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There is a new word that I made up this week: Necrotainment.
It is popular entertainment and news that is focused on celebrity deaths.
For example, we can’t get enough news about several famous people who have died this past month:
• King of Pop – Michael Jackson
• Angel & Vixen – Farrah Fawcett
• The Jester of Infomercials – Billy Mays
• Kung Fu Master – David Carradine
• Impressionist Fred Travalena
• TV personality Ed McMahon
• Actress Gale Storm
• Actor Dom DeLuise
• Quarterback Steve McNair
Our culture is obsessed with these dead celebrities.
This Necrotainment is showing what our culture is really about.
Our Culture’s #1 objective = to promote wealth & fame.
But that is not what we are after, is it?
Our dream is “MIDDLE CLASS RETIREMENT”!
We live for it!
We want health, family, and the ability to just do whatever we want.
The #1 objective = comfort
But is this what God wants?
Through out the history of the Church, there has been a remarkable example set before us.
There have been men and women who have given their lives for one thing.
Martyrs of the faith have died with one objective = to make God’s mercy known to the world!
They have taken seriously when Jesus said: Luke 6:36 (NCV) - Show mercy, just as your Father shows mercy.
These martyrs want the world to know about Jesus, the one who provided mercy to us.
They want the world to experience His grace and to embrace Jesus Christ as the giver of mercy.
They were willing to die so that others might no our Lord of Glory.
Today we continue in our study of the Book of James and He calls Jesus this same name: “the Lord of Glory” – READ James 2:1
Like a martyr of the faith, James’ desire, his #1 goal in life is to make known this “Lord of Glory”.
Psalm 24:8 (NIV) - Who is this Lord of glory?
He is the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
So when James uses this phrase, “Lord of Glory”, he is basically calling his half-brother, Jesus, THE divine!
He is saying, here is God in the flesh and this is the best newsflash ever!
Since Jesus ascended to heaven, and is no longer physically present her on earth, the glory of God has moved.
In the Old Testament, God’s glory dwelled first in the tabernacle (Ex.
40:34–38), and then moved to the temple (1 Kings 8:10–11).
When Jesus came to earth, God’s glory resided in Him (John 1:14) and now it has moved to the heart of believers.
This means that God’s glory resides in you, the Church (Ephesians 2:21–22).
This makes it every Christian’s prerogative to share “the Lord of Glory” with the world.
WE ARE TO SHARE GOD’S GLORY - TO MAKE HIS MERCY KNOWN.
We are not to be wrapped up in Necrotainment, nor Middle Class Retirement.
We are to be dedicated to sharing God’s mercy with the world!
To make his point – that we should be about sharing Christ, James give us three pieces of furniture to consider.
He asks you and me: Is the #1 desire in your life to share the Lord’s glory?
If so, first look at the FOOTSTOOL – READ vs. 2-4
James wanted to help us practice God’s Word, so he gave us a simple test.
He sent two visitors to a church service, a rich man and a poor man; and he watched to see how they were treated.
Did you put the rich in a place of honor, and the poor on a footstool?
Would we pass this test from James?
When we meet someone, don’t we have two measurements that we judge someone by?
The first measurement we use is their looks.
We ask:
1.
How do they look?
We think this determines how good of a person they are.
In our court system today, during a trial, it has been proven that if a person comes into the room in handcuffs and in a prison jumpsuit, the jurors are more likely to find a man guilty.
If the defendant comes in wearing a business suit, then he is more likely to get a fair trial.
When a person comes in to our assembly, our place of worship, the same happens – even if it is subliminal.
If they are in shabby clothes, we immediately think this person is looking for a hand out.
We think this person must have done something to get into this situation.
If we are honest, we look down on someone who is dressed like the poor.
So James asks, “how do you treat them?
Do you demand that they sit on a footstool?”
In the first century, remember, people walked around barefoot.
When they propped their feet on a footstool, there was dirt galore!
A footstool was also looked at as a place of defeat.
Sometimes a conquering general would actually use new slaves as footstools!
James is saying to us today, don’t put the poor on a footstool.
This is literal and figurative.
Do not look down on the poor as a person who is only worthy of the dirty seat.
Do not look down on the poor as a person who is no more better than a slave.
Love them instead.
1 John 4:20 (LB) - If anyone says “I love God,” but… doesn’t love his brother who is right there in front of him, how can he love God whom he has never seen?
The second measurement we use is their past.
We ask:
2. What is in their past?
Living in a small town means that people “know.”
Whether you like it or not, people will know about all the things you have done.
James says, “imagine someone coming in to your Church with filthy clothes.”
Filthy clothes in the first century were a metaphor.
They were a symbol for a person who had a horrible past.
They have done some despicable things and their bad behavior is worn like rags.
If we know that someone has been pretty bad, we think, “what are they doing here?
I know what they are like!
A tiger doesn’t change his stripes!”
And this, folks, shows a lack of mercy on our part.
Because, how would Jesus treat this person?
Our Lord saw the potential in the lives of sinners.
In Simon, He saw a rock.
In Matthew, a person who laundered money from the poor as a tax collector, He saw someone who would one day write one of the four Gospels.
In a sinful woman at a well in Samaria, Jesus saw someone who could reach her entire village.
We are prone to judge people by their past, not their future.
When Saul of Tarsus was converted, the church in Jerusalem was afraid to receive him!
It took Barnabas, who believed in Saul’s conversion, to break down the walls (Acts 9:26–28).
We also judge by outward appearances rather than by the inner attitude of the heart.
We do not enjoy sitting with certain people in church.
“They are not our kind of people.”
Jesus was the Friend of sinners.
It was not compromise, but compassion, that caused Him to welcome them.
When these people trusted Jesus, He forgave them.
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