Don t Be Such A Hypocrite Part Four: Show Me Your Faith Outline: 1. Favoritism is the opposite of justice. Justice requires equality. 2. Believers must not show favoritism in obedience to the Glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 3. We who have found mercy must offer mercy. 4. Simply believing in God is not enough to connect with God and be saved by him. 5. True faith will always express itself in tangible ways. Going Deeper: Use the following questions for personal reflection and/or to discuss with family friends and small groups. 1. Showing favoritism is the opposite of justice. Justice requires equality. What are some of the issues in the news today where one group is crying out for justice? That is, they are crying out to be heard and to be valued as much as those in power? 2. Think of justice as the scale of justice being perfectly balanced. What are some advantages (or disadvantages) in your life that tip the scales in your favor over others (or vice versa)? 3. Read James 2:1. What is the significance of the four words: brothers (and sisters), glorious, Lord, and Christ as it relates to favoritism? 4. James speaks with a strong grasp of prophetic teaching on justice. Read the following: a. Isaiah 58:6-10 b. Micah 6:6-8, but read the whole chapter for context. 5. James teaching on faith and works reflects Jesus teaching. Read the following: a. Matthew 5:13-20 b. Matthew 7:15-24 6. What are some ways that you can promote justice, that is, using your advantages to make sure that people are treated fairly, with dignity, and not overlooked out of prejudice? Message: I ve got to start by saying that last Sunday s message was one of the best experiences I ve ever had speaking. I ve never had such a big response to a message that moved so many people to take action. If you don t know what I m talking about, last Sunday I told us that Stepping Stones asked for 28 volunteers to staff Winter Haven for a week. That s their homeless shelter here in town. I said that I thought 28 was too easy of an ask. We could probably staff the shelter for a whole month. 23
And you rose to the challenge. As of today, over 100 people have volunteered. We solved 25% of their staffing. Needless to say they were very happy. So thanks for your generosity. It s doing things together like this that could never happen if you weren t a part of a church family. When we work together, we can make a huge impact. Now, if you are new here today, we have been reading through the letter from James in the New Testament. It took three weeks to get through chapter one, but today we are going to move with lightning speed, and move through chap.2 Let me recap what we ve learned so far. James was the leader of the early church, as well as the brother of Jesus. He wrote to Christians who had fled Jerusalem due to religious persecution. He was concerned about these people because they were suffering in their exile. But more than that, he was concerned because their suffering caused them to become selfish and stop living the generous, compassionate life that Jesus taught them to live. They neglected the poor, among other things. So he challenged them by saying: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 James didn t want them to be hypocrites, talking about God, but not living for him. We ll hear more of this today. That brings us to chapter two where he begins by saying: My brothers (and sisters), believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. James 2:1 Favoritism is the opposite of justice. Justice is when everyone is treated equally. No one is treated differently or given an advantage over someone else because of their wealth, or education, or position in the community. Think in terms of the scales of justice. The rich and poor should be treated with equality. In God s economy, widows, immigrants, the poor and orphans all get equal treatment with the rich and famous. They are shown the same respect with equal access to God. The call for justice runs throughout the Old Testament. James has this verse from the Old Testament in mind as he writes: Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Leviticus 19:15 James wrote about favoritism because Christians were giving the rich preferential treatment and James said flat out that it was a sin....if you show favoritism, you sin James 2:9 24
He gave an example of what was probably happening: 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 there or Sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? James 2:2-4 They were making distinctions between people...determining that one person had more worth than another because of their wealth and possessions. They set themselves up as judges and James said it was evil. Let s look at how James approached this topic. He surrounded his command with some interesting words. First, see the command embedded in this sentence. My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. James 2:1 Believers...must not show favoritism. Now, let me break down the other words in the sentence because they all have a purpose. The first word he uses is brothers, or brothers and sisters. I mentioned this before but James refers to his readers as fellow believers seventeen times in his letter. He appeals to them as family, as a brother in Christ, not as their pastor. And then he uses three powerfully descriptive words regarding Jesus. The first is glorious : glory is the radiance of God s beauty and greatness. It s what emanates from God. Jesus is that radiance. In fact, the book of Hebrews says that: The Son is the radiance of God s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Hebrews 1:3 The implication is that if Jesus radiates the glory of God, they should be careful to obey him because he is God. Do they understand that showing favoritism runs in direct conflict with God? Jesus is also Lord. A lord was a slave owner. I ve look at this in previous sermons. James opened his letter referring to himself as a slave of Jesus. A lord had complete control and authority over the life of a slave. So James was reminding his readers that Jesus had the right to tell them how to live their lives. If they wanted Jesus to be their Savior, then he must also be their Lord. And the final word is Christ. The word Christ literally means, anointed one which meant that Jesus was God s messiah. The Savior. James was saying, Look, friends, you ve been showing favoritism and that just doesn t line up with who Jesus is or who we are called to be. Showing favoritism isn t an option for us. We are called to something much higher. 25
Let s look at these scales again. When favoritism is shown, the scales are tipped. The just thing to do is to show mercy to the disadvantaged by rebalancing the scales. The poor deserve to be treated with the same respect we offer the richest person. But that s not always the case. The rich often get preferential treatment, allowing them to gain even more advantages in life, which increases their hope about the future. Meanwhile the poor don t always get the same breaks, making their lives much harder, which can leave them hope-less, and then the scales tip even more, creating greater distance. James told the people that they had things backwards. They were giving the rich special treatment when it should have been the poor. 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? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? James 2:5-7 James was clear. God honored the poor but THEY felt free to dishonor the poor, the very people Jesus told: Blessed are the poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:20 It s interesting that James mentioned court here because the same injustice happens today. The rich can afford a lawyer to work all the angles for them and often escape a conviction. But the poor can t afford the same legal help and so they often accept plea agreements that wind them up in jail for something they didn t do. As a result, the courts become a weapon of oppression to the poor. James reminded his readers that they would have to answer to God for their behavior: Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12, 13 I think these two verses are a little hard to understand, so let me just tell you what I think James is saying here: Your faith doesn t excuse you from fulfilling God s law. And your faith doesn t excuse you from God s judgment. Your faith does excuse you from the consequences of judgment. That s called mercy. Since you are saved by God s mercy you, of all people, should show mercy to others. I had trouble thinking of a practical example of showing favoritism in our context here, using James example. We don t give preferential treatment to the rich in our seating. Or preferential parking spaces. In our culture, especially here in rural Wisconsin, you can t always even tell who is wealthy by how they look. But then I thought about people s attitudes about the poor and how we often talk about the poor and then James words seemed much more relevant. Let me give you a current example. 26
You ve probably heard about the caravan of people walking from Honduras through Mexico toward the United States. I ve heard people criticize them...mocking what they are doing. That s favoritism...not giving them the same respect as others. You may not agree with their decision to make the trip. It might not make any sense to you, but I don t think it s fair to judge them or criticize them. If they make it to the United States, the government will need to decide what to do. I m not talking politics here. I m just wanting to help us to thinking biblically. Given their situation we should speak about their plight with compassion. Seeing thousands of people leave their homeland for a foreign country with nothing but the clothes on their back should make us stop and ask, What is wrong here? Why would they take such a risk? Is there anything we can do to help them? I mean, imagine what would motivate you to drop everything and leave your home and family with only the shirt on your back? How bad would life have to be to move you to that extreme? Wouldn t you like it if someone cared about your plight instead of judging you? I d love to transport one of the Hondurans here to hear their story first hand. It would change the way we think and change the way we talk about them. You see, listening to the oppressed is always the first step to justice. Before we form opinions, we need to hear their story. We need to develop empathy and consider what it s like to be them. What s happening in Honduras is that the scales have been tipped against the people.. There is no justice. The corruption in the government and in the streets is so intense that people are fleeing their country as an act of survival. They ve run out of answers. Desperate people do desperate things. I think James would say to us: don t show favoritism by ignoring their concerns or judging their motives. Don t think that just because they are poor immigrants that they don t deserve our respect and compassion. Show them mercy. The rich are often afraid of what the poor will take from them. But maybe if they listened they could help find a solution to their problem. Maybe the rich would lose nothing while the poor gained from the input. I often reflect on all the advantages in my life. I was raised in a middle class home. I never lacked for anything. I got a good education. I was able to get two college degrees. I ve always been able to find work. No one has ever discriminated against me because of my color. I ve never had any major issues with my health or other setbacks. I m a hard worker, but a lot of my advantages have nothing to do with my hard work. I could have easily experienced different conditions that would have led to a different life. But the scales of justice have tipped in my favor. I believe it s up to me to use my advantages to help 27
those who aren t as fortunate as I ve been. Jesus said, To whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48) These are the kind of issues James was challenging his readers with. He continued his argument by suggesting that if they were unable to show mercy, then they may not have had true faith. 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 nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17 This verse has concerned people because they think it contradicts what the apostle Paul taught about grace. Grace tells us that we are not saved by our deeds but by the unconditional goodness of God. That is true. But even Paul cautioned believers about how they lived out their faith. Listen to what he wrote to early believers: Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!...though you used to be slaves to sin,...you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:15-18 This is exactly what James was saying. Grace didn t free us from our obligation to obey the law of God. Grace empowers us to obey God s law. John the Baptist said that he was looking for fruit as a sign of repentance. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8 Jesus also looked for fruit.. In the sermon on the mount he said:...every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:17-19 James didn t saying anything here that Jesus and the entire Bible hasn t already said. James wasn t telling people how to be saved. He was telling the saved how to live their lives. Throughout history, many churches have really done a disservice to people because they ve taught us that if you just believe in God and go to Sunday services we are good with God. But listen to what James has to say about that: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. James 2:19 James tells it like it is. Demons believe in God, but that doesn t mean you ll see them in heaven. And just because you or I believe in God doesn t mean we ll be seen in heaven either. 28
Jesus and all the prophets spoke of a transformation that takes place when you make a connection with God. Even way back in the Old Testament, God said this: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:25-27 God s Spirit in us moves us to obey God. There should always be fruit of God s presence in the life of a believer. James gave a couple of examples for his readers. He mentioned Abraham and Rahab as having shown their faith through their actions. And then he concluded this section by saying:...a person is considered righteous (right with God) by what they do and not by faith alone... As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2:24,26 Now, remember, he s not telling you that good deeds will make you right with God. You can take every shift at the homeless shelter this winter and it won t make you right with God. But if you say that you have faith and nothing in you wants to help others, then maybe something's missing. So there are a couple of take-home messages here for us today. First, if you know that God has done a transforming work in your life if you know that his Spirit lives inside of you...then ask yourself: Does it show? Am I letting the Spirit of God move in me and through me to show kindness and compassion and generosity to others? The second message is: if there is nothing inside of you that wants to show compassion and kindness and generosity... if you like the power imbalance that I talked about and you aren t interested in balancing the scales of justice, then maybe you don t have the connection with God that you think you have. Maybe you need to press into God in a deeper way until you are convinced that his Spirit is in you and changing you. 29