{"id":991,"date":"2009-11-23T12:15:22","date_gmt":"2009-11-23T12:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/11\/james_2_-_favoritism_and_faith_and_works.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:44:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:44:40","slug":"james_2_-_favoritism_and_faith_and_works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/11\/james_2_-_favoritism_and_faith_and_works.shtml","title":{"rendered":"James 2 – Favoritism and Faith and Works."},"content":{"rendered":"

James 2:1-7 – The way of the world, and frankly too often the church, is to look at those ho are poor as failures. They made bad choices, or are not that bright, or else they wouldn’t be in that spot. James calls these things ‘evil thoughts’ in verse 4. If we are honest with each other, there are people that we are tempted to do the same with. They are harder to love because they are needy or maybe just annoying. Do you avoid them in the fellowship (or the workplace, school, wherever)? I know that I am tempted to. I see them on the caller ID or at church or wherever and I hope they won’t want to talk to me or I’m tempted to let the call go to voice mail. Oh, I know what I ought to do, so I take the call or have the conversation. But is that what Jesus or James would have us do, gut it out for the sake of doing the right thing?
\nInstead, I should pray to see them as Jesus does and have his heart to give to them. This goes back to that John Piper list<\/a> of 5 ways to handle it when you don’t want to do what you ought. Instead fo gutting it out, we ought to pray for God’s heart.
\nI was tempted to leave most of this out, because, frankly, it’s embarrassing to admit. I have a hunch that many others have these same thoughts and temptations, however, and as disciples of Jesus, we need to be called higher. Jesus spent most of his time here with those who were outcast by society, why should we do any different? The only way we can do as He did, however, is to pray for the transforming work of the spirit in our hearts.
\nJames 2:12-13 – James calls us to live under the law, not the old law but the “law of liberty”. In other words, as Paul taught, we are free to live God’s way as opposed to being slaves to disobedience. So we should live as one with the freedom, finally, to do the right thing.
\nWhat does being judges by the law of liberty mean? It means being judged on our mercy, according to James 2:13. So, having been set free and shown mercy, we must do the same. If we do not, we will not be shown the mercy we claim to embrace.
\nJames 2:14-26 – Some like to point to this passage as saying that good works are required for salvation, even saying that James said that Abraham and Rahab were “justified” by their works. But if you read it properly, James is not saying that at all. he merely points out that the two go hand in hand. Faith without the “good deeds” to back it up is a lie, it simply isn’t faith. And note, he never talks about “Good deeds” apart from faith. The two are inseparable. If you claim one without the other, you deceive yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James 2:1-7 – The way of the world, and frankly too often the church, is to look at those ho are poor as failures. They made bad choices, or areRead More James 2 – Favoritism and Faith and Works.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJames 2 - Favoritism and Faith and Works. - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/11\/james_2_-_favoritism_and_faith_and_works.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James 2 - Favoritism and Faith and Works. - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James 2:1-7 – The way of the world, and frankly too often the church, is to look at those ho are poor as failures. 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We may not feel it, but we are wealthy compared to much of the world. Look around at what our main complaints are. High gas prices when most in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":341,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/06\/a_sad_farewell.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":1},"title":"A Sad Farewell","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"June 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"It started with a simple question (\"Would you be interested in coming to church with me?\" or something similar) delivered at the gas pump. Bob, about 5' 8\" white guy, was asking James, about 6' 3\" bald headed black man he didn't know. 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