The Book of James - Chapter 2
Day 1 – No Favouritism
Readings for this week October 28 - November 2
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – James 2:1-7
We all judge people. We all categorise people based on our own prejudices and our own ideas of what makes a person worthy or unworthy. We know we shouldn’t, but we do. Favouritism is when we show undue and unfair partiality towards someone, often based on their social status, power, influence, wealth or eminence – but also sometimes on how they are dressed, how they look, even how they sound or smell. We hate it being done to us, but we so easily do it ourselves, often without thinking. And James says, unequivocally: do not do it! It is not who God is and it is not how he wants his people to behave.
James’ world was marked by prejudice and bias. People were categorised and treated based on their ethnicity, status, religion, race or wealth. Nothing has changed in the intervening 2000 years, although we might add political affiliation to the list (or sports team or favourite guru or author or…any number of other markers). The early church consisted largely of the poor, so when a rich person entered the gathering it must have been very tempting to make a fuss over them and treat them differently. Imagine if a master came to a gathering and sat alongside his slave. How do you adjust to that? But the church was to be the place where such distinctions and distractions were wiped away. The ancient world was astonished by the unity of the early church. But such unity did not come automatically, hence James’ command to be on guard. One of the defining features of God’s character is his fairness and justice, his utter impartiality, his love for all. God’s people must reflect his nature.
Question to Consider
What are the categories by which you most easily judge people? Why?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, forgive me for judging others based on initial impressions and outward appearance. Help me to develop your heart for all people and be able to welcome people without judging them, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – The Royal Law
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – James 2:8-11
The early church believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the true King, God’s anointed one who came to rescue his people and set the world to rights. They were determined to live under his rule and to embody the values of his kingdom. Central to his teaching, inextricably linked with loving God above all, was loving your neighbour, what James here calls the ‘royal law.’ Regarding the Jewish law, it is easy to see it as a series of cold, clinical detached rules: keep a rule and you’re in credit; break one and your balance goes down. Hopefully overall you end up in credit: more laws kept than broken. Favouritism, while unfair and unpleasant, may not rank high on our list of deadly sins. But James sees it differently.
Even the seemingly mild misstep of showing favouritism breaks the law of God. The whole law is the will of God, so if you break one part of it you’re guilty of breaking the whole. We can’t pick and choose a hierarchy of sin, with some sins not as bad as others and therefore not really sins that we need worry about at all. Do we think of laws as just isolated regulations that we are expected to keep, or as representative of the will of a loving God who knows best what will keep us from harm? Do we see breaking God’s law as equivalent with breaking relationship with the King we have chosen to serve? Do we see God’s laws as a balance sheet with some deposits, some withdrawals but hopefully overall in credit? Once again, James says the reality is otherwise.
Question to Consider
What ‘laws’ or ‘rules’ do you find it hard to see as important in your relationship with God? Why?
Prayer
Holy God, teach me to take seriously the values and laws of your kingdom. May I honour you and your ways through my choices and priorities. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – How Does the Law Give Freedom?
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – James 2:12-13
As followers of Jesus, we are to live under a Law that gives freedom. How does this Law give freedom? James says that Jesus’ followers were not to live under the external pressure that comes from rules and regulations imposed from outside. More than the 613 commandments contained in the Law, the Spirit of God dwelling inside every believer means we are to be guided by an inner compulsion of love. The Spirit teaches us the right way to love God and the right way to love others. Under his guidance we are to grow in our capacity to love others. The love that God has poured into our hearts, which reshapes our desires and motivations, is to drive us to greater heights of love.
Secondly, James highlights another great characteristic of God, one that is to be characteristic of his people too – mercy. Mercy is not the same as tolerance; it is not an ‘anything goes’ mentality. To say ‘anything goes’ is to acquiesce in the oppression and poverty that afflict so many people and to fail to fight against it and stand up for others. Mercy - and God’s exercise of it - is present throughout the entire. Deuteronomy 4:31 says, “For the Lord your God is a merciful God.” And Jesus himself said “blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7), and “do not judge or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1) A constant theme in the Bible is that to expect mercy for ourselves, we must show it to others. Mercy triumphs over judgement. Even when judgement is sure, mercy wins hands down; mercy triumphs.
Question to Consider
Do you find it easy or hard to show mercy? Why? What holds you back?
Prayer
Loving God, I long for more of your compassion and mercy to be developed in me. Teach me every day to rely on the promptings of your Spirit and to view situations and people through the lens of mercy. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – Not a Contradiction at All
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – James 2:14-17
As we have seen with previous comments about faith and works, people have often tried to pit James and Paul against each other, Paul as the staunch defender of justification by faith who is sharply critical of any attempt at salvation through works, and James as an advocate for the necessity of doing good deeds who seems light on faith. Not so. James insists that true, transformational belief must work itself out into results. Faith that is real will result in a new life full of good works, full of active love. True belief will show itself in visible ways. This was a universal teaching found throughout the New Testament. John the Baptist said, “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Jesus added, “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
So it is not that James disagrees with Paul, just that they are approaching the situation from different ends. Paul, writing very near the beginning of the church, is insisting that no amount of doing can put you right with God. You cannot earn forgiveness. It is a gift. James, writing several years into the existence of God’s new community, writes to people who have been forgiven and are now new creations in Christ. James is arguing for that new life to be shown in day-to-day activities and interactions among people. Otherwise it isn’t really a new life at all, just an empty husk without spirit, without change, without love.
Question to Consider
How do you define ‘belief’? Is it a head thing or a doing thing? Why?
Prayer
Lord God, thank you that your life dwells in me. I choose to believe in that empowering presence, and to let it flow out into all areas of my life. Help me to marry my convictions with my actions, to your glory. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – Faith: Professing and Practising
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – James 2:18-26
For James, saying and doing go together. Belief and practice are joint partners in the life of anyone claiming to follow Jesus. They cannot be separated. Claiming to have faith, saying you believe in Jesus, but not getting involved in helping people in God’s world, is not an option. But neither is there room for people who just want to roll their sleeves up, get involved in practically serving others, but who do so at the cost of trying to understand their faith and grow in relationship with Jesus. Thinkers need to act on their faith and serve. Activists need to know the principles that are the foundation and cause for the actions that they take. Christianity is not either/or, it is both/and. Faith overflows into deeds and proves and demonstrates itself. Right action is triggered by faith in the principles which God had put in our hearts, and is done to please and honour God.
As proof of this, James gives the example of two characters from the Hebrew Bible whose faith was pleasing to God, two people whose belief in God combined with their actions show just the type of faith that we are called to have. Abraham held on to God’s promise and was prepared to sacrifice his son in obedience to the one who had promised him he would be father of many nations. Rahab took hold of what she had heard about the God of Israel and sided with his people by protecting the Israelite spies sent into Jericho. Both had beliefs about God but both acted upon those beliefs at moments of critical importance. Both show us that faith and works (actions) are inseparable.
Question to Consider
Which aspect of such an active faith you struggle with the most: the active part or the belief part? Why? What are you doing to combat this?
Prayer
Holy God, may my life demonstrate a complete commitment to follow you in belief, in thought, in speech and in action, in all of life’s circumstances, through the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)