Reading: James 2:1-13
Speaker: Paul McCabe
Thoughts on Wise Living
Never judge a book by its cover.
Really? Never? Are you sure? I know I judge books by their covers all the time.I also judge films by their posters, recipes by their pictures, and yes, I have certainly judge people by appearance. Even at church.
We live in a world of image. We have all glanced around church and wondered about kind of day or kind of life other members are having. We wonder about their background but never ask. We think because we combed our hair or polished our shoes or wore our “Sunday best” that we are somehow above them.
James has harsh words and a righteous reality check for us. He explains that our partiality and the Lord’s glory are sinfully separate. Ours is to be a welcoming space. A church where the shivering homeless get a comfy seat and a warm cuppa as if they were the Mayor visiting.
Having just spoken about living faith and being doers of the Word, James now offers an all-too-realistic case of casual sin. He knows that from time immemorial, men and women have favoured those we think might benefit us. We see the rich and aspire to be them, or at the very least catch their loose change.
To show more love and kindness to the rich than the poor is inconsistent with faith in Christ. We trust God, do we not? Then we must trust Him to provide for and protect us, not hope that we will gain the favour of the rich. After all, it was the rich who oppressed James’ original readers, and I argue little has changed in the millennia since.
To those critics who say that James and Paul are at odds with one another, that James teaches work and Paul teaches faith, let us compare two verses:
“My beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?” (James 2:5)
and…
“God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
I ask you, where is the difference? Where is the conflict? There is none! The inspired thinking of James and Paul is in perfect unison. We who are lowly have been raised to glorious heights. We are adopted by the Lord of all. We call the One who made all things and sustains all things our Father and our Friend. So who are we to cast aspersions on others? Let alone fellow Christians.
Ours is an upside-down gospel. The Lord Jesus could have been born in silk robes and set upon an earthly thrown. But He was not! Just the opposite. For though Jesus was God, “He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being” (Philippians 2:6-7). Knowing this, we must have the same attitude as Christ who welcomed lowly outcasts into His kingdom.
There is only one distinction that matters. That God, the Lord of all, mourned mankind’s sin and their separation from Him. That He took on weak human flesh. That He cast off heaven for a time, came to earth, and humbled Himself in obedience to the Father, dying a criminal’s death on a cross to repair the damage we had done.
This is how the King of kings and Lord of lords behaved. He fulfilled the royal law of love that James here defines. Jesus loved His neighbour as Himself. He laid down His life for His friends, and for the clueless masses (myself included) who took years to see they had the greatest of friends in Jesus.
So as James says: “Speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:12-13).