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Good morning friends. We’re in James 2 today, together.
Notice his challenge right at the top to not show favoritism. I wonder if James learned this as he had watched his brother Jesus in the way he dealt with poor or crippled or blind people? Or the maybe way he responded to lepers or children or even Samaritans. Remember, James didn’t believe Jesus was who He claimed to be, until after Jesus death & resurrection. But undoubtedly he had watched and listened to Jesus many times, and now as he wrote, James was, I think honoring the example Jesus had lived for him.
Notice also this powerful little statement in James 2:13 “Mercy triumphs over judgment!” Oh my, I’m sure we’ve all been on the receiving end of both… judgmental comments or actions and merciful treatment. Again I think James was reflecting on what he had seen and probably personally experienced with Jesus’ kindness.
Of course most famous from James 2 is his powerful teaching on the matter of “faith without works is dead”, and James’ use of Abraham’s belief in God and his repeated obedience through his life, as being grounds for God crediting him with righteousness. James writes “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24).
Now here’s an important lesson friends. As you read and study the Bible, it’s vital you take all the Scripture that pertains to a particular topic and study it all, so you gain a full orbed understanding of what God wants us to learn about that topic. Don’t build your theology on one verse alone, disregarding all the other Scripture which deals with that topic.
Justification is a major theme of our Salvation. Romans 5 is one of those other chapters to read about justification. James seems to be saying our works earn us justification, but when you take all the Bible teaching on Justification you understand this it is a remarkable act of God in response to our full faith in the atonement death of Jesus Christ, as payment in full for our sin. Therefore with our sin debt paid, God can declare us ‘justified’. As we live our lives justified, freed from the weight of our sin guilt, our lifestyles demonstrate that we understand and are living free in our justification.
God declares us forgiven (Eph. 1:7), free from any condemnation (Romans 8:1) in response to our FAITH. We then prove our justification by our lifestyle, our actions, our words, our deeds.
Now link this with 1 Corinthians 6:12 which says “Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is beneficial…I will not be mastered by anything.” Do you see that in my state of being Justified by God, I am now free to live without guilt, without shame, even without restrictions… but in my understanding of my newfound freedom, and my profound gratitude to Jesus for His having earned my justification by His death on my behalf, I am careful to restrain myself from any attitude, word or action that might be dishonoring to God. So my behavior as a Justified follower of Jesus, seeks to honor God, and it validates, proves, evidences the justification God has applied to my life, as He cleansed me from my sin (1 John 1:9). Do you understand friends, this is what James is teaching us in James 2?
James’ closing statement in James 2:26 is powerful isn’t it? “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” Yep, we get that, don’t we? We’ve all seen dead bodies lying in caskets. Bodies without spirits are dead. And we’ve also all seen people who claim to be Christians, living lives which are totally dishonoring to God.
So James is saying… when you see a person living a life that dishonors God, that mocks Jesus… you can assume they are EITHER not yet justified, they have not yet been authentically born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and they are not being led by the Spirit because the Spirit is not alive within them guiding them. . .OR you can assume they are choosing to disregard the great work of God in their lives, and actually grieving the Holy Spirit by refusing to live in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. That’s what Ephesians 4:27 & 30 say “…and do not give the devil a foothold…and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed…”. We’ll look at that more closely when we read that 4th chapter of Ephesians in September. For now, I hope you get a clear picture of what James is telling us in James 2. So today, my friends, let’s look closely at how we live…does it evidence that we are justified followers of Jesus Christ?
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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