I'm glad you're here, church family. I want you to pray with me for a moment. We're going to get into some very serious, very delicate stuff. Very necessary from the Word of God, from the book of James. So we've been worshiping in music and in giving. This is the Lord's Supper Day, our Love Feast Day. It's a great day to be here. And let's get ready to worship in hearing. what it is we're about to hear from God. Father, we thank You for the opportunity to come before You, to be fed, to be led by the Holy Spirit. Lord God, we pray You'll do a work in our hearts, Lord. I pray that You would give us eyes to see and ears to hear great and wondrous things, truths from Your law, that we would walk in them, apply them with wisdom for our good and for Your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name. And we all said what? Amen. Have you ever thought of what it must feel like to be a victim of prejudice? To be stigmatized? Maybe even discriminated against because of the color of your skin? Or because of your last name? Your ethnic background? Your gender, maybe? Your neighborhood you grew up in? I remember when our family moved. I was born in New York City. And our family moved here in 1969. And the Diaz's were the first Hispanic Cuban-American family in a little neighborhood called Cutler Ridge, way down south in Miami. All right, I grew up there. And I remember going around and, Mom, I don't know if you remember this, you know, we were the Diaz's and we, Mom and Dad had a little funny accident, you know, accent, I should say. I don't know about an accident, but I used to listen to them, think it was like Lucy and Ricky. You know, that whole thing. But sometimes, it wasn't too funny. Sometimes we had to go through some stuff that hurt. But that is nothing compared to what African Americans have gone through. And we're at the end of Black History Month, and even though our country is no longer prejudiced or bigoted institutionally, okay, like it used to be, meaning that means our laws, our policies are now fair and just with regard to opportunities in race, that's only been the case, I don't know if you remember this, that's only been the case for a generation. My generation. In fact, I remember when I was a preteen and we had just moved here, segregation and integration was still an issue in South Florida. In fact, I came from serving in a church ministry, our family, that unbeknownst to me when I was a teen, had a racist history. At one time, this church, a church and a school, tried to reject black students. They went to court over it at one time. And on the grounds of religious freedom, and in their religious freedom, they argued that they opposed interracial marriage. And that was reason enough to bar those kids from the school. Even worse in that church, They would allegedly force black members to sit in the upstairs balcony, the cheap seats. They would baptize them on separate days from the white people. I have a tough time with that, reconciling that whole thing in biblical Christianity. But today there's another kind of favoritism, another kind of prejudice going on. It goes on in politics, public policy. You may have heard about this word called class warfare. You heard of that? class warfare, class conflict. And that is the tension, the antagonism that exists between different socio-economic groups, their interests and policy and what they want. And it happens between people of different classes of education, of income, things like that. And in America today, you know, we're still in the midst of a lousy economy, right? I mean, the labor force today is at its lowest level in 31 years. We have a record 47 million people on assistance. And President Obama, depending on your point of view, according to conservatives in Congress, is engaging in class warfare. It's being partial. It's playing favorites. Now, you would think in our government, the economy today, we would welcome as much help as we could get, right? I mean, you certainly would think private job creators, entrepreneurs, would have incentives for turning this economy around and this recovery that we're trying to get to but even though household income is lowest point that it's been in over a decade there is a class warfare going on and some think that's Obama's priority in fact he's called job creators quote millionaires and billionaires if you have your own business you're a millionaire or you're a billionaire and conservatives say that's why he demands higher tax rates on conservatives so what is that class warfare is pitting one group against another group that's what kind of drives it from the other side it's about fairness this is fairness but i don't know if you know this just as a little aside according to the i r s the top one percent of taxpayers those with the most they pay the most one percent pays forty percent of all federal income taxes that's pretty fair But some are still pitting the rich against the poor and are actually showing partiality in the law, or want to, towards the poor. No matter how you slice it, that's prejudice. That's favoritism. And guess what? God condemns that no matter what form it takes. Economic, social, gender, race, whatever. Whatever background. The Bible says God is no respecter of persons. Therefore, neither should we. That means it's a faith that works. That's how faith works. That's the title of our series in James. Working Faith. And it's based on this central idea, this factor that permeates this entire five chapter book that is a real faith, a genuine faith, is a walking and working faith. You can see it. In fact, one statement summarizes the whole book, and we'll get into it in great detail, a great theological section next week, where it says basically, faith without works is dead. And that, by the way, in Chapter 2, that little comment spawned controversy that really still exists in some places to this day. So this letter is vital, James' letter, in reading it. getting the content, what it has to say to us, for any believer or disciple of Jesus Christ who's serious about their faith. It's going to tell us, if you have a professing faith without action, it may be dead. You may not even have faith at all. Saving faith. You shouldn't cultivate the world's friendship rather than God's. We're going to get into that. You shouldn't tolerate disorder and selfish ambition without love. We'll get into that. But as we're going to learn today, James is going to show that the outward display of faith is going to find its roots in your inward transformation that is shown on the outside. Your faith must have feet to it. And this is what we call working faith. And now we're going to talk about how faith works in dealing with different classes of people. And the context tells us that in this passage. The early church was playing favorites. There was partiality going on there. You see that illustrated clearly in verses 2 and 3. Class warfare was going on. In fact, one commentator notes this. There is no doubt there must have been social problems in the early church. The church was the only place in the ancient world where social distinctions did not exist. Because they were very big on like a caste system. Hierarchy, rich, poor, this group, that group. But remember, at the cross, we're all even, right? So they had to adjust to that. There might have been a certain initial awkwardness going on. You could have a master sitting in the congregation of a church being led by and being even fed the sacraments, quote unquote, by one of his slaves. So how do you deal with that? That was kind of an interesting situation because the church is a level playing field, right? So James, guess what, probably witnessed some of this himself, up close and personal, even though he probably wasn't rich. He was maybe visiting more than one congregation in the region. This is an early Jewish church, primarily, that's been dispersed throughout the Middle East from Jerusalem. And remember, James, imagine him coming into a congregation like that. Here comes the half-brother of Jesus. Whoa. He was the leader of the early church's council, the Jerusalem council. We find that in Acts 15. Big time reputation. He was called James the Just. He probably got the best seat in the house, which is what this text refers to. He was a man of high position. They probably were partial to him in how they treated him and looked at him, looked up to him. And we get that sense because he begins saying in James 2, verse 1, my brothers, He's talking to the church. My brothers and sisters, my brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. James is very direct. He's to the point, again, starting this passage. He's talking to the church as you hold the faith in the Lord Christ. Here's the key phrase. Show no partiality. In the New American Standard, it renders it, don't show an attitude of personal favoritism. Or the King James says, a respecter of persons. What that means is, we're talking about a person who when they're called on to give a judgment, their judgment is based on outward circumstances. How a person appears to look. Outward rather than the intrinsic worth of somebody. And so they prefer that person. Usually a more socially worthy person. Normally a person that's rich, that's powerful, prosperous, against another person that wouldn't have those qualities. In other words, here's what it is. They were judging a book by its cover. Very plainly. And this happens, by the way, in all kinds of ways today. Our government does this. In its laws, its public policy, our culture, we play favorites. We're partial to people all the time. Who are we partial to today? Who do we look up to and go, oh, celebrities, right? Movie stars, TV stars, athletes. Whoa, we always judge them by that cover. But it happens in more insidious ways, too. Think about abortion. A woman's right to choose and her body, she's already a mature person. That takes precedence or partiality over what? An unborn child. After all, they're only pre-born, small, they don't produce very much, not very big, not very useful, right? Not overly attractive even at that point. Certainly not prosperous, they're not powerful, but quite the opposite. Many people see them as a huge inconvenience. We are partial toward the unborn. So what do we do? That gives us the opportunity, legally and otherwise, to eliminate them. That's how you see it played out there. This is how, by the way, we justified slavery back in the old American days of Jim Crow laws. They argued that blacks were not fully human, not worthy of civil rights at that time, certainly not a vote. You think that was favoritism or partiality? That's classic class warfare. And again, the church is not immune to this. That's who James is writing to. I found in the 18th century in England, if there's any country known for snobbery, it's England, right? Well, the church was very elitist at that time. Not real open to the common person in the church. In fact, 1739, a man named John Wesley had to preach to the poor working class people in graveyards and fields. There was a field where he preached to some 30,000 coal miners because they were not allowed in church. Because they were excluded from area churches, largely as a result of that, he founded something called the Methodist Episcopalian Church. Tragically, that sort of thing went on, by the way. Even in that movement, 100 years later, the same thing was going on. Common, poor, needy people were being neglected, if not ignored, by the church. And a Methodist couple, William and Catherine Booth, started a ministry to serve them called the Salvation Army. So in verses 2 and 3, James kind of paints the picture for us, what's going on there. And it happens, in a sense, today. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes, 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, sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions? Stop right there. Very simple situation here. Two kinds of people walk in the assembly. Assembly is an interesting word here. It's the root word in Greek where we get the word synagogue, which means a gathering, a congregation. Remember this first century church is very Jewish. Interestingly enough, he uses this word, James, quite a bit, which tells you this is probably, again, the first letter you have in the New Testament. Later, Paul and the other writers will refer to the church as the ecclesia. Spanish iglesia, church, meaning the called out or gathered ones. So the terminology kind of shifts a little bit later on. He's calling it a synagogue here. And you've got two more people. Two people really that are coming in. One is well-to-do, looking very good, very buttoned up. The other is a poor man wearing shabby clothing. That can be translated as dirty, filthy clothing. And the first visitor may have not been a member, a regular attender. Maybe he was saved, already baptized. We don't know. He's wearing shining clothes, it says. Let me tell you about that wardrobe a little bit so you get the picture. The clothes were shining. It's the Greek word where we get the word probably lamp from. Very shiny. And history tells us rings were very customary among Jewish people. Gold rings not so much because they were pretty expensive. And the Jews commonly did wear some kind of rings. But literally, the text says he was a gold-fingered man. Not to be confused with a James Bond enemy. But this gold finger, probably in plural in the Greek, had rings on several fingers. And amongst them was a gold ring that stood out. And you would see the value of that at that time, because if you remember the prodigal son story in Luke 15, the father wanted to put a ring on the son as a sign of blessing, right? But very few poor people could afford a gold ring. So here comes the text. It says the guy walks in, buttoned up, shiny clothes, lots of bling, got a gold finger. So this would show off his economic status. Now the second man's a visitor too. May have also been a true disciple of Christ. He's not just poor. In Greek it literally says he was a beggar. His clothes are shabby. He may be even smelled. Think of a homeless person coming through that door. What would your reaction be? Yeah, we should praise God. The more that they would come in. What did they get though? What kind of reaction? The rich man? The best seat in the house. Everything parts ways. Ushers give a special little welcome, perhaps. And the text says, they paid attention to the rich man. That literally means in verse 3, to gaze upon, to look up to, high regard. They probably all went, ooh. Something like that. This may have been a house church again. So, even there, you'd get the best, comfiest seat in the house. Especially for a teacher or a leader there. Interestingly enough, this has been going on in some churches and even in the Jewish church today. Brother George pointed this out to me about the synagogue system. And it still goes on today. Brian will tell you. There is something called pay to pray. And that's where a member can pay for any good seat, a great seat in the worship service, particularly during the high or holy season, the high holiday season. That still goes on in some traditions of Judaism and other religions too, by the way. Now, what about the poor person? What did he get? Stand in the back, sit on the floor, just whatever. Get out of the way. And don't be seen. It's like the little children thing. Sometimes the world says, you're better left neither seen nor heard. So this is all about the slick and the beautiful people. Make way for them. They got the cash. They got the wardrobe. Today it's probably more subtle. And you have to know this. We may have wardrobe preferences today where we might look down today at certain people the way they come to church dressed. But let me say this. I'm not talking about inappropriate wardrobe that offends or is a stumbling block to someone. We have a right to discern, to judge. and to be aware of that. Because we don't want somebody being distracted. We don't want to tolerate that. That's not what I'm talking about. What I do mean is what verse 4 says. Thinking evil thoughts. Judging someone in the church who is a visitor or otherwise, who doesn't dress or look exactly like you think they ought to. Or how you'd prefer they did. That's exactly what the word prefer means. It's a preference. It's not a necessity. We're not talking about the obvious distraction, the stumbling block. It's inappropriate. Yes. We're just talking about the other kinds of preferences. Because that's condemned. In verse 4, we see the sin. We're talking about the sin of class warfare here. We're talking about the sin that's in class warfare. And it's in verse 4. It says they made distinctions. It says in the text, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? What does that word mean, made distinctions? Distinction. means to discriminate, to show partiality. It's a word. Now, let me explain this. This is interesting. There's a positive sense to this word and there's a negative. The word can mean discriminate. You can also render it to discern, a big Christian word, to distinguish, to decide something. It has the idea in the root of the Greek word of separating something, creating space between something, being able to divide truth from error. So in that sense, discernment is a good thing. I'm here to tell you right now, even as we're talking about class warfare, in a sense, showing partiality and discernment is a positive. You have to do it every day. There are decisions you have to make where you say, I'm going to do this because it's right, and not do that. What have you just done? You've discriminated. You have made a discriminating decision. You have discerned. So in that sense of the word and the idea, that's all good. There's no problem with that. However, in fact, today, You'll even be accused as being a Bible-thumping Christian when you start to lovingly talk to a brother or sister about their sin. They'll say, hey, Matthew 7, man. Judge not, lest you be judged. Right? Have you heard that before? Well, that's wrong. You can judge. That's not what our Lord means. It means you can judge rightly. That text is about not judging hypocritically. and it tells you how to judge. Therefore, it means you can't judge in certain circumstances. Absolutely. However, when you show partiality in appropriate favoritism, as we'll see in this text, that's a sin. God calls that sin. Romans 2.11, it says, for God shows no partiality. Paul wrote that, and he also wrote in Colossians 3, in Ephesians 6, when he's calling masters or employers, I guess in our context today, and he's telling them to do right and to be fair, And when there are servants with employees, He says, remember, God who is the boss, He is the master. It says there, there is no partiality with Him. So partiality is wrong. You have to be money blind. And there are Jewish scholars today, interestingly enough, they think the book of James is actually sort of a New Testament commentary on the book of Leviticus. Brian pointed that out to me. Leviticus, of course, being from the Torah, the books of the law. And that would be like a starting point maybe for James in writing this letter, which it may be as you read Leviticus, especially Leviticus 19, where it talks about the spirit of the law, the letter of the law. It says in Leviticus 19, listen to this, you shall not be partial to the poor and defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. Interesting. God is anti-class warfare, and a good Jew would know that. Proverbs 24, 23, echoed in Proverbs 28 says, partiality in judging is not good. Why? Proverbs 22, 2 gives the answer. The rich and the poor meet together. The Lord is maker of them all. Right? So there is a wrong way, there is a right way, a sinful way of discriminating or judging someone which is on someone's appearance or their social status. In fact, that phrase, made distinctions in verse 4, really could be better translated as, did you not doubt? That means judging or coming to a conclusion on something that's doubtful, an opinion. We'll talk about that more next week as well. Which, as we know, by the way, from our family study in Romans, to actually condemn and judge someone to the nth degree is a no-no, particularly based on something that's a preference or an opinion. And it's interesting, when you think about hearing and doing the Word, this is interesting. The Apostle James is talking about this issue, class warfare. He's not dealing with murder, adultery, fornication. In this letter, that doesn't get mentioned very much. What is he warning these churches about so far? Bickering? Arguing over non-negotiable or non-essential issues? He's saying, don't be unwise. Don't be easily deceived. These subtle things. What we call in our men's group, as it was said in our study, respectable sins. He's talking about, don't ignore widows and orphans, as George told us last time. Or class warfare. Favoritism today. All that is sinfully saying. So that's the first point. You find the sin of class warfare. Secondly, let's talk real quick about the consequence of class warfare. There's always consequences to sin. Is there not? We see it here. And it's because sin does a couple of things. This sin of judging on class warfare does a couple of negative things. It dishonors and disrespects fellow brothers and sisters in the church. That's one thing it does. Secondly, it's inconsistent with a working faith. And third, as we're going to find out in a moment, it breaks the royal law. The royal law, which is the law of love we're going to hear about. But James is saying in verse 5 that God has chosen or elected to save people, including the rich. They're materially poor. And by the way, we know that's talking about this context about the saved because the context is faith and they're fellow heirs of the kingdom, fellow citizens. And he's saying, I have chosen them and they are spiritually rich, which means a whole lot more than being materially rich. Amen. They're brothers and sisters of yours in the church. And remember, we said the Bible kind of refers to us as a peculiar people. Why is that? Because Paul said, as poor, yet making rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything. Poor people are held in high regard in the church. And what's amazing too, think about this, as you read scripture at first glance, I don't know about you, but I almost get the idea that God prefers that He is partial, if anything, towards poor people. You ever get that sense? I mean, there's such a heart there from Jesus for the poor, and it's always marked great Christian ministry over the centuries. I mean, listen, Psalm 41.1, Blessed is the one who considers the poor. In the day of trouble, the Lord delivers him. Psalm 68, we saw last time, says the same. Psalm 72.4, May he defend the cause of the poor people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. God is the protector and the provider, at least spiritually, But it's not always materially of poor people. And he disciplines their enemies. It says in Proverbs 17, 5, whoever mocks the poor insults his maker. He who is glad at calamity will go unpunished. Proverbs 21, 13, whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. It goes on and on and on that way in the scripture. And it makes perfect sense. When Jesus was incarnated as a human being, was he a rich guy or a poor guy? He's a poor guy. Born in a cave with animals. No room at the inn. Poor carpenter's son in Nazareth. You think that's a coincidence? I don't think so. I think that's intentional. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about the Kingdom. He's talking about how you become a citizen of the Kingdom to be saved, to be a disciple of Christ. And what does He say metaphorically in Matthew 5? Blessed or happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, He said poor in spirit, not in poverty. Let me explain that. What does He mean? Is He saying you have to be financially poor to be saved? No. He's not saying that. Spiritually poor? Yes. Every one of us needs to be spiritually poor to be in the Kingdom. That's why it's such a great analogy. Luke 6 says, "...but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." You know what the Lord is saying there? He's talking to rich people and He says, if you're not careful, your wealth and your riches is going to become your God. That's going to become your idol. And that's a temporal God instead of you focusing on Me, the Eternal God. That's a warning. And wasn't that the sin of the rich young ruler? Remember the rich young ruler? He actually comes to Christ and says, what must I do to be saved? That's the question we all want to hear, right? It's a beautiful thing. But then he starts lying. Jesus says, have you kept all the commandments? Sure, I've kept this one, this one, this one, this one. And he's a coveter at heart. The Lord obviously knows it. He says, OK, are you willing to give up your God and all your stuff to follow me? Go sell all your stuff. Come follow me. What was the reaction of the rich young ruler? You think so? It takes off. No, I'm done. I am done here because I ain't given up my stuff for you to follow you. That's what happens oftentimes with rich people. Why is it often? Is it really often? It is somewhat often because Jesus said it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That sounds often. It's harder. Paul said it, 1 Timothy 6, 9-10, "...but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For..." And you all know this verse, "...the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils." It's not money is the root of all evils. The love of money. is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. You get the picture? In the Bible, God is constantly warning us that great wealth, riches, make it harder for someone to repent. and place their faith in Christ. Not impossible. We have thousands of rich people, well-to-do people in the Kingdom. Hallelujah! Because they help us do the work of the ministry, they can help us advance the Kingdom. That's a great thing. But I am willing to go out on a limb and say this. The Kingdom, I'm telling you right now, is probably made up of many more poor people than rich people. Because that's what the Lord seems to be saying. Why? Because a rich person has to humble himself like a poor person already is. They have to humble themselves to confess sin, to be dependent on God, and to repent and trust and give everything they have to Jesus. That's very hard to do. That's very hard to do. In fact, go back to chapter 1 of this letter. We went through this in the wisdom of the rich man and the poor man. James 1, verse 9. The first chapter of verse 10. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation. See, the rich man has to humble himself so he can get in the kingdom. That's really hard. Now, let me clarify this. This is not partiality toward the poor. This is not that class warfare. God is not a respecter of persons. This is not favoritism to the poor. What we're talking about is just a warning, a warning, a fact for rich people. He's not saying don't try to be successful. God is saying be a job creator. You want to be an entrepreneur? Do it. Just remember where it comes from, what kingdom it comes from, and what kingdom you want to be a part of. That's all he's saying. Make lots of money so as a believer you can give to get to give again. That's all. So the consequence of class warfare in the church that we can dishonor, the consequences of class warfare is that you can dishonor your brothers and sisters in the church who are poor. That's being hypocritical. Back in our text in chapter 2, verse 6, but you have dishonored or disrespected the poor man. Are not the rich ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? That's interesting. Remember the early Jewish church community in general was a poor one? But there were some that hadn't lost their homes. They had extended families. They had been well-to-do for a period of time. And they're both joining the cause, the Kingdom of Christ. But you had this odd mixture. Mostly poor people. And it reminds me of the picture. There's a picture and a story that I came across that illustrates this woman about a woman who lived across the tracks. She wanted to join a very fashionable church in town. She talks to the pastor about it. And he says, I think you should go home and think about it carefully for about a week or so. At the end of the week, she comes back. He says, OK, let's not be hasty here. Go home and read your Bible now for an hour every day this week. Then come back and tell me if you still want to join the church. And she wasn't happy about this, but she agreed to do it. Next week she was back. She assured the pastor she wanted to be a member of the church. And then he said, All exasperated. I've got one more suggestion. Why don't you pray every day this week and ask the Lord if He wants you to come back in our fellowship? And the pastor, of course, didn't see the woman for about six months. He met her one day in the street again. Asked her what she decided. She said, I did what you asked me to do. I went home and I prayed. And one day while I was praying, the Lord said to me, don't worry about not getting into that church. I've been trying to get into it myself for the last 20 years. So, with that in mind, James gives them a wake-up call here with this letter. He says, why are you paying homage? Why are you idol-worshipping these rich people and gawking at them and giving them the best seats, all the attention, being partial to them like celebrities, when many of these same people are ripping you off? They were taking their homes. There were bad repos, bad foreclosures going down at the time here. The rich, some of the rich were abusing power here. And they were taking the homes of poor people for themselves, because they could in that context. They were taking advantage of the needy, and James addresses that later in fact. Flip over to chapter 5, the final chapter of this letter, you'll see you can mark this as a parallel reference in the margin of your Bible. Pick up with me verse 4. He's talking to the rich here. James says this, Behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you." It's pretty serious. He's talking to those that we're abusing. He's not talking to all rich people. He's talking to rich people that have the wrong heart, the wrong attitude, and that we're abusing the poor. And that's why he's saying cleverly, so you poor people, why are you kissing up to these people? What are you doing? James the Just never beats around the bush in this letter. He's not a politically correct leader. you will find in studying this. He's basically saying if you prefer the rich and playing a snob and being favorites with people, you better examine yourselves and see if you're in the faith. Verse 7 of our text. Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name in which you were called? Being that way, these rich people, they're actually blaspheming Christ and His Gospel. That's the idea, then, that constant sin and disobedience, hearing and not doing the word is a mockery of the faith. That's how this ties together. Alright? It reminds me of Titus 2. The pastor is being told by Paul, who instructs the woman at that church in Crete to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands. Listen, that the Word of God may not be reviled, or that means mocked or blasphemed. Interestingly enough. So, class warfare is a sin. And it brings consequences. And it's not a good sign of working faith. But lastly, I do want to tell you what it is. It's the love that conquers class warfare. Love conquers class warfare. James is so practical in this letter. He gives us the solution to the problem, the sin of favoritism and its consequences. Pick it up with me in our text, verse 8 and 9. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You're doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Aha. Royal law. That's the only time in the entire Bible this phrase appears in scripture, at least in the New Testament. What does that mean? It could mean one of two things, actually. And I think it's probably both. When you think of the word royal, what do you think of? What do you think of? Think of a king, a monarch. This is a kingly law. This is the king of all laws. It is the sum, it is the essence of the Torah, the Pentateuch, the Ten Commandments, Leviticus 19, 18. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. That's the royal law. It's also called the Great Commandment. You know, it's found in Matthew 22. That is the slogan of Christ Community Church, which is what? Love God, love people. That's the royal law. That's why it's a slogan. It's the greatest commandment of all. It fulfills the entire scripture. Right? Matthew 22 says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. That's what makes this the royal law. And not only that, Peter says this law is given to what? A royal priesthood of believers. We are the subjects of the king getting the king's law. Jesus illustrates that truth, of course, with the good Samaritan. Great illustration of working faith, of hearing and doing, loving unconditionally as God does. What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Do you have to be all lovey-dovey with a neighbor? No, believe me, as Donora and Churchill know, I lived next to a family at my home that God put there for more than a decade. They were the most unlovable people you could ever find, right? People have known me for a while know this was like a cross kind of we were bearing. But you know what? We knew we had to love on them and serve them as best as we could. They were truly dysfunctional in every way you can imagine. If there was a problem, they had it. But yet, we found a way to love them. And what that simply meant is, even when you don't feel like it, you serve and minister and meet someone's needs, legitimate needs, when they have them. And your neighbor, by the way, does that just mean the person next door to you is in my case? No. Because the Good Samaritan was not his next door neighbor. He came across a total stranger in a ditch. and served them and met his needs and helped them with money and with medicine. So what it means is anyone the Lord puts in your path that you have the opportunity to minister to, that's a neighbor. So that's a lot of people you're going to come in contact with. That's the royal law. How does that play out now in this context? Rich and poor. That means class warfare. You treat poor people like you treat rich people. You treat visitors to the church and attenders even that don't look like us, we treat them as God treated us. That's the key. Share a word of encouragement instead of favoritism. Do we greet our visitors when they come in here? I think we do. We need to make sure we're doing that. Loving on them. Look at verse 9 again. But if you show partiality, you're committing sin. You're convicted by the law as transgressors. That breaks the royal law if we don't do that. Now listen, that doesn't mean this. That doesn't mean you're not going to have relationships where you're closer to some people, for instance, in our church than others. That's normal. You're going to be more affectionate with some family members, just like in your blood family. You're going to be closer and more affectionate to some than others. That's okay. We're not talking about that. It means that, as Alex said so well this morning, we're church family. We're brothers and sisters in the faith. We're good friends. You know what the Bible says? I am supposed to hold you guys in higher regard than my own blood family? Right? Did you know that? Jesus said, you want to follow me? Kate, mother, father, brother, sister, cousin. Hate them. That doesn't mean hate them emotionally. It means be willing to cast them aside if need be to follow me and to be a part of my church. And I feel that way. I do. I don't know about you guys. Some people struggle to come to church on Sunday. Oh, what a drag. I hate that. Oh, man. I look forward to it. Why? It's not just because I stand up here and preach. It's because I want to be with my family. I'm weird that way. I miss you guys. Last Sunday, I missed you guys for two big reasons. One, it's you guys. And two, I camped out and slept in 30 degree weather in a tent. I must be insane. And I think I temporarily was. It was one week ago this morning. With the wind chill, it was like in the high 20s. I slept zero. Nothing. But you know what? That aside, I had fun on that trip. But I kept thinking about you guys. That's just the truth. We don't judge each other by our books, by our covers. OK, what we need to be as we close here is a real biblical community of faith. That's what God wants. Another commentator said this, quote, it is our cross love for each other that proclaims the truth of the Gospel to a watching and skeptical world. In our experience, people are often attracted to the Christian community before they get attracted to the Christian message. End quote. That is so true. Especially with visitors and guests. You know what? If you talk to people that come to a church, they make a commitment to be part of the church family, the community of faith. And of course, I'll alliterate this with the letter P. But it's for three reasons, essentially, I think. It's because of the pastors, the preaching, and the people. Because you can have great preaching, and you can have great pastors doing the work of the ministry, but if the people are cold like dead fish, and they don't greet, and they don't warm up the people, people ain't coming back. It doesn't matter. Because there's a lot of good preachers and teachers out there. People want to connect. They want relationship. We were made for relationship, first with Him, vertically, and then with each other, horizontally. You understand? You can't replace that. You were made for that. So what should biblical community look like? I'm going to give you eight things real quick. If you take notes, or if you're pounding on your tablet, as it were, do it quick. Here we go. Number one. Biblical community looks like love. Oh, no one, anything except to love each other. Romans 13. Second thing, our community should look like peace. Be at peace with one another. Jesus said, Mark 9.50. Live in harmony with one another, Paul said, Romans 12.16. And that's echoed in James 3, by the way. Third, and you guys are very good at this, hospitality. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4 and 9. Open up your home. Guys, I've got to tell you, we talk a lot about evangelism and outreach. The single best way, and we have brothers here who are very gifted in this area, although we all should do it, some are particularly gifted, is open up your home to a supper, a cup of coffee or something to a neighbor. You want to lead someone to Christ? That's about as good as it gets right there. Why? Because it's safe. It's comfortable. It's not intimidating. It's a beautiful thing to do. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Romans 12. And we're going to see this played out in a moment in lunch at the Love Feast. When you come together to eat, wait for one another. 1 Corinthians 11. 33. Don't go making a dive for the food. That's why our senior brothers and sisters and our kids and the ladies go first. Next, service. That's what a biblical community looks like. Service or ministry. 1 Peter 4 again. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Galatians 5. For you are called to freedom, brothers. Only don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Care for your brothers and sisters. Bear one another's burdens. Galatians 6. This is a big one. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Paul in Ephesians 4, be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. We would eliminate the overwhelming majority of problems in the church and even more so in our homes if we exercised that alone. I've been doing a lot of marital counseling lately, premarital counseling and other And that's what I keep on impressing to the couples that are thinking of being married. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Cancel the debt. Divorce what is owed you. Are you owed an apology and you get one? Great. If not, forgive in your heart anyway. Because if you don't, what do you get? Bitterness, which is a poison in the heart, and grudges. And then you cannot forgive because it's a strangle on you. It's a stronghold. You must forgive. You cannot have effective godly relationships if you cannot forgive. One commentator says, you are never more Christ-like than when you forgive. Did Christ only forgive those that were lovable and good to Him? He forgave everybody, and none of them were good to Him. Right? That was you at the cross. Right? So we have to do that. And then last, two more. Encouragement. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, encourage one another, build one another up. 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. Hebrews 3 says, exhort one another every day. Hebrews 10, the verse about coming to church, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. That's why we're here, folks. Yes, we worship. We praise. We give thanks to God. We break bread. We fellowship. We say prayers. We exhort and encourage one another. And not only on Sunday. This is why you need to come to the Shepherd Group meetings on Tuesday or get another smaller group because you must encourage and exhort one another on a consistent, ongoing basis. Sunday's not enough. This is the appetizer. The real entree of the church is Monday through Saturday, actually. That's why in the early church, do you know how often they met? Every day. And they had this love feast thing every day. The Lord's Supper every day. I understand in our context, in our community culture, we can't do that. But I've got to tell you, unless there's a real good reason that you have, You ought to want to be jumping for joy to get here and be able to encourage and exhort one another, fellowship, pray, be fed the Word of God, and to worship Him corporately and give Him thanks. It's a beautiful thing. And finally, honesty. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. James 5.16 That speaks for itself. So, as we prepare to take the Lord's Supper, we're going to move to the Love Feast. Let's pray for each other today. Let's make sure today, guys, that we are right with God and we are right with each other. If some of you today in this room need to get together with someone in a corner right now who you've been having an issue with, this would be a great day to resolve that. In fact, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, don't even take the table unless you've done that. As much as you can, get the ball rolling. Just forgiveness. A prayer. A word of encouragement. We need to obey God's command and do that. So get with that person. And let's be, as much as we are already, let's strive to even be more of a biblical community of faith. Amen? Anybody else want to join me in that? Let's do that as our men prepare to serve the bread. I want to prepare you to take the Lord's Table. which we take on a monthly basis here at Christ Community Church, the last Sunday of the month.