Another busy day has come and gone, in many ways I’m spent physically, and emotionally drained. I’ll give you fair warning that I have a number of thoughts moving around in my brain that one day will come pouring out on these pages. Although right now, I’m getting ready to teach my Sunday school class tomorrow. Were going through an in-depth study of the general epistles and currently are covering the book of James. I thought I’d just take a minute tonight to share the passage I’ll be teaching on tomorrow, and maybe share a few thoughts about it.
James 2:1-13
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 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. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Now I hope your reading this with an expression of shock, and not of condemnation. Because on first impression I hope you don’t read this and see yourself as someone who shows partiality, but as someone who can’t believe it happens. But now let me break the bad news to you, chances are you or your church have at some times shown partiality. Of course we don’t ask anyone to sit on the floor at our feet. But how excited do we get about the poor elderly bachelor who comes through our door, compared with the young family. Have we ever passed by the scary homeless person to share the gospel with the less threatening person, the person who just seemed more like us?
If we have done these things there’s a good chance we’ve not considered these acts sin, simply human nature. Yet that thought in itself should let us know were sinning, as sin defines our very nature outside of Christ. I like how James breaks down this sin. First he speaks of Christ’s two great commandments the second being love your neighbor as yourself. Now in verse 9 we see that if you show partiality you do not love your neighbor as yourself and you sin. Finally to top it off James brings us one of the hardest hitting verses of the Bible. In verse 10 James tells us that if we break a commandment, we break all commandments. I could probably spend a week on this verse alone, but for know I wont. I guess in the end, we are aware of a sin in these verses. And once we are aware we are called to turn from that sin.
I’d like to give an action point today; I just heard it on Way of the Master Radio, Stop Sinning! You, me, everyone, lets all continue to strive towards not sinning.
Comments