Introduction.
In the opening verses of this chapter James is dealing
with the Peril of Discrimination. He condemns behaviour
that is based on worldly or material considerations.
The Church of the Jesus
Christ ought to be the one place where discrimination
is not tolerated. Having highlighted this folly, he
now examines behaviour in direct relationship to God’s
Law and its fundamental teaching.
Those who discriminate
are presumptuous. They presume that discrimination is
not a sin, it is not significant, and it is not serious.
God does not excuse discrimination, for it is an ugly
sin. To presume otherwise is to make a false presumption.
James
2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin,
and are convinced of the law as transgressors. KJV
James
2:9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and
are convicted by the law as transgressors. (NKJ)
Wrong treatment of the
poor is a violation of God’s law and the guilty
must be made to see that they are lawbreakers. Sometimes
we can make light of the way we treat others, but, if
we treat people unreasonably, we are breaking the Law
of God.
The
Description of the Law.
James
2:8 If you really fulfil the royal law according to
the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbour as
yourself," you do well;
Notice the unique phrase
"The Royal law according to the scriptures"
This Law is Royal in its Source. It is the Sovereign
law of God, which is settled in heaven.
It is the law exemplified
and fulfilled in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the King of Kings. The Royal law of Christ’s
kingdom ought to control the subjects of that kingdom.
This law is to control the Believer’s attitude
towards all men.
Illustration.
At one particular point, during our coronation service,
a bible is handed to the monarch with these words; "
We present you with this book, the most valuable thing
this world affords. Here is wisdom; these are the lively
oracles of God.
The Bible is Royal because
God is its author. James is pressing home the fact that
there is a law that is pre-eminent and it’s the
Royal law of God, which is according to the scriptures
The language of the scripture
is filled with phrases such as; "God said"
"God spoke" "the word of the Lord came".
James believed in the inspiration and the infallibility
of the Royal law of the Scriptures. This is what he
turns to for his authority for dealing with the problem
of discrimination.
The Bible stands alone.
All other books are trees, which men have planted, have
trimmed and pruned with periodic care. (Joseph Parker
1895)
Yes the Bible stands
alone in thought, event, direction, and sovereignty.
It is the law of Christ’s kingdom and as such it
is to control all the subjects of that kingdom who are
in fact royalty.
1
Pet 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
Friends, God’s Law
is relevant to everyone on the face of the earth. Everyone
must consider God’s spiritual law as much as they
would His physical law.
A Person might say, "I
will have nothing to do with the law of Gravity"
they might say that, but they dare not live by it.
If they deny the law
of gravity, very soon they will end up by breaking their
neck.
But the person, who denies
God’s law, will end up by damning their soul. In
that sense no obe can afford to ignore the Royal law
of God.
1)
God’s Law helps the Ungodly to find Christ.
Gal
3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
The Apostle Paul, writing
to these Galatians about the law and their new-found
faith, makes it abundantly clear that the law was never
given to save souls. It was given to be our schoolmaster.
Gal
3:23 But before faith came; we were kept under the law,
shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
(KJV) Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under
guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward
be revealed. (NKJ
It was the Law, which
showed people, how futile it was to think that they
could ever get to heaven by their own work. The law
revealed man’s guilt, his rebellion, his helplessness
to keep the law and the standard, which had been set
by a holy God. The law was put in charge to lead them
to Christ.
The law of God, the Bible,
is still used today to bring souls to Christ. It is
the entrance of God’s Word that gives light and
brings life to dead souls.
The Law still brings
men and women from the kingdom of darkness into the
light of the glorious kingdom of God’s dear Son.
The question, which is
asked, is—Does this mean that, since Jesus has
come, we don’t have to obey the Law today?
1)
God’s Law helps the Ungodly to find Christ.
2)
God’s Law helps the Godly to Follow Christ.
The Bible helps the Believer to follow
Christ and to find Christ in all the scriptures.
John 5:39 Search
the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which testify of me.
From Genesis to Revelation
we have the law of God. —The word of God points
us to Christ and reveals how we should live and walk
in the Truth The Bible is a lamp unto our feet and
a light unto our path.
Christians are bred by
the word, fed by the word and led by the word, that
they might be conformed unto the likeness of Christ.
Illustration.
As someone has said " The Bible is the statute
book of God’s Kingdom, wherein is comprised the
whole heavenly law. The perfect rules for a holy life
and the sure promises for a glorious life".
Friends it is the duty
of every believer to be a witness for Jesus, living
by the Royal Law of God, displaying the new life in
Christ, and standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free.
Jesus did not come to do away with the
Law for Christians. In fact He said
"Mat
5:17 think not that I am come to destroy the law, or
the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Mat
5:18 for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from
the law, till all be fulfilled.
Jesus made the Law a
matter of heart. He made it a matter of Love and he
made it clear that Christians are under the Royal Law
of love.
James
2:8 if ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
1)
God’s Law helps the Ungodly to find Christ.
2)
God’s Law helps the Godly to Follow Christ.
3)
God’s Law Helps the Believer to reach others for
Christ
Martin
Luther, Not only are we the freest of kings,
we are also priests forever, which is far more excellent
than being kings, for as priests we are worthy to appear
before God to pray for others and to teach one another
divine things.
James highlights, a particular
portion of scripture to describe the Royal Law, it’s
the command. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself"
To abide by the Royal
Law, we must love our neighbour as we do ourselves.
Mat
22: 37 --40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind This is the first and great commandment
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.
The Royal Law is not
only, given by the King of Kings, it is also the king
of all laws. It is the Law of love that is to govern
those who are the citizens of Christ’s Kingdom.
If we keep this law we do well.
Rom
13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law.
The people, to whom James
was speaking, were not doing well because they were
making a distinction between the rich and the poor by
showing favouritism.
The Royal Law set higher
standards than this. This Law demands that we love all
and that we act in a way that will be to their good
and will bring glory to God.
Oswald
Chambers If my heart is right with God; every
human being is my neighbour.
In Luke 10 a Lawyer asked
Jesus " Who is my neighbour?" The Lord
told the parable of the Good Samaritan and made it very
clear that our neighbour is anyone who needs our help.
The
Priest and the Levite looked at the man who had
been wounded by those who had robbed him and passed
by on the other side. But the Samaritan bound up his wounds and then took him
to an Inn and paid the innkeeper to take care of him.
Jesus says to the Lawyer
" Which was the neighbour unto him who fell among
the thieves? The important question is not "Who
is my neighbour? But "To whom can I be a neighbour"?
Luke
10:36 which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour
unto him that fell among the thieves?
Luke
10:37 and he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then
said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
If you truly love God,
you will love your neighbour. It does not make any difference
if they are rich or poor Love is the fulfilling law.
There would be no need for the thousands of complex
laws that we have today, if every person really loved
their neighbour as they love themselves.
The secret of many a
successful Christian worker is not that he is skilled,
or has gifts, which are superior to others. But that
those, to whom he ministers, know that he really cares
about them, and that he wants, with all his heart, the
best that God wants for them.
Christian love does not
mean that I must like a person and agree with that person
on everything. It does mean treating others as God has
treated me.
Christian love is an
act of will; it is not an emotion to be manufactured
The motive is always
to glorify God; the means is the Holy Spirit;
For the fruit of the
Spirit is Love" Christian love does not leave
a person where it finds them. Love builds up. Hatred
always pulls down.
Illustration.
In his book "Through the Valley of Kwai" Earnest
Gordon tells of an amazing transformation that took
place in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Burma between
1942-1943
The camp was a sea of
mud and filth. Gruelling labour and brutal treatment
by the Japanese guards was the order of the day. There
was hardly any food, the law of the jungle prevailed,
the survival of the fittest.
Twelve months later,
the situation was transformed. The place was cleaned
up, there was a lot more food for the prisoners to eat
and on Christmas morning 2000 men were at worship.
What brought about this
transformation? During the year, a prisoner had shared
his last bit of food with another who was in desperate
need. Then he died. Among his belongings they found
a well read Bible. Could this be the secret of his life,
and of his willingness to give to others, and not to
grasp all for himself?
One by one the prisoners
began to read the Bible. Soon the Spirit of the Lord
began to work in their hearts, and changed their lives.
In a period of 12 months there was a Spiritual and moral
revolution in the camp.
It was lifted from disgrace
to dignity, from death to life by the Royal standard
of God’s law.
When the Bible begins
to be loved by men, men
are lifted by the power of the Bible. As Christians,
may we ever remember that a Profession of Faith is empty
without love! Love finds and makes neighbours of those
who need our love. This is practical Christianity at
its best.
John 13:34
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. If believers fail to love one another
how can we really love God or those who are lost?
13:1
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
Friends, God saw our need and He moved
towards us to meet that need
Rom 5:8 But God
commended his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Having received such love, this love
is to go forth to others in need.
Others Lord, yes
others, may this my motto be
Help me to live
for others that I might live like Thee.
The
Description of the Law.
The
Declaration of the Law.
James 2:9 But if
ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced
of the law as transgressors.
James 2:10 for
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all.
James now moves from
a Description of what the Law is, to a Declaration of
what the law commands. He sternly condemns those who
have been practicing discrimination and favoritism in
the house of the Lord.
He speaks of their Guilt—v 9
ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
James is saying, if you show favoritism,"
you sin" and are convicted as lawbreakers. You
have offended God by your actions. In God’s eyes,
favoritism, is not a trivial thing, it is intolerable.
Beloved we are reminded
that no sin is to be regarded as small or insignificant,
because God forbids all sin. Minimizing sin is the work
of the Devil and we are not to fall into that trap.
Many self-righteous people
presume that, because they have lived lives free of
what society call significant sins such as, murder rape
robber etc.
God will smile and just
past over the little sins of discrimination and the
lack of love among His people. If we should ever think
this then we should look at, v 10
James 2:10 for
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all.
James is not saying that
a person, who commits sin, is held guilty of every other
sin. Nor is he saying that to break one part of the
law is to break every other part of the law.
What he does say is,
that because God’s law is an entity, a unity, even
one sin results in the law, as a whole being broken.
It only takes one puncture
to make the whole tyre flat. One leak in a boat can
cause it to sink.
It takes just one lie
to make a liar, one theft to make a robber, one murder
to make a murderer.
John
Trappe. Once said " If the best man in the
world had his faults written on his forehead, it would
make him to pull down his cap over his eyes.
Surely we would all hide
our faces in shame if our sins were led open for all
to see. We may not be guilty of what would be termed
as major sins.
But if we have not respect
to persons and do not love our neighbour as ourselves,
then we have sinned against the Royal Law of God and
are guilty before Him with whom we have to do.
D.L.
Moody—compared God’s Law to a chain
of ten links suspending a man over a Clift. If five
links break the man falls to his doom. If only one link
breaks, he still falls to his doom. To violate the law
in one part is to be a lawbreaker.
God said to Israel of
old "Lev 19:37 therefore
shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments,
and do them: I am the LORD.
Ezek
18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins
that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and
do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live,
he shall not die.
Friends where sin abounded
Grace did much more abound. V 10 has also an application to the ungodly
James 2:10 for
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all.
Many are still trying
to cancel their sin with good works and religious observance.
The Apostle Paul, makes it very clear in Gal 3
Gal 3:
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight
of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live
by faith.
Gal 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree
If sinners could be saved
by keeping the Law, there was no need for Christ to
die on the Cross.
2 Cor
8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Eph 2:5
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Even at
our best we fall short of what God commands us
to be. He will never lower His standards, nor will he
excuse our sin. He deals with them in Grace and covers
them with the Precious Blood of His Son who is the Lamb
without blemish.
1
John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
Precious blood
of Jesus it hath Redeemed us-
All the Price is
paid.
Perfect Pardon
now is offered
Peace is made.
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