1. Which person do you tend to treat better?

42%

2%

56%

One who is dressed for successOne who is shabbily dressedI treat them both exactly the same

2. What might motivate you to welcome the wealthy more readily than the poor?

63%

23%

15%

Poverty makes you uncomfortableYou want to be wealthy, tooYou want the rich person to support the church fi-nancially

3. Why does James 2:5 say that God chooses the poor?

18%

20%

62%

God will honor those who are poor more than those who are richPoor will be welcomed into the kingdom of GodIt is easier for poor people to have faith than rich onesPart of a larger example to forbid favoritism

4. What is the "royal law" mentioned in James 2:8?

5%5%

59%

32%

The Law of MosesThe Ten CommandmentsLove your neighbor as yourselfLove the Lord your God with all your HS&M

The mature Christian puts faith into practice

• Theme of James 2:– Immature person talks about his faith– Mature person lives his faith

• Last week: – Hearing God’s Word & talking about God’s

Word cannot substitute for doing God’s Word– James wants us to practice God’s Word

James’ test of how we practice the Word:

• Two visitors at church service– One rich & one poor– Watched how

treated

• Examines four basic Christian doctrines in light of the way we treat others

1. The Deity of Christ

• James 2:1-4 NIV My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. (2) Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. (3) 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 there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," (4) have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Jesus was not impressed by wealth or social status

• Even His enemies admitted: – Matthew 22:16 NIV ... "Teacher, we know you

are a man of integrity ... You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.

He saw potential in the lives of sinners

• In Simon, the fisherman, He saw a rock• In Matthew, the tax collector, He saw a

faithful disciple who would write a Gospel• In the disreputable Samaritan woman, He

saw an outreach to her village• Poor widow’s two coins was greater gift

than Pharisee’s large donation

We judge people by their past rather than their future

• When Saul was converted, the church in Jerusalem was afraid to receive him!

• It took Barnabas, who believed in him, to break down the walls (Acts 9:26-28)

We judge people by outward appearance rather than their heart

• We don’t sit with certain people in church because they “are not our kind of people”

• Jesus was the friend of sinners, though He disapproved of their sins

• It was compassion, not compromise, that caused Him to welcome & forgive them

• Jesus, himself, was the poor man rejected by the self-righteous nation

Isaiah 53:2-3 NIV

• … He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (3) He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Religious experts judged Him by human standards & rejected Him

• From the wrong place, Nazareth of Galilee – a poor village of maybe 50 families

• Not a graduate of their accepted schools• Didn’t have approval of people in power• Had no wealth• Followers were a mob of unsavory people• Yet He was the very glory of God! • No wonder Jesus warned the religious leaders

– John 7:24 NIV Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."

We often make the same mistakes

• When visitors come, we tend to judge what we see outwardly, not what they are inwardly

• Skin color, fashion & superficial things mean more than the fruit of the Spirit in their lives

• We cater to the rich because we hope to get something out of them & we avoid the poor because they embarrass us

• The way we treat people shows what we really believe about the Deity of Christ!

2. The Grace of God

• James 2:5-7 NIV Listen, my dear brothers: 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? (6) But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? (7) Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

The emphasis is on God’s grace

• Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— (9) not by works, so that no one can boast. (10) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God ignores human differences

• Acts 10:34 NIV Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism– Jewish believers shocked that Peter went to Gentiles,

preached to them & even ate with them

• First church council: “Must a Gentile become a Jew to become a Christian?” (Acts 15)– The answer the Holy Spirit gave them was, “No!” – In God’s sight, there is no difference between Jew &

Gentile when it comes to condemnation or salvation

From a human point of view, God’s choices make no sense

• 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 NIV Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. (27) But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

There are four alternatives available to us:

• May be poor in this world & rich in the next• Or rich in this world & poor in the next• Or poor in this world & the next• Or rich in this world & the next

All baseball bats are alike

Or, are they?

God’s grace makes the difference

• When Jesus died, he broke down the wall between Jews & Gentiles (Ephesians 2)

• His birth & life broke down walls between rich & poor, young & old, educated & uneducated

• The way we treat others shows what we really believe about the Grace of God!

3. The Word of God

• James 2:8-11 NIV If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. (9) But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (10) For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (11) For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

James reaches back into the OT

• Leviticus 19:18 NIV "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

• Consider the Parable of the Good Samaritan – Our neighbor is anyone who needs our help– Not a matter of geography, but opportunity– Question is not, “Who is my neighbor?” but “To

whom can I be a neighbor?”

“Love your neighbor” encompasses all the other laws

• Romans 13:10 NIV Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

• There would be no need for our complex laws if each citizen truly loved his neighbor

Favoritism leads to disobeying all of God’s Law

• You might lie to ingratiate yourself to them• You might be greedy for their wealth• If I disobey one law, I am capable of

disobeying all of them!

Love does not mean that I must like a person & agree on everything

• I may not like his vocabulary or habits• I may not want him for an intimate friend• Love treats others the way God has

treated me• It is an act of the will, not an emotion

Love does not leave the person where it finds him

• It should help the poor man do better• It should help the rich man make better

use of his God-given resources• Love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1); hatred tears

down

We only believe as much of the Bible as we practice

• If we disobey “love your neighbor” we won’t do any better with the lesser matters of the Word

• Pharisees: careful re trivialities; careless re basics– Matthew 23:23 NIV "Woe to you, teachers of the law

and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

• The way we treat others shows what we really believe about the Word of God!

4. The Judgment of God

• James 2:12-13 NIV Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, (13) because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

What we say to people, and how we say it, will come up before God

• Matthew 12:34-37 NIV You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. (36) But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. (37) For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

How do we practice the deity of Christ in our human relationships?

• Simple: see visitors through Christ’s eyes– Christian: accept – Christ lives in him– Non-Christian: welcome – Christ died for him

• God can use unlikeliest to glorify His name– He used Peter, Zaccheus & John Mark– He can use that poor man we might reject

Note the words spoken to the two visitors

• James 2:3 NIV 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 there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet,"

Our attitudes will be judged

• James 2:13 NIV … judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

• James contrasts two attitudes: mercy & no mercy

Mercy and justice both come from God, so they are not competitors

• Where God finds repentance & faith, He is able to show mercy

• Where He finds rebellion & unbelief, He must administer justice

• The heart of the sinner determines the treatment he gets – as in Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35)

We’ll be judged “by the Law that gives freedom”

• Why does James use this title for God’s Law? • Obeying God’s Law frees us from sin

– Psalms 119:45 NIV I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

• Law prepares us for liberty– A child must be under rules because he is not mature

enough to make the right decisions– He is given outward discipline so he can develop

inward discipline & one day be free of rules

• Liberty is freedom to be all that I can be in Christ

The message to this section: our beliefs should control our behavior

• If we really believe– That Jesus is the Son of God– That God is gracious– That His Word is true– That one day He will judge us

• Then our conduct will reveal our convictions• Before we attack those who don’t teach what we

teach, we need to be sure we practice what we preach about Jesus, grace, the Word & judgment

• Jonah had wonderful theology, but he hated people and was angry with God (Jonah 4:1-11)

One test of the reality of our faith is how we treat other people

Can we pass the test?