Poor Rich Man

God tells His children to not be partial, do not discriminate in any way. The world loves pushing the poor down as they raise the rich up. But Jesus taught His disciples the poor are rich in faith while the rich may be walking themselves straight into hell.

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Podcast 43 Transcript

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Hello, and good day. I am B. R. Maul, and you are listening to Living God's Way in an Ungodly World. Today we are starting chapter two in the book of James, and we will be talking about a warning of personal favoritism. Personal favoritism. Christians, we need to be very careful about that. And in today's world, we live in a very PC world, don't we? Politically correct, if there really is such a thing. But with that said, trying to appease everybody doesn't work. Can't work. First of all, following Jesus doesn't work that way, because Jesus said, I. am the way, the truth, and the life. So there is no other way. That certainly is not PC. But as his followers, born again believers, we can't play to the world's game.

And there are too many Christians right here, right now, during this time that Israel is at war, who are siding with those who are against. Israel. And if you are listening to this and you claim to be a Christian, please read God's word carefully. Because God makes it very clear that anybody who opposes, goes up against his chosen people, the Jews, will be annihilated.

If we are born again, that makes us one of his children. And as one of his children, do you think our Heavenly Father is going to put up with it? If we try to blend in with this world, to try to fit in, for whatever reason, and go up against the Jews, we can't do it. It is impossible to do that. So I call to all my brothers and sisters in the faith to stand for Israel, to pray for Israel. To not give in to the world's demand of being pc. Can't do it.  

Let's begin the book of James 2:1-13 reads: My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord of Glory with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, And you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes, and say to him, You sit here in a good place. And say to the poor man, You stand there, or, Sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves, And become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder. You have become a transgressor of the law, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.Verse 13. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs. over judgment. 

Heavenly Father, guide me as I teach from your word that which you have taught me, that which you have put into my heart, and let nothing that is of me leave these lips during this teaching, Lord. May the Holy Spirit guide me and influence what I say. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 

So there's a lot there, and so, as I have in the past, let's break it down, shall we? Going back to verse 1 of chapter 2, James begins, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. We see a lot of partiality today. I'm sure it probably has always been that way in history, but with the internet, with the means of communicating across the world in a matter of seconds and for the ease of social media of anyone and everyone who wants to being able to post their thoughts and opinions, we, uh, we get quite a bit of partiality, a lot, I should say, not quite a bit, a lot.

And for Christians, that's not an option for us. If you find yourself, beloved, among those who are showing partiality, and you are a child of God, remember the world is watching, and more importantly, God is watching. So pray to our Heavenly Father, and He will help you overcome this problem of partiality.

Verse 2. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, So I'll stop right there because James is setting up a very common form of partiality, of discriminating against, and that is against those who have money against those who do not have money.

And obviously, we know that is as old as time, since it is in God's word. So, we have A very wealthy and a very poor man come in, verse 3, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes. So, it seems pretty common that is exactly what happens in society. Those who have money Who look nice, who have the extra cash, the extra bucks to splurge, drive nice vehicles, live in nice houses and such, that when they walk into a room, they do get treated differently.

Who is that person? Where is he or she from? What do they do for a living? Questions are asked and answers are wanted because people are curious. And why is that? Is there something different about that person in their design of their humanity? No, it's because of their money and those who show it wearing really nice clothes. Jewelry. None of which is bad. There's nothing wrong. God does not condemn wearing nice clothes and jewelry. But we as Christians are not supposed to view somebody who is wearing such, that is attracting attention financially, against those who we would deem poor, or even just the average Joe. So there again, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes. And you say to him, you sit here in a good place. So giving them the nice place to sit going out of the way here you come over here and sit And you say to the poor man, you stand there, I can picture just pointing the finger, not even wanting to go and show the poor man where to stand, but just you stand there, pointing over in the corner, who knows, or sit here at my footstool. So placing ourself even now above the poor person. That's entering yet another level. It's bad enough to discriminate by showing that favoritism, that partiality towards that rich person and not taking that extra time or even worse demanding that the person who you feel is lesser to sit where you tell them to sit.

Isn't that something? James goes on to say In verse 4, have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? So we won't get into the word judge or judges or judgment, not in this podcast, but I will reference you to Matthew 7 where we are told, Judge not that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge. You will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 

Without getting too deep into it, Jesus is telling us in Matthew 7 that we are not to judge a certain way. We're not being told not to judge at all because he also goes on to explain that we are able to and should judge one another by our fruit, that if we are indeed born again.

Okay, but how we do that is very important. What James is pointing out here is that those that he has written to have become judges with evil thoughts, and of course that is exactly the way we are not to judge. Because as Jesus pointed out, well, that's going to come right back and hit you in the back of the head, because people will do the same thing to you.

And that is judging with evil thoughts when we are doing what Jesus went out of his way not to do, and that is to lift up rich people, lift up anybody because of economic status. Since our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, didn't and doesn't see people that way, we, as his followers, are too few to do the same.

James goes on in verse 5. Listen, my beloved brethren. Has God not chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith?

Okay, this is some powerful stuff. This is huge. This is great. So, I'm going to read verse 5 one more time, and I'll break it down for you. But because James starts out by saying, listen, obviously he wants our attention, so we're going to give him our attention. Who is he addressing? So he says, listen, my beloved brethren. So he's addressing brothers and sisters in the faith. The question he asks, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith? All right, let's take a look at something here because the poor of this world, is he referring to financial? Or economic poor? The answer is yes. But that doesn't mean that James is saying that you need to be financially poor in order to have rich faith.

No, that would be a qualifier and Jesus doesn't do that. There are no qualifications to be a Christian. There are no qualifications to love Jesus and have everlasting life. So we know that he can't be speaking specifically or only about the poor. So there's actually two ways that I see this. That one, as we have learned much by listening to Jesus in the New Testament, We have learned that when we have less in this world, we need him more. And that's why the poor of this world are often rich in faith. And the other part is this. Poor also meaning not caring. or needing things of this world. And that doesn't mean one needs to be poor, but one chooses not to put clout, not to make things of this world so valuable that one needs more and more.

And then they obtain more, and as we're told in Ecclesiastes 5. 10, that he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, or he who loves abundance with increase. So in other words, no matter how much a person loves money and things, they're never satisfied. And we can't serve two gods. We can't serve Jesus Christ and money…can't do it. And so that's why the poor of this world are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. which he promised to those who love him. There's no status that we have, no certain way that we look, or who we're born into, what family, but we are called to love him. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith. Because they're not locked into the things of this world. Or, they just don't have things of this world to be locked in. And so either way, they're not focused on it. and heirs of the kingdom which he promises to those who love him. A reminder that even being rich doesn't mean you can't get into heaven. Not at all. But it does make it very difficult for a rich person to get into heaven. When someone is not born again and they have wealth, an abundance of it, It is very easy for them to believe that they need nothing. And really, that's because here on Earth, their needs are, for the most part, met. And they see their money as a way to solve so many solutions. Never need to worry about eating and having shelter. Having clothes, but it's so easy then to worship one's money and put one's faith in having all this money. We're told that over and over in Proverbs that a rich man sees his wealth as like walls around him, like a mighty city, like a mighty tower he believes his money is, but the righteous run to God, who's our tower, who's our protector. Verse six. James says, but you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme the noble name by which you are called? It's an interesting Conundrum that he displays here for us because it is so true That we can be so quick to dishonor poor people We can talk badly about them. We can give them less and get by with it. We can treat them Lesser and get by with it. And of course that's getting by with society's standards Not Gods, and yet it's the rich people who are the ones doing so much damage to the poor and really to the middle class of this world. We can even take a look right now at globalists, the society that continues to try to get and gain control over countries with the WHO and the UN as two of its agents.

I'm trying to get in and control into any and every country they can. Why is that? Because they have profound amount of money, billionaires, and with that kind of money comes power and control. And they've gotten so wealthy, so powerful, that the only thing they can try to do is gain more because they have nothing else more they feel to gain.

I just pray that they see the error of their ways before their life expires, because as a follower of Jesus Christ, I'm completely aware that they are in a major deficit that they can't see, and that their money will do nothing for them when the time comes. Look at even how much in our headlines I notice that wealthy people, these millionaires and billionaires in places of power.

Not just government. I mean, let's face it. There's the sports stars. There's Hollywood. So there's, there's other forms of power, influence, and they get by with murder, literally. There are so many wealthy in politics alone right now who are getting away with murder, lying to the world. The kind of things that if those of us who don't have much money we were to say and lie would have charges pressed against us, would be arrested, and more than likely would lose everything.

Verse 8 James says if you really fulfill the royal law According to the scripture, which is you shall love your neighbor as yourself You do well. I'll stop right there before I read nine. So there you go. There's a positive statement right there I like how he says if you really fulfill the royal law According to the scripture.

So there's a couple of points in here because first of all if you really fulfill it We can easily talk ourselves into it that the way we're taking care of or loving our neighbors is the same way as loving ourself, but how often is that true? I mean, beloved, we got to be honest with ourself and we got to be honest with each other.

That often is the case that, well, okay, but my expectations of how I should be treated, how I love myself, is a little more, and perhaps it should be, we feel. Because, well, we live in a world that continuously reminds us to look out for number one, ourself. And so it can be difficult to get away from such a horrendous habit, the kind of habit where we really like to shake it, but it just won't go away.

So if you really fulfill the royal law, and then according to the scripture, So not just according to whatever way we want to fulfill it, which human nature, uh, I chuckle because that's just human nature. We want to define things our own way. And again, the way society is currently, and I don't see any change ever coming in it, is that is what the world does. Let's just redefine things. So we're going to redefine, the world would say, what loving. your neighbor is. But James is saying if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, and that is you shall love your neighbor as yourself, okay, then he says you do well. And beloved, for born again believers, we should have no problem doing that.

Not that we're not going to stumble. Again, we are not glorified. We are in the process of being sanctified. And so, yes, we are not reaching that glorified state, that perfection state, which all born again believers will obtain. In eternity, but we do have the ability to love our neighbors as ourself because we have the holy spirit dwelling in us and because the holy spirit loves everybody He desires everybody to be in heaven someday, that we are not to place such evil judgment and then love people according to our own standards.

But in verse 9 he says, But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Lays that out pretty flat, right? But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. So, by judging those who have less than us as lesser people, and holding up those who have more than us financially as somebody who is better off or a better person, is in every way a sin.

He goes on to say, verse 10, For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one Point, he is guilty of all, and we've heard this before, that there is no way for us to live up to the law. The people that James is talking to here know better, or at least they should know better, that there is no way by the law for us to keep it by ourself and not transgress.

And so by breaking one law, we break them all. And. We are guilty of all. Now think about that for a moment, beloved. By breaking one of them, we are guilty of all of them. And that is why we are never to look upon ourselves as somebody who is better than the next person. Now, for those of you who listen to my podcast, I believe it was just last week, may come right back to me and say, hey preacher, you told me that we are to be holy.

And if someone comes to me and says, what, you think you're holier than me? Now, we are basically to understand that if they are not born again, then yes, we really should see ourselves as holy or holier, but that's a, I guess that's a twist on terms because I would argue the fact that it's not that we're holier than other people, but we are just holy. We are called to be holy because he is holy. Our God, the Father is holy. Someone who is not born again that does not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They are not holy. In fact, by very definition, they are of the world, so they're like everyone else. They are not set apart. They are a cookie cutter of all the other sinners.

Now, it doesn't mean that we're better people, beloved, so Christian, listen up. We're not better people, not at all. But we know better now because the Holy Spirit is The one who gives us the ability to see our sins, to see our ways that we have gone wrong. And more importantly, he has given us the ability to get beyond that, to actually no longer be a slave to sin and death, but to say no to sin.

And so we are not at all sinless, but we are called to sin less, and because of that, we are holy. We have God residing in us. But even as Christians, as born again believers, when we stumble and we break one law, we are still guilty of them all. Now bear with me here, because again, that doesn't mean that one needs to somehow make up for it, right?

No, when a Christian sins, we turn to our Heavenly Father and we repent. And repenting is turning away from one's sin and turning to God and being willing and able to walk away from that sin and not want to do it again. But when we do, we are still responsible for all of them. Why is that important to know?

Why should we keep that in mind? Because we should never shake our finger at somebody and think, oh man, that was horrible. I can't believe that person did that. When I hear people who are watching the news, for example, and someone would say, oh man, that person right there, they are going to hell. What she did, she will never be forgiven.

That is horrendous. That is pure evil. Well, I used to do that. I don't do that anymore because I am aware that every time I stumble and I sin, that I am a transgressor. And that I am guilty of breaking all of them, because God doesn't put them on a certain level. Well, here's a lesser sin. Well, okay, you're not as bad, because you only committed this one. But over here, these that have done that over here, that is horrible, so I'm going to hold you more accountable. I don't like that. In fact, I'm going to take a while, God says, to really forgive that. No, he doesn't see that. And for those who are born again, he doesn't even see our sins anymore. Why? Because he sees us already in eternity. Isn't that beautiful? Think about that as well. If you are born again, God isn't sitting there judging you by the action you are doing. It has all been done. He sees us in our glory. Don't take my word for it. Take God's word for it. Romans 8, verse 30, Moreover whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. Past tense. It's done. It doesn't say here that he will glorify. God sees us in that glorified state. Now, a mature Christian will know that, as James pointed out here, just because one does not commit adultery but commits murder, he's still guilty of them all.

So a mature Christian will understand that when I stumble, it's not for me to go, oh, well, at least I didn't do this or that. Or look at somebody else who has sinned and claimed that they are worse. Because we are capable of them all. Which is a whole other podcast so I won't go down that rabbit hole because again just because we are born again doesn't mean That we are free of sin and that we are free from our flesh that wants to continue to war with our spirit Okay, so moving on.

So now we know by breaking one law that we are responsible for them all. So number 12, James says, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Hmm. Here we go. So we are to speak, and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

Let's be mindful, James is saying. Our lives should be full of love and mercy, and that's the way we should live. We should speak and so do we should speak with love and mercy We should speak like our Savior Jesus Christ did and so do we need to live that way, right? It's one thing to walk around and say that a person is a Christian Anybody can do that, but it's a whole other to actually live a life Live in such a way that those who are around you long enough know that there is something different about you.

And really, even for those that we come into contact with on short little clips of life, you know, going into the gas station to pay for our fuel, the person who takes our change, they should know just by how we speak and by how we act that there's something different. There's something different about us.

They just probably can't put their tongue on it. Like what is that? But really what it is they are sensing the holiness. They see and hear holiness that you are acting separate from. You are not acting like the masses. And does it not get easier with every passing day, week, month, and year? For one's holiness to stand out all the more.

Now I say that because it's unfortunate But in the world that we live in when more and more people are just hating other people and if they're not hating There's just a whole lot of I don't care the love of many grow cold. May sound silly to some, but I see that in the way people service one another in the marketplace.

There are so many fast food places in America, for example, where man, I tell you what, the service has just gotten horrible. I feel for the owners of these places trying to find employees who actually care. And not just care about themselves, like, hey, I care about this job, so I'm going to do a good job, but actually care about other people. And they're out there, because it is refreshing, I tell you. When I pull up to a fast food place, And I get a, hey, you have a great day now. It's like, wow, that just, it's like, that's refreshing. Because a lot of people don't even want to look me in the eye. It's like, here's your bag. Okay, next. You know, move on. We're busy here. Yes, we are to be so different that the world hears you and sees you. So twelve, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy we can replace with love. For judgment is without love to the one who has shown no love.

I've recently also learned that kindness goes along with that as well. For judgment is without kindness to the one who has shown. No kindness. The last sentence in 13, mercy triumphs over judgment. Love triumphs over judgment. Kindness triumphs over judgment. So let's not run around judging people. Let's not run around showing personal favoritism Because we're going to judge somebody we feel is lesser and then judge another as if they are better because that's not mercy That's not showing love Certainly not being kind and let's think of that that mercy that we get from our Lord His mercy endures forever You want to get a good taste, an idea of just how merciful our God is, well, go to Psalm 136 and read that.

It's got 26 verses, and every verse contains, For his mercy endures forever. It starts out, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods for his mercy endures forever. Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endures forever. We are reminded over and over in Psalm 136 that his mercy endures forever for his love endures forever. For his kindness endures forever. And since he has shown us much mercy, much kindness, and much love, we are to do the same. So that is James helping us understand the futility of showing personal favoritism. We don't have that right as Christians. And we shouldn't want that right, if we are indeed fully aware of just how wonderful our God is, and His mercy, His kindness and love, how deep it goes.

We'll get it. We'll understand it, and we, we won't want to do anything else but to love other people. So there you have it. That was fun. Thanks for joining me. Next time we'll look at James chapter 2 starting in verse 14. I'm still looking for some people who are willing to share their testimony with me.

People sure are shy these days. I do hope I hear back from some soon, but I guess I'll have to start looking for more. Don't shy away from that, beloved. If you are born again, your testimony, your story of how you came to know the Christ and the time that you were born again is powerful. It doesn't matter how ordinary you think it is.

It is powerful because there are always people who can relate to other people's stories. And it brings such great comfort. And so if you're willing to share, go to my website, brmaul.com and click on contact and share your email with me and send in the reason for the email and I'll be in touch. My goal is to get the stories of my brothers and sisters out to those who don't know Jesus yet, because that is so important. There are so many misconceptions about what it is to be a Christian, how one is supposed to be.

I mean, many just believe that they have to clean their act up before they can commit themselves to Jesus, but that's just the opposite. Just come as you are, right? So I invite you to get a hold of me. So I look forward to hearing from you. And I also look forward to seeing you again soon. Remember, beloved, stay in our Heavenly Father's Word each and every day.

Make sure you are soaking up all of His blessings, and that, too, will help you even spend less time fending off all the evil that is in this world. Fill yourself with that goodness from the hope and inspiration from God's Word. Pray to Him every day. Speak to Him. Get together with brothers and sisters on Christ on a regular basis And I define regular as weekly because that becomes a part of who we are. And when you worship him…Put your heart into it

Until next time. God bless.

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