All right, good morning, church family.
If you would find your seat, and as you find your seat, let
me invite you all to open your Bibles or type in your devices.
The Book of James, chapter 2. This morning we're going to be
in verses 6 to 13. I want to once again thank Fred
for preaching last week a message from Book of Acts about
Antioch and being ascending church.
And this morning we're going to resume our study in the book of
James. So James chapter 2, verses 6 to
13, if you'll follow along and your copy of God's word, James
26 but you have dishonored the poor man.
Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who
drag you into court? Are they not the ones who
blasphemy the honorable name by what you were called?
If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture,
you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You are doing well. But if you show partiality, you
are committing sin and are convicted by the law as
transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law
but fails and one point has become accountable for all of
it. 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, so speak and so act as those who
are to be judged under the law of liberty.
For judgment is without mercy. To the one who has shown no
mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment.
You pray with me, Lord, this morning we pray, we plead that
you would have mercy on us. For God, we are keenly reminded
and aware that we stand before US sinners who are in desperate
need of mercy. As the Lord, as we come to you
and as we receive that mercy, Lord, I pray that you would then
help us to go and show mercy to others, Lord, that we would be
quick to be merciful, that we would not be like the the
servant who was forgiven 10,000 talents and yet wouldn't forgive
100 denarii. God help us to be a people who
show mercy the way that you show mercy.
Lord, help us to be a people who know all too well that we've
been shown grace and therefore we show grace.
I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Richard Baxter, in his book The Reformed Pastor, writes this.
Oh, then let us hear these arguments of Christ, whenever we
feel ourselves grow dull and careless.
Did I die for these souls, and wilt not thou look after them?
Were they worth my blood, and are they not worth thy labor?
Did I come down from heaven to earth to seek and to save that
which was lost? And wilt thou not go to the next
door, or street, or village to seek them?
How small is thy condescension and labor compared to mine?
I debased myself to this, but it is thy honor to be so employed.
Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation?
And was I willing to make the a fellow worker with me?
And wilt thou refuse to do that little which lieth upon thy
hands? End Quote.
Christ died not only because he loves our neighbor.
He also died to give us, give us the ability to love our
neighbor. It is only by Him that we are
able to do this. Those who have been shown grace,
give grace. This morning we're going to
start with the exhibition of the text.
I'll go through it verse by verse and then I'll give you 7
points of application. So if you will start with me in
verse 6, where James verses six to seven, where James writes
this, but you have dishonored the poor man.
Are not the rich ones the rich, the ones who oppressed you and
the ones who drag you into court?
Are they not the ones who blasphemy the honourable name by
which you were called? Now 2 weeks ago we looked at
this command from James where he said my brothers show no
partiality, in other words, show no favoritism.
And James gives an example of this that might be hypothetical
or could be real in the church. Suppose two men walk into a
church. One of them is rich and one of
them is poor. And the church has two different
responses to these two men. To the rich man they offer him a
good seat, but to the poor man they offer him the floor.
And James says that such behavior of Christians is evil.
And then he gives 3 reasons why the church should not do this.
We looked at the first reason 2 weeks ago.
The first reason being, has not God chosen those who are poor in
the world? And this morning we're going to
get to the second and the third reason.
So the second reason that James gives is this.
You have dishonored the poor man.
James's point is that in the church's attempt to honor the
rich man, what they've actually done is dishonored the poor man.
They have shamed him. Imagine how this poor man must
feel to be told by a church, by Christians, that he is only
worthy to sit on the floor. The third reason that James
gives is that he says you are trying to honor the
dishonorable. James describes the rich with
reactions, all of which are dishonorable.
A They oppress you. That word oppressed there can
also mean exploit. They exploit you or they
dominate you. Douglas Moo writes this.
A small group of wealthy land owners and merchants accumulated
more and more power while large numbers of people were forced
from their land and grew even poorer.
Now we know historically this happens.
It still happens today sometimes in other countries, but we we
know historically that people would be forced from their land
by the wealthy land owners and they would become poor and poor
B, They drag you into court again.
Douglas Moo writes practices familiar in every age, such as
forcing people to forfeit their land for late payment of
mortgages or insisting on ruinous interest rates for any
monetary help. Again, this still goes on today.
And we know historically this happened and see, they blasphemy
the name of Jesus. And so James's point that he's
telling the church is church, these are not your friends.
They oppress you, they sue you, they blasphemy you.
Why are you trying to honor them?
Why are you trying to impress them?
These are not your friends. Look at verse 8.
If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture,
you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You are doing well. Now 2 questions emerge from this
verse. The first question being what
does James mean fulfill the law? The Greek word for fulfill.
It's a very broad term. It's translated some 11
different ways in the New Testament.
Here it has the nuance of keeping or obeying.
If you really obey the law, if you keep the law.
Paul writes in Romans 1310 that love is the fulfilling of the
law. He writes in Galatians 514 that
the whole law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor as
yourself. Second question is, is what is
the royal law? It says if you really fulfill
the royal law, what is that? This is the only place that this
phrase is used in Scripture. It's not used anywhere else.
The Greek word for royal means pertaining to a king.
And so you could read this as if you fulfill the King's law.
Now, this is not only the Old Testament law.
This is the Old Testament law plus the law of Christ.
So really all of Scripture, this is everything that God is
commanded to us, James writes, if you fulfill the royal law
according to the Scripture, reminding us all that what
dictates our practices and church is not culture, it is not
custom, it is not a choice, but scripture.
And so James is challenging the church.
He says, church. What did the Scripture say?
Here's what it said. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This goes all the way back to the Leviticus 1918.
It's repeated five times in the Gospels, twice in Paul.
Jesus said this was the second greatest commandment only after
loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul
and strength. And James says that if you do
this, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
One of the ways that we can gauge how are we doing
spiritually? It's not the only way, but one
of the ways is, are you loving your neighbor as yourself?
Because if you are, you're doing well.
Look at verse 9. But if you show partiality, you
are committing sin or convicted by the law as transgressors.
James is kind of drawn a contrast here.
He's drawn a contrast between loving our neighbors as
ourselves and showing partiality.
In other words, if we show partiality or favoritism, by
definition we cannot be loving our neighbors as ourselves.
I think that's the contrast he's saying and James just comes
right out and he says, look, if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and you are convicted, literally exposed or
rebuked by the law as transgressors that were
transgressors can also be translated as violators.
You are convicted, you're exposed, rebuked as a violator
of the law. Now this goes back to the
argument I was making two weeks ago where I was where I said
that favoritism, it's not a matter of culture, it's not a
personality trait, it's not a personal preference.
Favoritism is sin. It makes us transgressors of the
law. Look at verse 10 for whoever
keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable
for all of it or is guilty of all of it.
This is a pivotal verse. It's a pivotal verse and
understanding why Jesus is so necessary.
One of the questions that will sometimes get asked is this.
If a man or a woman only committed one sin in their life,
suppose they lived a perfect life for 80 years and they only
did one wrong thing, would Jesus still have to die on the cross
for them? And the answer is yes.
Why? Why?
Because whether we commit 10,000 sins or only one sin, we're
guilty of the entire law. Now you may be wondering, how
does that make sense? How is committing one sin make
you guilty of all of it? Imagine if you are hanging off a
very tall Cliff by a chain link. You're you're there's a very
tall Cliff. You're somewhere, you know, 300
feet above the ground. You're hanging on to this chain
link. How many of those links need to
break for you to die? How many 1 Only one link needs
to break for you to fall to your death.
The same is true with the law, Paul writes in Galatians 310.
Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in
the book of the law and do them. So yes, if you only break one,
you're under a curse because cursed be everyone who does not
abide by all of it. Look at verse 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.
James's point is that Moses brought down the mountain 10
commandments, not one. We don't call it the one
commandment. We call them the 10
commandments. Some might think that they are
righteous because they have never committed adultery.
I have never been unfaithful to my wife.
I have never been unfaithful to my husband.
But, James writes, there are nine other commandments and one
of them is do not murder. So you're not an adulterer, but
are you a murderer? Because if you are a murderer,
you have broken the law. Now, James is using extreme
sense here to make a point. In other words, if this is true
of adultery and it's true of murder, it's also true of
favoritism. What he's getting at is that if
a person says, well, I have never murdered someone before,
well, have you ever shown favoritism to somebody?
James's point is that God does not give us a pass on our
favoritism simply because we have not murdered someone.
The verse 12 so speak and so act as those who are to be judged
under the law of liberty. James exhorts the church to both
speak and act as those who will be judged.
In other words, it's not as though only the lost world would
be judged. Christians will be judged as
well. We will all stand before the
judgment and we will all be judged first.
Peter 417 for his time for judgment to begin at the
household of God. It begins with us, but when we
are judged, we are not judged in the same way that the lost world
is judged. We are judged under the law of
liberty. What is that?
This is the same phrase that James used earlier that we
looked at a few weeks ago. I think James's point here is
that typically when someone is judged by a law, that law
enslaves them, right? If, if you break the law, if I,
if I murder someone, I broke the law and I stand before the
judge. The judge says you broke the
law, you've got to go to jail. That's how it works.
The law typically enslaves us. As a law breaker, you're
punished and you're locked up. But the law by which Christ
judges us is the law of liberty, a law of freedom, a law of
grace. When we are judged, we are
disciplined, but we are not condemned.
We have been set free from condemnation.
And James's point is that when you realize this, this reality
should inform how we speak to others and how we act towards
others. We should act and speak as men
and women who have been graciously set free, guilty men
and women who have been graciously set free.
Look at verse 13, for judgment is without mercy.
To the one who has shown no mercy, Mercy triumphs over
judgment. James here makes a terrifying
statement. It is a statement that is meant
to convict us all when we stand before the judgment throne of
God and God judges us. He will show no mercy if we have
shown no mercy. This truth is well attested by
Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 615, If
you do not forgive others the trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive you. This does not mean that we earn
our mercy by showing mercy, nor does it mean that we forfeit our
mercy by showing no mercy. Doesn't mean that at all.
Here's what it means. It means that a person who has
truly been shown mercy. Do you want to know how you can
know if God has truly shown you mercy?
You will necessarily and certainly show mercy to others.
You will. It will define you.
And James concludes with his powerful statement, Mercy
triumphs over judgment. Literally, mercy boast against
or mercy exults over. That's you translate it that
way. Judgment.
Now what does this mean? Douglas Moo writes this.
The believer in himself will always deserve God's judgment.
Conformity to the royal law is never perfect, as it must be,
but our merciful attitude and actions will count as evidence
of the presence of Christ within us.
In other words, when we stand before the judgment throne and
God judges us, God should judge us for not keeping His royal
law. God will look at us and He will
say you did not love your neighbor as yourself.
I mean, you did sometimes, but not that much.
That's what he should say. But here's what God will say.
The mercy that you have shown to others testifies to the mercy
that I will show you. I should show you judgment, but
mercy triumphs over judgment. We'll stop their exposition.
Application of the text. I have 7 points of application
number one. Number one is a question, Why
would we ever try to impress or win the approval of the lost
world? Why would we ever try to impress
or win the approval of the lost world?
You know, one thing I've learned about human nature is that so
often we try to impress and win the approval of the wrong
people. Isn't that true?
So often the people that we want to press so dearly, the people
that we want to win the approval of so dearly, are the wrong
people. We don't know this example that
James Gibbs is real or hypothetical.
But let's suppose for a minute that it was real.
Let's just suppose it was real. Here are these Christians in the
church who are trying to gain the approval of the rich.
The rich man walks into the assembly.
They immediately pay attention to him.
They offer him a good seat. Why?
Because they want his favor. They want his approval.
And James question to the church is why?
Why are you favoring the rich? Isn't it the rich who are
oppressing you? Isn't it the rich who drag you
into court? Isn't it the rich who blasphemy
the name of Christ? Why are you trying to win their
approval? And this got me thinking.
Why would we ever try to impress or win the approval of the lost
World? Whether it's at work or at
school or in our families or on the sports field or at our
children's school or in our communities, why would we ever
feel the need to impress the lost world?
Why would we ever feel the need to win the approval of the lost
world? Now, let me be very clear.
James is not suggesting that the church should neglect the rich
man. He's not saying that at all.
Or worse, he's not saying that we they should dishonor the rich
man, give the good seat to the poor man in the the floor to the
rich man. He's not saying that at all.
He is clearly challenging than their motivations for why are
you trying to honor the rich man above the poor man?
Why are you doing this church family, how much of what you do
in your life, how much I asked this question to myself, how
much of what you do in your life is rooted and a desire to
impress or win the approval of the lost world?
I want, I want you to stop and ask yourself that question.
How much of what you do in your life is rooted and a desire to
impress or win the approval of the lost world, which includes
your lost family, your lost friends, your lost Co workers,
your lost classmates. I was listening to a talk by
this former Navy SEAL who was a Christian, and he was talking
about sharing the gospel with the lost world.
I like listening to Navy Seals. I, I, I'm like, I, I think I was
meant to be a Navy SEAL, but I, I would never pass buds.
We all know that one of the reasons that we struggle to
share the gospel with the lost world is that we're either
intimidated by them or we fear the disapproval in that true.
One of the reasons that we don't share the gospel, we're either
intimidated by them or we fear their disapproval.
And he said something so simple. I mean, just so simple.
And this is this is what he said.
Why would we ever be intimidated by the lost world?
Why would we ever want the approval of the lost world?
They have nothing to offer us and we have everything to offer
them. And I was like, man, that's
right. They have nothing to offer us.
We have everything to offer them.
Why do I care what you think about me #2 The king has given
us instructions not only how to form a church, but also how to
act in it. The king has given us
instructions not only how to form a church, but also how to
act in it. When I think about this example
of favoritism and James, the lingering question that keeps
hanging over my mind is this, how does the church get there?
How does a church get there? How does the church get to a
place where they are actually honoring a rich man over a poor
man? I I thought about me like, what
if our, our church would never do this?
By God's grace, I don't think we would ever do this.
But I'm just thinking like, what if we did?
How did we get there? If somebody rich walk through
those doors, we would offer them a good seat.
And if somebody, you know, or we, you know, we'd offer them, I
don't know, the, the, the blueberry strudel back there,
whatever that is. And, and then if a poor man
walked in, you know, we would be like, there's a water fountain
back there. Like, like how, how, how would a
church get there? How does the church grow this
dysfunctional? And I realize, well, how does
any church grow dysfunctional? How does it happen?
How does any church get dysfunctional?
It's not as though these churches that James is writing
to are the only dysfunctional churches.
Good grief. Just read the book of First
Corinthians. Corinth wrote the book on
dysfunctional church. You got a man sleeping with his
step mom. They're getting drunk at the
Lord's Supper. There are divisions in the
church and they're not alone. The Galatians are trying to
force people to get circumcised. The Ephesians have lost their
first love and revelation in the Philippian church.
Women are fighting with each other at Thessalonica.
People are refusing to work. How does this happen?
It happens because the church forgets that the king has given
us instructions, James writes. If you really fulfill the royal
law, according to the Scripture, the law is royal because the
King gave it to us. We're in the process of forming
a new church right now. If you're visiting, I know you,
that's new to you, but we are in the process of forming a new
church. And one thing that we must never
forget is this. The King has given us
instructions not only on how to form a church, but also how to
act in it. We must never let culture,
tradition, preference, precedent dictate how we act in the
church. We're actually in the process of
writing our bylaws, but let us never forget that the King has
written the original bylaws and they're not able to be revised.
There's no 3/4 vote to revise these.
The King has given us instructions for what we are to
do in our new church #3 love is showing favoritism to every
neighbor. Love is showing favoritism to
every neighbor. I've been thinking about this
command. You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. I've been thinking about all
week. It's impossible, isn't it?
I mean, we, we say this, you know, we teach into kids classes
and we grow up. It's on T-shirts, it's on
billboards. We throw it out there.
Have you ever stopped and actually thought about this?
Like what it really would require to love your neighbor as
yourself? It's impossible when you think
about whatever require of me, whatever require of you.
I thought, who actually lives this way?
I've never met anybody who actually lives this way.
I know not one. And I thought about this command
and I realized there are two universal truths regarding this
command. Number one, we will fail at this
and #2 we must strive for this. We will fail at it.
We must strive for it. I think that James brings up
this command because it's clear that the church is not loving
the poor man as themselves. I think that's why he brings it
up. They're not loving the poor man
as themselves. They are loving the rich man as
themselves. They are not loving the poor man
as themselves. And it occurred to me that love
is showing favoritism to every neighbor.
You know that this probably doesn't get asked.
This guy asked more in the South.
I realized I, like you guys are not going to know what I'm
talking about here. This is a question that gets
asked in the South. This is a question that gets
asked in the South. People be like, hey now, now,
which son does dad favor? Which daughter does mom favor?
I never liked that question because the answer is all of
them. I favor all my sons.
I like them all. They're all my favorite.
James writes that favoritism is sin and the reason it is sin is
because it shows a lack of love for those we don't favor.
The other day when it was really windy, I don't know if you guys
remember, it was really windy this past week.
I was going to check the mail and I noticed that one of my
neighbour's trash can lids had blown open and trash and
recycling were all over the street.
This has happened multiple times in the past and the reason is is
he stacks his trash can too much and he doesn't close it
properly. Immediately after I checked the
mail I I see all the trash recycling immediately I see it
and in my flesh I thought not my problem not my problem.
He needs to learn to push his trash down or get a bigger trash
can. And as soon as I said that in my
head, it is as if the Holy Spirit literally said in my
head, love your neighbor as yourself.
I realized that if I had done this, if I had made this mistake
or even if my wife had made this mistake, I would go pick up the
trash. Why would I not do the same for
my neighbor? So I went and picked it all up,
pushed it down. I did wash my hands and I closed
his lid. We favor every neighbor because
we love every neighbor. 4 Jesus's death takes on a new
meaning when I realize I am guilty of all the law.
Jesus's death takes on a new meaning when I realize I am
guilty of all the law. Imagine if when we get to
heaven, somebody went around asking everybody how much sin
did they commit? They wanted to know who was the
worst Sinner that made it into heaven.
They're really curious, like how I really want to know who was
the worst Sinner that made it in here.
So they went around asking people, but they posed the
question like this. How much of the law did you
break? At the end of their survey, the
questioner was perplexed and confused because everybody gave
the exact same answer, all of it.
How much of the law did you break?
All of it, James writes. Whoever keeps the whole law but
fails and one point has become guilty of all of it.
And Jesus's death takes on a new meaning when I realize I am
guilty of all the law. My boys and I are watching the
TV show Lost right now. It's a 20 year old show,
something something older than probably some of y'all who are
here. It's still a good one though.
My favorite, maybe second favorite character is a guy
named John Locke. All these random people are on,
they crash on an island on a plane, and John is the only one
who realizes that this island is a special place.
He's the only one who realizes it.
He's the only one who believes in the special nature of this
island. Do you know why?
Because he got on the airplane as a paralyzed man and when he
crashed on the island he could walk.
You see the other people couldn't see it.
They couldn't see the wonder and amazement of this island.
They couldn't feel it. I find the same thing happens in
Christians lives. Christians will look back over
their life and they will think, I never murdered anybody, I
never raped anyone. I've never stolen anything major
in my life. I've never embezzled money, I've
never committed adultery. I've never even gotten a speedy
ticket in my life. Hey, praise God for all of that.
Here's the temptation. What did Jesus save you from?
The reason why some Christians
are not absolutely humbled and crushed at the thought of being
saved is because they failed to see that they are guilty of
breaking the entire law. Jesus didn't save us from being
an unkind person. He didn't save us from being an
unwise person. He didn't save us from being a
misguided person. He saved us as transgressors of
the entire law who deserve eternal punishment in hell.
How much of the law are you guilty of?
Am I guilty of all of it? All of it.
And until you realize that, until that sinks in, you won't
wonder at your salvation. You'll think Jesus saved you
from some bad choices in your life, from being directionless.
That's all he'll be. He'll be a savior.
He'll be not much better than Google Maps.
He gave me direction. 5 Be careful that we don't develop a
low view of our sin because we are not like tax collectors.
Be careful that we don't develop a low view of our sin because we
are not like tax collectors. The argument that James is
making in verses 10:50 is because it seems that the church
does not think that favoritism is that big of a deal.
It seems that they don't think that it's that big of a sin.
And to make his point James uses 2 extreme examples.
He says God commanded do not commit adultery and do not
murder. And his point is, is that
suppose a person never committed adultery, but they murdered
someone, does that make them a righteous person?
Or vice versa, suppose a person never murdered someone, but
committed adultery. Does that make them a righteous
person? I think James's point is that
favoritism. Listen, it may not be murder, it
may not be adultery, but if you show favoritism, you are still a
transgressor of the law. He's wanted the church to feel
this. When we think about the
seriousness of our sin, there are two extremes.
We can be on 2 extremes here. They are extreme.
A all sin is the same. Period.
All sin is the same period. So whether I am lusting or
committing adultery, they are the same, so it doesn't matter.
That's not true. That's not true.
Extreme B is all sin is not the same period.
All sin is not the same period. So my sin of covetousness or my
sin of anger, it's not good. I know, I know, I shouldn't do
this. It's not, you know, but you
know, I mean, that's not murder or adultery.
That's also not true. That's also not true.
And what James is addressing here is extreme B.
It is so easy to be like the Pharisee and the parable of the
Pharisee and the tax collector. God, I thank you that I am not
like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even this
tax collector. The apostle Paul murdered
Christians, who knows how many? 100, 1000 Even though I have
never murdered Christians, Jesus died the exact same death for me
and for you as he did for Paul. Everything about that.
Every whip, every thorn, every nail.
Was just as necessary for my sin as it was for Paul's.
Think about that. 6 Those who have been shown grace give
grace. Those who have been shown grace
give grace. James Wright speak and act as
those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
My way of wording this is that those who have been shown grace
give grace. When we stand before the
judgment throne, God will not judge us based on merit or
reciprocity or performance or reputation or morals or
tradition or fairness or social status or wealth or
productivity. He judges us based on the law of
liberty, the law of grace. And James exhorts the church
church family speak and act in light of this reality.
Now, the church was not doing this.
If this is a real example, they were not doing this.
These two men walked into the church and immediately they were
brought into the courtroom of their minds and one was judged
worthy and the other was judged unworthy.
And James is making the point. Church family, imagine if that's
what happens when we get to heaven.
How many of us would be judged worthy?
Praise God that he shows no favoritism at the judgment.
Then we stand there. He doesn't look and say, you
know what, I always liked you, Matt.
Fred, not so much or vice versa. Fred, I always liked him.
I always had a heart for missionaries.
Pastors, not so much. Can't trust those pastors.
Imagine if God played favourites at the judgement throne.
Those who have been shown grace, they give grace, they do seven
last point, Mercy is not an optional add on, it is necessary
for entrance. Mercy is not an optional add on,
it is necessary for entrance. Have you ever noticed or have
you noticed that almost everything these days has
add-ons? I'm I'm so tired of them.
Everywhere you go there's an add on for something.
You book a plane ticket. Would you like a seat upgrade?
How about trip insurance? You book a hotel.
Would you like a late check out? How about a room upgrade for
only 2999? You can have spa access.
You go to Disneyland fast pass. Would you like a photo package?
How about a meal package? You go to a concert.
Would you like AVIP upgrade? There's backstage passes.
You go to a restaurant? Would you like added sauces for
an extra 299? Would you like guacamole on your
burrito that does cost extra? How about an appetizer or a
dessert? James writes that in
Christianity, mercy is not an optional add on.
I'll take a #1 combo. God, would you like to add mercy
to that? No thanks.
Mercy is necessary for entrance into the Kingdom.
Judgement is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy,
meaning if we don't show mercy and grace and forgiveness to our
neighbors, we won't be admitted into the Kingdom.
But if we do show mercy, then mercy triumphs over judgment
because Jesus promised us. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall receive mercy. Let's pray.