James 2:1-8... a Different Way to Think

[shalom-dodi]

Song: Just As I Am https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGXDfxWM2r0

Prayer:Father God thank you for your love for us. Thank you that you are always ready for us to turn and return to you. We ask you to be with us this evening as we look into your Word. Help us to set aside the cares of this day, this life and simply sit at your feet with you for this time. Father we love you, be with us please in Jesus name amen.


We have been in the wonderful book of James. In chapter 1 we learned a lot about facing trials. We are now working through Chapter 2.

Let’s go to James:
2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Dodi Note: We talked about this a bit last week. Tonight I want to explore two applications together. Let me know what you think.

First of this is a prime example of wrongful judging. Remember in Matthew 7, Jesus said, “ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”? And then He went on to say, “3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

We usually think or we are told (actually judged by “them”) that we can not judge the behaviors of another. As an extreme easy example, we are told by the world culture, “What right do you have to say abortion is wrong?.” Ever heard that? The truth is we can judge the behavior of another, the act of abortion is simply murder and hence violates the commandment not to murder. Saying abortion is wrong is actually rightful judging.

But we can’t label a person as of no value for redemption or as not loved by God because they did have an abortion. We ARE to lovingly point them to Jesus for salvation, forgiveness and redemption.

However…judging by outward appearances, rank in society, like James is speaking of is WRONG. We are not to do that or treat those with a lot of money any different than those who are ditch dirt poor. Do you see the difference?

Now the second point that crossed my mind is applicable to each of us personally. How often have you/we/I judged ourselves/myself unworthy?
Based on many things. Maybe we think we are not as valuable or worth as much as the rich and famous people. Do you ever catch yourself doing that? (Substitute any position or even personality trait here). I do that often.

What if, that too is wrongful judging and hurts the heart of God who created us all in His own image (Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.)

This by the way does not elevate male over female does it? We are all created in His own image. We have different roles but we are both male and female in the image of God. In fact in Ephesians 2:10 it elaborates on that. It says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Do you see how this could apply to that scripture?
If you judge yourself and put yourself down, STOP it right now? Ha ha.

Paul goes on to say, in James 2:5-7: Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

Dodi Note: I know we already discussed this a few weeks ago, but this is a whole different way to consider it. So I wanted to share it again. Let’s stop blaspheming God by devaluing ourselves.

Now we will see Paul quoting Jesus kind of.
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

Dodi Note: Jesus said, “and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 AMP

It also tells us to do that in Leviticus 19:18
You shall not take revenge nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor (acquaintance, associate, companion) as yourself; I am the Lord.

Matthew 19:19
Honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as yourself” [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].

Matthew 22:39
The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].’

Luke 10:27
And he replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 13:9
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” and any other commandment are summed up in this statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:14
For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].”

and here is James 2:8 in AMP James 2:8
If, however, you are [really] fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, if you have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit]” you are doing well.

Are you seeing this? Once we understand what loving our neighbor as ourself really means, everything changes.

Watch: You can ONLY love your neighbor to the EXTENT that you LOVE YOURSELF.

Are you cringing? Do you love yourself? Can we love ourselves? Isn’t that selfish and self-centered?

No it is not. If we refuse to accept and love ourselves we can’t actually love our neighbor “as” (in the same way as, and or while) we love ourselves.

I am going to share from an article on Crosswalk. I really believe this is what Abba wants for us tonight. https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritu ... rself.html

Loving your neighbor as yourself is found eight times in the Bible. Not once. Not twice. Eight times. ( Dodi Note: we just read those 8 verses)
Loving your neighbor as yourself is so important to God that He not only repeats Himself, He makes it a command. And not just one in a list of many commands. Jesus coupled the command to love your neighbor as yourself with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

James calls it the royal law. It sounds beautiful, and it is when we obey it.

But loving your neighbor as yourself isn’t always easy. That’s why God made it a command. He knew we’d struggle. Making it a command is actually to our benefit. How is that? We have to do it on purpose, be intentional about it. Sometimes even out of our need. 

Dodi Note: This is good stuff! We have to do it, we get to do it and we can do it. This author is going to explain how and why.

1. Loving your neighbor means receiving God's love.
To begin to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to know two things: you need to know what love is and that you are loved. 

The Bible tells us “this is love. Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son as a propitiation…” (1 John 4:10). You are the object of this love. God loves you. Knowing this is imperative. And not just loved in a general kind of way, but deeply loved and unconditionally loved.

We tap into this when we understand that God loved us first. He’s the source of our love. God loved us even before Jesus gave Himself for us. God the Father is the source of all love. Before we can give this love we need to receive it for ourselves. You can’t give what you don’t have.
Dodi Note: See? We can not give what we do not have and do not have what we have received from somewhere first. In this case LOVE.

2. Loving your neighbor means loving ourselves as well.
To love your neighbor as yourself as commanded, you need to measure correctly. The measurement within this command is—as yourself. To love your neighbor as yourself you need to love yourself. This is something that gets misunderstood in the body of Christ often. It gets mixed up with dying to self and denying self as if we need to destroy our self. This is not true. 

Jesus died for each and every one of us. If Jesus valued us enough to go through what He went through, we owe it to Him to value what He values. We need to love what He loves – us. The Bible even tells us that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus (John 17:23). How dare we not love what the Father loves. Learning to love ourselves prepares and helps us to love our neighbor.  
Dodi Note: See? Wow! Right?

3. Loving your neighbor means showing grace.
Knowing God is love and that this love is for you is not enough. It needs to be developed. Imagine if you had a field of good soil and a bag of top notch seeds. Would they produce a crop all by themselves? No. The seeds must be planted and cared for. Grace takes the seed of His love and the soil of our heart and creates fruit for the kingdom of God. 

The Bible says, “it’s God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2.13). Loving Him and our neighbor pleases Him. Grace helps us do this. Grace teaches us proper love and respect for ourselves and for our neighbor. Freely receiving His grace empowers us to freely give it. 

4. Loving your neighbor means acting with compassion.
When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He responded with a story: the Good Samaritan. Even those who have no love for God see the value of the story. What is the bottom line of this story? Who did Jesus say was being a neighbor? The one who had compassion. 

Compassion is not simply a warm fuzzy feeling in our hearts. Compassion does something. A heart that’s moved by compassion cannot sit idly by while someone suffers a need. Loving your neighbor as yourself is being moved to help to the full extent of your ability. 

5. Loving your neighbor means looking out for their wellbeing.
The NIV translation of 1 Corinthians 13 says, “love protects.” In Philippians 2:4 it says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Loving your neighbor as yourself is to look out for other people’s wellbeing. 

To look out for them is to pay attention. You notice if they need something and then you help. For example, their clothing tag is sticking out or they have food on their face so you let them know. Or something more serious like when my neighbor’s toddler got out and crossed the street. Concerned for his safety, I headed over there. I was almost there when the grandma came out to intercept him and thanked me.
Dodi Note: And being rich ourselves, well other than rich in love, does not matter. We can love others in simple ways that cost nothing except our heart atuned to God.

6. Loving your neighbor means serving them.
Serving from the heart is kindness in action. Kindness is one of the attributes of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13. The funny thing about kindness, though, is you can do acts of kindness without kindness residing in your heart. If the kind thing is done out of duty then it isn’t love. 

Jesus said he came to serve (Matthew 20:28). God, who is love, came to serve. Love serves. For you to love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll have a heart to serve them.

Let them know you’re there for them. If they need a ride somewhere, you drive them. If they need their dog or cat checked on while they’re out of town, you do that for them. Other examples are getting their mail for them or taking them a meal if they’re not well. Examples in a public setting are to let people in front of you in line at the store or in traffic.

7. Loving your neighbor means speaking kindly.
The childhood rhyme about stick and stones versus words is not true. Words build up or tear down. God created the world using words. The Bible says Jesus IS the Word (John 1:1). 

To love your neighbor as yourself is to use words to build them up. Speaking words of encouragement to someone who’s down is the most obvious example but there are others. We can be more intentional with our words by looking for and magnifying the good. We can always find something good if we’ll take the time to look for it. Examples of this are giving someone a compliment and telling someone you appreciate them. 

8. Loving your neighbor means making allowances for other people's humanity.
We live in a day and age when offense is as common as breathing. Criticism is running rampant. Love is not easily offended or critical. Everyone does dumb things; no one is always right or knows everything. We’re all a work in progress. 

I remember sitting through a green light. I wasn’t trying to inconvenience anyone. I got stuck in grieving daze because a family member died. I remember that when I encounter people driving too slow, sitting at lights, or even cutting me off. Maybe they have a reason. Maybe they’re just being human. We’re imperfect beings that do dumb things often. 

Giving people the benefit of the doubt is loving your neighbor. For example, I had a lady flailing her arms and cursing because I didn’t go through an almost red light. She was behind me so got stuck at the red light with me. I don’t know why she was so angry but she may have had other circumstances surrounding her that day. I prayed for her.

9. Loving your neighbor means sharing in their joys and sorrows.
The Bible says we are to “rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). 
Celebrating can be difficult for us at times, especially if our neighbor is getting something we have longed for. For example, a new job, a raise, or a pregnancy. Celebrating with them in spite of our own pain is a strong show of love. 

Likewise. mourning with our neighbor can be hard if we don’t know what to say, or have recently lost something or someone ourselves. Loving your neighbor as yourself is showing up and being there with your heart open, allowing them to be what they are and support them.

10. Loving your neighbor means forgiving.
Forgiveness is a big deal to God. The Bible says He planned it for us from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Jesus frequently spoke forgiveness over others that resulted in the healing of their bodies. 
Forgiveness is freely given to us and to love your neighbor as yourself you’ll pass the forgiveness on. Jesus highlighted this in His story in Matthew 18 when Peter asks how many times is he to forgive. He tells the story of a king who forgave an enormous debt to one of his servants. This servant failed to pass the forgiveness on. He demanded payment of a small debt from his neighbor. When the king heard of it, he had his servant remanded for his debt, revoking the debt cancellation. Jesus’ story tells us that love always forgives.
We all need forgiveness, so loving your neighbor is to forgive them as you have been.