James 2:1-13 | The Gospel Changes How We See People (A.G.)

Hello, I am Anthony Garcia.

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Thank you again, and I hope this message is a blessing to you.

Chapter number two, and as we look and as you turn there to James, chapter number two, I want to point our hearts back to a little bit of history.

You see, during the 18th and the early 19th centuries, the Great Britain and the British slave trade was deeply woven into their nation's way of life and prosperity.

And then something began to change.

You may know the hymn Amazing Grace.

John Newton was the writer of that song, Amazing Grace, who had once served as a captain in the slave trade.

But after his conversion, he began to be an outspoken opponent of slavery and the slave trade.

He wrote a book of thoughts against this.

And others began to be outspoken and to uh preach and to declare that every individual is made in the image of God.

Then there was one, William Wilberforce.

He was a young Christian who got saved while he was serving in parliament.

And after he was saved, he began to take up this cause in Parliament for nearly two decades.

Wilberforce continued bringing this issue up in uh the government, and there was a struggle, there was resistance, but finally in 1807 in Great Britain, Parliament passed a bill to abolish the British slave trade.

And it received royal assent on March 25th of 1807.

We understand this morning that every life has value.

We would expect discrimination, we would expect partiality, we would expect racism, we would expect discrimination from the world, but may it never find its way in the heart of the church.

The church is called to love people without prejudice, without partiality, without discrimination.

We are called to love people the way Jesus loved people.

And here in James chapter number two, Pastor James needed to write some correction for this church here that was showing some partiality.

If you're physically able to, can I invite you to stand one more time together as we read God's word?

James 2.

He writes to Christians, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

Don't show partiality.

You have this faith.

Don't show favoritism, don't show partiality.

And here's what was taking place where they were showing partiality.

He says, For if there come unto your assembly, a man with the gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, or the shining, the glistening clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool.

Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

Hearken, listen, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

But ye have despised the poor.

Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats.

Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called.

If ye fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.

But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced, convicted of the law, as transgressors.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.

Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty, for he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth, or it triumphs against judgment.

Let's pray together this morning, as I pray out loud, would you pray in your hearts that God would speak to you today?

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness to us.

I thank you that we can gather around your word today, that we can gather in your name today, that we can gather knowing that we have the truth of life, the truth of Scripture, and that you can speak to our hearts.

I pray for every individual in the room this morning that if the need is salvation, that they would be saved.

If the need is an area that we need to grow in or be reminded of, that God, you would pierce our hearts, you would convict us, Lord.

If there's sin that needs to be repented of, Lord, that we would give that sin up, God.

Oh Lord, I pray that you would speak to us through your word.

God, I am your servant.

I need your help this morning.

So fill me.

Holy Spirit, please use this message to feed your flock.

Lord, these are your people, and I pray that you would please speak to every one of us, God.

We need your grace this morning.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for standing.

You may be seated this morning.

How is your love for your neighbor?

How is your love for your neighbor?

We'll look at three thoughts this morning in James 2.

And the first thought that we're gonna see this morning is that God's love, it changes how we see people.

God's love changes how we see people.

The illusion of exterior appearance often distracts us from internal significance.

The example that James gives is the idea of Christians, uh, probably Jewish, Jewish Christians, who may have been meeting in a separate place or may have been meeting in the synagogue.

As they gather together, like a gathering like we're having here this morning, there are two different guests that come into the service.

And it was that there was one that was dressed with a gold ring, goodly appearal, this uh uh shining uh radiant type of apparel.

And this man comes in who is obviously, through uh his appearance in that time frame, obviously had some money, maybe had some prestige, maybe even had some power or some pool politically or in other sectors of life.

And so this man comes in and he obviously has some wealth, and so the church comes to him and they say, Oh wow, we're so glad that you're here.

Please, please come up here.

Let me give you the best seat in the house.

Here, you can have my seat.

Oh man, we are so glad that you're here, and we're so thankful that you're you're you have come to join us this morning.

Is there anything that I can get you?

Let me get it for you, right?

And they're fawning over this man with goodly apparel.

And he says, then there also comes in one who, in that time frame, maybe it's their only pair of clothes, and they're dressed kind of uh uh rough.

He uses this word in vile raiment, or he is uh uh in shabby type of clothing, and so then the church approaches this gentleman in a different way.

The one who seemed to have things put together, have some money, have some wealth, they say, Oh, sit here, and they treat him with respect and they treat him with dignity.

But then the person that comes in and it doesn't seem like he has a lot, maybe it doesn't seem like he has a lot to offer the church, maybe it seems like he doesn't have a lot to offer in relationship, maybe it seems that he doesn't have a lot to offer to the world.

They say, Oh, you're you're staying?

Wait, really?

I thought you are you sure you're staying?

Okay, well, you're just gonna have to, why don't you just stand over there out of the way a little bit, okay?

Stand over there, or if you need to sit here under my footstool.

A footstool was not even like a chair, right?

It was a stool to place your feet on.

It would have been a very disrespectful place to have to sit, because feet, especially in the Bible time, uh, was something that was not looked at as like, oh, these are uh clean, beautiful feet.

No, these were feet that were going through uh uh uh uh the dirt, right?

These were feet that were going through the city, these were feet that were filthy, and so for them to say, oh, stand over there or just sit here by the footstool would have been a sign of disrespect.

It was certainly not hospitable, it was certainly not a welcoming uh invitation that the church had to this individual.

The partiality within this church, within this group of believers, was one that was based on appearance, it was one that was based on wealth, and it was not seeing people the way God sees people.

We have this tendency, it was in the Old Testament where uh the prophet Samuel comes along and he's getting ready to anoint the next king of Israel, right?

And he sees the oldest son and he's the tallest, he's the strongest, he's the one that he looks the part of a king, and he goes, Surely this is the Lord's anointing.

God says, Nope.

Oh, I thought this was the one that would be king.

And he goes down to the next brother, the next brother, the next brother, the next brother.

Hey, where's all your sons?

Do you have all your sons here, Jesse?

It was the brother that wasn't even invited that was gonna be anointed king.

And man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

Man judges just based off the exterior of whether or not we're gonna be kind, whether or not we're gonna get along, whether or not we're gonna be loving, but God desires that we would see people the way he sees people.

God's love, it breaks through economic barriers.

Luke 4.18, this is what Jesus says.

He says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Jesus came to seek and to save that which society had marginalized and had put out of their sight and had thought unworthy of the gospel.

But Jesus says here, I've come for those that are poor, that are brokenhearted, that need deliverance, that need me.

Jesus came to save the poor, to preach good news to the poor, to preach the good news of the gospel to whosoever.

Now, lest we be tempted to have a different partial attitude and think, well, it's only the poor that can be saved.

And God doesn't care about the rich.

Understand that in another passage of scripture, Jesus said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost.

And in the context of it, there was a wee little man named Zacchaeus.

And Zacchaeus had climbed up into the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.

And Jesus said, Zacchaeus, today I'm gonna go to your house.

He had got wealthy through his extortion, but Zacchaeus came to faith in Jesus.

Understand that Jesus desires for the rich and for the poor to be saved.

Jesus desires that male and female would be saved.

Jesus desires that young and old would be saved.

Jesus loves every individual.

He calls on us to love people the way he loves people.

God's love, it breaks through economic barriers.

God's love, it breaks through racial barriers.

The apostles, the disciples that follow Jesus.

They were very prejudiced and very racist against the Samaritans.

They wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans who were half Jew, half Gentile.

They even went to the extent that they would avoid going through Samaria.

Instead, they would go around that city lest they have to interact with a different race, a different background.

But oh our Jesus, what did Jesus do?

He says, I have need to go through Samaria.

And he stopped at a well, and there was a Samaritan woman who had been cast off by society, but was important to Jesus because Jesus sat at that well and he talked to this woman and he saved this woman.

And this woman went back to the city and told the other Samaritans all that Jesus had told her of her life.

Oh, Jesus, God, he breaks through racial barriers, he breaks through economic barriers.

God breaks through any barrier that mankind might want to put up and say, I'm not gonna love that person because of fill in the blank.

Galatians 3 28.

Jesus says this in the gospel because of Christ.

He says, There's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free.

There's not Jews and oh the Gentiles.

He says, Neither is there male nor female.

In that time frame as well, you have to understand that women, that females were not treated with as much dignity or value.

But in Jesus, he says there's no Jew nor Greek, there's no bond nor free, there's no male or female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Every barrier, the gospel breaks down.

God's love sees both genders as valuable.

God's love sees every age as valuable.

Every age group.

We have every age group and all in between.

I'm thankful that God He cared enough, Jesus cared enough to suffer the little children to come unto him.

And may we continue to have that type of heart, church, because there are at times, there are at times churches that it becomes more about them and they're upset with the noises and the mess of little kids that come through the auditorium and the kids' class and those things.

But it's on both sides.

The young and the old.

Because at times society can have prejudice towards those that are older and need more care.

Need more time.

Oh, God's love, it breaks through every barrier.

There is no age barrier, there is no economic barrier, there is no gender barrier, there's no distinction that God loves, Jesus loves every individual that has ever existed.

For they are his creation, created in his image, created to know him.

Do you see that person?

That person as someone God loved, someone God died for.

Usually people don't even invite us to come to church.

But they didn't necessarily come that Sunday.

Who is it that at times we think, oh, well, they're not going to receive the gospel or they're not worthy of the gospel, or they're not worthy of God's love?

I consider the nursing home ministry that I was able to serve in, where there were folks in there.

I remember just different occasions where unfortunately, because of age, because of disease, where their mind wasn't fully engaged.

And yet I remember different situations where I was able to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And these who were on their latter end of life had opportunity to hear and receive the good news.

From the young to the old, from every different economic and societal background, Jesus desires that there would be more that would be saved.

Those folks that we might look at with partiality, God does not, they need the gospel.

Oh, John Wesley and George Whitfield, they understood this because as they preached in churches throughout England, there was a little bit of a this is for the church and not really for those sorts of people.

And so John Wesley and George Whitfield, they went to where the working people were.

They went to the coal mines where people were filthy from work and they were working just to survive, and they preached the good news of the gospel because Jesus desires that all would be saved.

There is no barrier.

I think about D.L.

Moody.

D.L.

Moody was one that got saved when he was a young adult and he started getting on fire for the Lord.

And he wanted to bring these kiddos to Sunday school class.

And they said, Well, these kiddos, they're a little bit too rowdy, they're a little bit too rough around the edges.

I don't know, uh, Mr.

Moody, if you can bring those kids to our Sunday school.

And so DL Moody instead went into the heart of Chicago, a place known as Sands or Little Hell.

And D.L.

Moody went in and he said, Okay, well, I'm gonna start my own Sunday school and I'm gonna invite these kids in.

And tens of them came in and hundreds of them came in, and there was even a time where the president Abraham Lincoln went and visited the Sunday school of D.

L.

Moody that was reaching people that nobody else cared to reach.

You see, that's the heart of Jesus.

The heart of Jesus is to go to the lost, to go to those that have a number of different backgrounds, that we would see people as God sees them.

God's love it changes how we see people.

God's law changes how we treat people.

Number two, this morning, God's law, it changes how we treat people.

At the heart of this passage is the royal law.

The royal law, it says in verse number eight, if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Ye do well.

Can you say the royal law with me?

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

One more time, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

This is the royal law that comes from the king of kings, that comes from the ruler of the universe, that comes from the one who died and was buried and has been risen again.

He says, This is my law that you would love your neighbor.

As you love yourself, we have no problem loving ourselves.

We have no problem putting ourselves first.

We have no problem loving us, me.

But sometimes we take issue with the royal law.

Sometimes we're like the man in Luke chapter 10 who said, Well, Jesus, who really is my neighbor, right?

Luke 10 · chapter mention

I mean, I'll love my neighbor, but isn't that like, you know, people that are within my circle?

I love my neighbor, but isn't that like a select group that I'm supposed to love?

Who's really my neighbor, Jesus?

And Jesus goes on to tell the story of the Good Samaritan.

If you know the story of the Good Samaritan, you understand that it tells on two people who did not love their neighbor as thyself and one person who did.

The shocking hero in the story is the Samaritan, who the Jews would have thought there's no way that he is one that would love that way, but there was a priest that came by and he comes by and he goes on the other side, right?

And there's a man that's there.

He's beaten, he's left for debt, he's robbed.

The priest comes by and oh, I don't want to be bothered by that person over there.

I'm gonna go on the other side.

The Levite comes by and I don't know which one's worse.

The fact that the priest just stayed on his side, or the fact that the Levite went and looked at him and saw what kind of condition he was in, and said, Oh, not my problem.

And he goes on as well.

It was the Samaritan that came and picked this man up and uh helped him with his wounds and took him to the inn and said, When I come back, I'll pay you what's owed, and I'm gonna help take care of him.

And this man that was trying to justify who's really my neighbor would have been convicted by this story of a Samaritan man who saw someone in need and was willing to love him as himself.

God's law changes how we treat people.

This treatment of the poor that James points out, this partiality toward the rich, it did not line up with how God treats people?

For even in this text, James points out, hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?

Hath not God set his love on that one that you're despising?

Has not God set his grace on that one that you think is unworthy of sitting in your midst?

Has not God treated that individual with love?

God's chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, to be heirs of the kingdom.

See, when Jesus himself roamed this earth, Jesus was not born in the palace, but he was born and set in a borrowed manger, only to live this life and die and be placed in a borrowed tomb.

Jesus received wages not from even his own riches and treasuries, but he relied on the generosity of others to take care of his needs from village to village, no place to lay his head, no home, no, no wealth built up for himself.

And so Jesus, he became poor for our sakes.

That's what Jesus did to show love.

And my friend, this morning, unless you recognize, unless we recognize that you and I, we are spiritually bankrupt, we are spiritually poor, then you will not enter into the kingdom of God.

Because it's when we recognize that I'm a sinner, that I'm spiritually poor, that I have nothing to offer God, not a nothing that I can give to Jesus to save my soul.

Oh, it is only when we come to that point and we place our trust in Jesus who has riches that endure, who can save our soul.

But here in James 2, the church is making much of the rich guests who came in.

They're treating the poor guests in an awful way.

Ah, you stand over there, sit by my footstool.

But this one with the gold rings and the goodly apparels, come up, sit, sit right over here.

And the sad thing in this passage is that the church, the Christians at this time, they were facing in large part persecution from the rich.

This is a little bit backwards.

Do you understand?

The sad thing is the church was facing persecution.

It says in verse 6, but ye have despised the poor.

Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats.

You see, they started honoring and giving this um uh special treatment to the rich because they were partial in their judgment.

They maybe had ill motives of, oh, what might this person do for me?

And the sad thing was they were facing persecution by those same people.

It's sad for us as Christians today.

It's amazing how enamored we get with the things of this world and the people of this world that actually care nothing about Christ, about Christians.

It's amazing how enamored we can get.

Can I say it this way with our favorite movie star, sports star, pop star, politician, who in their lifestyle, in their way of living, they want nothing to do with our Christ.

They curse his name at times.

They want to lead us away from him, right?

And it's interesting how Christians we can get enamored with these celebrities or enamored with these people and yet turn around and treat our brother, treat our sister, treat someone near to us with disrespect.

Oh, but but they they can do nothing wrong.

This is the type of mentality that these Christians were having in the church.

God's love should change how we treat others, though.

1 John 3 23, and this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of the Son, Jesus Christ.

This is God's desire for you, that you would believe on the Son, that you would put your trust in Jesus alone.

He is the one that can save you, him and him alone, and love one another as he gave us commandment.

Believe on Jesus, receive his love for yourself, and then turn around and love others.

Partiality in the church was actually not a little thing.

We look at this and we might think, ah, it's not that big of a deal, you know.

Kind of get it.

No, what God says here is he says that this was actually a sin.

But if ye have respect to persons, you show partiality, you show this favoritism, ye commit sin and are convinced or convicted of the law as transgressors.

It says up above in uh verse number um four, are ye not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts?

He equates them to a judge that's evil that would receive a bribe.

There's one, Mark Chavavarelli Jr., a judge in Pennsylvania who received a twenty-eight-year federal prison sentence because he was accepting roughly one million dollars in bribes for this juvenile detention facility.

It's an infamous case known as Kids for Cash Scandal.

We look at that judge and we consider the bribe and we say, man, that's evil.

That he was uh obstructing justice to fill his own pockets to get what he wanted.

And yet, what God equates for us is that when we show partiality, when we show favoritism, when we show discrimination, we are like that evil judge.

We understand that type of corruption.

But God's love, it should treat, it should change how we treat people.

Last thought this morning, God's ledger changes how we live before people.

God's ledger, it changes how we live before people.

It shows us the reality.

Says, for whosoever in verse 10 shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all.

For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also do not kill.

Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

You can't pick and choose what of God's law you're gonna follow.

Well, well, you know, I haven't committed that sin, so I'm not as bad.

And I'm okay with this one, and I'm not okay with that one.

We can't pick and choose because breaking one law makes us a transgressor.

Well, I'm not really that bad because I haven't done this, but you have broken the law here, and it puts you, you either are a transgressor or you're not a transgressor.

And the only way you're not a transgressor or a sinner is by never sinning.

And so if you've committed one sin, you've committed one transgression, then you are by definition a sinner.

You've transgressed against the law.

And because you've transgressed against the law, what you need is mercy.

Every individual, what we need this morning is we need mercy.

Mercy on our souls because of our sin, because of our transgressions, because we have broken God's law.

And here's what God's ledger says: God's ledger, his record of your life, he knows all things that you've ever done wrong, all things you've ever thought wrong, all things you've ever committed against him.

God's ledger has it recorded.

You cannot hide your sin from the Almighty God.

And so the ledger, here's what it says: you and I are guilty.

The ledger says guilty.

And you can try to balance the ledger and think, well, if I do enough good things, it'll cancel out that bad thing.

If I do this, it will cancel out that bad thing, but it can't cancel it out.

The fact is that you're still a transgressor, and you can do so many, quote, good things in your life that will never take care of the debt that you owe.

The debt that you owe to God is overwhelming.

Because you and I are sinners, and so what we need is mercy.

And so Jesus steps in and he says, I see that ledger, I see that debt, I'm going to pay the debt for them.

And Jesus came in love and he died on the cross for our sins.

He died on the cross for you to be able to have eternal life, a relationship with him.

Not because you were able to fix the ledger, but because Jesus was able to stamp it paid in full.

If you would but put your trust in him.

And so God's ledger, it changes how we should live before people.

How so?

If you're here this morning and you know Jesus as your savior, can you make that known this morning just through an amen or through a quick raise of hand?

You know Jesus as your savior.

Good.

So I know Jesus as my savior.

Many of you just said you know Jesus as your savior.

So if you know Jesus as your savior, what have you received?

You've received mercy.

And if you've received mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment, you are to then extend mercy, extend grace, extend love.

God's ledger changes how we live before people because we had an enormous debt that we could never afford, but Jesus said, I forgive you, I'll save you.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

But we're called to live before people with this grace, this mercy, this love in mind.

Because God has shown his love towards you.

You can love others.

This calls us back to the first verse that we read in the chapter.

It says, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

You're a brother, you're a sister in Christ this morning.

Don't have that faith in Jesus, the Lord of glory, with partiality towards others or favoritism towards others, because you've been accepted, because you've been forgiven, because you've been saved by Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, then treat others accordingly.

Show mercy to others, show love to others.

Oftentimes, partiality, discrimination, or prejudice lives in our hearts because of one or two things.

Either it's because you've never experienced that mercy for yourself, you've never put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and because you've never experienced that love and that forgiveness, you can't forgive others.

You can't show grace to others.

Or it's because you've forgotten about that grace and that mercy that's been extended to you.

You've forgotten the gospel.

You've started to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.

And because you're something now, you can't show grace and love towards others, but you've forgotten the ledger that was held against you that was paid in full because of the grace and love of Jesus.

Christians, we're called to the royal law to love others even as we love ourselves.

To not do so, to show partiality, favoritism, discrimination anyway, is to sin against God and is to forget how much it costs for Jesus to save you.

I hope this message was a blessing to you.

If you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you come in for a visit.

We're located on Indian School and 23rd Avenue.

If we can be a help to you in any other way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

I would love to answer any questions that you had about the sermon, or maybe a question that you have about eternal life and a relationship with God.

We're here to serve you and to point you to Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for watching this message.