James 2 (vs 1-13)

Sermon preached at Gospel Light Christian Church, Singapore
by Pastor Dr Paul Choo
on 13 Feb 2005

REVISION:

Last week’s Memory Verse: James 1:22

Last week’s five lessons (James 1:16-27):

1. The Source of Perfectly Good Gifts – is above, therefore, look up, ask and receive! But remember that what is “good” is not necessarily “nice.”
2. The Partnership with God – This is the most unequal partnership in the world! Our Senior Partner does everything and we just share the Gospel!
3. The Importance of Listening Skills – God provides plenty of free lessons when we are “swift to hear” in life and in church.
4. The Insufficiency of Listening Skills – In the world, we listen to be informed but in church we listen to be transformed.
5. The Evidences of True Christianity – Charity and purity.

This week’s five lessons:

1. Glorious Lord (v.1) – Our faith is in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ – not in a set of commandments or a human institution. Therefore, let us come to His presence with holy reverence and joyous anticipation. Let us also when talking about our faith, “determine not to know anything…save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1Corinthians 2:2). Our glorious Lord must be the center and focus of our life and faith!
2. Children of the Glorious Lord (vs.2-4,9) – James calls the readers “brethren” 15 times in this short letter! Christians belong to a Father and His family. Church is a family (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11). Therefore, what is most important is our relationship to the Father (rather than who we are in and of ourselves). For example, royal princes are primarily respected for their relationship to the king, rather than for their personal achievements. Outside of the family, we judge people primarily by the different appropriate standards, eg. in schools the primary standard of measure is academic achievement, in sports the primary standard is sporting excellence. In church let us use the correct primary standard to measure our brethren, namely, our relationship to the Father. To do so we need to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Corinthains 5:7). The “assembly” (v.2) probably refers to a gathering of believers for the purpose of disciplining erring brethren. In law courts, all accused persons (irrespective of their ranks) enter the same “box” and sit and stand accordingly. However, we need to remember that the Bible also teaches us to give “honor to whom honor” is due (Romans 13:7), eg. parents (Exodus 20:12), rulers (1Peter 2;17), church elders (1Timothy 5:17). In other words, it is not wrong to give honor in church but remember that we must first honor our brethren because of their relationship to the glorious Lord, rather than their relationship to anything else (economic, social, etc). If we use other standards as our main standard, we cause divisions in the family. The word “partial” (v.4) describes this division of the church into “parts.” God hates the sin of causing disunity in His family (Proverbs 6:16,19). When we are partial we are accused of the evil motive (“evil thoughts” v.4) of causing disunity. This is a sin that we often commit unknowingly!
3. Rich Poor Man (vs.5-7) – Other religions favor the rich (who can pay for their salvation) and intelligent (who can understand the complicated way of salvation). Even the Lord’s disciples were shocked to learn that the rich did not have an advantage to enter God’s kingdom (Matthew 19:23-26; Mark 10:23-26; Luke 18:24-27). The Lord identified His Messiahship by His preaching of the Gospel to the poor (Matthew 11:2-5). In the Sermon on the Mount, He said “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). We see the evidence around us (1Corinthians 1:26-29). “But we have despised the poor” (v.6) and believed that our old and illiterate parents and the less educated foreigners cannot be saved. Therefore we should focus our evangelistic efforts at the ones whom “God has chosen to be rich in faith” (v.5), eg. foreign workers in Singapore, rural churches in poor regions of Philippines, China, Cambodia. Rich people are generally antagonistic to the Gospel (vs.6,7) because it places everyone on the same level and removes their elevated status. Christians who are financially rich are told to be “rich in good works, ready to distribute” (1 Timothy 6:18). Therefore, rich Gospeliters should give generously to support our missionaries who are serving in poor countries