Fracture
Part 5- “Member’s Only”
Pastor Ryan Akers
I am excited about this message today. Because it’s a message that I think affects all of us but none of us want to openly admit that we struggle with what I am about to talk about. That’s what makes it fun because it’s so challenging. Before we dive in let’s recap the series.
If you haven’t been here or just haven’t been listening we are currently in a study of the book of James called Fracture. Why is it called Fracture? Let me go back to what I said 4 weeks ago in the first sermon. The whole idea behind the letter of James is to try and bring a people back to Christ who had fallen into the trap of shallow religion. The people had become satisfied with simply showing outward religious marks. Basically they were satisfied with simply looking like Christians instead of truly being Christians. They were play-acting. They were failing to let our Father transform them into what He wanted. I gave a quote that first week that said it well.
“The result of such religiosity is a FRACTURED, fragile Christian community confronted with a multitude of issues that threaten to disrupt and destroy. The only hope for such people is a recovery of authenticity in their faith practices and the total commitment of their hearts to God. That is the fundamental intent of this short letter. James means to call his readers home. They need to turn away from the popular forms of shallow faith and return to the ways of “true religion.”
God wants us to be whole and holy. Not fractured pieces that only look good on the outside but are filthy on the inside. He wants all of us be spiritually mature and complete. So to start this series I wanted to hit hard and we tackled the question, “Are you really saved?” I wanted to challenge your assurance of salvation because before we can even begin to repair the fractures in your life we need to make sure you understand what it means to be saved. Then the next week we looked at what it means or looks like to revive authenticity. That it is not by our works alone that saves us or makes us good, but there needs to be complete transformation by total submission. Law cannot be elevated above gospel. None of us are righteous no not one and without Christ atonement we are nothing. Law and Gospel work together. Week 3 we got into James and looked at what it means to persevere through trials. What it means to have joy through our most difficult struggles. And last week we tackled the goal of true religion, which is to have a right and righteous vertical relationship with the father and to have right horizontal relationships with others around us. To love God and to love our neighbor.
I have enjoyed all of that so far but I am really excited now because we are going to begin to tackle specific areas of your life that may have become sin, barriers that made you into a fractured Christian. Today is one I think definitely most, maybe not all, but definitely most in here have struggled with. It is the barrier of favoritism. I have titled today’s message, “Member’s Only.”
My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? 2 For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, 4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? 5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? 6 But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear? 8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. 10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. 11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. 12 So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. 13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. James 2:1-13
If there is one thing the human race is known for from the beginning of man to today, one thing we have been without fail consistent about it is favoritism. We have been split into two classes, rich or poor. And without fail those who are wealthy have been elevated with high esteem and respect while those who are poor have always been treated badly and forgotten. But it didn’t just stop there we have also divided ourselves by race. Where blacks became slaves to white’s. A black man or a black woman was beaten to death or hung. They had to go to black schools and drink from different water fountains and sit in the back of the bus just because they weren’t white. But it doesn’t stop there does it? Our children from an early age are influenced to hang out or associate with kids who are similar to them. Go to a high school and tell me you can’t find cliques where cheerleaders hang out together, jocks hang out together, band members are together, Goth kids, skaters, academic nerds. Kids naturally separate themselves into social classes and are very eager to tear down and embarrass any that tries to befriend them that don’t fit in with their group.
Coming to church on Sunday’s doesn’t make us immune to this either. In fact Christians are some of the worst people I have ever seen when it comes to judging others based on external appearance and dividing each other into groups. We hang out with those that we are more familiar with and we tend to ignore those we don’t know or those who don’t fit into our group. The church is basically like high school except everyone is over 50 and the pastor is much better looking than the principal. One of my biggest worries as a pastor is that our church will miss out on an opportunity to see someone saved because we weren’t willing to reach out our hands and say hello to someone we didn’t know who doesn’t fit in with our group. Whether that means they look different, or they are a different ethnic background. They might be dirt poor or they might be black or Indian or Asian or homosexual or whatever. They might just be first time guest and we just ignore them because we are afraid they will attack something or us. We are afraid of what is different. We do this with denominations as well. We all claim to believe in Christ as savior but refuse to work together because we have some pointless theological differences. I can’t tell you how many Baptist jokes I heard growing up as a kid and just thought, “Do these people not think Baptist are Christians?” We treat each other like dirt and we love it when we hear that our church is doing better than theirs. Stupid.
James wants the church to know that this idea of splitting people into classes and showing favoritism to one group over another is not only not supposed to happen in the church but when this is practiced it is breaking the law of God and it is sin. To show favoritism to any group of people over another is flat out without question in God’s eyes a sin. To show prejudice against any person based on their appearance or race or how they talk or how they live their lives is flat out sin. To show favoritism over someone because they are rich and the other is poor goes against God’s law and is sin. It is wrong on all levels, it breaks God’s laws and if it is happening in your life you need to seek forgiveness from God. Not one place in scripture will you find Christ showing favoritism for any single group of people. Nowhere. In fact Acts 10:34 says, Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.” James spends the first 13 verses of his letter trying to get Jewish Christians of his day to understand this. God shows no favoritism. Let me give you 3 things this morning to help break this passage apart.
1. The Command: Be Inclusive - My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? 2 For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting (synagogue) dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, 4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? James 2:1-4
James gives us in these verses a classic example of a person being placed in an elevated position solely based on their outward appearance. As I’ve already said, what James writes is no different than today. We place the famous and wealthy on a pedestal. We follow their every move and want to know everything about them. We get sooo excited about a celebrity who believes in Christ. “Oh did you know they were a Christian?” “Really, wow that’s cool.” But we don’t give a second thought to the alcoholic who just overcame his battle because Christ transformed him. We don’t celebrate the beggar who comes forward to the altar. Why should we? They are nobody. They’re lives don’t benefit us. Now Kurt Warner, Kurt Warner benefits us. “Where does he go to church, oh I root for him because he’s a Christian.” We may not consciously think about it but we definitely place the rich, the powerful, the celebrities on a pedestal and tend to put the poor and the unknown on the backburner. I mean think about it. Where do we plant churches today? A huge majority of churches planted today in the United States are planted in wealthy mostly white suburbs. I have probably heard of at least 10 churches being planted in Wentzville or St. Peters but rarely if at all do I ever hear about new churches being planted in the ghettos of St. Louis were the poorest of poor live. Why? Because we want to be with our own, because we elevate the rich, because we want financial security as a church. I think we’re getting it wrong. We’re planting our churches in the wrong places. What’s the point in planting a church in an area where there are already 20 churches? Why not plant a church where no one else will go? Or where everyone else is too scared to go? We continually give the rich our best and the poor get the scraps. I have a hope that one day Warrenton Wesleyan can plant another church but I don’t want to do it where everyone else plants. I want to plant a church where no one else will go. I want to plant a church in inner city St. Louis where the poorest of the poor are struggling and desperately need to hear about faith in Christ. Another thing we do as churches is we can become too afraid to try anything in our churches because we don’t want to get the big giver’s upset. “Oh pastor you better not try that because such and such family wouldn’t like it and they are big tither’s.” See, maybe its my age and immaturity but when I hear lines like that it just makes me want to do it that much more and with a big smile on my face. I’m not into ticking people off, but I am definitely not into being stagnant and doing nothing and not pushing vision just because it might tick off a few families who are “big givers.” We can’t worry about that stuff. We have work to do. People need Christ not their ears tickled. But maybe I’m the only one hear who believes that.
I don’t mean to keep beating a dead horse here but let me give you a couple more examples of how we separate people by classes or social status. Raising people up on pedestals happens at pastor’s conferences a lot and it always makes me sick. At pastor’s conferences they draw you in by bringing in some big time Christian innovator. A person who has seen incredible growth in their churches in a short amount of time. We place them up on pedestals and think, “Man they have it together, and they have the answers.” And we look at the pastor with the country church and 50 people as kind of, “ehhh.” No biggie. But I love what Craig Groeschel who is the pastor at lifechurch.tv says in his book “It”. Pastor Groeschel is one of those highly sought after innovative pastors who grew a church from nothing to 20,000 in a short period of time, but in his book he says, “I truly believe the most innovative pastor’s are the ones who we have never even heard of.” He get’s it. You can’t separate people. Whether a person is a celebrity or a nobody, whether they are a well-known pastor or a no name pastor of 50 in a country church God shows no favoritism. We are all moving towards a common goal and a person’s social status or income level or how they dress is not an accurate barometer for whether or not they are in God’s favor.
James says there is a command that we are too follow and that command is too be all-inclusive. To judge people based on these things only proves we are guided by evil motives and not by God. And when we judge based on these things we have actually failed to understand what the role of a judge is. The one indispensible quality a judge must possess is complete impartiality. When we make distinctions and judgments on who someone is based on external factors like their dress or their wealth or their race or social status then impartiality has completely disappeared and the cruelest sort of favoritism has been substituted. Our world has already been torn apart by prejudice and class warfare. We cannot let that mindset creep into the church. All men and women must be welcomed with open arms. Because it is here in this place among believers in Christ where all men and women should feel hope and love. It is here where they will know they will be taken care of and where they know they can find answers to why they feel so lost and hopeless in life. If people can’t find that hope and healing here in the church where in the world will they go? How will they ever know the saving grace of Jesus Christ just as you have come to know if we won’t accept them? The command is to be inclusive. When we acknowledge Jesus as Lord it means we have grasped his love of us and his love for all, rich and poor. We are submitting to his authority and his commands are clear. Love your neighbor as yourself.
2. The Conditions: Who belongs in God’s Kingdom? Who is it that truly belongs and truly has the right to enter the kingdom of heaven? 5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? 6 But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear? James 2:5-7
James knocks the church here in the last part because he is saying, “What benefit does it do to elevate the rich? Aren’t they the ones who still cause problems and take you to court?” The drive for wealth and power runs over people who get in the way. The wealthy were using their power in the court system to act against the Christian community. Christians were honoring those who slandered the name of Christ. It made no sense whatsoever and still doesn’t today.
Those who will inherit the kingdom are not the ones who are focused on material wealth and power but those who are rich in faith. Who have put their hope and faith and lives in Christ. Those who love God with all their heart, soul mind and strength. And the people who will believe in Christ will come from all different backgrounds and social status. In verse 5 James points out the irony of the church that foolishly favors the rich while God has chosen the poor. Jesus says in Luke 6:20, 20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.”
He also says in Matthew 19:24 about the rich, 24 I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” It seems as you read scripture that God shows his own favoritism towards the poor. But I think what God wants us to understand is that wealth very easily becomes a barrier to the sense of dependence on God, and dependence on God is absolutely necessary to enter the Kingdom. It’s hard to be rich in faith if you don’t feel totally dependant on God. This doesn’t mean God turns his back on the wealthy but that he directs himself to those whose hearts are most open to Him. Said another way, “The Kingdom is given by God to those who recognize the poverty of their status before Him.” Committing our lives to be totally dependant on God can be very difficult. But those who are poor are actually at an advantage over those who are wealthy because those who are poor would naturally hold far fewer illusions about their ability to sustain life on their own merits and resources. And because of this the poor have historically responded more openly to the gospel than the rich. For those in poverty faith becomes their fortification. It’s what helps them survive life’s most difficult challenges. At the same time it is difficult for the poorest of poor to find hope in a God when their life seems so hopeless just as it is difficult for the wealthiest of wealthy to find God when their life seems to have no hopelessness because they can buy anything they want. That’s why I love Proverbs 30:8-9 which says, “…give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. 9 For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. The command is to be all inclusive, the conditions are to be rich in faith and totally dependant on God and not material wealth and power or elevating those who have it. Finally…
3. The Character: What are God’s people like? 8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. 10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. 11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. 12 So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. 13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. James 2:8-13
The character of any Christian is one who follows the royal law. To Jews it was the supreme Law of Moses. Love your neighbor as yourself. To do anything contrary to showing love to others was sin. It is unthinkable to disobey God’s law. Loving one’s neighbor calls for certain attitudes and practices. The character of one who follows this law is one who is kind. It’s a person who will serve without demanding to be served. They are the people who not only welcome someone who is coming in from off the streets but they will help them get off the streets. It’s the person who cuts their neighbor’s grass without asking or expecting anything. They are people who are known for fighting for rights but willing to give up their rights. They are people who would rather be called a fool and suffer humiliation than deny Christ who gives them power to love others.
We have two choices in life. We can work really hard and try to gain the approval of man and receive our reward in heaven or we can follow God’s law and gain His approval and receive an eternal reward. “Ultimately what turns a group of people into a church is their commitment to be molded by total obedience to this royal law. To claim to believe in Jesus and then practically ignore His teachings is hypocrisy of the highest degree. The reason is obvious to James. 10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. 11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. James 2:10-11 We cannot say we have godly character but live our lives with selective obedience. We either follow all of God’s laws or we break them. If you break one law you have still broken the law. God’s law is an expression of His will for us. The righteous person who has godly character works every day to obey all of God’s laws. Not by their own strength but by being totally submissive to him and to the Spirit doing a work in us. To close this let me say this last though. Mercy triumph over judgment. We must respond to other people in the way that God through Christ has responded to us. Are you showing mercy in your life? Or do you show favoritism?
