Good morning. Welcome to The Edge Church. My name is David Larson. Thanks for joining, wherever you are, wherever you’re watching this, wherever you’re listening — welcome. We’re in the book of James right now in this series called The Intersection of Faith & Life, and our reading this morning is from James 2:1–13. And it reads:
My brothers (and sisters), show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 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, 3 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,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 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. 12 So speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (ESV).
Father, help these words and the intent and message behind them and underlying them and connecting them. Lord, help those to be implanted firmly into rich soil in our heart. Remove any obstacles to understanding. Remove our prior biases and things we think we know, and help us to not lean on our own understanding, but to trust you and be led by your Spirit. In Jesus’ name.
So this passage mentions a word that not many of us use — “partiality.” Partiality is another way of saying favoritism. Why favoritism? Why partiality? And these verses are very easy to just cruise over, to run right past to get to other areas, but there are important waypoints along the way, important points, destinations along the path that we need to stop and consider. So, why partiality? Because you hold, the verse says, hold the faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. You hold, you presently possess, you grasp, you comprehend faith in our Lord Jesus. For if you see a man or a woman wearing mad bling, the drip, the latest fashion, the trendy, the brand new, the Gucci, whatever you call it and you say, “Right this way, sir or ma’am. Let me hook you up with the best seats — the best whatever it is.” And maybe you don’t even notice or worse yet, purposely ignore or pretend not to notice the man or woman that’s wearing plain clothes, looking disheveled. Maybe they seem dull or uninteresting at first glance, and you say, “Sorry, seat’s taken. Can’t sit here.” Maybe they’re not even offered a seat. Maybe they’re not even acknowledged. If you do this — and I’m sure we’ve all done it — you’ve made an artificial distinction between people. Worse, you’ve made yourself a judge. Worse yet, you have made yourself a judge who has evil thoughts. Self-appointed judges with evil thoughts dishonor the poor, the outcast, the downtrodden, the marginalized, the neglected, the rejected. What happens to those who dishonor poor, outcast, downtrodden and marginalized? If we read Matthew 25:31–46, we read:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (ESV).
Those descriptions are also descriptions of our Lord Jesus and the gospels. He was nothing special to look at. In fact, many people dismissed him, “You? This guy?” These self appointed judges with evil thoughts, they look after their own, They target the others. They call police for not looking the right way or being in the wrong neighborhood. James, in this passage, may seem to only be drawing attention to outward appearance. Our attention, however, can be drawn deeper than that — beyond the surface.
For much of history — and this was true during the life of James — the quality of clothing was the first indication of the social status of the wearer. Some throughout history even use laws to enforce these indicators of social status, of class, of hierarchy. Those laws were known as sumptuary laws. Sumptuary laws played a large role in attempting to regulate medieval European life as the rising merchant class began to be able to afford the means to get the same type of clothing that the aristocracy was wearing.
And these laws aren’t really on the books anymore here in America. We do see some vestiges of them though through things like dress codes. Businesses know that customers will judge the business itself by the way that their employees look. We make assumptions every day about people’s class and status and ability and worth based upon how they appear. Some deliberately seek to appear wealthier than they are because they know, consciously or subconsciously, that judgments will be made about them and people will act on those judgments favorably. Self-appointed judges with evil thoughts.
In the time in which James wrote this letter that we call a book of the Bible, it was rich blasphemers who seized those doing God’s work. We can read a specific example of this in Acts 16:16–24. It reads:
16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed,
I kind of think this is funny, by the way, as a side note, that Paul got annoyed at this and then did something.
[He] turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks (ESV).
James then goes on to write, back in his passage, if you obeyed the royal law according to Scripture, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, favoritism, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Loving your neighbor as yourself involves suspending judgment, withholding judgment, avoiding judgment. In suburban America, do we judge someone by the appearance of their house or their lawn? Do we judge someone who lives in an apartment as less than someone who lives in a house? Do we judge someone who lives in a mobile home as less than someone who has a different living situation? Do we judge the man sleeping under the bridge as lesser? Self-appointed judges with evil thoughts.
Last Sunday, Pastor Neil mentioned this. That we in present day America are among the wealthiest in history, and as such really we have no problem qualifying as the rich man in any parable of our Lord Jesus. Consider one such parable, the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus; Luke 16:19–31.
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ’Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ’Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ’Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house — 28 for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ’They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ’No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ’If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead’” (ESV).
We have this benefit here on our side of the cross, to have not just Moses and the prophets, but also Jesus — a risen Lord. Now, for me growing up with what I felt to be modest means, I carried a bit of a chip on my shoulder for those who seemed to flaunt their wealth thinking that I didn’t belong in that class. Neil’s reminder last Sunday adds to other experiences that I’ve had in more recent years visiting countries and communities and people so poor that it’s near-impossible to comprehend unless or until you experience it or witness it firsthand. We have so much here that we can hardly begin to tally it all.
Our brothers and sisters who live in those communities are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. So are those brothers and sisters who are here who don’t look like you, don’t dress like you, don’t live in your neighborhood, don’t drive your car, don’t work in your profession. This is not to say, as I sometimes hear, that you haven’t struggled. You have struggled. I have struggled. We have struggled. And through this series, we are reminded that, when it comes to struggles, we count it all for joy. Don’t we?
Loving your neighbor as yourself goes beyond the basics that may come to mind when you hear that commandment. It’s not a mere affinity or affection or a measure of how much you really, really, really, really like them. It is a direction, a vector, of action. Love looks like doing. When we don’t love, when we don’t do, what does that look like? It looks like isolation. It looks like minding my own business, keeping to myself. It looks like passing the man who was robbed and beaten on the side of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho because, for whatever reason, you just can’t be bothered. It looks like turning away from a need. More importantly, it looks like justifying why you shouldn’t because of how you view that person. A self-appointed judge with evil thoughts.
James goes on to make another point about the law. If you keep the whole law, but fail in one point, you are guilty of the whole law. I was raised in a Roman Catholic background, and so I had some basic knowledge of religion, of the Ten commandments, of there was Jesus and all of that. But in my early twenties, I was not thinking much about Jesus. A preacher was cruising the neighborhood on foot, going door to door, and I found myself face to face figuratively and literally I guess, with the Ten Commandments in print. I admit I was somewhat rusty on those, but I generally understood that murder, theft and adultery were sins. Pretty easy there, right? And this patient man showed me where in the Bible I could find the Ten Commandments and invited me to read them for myself right then and there. And he asked some probing questions. Did I have other gods? And I was fairly certain I wasn’t an idolator. Did I make graven images? That’s easy — sculpting really wasn’t my thing. Did I take the name of God in vain? Yeah, I’m sure I did, but not all the time. Did I remember the Sabbath and keep it holy? Not with any real frequency. Did I honor my father and mother? Well, let’s just say I wasn’t a good kid. Did I commit murder? Well, of course not. Hold on there. Did I commit adultery? Well, it depends on your definition of what that is. And did I steal? Well… Did I bear false witness? Probably not. And did I covet? Was I envious or jealous of anything my neighbor had? Yeah, definitely at times. But, and here at the end of that list, as if my spiritual goose wasn’t already cooked, or if I had any lingering doubts about where I fell according to any of those 10 categories, I was gently and politely guided to Matthew 5:21–22:
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ’You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire (ESV).
Jesus equates anger at another with murder. Then on down to Matthew 5:27–30:
27 “You have heard that it was said, ’You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell (ESV).
Jesus equates lustful intent with adultery. So there I was, guilty. Even if I was guilty of just one thing, it was enough. But why is that enough, right? Because God is holy.
Holiness is separation, is purity, is the only distinction — speaking of distinctions — it’s the only distinction which God draws. Sin places us on the opposing side of that line from God. One sin is enough to break that perfect pane of glass demanded by God’s holiness. You can’t patch it up. Its surface is forever marred despite whatever efforts you make to conceal the damage or to make repairs. Only full replacement, only substitution will do, and that’s where Jesus Christ comes in. He was made to be sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
That new head knowledge of where I stood with God became a fire under me. God pursued me through that conversation long after that preacher had left and the conversation had ended. Over time, I became raw with the heart knowledge that I needed Jesus, and it was then that I surrendered the fight and chose to follow him. And since then, I want to tell you, despite all the trials, despite every new thing that pops up, his grace has never stopped flowing. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It was those verses from Matthew 5 which God used to ring in my ears like spiritual tinnitus. With a higher standard of holiness comes a higher need for a savior. Now, isn’t it interesting that these two simple thoughts, anger and lust, are perhaps universally experienced at one time or another by all of us in our lives? And isn’t it interesting that their corresponding commandments are the same two sins mentioned here in our reading from James.
This letter of James isn’t some one-off, throwaway book in the Bible that can be shelved, ignored or marginalized. This is a letter of and for action. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we put faith into practice. Moreover, this is the intersection of faith and life.
Consider the title of this series, The Intersection of Faith & Life. When I think of the word intersection, I think of cross streets. You’re almost always more on one street than you are on another street, unless of course you’re standing directly in the middle of the intersection — and if that’s you right now listening to this message, move to the sidewalk where it’s safe. Okay? What I want you to challenge your thinking of this metaphorical intersection in another way.
Many large roads, especially highways, they overlap. For large portions of road, you’re not just on one road, you’re really on two or even more. For those of you in the Chicagoland area, think about these — there’s a stretch of the I-90 and I-94 known as the Dan Ryan expressway. You’re on both roads at the same time. US Route 41 becomes Lake Shore Drive becomes South Shore Drive. Manheim Road at some point is a combination of US routes 12, 20 and 45. These intersections or concurrencies can have different names but there’s one commonality. They share the same right of way, they point in the same direction. And I challenge you in the same way that I challenged myself, and I invite accountability in this from everyone — I challenge you to put your faith and life in the same direction, to give both equal right of way.
There’s something we can do to ensure that we’re on these concurrent roads, these long intersections of faith and life; we can pray. Prayer, in this way, acts like a sort of a spiritual GPS. It allows us to hear from God and to be spiritually rerouted as needed. If we travel too long without checking our spiritual GPS, we’re likely to get off track, be turned around, headed the wrong way. Like it’s been said in recent Sunday messages, it’s so easy to withdraw and say, “It’s just you and me God.” It’s similarly pretty easy to drive on the highway if you’re the only car on the road. It’s another thing entirely to live out your faith and life with other people around.
Of those Ten Commandments, commandments five through ten are focused on, are summed up by loving your neighbor as yourself. We must not be self-appointed judges with evil thoughts. We must not interfere with God’s role as judge. Our role is as ambassadors of mercy, conduits of grace. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.
As you consider these thoughts, these challenges, I’m going to give you some prompts for discussion or for contemplation if you’re by yourself.
What did God bring to your attention during this message that you have been judging others for? Maybe the way they look, the beliefs they hold, where they live, their status or class?
Think of the neighbor you like the least, or maybe that you know the least about if you really don’t have judgments on them. How will you demonstrate your love for them?
What is your next spiritual GPS point? Where will your life and faith next intersect where it hasn’t been before? Where are you going next?
Thank you and God bless.