Adult Bible Study

Well, good morning, if you don't have a copy of the handout there's one of those in the back. We are in James chapter 2 so as I have the opportunity through the week to look at James again and again and again.

Part of my what I'm praying for is that it will first speak to me and challenge me in a new way and As I was thinking about it Especially yesterday I kind of go through a hundred different Iterations of this and drives my wife nuts as I'm trying to get out what I want to say and I was thinking this.

You know the average. Well, I don't know about the average pastor. But a what I would consider to be a good pastor would spend at least 40 to 45 minutes preaching in the word and we sit and it's usually a short section of scripture and.

Then I was beginning to think what would it have been like to be back In those various churches and again, let me back up and remind us James at one point in time was most likely the head pastor of the church in Jerusalem and with the persecution that took place that church was scattered and people left in small groups to various cities and regions around and Either started a church or joined existing churches and they began to have some problems.

So this epistle from James is going to these various churches. So Picture some Sunday morning rather than getting 45 minutes of a sermon over maybe eight or ten verses Ed Brill as our Head deacon stands up in front and he reads a letter from pastor now.

How many verses did we say there were? There is about a hundred and five verses. If you're slow reading James only takes 15 minutes. Now catch the contrast. 45 minutes. A few verses carefully explained and applied.

James as Ed is getting up to read to the congregation in a Sunday morning takes 15 minutes. No explanation and there's more than 50 commands and You're supposed to sit and digest that. Do you catch that in?

How would you like it. Maybe pastor you might want to do this when I'm gone so I don't have to listen to it. Make every other sentence a command. How many of you would be content with that sermon? How many of you would feel uplifted?

How many of you would be entertained? But did those folks need to hear this? Do we on occasion need to hear? Our toes stepped on. But come on half of the message you're getting your toes stepped on. That's quite a contrast from how comfortable so many churches have gotten today, so that's all my introduction.

I'm done. So no, I'm not. So here we go. Pull out your notes, please. So we're gonna look at the first 13 verses of chapter 2 this is a kind of a quick summary. So again, I've asked you previously. Continue to ask you to look for James heart.

Right. Paul had a great heart look for James heart. His concern for these people. Why does he give him all these commands all these imperatives? Because he realizes that they're getting off track and he wants them back to their first love.

So while we're looking for James heart, my second admonition is that we would also be checking our heart. How do we measure up? So the first? Test that we looked at back in those first 12 verses of chapter 1 was perseverance and suffering.

So James you can look at as a series of tests we can also pull out key words in the first 18 verses the key word which is also probably the key word for this whole epistle is the idea of Perfection or completeness.

The second test is the test of blame and temptation when we're tempted. How do we respond? What we looked at last week was the test of the response to the word verses 19 through 27. Keyword doing. And today as we look at these first 13 verses of chapter 2 the key word is to love Troxell remember Troxell had a series with him on with all your heart.

He says the desire to love and follow Christ. Must be a sweeter song to us than the music of the world and our flesh well stated. That could take a few minutes of meditation. How do we do that every day?

Then Warren Wearsby says this. Immature people talk about their beliefs. But the mature person lives his faith. The way we behave toward people indicates what we really believe about God. We cannot and dare not separate human relationships from divine fellowship.

So we've got a few verses to keep our fingers limber today. If you would join me over in first John chapter 4 verse 20. First John chapter 4 in verse 20. These will be familiar to us. Once I start reading so 420 of 1st John if anyone says I love God and hates his brother.

He is a Liar for he who does not love his brother whom he cannot. Who he has? Whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Very very clear truth. So we're going to be starting out talking about the sin of partiality.

I want to look at about four passages of Scripture so that we understand that Partiality is not just a thought that James has come up with. So we're going to go back to Deuteronomy 10 verse 17. Excuse me Deuteronomy 10 17 and we read this.

For the Lord your God is God of gods in the Lord of lords. The great the mighty and the awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe. Then we can move a little bit further looking at Proverbs 24.

Proverbs 24 and in Proverbs 24, we'll be looking at verse 23. These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good then in the New Testament. Join me in Romans. Romans chapter 2 verse 11 and there are as you can appreciate a host more.

But these were four that I thought were very very good. This is really a long verse. Romans 2 11 for God shows no partiality. He just gets right to the point and then finally let's go back to John chapter 7 verse 24.

John chapter 7 verse 24. Do not judge by appearances but judge with right judgment. So we're right finally ready to start in James. Join me in James chapter 2 verse 1. We'll read this in different sections for this morning.

My.

Brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory so we're gonna spend a little time on here and just Try to develop where James is coming from as we begin chapter 2.

Note what James does not do he does not use the word religion. So go back please and look at verses 26 and 27 of chapter 1. In Verse 26, which we looked at last time James says if anyone thinks he is religious pause there when James uses that word religious the context is being like the Pharisee.

Outward manifestation. You're doing this outward show to impress people and it doesn't necessarily match your heart. So James says if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue But deceives his heart this person's religion is worthless.

And then verse 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit the orphans Widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. The thing is as we get to chapter 2 verse 1 He doesn't carry on with that religious theme.

He drops that word and he now starts out with the word faith. So look again in verse 1 my brothers show no partiality as you hold the Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory. He could have said true religion is what showing no partiality but he associates partiality as Contrasted against a good faith.

Do you see how he's made a little bit of a change? So he's gone from religion including external fake show stuff To true faith in Christ. So let's look at this. So he could have started chapter 2 with true religion includes no partiality.

Instead again, he's picked up on the word faith. Why? Because he desires to lead us from the external display like the Pharisees to an inward.

Reality.

He says really you can't show partiality if your faith Internally is genuine and we can define partiality here as Treating people in different ways according to their outward appearance. To do so to judge people externally on their appearance is not only lousy religion.

My word, but it is according to James to deny our faith. That's a strong charge. If we're being partial in our response to and respect of people James is saying You're denying your faith. Strong words.

Again, you're sitting in the congregation at your little church 2 ,000 years ago. Ed's reading this in here. We're in chapter 2 and man, we're getting bruised. He's hitting us hard and heavy.

So.

James then shares five features of impartiality. Use me and. So these are all bullet points. Now what I'd like to do starting back in verse 1 of chapter 2. Read the first seven verses and we'll begin to unpack this.

So to want my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man and 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 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 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?

So let's look at this first Aspect of Impartiality the principle show back in verse 1. Do you see that word show show is in the emphatic position and Again, I'm not smart enough to know this myself. But I read this and what that basically means is literally James is staying is saying stop showing.

This action don't be partial anymore. Partiality and I find this very very interesting. Yes, sometimes it's good to tear these things apart and understand the richness of the Greek language. So what is James saying?

Stop showing. Partiality. Partiality means lifting someone's face. Lifting someone's face. So it'd be like Roger. He comes in and I just go over and I grab his face and I check him out really really carefully and I make an entire Determination about who Roger is based upon me lifting up his face in looking at the externals.

So continue with me in the notes. It literally in the Greek this verse would read Stop holding up faces as you hold the faith in Jesus the Lord of glory. Now that's the new Greek version, aren't you glad we don't have to figure that out.

But look at that as it's written in your notes. Stop holding up faces as you hold the faith in Jesus the Lord of glory. What James is basically saying is this quit behaving like kids. How do kids treat other kids?

She's cute he's ugly and Everything is external and James is saying you're behaving like little kids. You go around you lift up the face you look at people and you make a snap judgment. This is what they're like.

So on one hand you're doing that well on the other hand you're saying my Lord is the Lord of glory and You're not behaving like you have a relationship to the Lord of glory. Do you see all of that in verse 1 now?

Let me go back to the ESV Show no partiality stop lifting up the face. If you're literally holding on to Jesus you can't hold on to Jesus who is the Lord of glory and Treat people like you're doing. That's partiality.

It's a big division. So that's the benchmark. Now my wife and I back all in the last 10 years. We've had a number of opportunities and I just want to share two stories from my Perspective and the reason I share stories from my perspective is because I know stories from my perspective rather than know stories from your perspective.

So anyhow, we had said we had gone several times to Zambia to do medical missions. And the way this was set up is there were a series of tents and several of the churches in that area sponsored. It was kind of an evangelistic outreach.

So there would be a medical intake and as a chiropractor. They would go through. I trained my wife who's a nurse to do pre exams. And so she would do pre exams and these people and there was this long Queue of people that would have to get through the different stations.

Then they would get into my tent. I would do the final exam adjust them. And then if any Follow-up was needed. I would refer him to a medical doctor physical therapist, whatever. So I'm in my tent and these people are coming in one at a time in the wait times.

We're upwards of two hours. There were a lot of people so all of a sudden the flaps of the tent go flying open in in walks this entourage. And here's this guy I've never seen with four or five people in flow in what he was is he was the head of one of the Zambian church.

Groups.

He bypassed two hours of waiting. He walked in he introduced himself with his big long titles and Expected to be seen by me instantly.

Was.

Were the were some of the folks showing partiality? Didn't sit well with me. I didn't say hey Jack back of the line. I Wanted to but here was a guy unfortunately who was violating he was being partial.

He was the big shot. He wasn't gonna wait in line. So sometimes we do this don't we. So that's the benchmark. Gibson one of the our authors that we're using says one was the last time someone utterly unrewarding in every way received my love probative question.

So let's go and look at verses two through four again 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 say sit here in a good place.

You say to the other one stand over there. Or sit down at my feet. Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves, but he just doesn't stop there. He says and become judges with evil thoughts. Look at verse 2.

Excuse me in verse 2. Do you see the word if? And in verse 3, do you see the word if? Then you get down to chapter or verse 4 and it says then. So as it's listed in your notes you have if you're doing this and if you're doing this.

Then this is the problem and the problem is James says you have made distinctions. You've made distinctions. Remember that the vast majority of early converts were Jewish and poor. Those that weren't poor were often ostracized and became poor.

There was massive discrimination in verse 3 again when it says the poor man. Poor man literally means beggar and Beggar in those days and through much of history was a man in rags. Could that happen here?

So another interesting story. I don't know when I like physical work. So, I don't know if Dan and I were to get together at the end of a day of hard physical work. Who would look the worst? I mean my clothes are disheveled.

I don't wear this when I'm out doing nasty nasty work. So we had the grandkids over a number of years ago. And I had been doing all sorts of work. My shirt was kind of threadbare. My shoes were junky and the kids wanted to go for a walk.

So I threw one up on my shoulder. I had the other one holding their hand and I'm out walk walking along our township Road. Look like a total bum. That's okay. That's when I'm happy. So I'm walking along a car drives by stops backs up.

Lady rolls down the window and she says do you need a ride somewhere? I Said no, I just live right down the road. But I look like a what I? Look like a beggar and she was having a great response. I would have loved to just had a conversation.

But sometimes we don't have that response. Do we now cultural setting? Let's go back in time a couple thousand years. This is written in AD 178 by the philosopher Caesars. He criticized believers portraying them as vulgar quote.

Like a swarm of bats or ants creeping out of their nests or frogs holding a symposium. Symposium amid a swamp or worms in a convention in a corner of mud. Did you get what we're saying here? How were many of the Christians viewed back then?

They were at the bottom of the caste system. Many of them were poor. Potentially even in rags like beggars. And James says in your church. Don't show any difference between the wealthy and the poor. Don't be holding up their faces.

Don't look externally. The absence of partiality is in Acts chapter 2 verses 44 through 5. You don't need to look there. I'll just share this with you remember. What's taking place here? This would be about 45 to 50 AD Acts chapter 2 way earlier, right?

And what were they doing in Acts chapter 2 as Believers had need they came together sold and shared equally. So James is kind of inferring what has happened when we started out the church was not showing partiality.

Now many of you in your various congregations around Jerusalem. You're beginning to show partiality in this must stop. So in the when it uses the word assembly, that's the referring to the synagogue the local grouping of Jewish believers.

Most of these assemblies only had a few benches in the very front. Those were the ones coveted by scribes and Pharisees. Those were the ones given to the rich man. Remember these are the ones the Pharisees really wanted.

It's kind of opposite of what we have today where the coveted seats are in the. Yeah, so I don't know what's wrong here. But um, at least I know two of you are Christians the pastor and mrs. Dean. Then we get questionable.

How's that for showing partiality? Okay, but the idea is these guys would come in with their pomp and circumstance. Like the head of that church that came into the tent. Right to the front of the line sit in the two or three benches in the front.

The rest of you scallywags. What would you have to do? Stand or sit on the.

Floor.

So Mike comes in in one particular and he's five minutes late for Sunday school and I say Excuse me, Mike. You just sit right there on the floor. Or I'm sitting in the front because I like to show off my tie.

I'm sitting in the front I said well you can sit at my feet. Now this was verbally expressed in the public setting of the church. How? Embarrassing. That's what was taking place. To say Stand over there or sit down at my feet is a double show of public disrespect to do either James says.

Is.

To become a person a judge with evil thoughts now, it's interesting again in the Greek. There's three words for evil and the one that James uses here is This in verse 4 that is the strongest of the three Greek words.

Are you beginning to get a glimpse of how? Strong of an emphatic James is as he's taking Fellow believers to task because they're not holding true. We can contrast that with this with the Sermon on the Mount.

You don't need to look there. It's back in Matthew 5. I just want to buzz through Contrast what is happening in those church churches with this starting in 5 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit. In other words those in spiritual bankruptcy.

Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed that are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the poor in heart. Blessed are the purse.

Peacemakers and.

Then then last one that I read is blessed are those who show partiality. No, what a contrast. What a contrast. James says you got to stop that kind of stuff. Okay. So join me then as we look in verse 4 and I hope I don't follow or lose you as I look at this in verse 4 of chapter 2.

Have you not then made? distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts. So put a finger there. Then I want you to go back to chapter 1 verse 6. Chapter 1 verse 6. But let him Ask in faith with no doubting.

For the one who doubts is like the wave of a sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. Again, if we go back to the original language the word for distinctions in verse 4 of chapter 2 and the word for wavering or doubting in 1 6 is the same Greek word it literally means.

A.

Divided allegiance. A hypocritical desire. Now, I don't know how many of you happen to catch pastors morning light this last Friday. But his basic theme was be faithful to one master in all areas of life in the big things and the little things.

Be faithful to one master in all areas of life in the big things and the little things. So if we go back to your notes, please. Where these words. Just stop making distinctions and don't doubt. We can't have a divided allegiance.

Exactly what pastor was talking about in the devotional. You cannot serve both God and mammon. For if you do you are not whole in your faith. The religious leaders in James Day and in Christ's Day. Especially in Christ's Day.

We're judging Christ by their human external standards. And what did they think of Christ? Crucify him. We can't do the same today. By what lifting up their face and looking externally? Moit your says this.

This is our small font. If our behavior is different than what our faith in the Lord of glory demands. We set ourselves to be governed by wrong reasonings. We have in fact committed a double fault. We have misunderstood our status as if it were our position to sit in judgment on others.

And we have trusted our own judgment as if by ourselves. We could make a true and accurate assessment on the contrary. James teaches by clear implication that in both status and judgment the Lord Jesus Christ Who is himself the glory must reign supreme?

Our values our priorities. Activities must ever be governed by the definition of true glory displayed in the person the conduct in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,. I Don't see any sliding scale there.

It's Christ's perspective. Ours, so we've talked about the principle. No partiality. We looked at the examples of the rich and the poor man. And now we see in verses 5 through 7 the inconsistency. So let's look let me read those for you again.

5 through 7 of verse of chapter 2. Listen, my beloved brothers 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? So what we have then is in the inconsistency that exists between God's character and the attitude of a believer who is disrespectful of poor people as We looked in at the beginning of verse 5 in the ESV it says listen my beloved brothers.

Catch what James is doing here. He's saying listen. He wants to get their attention again. He's referring to them as his beloved brothers. So this is an admonition Aimed at the heart and the mind it is given not only from the standpoint of truth.

But also from the standpoint of affection. Have you ever noticed in pastors sermons the affection that he has for us? Even while he may be giving us admonition. I don't know about you, but if someone Admonishes me if I feel that they have my best interest in mind.

That's much easier to swallow and if you're gonna give 50 admonitions in 15 minutes of reading You better be able to demonstrate that so as direct and as hard-hitting as this epistle is it still has a pastor's heart a Passion for both correcting and building up.

So this inconsistency has two parts first the divine choice of the poor and secondly the blasphemy of the rich as We look in verse 5 and he James uses that word poor it is a term referring to economics not the poor in spirit like in Sermon in the mount but economically poor.

I have a host of verses listed there for you. There's many many more. We're running short on time because I'm talking again too much so you can read those on your own. But you're just gonna have to trust me.

So recall the Old Testament sacrificial system back in those Boring chapters that you don't want to read because it drones on and on and on. Well recall that God in his providence and wisdom made special provisions for the poor.

So their sacrifices would not have to be nearly as costly. Remember also the year of Jubilee. Which helped kind of reset the financial scales and remember that when they were picking the crops They couldn't pick all the way to the edge.

So God has always had in his heart a special place for the poor. So as we look at verse 5 the phrase God has chosen those who are poor to be rich in faith. In contrast what were many of these folks in the church is doing you're dishonoring the poor.

So James in effect is saying this. How can you claim to be God's child and yet think and act so differently from him. You can't claim to be God's child and yet Knowing that God has a special place in his heart for the financially poor treat them with disrespect.

Then we get to the blasphemy of the rich the last part of verse 6 and 7. Notice brothers and sisters the strong language that James employs. Oppress drag you and blaspheme. That's those aren't nice words.

Those aren't people-friendly. Let's have a happy conversation. So the word of oppressed means tyrannical deprivation of one's rights. That literally means somebody with the power comes and gets rid of all your rights.

It's a unilateral. So all of a sudden they've got all the balls in their court. So James is saying this is what the rich are by and large. This is how they treat you. They treat you like crud and yet you give them special places of recognition in the church.

They drag you and No, I've been pushed, you know, I've been pulled but I don't like being dragged. It's not a pleasant thing in literally. James is saying Whoever is doing this these rich people as they're dragging you they personally that's the inference.

Remember there was a guy by the name of Saul who did what to the Christians? Dragged them and again the structure of the original language. He personally would drag them In to the courts and then they blaspheme the name of Jesus.

So a couple of little paragraphs here. I just had to include him. MacArthur says this here James is saying in effect. Think about it for a moment. To be partial to the rich and turn your backs and the poor cannot possibly correspond to God's character or to his word and will first partiality is inconsistent with God's divinely choosing the poor and Second the rich whom you tend to favor not only do not usually respect you but are inclined to blaspheme your faith.

When you go against the poor and the outcasts you go against those whom the Lord has specially chosen. And when you favor the rich you are often siding with the blasphemers then moisture again. If God calls us to live out the life of God by caring for the poor He is equally determined that we should not be dazzled by the rich.

It is not that long ago. When the wealthy paid an annual rent to secure a well-placed seat in our parish churches. While those who could not raise the financial win had to be content with the seat in the far-off corners.

Bearing the label actual label free. So what just wasn't in James Day? Even if such blatant inequality is now a thing of the past. It is by no means unusual for a person to have a voice in church affairs related not to his wisdom.

But to his wealth in the same way it is common for well-heeled congregations to assume they ought to have and To get the most gifted pastors while fellowships and less promising or attractive areas. Cannot expect more than the average.

Money still does the talking far too loudly in Christian circles and where it when it does the glory of Christ.

Departs.

Whoa. So if we look at the pattern of history. It was culturally true then. Right. It was culturally true then. And he actually comes back and he in Chapter five he comes back to it the first six verses which you can read on your own.

Well today it may not be so evident. Think about this. What do the wealthy often do and I'm not necessarily talking within the church. But what do the wealthy often do. Do we have any problems with some politicians?

Who get inside trading deals or great land deals or Take advantage of their situations of power. What about white-collar crimes? Pastor mentioned this guy Bernie Madoff. You remember good old Bernie.

So Bernie Madoff was quite a financial genius. He actually kind of introduced electronic trading in the stock market. He became chairman of Nasdaq. Now if you don't know what Nasdaq is, that's okay. But if you're the chairman of Nasdaq, you are pretty powerful guy.

In 2009 he was sentenced to 150 years in jail. For going ahead and Ripping people off to the tune of about 60 billion dollars in a Ponzi scheme he was forced to repay a 150 billion and As he got closer to the time of the court with interviews.

He said I really didn't have to do that Ponzi scheme. I had more money than I could spend. I really don't know why I did it. Well, we kind of understand. So that's what the wealthy can do. James says.

Don't look at the externals. Don't lift up the face. Meditate on this thought in verse 5. Let me read it again. Has God not chosen the poor to be rich? He is in which and what does he promise to those who love him to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom our basic Christian wealth or currency.

Isn't it God's gift of saving faith? No Kim. I didn't hear a single. Amen. Evidently you're sir. You're preaching last week was a failure. So can you regive that today pastor can kick his down the road?

Let me say that again. Our basic Christian wealth or currency is God's gift of saving faith. That was kind of hypocritical. Okay, caught you. Okay. Let's go on to verse 7. The rich are what the ones who blaspheme.