James 1:26-2:13
Audio file is at the end of this text.
However, by trying to keep up with all of our good deeds and rack up "points" to win God's favor, we are putting God in a box of our own making. We do this because it makes sense to us. We are much more comfortable measuring ourselves against other people and thinking that by being better than another person we will work our way into heaven. Forget this. You cannot earn God's favor because God gives it to you as a free gift when you choose to accept it.
Let's try to answer the questions: What pleases God?
What is pure religion?
Now that you trust God, what does your life look like?
James lays down a big challenge when he says in verse 26 that talking is not religion. The Message translations says, "talking a good game...is hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight and guard against corruption from the godless world."
James is calling us into the service of all people who are in need. This makes the challenge so big and so bold that we can never get it all done but we try to do whatever we can whenever we can to lighten the burden for others.
Avoiding corruption is as big a challenge as taking care of people in need. Football coach, Lou Holtz, had one rule for his players and he called it the Do Right Rule. He told these college athletes that they know what is right and what is wrong and in every situation he expected them to, "do right." And if they had a doubt about what was right or wrong to do, just don't do it. Rather than making a big list of rules for his players like, go to class, make your grades, avoid tobacco and alcohol and drugs, be in bed by curfew, he just said, do right.
Saturday night I performed a wedding and I told them than their home is sacred and they must protect it. I advise every young couple and you too, do not associate with people who pull you away from God, only associate with people who pull you toward God.
I am not saying that you should judge people because that is God's job. I am saying that you should use good judgment to protect yourself from a terribly corrupt culture.
James warns us not to elevate people with money while ignoring people who appear to have less than we have. He reminds us that God looks at the heart and that God revealed himself in Jesus first to the poor. Think about how God ministered to the spirits of Africans who were enslaved by their own people, crammed into ships and brought to a foreign place and made to work for nothing and treated like animals! Those same people sang worship songs of praise as they worked in the field and out of this extreme abuse the songs we now call Negro Spirituals were born. This music could only happen because God was taking care of the poorest. Since God favors the poor then we should favor the poor.
Then finally James says, "Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time."
What is the Rule that sets us free? Jesus reduced all the past instructions down to: 1) Love the Lord your God and, 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. We are free from the old laws that bind, the big lists that go on and on. This brings to mind Martin Luther King's speech, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last." If you have Christ, you are free and there is no scorecard required.
James lays down a big challenge when he says in verse 26 that talking is not religion. The Message translations says, "talking a good game...is hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight and guard against corruption from the godless world."
James is calling us into the service of all people who are in need. This makes the challenge so big and so bold that we can never get it all done but we try to do whatever we can whenever we can to lighten the burden for others.
Avoiding corruption is as big a challenge as taking care of people in need. Football coach, Lou Holtz, had one rule for his players and he called it the Do Right Rule. He told these college athletes that they know what is right and what is wrong and in every situation he expected them to, "do right." And if they had a doubt about what was right or wrong to do, just don't do it. Rather than making a big list of rules for his players like, go to class, make your grades, avoid tobacco and alcohol and drugs, be in bed by curfew, he just said, do right.
Saturday night I performed a wedding and I told them than their home is sacred and they must protect it. I advise every young couple and you too, do not associate with people who pull you away from God, only associate with people who pull you toward God.
I am not saying that you should judge people because that is God's job. I am saying that you should use good judgment to protect yourself from a terribly corrupt culture.
James warns us not to elevate people with money while ignoring people who appear to have less than we have. He reminds us that God looks at the heart and that God revealed himself in Jesus first to the poor. Think about how God ministered to the spirits of Africans who were enslaved by their own people, crammed into ships and brought to a foreign place and made to work for nothing and treated like animals! Those same people sang worship songs of praise as they worked in the field and out of this extreme abuse the songs we now call Negro Spirituals were born. This music could only happen because God was taking care of the poorest. Since God favors the poor then we should favor the poor.
Then finally James says, "Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time."
What is the Rule that sets us free? Jesus reduced all the past instructions down to: 1) Love the Lord your God and, 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. We are free from the old laws that bind, the big lists that go on and on. This brings to mind Martin Luther King's speech, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last." If you have Christ, you are free and there is no scorecard required.
