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James Session Three 6.26.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  All right, James chapter 2 is where we're going to be tonight. I think most of you know me. If you don't, my name is Sam Porges. I'm the youth pastor here at the church, and it is a privilege to get to open the word with you guys tonight and share it with you. And it's nice to be around a bunch of men. All the kids in the youth group are just running around unsupervised right now, so I just let them have their way. No, I'm just kidding. James chapter 2. No, but it is. There it goes.
• 0:27
  It is a privilege to be here with you guys tonight, and I understand you guys have been going through the book of James, and I love the book of James. I love it. Because James is uber practical. That's why I like it. Sometimes it's really good to sit in theology, and just to get in that headspace where you're thinking about the deep things of God, you know? I just took a year of theology courses at seminary, and it was fun.
• 0:56
  But at some point, that has to come into practice, right? You have to do something with it. And I love James because James is concerned with the church living out its theology. For James, it's impossible to divorce theology from practice. It's impossible. You can't say that you believe something if you don't live it out. It's impossible for him, right? Do the word, don't just...
• 1:25
  Hear it. And so far, James has exhorted his audience to live out their theology under their trials. Right? That was that first week. And to ask for wisdom when you don't have it. And to walk closely with the Lord as you do the word and don't just hear it. Because he says, if you hear the word and you agree with it, but you don't do it, you are tricking yourselves into thinking that you're walking with Jesus. And you're not. Because you're not living it out.
• 1:55
  So be a doer of the word rather than just a hearer. And then at the end of chapter one, he says, practice true religion. Practice true religion. And so tonight he's going to tackle another topic where your theology has to live itself out on the ground level. And that topic tonight is interpersonal relationships within the church. So I want to ask you guys a question, and I actually do want your answers.
• 2:22
  What are the characteristics that you work to develop in your home? The qualities and characteristics that you work to develop in your home. What would you guys say those things are? Responsibility. Yes. Respect. Yep. What was it? Humility. Compassion. Grace. Patience. Thankfulness. Good hygiene. Man, you should come and speak in the youth group, actually.
• 3:02
  Next man, we'll have you come and talk to all the little boys over there. There were some things growing up in my parents' household back in California that my parents sought to have define the family and define the home amongst many things, right? So first was godliness and going to church.
• 3:29
  I remember as a kid, I hated going to church. I despised it. I would fake sick not to go to church because I didn't have any friends at the church. It didn't really seem like anyone cared about me. And I was like, oh, the church is full of fake people. You know, it's just my graceless, ignorant self. And I hated it. But my parents were like, this is not an option. You come to church like you go to youth group. That's what we do. And I'm glad that they made me go. Another big one was respect from my dad.
• 3:58
  Respect was not an option for my dad. If I disrespected him or I disrespected my mom, that just, you didn't do that. And if you did, you paid for it, right? That came at a cost. And you know that your dad is real mad with you when you disrespect your mom and then he says, you don't talk to my wife like that instead of you don't talk to your mom like that, right? That's when you know, like, dude, the throwdown is going to happen right now.
• 4:31
  Another one was working hard, especially with school. My parents, it was not an option for us to work hard. Like, I can go to school and try or not. It was like, no, you don't have to get A's, but you better work. This isn't an option. And we developed a reputation, me and my siblings, as being like the smart kids. Because my parents were like, you will do this. So that's all owed to my parents. And it's funny because a lot of the things that my parents have taught me, especially about respect,
• 5:02
  have bled their way into how I run the youth group. So like with the youth group, you don't just get to come and like mess around. That's not what we do. When you're in my classroom, you don't just get to talk whenever you want, right? Like you respect the teacher. Why? Because my parents instilled that kind of culture within the home. When we get to this passage, James chapter 2, verses 1 to 13, James is going to speak of a culture.
• 5:32
  Right? Qualities and values that God wants to exist in the church. A culture he wants to exist in the church. And he does this by first correcting worldliness that had made its way into the church. And then by reminding the people of God of who they should be. So he corrects them and then reminds them. And he says this is the kind of culture that God wants us to have in the church, in our interpersonal relationships. And so before we read this passage, I want to pray.
• 6:01
  Ask God for some help, and then we'll get going. God, as we look at your word, I pray that we would have the same attitude as James. I pray that we would examine our lives and see what we believe by what we do. Not what we intellectually agree with, but rather what we live out. And I pray that where there are areas in our lives where we're lacking, God, please show us mercy and lead us on paths of righteousness.
• 6:39
  There are areas in our lives where we're doing great. Encourage us and make us stronger in those areas. I pray that we would become mature men of you who love you and who love your people deeply. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, the first thing we're going to talk about, verses 1 to 7 tonight, is show honor. Show honor. Let's look at verse 1 of chapter 2. My brothers.
• 7:14
  Show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. All right. Now, you'll probably notice that above your little chapter two deal is that subtitle, the sin of partiality. Right. That's what this passage is about. But we can't skip over verse one just to get to the practical stuff, because verse one actually means a ton in this book. One commentary that I was reading about this remarks this, and this is interesting.
• 7:42
  In this rare case of Christology in the book of James, Jesus Christ is identified with the Shekinah, or the visible manifestation of the divine. James believes that in Jesus, God is revealed. Jesus is the manifestation of the glory of God. In Jesus, God is revealed. Now, here's why that matters. Do you guys remember who James is? The brother of Jesus.
• 8:15
  pastor put it this way one time. He said, imagine how hard it would be to convince your brother that you're God. The family, man, you can fool a lot of people. You cannot fool your family, right? You can manipulate other people's perception of you into thinking that you're godly or whatever. But your siblings? No way. No way. You can't do it.
• 8:42
  And so James, the brother of Jesus, is testifying in verse 1. This Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory. He is God. Now for James to say that is strong evidence that Jesus actually is who he said he is. Because again, James can't be fooled. And if Jesus wasn't really God, James wouldn't write this and say that Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory. Does that make sense? He says, show no partiality. Hold faith, have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
• 9:13
  Let's continue. Verse two. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. And if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet. Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers.
• 9:40
  Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? In these verses, James warns the church of a subtle mindset from the unbelieving world that had crept its way into their fellowship.
• 10:12
  Mindset is favoritism. Favoritism. The root word of the word partiality literally means the lifting up of the face. And it connotes a being present with or a giving attention to someone. And so to be partial is to lift up your face to some and not to others.
• 10:38
  In James' day, one of the clearest markers of status in the Roman Empire was attire. It was attire, the way you dressed. Hence, in verse 2, he says, a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing. Now, in the Roman Empire, birth status and land ownership were the two major factors that characterized the richest people in the empire. And the richest people in the empire comprised about 10% of the population.
• 11:07
  The other 90%, many of whom were poor, made up what was called the status. There was no middle class in the Roman Empire and virtually no way to climb the socioeconomic ladder. And so if you were born into the 90%, you ain't moving to the top 10. And if you're born in the 10%, lucky for you, because you hit the jackpot, right? There was no climbing up and down.
• 11:32
  that ladder, there was no American dream. And so rags to riches didn't happen in the Roman Empire. And the rich people, that top 10%, the rich in society would often control the masses by means of lending money and collecting debts. And they would even go so far as to drag the poor into court if the poor people couldn't pay. They would drag them into court and sue them because, hey, you owe me money, right?
• 12:00
  And some of the rich even used their power to oppress and persecute God's people. 10%. That's where the power is, right? The rich also were accustomed to special treatment wherever they went, and this included the church. And so apparently, in our passage tonight, the believers to whom James is writing had shown favor to the rich who had...
• 12:30
  who had visited church, right? When a rich person comes into your assembly, so this person isn't a believer, but they're visiting church. And because they expected special treatment, these believers were catering to their desires while treating the poor in their assembly badly. And thus, they were mirroring the culture instead of the character of God. Now, you guys.
• 12:56
  all throughout the Old Testament, or throughout the Bible, really, but especially the Old Testament, God seems to have this special care and concern for the downtrodden and those in unfortunate circumstances. All over. And if you guys have been tracking with any Bible reading programs, you've been reading through the Old Testament, right? And over and over again, you catch these little glimpses of the heart of God where he says, I...
• 13:29
  care for the poor. I care for the weak, for the downcast, single moms. Like God has this heart for people who can't fend for themselves. He is the father to the fatherless, right? Look at verse five and verse five in our passage kind of points to this idea, but he says, listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those.
• 14:00
  who love him. God cares for these people. Are you guys tracking with me? He cares for them. Now, when you get to the example of Jesus, when he comes as a man, you look at the people he associated with, and it lines up with the character of God in the Old Testament, right? Because who did Jesus associate with? Think about this. Honestly, who did he associate with? The lowly? Cheaters? Extortioners?
• 14:30
  fornicators, lawbreakers, prostitutes, unfaithful spouses, people with contagious diseases, homeless people, smelly people, needy people, outcasts. That was the crowd that Jesus was hanging out with. I came to heal the sick, right? That was what he said. That was the crowd that drew him. Favoritism, this is James' point, is antithetical to the character of Jesus.
• 15:02
  Because when Jesus came, he wasn't looking at the rich and the influential. In fact, 1 Corinthians, right? God chose what is weak in this world to shame the strong. He chose what is foolish in this world to shame the wise. Like, this is just kind of God's character because he's about his glory. And so when he makes much of himself by using a weak person or a foolish person in great ways for his kingdom, it gives him the glory.
• 15:29
  This was a crowd that Jesus hung out with, the lowly people. And so this is also why James asks in verses 5 and 6, why do you favor the rich? So you're at church and all these people come in and you gravitate toward the influential people and the rich people. Why do you favor them? Because in society, they're the ones who are dragging you into court. They're the ones who are taking all your money. And they're the ones who are persecuting the church. You're favoring people?
• 15:59
  who are harming the church. So he hits this pretty hard. You're showing favoritism to these rich people, and by playing favorites, you're ignoring what one author stated as the essentially egalitarian tone of the gospel. The essentially egalitarian tone of the gospel. And that egalitarian tone of the church declares that
• 16:29
  Everyone is equal in the church. Everyone. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 3. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, men, imagine the kind of impact.
• 16:58
  That statement from Paul and this writing from James would have made in the first century. This is one of the things that completely separated Christianity from every other religion and philosophy during that day. Like you mean when we come into church, men and women are equal. Yes. Like Jews, the people of God are equal with Gentiles and Greeks. Yes.
• 17:26
  A master and a slave walk into the assembly together, and when they pass the doors, they're equal. Yes. This was groundbreaking in the first century. Equality. Now, you and I may not live in first century Rome, but the temptation toward favoritism is still alive and well today. You guys, there are misplaced cultural values that do seek their way.
• 18:01
  In the church. Into the church. They do. I have three main categories of misplaced values that speak to make their way into the church and cause us to start playing favorites inside the church. Okay? Possessions, profession, and polish. Possessions. Right? Namely, in our society, in a car. Like, who comes rolling up to church with the nicest car? The biggest truck.
• 18:34
  Right? I came here in a 1995 Ford Ranger when I first moved. And I remember someone at the church, he had this gigantic truck. It wasn't Henry. But he had this gigantic truck. And we were leaving church one day. It was so funny. And I'm going out to my 1995 Ford Ranger, you know. And he's driving away in his truck and he looks out his window and just goes, it'll grow up someday. And just drove away. And I was like, get out of here, man.
• 19:04
  Right? But house and cars in our culture can be symbols of status. And that does not belong in the church. What about profession? Education is something that goes really deep with people. Like if you have letters after your name, people just assume that you know what you're talking about. Even before you talk, they're just like, that's what I know is what he's talking about. Which isn't necessarily true all the time.
• 19:32
  But profession can also cause us to start ranking people. Like, you work there? Okay, you're down here. You work there? Oh man, you're up here. How much money do you make? Right? And then lastly, polish. Social polish. Where are you in the social strata? Right? How do you dress? How do you present yourself? What kind of a man are you? All these things, possessions, profession, and polish can cause...
• 19:58
  if they make their way into the church, can cause us to start, as James says, acting like evil judges and start ranking people by value. And they can become, to us, tools of pride. Men, let's be honest, we're men. We want to accomplish, grow, right? And that's good. Having possessions is good. Having a good profession is great. Dressing nice is a good thing. But when they become tools of pride, that's where...
• 20:31
  James would say no. And so when those things seek their way into the church and find a home in the church, that isn't the culture that God desires for his church where we start ranking people, right? Now the antidote to showing partiality, the antidote to showing favoritism and to ranking people is showing honor. That's why the first point is called show honor.
• 20:57
  In one of my favorite books, it's called The Pastor by Eugene Peterson. It was actually the recommended book on the resource table a couple months ago, three months ago maybe. And I just got done reading it for the fourth time. I read it every year. And it is incredible. And Eugene Peterson, who has recently passed, he tells of this story where he worked in his father's butcher shop when he was a kid in Montana.
• 21:29
  There were a ton of customers that would come to this butcher shop, right? And he said his dad had built a culture in the butcher shop of respect and honesty and dignity. And so he says there would actually be, like, prostitutes in the city who would come to the butcher shop. And he says everywhere else they're called by, like, their, like, prostitute names, like stripper names, everywhere else.
• 21:58
  But he said, when they come into my father's butcher shop, they're called by what he said, their Christian names or their given names. Nothing about their work was brought up. My father treated them with respect from the moment they walked in to the moment they walked out. And he said, as a kid, I would even go make deliveries to their homes where their business is done. And because his father created this culture of honor in the butcher shop, when he made these deliveries, these women knew Eugene Peterson by name.
• 22:28
  And their exchange would be one of dignity and respect. Why? Because of that culture of honor that was built in his father's butcher shop. And you guys, that's the culture of honor that God desires for you to cultivate. In your home, at your work, and here at Highland. A culture of honor where people are treated with dignity because they're made in the image of God. And of course they're not perfect, but neither are you. It's a culture of it.
• 23:00
  Honor. Listen to Romans 12, 10. Love one another with brotherly affection. Man, think about that as men. Love one another with brotherly affection. And then it says this, outdo one another in honor. I love that. Outdo one another in honor. Because it's like a competition. I don't know how many of you guys in here are competitors. I am. I am. Right? And it's like in Romans 12, Paul is saying, rather than...
• 23:30
  competing with other people in society by measuring your house against theirs or your salary against theirs, your car against theirs. Why don't you try competing with honor? Who's more honorable? You ever get in that situation where you go to open a door for someone, but they also hold the door open for you? You're like, you first. No, please, you first. And then you just sit there. It's like an awkward five minutes where you're like, what are we doing? But that's the kind of thing Paul's talking about. You are just...
• 24:00
  Set on honoring people. You will outdo them in honor. Create this culture of honor. And so we must remember the warning of James that it is foolish both to seek status through means of worldly values as well as to let ourselves be impressed by them. Boys are enamored by things of the world. Men are enamored with the Lord of glory. Boys play favorites. Men show honor.
• 24:31
  So that's the first point. Show honor. Cultivate a culture of honor. And then secondly, fulfill the law. Show honor, fulfill the law. Partiality is a sin because it violates what James is going to call the royal law. The royal law, which involves loving your neighbor as yourself. Let's look at verse 8. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
• 25:02
  If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. When asked what was the single most important commandment in the law, the single one, Jesus did not answer with a single command. He answered with two. What were they?
• 25:35
  Love God. Love people. Right? Showing partiality is a sin because it violates that second command. Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you show partiality and exalt some and degrade others, you're not loving your neighbor as yourself. And you're cherry picking who's your neighbor. Right? I think what James is saying is this. Partiality may not seem like a big deal, but it is. In fact, partiality...
• 26:03
  Has the same ancestor on sin's family tree as murder and adultery. Murder and adultery and partiality have the same ancestor on the family tree. And that is a lack of love and a showing of dishonor. You cannot murder someone while honoring them. Right? You cannot commit adultery while honoring your family. You cannot show partiality while honoring everyone.
• 26:36
  You just can't do it. And so instead of showing partiality, James says we are to live as those who are under the law of liberty. Look at verses 12 to 13. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who is shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Now this law could also mean just a governing principle.
• 27:05
  And I think in this context, it's the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that he makes our hearts want what is good. We want to love. When you have been born again, you want to honor God. You want to love people. God doesn't judge us according to our adherence to the Old Testament law. Right? Because that, you can't do that. Not even with the Ten Commandments. Right?
• 27:38
  You can't. But Christ came and he perfectly fulfilled all of the Old Testament law and then imputed his righteousness to us when we placed our faith in him. Right? That's the gospel. And so God doesn't judge us according to our adherence to the Old Testament law, but he does measure us by how closely we walk with the Spirit. How closely we, or how well we display the fruit of the Spirit and the crown jewel of the fruit of the Spirit.
• 28:08
  is love. There's a reason that when you say the fruit of the spirit is love, there's a reason love is first in that list because it's important. Love is the true fulfillment of the law because when you love people, you are displaying the character of God and you are loving your neighbor as yourself. So he says, remember that partiality is a big deal.
• 28:37
  Don't think that just because you haven't murdered anyone but you are committing partiality that you're not a lawbreaker because you are. Rather, live as those who are under the law of liberty. Live in the freedom that God would have you to live in so that you can love people with the spirit-filled, like genuine, powerful love. That's when you truly fulfill the royal law. Love God and love people.
• 29:07
  And then he ends with verse 13 and he says, for those who show no mercy, they should not expect to receive mercy from others or from God. If your life is characterized by a lack of love, a harshness towards people, a lack of compassion and mercy, James says there's probably good reason to question whether you even know the Lord. Because that's not Christian. That's not the way Christians do things.
• 29:35
  You cannot sincerely call yourself a Christian if you don't show mercy. And so you shouldn't expect in your day of trouble, when you've shown no mercy to other people, that you'll receive mercy. The passage we're going to go through this weekend in Proverbs chapter 1, it describes wisdom. It personifies wisdom, calling on the rooftops, calling to people who are walking, saying, listen to wisdom. Give your life to wisdom. And then it says, for those who reject me, I will mock you on the day of your calamity.
• 30:04
  And you're going to cry out to me. You're going to cry out to wisdom saying, man, give me wisdom. Help me to get out of this situation I'm in. And you know what I'm going to do? I'm not going to listen. Like, don't come crying to me. I called you so many times and you rejected me. Right? And I think James is saying the same thing. Like, walk in mercy. And for those who reject mercy their entire lives, don't expect that mercy is just going to be available to you from other people because you've built a reputation for yourself. Right?
• 30:33
  And then he says, lastly, he ends with this contrasting statement, mercy triumphs over judgment. And here's where the good news is. He says, show mercy. But even if you stumble, as you're walking on the way toward Christ, even if you stumble, remember that God's mercy triumphs over his judgment. He delights in showering you with mercy.
• 31:03
  And so as you read this passage and you're going, my gosh, I show partiality and I play favorites all the time and I need to stop. Remember that there's mercy from God for you if you would just humbly give yourself over to him, repent of your partiality and come to him. That's good news for me because as I was studying this today, I'm like, shoot, man. That's the part about like preaching. Every passage you preach is like it hits you hard because it's convicting, right?
• 31:30
  But God's mercy triumphs over his judgment. And so, when we come to James 2, verses 1 to 13, remember to show honor. Men, can I just encourage you, be a participant in creating a culture of honor in your home. Not just respect, not just duty, but honor. Be a participant in creating a culture of honor at your workplace. Be known as a man of honor. Outdoing others in honor, right? And then here at the church,
• 32:05
  Be the men that God has called us to be. And let's create a culture of honor and dignity here where people can come in and we don't start ranking people with, you know, you're this valuable and you're this valuable. But we just say, man, in the church, we're all on level ground. All the tables in the church are round. Right? Everyone has an equal seat at the table. So show honor and then fulfill the law. Remember that loving.
• 32:37
  people is the fulfillment of the law. And it's not always this kind of pink romantic love. It's the seeking the goodwill of other people. And when you do that, you fulfill what James calls the royal law. And so show honor, fulfill the law. That's James 2 verses 1 to 13. Let's pray. God, I pray that you would help us. We stumble so often.
• 33:08
  God, even as James says in chapter 3, everyone stumbles in many ways, and God, we are so aware of them. But I pray that as we seek out our own motives and examine our own hearts, God, reveal to us where we need to change and then give us the power to change. I pray that we would be men of honor who show great honor to our wives and our kids, to members of the church.
• 33:44
  God, give us creativity in cultivating the culture of honor that should exist here and that should exist in our homes and our workplaces. As we do that, God, we're dependent on you. We love you. Thank you for tonight. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.