because of what he's done on our behalf, knowing that he has created us for 00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:19.320 relationship, that we could never reconcile between us and him. 00:27:20.380 --> 00:27:27.730 No matter how good you do, it will never undo anything wrong that you've done to the holiest of kings. 00:27:29.520 --> 00:27:31.220 It stands as an offense against him forever. 00:27:33.120 --> 00:27:33.620 And we need mercy. 00:27:35.600 --> 00:27:43.140 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 00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:50.420 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 00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:51.580 failed and I need mercy. 00:27:54.100 --> 00:27:57.220 Maybe in James chapter two, the rich and the poor people being divided in this church. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.600 Could you imagine how humiliating this would be for the group? 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:06.860 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. 00:28:07.360 --> 00:28:11.580 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. 00:28:12.940 --> 00:28:13.440 It was wrong. 00:28:15.320 --> 00:28:17.090 Your worth is so much greater. 00:28:19.300 --> 00:28:24.060 And God has shown me mercy in this, and God has shown you mercy in this. 00:28:24.060 --> 00:28:31.400 And 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 00:28:31.460 --> 00:28:32.580 to that in him. 00:28:35.100 --> 00:28:37.800 Can imagine after the church service this day when they read this letter. 00:28:39.520 --> 00:28:40.900 What happened among the body of Christ. 00:28:43.760 --> 00:28:45.250 I don't know where our prejudices are. 00:28:46.900 --> 00:28:48.540 You know that in your heart. 00:28:49.520 --> 00:28:50.920 And God knows it about you. 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:59.090 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. 00:29:00.620 --> 00:29:07.680 And the way of escape from a life that lays out religious law to put people underneath of you. 00:29:07.760 --> 00:29:15.160 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 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.320 Christ has already done on our behalf. 00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:26.350 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. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.760 If it's poor people, hang out and show their worth with Christ. 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:37.500 If it's people that make you angry, demonstrate the love that God has called you to what Jesus wants in James 127 00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:38.660 tells us this. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:42.620 He wants a beautiful community of worship in him. 00:29:45.760 --> 00:29:46.060 No recognize. 00:29:47.760 --> 00:29:49.940 And our lives were sometimes blind to our own prejudices. 00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:55.780 But the way that we avoid it is the gospel. 00:29:57.760 --> 00:30:04.820 The gospel isn't just the ticket of heaven where Christ has come to pay your payment to eternity, but the gospel is 00:30:04.820 --> 00:30:10.420 intended to be a life that we live from the moment we trust in Christ for all of eternity. 00:30:12.020 --> 00:30:19.500 As Jesus has given his value to me, he has merited his sacrifice upon 00:30:19.500 --> 00:30:20.400 me. 00:30:20.580 --> 00:30:27.840 I have the opportunity to merit that love of Christ into this world, and I find that resting in the truth 00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:29.210 of the gospel. 00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:34.040 Maybe I say this with us this morning. 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:37.250 Here's my prayer for you. 00:30:38.580 --> 00:30:39.020 If you're here today. 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:45.840 And you have been a part of anything contrary to the nature of Jesus. 00:30:45.940 --> 00:30:52.940 Meaning if you have gone to church in your life, if you have been in religious assemblies, in your life, in all you 00:30:52.940 --> 00:30:58.520 have felt like is shoved under the rug and treated worthless and looked down upon. 00:30:58.520 --> 00:31:00.880 Can I tell you this morning that Jesus loves you? 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:08.780 He sees your worth enough to die for you, to call you into relationship with him and other people. 00:31:09.280 --> 00:31:13.340 Other people may look at you as poor, but Jesus sees your heart. 00:31:14.780 --> 00:31:15.800 And this is what he wants. 00:31:16.060 --> 00:31:20.240 He wants to pour his mercy and his love in your life. 00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:29.180 He wants to pay the penalty of your sin, to reconcile you to him, that you may enjoy him, and he may lift 00:31:29.280 --> 00:31:32.960 you up all the days of your life as you walk with him. 00:31:33.040 --> 00:31:33.840 And this is how it happens. 00:31:34.260 --> 00:31:40.500 You stop in the moment of your heart and you just cry out and you say to God, God, I need your mercy. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:46.200 And God, I know that you've sacrificed for me and you've given it all for me and God. 00:31:46.200 --> 00:31:47.520 I'm just trusting in that. 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:50.710 Thank you for loving me. 00:31:52.420 --> 00:31:52.940 And to us. 00:31:56.320 --> 00:31:57.740 Stop playing favorites. 00:32:00.020 --> 00:32:01.850 Maybe it's about laying self down. 00:32:04.060 --> 00:32:05.940 Maybe we get rid of the me ism of America. 00:32:08.540 --> 00:32:13.720 And maybe we look at the worth of other people and we do something for it. 00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:16.200 We don't even look at rich men and poor men. 00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:17.390 We just look at self. 00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:24.360 But maybe we look outside of self and we say and looking at this gospel, recognize, I haven't done that. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:31.040 If Jesus has given me this in my life, I do need to let go. 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:35.420 And I and I do need to stop worrying about what other people think about me for once in my life. 00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:41.340 And I need to talk about this king that has given me such love that other people just need to know about it. 00:32:42.600 --> 00:32:44.280 Who cares what they think about you? 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:53.000 I mean, just think of all that you have in Christ and for the joy set before you 00:32:53.860 --> 00:32:54.960 endure for him. 00:32:57.140 --> 00:32:58.400 Saturate yourself in the gospel. 00:33:00.120 --> 00:33:07.660 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 00:33:07.760 --> 00:33:08.760 just knowing the Lord. 00:33:10.580 --> 00:33:11.140 Can we do that together? 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:14.280 That's what James is talking about. 00:33:14.300 --> 00:33:14.820 Here is the body. 00:33:16.180 --> 00:33:18.260 And as a body we represent that as Christ. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:25.440 And when there is division among us, regardless of what it is, the beauty of Jesus is hidden under the rug. 00:33:27.360 --> 00:33:32.600 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.