James Week Two!  You can watch this sermon by clicking here.  You can listen to the podcast here.

Today, we jump into chapter 2 of James.   Chapter 2 teaches us 2 core principles:

1. Christians Choose PEACE over of PREJUDICE

We choose accessibility over partiality!  We OPEN doors…first.

James 2:1 My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? 2 For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes.

OR they have a different style. They have tattoos, all kinds of piercings.  They are a different race. They are a different age. They vote different from you.  They come from a different background.  They like the Patriots or the Giants.

3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well,  4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?

Discrimination– to make a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing on the basis of the group, class, or category to which the person or thing belongs rather than according to actual merit;

8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.  10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. 11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.  12 So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.

What is the Law that Sets you FREE? Since your faith in Jesus Christ sets you free from your sin and deserved punishment, you are then freed from hatred and self-love and are able to love your neighbors as ourselves.

When this all started in the first century, Christianity grew and developed in confrontation, with an environment that breathed hostility to its doctrines and practices.

The main reason that Christianity survived being fed to the lions was because they acutally choose peace over prejudice.

The lives of early Christians showed that accusations against them were lies.

1 Peter 2:15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.

The early believers actually fed the needy, accepted outcasts, buried the poor, cared for orphans and the aged, encouraged prisoners and victims of disasters, and showered compassion on the persecuted.

Their lives proved that Christianity produced a superior character. This is still the best proof of the reality of our faith.

I’m praying that PromiseLand is filled with people that are living out a declaration of the Gospel of Jesus. Sure we know how to describe the good news of Jesus from a theological standpoint (it’s always good to know good doctrine). BUT more than that, May God enable us today to make a bold demonstration of our mercy to others!

2. Christians Do Good.

James 2:14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?  17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

VERY IMPORTANT: This is NOT talking about not doing bad things (sinning). It is talking about DOING good things.

James is not saying in this particular passage that your “work” is your ability to not sin. He is saying that your works are the good deeds that you perform.

As we go through this passage, you will see two distinctive words: shown and counted. Your faith counts you righteous. Your actions show your faith.

On one hand, If we were God, then we wouldn’t need works to show or display our faith. God sees the heart and knows all things. We can’t see inside someone, so the only way we know if someone’s faith is legit, is to see some outward evidence in their life.

On the other hand, it is impossible for strong, effective faith to be lazy or selfish. You can’t separate faith and good works. Christians do Good.

18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” 21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.  24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.  26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.

Some translations say spirit instead of breath. The original word, pneuma means actually spirit breath. So it is all intertwined of sorts. God breathed life into the corpse of Adam in creation giving him a spirit breath. As your body, needs a spirit, so does your faith need works.

Look at the natural parallel as well: A healthy body has involuntarily muscles in the respiratory system that bring air in and out without you even knowing it. It is part of a healthy body.

Good works are the oxygen that a healthy faith body will bring in and out of it’s existence.

When Faith is inactive, it is entombed in a creed affirmed by the intellect. This has no more usefulness than a body with no heartbeat or breath – Holmann Commentary