James - James 2:1-13 part 2

Let's be very careful not to show favoritism, not to divide the church, not to live by standards and values that are worldly. Let's love one another. That's the royal law, and the royal law enables you to live like a king.

What are the consequences of favoritism? James is warning us about being partial, showing partiality to the rich and humiliating the poor. Now, of course, it doesn't have to be just a matter of money, it can be many things: nationality or race or denomination or whatever. What are the consequences of favoritism in the church? Well, number one, we deny the Lord. We saw that in James 2:1. He is the glory, and that glory dwells within Him and dwells within us. And when we deny the Lord, we are in trouble. When He was here on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ did not show partiality. My, He mingled with publicans and sinners. He called fishermen to be His disciples. He noticed when a poor widow dropped in her offering. We deny the Lord. Secondly, we divide the church. James 2:2-4. We have shown partiality among ourselves. We become judges with evil thoughts. You don't build the church on income. You don't build the church on race or nationality or politics or culture. The church is built on the Lord Jesus Christ and the unity of the church is so important. 

The third consequence is found in James 2:5-7. We dishonor the poor. He tells us in James 2:6, "But you have dishonored the poor man." And of course, the poor man is made in the image of God. The poor man is saved by the grace of God, if he's a Christian. It's possible to be poor in this world and rich in the next. It's possible to be rich in this world and poor in the next. And therefore James tells us, don't dishonor the poor. Treat these people the way Jesus Christ would have treated them.

Now James 2:8-13, we focus on the fourth consequence of showing favoritism in the church: we disobey the Word. What Word? The Word that says love one another. James 2:8, "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

We disobey the Word of God. Now what Word is this? Well, he calls it the Royal Law: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. He's quoting here from Leviticus 19:18. "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." By the way, it’s rather interesting that in that same chapter, Leviticus 19, you have his warning about showing favoritism, partiality. Leviticus 19:15, "You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor." Here we see the other side of the coin. James is warning us about rejecting the poor and becoming very wrapped up in the rich, but Moses warns us it's possible out of sympathy and compassion to show partiality to the poor and maybe not be fair to the rich. The important thing is don't show any partiality at all. 

Now what is this Royal Law? Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus pointed out that our neighbor is anyone who needs us, not necessarily someone who lives near us, anyone who needs us. Why is it called the Royal Law? "If you really fulfill the royal law." Well, it was given by the King, that makes it a royal law. And if you obey it, it makes you a king. You can reign in life. The thing he talked about back in James 1:12: "he will receive the crown of life." When you live by love, you are reigning. When you live according to this Royal Law, you live like a king.

When you live by love, you are reigning. When you live according to this Royal Law, you live like a king. But something else is true of this law: it rules all the other laws. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the Royal Law because it holds the scepter over every other law. Paul points that out in Romans 13:8. "Owe no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." 

It's the Royal Law because it rules over all the other laws and if you love your neighbor, you won't steal from him, you won't covet what he has, and you certainly won't lie about him and do damage to his property. Well, it's the Royal Law. Now these people were excusing themselves by saying, well, we're showing love to the rich man. And James says, but there's one lawgiver and one law that applies to both the rich and the poor, and you had better start showing love to the poor man as well. 

You see, we are prone to separate the commandments of God. We say, now I don't do this and I don't do that and don't do the other thing, but I may do this one over here, but that's not quite so bad. We're like the rich young ruler who said, well, which commandment? As though one could be separated from the other. James tells us that the law is one because there's one lawgiver. The law is one because there's one standard of holiness. Suppose you're hanging over a cliff, holding on to a chain of ten links. Now how many of those links have to break for you to fall? That's what James is saying. You say, well, I don't commit adultery, but you do have hatred in your heart, which is the next thing to murder. And so he says, you break one, you've broken the whole law. 

In fact, you start with one of these commandments and before you know it, you may have broken all of them. Suppose you start coveting. That's just one. You covet something. Then you steal. See that, now you've broken two commandments. And then you lie about it. Now you've broken three commandments. And perhaps you dishonor your parents because you've done this. See, on and on it goes. One thing leads to another. He points out then that we had better not disobey the Word of God. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we are commanded to love one another. And we who have experienced the grace of God certainly ought to manifest the love of God. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. 

And so he applies this in James 2:12 now. "So speak and so do"—our words and our works—"as those who will be judged by the law of liberty." Now it's the Royal Law, but it's the law of liberty. What does that mean? Well, it means two things I think. One is the purpose of the law is not bondage, it's freedom. Now the Old Covenant law, of course, did bring people into bondage. He's talking here about the law of love, which is the law of liberty. It is the kind of law that leads to freedom. When we obey, we are set free. He calls it the "perfect law of liberty" back in James 1:25. When we obey the Word of God, it sets us free. 

Secondly, it's called the law of liberty for this reason: God is going to judge us on what we would have done if we were free to do it. That's interesting. Sometimes we sin in our hearts and we wouldn't dare do this thing openly, but if we were free to get away with it, we'd do it. What would you do if you could get away with it? That's what God is looking at. That's why God judges the thoughts and the intents of the heart. You see, we look at the outward appearance and we say, well, I would never have done a thing like that. Oh, this man, what he did, that's terrible, I would never have done that. How do you know? How do you know? Because God is going to look at the heart and God says, I'm going to judge you not by what you did, but also by what you would have done if you thought you could have gotten away with it. 

Oh, how important it is for us to search our hearts and make sure that we are living the way God wants us to live. Thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, how grateful we ought to be for all the resources He has given to us. What would you do if you were free to do it? 

So speak and so do. How do we speak to other people? Do we show respect for other people? Do we see somebody who's in shabby clothes and say, well, I can talk roughly to him, after all he's just a street person. Do we see somebody who's in a uniform and say, oh my, I've got to be very careful how I speak to him. We should speak to each person with reverence and kindness for several reasons. Number one, everybody's fighting a battle, let's not add to their problems. Number two, we're made in the image of God. Number three, these are people for whom Jesus died, and we ought to be very careful how we speak to them and how we treat them. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 

Well, it sounds pretty difficult, doesn't it? But notice in James 2:13, he talks about mercy. "For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." The Lord Jesus died on the cross to extend mercy to us. Now God in His mercy does not give us what we deserve. God in His grace gives us what we don't deserve. What he's saying in James 2:13 is this: if you show mercy to others, God will show mercy to you. If we understood all, we might be more forgiving than we are. We look at other people and what we think are blemishes might be scars, they might have been through some tough battles. We'd better reserve our judgment and not be critical. Let's show mercy to one another. To one another in our times of sorrow, in our times of failing, in our times of stumbling. Let's show mercy to one another, because if we show mercy to one another, God will show mercy to us. Proverbs 21:13, "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard." That's interesting. If I am abusing the poor, my prayers are not going to get very far. 

Now let's move into the second question we want to answer. The first question was: what are the consequences of favoritism? The second question is: what is the cure? How can we overcome this? And the answer is this: we must have the right focus in our lives. Now I want to suggest a fourfold focus that we need if we're going to treat people as they ought to be treated. 

First, focus on the Son of God. James 2:1, "My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ"—remember you're a Christian because of Him—"the Lord of glory, with partiality." Don't look at the externals. Don't look at the external things by which the world measures success. Look at the internals. You see, whenever you meet another believer, this is someone in whom Christ lives. Whenever you meet an unbeliever, this is someone for whom Christ died. See people through the Lord Jesus Christ. You meet a rich person, he's poor outside of Christ. You meet a poor person, he's rich in Christ. Focus on the glory of God. In my pastoral ministry, I have been in some humble homes, some places that perhaps would not be written up in our magazines, but oh, I found the glory of God there. Humble, sweet Christian people who know God, who aren't worried about the material things of life, their treasures are on the other shore. Focus on the Son of God. Treat people the way you would treat Jesus. I guess that's the best way to put it. If I meet someone who's not a Christian, I want to treat him the way the Lord Jesus would have treated him. If I meet somebody who is a Christian, I want to treat him as I would treat the Lord Jesus, because Jesus lives in him. Focus on the Son of God. Too often I think in our assemblies we have a focus on people, prestige, power, money. We ought to be looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh to be like Him. The most important thing in life is to become like the Lord Jesus Christ. 

There's a second focus I think that's important if we're going to cure this sin of favoritism: we must focus on the grace of God. The grace of God. James 2:5, "Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?" Now God deals in grace. The Lord Jesus became poor that we might become rich. This was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we have all the riches of His grace according to Ephesians. Therefore, let's look at people not in terms of merit—oh, they could do better—well, maybe they could. But let's look at them in terms of God's grace. Where would we be if God had not called us by His grace? You see, God doesn't save people on the basis of merit or good works. Paul makes this very clear over in 1 Corinthians 1:26. 1 Corinthians 1:26 reads like this: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen; and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." 

We have nothing to brag about. Everything we have comes from God. "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven," said John the Baptist, and that's true. Focus on the grace of God. I want God to deal with me on the basis of grace. I want to deal with others on the basis of grace. 

Third, focus on the love of God. You see, if I focus on the Son of God, I won't deny the Lord. If I focus on the grace of God, I won't divide the church. If I focus on the love of God, I won't dishonor the poor. James 2:8, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Now that's not why we do it. We don't love others so they will love us. What he's saying is this: treat others the way God has treated you and the way you want God to treat you, and the way you would want others to treat you. This is a commandment, by the way. Love is an act of the will, it's not a feeling we work up. To love others means simply to treat them the way God treats us. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. We need to love one another. We need to love those who are loveless, we need to love those who are rejected and outcast. It's hard to do sometimes, but I tell you by the grace of God, through the love of God, we can share Jesus Christ with others. 

Finally, let's focus on the judgment of God. James 2:12, "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty." You see, if I focus on the Son of God, I won't deny the Lord. If I focus on the grace of God, I won't divide the church. If I focus on the love of God, I won't dishonor the poor. And if I focus on the judgment of God, if I look ahead and realize God's going to judge me, then I won't deliberately disobey the Word. The most important thing we can do is to show love to other people. The ushers in the church are so important. Let's be very careful not to show favoritism, not to divide the church, not to live by standards and values that are worldly. Let's love one another. That's the Royal Law, and the Royal Law enables you to live like a king.

[Interview:]
Up next, Warren joins Arnie Cole, CEO of Back to the Bible International, to answer a few questions.

Warren, James talks about the sin of partiality. Do you see that as a problem in our churches in North America today?

I think we have seen improvement here. Mr. Graham began with integrated rallies; some of the saints didn't like it. Today it's the normal thing. I think that in another area, our Christian women have been seen not as second-class saints. I used to tell my students at seminary that if you want to discuss a subject, get the men together. If you want to get something done, get the women together. And I've seen that over and over again. I think there is a lot less of this, but in some churches it's still there. I used to get to the church very early, greet the people as they came. I'd walk around the congregation, meet the visitors, shake hands, you know. They weren't used to that. Who is this guy? And I found out that everybody is wearing a sign around his neck that says, "Make me feel important." And there's nothing wrong with that because they are important. They're God's people, or they're sinners who need to be saved. And so it's important for us to treat each other like Christians and like human beings made in the image of God. You see, I need to love you and you need to love me. Well, how can we accomplish that? The Holy Spirit's down inside. I can love you because Jesus died for you. And if you're not a Christian, I should love you because you need to be a Christian. I think one of the professors down at Dallas Seminary used to say that love is the circulatory system of the church. It covers everything. We don't have to be critical of each other, you know. Your hair is too long—I don't have to worry about that, I don't have any hair at all—but your hair is too long, or you like music I don't like. Come on now. Let's just love each other, be thankful for each other, and grow together.