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Faith Without Favoritism 0:02 Well, hello. Welcome to the men's global livestream. I'm Dusty Davis, and I'm excited to welcome you into week 2, of our walk through the book of James, a series that we've called, building0:14 a faith that works. And we've been encouraged by James so far. And and James is writing again to the believers who have been dispersed all throughout the Roman empire. And he's encouraging0:26 and instructing them and in so encouraging and instructing us about how it is that we're supposed to live when we're surrounded by a culture that doesn't share our same values, a0:38 culture that's not living the same way that we are. It's the very same way that James was encouraging the believers. Scattered all throughout the Roman Empire, they were living in a culture like we are whose values,0:50 whose goals, whose desires, a society and a culture who whose sources of truth were often at odds with those who are following after Jesus. And so there's a lot1:02 that James can encourage us in. There's a lot that he can instruct us in our faith practically. I mean, how is it that we're gonna successfully navigate today's culture when our life's1:14 aim is often the very opposite of the culture that we find ourselves in? Well, men of God, be encouraged because it turns out, this is the way that the followers of Jesus have1:25 been living since the very beginning when we're living in the upside down kingdom. So today, we're gonna jump in, grab your bibles and turn with me to James chapter 2. I'm gonna be reading from the New1:37 Living Translation primarily. This is God's word for us, James chapter 2 starting in verse 1. My dear brothers and sisters, how can we claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus1:49 Christ if you favor some people over others? For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is2:01 poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor 1, you can stand over there or else sit on the2:13 floor. Well, doesn't this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? James is going after a huge problem that was2:24 beginning to surface in the early church and unfortunately, it's a problem that remains in nearly every social gathering that you and I find ourselves a part of today, including the2:36 church. And this is the sin that is known as partiality. Well, what James is getting at basically is this. Partiality means that we're gonna base our treatment2:48 of someone or even our care for someone, and we're gonna base that on something other than what it should be. Right? James is saying that there there's3:00 no place for this kind of biased treatment amongst God's people. This idea of of favoritism, of preferential treatment. In in the original text,3:12 in the Greek, it's 1 long word that comes out of 2 different words. Check this out. The first word in the Greek means to receive or to take. And the second word means to3:23 face or a person, to receive or take a person. What James is literally getting at is that this is the sin of taking someone at face3:35 value or receiving someone based on how they appear. It's quite simply judging a person by what they look like on the3:46 outside. The encouragement for you and I here is that we should never ever ever let our care for people be influenced by our impression3:58 of people. Our care for someone, the way that we move towards somebody should never be based on what it is that we see or even what it is that we hear. It should not be influenced or controlled by4:10 how it is that we see people, yet we do this all the time. And if we're trying to see in our hearts built a faith that works, the type of faith that James is encouraging the brothers,4:23 and sisters dispersed is is that nothing as shallow as our own personal viewpoints can ever be our true north for how people are supposed to be treated. For4:35 god's man, it's our faith in Jesus Christ, not our desire for gain, not even our personal preferences and viewpoints or prejudices. Those are not what are gonna direct the way that we receive people and the way4:47 that we care for them. Really, sort of a spiritual thermometer for you and I is our care for other people. Our care for other people reveals a lot about our own4:58 faith in Jesus. Our faith then really works itself out in the manner that you and I reach out to the people around us regardless of how they appear. Now in this specific5:10 example, if you keep reading, James is talking about treating people a certain way with regards to whether or not they're rich or poor. James goes on to describe exactly what5:22 this looks like and why it is that we have to avoid it. But like I said, we do this all the time. We do it over different things just, bigger than social status. We make snap decisions about a5:34 person, and we decide right away what they're like, what their story is. We make decisions based on race, where someone grew up, where they live now, their political5:45 views. Are they democrat? Are they republican? Are they something else entirely? Preferences on what they do for fun. We even discriminate based on if people share the same plans and hobbies as we do.5:57 Here's the problem. I'm looking to put people into a category. I'm looking to make a snap decision based on whether or not this person is worthy of my fair treatment or kind treatment or6:09 caring treatment or or not? And usually, there's 2 motivators behind this, especially when I'm looking at someone who's either rich or poor. And that's this. 1, are they like me?6:21 2, can they do something for me? And this is the exact same trap the early church was falling into. They looked at the people around them and said, are they like me? Do they look like me? Do they come from the same6:33 places I do? Do we share the same customs and social cues? Or do I stand to profit from a friendship with this individual? Can they do something for me? Are these people6:45 gonna agree with me? Are these people going to better me? Now these are snap decisions we make all day and yet the word brothers calls this sin. Favoritism6:57 has no place in God's family, and yet we all do it. We all, myself, we all do this to some degree. This shows up in each of our lives. It could7:09 be as simple as an attitude that I carry into a situation, or it could be as extreme as reserving care for another. And it just should not be so7:21 especially for God's children. Look at what verse 1 said, if we claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus, How can we, in essence,7:32 profess the name of Jesus and then withhold loving care based on how somebody looks? I mean, this is talking about the glorious Lord Jesus. Some of your translations say, the Lord7:44 of glory. Preferential treatment forgets who God is and who I am. Favoritism, all this type of preference lifts7:56 me up while pushing Jesus down in my life. It lifts me up where I become the bar that I set as to whether or not somebody's in or out, and it just minimizes the impact8:08 of Jesus on the transformation of my own heart. The simple truth, boys, is that we wanna create grooves in society. Classes, castes, groups, and we want to put people into those8:20 groups when the reality is James is reminding us there's basically 2 groups. There's the God who dwells in unapproachable light and everybody else.8:32 No classes, no castes, no categories. God, us. Period. That mindset makes it impossible for me to move out and be guilty of8:44 partiality. But, when we live out this type of favoritism, look at whose seat it says we're sitting in. Verse 4 says, these judgments8:57 reveal evil motives. In order to be partial, in order to decide who's in and out, I have to sit myself down in the judgment seat. The9:09 judgment seat reserved for God alone and I then decide who's in and who's out. I decide who gets treated well, who gets dismissed. I decide who has value and then conversely who doesn't.9:21 And you're thinking, Dusty, you're making this sound way gnarlier than it is in my life. I can't help it if I get along with some people because we have a shared history or shared heritage or shared interests.9:33 Our culture does that. Our culture surrounds themselves only with people that are like me, can benefit me, agree with me. God's people don't or at least we shouldn't. Our9:45 culture lifts up the famous. Our culture lifts up the beautiful, the skilled, those who can better us and yet Christ came to preach the good news to whom? To the poor, to the9:57 outcast, to the lost. Look at verse 5. Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be10:08 rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the kingdom he promises to those who love him? God chose those that the world10:20 overlooked. And he did so with his own perfect purposes in mind. We see poverty. God sees spiritual riches. Those who will inherit the kingdom. When you10:32 and I love those who are unlovable, we act like Jesus. When we love those who are wonderful and easily loved, we act just like the10:44 world. We never look more like Jesus than when we move out in love to those that are furthest away, to those that are most difficult to love. The lost, the10:56 sinful, the unlovely. Those are the ones that our father in heaven runs after and so it would suit that that's what we would be about as well. I mean, is there anything that11:07 runs more contrary to the gospel than favoritism? Than preferential treatment? Isn't the gospel truth that Christ sought out those living in11:19 open sin and rebellion that includes you and that includes me. Isn't Jesus still seeking those who can do nothing for him? Gosh. Jesus ran after11:31 those who only wanted things from him. Isn't the gospel the most all inclusive drawing in thing on the planet that all the earth would know that Christ is11:43 the way and the truth and the life. If that's the reality, then let's take favoritism seriously. Whenever we see it showing up in our hearts or coming out of our mouths, Let's11:55 let that reminder move us out to offer specific and special care and attention to those that are furthest away, to those who are most overlooked by this society. Let's12:06 live intelligently, intentionally, and wisely. James continues to encourage us right where we're living. He goes on verse 8, he12:18 says, it's good when you obey the law to love your neighbor as yourself. But if you favor some people over others, you're committing a sin and you're guilty of breaking12:30 the law. This is gnarly language. This isn't just preference. He's calling it sin. We are not just encouraged. We're commanded12:42 to move out in Christ like love that shows no favoritism that intentionally seeks to save the lost. And as James continues to unpack, he12:54 raises the bar for us and then he inserts an important why. Look at verse 12. So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember13:07 that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. James is saying here, whatever it is that you're saying and whatever it is that you're doing, he's talking about our13:19 whole lives. Every word that comes from our mouth, every action that we step into, he's saying, remember remember that you will be judged. This is not13:31 to incite fear in our hearts. Bible tells us that perfect love casts out fear. This is not to get you and I to stew and worry about our salvation. What James is saying is this,13:43 live as though it matters. Live as though your life matters. James is saying, why not live as if you'll be judged in order to motivate13:55 you towards the things of God? We get grace wrong very often in our life. We think it lets us off the hook to live however it is that we want to. The Christ saved us and now it's14:07 like, see you. I'm gonna go live my own life the way that I want and and maybe someday God will will reconcile. We act as though we'll never stand before God himself. The14:19 1 who promises that every deed will either be rewarded or punished. I wanna remind you and remind myself when I read that we are free from14:31 the penalty of sin. Christ freed us on the cross. His perfect life served as the perfect atonement for our our sin.14:43 And you and I don't move out in obedience now in order to earn his love. We are perfectly loved and so we move out in obedience to bring glory to God. Our life is a very big thank you.14:55 That's the motivator. But we need to live soberly. We need to allow that to move us toward the things of God. Look at verse 13. There will be no mercy15:07 for those who have not shown mercy to others. That's frightening. It keeps going. But if you've been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.15:19 This sounds wonderful. It makes a lot of sense when I read that. I should want for others the things that I desire for myself. That that makes sense to even my human mind. But in the moment,15:31 when I'm living and my flesh is getting louder and louder and louder, I love mercy for me, but I want judgment for you. I love grace and mercy for myself,15:43 but I want wrath and punishment and accountability for the people that I think deserve it. And James is just blowing that kind of thinking up right here. He's talking specifically15:55 about the amount of mercy that we show other people and then the mercy that god the father is gonna show us. How can we reserve love or care or or encouragement or16:06 forgiveness from those in my life? How can I, when it's in my power, ever withhold anything that I would then go to the father and ask16:18 for? For example, how can you and I walk by someone living in poverty? Ignoring or dismissing them and then go home and sit at the feet of God16:30 and ask him to take care of our financial needs. And guys, this verse, the verse telling us that we're gonna be given mercy according to how we offer it is not a16:42 threat. It's as if James was reminding us about the true nature of the gospel. It's more like James is is asking if we really grasp the16:54 mercy that we've received from God the father, wouldn't we freely offer it to others? Because for God's man, it's not fear of punishment that moves us out into acts of compassion.17:06 It's an understanding of the gospel. It's not fear. We're not avoiding punishment. We've been loved much and so we move out and love much. That's the nature17:18 of the gospel is that we were sick. We were dead, it says. Disgusting were our deeds in the eyes of a perfect God. He knows every secret thought and desire17:31 in my heart, in your heart. He knows everything that's ever gone through our minds. He knows all things. All the darkness that resides in us and he didn't look at me and think, wow, Dusty should not make the17:43 team. I mean, his his heart's not like mine at all. He's critical and judgmental and and yet he's arrogant and he and he's dismissive. I think I'm gonna choose somebody with a little less to clean up. That's17:54 not that's not how our God pursued me. Our God pursued me in the middle of my sin while I was still a sinner shaking my fist at him, Romans 5 8 says. He died for me. He chose me.18:06 He moved towards me. And he still comes after us, rescuing us, offering himself for us. The gospel is that you and I can be called sons and daughters of18:18 the living God. And so the last thing that we should ever do is show favoritism. Instead, we should go out. Maybe especially to those who seem18:31 least deserving. The gospel draws in to the family of God through Jesus Christ. Why would we ever endeavor to keep someone out? And18:42 just like our treatment of people reveals a lot about our own faith and our understanding of who Jesus was, our care for other people, the way that we move out towards other people18:54 puts on display our understanding of the gospel. The way that we've been pursued should be echoed in the way that we pursue. And that's the motivation for God's children. Not so that we19:06 will be forgiven, but because we've been forgiven. And now we get to it. Now we get to it verse 14. This is sort of the anchor passage of this19:18 entire series. 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 save19:30 anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing and you say, goodbye. Have a good day. Stay warm. Eat well. But then you don't give that person any food or clothing.19:42 What good does that do? Now James is continuing right here in this theme of talking and and doing. Right? About what it is that we say19:54 we're about and then what it is our lives display that we're about. And he makes it so clear that it's almost a little bit scary. He says, does your faith mean anything if it never20:06 moves you to act? How scary is that line? Can that kind of faith save you? Yikes. Now is James saying that there are things that you and I have20:18 to do in order to be saved? Is he saying there's certain boxes that we have to to check? Is there an uncertainty about the nature of our salvation? Will will this new obedience then20:30 create real faith in us? No. That's not at all what James is saying. What he's saying is this, our works don't create our faith. They reveal it.20:43 Our words do not create faith inside of us. They just put on display what type of faith is in us. It reveals the way we live, reveals what it is we truly believe.20:56 He's not saying that if you and I have works, then we will have a saving faith. What he's saying is if we have a true and real saving faith and we have a21:07 real understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what he's done for us and a true understanding of the depth nature of our sin and how undeserving we are and how big and beautiful his love is,21:19 then we will not be able to stop ourselves from moving out in love. True and real faith will move our hands and feet. It21:31 won't just stir up emotions inside of us. And then we will see ourselves desiring the things that Christ did and going after the type of people that he did. Our hearts towards people21:43 will change. The faith that's inside of us will start leaking out of us in the way that we talk. The way that we talk to people and the way that we talk about people. It will be different. It will be21:55 seasoned by the Holy Spirit. The things that you and I live for, our greatest desires and goals, they won't be things at all. It'll be to see the kingdom built. It'll be to see22:07 more and more people drawn in will have new priorities. The focus, the center focus of our lives will change. Our aim will no longer be power22:18 or possessions or positions in this world, but rather it will be about making the name of Jesus great. Because you and I cannot see Jesus Christ for who he22:30 truly is and then be content to allow him to just be a part of our lives. It's not possible. It's not possible to see Christ for who he is and not offer everything thing22:42 we are to him. The behavior puts on display the belief. No more can I claim to be a surfer and never surf, or claim to be a runner and never run, or a cyclist and22:54 never bike? I can't claim the name of Jesus and then not seek after the same things that he did. Our actions reveal our faith.23:06 It's it's a lot like when you have a fever. You take your temperature. That's not the cause of the illness. The fever just reveals what's going on on the inside. That those23:18 actions don't create the faith. They just reveal like a spiritual thermometer what's going on inside of our lives. And we don't want to look at things that way,23:30 do we? There's so much expectation on the other end of that. And here's the sad reality. I love the things of God, but often I pursue them more than I pursue God himself.23:42 How often do we want God's stuff? Blessings, purpose, joy, peace, the fruits of the spirit. I want all the feel goodness that comes from knowing the God of the universe. I want health and blessing23:54 and safety and security. But all of that is just a way to help me worship me. And here, James is so challenging. He's challenging that overall thinking. Look at24:06 verse 17. So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and it is useless. Could24:18 James have picked 2 gnarlier words? Dead. Not sick, not ailing, dead. Useless. Not that faith is not gonna create a lot of goodness24:30 in this world. It's dead. It's useless. He's saying, I don't care boys how much you talk about your faith. How much you love the idea of it I don't care if your car is plastered with Christian24:42 stickers if social media is constantly full of your post with Bible verses or things that you've done or your desire to be perceived a certain way I don't care if you've covered your bodies with Christian tattoos24:53 or t shirts or whatever. He's saying, I don't care how much of this you've taken in if none of it's ever getting out. If all that goodness is just coming in and25:05 being put on display and ever moving itself out in true loving care towards others, then James says that type of faith is dead. The Dead Sea in Israel is dead because it just25:17 takes in. It's poured into. It's poured into. It's filled up and the salt content is so high that not 1 thing can live there. It is dead. It is useless. So25:29 is God's man if there's no outlet for God's goodness in his life. If the goodness that God pours in has no channel to get out, then we shouldn't be surprised that our faith25:41 is dead and useless. James even goes on into this this next argument. He verses 18 and verses 19 if you look at it, it's kind of a fictitious argument. Right? Stirring25:52 up whether or not faith or works has greater merit as if we could ever separate the 2. It's a James is trying to head off that kind of thinking like boys don't don't separate them. They are26:04 completely joined for the follower of Jesus are being and are doing are always connected. They're always connected. Our our doing grows out of our being.26:17 Just like our works grow out of our faith. And James is looking at this and trying to show how crazy it would be to try to separate faith and works as if that was26:29 even possible. As if it was possible to say we had faith and not put it on display. It'd be like telling your wife you love her and never doing a thing for26:40 her. If my love for my wife was only an idea or emotion and not a reality, it would not be love at all. And I think that's what James is trying to get26:52 across to us here. Doesn't real love always move us to action? Shouldn't real love always move us to action? Shouldn't the love that we have for27:04 Jesus and the belief that he is who he claimed to be move us out to do something? And I love that the call is not for us to then go out and offer sacrifices to God27:16 or memorize scripture. Our love for Jesus should move us out in love for others. Our love for our King should move us out in love for his people, for27:28 his children. Sometimes our greatest opportunity to love God is to love people. Our love for, our admiration, our appreciation, our respect,27:39 our offer Jesus Christ should move us out to love people radically the way that he did. Just as we've been loved radically, so we27:51 move out in radical love. Matthew 10 8, Jesus is reminding the disciples about how they should be going out. He said, freely you've been given. So freely give. And he's not just talking about28:03 resources. Freely you've been given love and grace and mercy and forgiveness. So freely offer those things away. Not inviting abuse, not28:15 inviting sin, but offering God's love. Look at what Christ offered us. Grace, mercy, love, forgiveness. We've said that. What about freedom?28:27 Freedom from sin, freedom from who we used to be. What about the restoration we've experienced between us and God the father, a restored relationship? What about the protection that he provides us daily? The provision,28:38 his purpose reconciling us to God almighty. That is what I'm supposed to move out and that's what I freely received and so that's what I will freely give away28:50 to the people that Jesus puts in my life. He gives us a beautiful picture of what it could look like or maybe better what it should look like for the follower of Jesus to live out of faith29:02 that works. So you and I would be people who live in such a way that our actions would reveal what it is we truly believe in our hearts.29:14 Look at verse 21. Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when when he offered his son29:26 Isaac on the altar you see his faith listen to this his faith and his actions worked together, and his actions made his faith29:38 complete. How beautiful is that? How beautiful is that picture that Abraham put his faith on display? Now we talked in James chapter29:50 1 that that trials will strengthen or or purify our faith. Right? As as that silver was getting heated up and purified. This week, we learned that our actions reveal30:02 what's going on inside of us. They they put our faith on display. And let's not twist things up because this could lead us into an action30:13 where where our actions come from a heart of duty, of shoulds, of oughts, of supposed to. We cannot grudgingly go out to appease God by doing things that he commanded30:25 without a heart that seeks to delight in him. Without a heart that's found it's it's delight in him. But how can we claim to love Jesus?30:37 How can we claim to value his word above all things and then live just like everybody else. In in in James chapter30:49 2 verse 19, he when he was having that debate between faith and between works, he reminds us that the 1 who's living by faith,31:02 has has right theology, but not just right theology. He reminds them that even demons have perfect theology.31:14 Even demons, it says, believe that Jesus is who he says he is. So the question is, are we living differently than demons?31:26 That sounds gnarly because you think immediately, of course. I'm I'm on team Jesus. What I'm asking is this, are we simply acknowledging what's true about the bible?31:38 Or are we allowing it to inform the way that we live? Because even the demons believe. Right? It says they go over a step further. They even shutter out31:50 of respect fear of God. But here's the difference for them and for us between a faith that a demon possesses and the faith that works. Demons don't let their32:02 faith, their belief inform their actions. A demon does not let an understanding of who God is move them to submitting their lives to him, to worshiping him in32:14 truth, to submitting everything that they are. They refuse to come under the leadership of Jesus Christ acknowledging sin, acknowledging our own limitations and receiving his grace.32:26 Let's not allow ourselves to have a cerebral faith. A faith that's just an idea or an understanding of who it is that God is. James32:38 reminds us that belief alone just puts us on par with demons. Look at verse 26. Just as the body is dead without breath,32:51 so also faith is dead without good works. He's saying, you know, when your soul leaves the body, you're dead. In the same way, when there is no33:03 action, when there is no outflowing of your Christian life through your faith, then it's also dead. I love that this is just a straight up blunt passage.33:14 It forces you and I to take a look at our own lives, to weigh our actions, to make sure that our faith and our works like Abraham's are working together, That our life is33:26 putting on display what it is we claim to be about. And so here are the questions. Look back on this past week. Look back at your time since our last33:38 session together. Is there anything different? Have you taken steps towards the people God's put in your life? Perhaps it's reading the scriptures more sitting in the33:50 mornings and letting the Holy Spirit open your eyes, letting him search your heart, praying, communicating towards God, and then sitting and listening to him. Maybe it's it's taking a step towards34:02 real and authentic and accountable community with other brothers. Maybe it's refraining from ranting on social media. Maybe it's offering grace or forgiveness,34:15 but let's be men who move out. Let's let our faith inform where our hands and our feet and our mouths let's let our let's let all of our34:27 lives be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Let's let the things that we read about move us towards a faith that works. Let's make sure that we have a living faith.34:38 Amen? Let me pray. Heavenly father, I thank you for this study. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth that we get that meets us right where we're living. In a culture whose34:50 definition of truth and whose goals and whose purposes are so far from yours, I pray that we would be a people whose faith informs our lives, whose35:02 actions and faith work together. I pray that we would have in us a living faith that we would see those in need and move towards them in the same love that Jesus Christ moved towards35:14 us in. God, build in us a faith that works, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll see you next time.In this video 0:00 Faith Without Favoritism
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