James 2

Playing Favorites in the Church

/ Bob

Playing Favorites – James 2:1-13

Playing favorites is a human trait that affects every area of our lives. We make judgments about people on a daily basis. Those that we perceive to be favorable to our lives we approve of and those we perceive to be unfavorable we push aside or ignore. When we choose a plumber to work at our house we practice a process of discrimination in order to choose the plumber we favor. However, James decries this practice in the church saying that we make such judgments on our own “evil thoughts.” (James 2:4) “Ism’s” such as racism, ageism, sexism, ableism, antisemitism, sizeism, elitism, tokenism, and religionism have no place in the church. All are equal at the foot of the cross.

And all are equal at the foot of the cross no matter their social or economic status. “God has chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?” (James 2:5) “Ism’s” have no place in our treatment of people in the church and money (or lack thereof) is no measure of a person’s status in the church.

Rather that practicing favoritism we must practice the “Royal Law” that James describes as loving your neighbor as yourself. (James 2:8; also see Mark 12:29-31) The Royal Law includes loving others and showing grace and mercy to others in the name of Christ. Your loving and giving mercy and grace to others – especially those who you may not like, those who are different from you, those who have nothing to give you – is a measure of your love for and your relationship with your heavenly Father.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, September 10, 2023. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons is The Making of Authentic Faith. You can find printed and digital versions of this series online at:

gc2press.org/the-making-of-authentic-faith-james-study-guide/ .

Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .

Website – FromTheBackPorch.org

Twitter – From the Back Porch @ nationalfast

Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas

Email – fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com

class-notes-09.10.2023-james-2.1-13-playing-favoritesDownload

Do You Believe In Jesus? Prove It!

/ Bob

Do You Believe in Jesus? Prove It!

The Book of James is a straight-forward, practical guide for Christian living. In the 2nd chapter the focus is on what constitutes real faith – authentic belief in God – true discipleship. In our current culture, God has been reduced to a situationally moral, kind-hearted being who exists only to make our lives comfortable and happy. We owe no true allegiance or devotion to our god, but we do expect him to show up and help us when we get in trouble. Faith consists of simply believing that he exists and it requires no devotion to him or anything he says.

God, through James, points out that true faith comes when we accept Christ, but that it doesn’t end there. Our faith is borne out in what we do in obedience to the Father. Faith without action is no faith at all – it is dead, empty, and useless. The things we do – the actions we take in the name of Christ – are the proof that we truly follow Christ and have truly accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

We like to point to scriptures like Ephesians 2:8-9 as proof that there are no strings attached to our salvation. (“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” – Eph 2:8-9 NKJV) And, while it is true, that salvation is a gift which we cannot earn by our own acts of kindness and goodness, our salvation is not the end of the story just as it is not the end of the totality of that passage of scripture. Verse 10 is the continuation of discussion of faith and good works.

An expanded rendering of Ephesians 2:8-10 might read as follows:

God saved us by his grace when we believed in Jesus and accepted Him as Savior and Lord. We can’t take credit for it –it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so we can’t brag about it. However, we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us as a brand new person in Christ Jesus – with a brand new design and brand new purpose and brand new way of thinking – so that we can and must do the good things He planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 BYT)

Do you believe in Jesus? Prove it by the way you live your life in loving obedience to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Next week we will ask the same question – Do You Believe In Jesus? – but we will follow it with the imperative to Proclaim It!

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, May 15, 2022. It is part of a series of Bible study sessions from The Gospel Project – a Bible study curriculum developed by Lifeway Christian Resources. Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com

Website – FromTheBackPorch.org

Twitter – From the Back Porch @ nationalfast

Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas