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What if the people you think are spinning the church downhill are exactly the people Jason wants you to make room for?
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I'm Pastor Jason Barnett, and this is The First Pastor on the Podcast.
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Thank you for listening in.
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I'm Pastor Jason Martha, aka the Nerdpath Pastor.
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Have you ever noticed how quickly we can size somebody up?
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Sometimes it only takes a few seconds.
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And we do that by because we notice what they're wearing, or we hear their last name, or we've learned where they're from, or hear a little bit of their story.
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And before we've ever really gotten to know them, we've already decided something about them.
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And here's what's really uncomfortable about that scenario.
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We've all been on both sides of that.
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We've all made assumptions about somebody else.
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And most of us know what it feels like when somebody makes an assumption about us.
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And sometimes those moments don't seem like a big deal.
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But other times they leave marks we carry for years.
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So today's message from James 2.
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We're going to wrestle with what our faith has to say about the way we see each other.
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And why something that seems so ordinary to us gets some surprisingly strong words from James.
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So pull up a chair and let's head down the dirt path together.
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Now, if you are going to start a new Christian denomination, right?
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A new denomination of the church, you know, a new denomination of the already 50,000 different denominations of Christianity out there, uh, what type of person would you want to start your church with?
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Think about that for a second.
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Who would you want in that room?
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Keep in mind you don't have any churches yet, right?
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You're starting out brand new.
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You have no building, you have no money, there's no district office or district superintendent you can call and complain to.
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And there's no pastor's office, so you can't even drop by the pastor's office and ask what's going on.
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And and and no one has designed a fancy logo yet.
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Actually, that'd be the first thing I did was design the cool new logo that I can look at.
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But you're starting from scratch, starting from ground zero.
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Who do you want in that room as you start that church?
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Well, obviously Jesus, yes, Tracy.
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But I'm talking about people in the room, right?
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Like it's what type of person do you want?
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Jesus is the most important thing.
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But who are you gonna go look for first?
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Well, first thing you're gonna go look for is you want you want someone that has some resources, right?
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Let's be your first.
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I want someone that has resources because yeah, we have no building, we have no office space.
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I want to find somebody that has resources so they can help us find a building, make a plan for a building, and also help us pay the bills.
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Me and one of my one of the pastors I used to work for in Colorado, we used to joke we were gonna go start a church with no people.
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We just hadn't worked out how we were gonna get paid.
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So but right, you get you gotta start with people that have some resources.
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So that's what that's where we would probably go first.
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And then you also want to start with people that have influence in the community, right?
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People that know other people, because you want to be able to have resources, but also be able to have people that are gonna bring other people into the room to help you grow quicker.
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That's how most of us would think, right?
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You want if you want to start a church, you want to find the people that have money and you want to have find people that know people.
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Do you realize in 1895 that's not how the Church of the Nazarene started?
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That's not how we started.
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That's not what Phineas Frisi and his crew did.
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Matter of fact, when the Church of the Nazarene formed in Los Angeles in 1895, they had a different vision for the kind of church they wanted to become.
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They weren't gonna do it.
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Phineas Frisee came to the start of the Nazarene church, he came out of the Methodist church.
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And so he knew how the Methodist church operated.
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He knew that you know they went after the people that had money, the people that had influence, and and those people gotta make decisions and out decide where the church went.
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Phineas Persians, I don't want it to be that way.
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He had a different vision.
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They believed that to follow Jesus, they needed to go where Jesus went.
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And that meant taking the gospel to the poor.
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That meant taking the gospel to the unwed mothers that society tried to hide or pretend didn't exist or tried to ship away or look down upon.
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That meant going into the VFWs and the American legions and saying, hey, come follow Jesus.
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They took the gospel of the people that society pushed away.
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Matter of fact, a few years later, after the church was formed there in Los Angeles, Phineas Brazizes says, It says, the evidence of the presence of Jesus in our midst is that we bear the gospel primarily to the poor.
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They didn't look, they didn't shy away from him, they didn't exclude him, they shared Jesus with them.
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That's our heritage.
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That's who our denomination is.
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That's why that's why I would pick the name Nazarene, right?
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What good could come from Nazareth?
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They picked the name Nazarene because we wanted to minister to the people on the wrong side of the tracks, on the wrong side of town.
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My question this morning is: are we still that kind of people?
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Is that who we are?
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I mean, it's been 130 years later, and sometimes I worry.
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Or no, I'm sorry.
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It's been 130 years, but you know, I mean we we've seen the church grow.
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The church of Nazareth is kind of becoming a denomination that people know about.
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But since we we're becoming no, no, are we still known for letting in the least of these?
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Or are we afraid though?
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Do we have this attitude or this fear that you know if I let if we let the least of those in, if we let the unwed mothers, the people society looks down upon, if we let them in, does that mean we're letting the wrong type of people in and the church is going downhill?
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Is that our attitude?
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Now, again, I'm not just picking on us.
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This is not a new issue for the church of Nazarene, it's not a new issue for the church in general.
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And it's an issue that James is gonna address, and he's gonna address it in a way that again makes us uncomfortable.
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If you were here last week and you left feeling comfortable, I need to go back and do that sermon again so we can understand that when you read James, you're not gonna be comfortable when you read it.
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And when James addresses this, he's gonna make us uncomfortable.
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He's gonna use words that surprise us that you wouldn't expect to hear.
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So we're gonna be in James chapter 2, and uh, I had pictures and I forgot.
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Okay.
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Starting at verse 1, I'm gonna read through verse 13.
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He says, My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism, you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory.
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Imagine two people coming into your meeting.
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One has a gold ring and fine clothes, while the other is poor, dressed in filthy rags.
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Then suppose that you were to take special notice of the one wearing fine clothes, saying, Here's an excellent place, sit here.
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But to the poor person you say, stand over there, or here, sit at my feet?
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Wouldn't you have shown favoritism among yourselves and become evil-minded judges?
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My dear brothers and sisters, listen.
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Hasn't God chosen those who are poor by worldly standards to be rich in terms of faith?
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Hasn't God chosen the poor as heirs of the kingdom?
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He has promised to those who love him?
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But you have dishonored the poor.
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Don't the wealthy make life difficult for you?
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Aren't they the ones who drag you into court?
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Aren't they the ones who insult the good name spoken over you at your baptism?
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You do well when you really fulfill the royal law found in Scripture.
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Love your neighbor as yourself.
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But when you show favoritism, you are committing a sin.
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And by that same law, you are exposed as a lawbreaker.
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Anyone who tries to keep all of the law but fails at one point is guilty of failing to keep all of it.
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The one who said, Don't commit adultery, also said, don't commit murder.
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So if you don't commit adultery, but you commit murder, you are a lawbreaker.
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In every way then, speak and act as people who be judged by the law of freedom.
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There will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn't shown mercy.
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Mercy overrules judgment.
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It's the word of God for the people of God.
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Thanks be to God.
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Alright, is everybody still already?
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I know that was a rather long passage.
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I promise I'm not gonna go verse by verse through each of them, although that's what I really want to.
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But we started a new series here last week, and we've got one more week after this one in it, but it's a series called Faith and Work Boots, because and we're gonna stay in the book of James.
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And Book of James is it's interesting because James is not interested in a faith that's just all up here in your head, or just stays in your heart, right?
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He's interested in faith that actually puts boots on, walks around, leaves footprints in people's lives.
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So, James, you can't you can't study Christianity, learn all the Sunny school answers, and then put it on a book on the shelf and leave it there.
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He expects you to actually be changed by the Jesus you encounter.
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And now again, so James is very practical too, because he leaves no room to separate what we believe from what we do.
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And remember, last week James was kind of acting like a home inspector, right?
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He was going through our lives, inspecting the cracks in the foundation of our lives, the things that tempt us and threaten to wreck the whole house.
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Not your neighbor's house, but your house.
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And remember, instead of blaming the devil and blaming society for your for you giving a temptation, for you being tempted at all, James points out you're tempted because that's what you want.
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Alright, and so that's what we did last week.
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But this week he's gonna shift.
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He's gonna shift from focusing, us focusing inward on ourselves, but to us focusing outward on our neighbors.
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So chapter two begins with brothers and sisters.
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When you show favoritism, you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, when we hear the word favoritism, we we think it just means I like somebody more than somebody else.
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Like I like Nina more than I like David, which is not true, but just giving an example.
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I like you both equally, okay?
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I don't play favorites.
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Yeah.
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That's true, David.
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I should have, I should, I'm not very good at this brown nosic thing.
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But when you think it's playing favorite, like just I got a favorite person.
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That's not what this, that's not what favorite talk about.
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Favoritism is is like it's this idea of you look at a person, like I look at Beetle, and I'm gonna, if I look, I'm gonna look at Beetle and I'm gonna judge Beetle by his appearance.
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And based on his appearance, I'm gonna determine what his status in our community is.
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I'm gonna determine how much money he has in the bank, and maybe guess what his family's like and go off his past reputation, which be good for you.
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I don't know your past reputation, so I won't go very far.
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But that's what we that's what it's talking about.
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So you look at somebody else by all those different categories, and then you say to them, Alright, we have this seating chart, and this is where you're supposed to sit because this is the group you belong to.
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That's favoritism.
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That's what James is addressing.
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It's like when you're in high school, right, and you walked in the cafeteria and no one had to tell you, but you just knew, okay, that's the cheerleader table, I don't sit there.
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That's the jock table, I don't sit there.
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That's the band kid table, I don't sit there.
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These are the learned kids, that's my spot.
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Right?
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We just know.
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Well, what James is saying here in this opening verse is that attitude and practice of showing favoritism is against faith in Jesus.
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He's essentially saying you can't have faith in Jesus.
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You can't claim that faith.
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You can't say you're living in faith in Jesus if you're practicing showing favoritism to one person or another.
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Then he continues in verse 2 of verses 2 through 4, he's gonna give us an example.
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And this would have this example he gives actually would have been very common to the church he's writing this letter to.
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So James's letter is written to Jewish people who become Christians.
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And the way their church, their synagogue operated, when they would show up the synagogue for one of their meetings, if you had a gold ring on, right, that gold ring, or you had fancy white clothes on, the bright colored clothing, that meant you were somebody of status and privilege.
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You were somebody important.
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And they're important because you were somebody important, and they had a limited number of benches, right?
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There were benches in the middle, and there's benches along the outer walls.
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If you were somebody important, you gotta sit in one of those benches.
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Because you were important.
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So that's why James says when two people, imagine two people walk into your meeting.
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One is dressed to declare his status and wealth.
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And actually, when it says he's got a gold ring, the literal translation of gold ring is gold fingered.
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Right?
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He's got he's got that gold finger there, right?
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Showing that I am somebody of significance importance.
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And then the other man comes in, following him, wearing clothes that are dirty.
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The common English says filthy clothes.
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When it says filthy clothes, we're not just talking about like these are clothes from Walmart or some other goodwill or something like that.
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These are clothes that you can tell by looking at this person.
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They have a rough life.
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Their clothes aren't just dirty, they're shabby, they're falling apart.
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And it communicates that this person is living in poverty.
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And so, according to the seating chart of the this time period, right, because the in the Jewish synagogue, the person with the gold finger got to sit in the pews, that meant the person that came in these filthy rags, they obviously were nobodies, they were of nobody important, and so therefore they had to sit on the floor.
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And it was a way of saying, You're beneath me.
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And now keep in mind, now keep in mind, the Jewish Christians are new Christians, they're new to this faith thing.
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And this is this was a perfectly acceptable cultural practice because not just in the Jew script uh practices, the Roman culture was very big on what you look like and status and reputation, all those things.
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And James is saying that's not right.
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I think at the end of 4 he says, this practice makes them, these Jewish Christians, it makes them evil-minded judges.
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Makes them corrupt judges.
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See the congregation sees a poor person, but James says that that God, that God sees a person rich in faith and an heir of the kingdom.
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Now, let me say this.
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James is not saying that if you're poor, if you're living in poverty, that you are better than somebody living in wealth.
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He's not saying that.
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He's using an example of attitudes that we developed.
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What he's saying is that the world that we live in, the world that these Jewish Christians lived in, operated by a different accounting system than the kingdom of God operated by.
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You know they probably smell bad.
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Then you have to go sit at the feet of this rich person.
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You you walk into that synagogue already knowing you're beneath them.
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You walk into that synagogue knowing you don't really fit in or belong with them, but here I am, I'm walking in anyway.
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And so James is saying when you dishonor them because this person comes in walking, carrying this shame already.
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They already know their poor, they already know their birth, they already know their clothes are what they're supposed to be.
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But here you are saying you have to sit at their feet.
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All you're doing is instead of instead of helping them carry their load, taking that heavy load off, what you're doing is you're placing more of a shame on them.
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So you dishonor that person.
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Again, that person, that poor person may have come into that community.
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And they may come from a poor family, right?
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That family, you know, you know, there's certain people with you know the last name, you're like, oh, that person's last name.
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That's that's that's that's the family there with all that Barnett kid.
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Then she followed, was your brother named Mary?
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I'm like, depends.
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And then later on, is your brother named Jason?
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It depends.
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My poor sister Stacy got to one English teacher.
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She's like, Are you like any of your brothers?
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No.
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Thank God.
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Stacy's my younger sister for those who didn't know.
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But James, in this verses five through seven here, he points out that you know that person may walk in carrying the weight of their family name, but when we sign up, when we put our faith in Jesus, we start bearing our family name.
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We start bearing our own idea.
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You know who name whose name we take on?
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The name of Jesus.
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That name, it doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, slave or free, Jew nor Greek.
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You take on the name of Jesus, and Jesus is your name.
00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:42.720
So James is saying here, by them practicing this, by these Jewish Christians continuing this cultural tradition, they are literally discriminate, their discrimination against the poor enters the good name spoken over your baptism.
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.319
He's saying it insults the name of Jesus that you profess.
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.000
That's strong words, isn't it?
00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:03.039
He goes on, and he talks about how you know if you continue these verses, it's pointing out that discrimination and favoritism breaks the royal law of God's kingdom.
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:08.319
And that royal law is found in Leviticus 19, and it's quoted by Jesus.
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.079
And that one's very simple.
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:11.920
Love thy neighbor.
00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.640
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.440
And James in these verses, you notice what he says?
00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:22.880
He doesn't say, well, it's an accident.
00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:24.480
He doesn't say, Oh, that's how I was raised.
00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:25.119
You know what he says?
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.680
He says, if you break God's law, right?
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:29.920
What happens when you break anytime you break God's law?
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.000
If you break God's law, what is that?
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:33.759
It's sin.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.720
So James says, anytime you break this royal law, you commit sin.
00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:50.079
It's not an oops, it's not a something you can make excuses for.
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:53.839
You can't say that's my personal preference, that's my personality, or I'm being realistic.
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:57.359
James looks at that and in this practice says, that is sin.
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:09.440
James is saying that that idea of us being called unto holiness applies everywhere.
00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:15.279
There is no place where Christians get to stop showing holiness unto the Lord.
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:21.839
Not in the privacy of your own heart and mind in your home, not here when we're gathered together, and not when you're out in the community.
00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:26.400
There is no scenario where God says it's okay for you to stop being holy as he is holy.
00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:28.480
That's what James is saying here.
00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:40.240
Then we go on to verses 12 and 13, and James says, In every way then, speak and act as people who will be judged by the law of freedom.
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.559
There will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn't shown mercy.
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.279
Mercy overrules judgment.
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:54.960
And if you know me well enough now, you know I have moments where I like the common English Bible and other moments where I don't like it very much.
00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:56.799
I skipped that slide too.
00:22:58.480 --> 00:22:59.279
Or did I?
00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:00.160
I don't know.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:01.279
Anyway.
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:06.640
But that word that the C B translates where mercy overrules judgment.
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:13.119
That word overrules is actually, I mean, it's close in the English, but it's not really what the Greek word was saying.
00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:15.119
Not really what James was trying to communicate.
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:19.039
That word he actually uses means triumphing over.
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:23.759
Conquering it.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:35.759
So when James says mercy triumphs over judgment, mercy conquers judgment.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:50.640
He's saying that that no matter where we are as fishes, yes, there are things that we have to look at and say that's sin, but in the end, yes, we know God's gonna judge it.
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:54.079
But see the thing is God's already judged it with Jesus.
00:23:55.039 --> 00:24:00.559
And instead of applying and forcing us to take that punishment, he offers us a gift of eternal life.
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.799
And he shows us what he shows us mercy.
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:19.119
And what James is trying to say here is a merciless life, a Christian that's living a life mercilessly, who's discriminating and showing favoritism, raises a question of whether God's mercy has transformed you or not.
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:28.400
Because favoritism is a lack of mercy, it's casting judgment.
00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:34.319
And in God's kingdom, judgment does not get the final boast.
00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:36.400
Mercy does.
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:48.400
And what James is really getting at the little boy down to a mercy shown produces oh I'm sorry, mercy received produces mercy shown.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.640
The mercy we have received from Jesus changes the way we see people.
00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:18.319
I don't care if you've been here for 10 minutes or 200 years.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.480
You've been in here for 200 years.
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:21.200
Wow.
00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:22.559
It's impressive.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:25.519
Doesn't matter.
00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:31.599
You don't you the only person that is in the church that has any status is Jesus.
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:34.720
Only Jesus is worthy to be on this platform.
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:36.480
Only Jesus is the one worthy to speak.
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.759
Only Jesus is the one worthy of honor and praise and glory.
00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:41.839
No one else.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:46.000
Because everyone else, everyone else of us.
00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.480
We're only here because God showed us mercy.
00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.519
At one point we were on the outside looking in, and we didn't belong here.
00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:56.720
And God says, you know what?
00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:58.480
I want you in here anyway.
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.640
So none of us can claim to that status.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:10.640
It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, elite or backwards, educated or uneducated, or by any other metric we use to divide ourselves, it's irrelevant to God.
00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.680
God's kingdom doesn't care about our dividing lines.
00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.519
You see, our society, we still have seating charts.
00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:26.880
We look back at these Jewish Christians and we look back at the Romans and think, well, that's silly.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:34.480
I mean, we live in a country where everyone was created equal and everyone should have the same unalienable rights as everybody else.
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:44.079
But we still have seating charts on who gets to come sit on our table.
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:57.680
See, yes, everyone does get the same opportunity in our country, but it's not the same starting line.
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:06.240
It's not the same starting line.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:16.079
How do I know it's because some kids in our community are poor enough that they have aspirations, they have a dream, they want to go to college, but they don't have a family to back them to help them get there.
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:20.640
And yes, they can still get there, but you know how much harder they're gonna have to work to get there?
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:28.400
Not only do they have to work harder, they're gonna have to overcome their family reputation, their family name, they're gonna overcome their own background.
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:32.319
The cost for them is higher.
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:36.640
Whether you want to admit it or seat or not, it's the truth.
00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:43.359
Our society still has seating charts.
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:49.680
Again, they might not be as signed, but it's still like the high school lunchroom.
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:54.240
Everyone knows where they're supposed to spit and who they belong.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.319
The killer, the jock, the banker, the nerd.
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.279
But our seating chart, it's based on something else.
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.680
It's based on your family name.
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:11.359
It's based on your how much money you have, it's based on your background, where you come from, it's based on your reputation.
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.480
It's even based on your usefulness.
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:32.160
And James tells us the world seating chart, the seating chart that our culture tells us is okay, the seating chart that our culture tries to arrange the world by, our American tribalism that tries to divide us into our little separate groups.
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.680
James is saying that has no place in the house of God.
00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:45.359
It can't, it's not that it just shouldn't be here, it's it can't be here.
00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:59.680
Because anyone is sitting in these pews this morning, you're not here because you were good enough, you're not here because you were smart enough, you're here because you heard the voice of Jesus calling you, and you answered the call, and you received his mercy and it transformed you.
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:07.279
And because we're here on his invitation, at his mercy, we don't get to raise the seating chart.
00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:09.920
And Jesus says there is no seating chart.
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:19.359
You see, we live in an area, we live in a world where people are already walking in to our church carrying the shame that they have.
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:22.880
They come in here knowing they're poor.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.400
They come in here knowing that they've been rejected by the people that love them and care about them.
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:36.799
They walk in knowing that they don't they walk in knowing every single one of the nuts on their family tree.
00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:44.480
They walk in with the shame of failure, they walk in carrying wounds.
00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:50.000
And here's the thing, we as a church, we didn't, we we I'm not saying we created those wounds.
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:51.920
I'm not saying we did that.
00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:58.240
We live in a broken, simple world where people are broken and simple.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:02.559
Sometimes they create their own shame, and sometimes they just that's the world we live in.
00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.039
That's the simplest of it.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:13.119
But when they come in the church, we can't add more to it.
00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:19.680
They've already come in carrying the weight of other people's judgment.
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.640
But we have a choice to add to it or to shit or to help share it, share it.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:28.640
By share it, I mean help them carry it.
00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.319
You see, this is not, it's German telling us to try harder not to judge people.
00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:42.880
Believe me, go be a car sells me for a little while about teaching not to judge people real fast.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:48.160
I had a guy as a doctor making six figures, he couldn't buy a candy bar on credit.
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:52.720
I had a farmer walk in, drop a hundred thousand dollars on the desk, and say, I want that truck over there.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:55.200
And I just said, sir, you sure you want the white one in.
00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:03.839
You learn not to judge people.
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:14.000
But we have a choice whether we're gonna add to their shame or help them carry the shame to Jesus.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:25.440
It's not a message telling us to not try to try hard not to judge, it's a message calling us to change how we see people.
00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.400
We have to change how we look at them.
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:33.359
It's a mind shift that's rooted in the our love for God.
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:39.920
And we came to Jesus in need of mercy, and his mercy is the answer.
00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:47.839
Experiencing the mercy of Jesus should impact us so deeply that we become merciful people.
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:58.240
And James, he doesn't leave us in like in cloud nine, he doesn't leave us in hypotheticals.
00:31:58.480 --> 00:31:59.599
Again, James is practical.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:02.799
James teaches us to put the work boots on and walk in people's lives.
00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:11.680
And so he says in this in this passage, I think it's first one, he says, in every way then, speak and act as people who be judged by the law of freedom.
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:14.319
He tells us what we're supposed to do.
00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:16.799
He tells us to speak and act.
00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:23.279
Not speak and act like people of the world, but speak and act like people transformed by the mercy and grace of God.
00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:29.039
Speak and act like people called unto holiness who are doing their best to live it out.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:35.680
Again, this is not a message that can stay inside the church walls for an hour.
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.160
It's not a message that can sit on the shelf of our heart.
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:47.359
You and I, we have to look honestly at ourselves and look at the way we see people and ask, who have I assigned the bad seat in my life?
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:53.519
Who have I said, you have to you can come, but just come sit my feet?
00:32:56.799 --> 00:33:11.119
You have to you can come in, but you have to go stand over there Who have I reduced to their mistakes?
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:18.880
Who have I reduced to their family name?
00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.759
Who have I reduced to their bank account?
00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:32.480
If you're judging someone else's life or your own life, your own your own soul or someone else's soul by their bank account, that's a terrible barometer.
00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:37.119
Who have I reduced to their clothing?
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.599
Who have I reduced to their reputation?
00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:46.160
Who have I decided is the is is one of the wrong type of people who might come in and make our church go downhill.
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:52.880
That's us taking a bad person and putting them in the bad seat.
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:58.079
And that's us showing favoritism, that's us being prejudiced and discriminating.
00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:00.160
And James says that is sin.
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:08.159
And when it comes to sin, there's no room for it.
00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:10.559
There's no room for sin.
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:18.880
There's no room for any excuses that we can make to say, well, but Jesus, you know, you know their family, you know, you know where they're from, you know what they did.
00:34:19.039 --> 00:34:20.960
And James is like, you can't say that.
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:24.079
You can't make excuses for sin because God looks at it and says, It's sin.
00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:28.239
Now when James in this passage says, uh, what was it?
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:35.360
Uh was it anyone who breaks the law breaks all the law, it's not that anyone's sins, it's not that there are sins that aren't more heinous than others.
00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:40.480
He's not putting sins on a pedestal and raising them up and down, he's just saying, you claim to love God, then you sin.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:43.440
You're contradicting your claim that you love God.
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:49.519
It doesn't matter which law it is, it pokes a hole.
00:34:51.840 --> 00:35:00.079
So again, if our sin is showing favoritism, if our shame, if our sin is reducing people, there's no excuse for it.
00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:02.639
James calls us sin, that's what we have to do.
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:10.239
If right now, as we're sitting here, the Holy Spirit has put someone on our heart, there's only one thing we can do with it.
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:14.079
There's only one way we can honor God with that person on our heart right now.
00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:18.960
It's that that's we go to God and we repent for the way we've put them in the bad seed.
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:25.280
We repent for the way we looked at them and reduced them to something.
00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:34.639
We repent for the way we've used the culture's economy and its accounting practices to judge somebody's worth and value.
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:39.280
Instead, we realize that that's a person that Jesus loves and died for.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:44.960
Again, when you go to God, don't try to explain it or defend it.
00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:53.360
Bring it to Jesus and ask him to change the way you see that person.
00:35:54.719 --> 00:36:00.000
Ask him to teach you to see that someone Christ loves and says someone you have judged.
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:09.440
Now, I don't think many of us get here willfully.
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:11.760
We don't get there on purpose.
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.280
We don't become a judgmental purpose like that on purpose.
00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:17.039
We don't set out that way.
00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:21.599
No, I know that because come to kids' group on Thursday night.
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:25.039
Those kids don't know each other sometimes.
00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:26.400
They do know better now.
00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:27.920
We've been together for a while.
00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:30.480
But watch little kids how they make friends.
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:31.840
Matter of fact, okay, good example.
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:35.280
We went to the Pittsburgh District family camp for our vacation this year.
00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:41.840
Last time we were on the Pittsburgh District, the only kid of mine that was walking and talking very well was Jaden.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:53.039
By day two, Emris comes up to me and says, Yeah, this is my friend.
00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:54.159
What's your friend's name?
00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:54.880
I don't know.
00:36:57.199 --> 00:36:58.079
What are you doing?
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:00.159
We're hunting for toads.
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.280
Just don't kiss any because no prince is allowed.
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:06.400
She didn't stop.
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:09.519
Emmy didn't stop to ask what the kid's name was, what her family back.
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:10.639
She didn't care about any of that.
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.159
She said found a kid that she knew when to hunt for toads like she did.
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:23.039
So again, we don't we don't start out with those kind of attitudes, those judgmental practices and attitudes like that.
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:32.480
So maybe part of the reason we we get the way we are is we know what it feels like to be the one in filthy rags.
00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:38.639
Maybe our filthy rags aren't isn't poverty, but maybe it's something else.
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:46.639
And you've spent years yourself trying to prove that you deserve a good seat.
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:49.199
Because people keep putting you in the bad seat.
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:58.719
And so along the way, because you know how hard it is to switch seats, you become hard.
00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:03.920
And you become hard because you were formed by a world that was unrelenting.
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:10.480
The pressure to conform and be what the world's telling you to be and measure up is it's unforgiving.
00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:11.280
It's ruthless.
00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:14.000
It doesn't care, it's cold, loveless, chaotic.
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:22.800
You come from a a you were formed by a world that never showed you mercy.
00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:27.199
And that's how you became that.
00:38:31.119 --> 00:38:33.280
If that is you today, I want you to hear me.
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:44.239
That person's judgment that's ringing in your ears right now, that's been echoing through your heart and mind for decades, for your whole life.
00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:49.360
That judgment of you is not Jesus' judgment of you.
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:58.719
Jesus doesn't see you the way you've been trying to measure up to that way that person saw you.
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:02.559
Jesus sees you and he loves you.
00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:05.119
Right where you're at.
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:12.880
You're not worth this because of what you have.
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:14.800
You're not worth this because of where you came from.
00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:21.360
You're not worth this because of what your family name is, you're not worth this because of what you have done or what somebody else has decided about you.
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:27.119
Jesus is here today and he loves you, and he's saying, I'm here, I'm here to offer you mercy.
00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:34.000
And I'm here to offer you mercy in your life, perhaps the first time in a life where you've never been shown mercy before.
00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:37.920
It's gonna be weird, it's gonna be different, but guess what?
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:39.440
It's gonna be freeing.
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:43.440
And learning to live in that freedom is different.
00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:57.840
When you experience His mercy, when you truly experience, when you're transformed by that love and that grace, then you become someone who shows others' mercy.
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:05.280
And then again, you don't have to add rejection to somebody who's been rejected.
00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:08.400
You can love your neighbor as yourself.
00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:13.039
Because really the love of letting your neighbor as yourself means is you help people share the load.
00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:18.800
Because we're all carrying things that are attempting to crush us, we're all carrying shame and guilt that's attempting to crush us.
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:22.559
So Jesus can help us.
00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:23.599
And he will help us.
00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:27.519
The way the way Jesus helps us is by putting us in a community like this of believers.
00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:32.800
Where no one gets to claim the good seat and the bad seat.
00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:35.679
There's only a real person on that one.
00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:39.920
And even he says, Come sit with me at my table.
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:51.920
So whether you recognize yourself as the person doing the judging, the person is carrying someone else's judgment, the invitation is the same this morning.
00:40:52.719 --> 00:40:53.920
Come to Jesus.
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:06.639
Before you go, I just want to give you a moment here and invite you to respond to this message.
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:10.960
Because maybe you were listening and the Holy Spirit brought someone to mind.
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:13.440
Someone you have judged by their past.
00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:18.239
Maybe you judge them by their family, their reputation, or what they have, or what they don't have.
00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:21.519
And James doesn't give us an excuse for that.
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:24.000
He calls it sin.
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:28.480
If God has put someone on your heart, don't defend it.
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:30.320
Don't explain it away.
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:32.159
Bring it to Jesus.
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:35.840
Ask him to forgive you and change the way you see that person.
00:41:37.119 --> 00:41:39.360
Or maybe you heard this sermon from the other seat.
00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:42.159
You know what it feels like to be the person in filthy rags.
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:50.239
Someone someone that other people have judged, and and their judgment has become a load you've carried for a long time.
00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:54.800
It's made maybe it's made you're you a hard person, right?
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:57.760
A person that that is judgmental and critical of others.
00:41:58.239 --> 00:41:59.760
And I want you to hear this again.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.880
Their judgment of you is not Jesus' judgment of you.
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:06.320
So wherever you are right now, you can respond.
00:42:06.800 --> 00:42:08.800
You don't need an altar or a church building.
00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:12.000
Jesus is right there with you where you're at right now.
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:13.199
So let's pray.
00:42:14.159 --> 00:42:14.719
Lord.
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:22.000
For the person who recognizes judgment and favoritism in their own heart, give them the courage to repent without making excuses.
00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:23.599
Forgive them.
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:26.639
Change the way they see the people around them.
00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:31.360
Teach them to see someone you love instead of someone they have judged.
00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:37.440
And for the person who has carried the weight of someone else's judgment, meet them with mercy.
00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:46.559
Remind them that their worth is not determined by their past, their family name, their bank account, their reputation, or what somebody else decided about them.
00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:53.199
Let them experience your mercy in a way that begins healing what they have carried for so long.
00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:59.840
For all of us, God, make us people who speak and act differently because we've experienced your mercy.
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:08.719
Teach us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and keep us from adding to those people already carry, and give us the grace to share them.
00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:11.360
In the name of Jesus we pray.
00:43:11.679 --> 00:43:12.320
Amen.
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:23.119
Now, friend, if something stirred you today and you want to share your story, or if you need someone to walk alongside you with some pastoral counsel, I would love to do that.
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:24.239
I'd love to hear your story.
00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:25.440
I'd love to walk with you.
00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:30.000
Maybe you don't have a pastor, maybe you're not attending church right now, you just need a pastor to talk to.
00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:35.199
You can email me at dirtpathpastor at gmail.com.
00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:40.320
Again, dirtpathpastor, all one word, all lowercase, at gmail.com.
00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:45.519
And I'd be honored to hear from you, and I'd be honored to participate in your journey with you.
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:47.760
And journey together for a little while.
00:43:48.880 --> 00:44:00.159
Um and then if this episode made you think of somebody that you know in your life that maybe could benefit from listening, share it with them.
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:04.480
I can't believe that this podcast is going to come to the end of its seventh year.
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:13.280
And uh this podcast wouldn't be where it's at if I didn't know Jesus was using it, right?
00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:17.760
My simple voice here in Easter Kentucky to reach one more person with his word.
00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:19.440
And you're that one more person.
00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:24.000
You can help me continue to reach one more person with his word just by sharing this episode with somebody else.
00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:29.119
Um be sure to subscribe to the Dirt Pass Run podcast too, so you don't miss the next message.
00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:32.719
And you can also financially support this podcast, but just no.
00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:35.679
Uh, when you support this podcast, you're not actually supporting me.
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:37.039
The money doesn't come to me.
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:41.840
Uh, whatever you give goes to help support the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.
00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.239
And specifically, their emergency relief fund.
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:51.599
And that's helping our denomination, our church, respond when disasters and emergency leave people carrying loads they never expected to carry.
00:44:52.159 --> 00:44:54.800
Your giving helps us be the hands and feet of Jesus.
00:44:54.880 --> 00:44:56.400
And by this I mean the denomination.
00:44:56.800 --> 00:44:59.360
The group that makes up the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.
00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:04.000
And our church gladly partners with them, and the rest are an nomination of that.
00:45:04.239 --> 00:45:09.679
Now, as you head back into your week, remember that everybody you meet is carrying something you might not be able to see.
00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:12.800
And you don't have to decide what they're worth.
00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:14.960
You don't have to assign them a seat.
00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:21.119
You can simply remember that mercy Jesus has owned you and offer that mercy to the person in front of you.
00:45:21.760 --> 00:45:25.039
And people who receive mercy don't add to the load.
00:45:25.440 --> 00:45:26.480
They share it.
00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:30.800
Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:07.200
What if the people you think are spinning the church downhill are exactly the people Jason wants you to make room for?
00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:11.359
I'm Pastor Jason Barnett, and this is The First Pastor on the Podcast.
00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:25.760
Thank you for listening in.
00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:28.879
I'm Pastor Jason Martha, aka the Nerdpath Pastor.
00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:33.359
Have you ever noticed how quickly we can size somebody up?
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.319
Sometimes it only takes a few seconds.
00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:44.239
And we do that by because we notice what they're wearing, or we hear their last name, or we've learned where they're from, or hear a little bit of their story.
00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:49.599
And before we've ever really gotten to know them, we've already decided something about them.
00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:53.760
And here's what's really uncomfortable about that scenario.
00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.079
We've all been on both sides of that.
00:01:57.760 --> 00:01:59.840
We've all made assumptions about somebody else.
00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:03.760
And most of us know what it feels like when somebody makes an assumption about us.
00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.840
And sometimes those moments don't seem like a big deal.
00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.879
But other times they leave marks we carry for years.
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.000
So today's message from James 2.
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.840
We're going to wrestle with what our faith has to say about the way we see each other.
00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:24.240
And why something that seems so ordinary to us gets some surprisingly strong words from James.
00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:28.479
So pull up a chair and let's head down the dirt path together.
00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.719
Now, if you are going to start a new Christian denomination, right?
00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:48.879
A new denomination of the church, you know, a new denomination of the already 50,000 different denominations of Christianity out there, uh, what type of person would you want to start your church with?
00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:51.599
Think about that for a second.
00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.919
Who would you want in that room?
00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.240
Keep in mind you don't have any churches yet, right?
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:00.240
You're starting out brand new.
00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:11.199
You have no building, you have no money, there's no district office or district superintendent you can call and complain to.
00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:18.400
And there's no pastor's office, so you can't even drop by the pastor's office and ask what's going on.
00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.719
And and and no one has designed a fancy logo yet.
00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:26.319
Actually, that'd be the first thing I did was design the cool new logo that I can look at.
00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:32.319
But you're starting from scratch, starting from ground zero.
00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.800
Who do you want in that room as you start that church?
00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:39.759
Well, obviously Jesus, yes, Tracy.
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.319
But I'm talking about people in the room, right?
00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.400
Like it's what type of person do you want?
00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.719
Jesus is the most important thing.
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.039
But who are you gonna go look for first?
00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:55.120
Well, first thing you're gonna go look for is you want you want someone that has some resources, right?
00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:56.879
Let's be your first.
00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.960
I want someone that has resources because yeah, we have no building, we have no office space.
00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:09.520
I want to find somebody that has resources so they can help us find a building, make a plan for a building, and also help us pay the bills.
00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:14.639
Me and one of my one of the pastors I used to work for in Colorado, we used to joke we were gonna go start a church with no people.
00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.879
We just hadn't worked out how we were gonna get paid.
00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:25.439
So but right, you get you gotta start with people that have some resources.
00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:27.199
So that's what that's where we would probably go first.
00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:31.439
And then you also want to start with people that have influence in the community, right?
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:40.720
People that know other people, because you want to be able to have resources, but also be able to have people that are gonna bring other people into the room to help you grow quicker.
00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:42.639
That's how most of us would think, right?
00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:48.319
You want if you want to start a church, you want to find the people that have money and you want to have find people that know people.
00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:53.439
Do you realize in 1895 that's not how the Church of the Nazarene started?
00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.319
That's not how we started.
00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.680
That's not what Phineas Frisi and his crew did.
00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:11.279
Matter of fact, when the Church of the Nazarene formed in Los Angeles in 1895, they had a different vision for the kind of church they wanted to become.
00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:14.160
They weren't gonna do it.
00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:18.639
Phineas Frisee came to the start of the Nazarene church, he came out of the Methodist church.
00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:22.240
And so he knew how the Methodist church operated.
00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:31.040
He knew that you know they went after the people that had money, the people that had influence, and and those people gotta make decisions and out decide where the church went.
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:33.439
Phineas Persians, I don't want it to be that way.
00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:36.959
He had a different vision.
00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:42.160
They believed that to follow Jesus, they needed to go where Jesus went.
00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:47.360
And that meant taking the gospel to the poor.
00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:57.120
That meant taking the gospel to the unwed mothers that society tried to hide or pretend didn't exist or tried to ship away or look down upon.
00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.240
That meant going into the VFWs and the American legions and saying, hey, come follow Jesus.
00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.399
They took the gospel of the people that society pushed away.
00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:23.759
Matter of fact, a few years later, after the church was formed there in Los Angeles, Phineas Brazizes says, It says, the evidence of the presence of Jesus in our midst is that we bear the gospel primarily to the poor.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.199
They didn't look, they didn't shy away from him, they didn't exclude him, they shared Jesus with them.
00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:35.759
That's our heritage.
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That's who our denomination is.
00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:39.680
That's why that's why I would pick the name Nazarene, right?
00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.360
What good could come from Nazareth?
00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:47.680
They picked the name Nazarene because we wanted to minister to the people on the wrong side of the tracks, on the wrong side of town.
00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.000
My question this morning is: are we still that kind of people?
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Is that who we are?
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I mean, it's been 130 years later, and sometimes I worry.
00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:09.279
Or no, I'm sorry.
00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.519
It's been 130 years, but you know, I mean we we've seen the church grow.
00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:17.199
The church of Nazareth is kind of becoming a denomination that people know about.
00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:22.720
But since we we're becoming no, no, are we still known for letting in the least of these?
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Or are we afraid though?
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Do we have this attitude or this fear that you know if I let if we let the least of those in, if we let the unwed mothers, the people society looks down upon, if we let them in, does that mean we're letting the wrong type of people in and the church is going downhill?
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:39.920
Is that our attitude?
00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:45.839
Now, again, I'm not just picking on us.
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This is not a new issue for the church of Nazarene, it's not a new issue for the church in general.
00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:56.879
And it's an issue that James is gonna address, and he's gonna address it in a way that again makes us uncomfortable.
00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:06.639
If you were here last week and you left feeling comfortable, I need to go back and do that sermon again so we can understand that when you read James, you're not gonna be comfortable when you read it.
00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:11.839
And when James addresses this, he's gonna make us uncomfortable.
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He's gonna use words that surprise us that you wouldn't expect to hear.
00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:19.600
So we're gonna be in James chapter 2, and uh, I had pictures and I forgot.
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:20.079
Okay.
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.959
Starting at verse 1, I'm gonna read through verse 13.
00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:33.519
He says, My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism, you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory.
00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.120
Imagine two people coming into your meeting.
00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:42.720
One has a gold ring and fine clothes, while the other is poor, dressed in filthy rags.
00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:50.480
Then suppose that you were to take special notice of the one wearing fine clothes, saying, Here's an excellent place, sit here.
00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.320
But to the poor person you say, stand over there, or here, sit at my feet?
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Wouldn't you have shown favoritism among yourselves and become evil-minded judges?
00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.840
My dear brothers and sisters, listen.
00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:11.279
Hasn't God chosen those who are poor by worldly standards to be rich in terms of faith?
00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.879
Hasn't God chosen the poor as heirs of the kingdom?
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He has promised to those who love him?
00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:19.919
But you have dishonored the poor.
00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:23.360
Don't the wealthy make life difficult for you?
00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:26.080
Aren't they the ones who drag you into court?
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:30.159
Aren't they the ones who insult the good name spoken over you at your baptism?
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:36.000
You do well when you really fulfill the royal law found in Scripture.
00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:38.240
Love your neighbor as yourself.
00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:42.720
But when you show favoritism, you are committing a sin.
00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.639
And by that same law, you are exposed as a lawbreaker.
00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:53.120
Anyone who tries to keep all of the law but fails at one point is guilty of failing to keep all of it.
00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:57.759
The one who said, Don't commit adultery, also said, don't commit murder.
00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:02.559
So if you don't commit adultery, but you commit murder, you are a lawbreaker.
00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:08.240
In every way then, speak and act as people who be judged by the law of freedom.
00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:12.399
There will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn't shown mercy.
00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.039
Mercy overrules judgment.
00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:17.279
It's the word of God for the people of God.
00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:18.480
Thanks be to God.
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:19.679
Alright, is everybody still already?
00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.080
I know that was a rather long passage.
00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.639
I promise I'm not gonna go verse by verse through each of them, although that's what I really want to.
00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:38.399
But we started a new series here last week, and we've got one more week after this one in it, but it's a series called Faith and Work Boots, because and we're gonna stay in the book of James.
00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:47.600
And Book of James is it's interesting because James is not interested in a faith that's just all up here in your head, or just stays in your heart, right?
00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:52.399
He's interested in faith that actually puts boots on, walks around, leaves footprints in people's lives.
00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:59.360
So, James, you can't you can't study Christianity, learn all the Sunny school answers, and then put it on a book on the shelf and leave it there.
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:04.080
He expects you to actually be changed by the Jesus you encounter.
00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:12.559
And now again, so James is very practical too, because he leaves no room to separate what we believe from what we do.
00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:16.559
And remember, last week James was kind of acting like a home inspector, right?
00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:23.279
He was going through our lives, inspecting the cracks in the foundation of our lives, the things that tempt us and threaten to wreck the whole house.
00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.840
Not your neighbor's house, but your house.
00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:37.840
And remember, instead of blaming the devil and blaming society for your for you giving a temptation, for you being tempted at all, James points out you're tempted because that's what you want.
00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:41.840
Alright, and so that's what we did last week.
00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:43.600
But this week he's gonna shift.
00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:50.799
He's gonna shift from focusing, us focusing inward on ourselves, but to us focusing outward on our neighbors.
00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.840
So chapter two begins with brothers and sisters.
00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:01.600
When you show favoritism, you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:07.600
Now, when we hear the word favoritism, we we think it just means I like somebody more than somebody else.
00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:13.200
Like I like Nina more than I like David, which is not true, but just giving an example.
00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:15.919
I like you both equally, okay?
00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:17.600
I don't play favorites.
00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:21.840
Yeah.
00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:23.039
That's true, David.
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:26.240
I should have, I should, I'm not very good at this brown nosic thing.
00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:33.279
But when you think it's playing favorite, like just I got a favorite person.
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.600
That's not what this, that's not what favorite talk about.
00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:46.720
Favoritism is is like it's this idea of you look at a person, like I look at Beetle, and I'm gonna, if I look, I'm gonna look at Beetle and I'm gonna judge Beetle by his appearance.
00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.519
And based on his appearance, I'm gonna determine what his status in our community is.
00:12:51.600 --> 00:13:01.120
I'm gonna determine how much money he has in the bank, and maybe guess what his family's like and go off his past reputation, which be good for you.
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.639
I don't know your past reputation, so I won't go very far.
00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:07.919
But that's what we that's what it's talking about.
00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:19.440
So you look at somebody else by all those different categories, and then you say to them, Alright, we have this seating chart, and this is where you're supposed to sit because this is the group you belong to.
00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:21.919
That's favoritism.
00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:24.240
That's what James is addressing.
00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:33.840
It's like when you're in high school, right, and you walked in the cafeteria and no one had to tell you, but you just knew, okay, that's the cheerleader table, I don't sit there.
00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:35.440
That's the jock table, I don't sit there.
00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:37.919
That's the band kid table, I don't sit there.
00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.120
These are the learned kids, that's my spot.
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:43.440
Right?
00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:44.480
We just know.
00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:58.879
Well, what James is saying here in this opening verse is that attitude and practice of showing favoritism is against faith in Jesus.
00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.879
He's essentially saying you can't have faith in Jesus.
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.559
You can't claim that faith.
00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:10.559
You can't say you're living in faith in Jesus if you're practicing showing favoritism to one person or another.
00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.799
Then he continues in verse 2 of verses 2 through 4, he's gonna give us an example.
00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:31.600
And this would have this example he gives actually would have been very common to the church he's writing this letter to.
00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:37.519
So James's letter is written to Jewish people who become Christians.
00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:53.039
And the way their church, their synagogue operated, when they would show up the synagogue for one of their meetings, if you had a gold ring on, right, that gold ring, or you had fancy white clothes on, the bright colored clothing, that meant you were somebody of status and privilege.
00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:54.559
You were somebody important.
00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:00.720
And they're important because you were somebody important, and they had a limited number of benches, right?
00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.279
There were benches in the middle, and there's benches along the outer walls.
00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.480
If you were somebody important, you gotta sit in one of those benches.
00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:08.080
Because you were important.
00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.600
So that's why James says when two people, imagine two people walk into your meeting.
00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:16.799
One is dressed to declare his status and wealth.
00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:21.679
And actually, when it says he's got a gold ring, the literal translation of gold ring is gold fingered.
00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:22.080
Right?
00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:24.240
He's got he's got that gold finger there, right?
00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.759
Showing that I am somebody of significance importance.
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:35.360
And then the other man comes in, following him, wearing clothes that are dirty.
00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.320
The common English says filthy clothes.
00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:43.919
When it says filthy clothes, we're not just talking about like these are clothes from Walmart or some other goodwill or something like that.
00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.799
These are clothes that you can tell by looking at this person.
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:48.960
They have a rough life.
00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:52.879
Their clothes aren't just dirty, they're shabby, they're falling apart.
00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:59.360
And it communicates that this person is living in poverty.
00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:14.080
And so, according to the seating chart of the this time period, right, because the in the Jewish synagogue, the person with the gold finger got to sit in the pews, that meant the person that came in these filthy rags, they obviously were nobodies, they were of nobody important, and so therefore they had to sit on the floor.
00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.799
And it was a way of saying, You're beneath me.
00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:27.440
And now keep in mind, now keep in mind, the Jewish Christians are new Christians, they're new to this faith thing.
00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:40.399
And this is this was a perfectly acceptable cultural practice because not just in the Jew script uh practices, the Roman culture was very big on what you look like and status and reputation, all those things.
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:44.320
And James is saying that's not right.
00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:56.799
I think at the end of 4 he says, this practice makes them, these Jewish Christians, it makes them evil-minded judges.
00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.919
Makes them corrupt judges.
00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:12.880
See the congregation sees a poor person, but James says that that God, that God sees a person rich in faith and an heir of the kingdom.
00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:21.599
Now, let me say this.
00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:28.720
James is not saying that if you're poor, if you're living in poverty, that you are better than somebody living in wealth.
00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:30.079
He's not saying that.
00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:33.440
He's using an example of attitudes that we developed.
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:46.640
What he's saying is that the world that we live in, the world that these Jewish Christians lived in, operated by a different accounting system than the kingdom of God operated by.
00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.079
You know they probably smell bad.
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.920
Then you have to go sit at the feet of this rich person.
00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:38.720
You you walk into that synagogue already knowing you're beneath them.
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:44.480
You walk into that synagogue knowing you don't really fit in or belong with them, but here I am, I'm walking in anyway.
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:52.400
And so James is saying when you dishonor them because this person comes in walking, carrying this shame already.
00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.240
They already know their poor, they already know their birth, they already know their clothes are what they're supposed to be.
00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.880
But here you are saying you have to sit at their feet.
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:06.720
All you're doing is instead of instead of helping them carry their load, taking that heavy load off, what you're doing is you're placing more of a shame on them.
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:13.680
So you dishonor that person.
00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:24.000
Again, that person, that poor person may have come into that community.
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.240
And they may come from a poor family, right?
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:32.000
That family, you know, you know, there's certain people with you know the last name, you're like, oh, that person's last name.
00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.599
That's that's that's that's the family there with all that Barnett kid.
00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.039
Then she followed, was your brother named Mary?
00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:41.039
I'm like, depends.
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.240
And then later on, is your brother named Jason?
00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:47.599
It depends.
00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:50.079
My poor sister Stacy got to one English teacher.
00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:51.839
She's like, Are you like any of your brothers?
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:52.720
No.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:54.079
Thank God.
00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.680
Stacy's my younger sister for those who didn't know.
00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:17.920
But James, in this verses five through seven here, he points out that you know that person may walk in carrying the weight of their family name, but when we sign up, when we put our faith in Jesus, we start bearing our family name.
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:19.359
We start bearing our own idea.
00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:21.279
You know who name whose name we take on?
00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:22.799
The name of Jesus.
00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:27.359
That name, it doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, slave or free, Jew nor Greek.
00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.400
You take on the name of Jesus, and Jesus is your name.
00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:42.720
So James is saying here, by them practicing this, by these Jewish Christians continuing this cultural tradition, they are literally discriminate, their discrimination against the poor enters the good name spoken over your baptism.
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.319
He's saying it insults the name of Jesus that you profess.
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.000
That's strong words, isn't it?
00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:03.039
He goes on, and he talks about how you know if you continue these verses, it's pointing out that discrimination and favoritism breaks the royal law of God's kingdom.
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:08.319
And that royal law is found in Leviticus 19, and it's quoted by Jesus.
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.079
And that one's very simple.
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:11.920
Love thy neighbor.
00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.640
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.440
And James in these verses, you notice what he says?
00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:22.880
He doesn't say, well, it's an accident.
00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:24.480
He doesn't say, Oh, that's how I was raised.
00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:25.119
You know what he says?
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.680
He says, if you break God's law, right?
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:29.920
What happens when you break anytime you break God's law?
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.000
If you break God's law, what is that?
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:33.759
It's sin.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.720
So James says, anytime you break this royal law, you commit sin.
00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:50.079
It's not an oops, it's not a something you can make excuses for.
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:53.839
You can't say that's my personal preference, that's my personality, or I'm being realistic.
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:57.359
James looks at that and in this practice says, that is sin.
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:09.440
James is saying that that idea of us being called unto holiness applies everywhere.
00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:15.279
There is no place where Christians get to stop showing holiness unto the Lord.
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:21.839
Not in the privacy of your own heart and mind in your home, not here when we're gathered together, and not when you're out in the community.
00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:26.400
There is no scenario where God says it's okay for you to stop being holy as he is holy.
00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:28.480
That's what James is saying here.
00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:40.240
Then we go on to verses 12 and 13, and James says, In every way then, speak and act as people who will be judged by the law of freedom.
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.559
There will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn't shown mercy.
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.279
Mercy overrules judgment.
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:54.960
And if you know me well enough now, you know I have moments where I like the common English Bible and other moments where I don't like it very much.
00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:56.799
I skipped that slide too.
00:22:58.480 --> 00:22:59.279
Or did I?
00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:00.160
I don't know.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:01.279
Anyway.
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:06.640
But that word that the C B translates where mercy overrules judgment.
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:13.119
That word overrules is actually, I mean, it's close in the English, but it's not really what the Greek word was saying.
00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:15.119
Not really what James was trying to communicate.
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:19.039
That word he actually uses means triumphing over.
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:23.759
Conquering it.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:35.759
So when James says mercy triumphs over judgment, mercy conquers judgment.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:50.640
He's saying that that no matter where we are as fishes, yes, there are things that we have to look at and say that's sin, but in the end, yes, we know God's gonna judge it.
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:54.079
But see the thing is God's already judged it with Jesus.
00:23:55.039 --> 00:24:00.559
And instead of applying and forcing us to take that punishment, he offers us a gift of eternal life.
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.799
And he shows us what he shows us mercy.
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:19.119
And what James is trying to say here is a merciless life, a Christian that's living a life mercilessly, who's discriminating and showing favoritism, raises a question of whether God's mercy has transformed you or not.
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:28.400
Because favoritism is a lack of mercy, it's casting judgment.
00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:34.319
And in God's kingdom, judgment does not get the final boast.
00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:36.400
Mercy does.
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:48.400
And what James is really getting at the little boy down to a mercy shown produces oh I'm sorry, mercy received produces mercy shown.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.640
The mercy we have received from Jesus changes the way we see people.
00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:18.319
I don't care if you've been here for 10 minutes or 200 years.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.480
You've been in here for 200 years.
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:21.200
Wow.
00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:22.559
It's impressive.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:25.519
Doesn't matter.
00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:31.599
You don't you the only person that is in the church that has any status is Jesus.
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:34.720
Only Jesus is worthy to be on this platform.
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:36.480
Only Jesus is the one worthy to speak.
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.759
Only Jesus is the one worthy of honor and praise and glory.
00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:41.839
No one else.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:46.000
Because everyone else, everyone else of us.
00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.480
We're only here because God showed us mercy.
00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.519
At one point we were on the outside looking in, and we didn't belong here.
00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:56.720
And God says, you know what?
00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:58.480
I want you in here anyway.
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.640
So none of us can claim to that status.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:10.640
It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, elite or backwards, educated or uneducated, or by any other metric we use to divide ourselves, it's irrelevant to God.
00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.680
God's kingdom doesn't care about our dividing lines.
00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.519
You see, our society, we still have seating charts.
00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:26.880
We look back at these Jewish Christians and we look back at the Romans and think, well, that's silly.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:34.480
I mean, we live in a country where everyone was created equal and everyone should have the same unalienable rights as everybody else.
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:44.079
But we still have seating charts on who gets to come sit on our table.
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:57.680
See, yes, everyone does get the same opportunity in our country, but it's not the same starting line.
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:06.240
It's not the same starting line.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:16.079
How do I know it's because some kids in our community are poor enough that they have aspirations, they have a dream, they want to go to college, but they don't have a family to back them to help them get there.
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:20.640
And yes, they can still get there, but you know how much harder they're gonna have to work to get there?
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:28.400
Not only do they have to work harder, they're gonna have to overcome their family reputation, their family name, they're gonna overcome their own background.
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:32.319
The cost for them is higher.
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:36.640
Whether you want to admit it or seat or not, it's the truth.
00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:43.359
Our society still has seating charts.
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:49.680
Again, they might not be as signed, but it's still like the high school lunchroom.
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:54.240
Everyone knows where they're supposed to spit and who they belong.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.319
The killer, the jock, the banker, the nerd.
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.279
But our seating chart, it's based on something else.
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.680
It's based on your family name.
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:11.359
It's based on your how much money you have, it's based on your background, where you come from, it's based on your reputation.
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.480
It's even based on your usefulness.
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:32.160
And James tells us the world seating chart, the seating chart that our culture tells us is okay, the seating chart that our culture tries to arrange the world by, our American tribalism that tries to divide us into our little separate groups.
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.680
James is saying that has no place in the house of God.
00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:45.359
It can't, it's not that it just shouldn't be here, it's it can't be here.
00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:59.680
Because anyone is sitting in these pews this morning, you're not here because you were good enough, you're not here because you were smart enough, you're here because you heard the voice of Jesus calling you, and you answered the call, and you received his mercy and it transformed you.
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:07.279
And because we're here on his invitation, at his mercy, we don't get to raise the seating chart.
00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:09.920
And Jesus says there is no seating chart.
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:19.359
You see, we live in an area, we live in a world where people are already walking in to our church carrying the shame that they have.
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:22.880
They come in here knowing they're poor.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.400
They come in here knowing that they've been rejected by the people that love them and care about them.
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:36.799
They walk in knowing that they don't they walk in knowing every single one of the nuts on their family tree.
00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:44.480
They walk in with the shame of failure, they walk in carrying wounds.
00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:50.000
And here's the thing, we as a church, we didn't, we we I'm not saying we created those wounds.
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:51.920
I'm not saying we did that.
00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:58.240
We live in a broken, simple world where people are broken and simple.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:02.559
Sometimes they create their own shame, and sometimes they just that's the world we live in.
00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.039
That's the simplest of it.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:13.119
But when they come in the church, we can't add more to it.
00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:19.680
They've already come in carrying the weight of other people's judgment.
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.640
But we have a choice to add to it or to shit or to help share it, share it.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:28.640
By share it, I mean help them carry it.
00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.319
You see, this is not, it's German telling us to try harder not to judge people.
00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:42.880
Believe me, go be a car sells me for a little while about teaching not to judge people real fast.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:48.160
I had a guy as a doctor making six figures, he couldn't buy a candy bar on credit.
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:52.720
I had a farmer walk in, drop a hundred thousand dollars on the desk, and say, I want that truck over there.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:55.200
And I just said, sir, you sure you want the white one in.
00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:03.839
You learn not to judge people.
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:14.000
But we have a choice whether we're gonna add to their shame or help them carry the shame to Jesus.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:25.440
It's not a message telling us to not try to try hard not to judge, it's a message calling us to change how we see people.
00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.400
We have to change how we look at them.
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:33.359
It's a mind shift that's rooted in the our love for God.
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:39.920
And we came to Jesus in need of mercy, and his mercy is the answer.
00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:47.839
Experiencing the mercy of Jesus should impact us so deeply that we become merciful people.
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:58.240
And James, he doesn't leave us in like in cloud nine, he doesn't leave us in hypotheticals.
00:31:58.480 --> 00:31:59.599
Again, James is practical.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:02.799
James teaches us to put the work boots on and walk in people's lives.
00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:11.680
And so he says in this in this passage, I think it's first one, he says, in every way then, speak and act as people who be judged by the law of freedom.
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:14.319
He tells us what we're supposed to do.
00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:16.799
He tells us to speak and act.
00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:23.279
Not speak and act like people of the world, but speak and act like people transformed by the mercy and grace of God.
00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:29.039
Speak and act like people called unto holiness who are doing their best to live it out.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:35.680
Again, this is not a message that can stay inside the church walls for an hour.
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.160
It's not a message that can sit on the shelf of our heart.
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:47.359
You and I, we have to look honestly at ourselves and look at the way we see people and ask, who have I assigned the bad seat in my life?
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:53.519
Who have I said, you have to you can come, but just come sit my feet?
00:32:56.799 --> 00:33:11.119
You have to you can come in, but you have to go stand over there Who have I reduced to their mistakes?
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:18.880
Who have I reduced to their family name?
00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.759
Who have I reduced to their bank account?
00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:32.480
If you're judging someone else's life or your own life, your own your own soul or someone else's soul by their bank account, that's a terrible barometer.
00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:37.119
Who have I reduced to their clothing?
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.599
Who have I reduced to their reputation?
00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:46.160
Who have I decided is the is is one of the wrong type of people who might come in and make our church go downhill.
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:52.880
That's us taking a bad person and putting them in the bad seat.
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:58.079
And that's us showing favoritism, that's us being prejudiced and discriminating.
00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:00.160
And James says that is sin.
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:08.159
And when it comes to sin, there's no room for it.
00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:10.559
There's no room for sin.
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:18.880
There's no room for any excuses that we can make to say, well, but Jesus, you know, you know their family, you know, you know where they're from, you know what they did.
00:34:19.039 --> 00:34:20.960
And James is like, you can't say that.
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:24.079
You can't make excuses for sin because God looks at it and says, It's sin.
00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:28.239
Now when James in this passage says, uh, what was it?
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:35.360
Uh was it anyone who breaks the law breaks all the law, it's not that anyone's sins, it's not that there are sins that aren't more heinous than others.
00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:40.480
He's not putting sins on a pedestal and raising them up and down, he's just saying, you claim to love God, then you sin.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:43.440
You're contradicting your claim that you love God.
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:49.519
It doesn't matter which law it is, it pokes a hole.
00:34:51.840 --> 00:35:00.079
So again, if our sin is showing favoritism, if our shame, if our sin is reducing people, there's no excuse for it.
00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:02.639
James calls us sin, that's what we have to do.
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:10.239
If right now, as we're sitting here, the Holy Spirit has put someone on our heart, there's only one thing we can do with it.
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:14.079
There's only one way we can honor God with that person on our heart right now.
00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:18.960
It's that that's we go to God and we repent for the way we've put them in the bad seed.
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:25.280
We repent for the way we looked at them and reduced them to something.
00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:34.639
We repent for the way we've used the culture's economy and its accounting practices to judge somebody's worth and value.
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:39.280
Instead, we realize that that's a person that Jesus loves and died for.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:44.960
Again, when you go to God, don't try to explain it or defend it.
00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:53.360
Bring it to Jesus and ask him to change the way you see that person.
00:35:54.719 --> 00:36:00.000
Ask him to teach you to see that someone Christ loves and says someone you have judged.
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:09.440
Now, I don't think many of us get here willfully.
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:11.760
We don't get there on purpose.
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.280
We don't become a judgmental purpose like that on purpose.
00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:17.039
We don't set out that way.
00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:21.599
No, I know that because come to kids' group on Thursday night.
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:25.039
Those kids don't know each other sometimes.
00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:26.400
They do know better now.
00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:27.920
We've been together for a while.
00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:30.480
But watch little kids how they make friends.
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:31.840
Matter of fact, okay, good example.
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:35.280
We went to the Pittsburgh District family camp for our vacation this year.
00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:41.840
Last time we were on the Pittsburgh District, the only kid of mine that was walking and talking very well was Jaden.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:53.039
By day two, Emris comes up to me and says, Yeah, this is my friend.
00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:54.159
What's your friend's name?
00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:54.880
I don't know.
00:36:57.199 --> 00:36:58.079
What are you doing?
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:00.159
We're hunting for toads.
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.280
Just don't kiss any because no prince is allowed.
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:06.400
She didn't stop.
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:09.519
Emmy didn't stop to ask what the kid's name was, what her family back.
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:10.639
She didn't care about any of that.
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.159
She said found a kid that she knew when to hunt for toads like she did.
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:23.039
So again, we don't we don't start out with those kind of attitudes, those judgmental practices and attitudes like that.
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:32.480
So maybe part of the reason we we get the way we are is we know what it feels like to be the one in filthy rags.
00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:38.639
Maybe our filthy rags aren't isn't poverty, but maybe it's something else.
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:46.639
And you've spent years yourself trying to prove that you deserve a good seat.
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:49.199
Because people keep putting you in the bad seat.
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:58.719
And so along the way, because you know how hard it is to switch seats, you become hard.
00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:03.920
And you become hard because you were formed by a world that was unrelenting.
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:10.480
The pressure to conform and be what the world's telling you to be and measure up is it's unforgiving.
00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:11.280
It's ruthless.
00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:14.000
It doesn't care, it's cold, loveless, chaotic.
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:22.800
You come from a a you were formed by a world that never showed you mercy.
00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:27.199
And that's how you became that.
00:38:31.119 --> 00:38:33.280
If that is you today, I want you to hear me.
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:44.239
That person's judgment that's ringing in your ears right now, that's been echoing through your heart and mind for decades, for your whole life.
00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:49.360
That judgment of you is not Jesus' judgment of you.
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:58.719
Jesus doesn't see you the way you've been trying to measure up to that way that person saw you.
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:02.559
Jesus sees you and he loves you.
00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:05.119
Right where you're at.
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:12.880
You're not worth this because of what you have.
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:14.800
You're not worth this because of where you came from.
00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:21.360
You're not worth this because of what your family name is, you're not worth this because of what you have done or what somebody else has decided about you.
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:27.119
Jesus is here today and he loves you, and he's saying, I'm here, I'm here to offer you mercy.
00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:34.000
And I'm here to offer you mercy in your life, perhaps the first time in a life where you've never been shown mercy before.
00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:37.920
It's gonna be weird, it's gonna be different, but guess what?
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:39.440
It's gonna be freeing.
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:43.440
And learning to live in that freedom is different.
00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:57.840
When you experience His mercy, when you truly experience, when you're transformed by that love and that grace, then you become someone who shows others' mercy.
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:05.280
And then again, you don't have to add rejection to somebody who's been rejected.
00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:08.400
You can love your neighbor as yourself.
00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:13.039
Because really the love of letting your neighbor as yourself means is you help people share the load.
00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:18.800
Because we're all carrying things that are attempting to crush us, we're all carrying shame and guilt that's attempting to crush us.
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:22.559
So Jesus can help us.
00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:23.599
And he will help us.
00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:27.519
The way the way Jesus helps us is by putting us in a community like this of believers.
00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:32.800
Where no one gets to claim the good seat and the bad seat.
00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:35.679
There's only a real person on that one.
00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:39.920
And even he says, Come sit with me at my table.
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:51.920
So whether you recognize yourself as the person doing the judging, the person is carrying someone else's judgment, the invitation is the same this morning.
00:40:52.719 --> 00:40:53.920
Come to Jesus.
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:06.639
Before you go, I just want to give you a moment here and invite you to respond to this message.
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:10.960
Because maybe you were listening and the Holy Spirit brought someone to mind.
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:13.440
Someone you have judged by their past.
00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:18.239
Maybe you judge them by their family, their reputation, or what they have, or what they don't have.
00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:21.519
And James doesn't give us an excuse for that.
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:24.000
He calls it sin.
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:28.480
If God has put someone on your heart, don't defend it.
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:30.320
Don't explain it away.
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:32.159
Bring it to Jesus.
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:35.840
Ask him to forgive you and change the way you see that person.
00:41:37.119 --> 00:41:39.360
Or maybe you heard this sermon from the other seat.
00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:42.159
You know what it feels like to be the person in filthy rags.
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:50.239
Someone someone that other people have judged, and and their judgment has become a load you've carried for a long time.
00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:54.800
It's made maybe it's made you're you a hard person, right?
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:57.760
A person that that is judgmental and critical of others.
00:41:58.239 --> 00:41:59.760
And I want you to hear this again.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.880
Their judgment of you is not Jesus' judgment of you.
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:06.320
So wherever you are right now, you can respond.
00:42:06.800 --> 00:42:08.800
You don't need an altar or a church building.
00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:12.000
Jesus is right there with you where you're at right now.
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:13.199
So let's pray.
00:42:14.159 --> 00:42:14.719
Lord.
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:22.000
For the person who recognizes judgment and favoritism in their own heart, give them the courage to repent without making excuses.
00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:23.599
Forgive them.
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:26.639
Change the way they see the people around them.
00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:31.360
Teach them to see someone you love instead of someone they have judged.
00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:37.440
And for the person who has carried the weight of someone else's judgment, meet them with mercy.
00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:46.559
Remind them that their worth is not determined by their past, their family name, their bank account, their reputation, or what somebody else decided about them.
00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:53.199
Let them experience your mercy in a way that begins healing what they have carried for so long.
00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:59.840
For all of us, God, make us people who speak and act differently because we've experienced your mercy.
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:08.719
Teach us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and keep us from adding to those people already carry, and give us the grace to share them.
00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:11.360
In the name of Jesus we pray.
00:43:11.679 --> 00:43:12.320
Amen.
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:23.119
Now, friend, if something stirred you today and you want to share your story, or if you need someone to walk alongside you with some pastoral counsel, I would love to do that.
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:24.239
I'd love to hear your story.
00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:25.440
I'd love to walk with you.
00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:30.000
Maybe you don't have a pastor, maybe you're not attending church right now, you just need a pastor to talk to.
00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:35.199
You can email me at dirtpathpastor at gmail.com.
00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:40.320
Again, dirtpathpastor, all one word, all lowercase, at gmail.com.
00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:45.519
And I'd be honored to hear from you, and I'd be honored to participate in your journey with you.
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:47.760
And journey together for a little while.
00:43:48.880 --> 00:44:00.159
Um and then if this episode made you think of somebody that you know in your life that maybe could benefit from listening, share it with them.
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:04.480
I can't believe that this podcast is going to come to the end of its seventh year.
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:13.280
And uh this podcast wouldn't be where it's at if I didn't know Jesus was using it, right?
00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:17.760
My simple voice here in Easter Kentucky to reach one more person with his word.
00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:19.440
And you're that one more person.
00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:24.000
You can help me continue to reach one more person with his word just by sharing this episode with somebody else.
00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:29.119
Um be sure to subscribe to the Dirt Pass Run podcast too, so you don't miss the next message.
00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:32.719
And you can also financially support this podcast, but just no.
00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:35.679
Uh, when you support this podcast, you're not actually supporting me.
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:37.039
The money doesn't come to me.
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:41.840
Uh, whatever you give goes to help support the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.
00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.239
And specifically, their emergency relief fund.
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:51.599
And that's helping our denomination, our church, respond when disasters and emergency leave people carrying loads they never expected to carry.
00:44:52.159 --> 00:44:54.800
Your giving helps us be the hands and feet of Jesus.
00:44:54.880 --> 00:44:56.400
And by this I mean the denomination.
00:44:56.800 --> 00:44:59.360
The group that makes up the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.
00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:04.000
And our church gladly partners with them, and the rest are an nomination of that.
00:45:04.239 --> 00:45:09.679
Now, as you head back into your week, remember that everybody you meet is carrying something you might not be able to see.
00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:12.800
And you don't have to decide what they're worth.
00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:14.960
You don't have to assign them a seat.
00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:21.119
You can simply remember that mercy Jesus has owned you and offer that mercy to the person in front of you.
00:45:21.760 --> 00:45:25.039
And people who receive mercy don't add to the load.
00:45:25.440 --> 00:45:26.480
They share it.
00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:30.800
Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
