{"id":6841,"date":"2019-12-22T20:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6841"},"modified":"2019-12-22T16:05:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T23:05:19","slug":"james2_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/james2_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"The Silliness and Sinfulness of Showing Favoritism"},"content":{"rendered":"

James 2:1-13 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is James 2:1-13.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

James 2:1 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 James rebukes his readers for showing favoritism to rich people when they would walk into church while treating the poorer attendees poorly.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0\u00a0Do you show favoritism?\u00a0\u00a0Do you treat people whom you meet well or poorly based on how rich, beautiful or well-connected they appear to be, or based on what we think they can do for us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of us today have the tendency to \u201csize people up\u201d when we first meet them, to favour certain people over others based on external, superficial differences we see.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet the Bible calls showing favoritism sin.\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because\u00a0showing favoritism falls short of the way God loves us.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0God does not show favoritism (see Romans\u00a02:11).\u00a0\u00a0Jesus did not die only for those in the highest tax bracket, or only for those whom he thought could advance His cause. Jesus died for everyone.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0God calls us to love people regardless of how they \u201csize up\u201d in our eyes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

James 2:5-6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-7:\u00a0\u00a0In verses 1-4 James points out the sinfulness of showing favoritism.\u00a0\u00a0In verses 5-7 he points out the silliness of showing favoritism.\u00a0\u00a0The silliness of showing favoritism is summarized well by Pastor Jon Courson.\u00a0\u00a0He writes that often times \u201cthe people we try to impress the most are those who care about us the least\u2014while the people who really would be open to receiving from us are those for whom we think we don’t have time.\u201d (Courson, Jon.\u00a0Jon Courson’s Application Commentary \u2013 Jon Courson’s Application Commentary New Testament<\/em>. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004. WORDsearch<\/em>\u00a0CROSS e-book.)<\/p>\n

James 2:8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 8-9:\u00a0\u00a0James calls the command to \u201clove your neighbor as yourself\u201d \u201cthe royal law found in Scripture\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Why is it the \u201croyal law\u201d?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0First, it\u2019s royal because the One who laid the law down is the King of kings.\u00a0\u00a0Second, it\u2019s royal because this is how God expects you and me, His royal children, to behave.\u00a0\u00a0Third, it\u2019s royal because to love your neighbor as yourself sums up so many of the other commands found in Scripture (see Matthew 22:37-38).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we show favoritism in our dealings with people, we\u2019re not just being superficial or selfish.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re sinning against God and breaking His royal law.<\/p>\n

James 2:10-11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-11:\u00a0\u00a0We can\u2019t pick and choose which of God\u2019s commands we will believe and obey, and which ones we won\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s commands are all interconnected and come together as one whole, one package, such that if I break one part of it, I break the entire thing.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why, from a legal standpoint, the person who sins 1,000 times and the person who sins once are in the same boat: both of them have sinned and fall short of God\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n

James 2:12-13 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-13:\u00a0\u00a0Since all of us have sinned and broken God\u2019s law, who are we to mercilessly judge and condemn others for their sin?\u00a0\u00a0Instead of mercilessly judging and condemning others, may we remember the cross where Jesus died<\/strong>, the place where God\u2019s \u201cmercy triumphs over judgment\u201d (v13), and\u00a0may we live our lives humbly and compassionately, always pointing ourselves and others to the cross where Jesus paid for all of our sins.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us the way that You do, how Your love does not depend on our economic status or social standing.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for seeing that all of us, no matter how rich, beautiful or well put together we may appear, are in the need of Your mercy, and thus You died for us all.\u00a0\u00a0May I love people regardless of how they \u201csize up\u201d in my eyes, because that\u2019s the way You love me.\u00a0\u00a0Since mercy triumphs over judgment, may I treat others with mercy too.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is James 2:1-13.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

James 2:1 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 James rebukes his readers for showing favoritism to rich people when they would walk into church while treating the poorer attendees poorly.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0\u00a0Do you show favoritism?\u00a0\u00a0Do you treat people whom you meet well or poorly based on how rich, beautiful or well-connected they appear to be, or based on what we think they can do for us?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of us today have the tendency to \u201csize people up\u201d when we first meet them, to favour certain people over others based on external, superficial differences we see.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet the Bible calls showing favoritism sin.\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because\u00a0showing favoritism falls short of the way God loves us.\u00a0\u00a0God does not show favoritism (see Romans\u00a02:11).\u00a0\u00a0Jesus did not die only for those in the highest tax bracket, or only for those whom he thought could advance His cause. Jesus died for everyone.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0God calls us to love people regardless of how they \u201csize up\u201d in our eyes.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6844,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841\/revisions\/6844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}