love your neighbour as yourself

‘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? 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 dishonoured 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 honourable name by which you were called? 

8 If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 

James 2:1-13

In the verses above, James is telling us that favouring one set of people or one person above others is wrong. We should not judge anyone for the way they look, speak, their age, background or how much/little money they have. This may seem obvious to us today as we teach about equality and diversity wherever we go, yet this was clearly an issue to those to whom James wrote (and if we are honest with ourselves, we have so much training because it is still an issue today). It was obvious then that the rich were given preferential treatment over everyone else. So it is useful for us to consider if there are people that we are bias towards or against. 

We must remember that Jesus died for the rich and the poor, old and young, the beautiful, ugly, well-spoken and the common, those you like and those you don’t. Jesus made no distinction. Nor should you. 

In this text James reminds us that Jesus has instructed us to, ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. In verse 8, James challenges - are you REALLY loving your neighbour as yourself? If so, you are doing well. If not, well, then you aren’t. If you show favour/bias/partiality to others then you are not loving your neighbour as yourself, and therefore you are not carrying out the command of Jesus. James goes onto say, ‘if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.’ It is a serious thing to be bias towards or against others. It is a sin. It is breaking the law of God. Jesus in the book of Mark precedes the command to love your neighbour with loving God first and foremost. This is the law of liberty that James refers to, loving God and loving others. Jesus shows how the rest of the laws from the Old Testament are stemmed from these two commands. If you live out these commands to love God and others this will effect your speech and actions and you will be following the 'law of liberty', honouring God and living life Jesus’ way. 

However if you do not keep these commands then it doesn’t matter what other rules you follow, you have still broken the law. It is not permissible to be committed to keeping some of the Law. If you break one part of it, you break all of it. If you steal, lie, cheat, murder, hurt someone, blaspheme, you are breaking the law of God and that is serious. You break God’s law, then you break relationship with Him and separate yourself from others. James wants you to be aware that just as not murdering or stealing is important for maintaining the law of God, so is your treatment of others. If you're unfair or unkind, treating some people with distinction and others with derision, you are breaking the same law that a murderer or an adulterer does. Breaking the law in any way has the same effect - separation from God. 

You may be reading this and be thinking you’re ok because the blood of Jesus has wiped away all your sin. It is 100% true, Jesus died for all your sin, he took it all on, so that when you decide to live your life following him you are free from the weight of sin and free to live a new life. A new life where you are dead to sin, as it no longer has power over you and you can receive forgiveness and mercy. This is all completely true. However when you gave over your life to Jesus you did not die to responsibility. 

Jesus died to release you from the consequence of sin when you turn your life around and follow him, but that carries with it a responsibility. Letting go of the old sinful life means that you’re born into a new life with new rules, roles and responsibilities. It means that you have been born into the life of Jesus, the life of following the law of liberty, of prioritising loving God and loving others. Being a follower of God means being obedient to his instructions. Jesus says, ‘if anyone loves me, he will keep my word’ (John 14:23) are you keeping his word? Are you obeying Jesus instructions to love God and love others? 

If you are someone that believes in God, then your life should be known for how you love, honour, serve and follow God, and in turn, how you speak, act, love, honour and care for others, all others. You should celebrate that mercy has overcome judgement in your life as Jesus has taken, destroyed and forgiven all your sin, but it doesn’t stop there. Are you extending mercy or judgement to others around you? If you wish to receive the mercy of Jesus, you need to be one who acts with impartial mercy to others. This is how you will show that Jesus Christ lives in you as you, ‘love your neighbour as yourself’.

Are you religious?

Throughout his letter, James is calling you and I to account for the faith we profess. He carries on inviting us to look at ourselves honestly to assess where we are with following God. It is great when brothers and sisters challenge us in our faith, if we allow them to without taking offence. Then we can grow and develop into good, obedient disciples. How are you at taking instruction from others?

The next couple of verses are aimed at the 'religious' people. We sometimes have negative, pre-conceived ideas about the type of people this entails, but really, if you are someone that says or thinks that they are a christian, one that follows God, then this means you. Do not automatically discount yourself from this category of being a religious person as James is speaking to those of faith, not those outside of it. So even if you think you have it all together, are you ready to see if you really have, and if you are being obedient to God's call on your life?

*26*If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. *27*Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 

James 1:26–27

• ‘Bridle the tongue’
• ‘Visit orphans and widows in their affliction’
• ‘Keep oneself unstained from the world’

Are you doing these things? 

‘Bridle the tongue’ - Are you carefully considering your communication? If not, James is quite clear that you are deceiving yourself and that the faith you have is worthless! That's pretty harsh! Yet, do you not think this makes sense? If a person says they are a follower of God, but they are not mindful of how they communicate, in fact they speak like most other people, isn't there something wrong with that? If you trust and believe in Jesus, then that faith should effect every area of your life, including how you talk. No unwholesome speech should come from you. In fact, you should try your best to think before you speak, so that your communication is clear, kind and useful for building up others. Do you make an effort with how you communicate? Is your tongue bridled? If so then you are displaying the faith you have by doing so. Your faith is useful and you are living with integrity.

'Visit orphans and widows in their affliction’ - Do you care for others? Are you serving others who have nothing, or very little? Do you even know of others who society shuns or overlooks? Are you bothered by poverty? Here James calls for your faith to be faith in action. 'undefiled' faith is giving to those and loving those from whom you will get little or nothing back from. Who are those people in your community that you can step in to help and how can you interact with and help them? Can you sit and chat for a while with someone who is lonely and left out? Can you provide a meal for someone who cannot afford to eat and pay the rent? Could you look after someone's children so they can do something else? Pure faith requires you to put what you believe into action, and that will look inconvenient and maybe even messy. Are you doing it? Are you displaying 'pure and undefiled' faith?

‘Keep oneself unstained from the world’ - Are you living a life undistinguishable from those around you? Do you stand out in the crowd or blend in? Do people notice when you are around non-believers that there is something significantly about you? If not, why not? If you are a believer in God, and you trust in Jesus for your salvation, then you have been given a life unlike anyone else. Do people know and see how your character, decisions and lifestyle are different to theirs? Or are you getting mixed up and messy with the things that the world offers? How are your relationships? Do you manage the desires of your heart? Do you live a life honouring Jesus or a life fitting in with those around you? You cannot do both. If you try to please the world, you are displeasing Jesus and you are becoming 'stained'. Jesus saved you from that not for that. He died to the world so that you could be free from the influences of it, is that how you are living?

As a 'religious' person, how are you doing? Is your character developing along these lines? If you are a believer in God and a follower of Jesus, your faith should be living and active and noticeable, in a good way. The expectation is that you are growing and developing in your walk with God. Is the life and death of Jesus really changing you? 

Are you becoming more concerned with your communication, with those who are on the fringes of society and your own struggle with sin? 

James is showing you here that faith is not just inside of you, a notion or an understanding in your head or heart. It is to be lived out and demonstrated to the world around you through how you interact with others and how you keep yourself away from certain things. In reality, if you are a believer, other people should be able to see it from these things. Your behaviour, character and communication speak more about what you are really living for than the words you say. What are you showing others about what you believe through how you act? What can you do today to grow and become more of a person after God's heart? Do you need to consider your communication, take care of others or keep yourself away from worldly influences? James is helping you learn how to be an obedient disciple, demonstrating the love and power of Jesus, are you going to take up the challenge?

Are you a hearer or a doer?

As we start our reflection today, I am just going to recap some of the things James has covered so far in the first part of his letter;

• Withstanding the trials and temptations of life help you develop steadfastness. 
• As you grow in steadfastness you demonstrate your love for God and are on your way to gaining the crown of life. 
• There are things you need to watch out for that can overwhelm you and get you off track causing you not to show or live in the goodness of God. 
• Anger is not holy.
• Communication is an important way in which you can show the righteous life you have as a child of God. 

These points seem simple and logical, yet it does not seem so simple implementing them into everyday life does it? I struggle with it, especially that last one - being more considered in how I communicate. That is a constant effort and I know don’t live up to the standard of righteousness in each conversation. How are you doing? Have you made progress as you have been pondering this letter of James? It is ok if you find it hard, but are you endeavouring to lead a more righteous life?

James 1:22-25;

be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. *23*For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. *24*For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. *25*But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 

The things God has been teaching you, have you put them into practice? Or have you just looked at it, heard it and walked away? That is what James is challenging us within these verses. If you know that God has been pinpointing a certain behaviour, mindset or sin, and you realise that you haven’t got something quite in line with God’s expectations, then you need to sort it out. Not eventually, not when it is convenient, at a different time in life, but now. Otherwise you’re like someone who forgets what they look like. You are like someone who has gained insight into who they are and then just walked away. There’s no point reading and studying the Bible, praying, or going to church if you are not implementing what you reading, hearing and seeing. If you ignore what God and others are teaching you then you are ‘deceiving yourselves’, forgetting who you are. Faith in God requires action. Some people read the Bible diligently, study and investigate scripture, turn up to events and prayer meetings but remain completely unchanged. Why? Because they have no interest in putting it into practice, maybe because they are comfortable or it is too much like hard work. Don’t be one of those. They have forgotten what they look like. They don't know who they are or who they could be. God wants more for you and from you.

If someone reads the Bible, prays and carries on as they are without any change, it is like someone reading a car manual. It is pointless doing so unless you’re going to do what the manual says. It would be a waste of time and certainly won’t help the smooth running of the car. Ignoring the advice within the manual would be ignorant and could cause long-term damage. The same is true for how you handle the Bible. If you ignore what it says, don't implement the advice and instructions given then you are not living the best life you can, and that can cause long-term damage. 

These verses tell us the Bible is, ‘the perfect law, the law of liberty’. So, if you ignore it you are desiring imperfection and restriction in your life. Whereas if you challenge yourself to do as the Word of God says you will be following the perfect law and learning to live in freedom. Not only that, but the promise is that you ‘will be blessed’ by persevering and putting into practice what God is teaching you. If you seek to live a righteous, God-honouring life, it requires action. Being a follower of Jesus requires you to, 'be doers of the word, and not hearers only'. 

The art of conversation

 *19*Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; *20*for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. *21*Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 

James 1:19–21.

This is hard isn’t it?! Quickly hearing, being slow to speak and slow to become angry? Who, reading this is slow to speak and slow to become angry? 

It is very easy to become annoyed and offended, or to feel you have to defend yourself in a conversation, or even that you can predict what someone is going to say and so you try to hurry up their communication. It is not so easy to patiently listen. This means concentrating on what is being said without interruption and then considering a response before giving one. This is hard work and not natural for most of us, so we need to train ourselves to do it well as it is important. Not just because James says so, but think about the last time you felt that someone wasn't listening to what you were saying. Maybe they were distracted, trying to speed you up or interrupting what you were saying - how did that feel for you? Annoying, upsetting, frustrating? You probably felt that the person you were attempting to communicate with didn't have time for you, wasn't bothered and you could have felt unvalued. That is how I would feel in that situation. Thats probably how most of us feel, do you want others to feel like that when they are speaking to you? Now, consider a time when you really felt heard. It is likely that you felt valued, loved, grateful, understood, happy, content and relieved. Don't you want people to feel like that when they speak to you?

Not only is considering your conversational techniques important to how you show care to people, but it also matters to God. You and I need to get to grips with our responses because lack of control over our speech, ‘does not produce the righteousness of God’. Careless, thoughtless, unconsidered speech does not show that you are a follower of God. Simple truth. Getting angry quickly, not listening and speaking without consideration do not show that you are endeavouring to put Jesus first in your life. Listening carefully, speaking considerately and behaving patiently do.

No wonder James goes onto say in verse 21, ‘put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness’ because being impatient in conversation can lead to speaking and acting in anger. This then shows the filth and wickedness that is in you, not the righteousness that Jesus has won for you. I have heard, as you probably have, people say, ‘I couldn’t help it’ and ‘they wound me up’, do you ever make these comments or have these thoughts? If so, who does it show is really in control of your life? Are you responsible for your own thoughts, words and actions or are other people? God did not build you to be a puppet or wind up toy that comes into action because of outside influences. God created you in His image. 

The best way to consider how God would respond is to look at how Jesus handled conversations. There are many times when people tried to catch him out with words, but because he really listened to the heart of the matter he was able to give clever, considered responses as and when they needed. Jesus never reacted how expected, he could confidently respond because he took time to consider what was being communicated, and what his responsibility was in how he responded. Jesus honoured His Father by doing so and displayed his own righteousness. You have a responsibility to manage your communications, by doing so you too can honour your Father in heaven and display, 'the righteousness of God'.