The Ground is Level at the Foot of the Cross

Transcription

1 The Ground is Level at the Foot of the Cross James 2:5-13 Introduction 1950s Alabama was a place of deep racial segregation. City buses had sections up front for white passengers and a colored section for black people. If the white section were full the driver could move the segregating sign back a few rows and require black passengers to move, stand or leave the bus if there was not enough room. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks finished her shift at work and boarded a Montgomery bus around 6 pm. She took her seat in the colored section behind several rows reserved for white passengers. After a couple of stops the bus was filled to capacity and a few whites were standing in the aisles. The bus driver came back and moved the sign for the colored seating back a few rows which meant that Rosa and several others were required to give up their seats to the white passengers. According to Rosa the driver waved his hand over the area and said: Y all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats. The three other black passengers moved to stand in the aisles. But Rosa moved closer to the window and refused to budge. The driver then threatened to call the police and have her removed. When Rosa refused to budge the police were called and she was arrested. Rosa s arrest led to the Montgomery bus boycott and the forming of a new civil rights group in Montgomery called MIA Montgomery Improvement Association and they elected as their president Martin Luther King Jr. a relative newcomer to Montgomery. The city of Montgomery after feeling the crippling financial effects of the bus boycott after 381 days removed segregation from their busses in December, Martin Luther King would later in a famous I have a dream speech cast a vision that his children would be able to some day live in a society where men are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. MLK: I have a dream that my four little chi1dren will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character In a perfect society people are not judged or condemned for their skin color but rather on their character / actions deeds That points to how the judgment of God will ultimately operate The Great White Throne of Rev. 20:12 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened... and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 1

2 Judgment came to the small and the great equally The only ones who skip this judgment are those who were brought into a right relationship with God thru the cross of Christ The impartiality of God s justice is taught in Romans Romans 2:9-11 There is no partiality with God. Racism / discrimination / prejudice has always been a part of our fallen world When we come to the gospel we find Jesus welcoming all comers throwing open the doors of the church to Jew and Gentile alike / rich / poor / black / white / male / female / old or young *** The basic Christian teaching is that the ground is level at the foot of the cross All stand in need of grace all stand condemned on their own merits all need the mercy God offers thru the cross All are welcome to come to the fountain of grace the gospel of Jesus Christ James will carry out the implications of such teaching to the way in which Christian s treat the poor and needy He condemns the practice of partiality as being a failure to live up to God s standards for our character I. Love Thy Neighbor vv. 5-8 We pick up with an argument that James has been making James is looking at the practical outworking of genuine faith He already introduced what some see as a theme of the book James 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the Word and not hearers only who delude themselves. John MacArthur shared this incident from the early years of his ministry A young lady came into his office one day and said I m a prostitute and I need help my life is a desperate wreck. MacArthur presented the gospel to her and asked her if she would like to confess Christ as her Lord. Yes she said I ve had it. So she prayed a prayer and seemingly invited Jesus into her life. Then John said: now I want you to do 2

3 something do you have your little book with you that has the names of all your contacts? She said she did. MacArthur said well let s take that book and burn it right now. She looked rather startled and said What do you mean? MacArthur said: Just what I said If you really met Jesus Christ as your Lord if you really accepted His forgiveness and are going to live for Him let s burn that book and celebrate your new birth right now and just praise the Lord. She held back: But it s worth a lot of money a lot of money MacArthur: I m sure it is Putting her book back in her purse she looked him in the eye and said I don t want to burn my book I guess I really don t want Jesus do I? she then left He does not know what happened with her but if she truly trusted Christ she would come to abandon her sinful practice as a prostitute Living faith is a root that ultimately produces the fruit of righteous living thru the power of God s Spirit at work in our lives Here James is telling us that the integrity or genuineness of our faith is demonstrated by how we treat others / by loving one s neighbor that without partiality Favoritism is a denial of the gospel which declares that all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God He gave us an illustration vv. 2-4 This kind of favoritism is what James is condemning Favoritism means the poor or the undesirable get to sit on the floor or the back of the bus or excluded altogether we show them where they rank! / not very high James will condemn such actions as a failure to love one s neighbor v. 8 James points out to his readers that by fawning over the wealthy they may in fact be favoring the bigger enemy of Christ Simon Kistemaker: The implication is that those who insult the poor insult Jesus Christ, the protector and guardian of the poor. They no longer champion the cause of Christ; by showing favoritism to the rich they have sided with the devil against God. 3

4 No one is righteous simply by being poor / no one wealthy is excluded from God s grace simply because of riches What matters for both is having a living faith in the person of Christ *** The early church was not jam packed with the rich and famous instead it was heavily weighted with the poor I Cor. 1:26-29 The 1 st century church in Corinth was not made up of the who s who in Roman society? [no elites / no mighty / no powerful] God often calls the nobodies In James illustration the poor man is judged by the church as a nobody insignificant Paul says, we are all nobodies! the ground is level Deut. 7:7-8 when God called Israel they were the slaves / the nobodies of Egyptian society Who are these Israelites? What kind of power do they have? [none nobodies] *** As we love others without showing favoritism we show that we get it we get the gospel and its implications the ground is level at the foot of the cross II. Breaking the Law vv Here James introduces the royal law or the command to love one s neighbor Mistreating the poor is not just a social discourtesy but is a breaking of God s laws The law can be summed up under two commands: love God / love neighbor Matt. 22:34-40 The whole of biblical ethics is summed up under the command to love love God / love neighbor God wants us to love one another such is clear throughout the Scriptures Humanity says, Why do I have to love others? Other people test your patience / irritate / annoy / offend / can be rude / un-gracious / slow / etc. 4

5 An airline pilot shared something that had occurred one time on a flight. An elderly couple was flying first class flying for their first time celebrating their 50 th anniversary. Because they moved a little slower they began to annoy a businessman who also was flying first class and seated near them. He had been behind them in the boarding line and they moved too slow for him then when the meal was served the old man had to get up and get his duffel bag out of the overhead bin to get some pills. When the old man accidentally dropped his bag onto the floor the businessman barked out: What s the matter with you people? I m amazed you ever get anywhere! Why can t you just stay home? i.e. You people annoy me stay home rude! The businessman sat down and to register his frustration he reclined his seat back so hard that it caused the elderly man s food tray to spill all over he and his wife. The flight attendant now is apologizing and asking the couple if there is anything they can do for them. The husband explained that it was their 50 th anniversary and they were flying for the first time. The flight attendant says well at least let me bring you a bottle of wine She brought the wine bottle out when the bottle was uncorked the old husband stood up / proposed a toast and then poured the bottle out on the head of the businessman seated in front of him. Everybody in the cabin cheered. Sometimes in the world love does not always flow very freely Scriptures tie that to our sin nature Instead of loving others... we find Sinful man is inconvenienced by others He is angry at others He steals from others He snubs others He curses at others He cheats others He ignores the suffering of others Not surprisingly he shows favoritism and discrimination Sam Allberry: Fawning and fussing over selected high-powered and wealthy neighbors or loving our neighbors when they are impressive, or similar to us does not cover the fact that others are being quietly but studiously ignored. Selective obedience to a command is actually disobedience to the whole thing. e.g. showing favoritism is failing to live up to God s standards 5

6 There are other kinds of poor in our society that we might dismiss: Poor in personality dull or ordinary Poor in body / appearance not attractive Poor in intellect dimwitted or slow Poor in social graces awkward / neurotic / compulsive Rick Warren speaks of EGR people Extra Grace Required [every church has at least one or two EGR people] - don t ask me who they are! You have a few in your life are you willing to show grace / love to the EGR person? John reminds us of important truth about loving our fellow man I John 4:20-21 John says, You say you love God let s put that to the test are you loving your neighbor? This is where our faith gets very practical One of the ways in which the righteous character of new life in Christ is going to manifest itself in our lives is in our loving our neighbor III. The Law of Liberty vv James says that we need to show mercy to others because God has shown mercy to us and we expect Him to show mercy to us on the day of judgment Matt. 5:7 blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. The Christian is one who recognizes that he too will someday stand before God in judgment and that he too stands in need of divine mercy Why should God accept us? We are loathsome in His sight by our sinfulness Why should He accept us into His heaven? He will but it will be by mercy / not desert or merit God does not look at anyone of us and say: Man you are doing such an awesome job of living out a righteous life I gotta have you in my heaven.! No He says, you are a sinner but accept you on the basis of mercy mercy that available thru the cross. We see the importance of having a cross-focus in our lives 6

7 A cross focus says, I am so sinful that Christ had to die for me but so loved that He was glad to die for me. The cross humbles us as we focus upon the fact that Jesus had to die for us to be able to be received into God s heaven We can get in by no other way If we have received mercy we need now to show it to others Sam Allberry: This is not arbitrary. The fact that showing mercy to others is a sign of being a true follower of Christ is not surprising, because the very heart of what Christ has come to do is showing mercy. We demonstrate that we have received mercy from Christ when we show it to others. D. Edmond Hiebert: Such refusal to practice mercy will be like a boomerang in the Day of Judgment... the practice of mercy toward others is the evidence that God s grace has produced a transformation in a person. Having himself received God s mercy, he will be able to stand in the judgment that otherwise would overwhelm him. True Christianity shows mercy to others around them Conclusion Stephen Arterburn shares that one day he went on a short bike ride with his five year old daughter. They live near a fork in the road where one branch leads up a hill and the other goes down a hill. At the moment of transition he looked down at his bike chain then back up and to his horror Madeline was taking the road down the hill. She began rolling faster and faster on her bike headed for either a huge dumpster in front of a house under construction or a six foot drop off onto a cement ledge. She was struggling with the brakes as the pedals were in the wrong position to push backwards. Stephen jumped off his bike and began to run faster than he had ever run in his life so fast that he bruised his heel and the soles of his feet. When I caught up with my daughter just moments before the dumpster- I was able to lunge and grab her by the back of her sweater we then tumbled into the street and I somehow managed to get my body between her and the pavement. 7

8 After we came to a stop Madeline untangled herself from the heap of metal, rubber, skin and bones. I looked her over she was fine. She looked at me and immediately began to cry when she saw I was covered with blood. I was a mess had taken a handlebar to my ribs my feet were scraped to the bone scrapes and cuts all over my body but as a I looked at Madeline a big grin came to my face seeing that she was in such good shape compared to what could have happened. I realized the sacrifice I had made was worth it the damage to my body was taken gladly to protect the one I love The experience gave me a new realization of Christ s love for His people. Christ saw us barreling down the hill of sin headed over the cliff of sin destined for judgment but He intervened [showed mercy] went to the cross for us absorbing all the blows If we are beneficiaries of this mercy we are to turn around and show mercy to those around us Sam Allberry: We demonstrate that we have received mercy from Christ when we show it to others. 8