DISTINCTIONS

"Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?" (James 2:4).

 

"Distinctions" here means "differences" or "divisions".  The idea is that the church is noting their differences (i.e. rich vs poor).  These differences are distinctions that God himself does not make and thus they are futile.  At Grace River, we have learned to read "good" as "beneficial" and "evil" as "detrimental".  In this verse, then, we find that difference-finding or judging based on externals is detrimental.  It is the result of faulty reasoning.  We are not capable on our own of determining a person's present and future value especially by simply looking at externals like the way that they are dressed.  God judges the heart!

 

Today, let's continue to practice looking past what we see to find what God sees.

APPEARANCE

"and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,'" (James 2:3).

 

We make big mistakes when we make judgements based on appearance.  We are not able to discern the full potential of people and thus it is foolish to make judgements based on looks.  We don't know if people potentially are going to do us harm or do us good.  I am always excited to see new people come through the doors of Grace River.  I can only imagine the value that their gifts and their friendship will bring into our church.  Let's learn to see everyone that God brings to us as a gift and let's treat them as such.

 

Today, let's look past appearance and discover the amazing people that God is bringing into our lives.

VALUE

"For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes" (James 2:2)

 

James is setting up a situation where the church might show personal favoritism (receiving the face).  Two men show up for worship--a rich man and a poor man.  Which man receives the better welcome?  I once served on staff with a pastor who encouraged the evangelistic pursuit of the rich over the poor. Though he would never admit this, it was clear to me (a young youth pastor) that he believed practically that the rich were of more value to the church than were the poor.  What we do says more about what we believe than what we say.

 

Today, you will likely encounter both the rich and the poor.  How will you value them?

JUDGING

"My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism" (James 2:1)

 

"Personal favoritism" in the Greek could be translated literally, "to receive one's face".  In other words, it is to take something at face value.  It is to look at someone's face--someone's appearance, and to make a judgement based upon what you see.  James tells us that faith in Jesus does not allow us to just "receive one's face".  We are not to judge based on what we see (the external) but rather we are to judge based upon faith in what God is doing (the present internal work and the future potential fruit).  "For there is no partiality (face-receiving) with God" (Romans 2:11).

 

Today, let me encourage us all to resist the easy way of judging appearances, and rather, to prayerfully consider the value of all that God may be up to in someone's life.

RELIGION

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:27).

 

James told us in verse 26, that a person who talks too much with an unbridled tongue is not religious (spiritual).  In verse 27, he tells us what God is really looking for in religious activity.  The religious acts that God considers to be pure is to visit (implies helping and caring) orphans and widows.  In James' day, widows and orphans were the most vulnerable of all people--they had no way to provide for themselves.  They shared a common loneliness and a common place in a society that prevented them from making a livable wage.  The truly spiritual person's heart is moved to action by those who are suffering helplessly.

 

A second measure of spirituality is also included in verse 27--keeping oneself from the influence of the world's values.

 

So today, let us adopt two agendas: #1--accomplishing God's agenda in the world by caring for the broken and the helpless; and #2--accomplishing God's agenda in the world by guarding our hearts from all that the world would have us become.

LISTENING

"If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless" (James 1:26).

 

If we talk more than we listen, then it's a sure sign that we are deceiving ourselves.  James says that those of us who think we are religious (spiritual) can actually disprove our religion by talking too much.  James has been addressing listening vs speaking since verse 19. This is the eighth day in a row that we've addressed the importance of hearing vs speaking.  I'm thinking that it must be important!  James uses the imagery today of riding a horse.  Our tongues, he says, should be bridled--controlled.  Please understand it's not the horse who controls the bridle--it's the rider.  In our case, God is the one who should be bridling our tongue--directing the direction of our words--or pulling back strongly and shouting "Whoa!"  Bottomline: if you think that you are spiritual, and yet you talk more than you listen, then you are fooling yourself--God isn't really in control of your tongue--or anything else for that matter.  By the way, "worthless" in the Greek means "vain, empty, useless, and dead".

 

Today, practice listening more than you speak.  Start by letting God have the bigger part of your prayer-time.  Listen to Him...and then listen to everyone else that he brings your way today.

BLESSED

"But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetul hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25).

I love these kinds of verses!  We have a promise today!  "This man will be blessed in what he does"!  How would you like to be blessed in everything that you do today?  Sign me up--I'm ready!  There is a condition, however.  Back up one phrase from the blessing and we see that the one who will be blessed is characterized by being "an effectual doer" not "a forgetful hearer".  "Effectual doing" is effective activity--in other words, doing the things that work--the things that God is already doing around you.  "Effectual doing" is working at the things that God has already determined to bless--the very things that he is revealing to you.  There is one more thing that is revealed in today's verse in regards to having everything you do blessed by God.  We must look "intently" or very carefully at the "perfect law" (the Bible), which James further describes as "the law of liberty".  God has already set you up to succeed today and He is giving you strong hints about what to do and how to do it.  You need only take a long enough pause to listen carefully to what he is revealing in His Word--the very Word that frees you today.

Crack open your Bible today, read a paragraph or two, and affirm what it says to you and about you.  Then, walk forward in blessing!