Good morning and happy Thursday. Dan has a field trip today. I met a guy at church that has connections to a coffee distributor from Honduras and we’re gonna road trip over and check out the roasting operation and talk Central American ministry opportunities. You know the great think about serving the Lord? You NEVER know where He’s going to lead you and WHO He will use to do the leading. I was zooming with one of our future university speakers this week and as we were getting acquainted, guess what? He runs a company that imports coffee beans from Honduras and thereby supports the local farmers and local communities. That support in turn allows them an in-roads to enter the community and share the gospel. A very interesting model not just for ministry but for business as well. A “for profit” business that can be afforded the opportunity to share the gospel. So that’s twice in one short week that God has put Christian coffee importing companies in my path and allowed relationships within the companies. Margie and I have always had a heart for the people of Central America, I’m looking forward to seeing what message God has for us in this field trip today!
Today we find ourselves in chapter 2 of James, one of my favorite books. If you missed the study of James chapter 1 yesterday, I encourage you to back up and read it. It’s easy to do so, just go to The5MC.com and it will be at the top of the list of past posts. By the way, if your looking for a certain post on the 5MC.com, I have gone to great lengths to make sure you can find any individual study quickly and easily. Just click on the book of the Bible and then all of the chapters will pop up, just select the chapter and book you want to study. Also, another side note, God prompted me to build the website and I did it for two reasons. Him and you. The site is free, no ads, no pop-ups, no strings attached. I paid for it out of pocket and I make no money off of it. It’s a true ministry to share the gospel. I built it for you guys, and I hope that you use it often and encourage your friends and family to use it often. If you really like it, you can subscribe and every day that I post a new study, you will get an email that will take you directly to the link. I pray the site blesses you as much as it has blessed me to build it and share it with you.
Let’s look at chapter 2. James starts out with what we would call judging a book by its cover. It’s a vivid, descriptive story he gives us about two men that come to church. I love this story because God’s Word is timeless. This story could as easily be in 2019 as it could have been in 45AD. Let’s hear from God's Word:
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” James 2:1-9
Please do me a favor as we start exploring this story and its lessons. Don’t just think of this as pertaining to 2 long dead men in some old dusty, foreign church in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. I want you to picture YOUR church. I want you to picture real people today. God’s Word is as relevant today as it has ever been. Do your best to make this picture real in your mind.
So, the story James gives us starts out in church. We’re told of two very different people that have come to worship. Now this brings up a great side point. Why do most people come to church? Are they coming to see or be seen? Is church a “country club” experience and they come because that’s where their clique is at? Are they coming to serve God or consume the experience? Are they coming to worship a risen and living Savior or are they coming out of obligation and guilt? My friends, I think you would be shocked if you got an honest answer to this question. I think a large portion of the Sunday morning church crowd don’t even know why they’re there. It makes me wonder about our two characters this morning and their hearts for the Lord.
Let’s look at our two characters. First is a man “wearing a gold ring and fine clothing.” “Wearing a gold ring” in this historical context does not mean wearing just one ring but many. He would had have gold rings on many fingers, maybe all. He’s showing off. It’s kinda funny when you think about money…whats the point of having a bunch of it if nobody knows it, right? We gotta make sure that everybody knows that we have a lot. Besides all of his gold, we are told about his fine clothing. Back around 45AD when this was written, fine clothing meant color. Dyes were expensive and hard to get so only the wealthy could afford very bright colorful, clothes. You can only imagine as this man walked into church it must have been quite the scene. He had money and he wanted everybody to know it.
The next man is the polar opposite. “a poor man in shabby clothing.” Shabby means “in poor condition through long or hard use or lack of care.” I think when James says shabby he means a few things. If rich men had clothing of color, then poor people did not. The poor mans clothes would be drab, devoid of color, no flash, no zing, his clothing would fade into the background. Also, they would have been a little rough around the edges. I don’t think the guy had tattered, ripped clothes that were hanging off in strips. I don’t think that they were necessarily filthy. I think they were just tired from use as he didn’t have the money to spend on new clothes.
Please note: the point of the story revolves directly around us, not the men. Don’t focus too much on the men, let’s focus on how we see these men in our hearts. As the men are greeted in church, the rich man is given a seat of honor up front. Why? Many reasons. Maybe the man gives a lot of money to the church. Maybe the priests are HOPING that the man might give a lot of money to the church. Maybe the man is very influential and can create favorable conditions for the church politically. Or maybe the person sitting them doesn’t even know. Maybe he is only looking at the cover of the book.
The poor man is seated in the back. Why? Well, what in the world can a poor man contribute to? He obviously has no money. He obviously has no influence. Life has dealt him some tough blows and it shows. Maybe he has a drinking problem…too much wine. Maybe he’s a thief and he’s here to pickpocket the wealthy. Or maybe the person that seated him didn’t think at all. Maybe he just saw the cover of the book.
Oh, how we are so quick to judge others. Let’s be brutally honest, it just comes natural to us. It’s what we do and we’re good at it. We are all born with a sin nature, one inherited from Adam and Eve. Every man, woman and child that has ever been born since has it. Part of it is judging others. But you know the funny thing about judging? You can only judge what you see. Think about it. We judge someone first by their appearance. Are they attractive? What color is their skin? Are they well-groomed? How are they dressed? All external and easily seen. Do they drive a nice car? Do they have a nice house? If you know them well, all things easily seen. What about their family? Are they divorced, do they have a “happy” family? Friends it can go one forever. We judge. We determine for ourselves someone’s worth depending on what we can see of them.
This brings up a tremendous juxtaposition. The poor versus the rich. God’s Word has much to say about both in His Word. In fact, did you know that God talks more about money than He does Salvation? Did you know that He talks more about personal finance than He does Heaven? Why? God knows the pitfalls that money, possessions and debt can have in our lives and He warns us more often of it’s dangers than He does the dangers of Hell.
A funny thing about this story and how it relates specifically to our day today is that the rich man today might actually be broke. What? We live in a world today where a person can look and act exactly like the rich man. Fingers adorned with gold, fine clothes, fancy car and huge house. The problem? All debt. You see we live a world today with unparalleled levels of personal debt. We see people that have made it their goal to look rich, but they are days away from bankruptcy. Because of the tremendous availability of personal credit options today, we can sit people in the front pew that have less net worth than the “poor man with shabby clothes” that we sit in the back.
Who actually is the poor man and who is the rich man in this story? You see, God’s Word is quick to tell us that both poverty as well as riches can be a curse. Part of the curse on mankind and how it deals with money is poverty and riches. The book of Proverbs says this, “give me neither poverty nor riches” (Pro. 30:8) You see they both come with a price. The imbalance between the two creates such problems in our world today. If you are to study the acceptance of the gospel, the most difficult people to reach are these two extreme classes..the poverty stricken and the super wealthy. God knows this and He addresses it in His Word often and abundantly.
The next time you see someone, stop and pray that God would allow you see them as if you were looking at Jesus. Think about how you would have reacted if you saw Jesus when He walked this Earth. He was born to penniless parents in an animal’s food trough in a borrowed cave. He had to borrow fishes and loaves to feed the five thousand. He spoke from a borrowed boat. He borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem. He borrowed a room to have the last supper. He died on a borrowed cross, it belonged to Barnabas, not to Him. He was buried in a tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea. How would you look at Jesus today? He was not just poor, He was destitute. He lived a perfect life with nothing but daily provision from His heavenly Father. I’m sad to say that today, I would see Jesus on the street and turn the other way. Oh, this cursed, sinful heart of mine.
But I am thankful today that my heart belongs to Jesus and He alone can change it if I ask Him to. I pray today that God can teach me through this story in His Word to look at people differently. To look at their heart. To look at how they either have Jesus or need Jesus. You see that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter whether they have a lot or have nothing, all that matters is whether or not they have Jesus.
My friends, that is our job today. If you have called upon the name of Jesus to save you, then you have a job today. That job? To share. Share the good news of Jesus with the world. Whether poor or rich. Whether woman or man. Whether young or old. Whether black or white. It matters not. Don’t look at the cover, open up the book and look within. Within that book you might just see the greatest need of all mankind unmet…the need for Jesus.
God bless.
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