Well, good morning, Matt. I have an excuse.
I had a stroke. You don't have an excuse.
So, well, we're going to go ahead and keep marching through
James today, and we're going to be picking up at James 2.
And so I'm sure it won't be the anointed message that it would
have been if if Pastor Nick had presented it, but we're going to
March through it. And, and it's actually, I'm very
fortunate that he left off where he did because this particular
chapter has a tremendous amount of information in it.
And hopefully we can flesh it out a little bit and talk about
the important points. And so before we do that, let's
go to prayer and ask for the Lord's presence here.
Father, we just ask for your presence here today.
Lord, we've come here to sit before you and we praise you for
who you are. Lord, we thank you for the
ability to come into a place of peace and and be taught.
I would ask for an anointing on this this message.
And I would ask Lord that you would anoint these people.
I know there are people here that are going through
incredible situations, health issues, financial issues, every
problem that can be said a human being is present here today,
Lord, or online. And I would ask that you would
give them the the peace that goes beyond comprehension, Lord,
That you would let them know that you are here and you love
him, love them. And I think this message
confirms that Lord. And so we just thank you for who
you are. Lord, we ask this in Jesus name,
Amen. So I had originally planned on
giving my much anticipated message about whether people
that drink hazelnut coffee can be saved.
But as you can see, Nick has preempted that message so it'll
get kicked down the road. I will give you a hint.
It doesn't look good for him, but OK.
So anyway, so we're going to start off in James 2 and so here
we go. Funny panic point before I start
this, I, I started doing this in the new King James Version and
in my brain warmed up and said no, we don't use that, we use
the new international. So I am going to read what is
actually what's on the screen. I think my brothers and sisters,
believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show
favouritism. Now this really is the opening
concept for this entire first section, and that is it's He's
talking about favoritism, especially in the church.
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and
fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes
in. If you show special attention to
the man wearing fine clothes and say, here's a good seat for you,
but say to the poor man, you stand here or you sit on the
floor by my feet, Have you not discriminated amongst yourselves
and become judges with evil thoughts?
So what James is beginning to introduce here is the concept
that God is no respecter of men. Now that kind of that phrase is
a little bit different, but it it generally means that he views
all of us equally. He does not show favoritism to
people based on who or what they are or in the sense of wealth or
status. And we see this throughout the
Bible and even Paul, who we're going to talk about some
perceived conflict between this particular section and and Paul
this this chapter. But even Paul says in Romans 211
for God does not show favouritism.
And if you take a look at the Bible and and Jesus ministry,
then you know that Jesus treated everybody the same.
It was Jesus who called on the poor to follow him.
And we're going to talk about that a little bit more.
God views us all equally and we're basically all in the same
situation when it comes to how the Lord views us.
And especially James is talking about, if you notice it says in
here, suppose a man comes into your meeting.
So what he's talking about initially is this concept that
in a church setting. And so this makes complete sense
because in this church setting, there there is no person who is
greater than someone else. If we're all brothers in Christ,
we're all partakers in the salvation, then it is it is in a
sin. He'll later tell us that we are
not to be treating wealthy people or, or someone of a
certain social status better than say a poor person.
And of course, the inverse is also true, that if if you have
somebody who's poor, that they should be given the same social
status or attention as just, you know, your regular church
attender. Now, when I when I started
working on this message, I didn't realize it, but when he's
talking about gold rings and fine clothes, obviously
nothing's really changed in 2000 years, you know, gold rings and
fine clothes, you know now it might be a gold chain with your
shirt unbuttoned down to here, but apparently back in those
days, you could actually go and rent gold rings if you wanted to
make a good impression. Now, if any of you have ever
gone to your class reunions, which I have refused to go to
all mine, but I went to one of my wife's class reunions, you
know that there's a lot of people showing up, trying to
present themselves as having been very successful when maybe
they really haven't been. And this is kind of the thought
on this, that these people are showing up at whatever event
they're going to wearing. They could rent gold rings to
impress people. So kind of an interesting
concept. So we know from this initial
opening that we're not to be treating people differently due
to social status. So let's go ahead and let's
continue on in the next verse. Listen, my dear brothers and
sisters, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes
of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom He
promised those who love him? And you know, that's a really,
really important comment in there because what he's telling
us is exactly what Jesus has always said, and that is that
it's the poor, the people that are maybe the the least paid
attention to or who have the greatest need, who are going to
inherit the Kingdom of God. But you have dishonoured the
poor. Is it not the rich who are
exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are
dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are
blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
I'm going to read that again with one word change.
Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of
the Lord to whom you belong? So, you know, one of my thoughts
that was I was reading through this and getting prepared is if
you think about it, you know, there seems to be a lot of a
whole class of people, you know, and we can all figure out who
they are who act completely against God's law and do things
that he has specifically told everyone not to do.
And you don't, don't you just wonder, you know, what are these
people thinking? Even as they get up to the point
of death and we've seen this, you know, throughout the
centuries, they don't seem to to repent, You know, are these
people thinking that that God is a respecter of men?
They're going to say, you know, maybe you don't know who I was
God, but I was, you know, the the CEO of Whamco, you know, and
he's going to go cool. It's just amazing that that
people act this way. Of course, I think he's also
going to say to the same people. And of course, I think they'll
be so intimidated by his presence that they're probably
going to be in an absolute panic.
But I think his next question will be, what did you do with
that? What did you do with your
fortune or fame, your status? You know, what did you do for
the Kingdom? So James is emphasising that the
Lord has chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and
heirs to the Kingdom promised to those who love him.
And as we'll see in the verse coming up, James is really
challenging the worldview not only of wealth, but especially
our view as the poor. He, he's challenging and he's,
he's inferring, I believe a, a certain favouritism as far as
Christians towards the most vulnerable and the most needy.
And that was a radical idea back in that time.
And it continues to be in our society, a pretty radical idea
that, you know, that that we as Christians should be concerned
about widows and orphans, the most vulnerable and the most
needy. And that's one of the things I'm
personally excited about with the change that the church has
made is that not only are we going to be sharing the gospel,
but that we're also going to be trying to meet some of those
physical needs that are out there with these folks that, you
know, are the most vulnerable and the most needy.
And I think it's also a good example of why, if you take like
the issue of abortion, I can't think of anything more
vulnerable than a baby. And that why it's so critical to
continue the fight to end that, you know, abortion and and that
the killing of the the our young.
All right, continuing on, if you really keep the royal law, this
is 8. If you really keep the royal law
found in scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you were
doing right. But if you show favoritism, you
sin and are convicted by the law as law Breakers.
For whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in at just one
point is guilty of breaking it. For he who said you shall not
commit adultery also said you shall not murder.
If you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you'll
become a law breaker. So there's a lot of a lot of
content in this few lines here. First of all, we're reminded of
the royal law. Love your neighbor as yourself.
And that is obviously not always easy.
You know, sometimes our neighbors can be frustrating.
Sometimes our neighbors don't like us.
But we are told as much as we're able to, to live in peace with
other people. And we're to love our neighbors
as as we would love ourselves. And the second part of this is
that James is telling us that salvation is not by keeping the
law and that it is impossible to keep the law, and he's going to
flesh us out a little bit more. And finally, he's telling us
that when we do show favouritism, that we're
committing a sin and we're doing so because of the Lord.
He holds the view that we are not to not only show
favouritism, but that if he has special favour and has a heart
for the poor and the vulnerable, then how can we act differently
than how the Lord views if we are truly saved and truly
Christians? Of course, the second issue
that's running through this and, and James doesn't directly
comment on this, but I think it's, it's inferred in it is
that, you know, when you start treating the rich, somebody that
comes into church with lots of rings and it's obviously
wealthy, there's a secondary gain issue.
When you start doing that, that maybe you're not just showing
them favour because they're rich, but because you think you
might personally profit from treating them better than the
guy who, you know, isn't able to advantage you in some way,
whether it's at work or, you know, money or, or whatever it
is, some business deals. And, you know, ironically,
having known some very wealthy people, I know they're aware of
this, that they're constantly on being aware that people are
trying to use them to gain advantage.
You know, they need a loan. They, you know, they think
somehow because they're wealthy, that they can help these people.
And so they, they have, they have a lot of them have real
trust issues because they've been burned in the past.
So there's a lot of stuff going on in this particular chapter.
So now the other thing that you need to know is that back at
this time when James is writing this is that and you're talking
about a meeting that these obviously where is everybody
knows, probably held in somebody's home.
But the mix of people in these, you know, these meetings, these
early Christian Church meetings was comprised of quite a mix of
people. I mean, you may have bond
servants, slaves, slave owners, I mean military men, I mean
governors. You can have anybody, you figure
anybody that has heard the gospel and has accepted it could
potentially be in these meetings and you know, these church
services. So it it, you know, you don't
want to have a situation where one is being treated differently
than another just because of their financial or social
status. In fact, it it would not be on
thought or it would not be unusual for say, maybe a
bondservant to be leading the message or a slave to be leading
the message. And you have a slave owner there
or, you know, some elected official or high official or,
you know, insert whoever it is. So I mean, it was a pretty
eclectic mix of these people that were were happening and
it's still to some extent that way.
But I mean, we we have a different society than what they
had at that time. But the take away point remains
the same. OK, continuing on to verse.
Yeah, verse 12. Speak and act as those who are
going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because
judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been
merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement.
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law
that gives freedom, because judgement without mercy will be
shown to anyone who has not been merciful.
Well, that that's pretty straightforward.
If you're seeking mercy, then you have to show mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgement. So we have this initial first
half of the verse which is talking about the actions within
the church, about how the church looks at the members and also
how the church looks at the poor.
And as I said, I think there is an implied favouritism towards
these people that at least we as a church have a duty to try and
meet their needs. And that's what's going to
happen next in the next section, starting in chapter 14.
Now chapter 14 in this whole remainder of the verse is really
interesting. And quite honestly, I knew about
the controversy that came out of this, but I didn't realize that
depth of the controversy that came out of this is around the
time of the Reformation, and that is this supposed conflict
between Paul and James. And so let's read this and then,
and then I'll comment on it. We'll start at 14.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to
have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to them, go in peace, keep warm and well
fed, but does not, but does nothing about their physical
needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself
it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, I have faith, I have you have faith, I
have deeds. This is James.
Now show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my
faith with deeds. You believe there is one God
good. Even the demons believe that and
shudder. You foolish person.
Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he
did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
You see that his faith and his actions were working together
and his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture
was fulfilled. That says Abraham believed God
and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called
God's friend. You see that a person is
considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered
righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies
and sent them off in different directions?
As the body without spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is
dead. So from that, around the time of
the Reformation, there is this conflict or supposed conflict
between Paul and between James and the controversy put in a
couple of different verses. Paul's saying, well, we're
justified by faith apart from works of the law.
James is saying a person is not justified by faith alone.
Now, you know, we have a political party that always says
never let a good crisis go to waste.
And you know, old Satan, he, he never lets one go to waste
either. And I think this is some of
Satan's best work. In creating this conflict, I
mean, this apparently got to the point where we're talking about
fighting words, you know, about faith versus deeds.
And there is no conflict if, if you understand what both Paul
and James are saying is they're they're saying the exact same
thing. They're just approaching it from
different angles. And if you go back and if we
look at what James is saying, we can see this.
So what James is saying is that if you have someone who
professes faith in Christ, but there are no works, that person
has no faith. In other words, that the good
works of that person is evidence of the faith.
And I believe that what Paul is saying, and he's saying a number
of different things, is that that you have to have faith.
But then he says later that you have to obey the law, which of
course is acting in compliance and, and as you're directed by
the Bible, which of course involves works.
So they're basically saying the same thing.
But this controversy arose over a period of time.
And I would just go back and look at the concepts of
justification, sanctification and glorification.
If you remember, justification is the concept that when you
really and truly accept Christ, that our lives are justified,
we're saved in the eyes of the Lord.
And if you really and truly have accepted Christ and you die 5
minutes later, you're justified or saved.
You, you know, you, you go to heaven, you, you are saved by
him. And I can't think of a better
example of this than the thief. You know, remember Christ was
crucified with two thieves, one on each side, and one of them
accepted Christ. And Jesus said, I tell you today
that you'll be in heaven with me.
And the other one, of course, refused to accept him.
Now, there wasn't anything this thief could do.
I mean, he was nailed on a cross.
He he couldn't go to a, you know, a membership class.
Yeah. He couldn't fold his hands and
say, you know, the believer's prayer or whatever.
Yeah. I mean, he was, he was there.
And so simply by his commitment and his heart, he was justified.
He was saved. So then the the second component
of this is sanctification. And So what we're talking with
sanctification is simply the indwelling Spirit of Christ, the
Holy Spirit, which is when we really and truly accept Christ,
which is placed in US. And as Pastor Ben used to say,
Jesus begins throwing the junk out of your lives.
And so this sanctification process is a slow and gradual
process, but we begin once we accept that indwelling Spirit
into our hearts to begin to repent, to change our lives.
And that from that stems the work.
And so these guys are both talking about the exact same
thing. And that's, that's what they're,
that's what the whole point of all of this is, is that as I
can't remember who used to say it, one of the Bible scholars
called it an exchanged life. So in other words, you had the
old life, you accept Christ, begin the sanctification
process. The indwelling spirit of, of
Christ begins and you begin to throw the junk out and you
change your life. You mean you throw away the old,
the evil, and you begin to act more Christ like.
And by the way, if you run into somebody who tells you they have
been completely sanctified, run because it is a never ending
process. So what James is saying is faith
without works is dead and there should be some evidence of a
changed life of sanctification and the indwelling of the Spirit
in your life. Now Paul said in Romans 2 at
verse 13, For it is not those who hear the law who are
righteous in God's sight. And so, you know, everybody
hears the law at some point, but is those who obey the law, who
are to be cleared, declared righteous?
Well, what does obeying the law mean?
Well, obviously it means that you're supposed to, you know,
act the way that you're supposed to based on what the Bible says.
And so from that, when you begin to act as a, as the Holy Spirit
motivates you, there's going to be some evidence of that.
And so, and I think the second thing that Paul was saying is
that evil man can do good works. I mean, we have many, many, many
examples of horrible people who have done good works, you know,
built things, given money to charity and all that stuff.
But personally, they never evidenced any of the indwelling
spirit of Christ in their lives. And so works is what Paul is
saying is not going to save them in and of themselves.
And it's going to be the hearing of the law and the obeying of
the law. And so, you know, we see in this
that there's really no conflict between the two positions.
It's just each of these guys is, is approaching this in different
ways. Now Spurgeon, I, I like what he
said about this and it really fits.
And this is a kind of old Englishy, but I'll change it up
a little bit so it's a little easier to understand.
Faith and repentance are born in a spiritual life together and
they grow up together. So faith and repentance.
So if you accept, you're going to start repenting.
I would say sanctification. The moment a man believes, he
repents, and while he believes, he both believes and repents.
So he's saying these come together and until he shall have
done with his faith, he will not have done without repenting.
If you have believed and but have never repented of your
sins, then beware of your believing.
In other words, if you say, Oh yeah, I believe, I believe, but
there isn't any evidence. There isn't any sanctification
occurring in your life. Beware if thou pretendest, if
you pretend now to be a child of God, and if you have never
clothed yourself in dust and ashes.
If you have never hated the sins for which you once did.
If you do not now hate them and endeavour to be rid of them.
If you do not humble yourself before God on account of them as
the Lord lives, you know nothing about saving faith.
For faith puts a distance between US and sin in a moment.
It leads us away from the distance between US and Christ.
Near to Christ we are now, we are now far off from sin.
So it's simply just the the exact same thing being said in
two different ways. And I have another quote from, I
believe it was Vernon McGee. Can I pardon me here?
While I dig for it and he's this is Vernon Mcgee's
comments on this particular chapter.
God has a particular eye towards the poor, those who are often
overlooked and undervalued by society.
In fact, it's the poor who have been chosen by God to inherit
his Kingdom, and this reveals God's heart towards humanity.
Each of us has a part to play in recognising the inherent worth
of all people, especially those who might be struggling
financially, socially or emotionally.
And so this chapter, which is pretty straightforward, has a
great deal of depth, and it also has some instructions for us as
a church, and especially when it comes to the poor and those who
are in need and vulnerable. And so like I say, I am
extremely excited about where we're heading with the church
here. We're hoping that we can begin
to address the needs of the people that are that come into
our assembly and it's going to take discretion.
We are not going to become a freebie giveaway place, but it's
important that we try to address that.
And to that, as Matt talked about earlier, I want to just
take a moment and talk about what's going on right now.
Most of you know that what I do and that I represent some of the
poorest people, elderly veterans, you name it.
And I know right now in Sandpoint a number of people who
are in their late 70s, early 80s, widows who are now facing
the loss of their SNAP benefits right now.
And so, and these people, you know, they're the real deal.
They're not the guy smoking a joint on the couch playing video
games. These are people in, in real
need and they cannot physically, you know, they're in bad,
they're in bad situations. And this loss of these SNAP
benefits is going to make a huge difference for them.
And so as Matt discussed earlier, we're going to try to
help the food bank. You know, I, I initially
thought, you know, we could, we could bring in canned goods,
which would be fine. But I think the easiest way is
if you feel led to make a donation, there's a number of
different things you can do. You can write a check to the
Bonner County Food Bank and give it to Faye.
If you want. You can give cash, drop cash in
the box there. Just know it in there that it's
for the food bank and we'll get it to them.
Whatever you want to do. I think it's a good time and I
know that the church is gearing up.
We're going to try and do what we can to help meet that need.
Now, you know, I've heard different rumours.
I work exclusively with the feds on different programs, you know,
in what I do. And the rumour is, is that this
is actually going to go until after Thanksgiving.
So, and there's a political reason for it and I'm not
getting into it, but you know, I also know that tomorrow
Congress, which is of course the opposite of progress, is going
to meet tomorrow and there may be a vote.
So this may end now the the wild card that got thrown in on
Thursday or Friday as a federal court judge ordered the
government to pay those SNAP benefits, which would take the
pressure off of the Republicans potentially for trying to get
this resolved. So I only know one person that
knows what's going on. His name's Jesus.
And so let's do what we can. I mean, if they let's say they
kick this SNAP benefits back in tomorrow, we still have a huge
need in this in this county. And these are people that we
directly need to be addressing. So all right, I'm going to go
ahead and close in prayer. Father, we just would ask again
for your blessing upon these people.
Lord, we play, pay, pray a special blessing upon those
people in our community who are anxious and concerned about
where their next meal is going to come from.
Lord, I just pray that they would press into you and that
they would seek you and that as a result of this, the faith of
many would be strengthened. Lord, we just play pray a
special blessing upon these people and we just thank you for
this time to meet. We ask this in your name, Amen.