The best film of 2019 is A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood about the life of Fred Roger's from the popular TV show Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I love the film because it's well written and completely different than any other movie. It shows a life of "living faith."
As I'm reading Be Mature by Wiersbe he talks about James chapter 2, rich man, poor man. James wanted to help us practice God's Word, so he gave us a simple test - how do we treat rich people vs poor people. 1 John 4:20 says how can we love God whom he hasn't seen when we hate a person we can see?
1. The Deity of Christ (James 2:1-4), "don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, by showing favoritism" - Jesus deals with the problem of "pyramid climbing" in Luke 14:7-14 and Matthew 23. Jesus didn't respect persons (Matt 22:16), the poor widow gave more than the Pharisee, he saw potential in the lives of sinners (Jesus ministers to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) see also Barnabas's faithfulness in Saul's conversion (Acts 9:26-28). Jesus was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:1-3) yet He is the very glory of God (John 1:14). Today the glory of God dwells in the believers individually (1 Cor 6:19-20) and the church collectively (Eph 2:21-22). Take a moment to reflect on Jesus's warning to stop judging by mere appearances and make the right judgment (John 7:24).
2. The Grace of God (James 2:5-7), "God's choosing", not earned or deserved (Eph 1:4-7; 2:8-10). God saves us completely on the basis of the work of Christ on the cross and not because of anything that we are or have. God ignores national differences (Acts 10:34, Acts 15). No difference in condemnation (Rom 2:6-16) or salvation (Rom 10:1-13). God ignores social differences, master/slave (Eph 6:9), poor/rich (James 1:9-11), is God's choosing (1 Sam 2:7-8), wise/foolish (1 Cor 1:26-27), this life as in the afterlife, is in God's grace (1 Tim 6:17-18).
3. The Word of God (James 2:8-11)
In the section on James 2:8-11, he talks about the Word of God and how people try to defend its authority and authenticity. He reminds us that the best defense is that our lives and ministries demonstrate the truth of Jesus' life and death. We love people because they are either our brother in Christ or they are people whom Christ has died for.
- Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18)
- Jesus teaches our neighbor is anyone who needs help, especially though who are national/ethnic enemies who do nothing but persecute you as a "group" - Luke 10:25-37). The important question is not "who is my neighbor?" but "to whom can I be a neighbor?"
- Love thy neighbor is called the royal law because it was given by our king. God the Father gave the law, Jesus reaffirmed it (John 13:34). God the Spirit fills our hearts with God's love and expects us to share it with others (Romans 5:5), we are "taught of God to love one another (1 Thess 4:9)"
- "Love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:10)"
- Obeying the law of love makes you a king. Hatred makes a person a slave, but love sets us free from selfishness and enables us to reign like kings. Love enables us to obey the Word of God and treat people as God commands us to do (Jesus teaches love precedes obedience and the indwelling Holy Spirit - John 14:15-31).
- "For the fruit of the Spirit is love" - Christian love doesn't not leave the person where it finds him. Love helps the poor man do better; helps the rich man make better use of his God-given resources. Love always builds up (1 Cor 8:1).
The main point. We only believe as much of the Bible as we practice. If we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, we will not do any good with the lesser matters of the Word (Matt 23:23).
4. The judgment of God (James 2:12-13), every orthodox statement of faith ends with a statement about the return of Jesus Christ and the final judgment - not for our sins that have been forgiven through faith in Jesus (John 5:24, Rom 8:1) but for works (Rom 14:10-13; 2 Cor 5:9-10). Our words will be judged (James 2:3, Matt 12:36) from our heart (Matt 12:34-37). See warnings from sermon on the mount (Matt 5:21-26, 33-37; 7:1-5, 21-23). Our deeds will be judged (Col 3:22-25; Jer 31:34; Heb 10:17). Our attitudes will be judged (James 2:13) - Where God finds repentance and faith, He is able to show mercy; unbelief and rebellion get's justice, it's the heart of the sinner that determines the treatment he gets (Matt 18:21-35). Jesus preached repentance as did the early church (Doctrine of Repentance)
Psalm 119:45-48 The Message (MSG)
41-48 Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised;
Then I’ll be able to stand up to mockery
because I trusted your Word.
Don’t ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I’ll guard with my life what you’ve revealed to me,
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;
Then I’ll tell the world what I find,
speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.
I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!—
relishing every fragment of your counsel.
As I'm reading Be Mature by Wiersbe he talks about James chapter 2, rich man, poor man. James wanted to help us practice God's Word, so he gave us a simple test - how do we treat rich people vs poor people. 1 John 4:20 says how can we love God whom he hasn't seen when we hate a person we can see?
1. The Deity of Christ (James 2:1-4), "don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, by showing favoritism" - Jesus deals with the problem of "pyramid climbing" in Luke 14:7-14 and Matthew 23. Jesus didn't respect persons (Matt 22:16), the poor widow gave more than the Pharisee, he saw potential in the lives of sinners (Jesus ministers to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) see also Barnabas's faithfulness in Saul's conversion (Acts 9:26-28). Jesus was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:1-3) yet He is the very glory of God (John 1:14). Today the glory of God dwells in the believers individually (1 Cor 6:19-20) and the church collectively (Eph 2:21-22). Take a moment to reflect on Jesus's warning to stop judging by mere appearances and make the right judgment (John 7:24).
2. The Grace of God (James 2:5-7), "God's choosing", not earned or deserved (Eph 1:4-7; 2:8-10). God saves us completely on the basis of the work of Christ on the cross and not because of anything that we are or have. God ignores national differences (Acts 10:34, Acts 15). No difference in condemnation (Rom 2:6-16) or salvation (Rom 10:1-13). God ignores social differences, master/slave (Eph 6:9), poor/rich (James 1:9-11), is God's choosing (1 Sam 2:7-8), wise/foolish (1 Cor 1:26-27), this life as in the afterlife, is in God's grace (1 Tim 6:17-18).
3. The Word of God (James 2:8-11)
In the section on James 2:8-11, he talks about the Word of God and how people try to defend its authority and authenticity. He reminds us that the best defense is that our lives and ministries demonstrate the truth of Jesus' life and death. We love people because they are either our brother in Christ or they are people whom Christ has died for.
- Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18)
- Jesus teaches our neighbor is anyone who needs help, especially though who are national/ethnic enemies who do nothing but persecute you as a "group" - Luke 10:25-37). The important question is not "who is my neighbor?" but "to whom can I be a neighbor?"
- Love thy neighbor is called the royal law because it was given by our king. God the Father gave the law, Jesus reaffirmed it (John 13:34). God the Spirit fills our hearts with God's love and expects us to share it with others (Romans 5:5), we are "taught of God to love one another (1 Thess 4:9)"
- "Love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:10)"
- Obeying the law of love makes you a king. Hatred makes a person a slave, but love sets us free from selfishness and enables us to reign like kings. Love enables us to obey the Word of God and treat people as God commands us to do (Jesus teaches love precedes obedience and the indwelling Holy Spirit - John 14:15-31).
- "For the fruit of the Spirit is love" - Christian love doesn't not leave the person where it finds him. Love helps the poor man do better; helps the rich man make better use of his God-given resources. Love always builds up (1 Cor 8:1).
The main point. We only believe as much of the Bible as we practice. If we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, we will not do any good with the lesser matters of the Word (Matt 23:23).
4. The judgment of God (James 2:12-13), every orthodox statement of faith ends with a statement about the return of Jesus Christ and the final judgment - not for our sins that have been forgiven through faith in Jesus (John 5:24, Rom 8:1) but for works (Rom 14:10-13; 2 Cor 5:9-10). Our words will be judged (James 2:3, Matt 12:36) from our heart (Matt 12:34-37). See warnings from sermon on the mount (Matt 5:21-26, 33-37; 7:1-5, 21-23). Our deeds will be judged (Col 3:22-25; Jer 31:34; Heb 10:17). Our attitudes will be judged (James 2:13) - Where God finds repentance and faith, He is able to show mercy; unbelief and rebellion get's justice, it's the heart of the sinner that determines the treatment he gets (Matt 18:21-35). Jesus preached repentance as did the early church (Doctrine of Repentance)
Psalm 119:45-48 The Message (MSG)
41-48 Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised;
Then I’ll be able to stand up to mockery
because I trusted your Word.
Don’t ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I’ll guard with my life what you’ve revealed to me,
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;
Then I’ll tell the world what I find,
speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.
I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!—
relishing every fragment of your counsel.
No comments:
Post a Comment