James 2 Living in the Good Way

 Scripture: James 2:12 We have a new law to live by, which is the law of liberty, and we should make our life decisions accordingly.

 

Title: Living in the Good Way

 

Last week, in my teaching from chapter one of James I titled the content as The God Way. In summary, James was encouraging his readers to accept their lack of control over the experiences of this life and turn their attention to learning to react to this life with the joy and wisdom that God provides to those who will ask. When we choose to respond with the wisdom of God rather than the reaction of human emotion, we find a happier life in the long run. God knows best what will come our way and He is ready and willing to teach us how to best respond. Life with Jesus becomes a series of choices, do I choose according to my human desires or according to my newfound wisdom which Jesus is teaching me.

 

Now, in chapter two, James encourages all followers of Jesus to walk in The Good Way, which consists of seeing all people as God’s children, all sin as breaking the whole Law, and all faith as being complete only when we act according to what we believe.

 

James 2

1 Listen to me, please, do not look at our faith as if it gives us some special status in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are all sinners who have come to Him for help, there is no favoritism. 2 If someone shows up at our church with jewelry and clean clothes appearing to be rich, and at the same time a man arrives in dirty clothes and looks to be a poor man, 3 we need to treat them both the same, without showing favoritism. If we put the rich person in a fine stuffed seat, and stand the poor person in the corner, 4 haven't we distinguished between the two and judged them, and done so with motives of evil partiality? 5 That is not the right way to treat God's children. He has given great faith to those who are poor, and they are heirs of the kingdom He promised to all of us who love Him. 6 God loves him, and we have just judged him and shown him disrespect. When we have to go to court, is it the poor person who sues us or the rich man? 7 When we show favoritism towards people, we actually blaspheme the name of Jesus. Be careful.

 

There is not a person on this earth who is not a child of God, loved by God, and cared for by Him as well. Being a follower of Jesus does not make us better than anyone else. Our lives need to reflect that truth in every way.

 

Prejudice, the act of pre-judging others is so common among humans. We all have a natural inane desire to compare ourselves to others and judge others as being inferior. Whether we treat them differently because of their outward appearance, their wealth, their situation, or their chosen vocation, we are making a judgment call as to their worth to us.

 

God looks beyond the outward persona of someone and looks at them based upon what He knows about their heart. In every circumstance He sees our hurt and pain; He feels compassion for us and seeks to provide the needed help. He sees potential in every person and desires each one to turn in faith to Him and become all they were created for.

 

Prejudice is the act of our judging others with evil motives so that we can find a way for that person to benefit ourselves or what is close to us. The Words of Jesus remind us that judging others allows God the opportunity to use our standard of judgment upon us. I can tell you the truth, that I can never live up to the expectations I have for others. So, every time I judge another person with my standard of judgment, I condemn myself. If it were not for Jesus, I would be long dead and gone.

 

It seems from the New Testament stories that Jesus always treated people with kindness and respect. The only people Jesus had trouble with were the religious teachers who studied God’s Words and misrepresented them to the people for their own personal benefit and pride. And even then, He did not choose to destroy them but to encourage them to repent and change their ways.

 

The Good Way encourages us to choose a way of life of treating other people in the same way that Jesus treats us.

 

 8 The law Jesus gave us says we need to love our neighbor in the same way we love ourselves. It is good if we do this. 9 However, when we treat people with favoritism, we are acting different from God's desire. 10 Keep in mind this truth, stumbling in one small part of God's law, is stumbling in the whole law, a person is not just guilty of the one sin but of all sin. 11 God did not just give us a law about adultery, but about murder as well. If you avoid adultery but you murder someone, you are guilty of breaking the Law. 12 We have a new law to live by, which is the law of liberty, and we should make our life decisions accordingly. 13 Judgment will treat us in the same way we have treated others. If we have not shown mercy to others, why would we expect others or especially God to show mercy to us?

 

The Law given to Moses was full of specific things that were right and wrong to do. The Pharisees, whom Jesus had trouble with, encouraged the people to make every effort to do exactly as the Law prescribed, making people feel that God would somehow love them more if they were “good” people; meaning they did the “good” things of the Law.

 

However, James reminds all of us that when we break one little law, we are guilty of breaking the whole Law. Like the example he gives of showing favoritism or partiality towards others when we have different standards for different people. That one act of showing favoritism, which we all do, is evidence enough that we are all sinners and breakers of the Law.

 

Jesus came to give us the opportunity to live by a different Law than the Law of Moses. He called it the Law of Liberty. This Law says that when we are confronted with a choice, seek to choose the choice that leads to doing good for the other people involved. “Treat people the way we desire to be treated.” (Matthew 7:12 EBV) Act towards them with the same grace, forgiveness, and mercy which Jesus has shown to us.

 

James makes is clear that if we do not show mercy to others, we cannot expect other people to show mercy to us. Paul taught that, “a person will reap whatever they sow. When someone sows to gain personal benefit, they will reap difficulty and frustration. When someone sows the things of the Spirit, they will gain eternal life in return. 9 Please, do not give up on doing good things for others, you might not see the results right away, but do not grow weary, good things will come your way.” (Galatians 6:7-9 EBV) Solomon said, “Those who treat others with the ways of sin, will find that nothing good will come their way. Those who take care of others who have less, will in the long run find good things flood into their lives.” (Proverbs 22:7,8 EBV)

 

James concludes by saying, if we do not choose to treat other people with love and forgiveness, how can we expect God to treat us with love and forgiveness.

 

The Good Way reminds us that God took the first step by acting good towards us. He loved us so much that He gave Jesus to us, and through Jesus, complete forgiveness of our sins and the adoption of sonship into His eternal family. With this great example, He asks us to treat other people in the way we would like for them to treat us.

 

14 Listen, what does a person gain if he has faith but does not demonstrate that faith in some kind of work? Does faith alone save a person? 15 What if another person is without clothing or needs food, 16 and someone says to them, "Everything will be all right, be blessed," but gives the person nothing for their comfort, how does that benefit them? 17 Faith is good, but without some practical demonstration of that faith, the faith alone is useless. 18 The way I think about it, I will show you that I believe by the way I live my life. I do not think you can demonstrate your faith to others without doing something practical.

 

Faith in Jesus was not God’s way of making us happy so that we could sit around and enjoy the happiness of this life and forget about how we treated others. No, God brought the free gift of Jesus to us so we could believe in His gift and feel good about ourselves and seek to serve the world around us with His love. We no longer have to work to earn God’s favor, He loves us without our having first done for Him.

 

But faith that does not lead us to make changes is not really faith. If I believe that Jesus died for me, and I am not willing to care about others then I have missed the point of salvation. God is not asking me to do the right thing, He is asking me to joyously become like Him and mimic His acts to me by helping others.

 

When I die and get to heaven, I will not be asked the question about how good I have been. I will not have to stand on a scale and have my good works in this life outweigh by bad works. God does not love me because I did good things. If that is what I think this following Jesus is all about, then I have it all wrong, and all of my efforts have been fruitless.

 

I am going to heaven because of everything Jesus has done for me and everyone else. The life I have lived here on earth is just a response of doing good because of all of the good He has done for me. God does not want me to do good so He can love me; His love is not performance based. All He wants from me is to believe that He loves me. But if I believe, my life will change, and I will serve Him and love others.

 

The Good Way is a life that demonstrates to the world the love of God by my sharing with others what God has given to me.

 

19 If we say we believe that God is one, it is a good thing. But keep in mind that the demons also believe, and all they do is run in fear of Him. 20 We need to accept the truth that faith which is not demonstrated by action has no real value. 21 Looking at Abraham our father, he was justified by his work of offering up his son Isaac on the stone altar. 22 His works became the demonstration of his faith, and it was the combination of faith and works that strengthened him. 23 The Scriptures confirm this fact by saying, "Abraham had faith in God and by it he received the righteousness of God" and was called His friend. 24 This shows that justification is by works and not faith alone. 25 Another example is Rahab, the prostitute, who was also justified by her works when she welcomed and cared for the messengers of Israel. 26 Look at it this way, a body without a spirit is dead, and in the same way, faith without works is dead.

 

Jesus taught that the will of God was for us to believe in His son, whom He sent into the world. Jesus taught we need to believe in Him. And yet, Jesus taught that there will be a judgment day before the great throne of God where all of the people will be divided in front of the throne; not by race, not by nationality, not by religion, not by sex, but by whether or not we demonstrated our faith in the simplest possible way; a cup of cold water given to a neighbor. Were we willing to make a sacrifice of our time, or talent, or treasure, to love, to serve another?

The Good Way demonstrates the love of Jesus to others, it bears the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

 

The Good Way

Treat others as Jesus has treated us.

Remember God took the first step towards our forgiveness.

Demonstrates to the world the love of God in all we do.

Demonstrates the love of Jesus and the fruits of the Spirit,

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.