Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Calling yourself a Christian without obeying Jesus does not make you a Christian.

Obeying the commandments, laws, or religious rules will not earn your way to heaven.

Genuine Christians obey God because God has given them salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

READ James 2:1-13

Introduction

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Calling yourself a Christian without obeying Jesus does not make you a Christian.

Obeying the commandments, laws, or religious rules will not earn your way to heaven.

Genuine Christians obey God because God has given them salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Menno Simons once said this, “The whole Scriptures speak of mercifulness and love; and it is the only sign whereby a true Christian may be known.”

Menno Simons once said this, “The whole Scriptures speak of mercifulness and love; and it is the only sign whereby a true Christian may be known.”

The whole Scriptures speak of mercifulness and love; and it is the only sign whereby a true Christian may be known.

Elliot Ritzema, 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).

Jesus said this:

We have been going through the letter of James.

You may remember back in 1:19-27, James challenges us to both a hearer AND doer of the Word, and we are challenged to demonstrate that we re a hearer and doer of the Word by bridling our tongue, caring for the helpless, and living in holiness.

Last week, I have spoken about the sin of favouritism, and we will finish this topic today.

Expressing favouritism over one particular group over the other is not only a demonstration that we fail to be a hearer and doer of the Word, but we have failed to love; thus, we sin against God.

Although favouritism is still within the context of this passage

Big Idea: Favouritism is a violation of the law of love in God’s kingdom

Discussion Questions (7 min)

What should “loving your neighbour” look like?

Who taught you to love?

How do you usually express your love?

Why is it sometimes difficult to love?

We will begin our study in verse 8.

1. Learn What The Law Is About.

(v.8-9)

1.

You Must Learn What The Law Is About.

(v.8-9)

You may remember that James spoke to the Christians about their sin of favouritism, how they treated the rich better than the poor.

By showing favouritism, you think you get to judge people based on their appearance.

You think you can pick and choose who you want to favour and who you choose not to favour.

In response, James is saying, your thoughts evil, wicked, sinful, and harmful because favouritism is dishonouring to the one whom God honours.

So, in verse 8, James could be tying a connection from the previous verse.

The word, “REALLY,” is a difficult word to translate, and it could be translated as “yet, however” to create a contrast.

What James could be saying is this, “Instead of showing favouritism, I want to challenges you to do the royal law, which is to love one another.

By doing so, you are doing what is right!”

You will notice that James adds an adjective to the law, the royal law.

Royal - it is something given by the king who rules the kingdom of God, which is Jesus Christ Himself.

James talked about the law before as the perfect law and the law of liberty.

He is essentially describing that the King owns the law and has given the law to His people to follow.

If you are a follower of Jesus, then you are commanded to obey the law given by Christ the Lord.

a.

The Law Belongs To King Jesus

James quotes a law that most of you are familiar with, which is to love your neighbour as yourself.

The reference comes from , a law given by Moses.

Jesus Christ affirms that law in .

Therefore, this royal law given by the king is the 2nd Greatest Commandment.

Isn’t it fascinating that James would single out “loving your neighbour as yourself” as the royal law?

Why would that be royal law instead of “You shall not steal or lie?”

You would need to look through the NT to find clues as to why the 2nd Great Commandment is the royal law.

Paul is teaching that by loving one another, you fulfill other laws listed in the OT because the other laws are summed up by the 2nd greatest commandment.

Jesus teaches that the greatest and 2nd greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbour.

In reference to the Ten Commandments, the first four commandments are vertical whereas the last 6 commandments are horizontal.

If you love your neighbours as yourself, then you would by default or you would naturally honour your parents, you would not steal, kill, murder, commit adultery, and be jealous of your neighbour.

So, James makes a big deal about the sin of favouritism.

If you genuinely love your neighbour as yourself as written in the law, then you would naturally choose not to show favouritism.

b.

The Law Shows Us The Way Of Love

2. You Must Not Favour One Law Over The Other.

(v.10-11)

The Law Intends To Reveal The Seriousness Of Sin

But, James is noting that if you show partiality or favouritism, then you have failed to live up to the standard of the law, which is to love each other.

READ v.9

Transgressor - lawbreaker.

Lawbreakers describes a person who have stepped over a line or a limit.

They have stepped over God’s boundaries (the law) and did something that was forbidden.

The word transgressor means lawbreaker.

Lawbreakers describes a person who have stepped over a line or a limit.

They have stepped over God’s boundaries (the law) and did something that was forbidden.

If you practice favouritism, then, in a legal sense, the God’s law convicts you for being a lawbreaker because you have failed to love.

Biblical love ought to kill any acts of favouritism, partiality, and discrimination.

You may notice a contrast in verses 8-9

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” (v.8)

But if you show partiality (v.9)

you are doing well (v.8)

you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

(v.9)

What James is implying is that if you are showing favouritism, then you are NOT doing well!

You are not doing what right!

Instead of doing well, you are doing doing and you are breaking the law.

2. Violating Any Law Makes You Guilty Of The Whole Law (v.10-11)

2. Violating Any Law Makes You Guilty Of The Whole Law (v.10-11)

Even though you do not break one of the commandments - such as committing adultery - but if you break the other commandments - such as stealing and being jealous of your neighbours possessions - you have by default become a lawbreaker.

He is making a point that even though you do not break one of the commandments, but if you break the other commandments, you have by default become a lawbreaker, as if you have broken the whole law because the laws are interdependent of the whole.

Breaking one law usually leads to breaking other laws.

Breaking one law means that you have broken the whole law because the laws are interdependent of the whole.

Breaking one law usually leads to breaking other laws.

For example: Back in , King David sinned by committing adultery with a woman named Bathsheba.

What motivated David to sin against Bathsheba?

The answer is that he envied or greatly desired his neighbour’s wife, which is breaking the 10th commandment:

James addresses this adultery and murder because some of the Jews and Christians may have thought that focusing on certain laws that they favour would compensate or override the other laws that they do not want to obey.

They thought they could

Back in , King David sinned by committing adultery with a woman named Bathsheba.

What motivated David to sin against Bathsheba?

The answer is that he envied or greatly desired his neighbour’s wife, which is breaking the 10th commandment:

Exodus 20:

Hopefully you can see that one sin leads to another sin.