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“How can you claim that you have faith in our Glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?” (James 2:1) How can you claim to be religious if by your own voice you condemn others who truly love the LORD our God. Your voice should be a tool of Faith and not an opera of evil. It should sooth the beast rather than anger the hearer. It is to be a spark that starts the warm fire of the Spirit of God rather than burn down the Forest of Unity. Why at this time, do Christian leaders spend so much energy speaking down on others, rather than lifting the members up? Do they really understand the Walk of Holiness that Jesus set us upon by His death?

But pure religion is based on how we treat each other, not on how many verses we can memorize. It is how we refuse to let the World corrupt us. It is to easy to allow sin to enter into our lives because we say things that the world wants us to say rather than listen to the voice of Reason, the Voice of God. We need to keep our “tongue on guard” so as to prevent ourselves from speaking by our emotions rather than the true spirit of the Word. We need to accentuate the positive, mitigate the negative, and resolve to do good and to speak good at all times. we need to let our words be the call to action for the good and not to deny, belittle or disrespect others.

Then there are the areas of bias and favoritism. Do we avoid certain people just because they are “different” or because their financial, social or race are other than our own? Have we failed to be a part of their lives because they come from the “wrong part of Town” or because they dress in strange clothes? Do we avoid talking to the young people because they have brightly coloured hair and dark clothing? Or is it the other way around, do we stay away from the older people because we “don’t relate” to them? Is it important for us to stay with our own kind, or the “important” people of the church or the community? These questions are put to us by James as he shows that the Jewish Christians maintained the attitudes of the priest in the temple who rejected the tax collectors and the publicans and the widows in Jerusalem.

There is another kind of bias, the kind that says we talk with nobody, we just go to church and sit in the pews and say nothing, do nothing and go home. Those who never greet anybody, who have few friends and don’t seem to want any. Or then there are those who speak only to a few freinds and make no effort to be a part of the church or any of its missions. Those who are nothing more than a Sunday Christian who think that that is all they have to do.

These questions we need to ask ourselves. I am not a member of any church right now, but visit many. I notice that even in a church that I have visited several times, at least twice a month for the last year, I am not greeted as a friend but only in a cold, disinterested way. I still even after a year feel like a stranger and not even a trusted one. Yet in this church I feel a closeness of Jesus and a love that is of God. The teachings warm my heart and encourage me. The leadership of this church is good and the example of the pastor is a prime example of the teaching of James. I just wish the members of the church where as welcoming as the pastor.

One time many years ago, a visiting missionary from a third world county visited a church I knew dressed in the clothing of the average person of the town he shared the Gospel in. This was a poor town of uneducated people who couldn’t even read. He made no announcement of his coming, although the pastor knew who he was. He just sat in the back of the church. Of a congregation of over 250 people, only three greeted him. Nobody even gave him a bulletin or offered to sit with him. When it came time to introduce him to the congregation and he stood up from the back and came forward, the congregation was shocked! He spoke elegantly of the people he ministered to and the congregation was shamed by their indifference. The mission giving increased greatly and there was an influx of greeting and social fellowship. In a few years, the membership of the church more than doubled.

What was his message? it was on James 2:2-4. I was not a member of that church, but the pastor shared the story with me. He said that he knew the people he loved, had no love for others. He had planned it. The attitude of his church should have never happened.

I also remember when my wife and I would go into the poorest section of our town and load up our station wagon with as many as a dozen kids and bring them to Sunday School and Worship Service. For many of these children, it was the only exposure to Jesus and the Word of the Bible. We kept it up for several years, but when we moved away, nobody bothered to see about these children. Even though several people drove right by that section of town, nobody would stop and see if any of these kids wanted to come to church.

Several years later, I went back to the park where I had first met some of these young people and those who still lived there thanked me for taking them to know Jesus. They told me that there was an old lady who came to the park on Saturdays and told bible stories to the little ones but nobody knew what church she belonged to. They said that the only Church in the neighbor told them not to bother coming to church because they were “the wrong kind of people”.

When I think of how my grandfather drove an old Model A Ford miles each Sunday to preach the Good News at two Churches in rural Coastal California eighty years ago, and how people who a hundred years ago lived in this Desert Valley and the mountains that surround it, would leave their homes on Saturday just to get to the only church for fifty mile around for Sunday worship, I cry that these children were refused the Word because they were “the wrong kind”.

Where was the pure region that James spoke of? When the rich feel entitlement of ther wealth and reject the poor and the labourers in the fields, Jesus is not there. When the powerful feel they are justified in taking from the widows and the weak, there is no love of God. When those who control the purse strings of the church feel that new sound systems are more important than caring for the homeless and the elderly, God has left the building. We need to address these distortions of Faith, these lies that tell us that God will take care of them, we don’t have to, or that they deserve to be abused and neglected because Jesus said we will always have the poor among us. Let us remember that the wealth we gain is not of this world but of the heavenly places. We serve a righteous God who looks upon the neglect of the needy as an affront upon Him. As you have done unto the least of mine, you have done unto me is the words that Jesus told in the parable.

We serve Christ best when we serve each other in His name and because of His Love. I want to close this with the lesson we learn from James. I have not finished with the subject It still deals with the effort we put into the works of our hand for the Glory of God. But James put this line in his letter that we could spend time examining our hearts to know how we must change ourselves in order that we become doers of the word. “Doesn’t this discrimination show that you are guided by wrong motive?” (James 2:4)

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Humility and peace is the receipt of God’s Word implanted in our lives. We are to be the “First Fruit”. And as the fruit of the Word, by the Fruit of the Spirit of God, our actions are to speak volumes over our utterances. No matter how much we proclaim that we are Faithful to the Word of God, only our actions truly proclaim it. Through our actions of Faith, we can grow in the true love of God and of the Mercy of Christ’s death. Because James was speaking to the Jewish Christian, they were aware of the Law of God regarding the care for others, the feeding of the poor and the helping the widows and fatherless. He was speaking to them to continue in the efforts to care for their families and friends who where in need. He spoke of their need to be devote and sincere in how they lived, how they interacted and how they reacted to persucutions.

James uses the metaphor of a man looking in a mirror and as soon as he sees himself, forgets. Let me tell you this, a woman would never forget. He was speaking of the nature of a man, not a woman, to not carefully examine himself to see that everything wasn’t perfectly in place. I’m sure that he observed women, whenever they saw a mirror would stop and check their hair, the hemline of their clothing and brush off any dust or leaves that they could see before moving on. Men just don’t think like that. It is against our nature. James seems to be saying that we are to take that nature on as a Christian. Before we go out, we are to see ourselves as God sees us and we are to brush off the debris of the world, make sure our armour of God is on straight and our face is washed and prepared to meet the world head on. We are to also remember that we are made in God’s image of perfection and walk accordingly.

“But if one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and preservers, being no hearer but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:25 ESV) James says that the mirror is the perfect law, the Law of Christ Jesus, and in looking at Jesus and His law of Love and Forgiveness, we are called to do good works. In doing this we are blessed. We are not promised a higher place in heaven, we are not promised fame and riches, we are blessed. By our doing good works in Christ, we receive grace. While there are many who feel that they are not capable of doing hands on works, there are many other ways of helping each other. In today’s world of high technology, it has been easier to help others.

I live in a Senior Citizen’s Home park, quite often I hear of a need of someone living here that I personally can not help with but I know of someone who can meet the need. I will go to that person and let them know of the need and they will reach out to help. Sometimes it is just having a lady in the park go and spend time with a lonely widow. In this two good works have been done. I expect no reward for it or even recognition. It is just something that I feel must be done. Find some way you can help another just to be an able hand of Jesus and for no other reason, that is enough reward.

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James tells the people to look at the trials and temptations in the light of Jesus. “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.” James 1:2 (NLT). That seems to be very hard for us. Whenever we are challenged or mocked, we get defensive or we attack back. But James wants us to endure and grow in our faith. When your faith is tested and you stand firm it is like a tree that is deep rooted in the soil and as the winds and floods tear at it, it hangs on to the ground and eventually becomes stronger. Here in California in the High Sierras grow a small pine tree called the brittle cone pine. Each tree is several hundreds of year old. Many have been growing since before Christ came to earth. But none are very big, yet as the centuries of abuse has torn at them, they still cling to the almost bare rock and continue to endure the winds, snow and the drought that each year brings. Such should be our Faith in the times of trial.

Your Faith is only being tested to make you stronger, more patient and to build your character, to make you ready for anything the world throws at you. It is to let you have the full effect of Christ’s endurance so that you can be perfected in Grace and to be in the Wholeness of God’s Spirit. Jesus endured much more than we can imagine, for He not only suffered in the flesh but took upon Himself the pains of our sins and the torment that we deserved. God lets us endure only a portion of that so that we can learn to be led by Grace, completed and made Whole in Jesus, lacking in nothing Spiritually.

The Trials are not all physical, most are tests of your knowledge of the faith you proclaim. They are the challenges of your understanding of the Word and how you proclaim it in your life. For this you need wisdom. James 1:5 says, “If you need wisdom - if you do not know what God wands you to do - ASK HIM, and He will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.” (NLT). Just knowing your “verses” and being able to quote the entire Bible is not enough. You need to have understanding and a love of what you know because of God’s grace. Bible verses mean nothing to the non-believer. Can you defend your faith by your walk? Can you use the things of their lives their jobs and their circumstances to explain or defend your faith? For this you need the Wisdom of God, for this you need to go to Him in prayer and ask for understanding and to show you how to address those who question your faith.

One translation reads this verse as, “God…gives freely and ungrudging it will be given to him.” But you must ask in faith fully expecting it to be answered. In our trials of life and the attacks on our spirit, we are not to doubt or to be “double minded”. We are not to be indecisive but firm in faith and in our resolve to withstand the “stones” that come our way. As waves crash upon the shores and cliffs, wearing down the walls of the fortifications, so does doubt wear down our faith. We fortify our walls of faith by prayer and supplication. Take it to God first, let the Spirit of God give you understanding and wisdom.

God blesses those who endure, who stand against the assaults of their faith and who endeavor to live in God’s Way. When we withstand the torments of abuse and remain strong in the Word of God, we are given a crown of life, a victory wreath of gold in the tournament of Righteousness. These Blessings are not temporal, they are everlasting. They are not a thing to be boastful about but things of humility and gratitude. They are blessings that reach into eternity, that angels may sing of in heavenly places. They are the Promise of God to the Faithful.

But when it comes to the temptations, although God allows it, he does not cause it. God does not bring temptation with the trials, our own weakness draws them toward us. As God can not be tempted, He can not tempt us. When running a cross country race, we have to overcome the obstacles that are in our way. Temptations are the obstacles of a Godly Life. We are to overcome them. God allows them because He gave us free will and they are to test our resolve. Most temptations do not come from Satan but from within ourselves. They exist because we are immature and still think in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. Again, this is why we are to go to God in prayer, as did David. The Devil will use our own weaknesses and the the temptations of the flesh to draw us away from our Faith and our Love of God. Satan will tempt us as he tempted Jesus but not to blame Satan for your sins. We are to resist the evil desires of our heart and turn our hearts to Jesus and call upon the Spirit of God to fortify us against our own weaknesses. We are to be firm in the doorway with Jesus at our side to block the devil from entering our minds.

The Jerusalem Bible reads James 1:15 thus, “Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a child and the child is death.” Make no mistake. our desires can lead us to the death of our Salvation. Our lust and doubts give birth to sin, and always remember that James is writing to Jews who knew the Law and accepted Jesus as the Christ, the Redeemer. Make no mistake that even tough God is merciful, and does not abandon us, we can choose to abandon Him. By retuning to the carnal life, by rejecting His Grace and by justifying our sins and wrong doing, we succumb to the desires of temptation and turn from Salvation and return to the Devil. We can not serve two masters, We must choose between the Flesh and the Devil,or God and His Grace.

God is good, all that He offers is good or for good purposes. It is man that can turn goodness into evil. All that comes from God and is for the benefit of Mankind. It is not the object that is the temptation but how our minds receives it. The purpose of God was that we are to be complete and whole in His likeness, that we are to be perfected in Christ by the Spirit of God. As each of us are constantly tempted to sin by our lusts and desires, we are to overcome our weaknesses by prayer and by faith. WE are to allow the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, to lift us up and away from the temptations of our flesh. WE are to resist the Devil. resist the temptations and reject that which would lead us away from God’s Grace. But WE are still to be accountable for our failures, because we can only blame ourselves, God did not lead us into temptation but as Jesus said in the Great prayer, lead us away from temptation and into the Grace of Salvation. So as we are faced with trials and temptations, we are to ask God ad he will answer and provide us with what we need to withstand. We are to rely on God but to seek wisdom, understanding and the fortitude to withstand the burdens and the weaknesses of life.

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