WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:03.600 Well, we are halfway through James chapter 2. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:12.400 Now, last week Matt said that partiality is not, it doesn't line up with Christianity. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.399 Partiality and Christianity, they don't mix these two. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:20.719 And so James gives this example in James 2, verse 2. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:29.039 And when I think about this example, he gives, I imagine it kind of like this that say a Sunday morning, a guy pulls into the church parking lot. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:37.759 He is driving a perfectly restored 1997 Toyota, a Land Cruiser, deep jewel green, tan leather interior. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:42.880 It means nothing to pretty much all of you, but to me, I'd walk right by you. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:44.880 I would be transfixed. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:46.240 I won't even see you. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:48.960 I will be walking straight to that guy. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.439 Where did what how did you do the restoration? 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:53.200 Where was the restoration done? 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:54.479 How much did you spend? 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:56.159 Oh wow, that was an amazing number. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:57.119 You spent that much on that. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:57.759 That's incredible. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:59.119 Oh, you sold your company. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:00.880 Oh wow, like how you slid that in. 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:02.159 Okay, oh, wonderful. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:03.119 Good for you. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.120 Oh, you summer in the Tetons. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.799 Oh, I have a seat for you right next to me over here. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:10.239 You sit right next to me. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.159 And then James says, all right, that's number one. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:19.280 Number two, James says, another guy pulls into the parking lot and he's on a 1997 Huffy bicycle. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:19.760 Okay? 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:26.000 And you're not sure if his clothes are washed or not washed, and you don't want to find out. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:34.799 Because he doesn't look like you, or he looks a certain way, and maybe he has on sketchers and you are on clouds, or maybe you wear on clouds and he has on sketchers, right? 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:40.079 Or maybe he has on Lulu or she has on Lulu, or she has on a dupe. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:42.879 You know, I don't, you know, I can't believe she's wearing that. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:51.920 And James says, to all that kind of judgment, James says, it's surface and it's sinful. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:58.719 It's a prison that we build around ourselves as we limit love to other people. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:02.480 But James has good news for us. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.719 He calls us to a deeper way of life. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:08.159 And this is where we get into James 2, verse 8 and 9. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:15.759 If you really fulfill the royal law, according to Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing well. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:22.879 But if you show partiality, you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:27.120 So point number one is this the heart of the person is always the point. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:28.879 The heart is the point. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:38.000 Partiality is to favor one person over another because of something surface or something worldly. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.960 Now, this doesn't mean you can't be friends with people who are like you. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:51.039 It means you don't withhold welcome or love because someone looks a particular way. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.080 It means you don't judge a book like it's cover, like we've been taught. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:00.400 Now, two months ago, my youngest daughter and I, we were going to go on a lunch date. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:01.840 And so I said, Where do you want to go? 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:02.800 You could go anywhere. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:03.599 Where do you want to go? 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:04.319 Have your way. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:05.439 Where do you want to go? 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:07.840 And she said, chicken salad chick. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.919 And I was thinking more like Dave Poe's, right? 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.800 Like a burger joint or something. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:18.560 So I looked up chicken salad chick and I found out this is their logo. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.080 And I don't think I'm their target market. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:33.520 But we're there, prancing our way into chicken salad chick, and we get in line, and everything is girly and it's floral. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:35.360 A lot of floral going on. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:37.360 Not into floral, there's it's there. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:45.039 And it's time to order, and then I have to say, you know what I have to say, I would like the fancy Nancy. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:46.319 So I have to order that. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:50.639 They make you say that when you order, and then wouldn't you know it? 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.680 We sit down, floral tablecloth. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:54.879 We sit down. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:57.120 It was wonderful. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:57.680 Right? 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.000 The fancy Nancy is awesome. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:01.439 The broccoli salad. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.599 Yeah, the broccoli salad, it's awesome. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.680 Perfect little sugar cookie at the end with the little frosting on top. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:09.039 It's the correct size. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:11.680 Like it's unbelievable. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.000 I went back this week with my mom. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:20.000 I'm not comfortable going by myself or like meeting somebody else. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.519 I still need a woman to I'm gonna grow, I'll grow. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:29.040 So James says, move past surface to content, right? 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.920 Move past floral to chicken salad, like move past the surface. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.680 Like the heart of the matter, the heart of the person is the point. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.959 Now, back in our text, James actually realizes he has created a bit of a problem. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.720 There's a problem with his example. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.759 This is why he goes into verse 8. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:58.639 Because if we are to move toward the poor, do we now judge and withhold love from the wealthy? 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:02.959 Because that's also partiality. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.839 So James catches himself in verse 8. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:09.920 And this is why in verse 8 he gives us an overriding point. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:11.439 Verse 8. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:17.680 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:22.160 So the word neighbor just means any person around you, whoever's around you, that's your neighbor. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.720 That's the person you should be loving without condition. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.079 Now, this phrase royal law is interesting. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:35.040 James is probably referring back to a principle taught by Jesus, King Jesus, royal law. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:36.560 In Mark 12. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:37.680 Remember this story? 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.000 A religious expert comes up to Jesus and asks, What's the most important commandment? 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:43.839 Like, tell us what it's about, Jesus. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.000 So Mark 12, 28 through 31. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:48.879 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:52.959 Notice that, noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.639 He asked him, of all the commandments, which is the most important? 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:02.160 The most important one, answered Jesus, is this Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:07.519 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:10.399 And say, at this point, all the good Jews would be nodding along. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:11.439 This was called the Shema. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:12.800 They had it memorized. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:14.480 They knew this, but Jesus keeps going. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:18.399 He says, the second is this love your neighbor as yourself. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.240 So Jesus puts these two together as one guiding principle. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:24.879 He says, there's no commandment greater than these. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:35.519 So the point that Jesus is making, the point that James is making, is point number two, we are to love those around us without conditions for the love. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:39.680 That word in Mark 12 is agape, unconditional love. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:41.120 It's love without condition. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:46.560 It's not conditioned upon you having a perfectly restored 1997 Toyota Land Cruiser, deep jewel green tea, and leather interior. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:47.120 It's not conditioned. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:52.000 If you don't have it and you just have a huffy bicycle, I should still be able to extend welcome and love to you. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:53.360 That's James' point. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:55.839 Now loving can be easy, right? 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:57.600 The person cooperates with you. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:06:59.040 You're a lot like the person. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:01.439 You both want Zaxby's for lunch today. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.000 You both want to stay and have a metal mushroom and everything. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:04.480 Works. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.519 Amazing harmony in the relationship. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.759 But then sometimes love can just be really difficult. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.879 Because we're difficult or we don't line up. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:18.720 The person just doesn't cooperate with all of our plans. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:23.120 This week, my wife Christy showed me this clip of comedian Nate Burgotsky. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:24.480 It's about one minute long. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:25.600 Let's watch this. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.839 Everybody in our family, you know, everybody's got bedtime routines in their family. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.959 So our family, we try to send our daughter to bed like 9, 9.30, something like that. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.360 And then me and my wife can watch TV, whatever. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:38.959 My wife used to start falling asleep. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.720 She'll go to bed like 11:30. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.160 And then I'll let I'll sit out there and I'll watch TV until like two or something. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:46.399 Sometimes go to bed. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:08:43.600 Sometimes I guess I do left in the last two minutes. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.080 I gotta eat it in the yard like a lion. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:55.279 Like a garbage pull up in the drop like a lot. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:02.720 So I'm I'm not sure why Christie said that to me. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:04.480 So we've got to figure that out. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:08.000 And of course it's funny because we know the we know the feeling. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:11.759 Like people don't always cooperate with our plans. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:12.559 Right? 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:14.799 Love can be difficult in any relationship. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.559 Marriage or friendship or dating or family, anything, right? 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:22.080 Because people have their own thoughts, people have their own opinions. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:23.279 They get in our way. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:24.639 We weren't planning on that. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:32.159 And Jesus says, in light of all of that and those differences, all of that, love those near you without conditions for the love. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:34.559 Jumping to verse 10. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:40.480 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.559 For he who said, Do not commit adultery also said, Do not murder. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:50.720 If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of law. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:52.399 Now what is James saying? 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:53.759 Point number three. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:59.919 All demand, even to love your neighbor, guides us and then eventually condemns us. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.320 So all demand, law, all of it. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.879 This incredible holy guidance. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.039 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:09.279 That is that is paramount. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:10.960 It is so good for us. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:11.679 It is perfect. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:12.639 It is helpful. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:17.360 And then we go and we don't always do it. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:21.360 So the very thing that guided us now condemns us. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:26.799 And this is why performance-based Christianity, the law without grace, it doesn't work. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:28.480 It just exhausts you. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:34.080 See, the call to love is going to be a path of failure. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:36.480 It will be, because you won't love perfectly. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:37.840 You won't live up to that. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:39.120 I won't live up to that. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:43.840 And that's why we need God's grace in our call to love. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:46.240 Because you knew you should have been patient, you weren't. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:47.360 You knew you should have been kind. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:47.679 You weren't. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:49.519 You should have been welcoming, you weren't. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.279 We need the call, but we also need mercy. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:55.840 This is where James takes us. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:56.639 Verse 12. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:06.159 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty, for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:09.120 Mercy triumphs over judgment. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.360 These verses read a little bit like a proverb. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.879 They're kind of feel coded a little bit. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.679 You feel like I need to read that about 10 times to figure it out. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.360 Here's point number four. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:21.919 We need the relief of mercy, not the exhaustion of judgment. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:25.279 We need the relief of mercy, not the exhaustion of judgment. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:27.840 I read this week theologian Alec Motyer. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.360 He helped me think this through as I read this about verse 13. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:40.000 If we fail to find shelter under divine mercy, then the law takes its absolutely just and equitable course. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:42.399 We get what we deserve. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:50.960 But the presence of a merciful spirit assures us that we can sue for and shelter under mercy. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:12:01.519 See, the good news in this passage is this the lawgiver in verse 11 is also the rescuer of mercy in verse 13. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:04.480 And we need mercy. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:09.759 Remember I played golf a few weeks ago, talked about it, had on my golf attire. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:17.200 So I go play this beautiful course, and I'm wearing, I have one golf shirt from like really one great course from Bahill in Florida. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:18.799 So I'll put that shirt on. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.919 I'm there, I got my hat on, you know, I got my golf uniform on. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.080 I am status signaling to everybody. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:27.039 I've been somewhere else, I can be here. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:29.120 One big problem. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.399 I'm not great at golf. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:33.679 It's kind of a big problem. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:35.440 We show up at a nice golf course, right? 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.000 First hole goes by, it goes okay. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:39.279 Like I get through it, okay. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:43.039 I'm thinking, okay, all right, all right, well, we'll we're gonna be okay. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.879 We're gonna make second hole, great. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:46.639 It goes fantastic. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:50.799 Third hole, I step up, get my three wood, brimming with confidence. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:52.799 I probably swing harder than I should. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:55.279 Like always, always do that. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.120 And it takes off. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:06.559 And I mean, if you've just even played golf at all, you know that the point one seconds where it's just it's straight, and you're thinking, yet, man, yes, yes, yes. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:09.759 And then it it starts, it starts like this. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.039 It started to the right. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:16.559 It's like, no, no, you know, it started over, and this is all woods, it's all woods over there. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:19.120 And I'm a man of the cloth. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:21.279 So I begin to pray. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:23.600 I don't cuss a lot on the golf course, but I'm praying. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.000 I'm trying to use pastoral privileges if I get them. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.960 I don't know, and I'm like, Lord, have mercy. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.639 Have mercy, because I confess I've never taken a golf lesson in my life. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:34.000 I don't hit enough golf balls. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:39.279 There's no reason it should be in the fair way at all, based on anything of my past or my present. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:42.240 So I just need mercy in this situation, you know, have mercy. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:43.600 And then we hear it. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:44.799 We hear it. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.840 And only bad golfers know this sound. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.720 It's the only sound of hope in this situation. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.039 And bad golfers, you know the sound. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:54.799 Because the ball hits a tree. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:06.399 Good golfers, you don't know this thrill of hope that shoots through us as bad golfers as we think, maybe. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:13.679 Like, yeah, maybe it bounced down into a bush, but maybe it bounced out right in the middle of the fairway. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:16.000 Well, it was just over the crest of a hill, so it couldn't see. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.399 So we start walking down the fairway and praying, Lord, have mercy, have mercy. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.519 Like, like, please, like, I want to impress people. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:24.720 I need to impress people. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:28.559 I'm a people pleaser, I know God, but have mercy on me anyways in the situation. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:36.240 We get right up over the crest of that hill and look down, and it is sitting, he is rich in mercy. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:39.360 Won't he do it? 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:44.000 He did it, it's right in the middle, right in the middle. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:45.519 Beautiful. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:46.080 Okay. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:47.519 Golf game. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:49.440 Real life. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:15:01.279 You know, like uh relationships, parenting, finance, uh work, study, dating, friends, loneliness, loss, anxiety, fear. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.279 Actually loving people. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:04.639 You tried this? 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:06.480 Actually loving people. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.360 I keep ending up at the like at a dead end, right? 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:14.240 Where you're playing, you're just praying like, Lord, Lord, have mercy. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.559 Like I need, I need mercy to triumph over judgment. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.960 The law on its own is not enough. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:24.960 I I need God's mercy. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:27.039 Paul Tripp writes this. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.679 It's a bit of a read, it's good for us, so hang with me. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:34.320 Our natural tendency is to view ourselves as rich and other people as poor. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:43.360 The spiritual reality is that we are both impoverished, total depravity, and the unearnable mercy of God levels the playing field. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:46.240 None of us has the spiritual upper hand. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.559 In the mirror of God's word, all of us look the same and need the same. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:58.960 As you extend mercy to others, you will begin to see how selfish, impatient, unforgiving, and inconsistent you can be. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:05.200 Living a merciful life will show you how much your own heart still needs the mercy of the Redeemer. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:11.600 Being a merciful person will drive you to the end of yourself and the grace of your merciful Savior. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:19.679 Now, in verse 12 and 13, James says, Mercy triumphs over judgment under the law of liberty. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.879 See, judgment is always exhausting. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:29.360 Who's in, who's out, you up, you down, pass, fail, cool, not cool. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:32.960 And then you always turn to yourself, Am I okay? 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:33.679 Am I not okay? 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:34.320 Am I in? 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:35.279 Am I out? 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:39.360 See, we need mercy to triumph over judgment. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.519 That term law of liberty in verse 12. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:43.360 It's an interesting phrase that James uses here. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:50.399 For James, it says this phrase of saying, for the whole of scriptures, this is God's way of being and the way of life for us. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.440 Yet at the same time, James is not always super clear. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:55.440 Don't always explain himself fully. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.600 It's a little annoying when you read James. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:01.519 But if we compare it with the rest of the New Testament, James is inside of the New Testament. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:02.080 That's a gift. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:03.360 We don't have to isolate James. 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.400 It's inside the New Testament. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:06.319 New Testament's inside of the entire scriptures. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:12.400 And so say we just take James and we think back to like what we just studied in Titus, a Pauline letter. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:20.720 Well, there we can figure out, looking at this, that well, we're freed from the law as to be freed to live on the path of godliness in grace. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:29.359 So we are freed from having to justify ourselves, using partiality, trying to suck life and status from other people. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:30.960 We're freed from that. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:36.640 Because we're already fully righteous, fully worthy, fully loved, fully welcomed. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:39.440 We're enough by our status in him. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:41.920 Now this changes everything else. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:46.640 We can now love people who are like us, and we can love people who aren't like us. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:50.640 Do you remember the scene in Les Miz? 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.359 Maybe you saw the musical or movie. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:54.559 Maybe, maybe you read the book. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:55.279 That'd be impressive. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:57.119 That could be a status signal right there. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:17:59.680 Valjean, you remember him? 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:00.799 Here's a picture from the movie. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:07.440 Valjean, at the end of himself, he steals some expensive candlesticks from the bishop. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:10.000 And the law is having its way. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.319 Valjean is imprisoned. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:14.640 Rightfully, the law is having its way. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:16.160 Valjean's imprisoned. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:17.279 Then the bishop shows up. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.720 The bishop is the symbol of mercy and love. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:30.000 Unconditioned, unearned, not conditioned upon anything of Valjean's track record, and the bishop shows up into Valjean's mess, an imprisonment. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:35.519 And the bishop gives him the candlesticks, frees him from jail. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.079 And grace has its way. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.359 Valjean is softened by mercy. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.160 He goes to the chapel, he cries out. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:45.279 Here's what Valjean says. 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:49.039 Yet why did I allow that man to touch my soul and teach me love? 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:50.880 He treated me like any other. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:52.319 He gave me his trust. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:54.079 He called me brother. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:56.559 My life he claims for God above. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:58.319 Can such things be? 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.559 For I had come to hate the world, this world that always hated me. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.359 Instead, he offers me my freedom. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.640 I feel my shame inside me like a knife. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:10.559 He told me that I have a soul. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:11.920 How does he know? 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.119 What spirit comes to move my life? 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:17.039 Is there another way to go? 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:22.240 See, grace and mercy changes the very core of who Valjean is. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.720 His entire life changes because of mercy. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.640 Because mercy triumphs over judgment. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:35.839 And the good news is we're not sent by God to go live mercifully. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:39.519 Like God starts us out and off you go, and now go perform for me. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:41.519 No, God walks with us. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:43.680 He grows us in the gospel. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:50.400 So he calls us towards something, and in his rescue of mercy, he relieves us and he empowers us. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:56.799 He's melting away the self-reliance, the self-justification that's inside of us by his satisfying love. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:06.240 So the thing that we're called to do, unconditional love, is actually the thing that rescues us and changes us. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:08.880 Because we have it in Christ. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:13.279 Unconditional love to us while we never earned it. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:14.960 We are the receivers. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.160 We are the ones who need mercy over judgment. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:19.599 Let's pray together. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.799 God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:29.279 Unearned and not conditioned upon our performance. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.240 And it fuels our partiality. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:42.240 And would you free us from this? 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:45.119 Would you make us so secure in your love for us? 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:47.759 Our identity is your beloved. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:53.519 Because of Jesus' work for us, your love for us, not based on our work for you, but your work for us. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:58.000 And you can never love us anymore because you love us like you love your son Jesus. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:03.519 And would this be true in the core of who we are, in our hearts and our minds and our souls? 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:09.039 And would this free us to love you and to love people? 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:10.640 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:11.279 Amen.