Christianity Amongst Christians (Part C)

I'm justified in treating you like dirt because I feel like dirt. That's not Christ. That's not finding Christ amongst Christians. Romans 13 verse 10, again Paul dealing with Jewish believers and trying to just put it all together for them. And he does with this very thing concerning the law and behavior. Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. What impresses God every time is Christ-likeness, is pursuing the glory of being like Jesus.

It catches God's attention every time. There's nothing nice to others about being a snob. Snobbery is robbery as far as the Christian is concerned. John Owen, a Puritan, theologian, preacher from the 17th century, a long time ago, most of you weren't around then.

This is what he says, inspired the title for this morning's emphasis. It is in many places a lost labor to seek for Christianity among Christians. Is that not what the epistles are all about? Trying to make Christians like Christ, keeping them from saying I'm a Christian but living like they're devils. It's a labor to seek for Christianity among Christians.

How shameful! It's just what the devil prescribes. Some profess to be Christians but refuse blatantly to obey Christ and they disobey him instead. They refuse him while holding on to his name.

In some places, called churches, you cannot find Christ-like Christians. In verse 4, have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Judging the poor is contemptible. Oh, they could justify it. Well, they're poor because God cursed them but he's blessed me.

He loves me. This was a common thought among many religious Jews and Gentiles. Not God's idea of being a blessing when you hold such views, judging people this way. We are supposed to look at people as best we can as Jesus would look at them. We are supposed to remember to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

He will get to that. Verse 5, he says, listen, my beloved brethren, and there it is again. 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? To be loved by God and to love God back, that is the name of the game. It is not enough to say I love God. Are you loved back by God? It is not enough to say God loves me.

Do you love him back? In other words, there's a mutual thing going on. Just because you say it doesn't make it so.

According to what rule? According to the rule of Scripture, that's what. Anyone can say God is love and not accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

There are people that do this. How can a loving God? Don't judge me because God is love.

They abuse what the Scripture says and its meanings and we are to be careful and gently, if possible, correct them. Luke's Gospel, chapter 12, verse 20, speaking of the rich fool who invested himself in the riches of this world, because James is hammering the arrogant rich, not the righteous ones. He says, but God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be you have provided? He goes on and he says, so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. If you're going to be rich with money, you better be rich with God. If you want to get to heaven, if you want to be his child, you want to be in the faith. It's interesting, again, he says, this night your soul will be required. Then all your stuff, who gets it because it won't be yours, you won't have it anymore.

You are going to have another concern. Now he is not saying that the rich are never chosen or never saved. He certainly is not saying that and he certainly isn't saying all the poor people are saved.

Not at all. He is saying, don't you play favoritism when people come into the house of God or anywhere else. Now that does not, well, I'll get that in a moment. Verse six, but you have dishonored the poor man.

Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Again, he's tireless, tireless in his assault. That doesn't mean he doesn't have tires. Well, he probably doesn't, but it means that he's not letting this go. This favoritism in the church, it was a big problem prevalent in that church and he's not, again, going to let it go. No doubt there were those squirming in the pews.

It was such a widespread problem. He's not talking about, well, cliques. They're not supposed to be cliques in the church. Now that doesn't mean if there are those that simply have things in common in the church, of course they're going to just more easily get along with each other. So long as they don't block others out, it's not a clique. If you say, well, I go to a church, I love the word, but I don't connect with the people. Well, don't start criticizing them for that if you don't connect. But you will, you will if you start making friends, because love covers so many things.

You have Christ in common. But don't feel like, you know, you have a group of men, maybe they like to hunt or fish and you don't. No, don't attack them because of their, you know, they have these interests. So we're not talking about just those things that make people get along more easily, one with another, because they have common interests in this regard.

We're talking about full-out snobbery. We don't want you. You're not part of us. You're not good enough to be in this group.

That kind of a thing. Concerning the poor, Jesus said, the poor you have with you always. They're not there, though, simply because you will always have poor.

They're not there for you to abuse them, to harass them, to belittle them. What Christian would do that? Granted, there are those in religion who have gone out of their way to be kind to the poor while they disagree with what the scripture says about God.

That won't benefit them. What does it profit a man if he gains the world, if he treats everyone in the world morally kind, but loses his soul nonetheless because he rejects the revelation of God? In verse 7, he says, do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? Again, he's talking about his brother according to humanity, according to the flesh, that noble name, Jesus Christ. These are the unsaved rich ones who tend to vilify Christ.

Christians, some of them, or us I should say, some of us have a problem separating ourselves from those hostile to Christ, and therefore we then at some point become a problem to Christ. This is a story with King Jehoshaphat, was it not? He gets buddy-buddy with the northern kingdoms who were all idolaters and wicked and murderous, but yet he was chummy with them.

Instead of rebuking them and drawing a line. And then the prophet came out to confront the king one day. We read about it in 2 Chronicles 19. He said, should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? Therefore, the wrath of Yahweh is upon you. Pretty serious stuff. Jehoshaphat, being the righteous king that he was, scrambled to make things right and stirred up yet another revival for the Lord on the words of this prophet. How forceful are right words, as Job said. They can be very forceful. Verse 8, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well.

Very basic. No human being can wiggle out of that one. If you're being cruel to another, all that person has to ask themselves is, would I want to be treated this way? Scripture is our authority for behavior and that's why he brings it up. If you really fulfill the royal law, the law that comes from the king of kings, and it is law, and it is scripture, Jesus said, if you keep my commandments, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That means your heart is in total agreement with what Christ says about everything.

Whether you fail or not, you totally agree with him. You don't side with yourself against him when it comes to your shortcoming or sin. We don't sin and say, well, but, you know, it's okay, I was tempted. We say, forgive me, and he forgives. The royal law requires love and grace, regardless again of race or class or country or struggle in life, circumstances. We are supposed to love. We don't say, well, I would show you love, but I'm having a lot of problems in my life right now and I really can't be loving, I don't have time for this. Moody people do that on a lower level.

But to highlight how silly that would be. I'm justified in treating you like dirt because I feel like dirt. That's not Christ. That's not finding Christ amongst Christians. Romans 13, verse 10, again, Paul dealing with Jewish believers and trying to just put it all together for them, and he does with this very thing concerning the law and behavior. Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Now of course there are those that hate Christ and their definition of love is not his definition of love. They think the definition of love is to do whatever you want to do as though sin were harmless.

Sin is never harmless. In verse 9, but if you show partiality you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. He's still hammering this whole thing to the rich, again, as mentioned, he's not letting it go. He's not giving, and he's going to hit more things, of course, throughout his letter. But bluntly put, where he says again, verse 9, if you show partiality you commit sin. He's being very blunt and to the point.

Church snobs are sinning, just like that. No way out of it. You say, well, I don't want to speak to this person.

I don't know who they are, I don't like the way they look, but this person's more my type. You can't even say hello and be kind and gracious? That's all Christ requires. He's not saying you have to go out to dinner with every single person you meet that comes to church.

It might not be bad if they're paying. Transgressors, they are those who have crossed the line. That's what a transgressor is. They're walking the way of Christ and then they cross the line to another way, outside of the way, to where they don't belong. A transgressor is a trespasser. They stand where they don't belong and they know it. And it is something that we must take heed to. Every single one of us are susceptible to these things.

I don't have to even say while I'm saying this, you know what I mean, because you do know. Verse 10, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. Verse 11, 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.

James had to have been a preacher also, he's not just a writer, not just an administrator of the church in Jerusalem, he's also a preacher of the word. He's learned that if he puts the sin that's not likely to be found in the congregation as the example, it's better than blasting those who are committing a sin and using them as an example. So for example, if I stand up here and said, if any of you go out and you're on the road and you're driving and you lose your temper and I hammer how much of a sin that is, that's just brutal, that's just beating the sheep, it's not necessary. And so to make our examples, we usually use something absurd that no one is doing because the congregation is smart enough to connect the dots and figure it out and that's what he's doing here. Because you might have said, do not murder and then later say, do not commit adultery but he switches it around. I hope I didn't lose you on that, but it's something that you notice if you do any public speaking, you notice that the goal is not to hurt people, though the truth will hurt but it will be the truth that does it and not the attempt of the speaker to do it.

Two different things. And so what he is saying in verses 10 and 11 is that God's law is unified and you cannot divide it. If you hurt one part of it, you've hurt the whole thing. You cannot break 10% of the law and think that you've not broken 100%.

There is no 10%. You've broken the law of God, it is his will, you have violated it regardless of how small it is. That much of a sin will keep you out of heaven without a savior. Why should a perfect and holy God have it any other way? Sin has got to be dealt with and he deals with it. And attacks against God for this high standard would be justified if he did not provide a solution.

But he does provide a solution. It is in Christ and how many turn up their nose and say, I don't want this man to rule over me. I will not have his salvation. Then you will have his judgment. And may we who believe do all we could do to make sure that is not the case with any life within the range of our reach through prayer and example and preaching as God may give us the opportunity.

You have someone you love but you can't reach them with the gospel because of your relationship with them, then pray that God bring someone else into their life who can reach them. Grace, it tells us, serve God but not in your own strength. That's legalism. The legalism has forms to it. There are many forms of legalism. But legalism essentially tries to serve God in its own strength, its own effort, its own way. The flesh, it serves God according to the flesh and the flesh cannot serve God ever.

It is a spiritual man who serves out of love and compassion and recognition of who they are in the universe before God. And so Romans 13, 8, oh no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Go try it. Go and try to love those who won't let you love them. Well, that does not excuse you. Oh, they didn't receive your love? Well then here's a pass, Bunky. You don't have to love them anymore.

You are now free to shoot them. That's not Christianity but it is some of those other religions out there. He says and yet stumble at one point, again to stumble is to come out of the way, to cross over the line, trip over the border. But there are these prevailing sins that each and every one of us have. Moses, as we've covered this morning, the prevailing sin with Moses was anger and cheese doodles.

He really liked cheese doodles, no. Achan, he suffered from covetness. It prevailed over him. Solomon had an issue with women.

Ananias and Sapphira, appearances was what was important to them. It cost them their lives. Demas, carnality, he wanted what the world had to offer. It may have cost him his salvation. And so James says those who are struggling, who commit the sin and are not struggling, just break the law, you're sinning, or anyone who sins, even if you are struggling against it. You're guilty.

He says he is guilty of all. It's all it takes is one break to damn the soul because you are violating the principle of obedience given by God. These Jews would have been fully on board with everything he's saying. They would have followed everything. They would have needed no detailed commentary to explain to them these things.

They would have got it. The law of Moses has to be followed, the moral code that is. Of course, the other problem was that they tried to take the ceremonial laws and put them into Christianity too and that's where the problems really flamed up. Verse 12, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Live by the way of Christ. Do you know what the Christians were first called? Those of the way, Acts chapter 24 verse 12. This I confess to you that according to the way, which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers believing all things which were written in the law and in the prophets.

That's just like us. Those of the way. Well, if you step out of that way, you are now a transgressor. Verse 13, for judgment is without mercy, pardon me, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Where would we be without God's mercy?

Hell, that's where. Even if we're still in his life, we'd be headed there, dead men walking. Where would we be without showing mercy to others, the mercy of God?

May you not find out because he says it very clear. Mercy is to withhold the judgment that the person deserves. Now that is not a violation of justice. It is to be put into the processes of justice in the heart. Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said, if you do not forgive men their trespassers, neither will your father forgive your trespassers.

You better learn to be careful. You understand that there is a form of forgiveness that does not require the other person to repent. But then there are other forms concerning restoration that does. If a person does not repent under certain circumstances, they cannot be restored to certain positions or the friendship or the relationship.

But in our hearts, we let it go. God as they were crucifying the Lord, what did he say? Forgive them.

They don't know what they are doing. None of them at that time are saying, forgive me. We are supposed to think these things through and it will cause Christ-like behavior in our lives. There will be those who will stand before the great white throne of God in the final judgment who will do so without the mercy of God upon them. And it will be too late at that point.

Almost finished. Hebrews 10, anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace. The writer to Hebrews is saying, you think judgment is something that is trivial? You think that the judgment of God is not critical?

He is a holy God. This creates a reverence in the heart of the believer, not a misplaced fear. Christ says, if you love me, every bit of heaven will be yours. You will be where I am. No Christian that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures, should ever worry about where they are going.

That's a settled issue. We concern ourselves with getting others there, too. That's why we're still here. The strength of this, and we'll close with this verse, is found in 1 John, chapter 4, verse 17. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world. You see how clear that is? On the day of judgment, we're not, oh, what's going to happen?

I know what's going to happen. I'm going to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, nothing but the blood of Jesus will take away my guilt, my sin, my shame, and all those like me. But those who have rejected Him, there is a judgment waiting.

Otherwise, you cannot serve effectively. If you are hounded by doubting the finished work of Christ, how can you ever share the finished work of Christ with those who need it? Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James, here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. When you visit the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James, right here on Cross Reference Radio.