James 1:26-2:8

James 1:26-2:28

Living out your faith; the way we view and treat others

26 “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless” 27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” It is important to take care of the poor, take care of social justice AND TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN MORAL LIVES! We need to make sure that we take care of ALL of these things. We cannot choose one or the other. Do not give special attention to CERTAIN people. All people, no matter what race, heritage, looks, ANYTHING, should be given our attention as potential spiritual believers, or even current believers and brothers and sisters. 3 “and if you pay attention to the one who wears 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?” 1 “My brothers, show no partiality, as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the lord of glory” Do no judge based on what “our culture” or “our world” says is right or “in”. ex. The rich get more recognition and respect than the poor. Faith in Jesus leaves no room for discrimination. We discriminate because it makes us feel better about ourselves. When we tear others down we feel higher than them, making us feel better. Gal 3:28 “There is neither Jew, nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This was even said BACK IN ANCIENT TIMES! People in ancient times even knew discrimination was wrong. The bible preaches, as well as Christ Jesus, that we are all ONE IN CHRIST. We should adopt God’s heart for the poor and underprivileged. Do we act this way? Do we care about the poor and underprivileged? This is a moral issue that ALL Christians should change. Proverbs 14:31 “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” Proverbs 29:7 “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” 8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well” Even if we open our bibles every day, hang out with Christians every day, go to church every day… we are still falling short of what God wants UNLESS we love our neighbors as ourselves. Unless we love people the way we care about ourselves. We tend to “self give love”. But we need to apply THAT thinking to OTHERS and not ourselves.

Summary:

-Our faith has direct implications for how we view and treat others.

-Our faith in Christ leaves no room for discrimination

-God’s heart for the poor concerns us with the poor too

-Loving God means loving others as ourselves.

-Take an honest look at how you view and treat others.

-God has a problem with our efforts to build ourselves up at the expense of others.

Become DOERS of the word.

Diakrinomal: standing in two different positions at the same time. Ex. Asking god for wisdom yet thinking that he will not give it to you.