living the book of James
week 3
chapter 2:1-12
week 3
chapter 2:1-12
We
ended last week with James 1:26-27 and are starting this week with James 2:1-12
Monday night: read James 2:1-12
(thru to the end of 12)
Tuesday night: read James 2:1-12 AGAIN and then go back and read James 2:1-4
(thru to the end of 4)
When I originally wrote this study, it was for Jr. Highers. This is a lot easier text to teach to a bunch of public school Jr. Highers struggling to figure out who they are in the mist of several different social groups at school. It's a little harder to address with adults.
Vs
3-4 says: If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and
say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there”
or “Sit on the floor by my feet”, you have discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil
thoughts.
You
see, we picture this scenario to go like this…
A
nice looking, clean, “rich” person walks into a room and we offer him a chair.
THEN a poor man walks into the room, he stinks and is not dressed well. Do we
offer him a chair or just ignore him? Of course we offer him the same type of
chair at the same table. We would never separate him from the others… that
would hurt his feelings. I mean good grief most of us are not totally mean.
As an adult, I beleive this scripture goes a little deeper within the heart here. I think it has several applications for different stages of life. For some, it is a matter of just not loving poor people outwardly. For others, it's a heart issue. And me? I don't have either one of them figured out. I simply know this. Jesus loves the poor. He loves them just as much as He loves you and I. Yes, we know He loves the poor child in the other countries we support monthly, and He loves the hard working momma in Uganda, but listen when I tell you this: He loves the man sitting on the corner begging for change. Many of us would probably argue, "How do we even know if that person is poor; he may have a mansion just around the corner." The beauty of that crazy God story? It doesn't matter what we think he has, it matters what God says our love should do, love unconditionally.
Here are a few ways you can love poor/homeless people:
As an adult, I beleive this scripture goes a little deeper within the heart here. I think it has several applications for different stages of life. For some, it is a matter of just not loving poor people outwardly. For others, it's a heart issue. And me? I don't have either one of them figured out. I simply know this. Jesus loves the poor. He loves them just as much as He loves you and I. Yes, we know He loves the poor child in the other countries we support monthly, and He loves the hard working momma in Uganda, but listen when I tell you this: He loves the man sitting on the corner begging for change. Many of us would probably argue, "How do we even know if that person is poor; he may have a mansion just around the corner." The beauty of that crazy God story? It doesn't matter what we think he has, it matters what God says our love should do, love unconditionally.
Here are a few ways you can love poor/homeless people:
Stop and pray with them. This is one of my children's favorite ones. Especially when a person is in an area that is applicable to stopping, such as a Wal-Mart parking lot. Stop, ask their name. Ask their story. Grab their dirty hand and pray with them. When you leave, don't stop praying.
Take them home. Yes, I know it's a scary step. And as much as I want to say, It will be OK, just put them up in your guest room. That is not safe. Let's be honest, God calls us to love. There's a smart way to do that. If you choose to take in a hurting stranger, especially one you have never met, I suggest having a garage, tent, or storage building you can give them. Let them earn your trust over time if they stay. Don't give them your home, especially if you have young children. Feel uncomfortable doing this? Why not take them to the local shelter for the night? They are equipped for this situation. You can read about our Floyd HERE.
Ask them. Ask them what their need is. One man we met, his sign said "Needing cash for gas to get home." We took him to go get gas. Did he ask us for cash after filling his pump? Yup, he sure did. Did we give it to him? Nope. But we smiled real big and hugged him goodbye. I know he probably stopped and held the same sign for years, every time he needed gas. But it's not about him, is it? Another man had just been released from jail and had a free rehabilitation place to stay across the country. He only had to get there. He needed a bus ticket. His letter, addressed to him in jail, was from the place he said, stating the things he told us. At that point, we only had one choice, help him.
Ask them to go eat with you. Several times, the sign will read "Hungry, need money for food." Don't want to just fork out money? Take them to lunch. We have offered this to several people, several. Only one has accepted; his name was Willy.
Take them home. Yes, I know it's a scary step. And as much as I want to say, It will be OK, just put them up in your guest room. That is not safe. Let's be honest, God calls us to love. There's a smart way to do that. If you choose to take in a hurting stranger, especially one you have never met, I suggest having a garage, tent, or storage building you can give them. Let them earn your trust over time if they stay. Don't give them your home, especially if you have young children. Feel uncomfortable doing this? Why not take them to the local shelter for the night? They are equipped for this situation. You can read about our Floyd HERE.
Ask them. Ask them what their need is. One man we met, his sign said "Needing cash for gas to get home." We took him to go get gas. Did he ask us for cash after filling his pump? Yup, he sure did. Did we give it to him? Nope. But we smiled real big and hugged him goodbye. I know he probably stopped and held the same sign for years, every time he needed gas. But it's not about him, is it? Another man had just been released from jail and had a free rehabilitation place to stay across the country. He only had to get there. He needed a bus ticket. His letter, addressed to him in jail, was from the place he said, stating the things he told us. At that point, we only had one choice, help him.
Ask them to go eat with you. Several times, the sign will read "Hungry, need money for food." Don't want to just fork out money? Take them to lunch. We have offered this to several people, several. Only one has accepted; his name was Willy.
We met him on our vacation to San Antonio, TX a few years back. While walking the river walk, he asked us if we could spare a dollar. We invited him to dinner. He walked with us, several blocks to the hub of town telling us all about the city. As we passed other homeless people, he would usually share hello's --some he would warn us to move over. His shoes were way too small, and he smelled real bad but he had a smile that was worth gold. There might not have been any teeth, but there was joy. =)
When we asked him what he wanted, he said, a hamburger. "Oh, I'd love me a good hamburger", he said. Well, have you ever been to the river walk on a Friday night? Yes, it's packed with people and apparently, they all love a good burger. After waiting several minutes at one restaurant, we decided to move over to another. A fancy Mexican restaurant, they had immediate seating and hamburgers.
The staff was very rude to us and the table next to us asked to be moved. But we laughed, worked with Willy on reading our names, and talked about life. Willy's belly was full. And us? We.were.full.
Taking them to lunch too big of a step for you right now? I had a friend tell me once they buy up lots of gift cards and store them in their purse. When they see someone but don't have time to stop, they give them a small gift card. Do the people sell that for drugs or beer? Possibly. But again,
When we asked him what he wanted, he said, a hamburger. "Oh, I'd love me a good hamburger", he said. Well, have you ever been to the river walk on a Friday night? Yes, it's packed with people and apparently, they all love a good burger. After waiting several minutes at one restaurant, we decided to move over to another. A fancy Mexican restaurant, they had immediate seating and hamburgers.
The staff was very rude to us and the table next to us asked to be moved. But we laughed, worked with Willy on reading our names, and talked about life. Willy's belly was full. And us? We.were.full.
Taking them to lunch too big of a step for you right now? I had a friend tell me once they buy up lots of gift cards and store them in their purse. When they see someone but don't have time to stop, they give them a small gift card. Do the people sell that for drugs or beer? Possibly. But again,
it's not our jobs to determine how they use Grace, it's our privilege to share it.
Wednesday:
Thursday: read James 2:5-12 (thru to the end of 12)
Question:
what do you think about vs5?
Notice
how he says “those who are poor in the eyes of the world”
You
see, we put a value on people based
on what they look like or by what they own. If they don’t look a certain way,
they are poor. If they don’t have a certain amount of money, they are poor.
God puts a value on people by where their faith lies.
God says, you can have a great style, a nice house, tons of friends and money but if your faith does not dwell/reside in God, you are poor. And the people we think are poor, God considers rich.
Notice
James says at the end of that verse … he promised those who love him. The poor
person has to love God, obviously. BUT it is much easier for a poor person to
have faith in God; not only because they don’t have money to depend on but also
the little things like not typically having friends or family. God is their source of strength in times of loneliness,
heartache, and financial crisis. Again, if they love God.
Who or what do we truly depend on in times of loneliness or heartache? Our family? Our spouse? Our credit card? Our savings?
Who or what do we truly depend on in times of loneliness or heartache? Our family? Our spouse? Our credit card? Our savings?
Oh friends, being alone. The desert. There is a relationship in those places we will never understand.
He
says in vs 5 that He has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to
be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom He has promised those who love him.
But we say, well, I love God. Do we? We love God by loving people, not only believing in Him. We
learned that a few weeks ago. We have to love all people. It is a hard thing to
do, trust me, I know but God knows when we are trying. When we are trying
that is being faithful to Him. It is when we just don’t even try that we are
lying to ourselves in saying that we love God.
My friend Tony says it best,
Love is an action.
Friday
read James 2:5-12
Yesterday
we touched a little on ‘you love God by loving people’ check out vs 8. It says,
if you keep the royal law (which is the law of love) found in scripture “love
your neighbor as yourself”, you are doing right. You see, friends. It all comes down to the same song, love others like you
love yourself. This is everyone. Your parents, your friends, your boss,
people who are real mean to you, people who are totally skanky. We are called
to love them all. Sometimes we feel like it is our job to not love them or to
be mean to them because they are always mean to us. Nope. Jesus says revenge is
his. Our job is to love them and trust faithfully that the Lord is going to
bring justice. And believe me; He does a much better job of it than we do!
We think that we have all these “rights” but think about this:
We think that we have all these “rights” but think about this:
God
is the shepherd of our lives. Think of a shepherd, what does he do? He takes
care of his flock. The sheep have no rights; they cannot do anything for that shepherd or to that
shepherd. But guess what! The shepherd is always faithful to care for the sheep’s
needs. He protects them, feeds them, and dedicates his life to them FULLY. If we are the sheep, what rights do we have, especially the right to determine who to love and not love. {my, oh, my I am right there with you!}
This
weekend, let's focus on not being the judge of people’s status. Let’s try our hardest
to love everyone equal. Treat everyone with equal respect. Remember, God does not judge us at
all by what our money can buy or by how our clothes look. He judges our heart
and our faithfulness. We cannot be a fair judge of those things, only He can
because only He knows our hearts. Therefore, we have no business judging others. I
cannot tell you how happy I am knowing that only God can judge my worth because
I know that I will just never measure up to everyone’s standards!
vs 13. ... if you have been merciful.
Mercy, Grace, and Peace to you!
a few good reads on this topic.
Mercy Beyond Measure
Under the Overpass
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