Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: I'll be reading the second chapter of the Letter from James.
My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes comes in.
If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, here's a good seat for you.
But you say to the poor man, you stand there or sit on the floor at my feet.
Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers.
Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
But you have insulted the poor.
Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?
Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, love your neighbor as yourself.
You are doing right.
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all.
For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not murder.
If you have not committed adultery but you do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.
Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
What good is it? My brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save him?
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to him, go, I wish you well, Keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, you have faith, I have deeds.
Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith. By what I do, you believe that there is one God? Good. Even the devil's demons believe that and shudder.
You foolish man.
Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
You see that his faith and his actions were working together.
And his faith was made complete by what he did.
And the Scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
And he was called God's friend.
You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
In the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and then sent them off in a different direction.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Last week we started this sermon series reading through and discussing the book of James.
James was the physical brother of Jesus. He was Mary's son, raised in the same household as Jesus during his lifetime. You know, he had some concerns about Jesus, concerned about what might happen to his family as a result of the choices that he saw Jesus making. He was concerned for his mom, for all of his family, was a little bit concerned for what could happen to them as a result of the problems that Jesus was causing among the religious leaders of his time. But something interesting happened after Jesus death and resurrection.
Jesus brother becomes not just a believer in his brother as the Son of God. He actually becomes the pastor of the Church of Jerusalem, the church from which the church explodes into the rest of the rest of the world. James becomes the focal point, the anchor for that home church. And I kind of, I sometimes wonder, like, obviously this is total speculation. Don't. But like, you know, this guy grew up in the same household as Jesus, and I sometimes wonder, like, did he have the same tone? Does he have the same. I wonder, I wonder if he, when he spoke, he reminded Jesus disciples of Jesus a little bit.
Maybe the way he turned a phrase, maybe just the tone of voice, maybe the way he laughed or something about him, like physically and all that kind of reminded them of Jesus himself for a fact.
The book of James reminds me a lot of what Jesus had to say. And I think nowhere else in James is it more obvious than in James Chapter two.
As we go through this, when we look at how it's almost as if.
It's almost as if James is just simply preaching or illuminating aspects of the Sermon on the Mount. So as we're going through this, as we're, as we're reading through James, remember, you know, for a lot of people, James is like, very difficult because James focuses a lot on Christian ethics, the way that we live our life as Christians, and in that sometimes for people who are very concerned about, you know, the grace of God, sometimes they can feel like they don't see the grace of God in what Jesus has to, in what James has to say.
But to get there, you kind of. You kind of have to ignore some of the stuff that Jesus had to say too. James isn't saying anything that I think Jesus hasn't already said when it comes to the ethics of people living in the kingdom of God. So as we're going through this, we're going to look and see.
We're going to look and see how. How James is reflecting the teachings of Christ, aspects of that that are a little bit troubling and ways that I think James intends for his teaching to be troubling to us.
Just like the Sermon on the Mount, just like everything Jesus had to say, the testimony of Christ is intended to be troubling.
It should trouble you.
If I am a person, if I'm a person that sins, if I'm a person that needs salvation, then I need to change from who I am. There's something about me that should be troubled in the way that I view my life and I should be convicted in my life. James is convicting. So as we go through this, I hope we kind of like. If you feel some of that, don't.
I'm going to recommend that you don't, like, shy away from it if you are convicted, if you are troubled by it. Good.
That's good. Lean into that.
All right, so I want to start off with. In James, chapter two, I think James is brilliant here. The way he sets. The way he sets his audience up to be troubled. He says, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
So first of all, remember, this is Jesus brother, right?
So for Jesus, physical brother, to say our Lord Jesus Christ, he is saying, the person that I grew up with in the same household, he is the one that I know I should submit all of my everything that's in my power, all the choices that I have to make, I should instead make those choices as if my brother were making them for me.
When I think about my inclinations and how I deal with other people, I remember the way Jesus dealt with people. He was right about that and I was wrong. That's what lordship is really about.
I am prepared to say, your will be done. That's what any Lord is like, the Lord of a kingdom.
That a kingdom has a Lord means that Lord's word is the law for that kingdom. That's literally what Lord means. So he's saying, my life is the kingdom of Jesus. His word controls my body.
He is my Lord. But he doesn't just stop there. He says, the Lord of glory. And this is going to be really important. This is where glory doxa has to do with like, it has to do with worship.
So you might think of, like, showing up at, I don't know, pick the spot in the world that you've been to. Like, I've been to the Alps, okay? And I remember there was this one spot in the Alps, and we're kind of like. We're kind of driving along and I'm looking down and I remember thinking, I've seen a lot of pictures of places like this.
No picture captures this.
It is beyond a capturable moment. Now, you might have had something like that. Maybe you're at the Grand Canyon. Maybe you were on the verge of a massive storm that was taking place and it was big and powerful. Or, you know, I just saw a picture this morning of the aurora borealis somebody was at, and he said, actually the picture kind of overdoes it. But, like, there's that. There's that sensation when you're in a moment that it just stops you. And you don't.
You don't say, hmm, this is a very interesting moment. I think I'll appreciate it. Now it stops you and you appreciate it because it is so glorious. That's what doxa is. That's what worship is, the glory of the Lord.
James is saying, when you see Jesus for who he is, you don't decide to worship him.
You worship him because you decided to see him.
Once you see him, worship is guaranteed because he is doxa. He is the Lord of glory.
He is glorious.
Okay?
Now think about that. That's how he sets this up to discuss the way we talk about each other.
For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly. So he's just described Jesus. He is our Lord. He's the one we've submitted ourselves to. He is the kind of glorious that when he shows up, you're stopped and you can't help yourself.
Then right after that, he describes this rich person. And for me, I'm thinking, like, if I'm not thinking of Jesus, and if I'm just thinking of, like, I'm thinking about the smartest person in the room and the dumbest person in the room, I'm thinking about the prettiest person in the room and the ugliest person, I'm thinking about, like, what, right? I might be like, oh, that person's really impressive, right?
But if I've just thought about something, a surreal brilliance, an otherworldly intelligence, something that is something that it stops you cold because it is beyond human thinking. Like, he is beyond your capacity to be glorious, then that person comes in with that gold ring and that fine clothes. It's almost like a kid playing dress up, trying to pretend to be glorious.
You see what he's just doing there?
You and I, first, we are starting from a position in which we have seen Jesus for who he is. We are present to true glory.
As a result, we turn our attention to each other and we see one person dressed shabbily and we see somebody else dressed well.
That's the room that he's describing.
It's like without noticing Jesus first, the gap between those two people seems like a lot.
But then when you see the gap between Christ and the rich man, the gap between the shabbily dressed person and the well dressed person becomes almost negligible, undetectable from James perspective.
For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and you pay attention to the one who wears fine clothing and say, you sit here in this place while you seat to the other poor man, you stand over there or sit down on my feet. You have then made distinctions, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts?
You have done this because you've taken your eyes off of the true distinction he's, by placing all of this in light of the glory, the glorious Lord, his brother, Jesus Christ, he has instead.
How can you even make these distinctions among yourself?
Have you not created divisions among yourselves specifically because you've taken your eyes off of Christ?
That there are distinctions among you?
Speak to your inability to look to Christ.
If you see him, you will be amazed by him.
If you are instead amazed by somebody that's just smarter or dressed better, wealthier, someone that has some ability to give you some advantage, really. A person that if they're in relationship to you and you're near them, you gain some like, oh, I'm friends with the pretty person, I'm friends with the smart person, I'm friends with the wealthy, whatever. You get some sort of sense of advantage because you happen to be closer in relation to that person that other people think well of.
And you don't see a lot of advantage of being close to building connections with people that you don't gain advantage from.
You're creating divisions in the church that cannot exist if our eyes are on Christ.
It's not even like you should quit as a good person.
Stop showing distinctions among each other. That's not what he's saying.
As a follower of Christ, keep your eyes on Christ.
The distinctions become impossible The Lord of Glory makes these distinctions. And if there are distinctions among your church, it is because you are simply not living out of your faith. You have failed to be a follower of Christ.
Does that make sense?
I think sometimes people want to take James and make it like he's not really being so hot. I think he's actually being harder than most people read him. He's not just saying, don't, don't, don't show distinctions. He's saying is because you're showing distinctions, that speaks ill of your faith. That actually it's not just that you're. It's not just that you're, like, treating each other poorly. You're actually failing to love God properly as you fail to love each other properly.
He even makes this, I think, even more clear towards the end. He says, if you really fulfill the royal law, like literally the law of the Lord, the law of the King, the person who's in charge of the kingdom, if you really fulfill the royal law, according to scripture, you shall love your neighbors yourself. You're doing very well.
But if you show partiality, you are committing sin.
Now, this is different than committing sins.
I don't mean to say you are like, you're doing bad things.
Your heart is failing to keep Christ at the center of your.
Of your life.
You're literally taking your eyes off Christ. I don't. If you grew up in church, you might have heard that, like, keep your turn. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look, look full on his wonderful face, right? This idea of like, looking to Christ, this isn't just like a poetic idea, something that's like, oh, that's beautiful, Nice. I should look on Jesus. No, like, literally your ability, the sins, the actions that you do are simply the results of the sin of taking your eyes off Christ.
Failing to be faithful is the sin.
If you show partiality, that is an example that you are committing sin and are committed, convicted by the law's transgressor. And he says, for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has been guilty of all of it. He then goes on to describe, like, murder and all kinds of stuff. You're like, man, how did you get there? It's because it's. It's not even the point. Isn't that when you take your eyes off Christ, you do this one thing wrong, and when you take your eyes off Christ, you do this other thing wrong? Absolutely. Sin distorts you, your spirit, in some way different than it distorts me. And very often I will be the way that Sin distorts you. I might be like, ooh, you're terrible. And the way that sin distorts you'll be like, oh, it's not so bad, because that makes more sense to me. Like, the way that sin distorts you kind of distorts me too. And I'm okay with that. The way sin distorts you. I'm like, that's you. You're awful. You know, the truth is, it's not about the sins that we're committing. It's not about murder. It's not about having distinctions within the church. It's none of that that is downstream of the sin that James is saying.
Your faith requires you to look first on Christ. And as a result, everything else that you do in relation to people, the way that you love each other is necessarily transformed. I can no longer view you as less than me or view you as better than me.
We are all equal at the foot of Christ. I'm not better than you.
I'm not worse than you.
I can't see that in light of the doxa, in light of the glory of God.
Okay, this is where he starts James, chapter two. And by the way, as I'm reading it, I'm literally reading it as if it's Jesus voice coming to you. This is from Matthew, chapter five. This is the Sermon on the Mount.
This is Matthew capturing like an accumulation. Jesus has gone place to place. He's been preaching these sermons, and he. Matthew, captures these.
These ethical statements that Jesus makes about the way the people of God should be treating each other. This is part of it. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet. And by the way, to a tax collector, you know, I'm not a big fan of paying my taxes, but if I were paying my taxes to somebody that I consider to be a traitor to my people, like a tax collector was low. I mean, like, when he says that, like, that Jewish audience was like, ew. Like, you know, like it wasn't just like, oh, yeah, that's the average person doing it. That's the lowest person. Like, he's saying, are you no different than the lowest person you can imagine? Now, I don't know if you have a person like that. I don't know if you have a type of person like that in mind. Maybe you wouldn't even say it out loud, but maybe deep in your heart, you're like, oh, that's kind of people, you know, you are no better than the worst person you can imagine. Okay, I won't even make you say that out loud. But I bet if you think hard enough, there might be a person that you're like, that person's awful.
If you only if you show partiality and love those and love those that love you, you are no better than that worst person you can imagine that you can't stand.
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?
Don't even the pagans do that.
Be perfect. Therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now, this is really important. In the Jewish mind, perfect had to do with functionality.
Be complete, be whole, be unbroken.
From James perspective, from Jesus perspective, the problem with humanity is that people made in the image of God have been distorted through sin. The lies of Satan have convinced us that there is a way of living apart from God that is preferable to living under Christ.
To living under God that is a distortion, that is a brokenness.
Perfection means that you are as you ought to be.
Don't think of perfection as like that. You are God. God did not intend to create Godlings.
There is not a standard for you that's unattainable. Whenever the Bible talks about being perfect, then that's not like, oh, I can't be perfect. I'm just a human being. Exactly.
Be a human being that God intended to create in you, not the human being that you have accepted and decided that it's okay to be because it's simply functional for you.
This is the perfection he's describing. Be as you ought to be.
Being as you ought to be requires that I keep my eyes on Christ.
And I know that my eyes are on Christ in relation to you guys, because I am not compelled.
I don't have the inclination to show partiality.
This is such a high standard when you think about it.
But let me.
I said that I wanted to, like, really heighten what James is saying here, and it's very true.
I want to say something that I think could be an out for you, but I don't want it to be an out. So be careful here.
We often think of our faith in terms of our individual faith. You, you are a Christian. Your responsibility to follow Christ. Absolutely true.
But you were never intended to follow Christ on your own. You were intended to follow Christ in a community of believers that are different than you.
There are people within your community that have different skill sets, that have different abilities, that different graces from God, different fruits of the Spirit. Something that comes easy for you might become different, become difficult for Me, it's not that I need to just say, well, it's easy for you. You do it and not me.
But I do have the opportunity to kick back and let you lead out on that and to show me how to do it.
So an example, like early on at Horizon. Horizon started. Horizon was a church of mostly 20 year olds. And I mean, there was a lot of stuff that. Back then, a lot of people made some really bad choices, let's put it that way.
I mean, like, there were people selling drugs. There were people. There were. It was all kinds of stuff. Okay?
It was like the wild west.
Then people grew up and got married and became all like, you know, functional.
That's great.
There was a couple that this lady was.
She was tough. Like, the way that. The way that she knew to interact with people, to protect herself meant that it required her to, like, use people, manipulate them. She definitely had a past where you could see where I came from. But they talk about how, like, hurt people, hurt people, whatever that is, man.
Definitely, right?
I.
People had a very difficult time with her. For whatever reason, the way I was broken didn't. The way she was broken wasn't a problem for me. I was able to, like, deal with her fairly easily. I had to tell her, you can no longer talk this. If you have something that you need to talk to this other person about, run it through me first and let's go to them and talk to them about that. Because the way that you will interact with that person will. Will damage them. You know, you're. You are.
You are abusive in the way that you deal with these people. So I had to, like, I had to be. I had to take the lead in how to interact with her, to include her in the community. Okay.
Now, her husband, I recognized, was less of a threat to other people at the church than she was. He was kind of goofy, right?
I had a hard time with him because I wanted him to step up and be a man, right? And I was like. I was like. I was kind of Kirk and I. Every time I talked to him, I was like, you know. But other people graciously were able to deal with him in ways that I wasn't able to. And I had to let other people take the lead and how to deal with him. And I had to, like, yeah, like, agree with them about how to deal with him. And I had to take the lead in how to deal with her. Okay? The whole. The church as a whole loved them very well.
We ended up having to invite them to participate in Horizon In a very specific, being a part of horizon means that you have to begin to apologize. Like, you have to do certain things that they weren't able to do, and they ended up leaving.
It was a relief when they left.
It would have been an even greater relief if they had stayed and changed.
Do you see what I'm saying?
But I think the way the church collectively loved them and showed impartiality was beautiful. It was very good.
And it didn't happen because I and everyone else at the church was individually just perfect in dealing with each of them at every moment. But collectively, I think we were good. We were, as we ought to be, that version of perfect in the way we dealt with them.
Okay, I had to know when I had to step back and let somebody else in the church take the lead, and other people had to let me take the lead, and they stepped back with other things. Collectively, the church was, in James words, perfect in the way we dealt with them. I individually would not have been.
I don't say that for you to be like, oh, I'm off the hook.
For that to work means you're definitely on the hook. We all have to cooperate and work together. The church will not function well if you decide not to do that. Does that make sense? Okay, so the way we don't show partiality doesn't mean that I individually am great at every moment and not showing partiality, because I'm also doing dealing with my own brokenness. And sometimes the way that I'm dealing with other people, I am just.
I'm at my wit's end with people in certain times that you're, like, very easy dealing with them. You need to take the lead on that. You know, not that I don't participate in it, but I need to, like, learn from you and come under you and let you help us know how to deal with them. Does that make sense?
This is the way the church collectively fulfills this law of Christ and loving our neighbors, not showing partiality, even as we are individually broken, but collectively perfect in the way that we love.
Okay, James, chapter two. James goes on.
What good is it, my brothers, if some. If someone says that he has faith but he does not have works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things they need in the body, what good is that?
So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
And this is the point where Martin Luther Ripped the book out of his Bible because this. He flipped out when he got here. Now, you gotta understand, Martin Luther was dealing with a point at a point in time when the church was using works in a way that I think was unhealthy. So, for instance, you probably heard of indulgences like the church. It wasn't uncommon for the church to require you to offer payment for the church, for the church to confer grace on your part.
The mechanism of grace that the church had available to them, I think they were not everywhere and not at all times, but in a lot of ways. And specifically in Luther's situation, he was seeing abuses that the church was dealing with in the way that they operated out of faith and works in relation to where luther came from. PTSDish I would say he read this in James and was like, nope, not at all. Right, so I'm not being harsh on Luther, but if I have to choose between Luther and the brother of Jesus, I'm picking James.
It belongs to my Bible. And what he says here is absolutely true.
Our faith is essential.
Essential. I mean, our works are essential for our faith. And this is where I think we might misunderstand it. Sometimes we imagine faith to have more to do with belief. Like the idea that I have. I have a belief in Jesus, and it actually fits more in the realm of faithfulness.
So when you. When you believe in something, you have a faithfulness to that thing. I trust I'm actually able to function with that thing or person as I ought because I have a trust with that thing. And it shows up in the way that I relate.
Now, you know, it's probably inappropriate to use the word faith in this, but I have a faith in that chair. If I interact appropriately with it, I'm literally willing to engage that chair as a chair and sit in it. Right?
I could say, yeah, I believe, but I'm unwilling to sit in it. Then I'm thinking that's not a functional chair.
If I say that I have faith in God, he can tell me what it means to be human in a way that no one else. Jesus has shown me what it means to be human in the way nobody else possibly can. And yet I am unwilling to follow him in living as a human.
That I'm. I'm either a hypocrite or I'm lying to myself or something because I'm not willing to engage with him as he said he is.
I say I have faith, and yet I'm not willing to act based on what he said to do what is that?
What word? What do I have in my head when I say the word faith if I'm not willing to act on it?
Yeah, Jesus, I believe you're the son of God. I believe you're a great person, but I'm just a lonely man. And I'm out here just doing the best I can with the resources I have.
I can't possibly act the way you said that I should act. Jesus says, well, then you don't have the proper relationship you are. You have not died to yourself and chosen to follow me, the ethicist. The ethics of a Christian demonstrate the faith of the Christian.
Your faith shows up in your works.
And this isn't just having to do with Christianity.
Literally, like the way that you interact with your spouse, the way you interact with your co workers, the way you interact with your resources.
I could say, like, oh, no, I'm not too attached to my stuff. But the way that you interact with your stuff demonstrates your attachment to that stuff.
A lot of times we have ideas in our head about who we are, but then the way that we actually do and play out in the world actually reveals something about ourselves that we've been lying to ourselves about.
James is just saying practically, your actions are a true and predictive, like an accurate reflection of your faith.
Now, I want to be clear.
I can't look at you and know where you would be without Christ.
So I can't look at you and say, well, gosh, look at the way that person treats his kids. You know, like a father who was a real follower of Christ, he wouldn't treat his kids that way. Yeah.
Did you know that that kid, that. That dude didn't grow up with a father. His wife actually had multiple men that came into the house. He never knew what it was like to be a father. He has no. He literally has. Has no personal knowledge of what it means to be a father. And everything that he has cobbled together about being a father has come from his faith in. In the way he is. He has seen Jesus relate to the heavenly Father, and he is, to the best of his ability, emulating what fatherhood might be like because of his faith. On the surface, you might say, well, I prefer that dad over this dad. But the truth is the gap between where that guy started and where he is now is much less than the gap between where that guy started and where he is now. That person.
If you're just judging everybody as if we're starting at the same spot, you're gonna look at him and say, he must not have very much faith because look at his actions. You'd have no idea how much his actions are influenced by his faith.
So it's important for us to have a.
To have a measure we can measure. We can look at our actions and say, my actions will be transformed as a result of our faith.
I cannot judge you based on your actions because I don't know where you started.
Now, as we get to know each other and love each other, open up to each other, we let people in and we say, this is a problem. This is something not as a means to judge, but as a means to hold each other accountable to the highest calling that we have. We can lift each other up to a higher point. That's very different than judging each other from a base standard.
So faith and works tied together.
Our works will be elevated to Christ likeness as a result of our faith.
We cannot know if each. I cannot judge you based on your works to know where you are in your faith. I have no idea where you started from.
Okay, James goes on to say, oh, wait, I already missed my favorite part.
No, I didn't. No, it's coming next.
But some will say, you have faith, I have works. And he says, show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one good for you.
Even the demons believe and they have the sense to shudder.
That you claim to believe that there is a God and then you act as if they're not a God should frighten you to death that it is. It makes more sense for you to not believe that there's a God and then to act as if there's not a God, or to believe there is a God and then act as if there is a God. But if you believe that there's a God, but then you choose not to have the faith, like the faithfulness to act on that knowledge, you are. That's an insanity.
Even demons have sense enough to shudder.
You are absurd to believe.
To claim that you believe in God and that it doesn't result in a transformed life.
It means that you're like, either insane or just dumb. Like literally incapable of making sense of the world. This is.
You don't even have the sense to be afraid of the situation that you're in.
He says a person is justified that is made right by works and not by faith alone.
Obviously, he's not saying that by your works alone either. He's saying that works and faith emanate from the exact same location, not just faith. Alone.
He goes on to describe Abraham. He says that Abraham's works were credited to him as faith.
In the same way, he would say that your works, the actions, the lifestyle that you live, that wouldn't come naturally from you without Christ.
The gap between who you are and who you would be if you didn't believe in Christ. That gap, that difference is credited to you as faith.
He says the same way that Rahab the prostitute, Rahab the prostitute was justified by works when she received the messengers, that is the Israelites that came into the town and sent them out by another way, like saved them.
So this woman who everyone would agree was a sinner, but her faithfulness in that gap between who she was and the faithfulness that she had, that was credited to her as faith.
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Matthew, chapter seven, also a Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
The kingdom of heaven is the place where God's will is done.
That's what a kingdom is. The kingdom is the place where the rulers work.
Law is the law of the land.
So not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of the Father.
Heaven is the place where God's will is done. If you don't want God's will to be done, heaven can't be heavenly for you.
If you say, I prefer God's will to my will and your will, Heaven will be a great place for you.
Many will say to me on that day, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles? Weren't we awesome?
We can point to so many cool things that we did.
And I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Get away from me, you evil doers.
There is a basic law that Jesus gave us. He says, all the law and all the prophets rest on this.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. That means that you have a faith in him. You trust him more than you trust yourself.
And the second is just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Have no distinction between the least among you and the best among you. Everyone you come in contact with in relation to the glory of God is on the same playing field.
Love them the way you love yourself.
All this comes about because your attention is focused squarely on God, you have become the kind of person who wakes up in the morning and thinks, jesus, show me you.
I want to know you. I want to see you.
I love you.
Your life becomes transformed in a way that you love your neighbor in a way you didn't before. Your attention was on the Lord of Glory.
Let's pray.
Father God, as we, as we come, as we go through this book, as we submit ourselves to the teaching of your brother James, Lord, I am eternally grateful to you for coming and being present physically, for dying and rising again, but also for teaching and for showing us exactly what it looks like to be a human.
And, God, I thank you for your brother James, who submitted his life to yours because he saw your glory. And, God, we see the goodness in that God, I pray you give us the heart, the desire and the will to cast our attention on you constantly.
And, Lord, as we lay behind the sin of ignoring you, and we pick up what it means to be present to you, Lord, we begin to see all the sins that emanate from that just disappear as we become more like you.
This is our desire, Lord, we love you. Amen.
