Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro:
One of the key features of Grace Baptist Church that sticks out among the rest of the protestant Yooper churches, is that we mingle with each and every one of our congregants.
Time and time again both Ted Jensen and I have heard newcomers and first-time visitors comment how when they observed our church, they did not see any divisions among the people or clicks/groupies.
What they saw was the youth fellowshipping with the “young impaired.”
They saw the able-bodied members helping the disabled.
Now for us here today this is not something we readily notice since it is/and has been natural for us to intermingle.
And why not??
After all we are family--warts and all!”
What these new visitors were inadvertently telling Ted and me is that other churches in this area of like faith are struggling with the basic issues of unity within one local body of Christ.
In our expository Journey, James addresses this now for us which applied in the first century church just as much as it applies today in the U.P.
Transition:
This might sound a little familiar, and it should because we’ve heard James speak about the rich and the poor before.
If you look back at the previous chapter, you can see starting at verse 9 he already mentioned something about this subject.
And further, if you can recall from a couple of months ago, we’ve already spoke some about the rich and the poor on what he was addressing at that time.
I am certain you can recall every detail that sermon but just in case you missed it let me give you some highlights from that sermon:
1.
The Poor (v. 9)
i.
What James is saying & What James is not saying
His Warning against poverty (having the pity poverty mindset, although extremely rich spiritually)
James is not saying Being poor is more spiritual
and problems with The Prosperity Gospel from a poor perspective
2. The Rich (v.10)
i.
What James is saying & What James is not saying
Warning against the wealthy (not trusting in wealth)
ii.
James is not saying Being rich is wrong
and problems with The Prosperity Gospel from a rich perspective
Then we ended that Sunday with The same Fate of Both (v.11)
So naturally there is some overlap this morning, seeing as James, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, decided that it was important enough to repeat this topic so we will again address the rich and the poor.
However this time James hits this topic at a different angle.
Chapter one addressed the pride of the rich and the poor, and now we see that he’s addressing the treatment of the rich and the poor.
Here in James’ example, of course the rich man received preferential treatment while the poor man is robbed of dignity respect and even basic comfort -- all this within the local church.
Even though it is not a problem in our congregation right now, I fear that if left unchecked long enough, one day here at Grace, we might begin to make an ungodly mental distinction between the rich and the poor.
You might be saying “no Josh, I wouldn’t/couldn’t ever do that!”
but consider if you were to walk into a McDonald’s to order some food and two cashiers are ready to take your order.
One cashier has greasy, messed up hair and maybe you notice his clothes are wrinkled and ripped while he smiles at you with his only tooth showing.
Then you notice the other cashier who has her hair in an intricate weave, clothes stiff and starched with one discreet pleat line as she smiles at you blinding you with her bright whites.
Who would you honestly choose?
So we do have preferential treatment issues after all!
It is way too easy for us to prefer the rich for at least a couple of other reasons as well:
First, we might find it more pleasurable to be with the rich.
They look like a million bucks, they smell like a million bucks, they just might even have a million bucks!
Whereas the poor might have an odor, or maybe some teeth that are the colors of the rainbow.
Second, we would rather identify with the apparently successful people than with the poor.
We deceive ourselves in thinking that hanging out with the rich might make us even richer and more successful.
A big problem with seeing the poor as failures in life is that we are then defining success and failure in the same terms of this world's system rather than in the terms of our Creator.
Jesus didn't see the poor as failures.
If that were the case, was Jesus then a failure?
The Problem Defined
The problem is easily identifiable by the end of verse three, but verse one hints at it with the command.
But beyond the command, verse one sets up the answer before the problem is mentioned.
By now, you may have noticed that James has addressed his readers as “My brothers” four times already.
In fact, in the 5-chapter book of James , he refers to his readers as brothers about nineteen times!
Clearly he wants the attention of Christians.
James wants Grace Baptist Church to hear this!
“...the Lord of Glory” This interesting phrase gives us a taste James’ Christology.
Here, for the first time in the book of James, Christ is identified and equated with God.
How?
By glory, the Shekinah glory to be more specific, which was the visible manifestation of YHWH in the OT.
James believes that Jesus is God in His essence and therefore, YHWH is revealed.
And then don't forget about the holding faith part!
David Nystrom points out in his commentary on verse one,
“Jesus is the object of faith.
There is clearly more than a meager gospel here, for Jesus Christ, the very manifestation of God’s glory, chose to identify with the poor and the outcasts.
On the strength of that model and memory James urges his readers to avoid favoritism, just as did our Lord.
In this manner James continues his discussion of the proper way to treat the poor, which he began in 1:27 with his discussion of the widow and the orphan.”
Last week, we saw that the good works of the faith were to take care of the poor, namely widows and orphans, which is really the catch-all phrase to help the helpless that can’t help you back.
So James is developing and exhorting us to further the care of the poor.
Looking at verse two now:
Robert J Utley says:
2:2 “if” This is a THIRD CLASS CONDITIONAL which refers to potential action.
This refers to (1) hypothetical wealthy visitors coming to a Jewish, Christian worship meeting or (2) a synagogue-like Christian court setting.
So Dr. Utley believes that this might not have been actually occurring at the time based on the syntax of the Greek.
However,
David P. Nystrom, in his commentary says:
The first two words of verse 2 (e-an gar), which the NIV renders “suppose,” could also be translated “for example” or “to illustrate.”
There is no clear reason to believe that this is merely a hypothetical situation.
James is most likely referring to an actual situation in the life of the community.
I tend to agree with David Nystrom here that the Holy Spirit was prompting James to write about what was actually going on.
James continues his story:
Verse three is James’ inspired example of preferential treatment (sadly, James had no McDonald’s restaurants to draw from).
These are harsh words from an Apostle!
Yet it is likely because James knew that they were sinning and he is calling them to stop! James knew because he could have been thinking of his brother’s words:
Matthew 25:34-46
The Poor Revealed
(v5) Here come the majority of that overlap from the first chapter—which is great since we usually learn by repetition! i.e. factory work!
how to crimp wires, how to land wires, how to measure, how to harness, how to cut/strip etc. how did I learn this in one week?
Repetition times 10,000!
By now, it is painfully obvious that James is preferring the poor, and perhaps you might be thinking it’s not a bad thing to be in poverty.
And if so, then you’re thinking is not too far off of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ
But it it is easy when you’ve been poor for years to feel ashamed, if you are poor perhaps you’ve thought: “if only I can try harder” or “if only I were smarter, I’d be rich” which leads to the wrong emotion of shame.
Why? Well there are plenty of hard-working people in the slums in America or in the rural farms that don’t earn a lot of money, but that has nothing to do with hard work.
Most people whose life passion matches their profession, work hard regardless of the pay.
Likewise you can be very smart, yet choose a profession that doesn’t bring in the six figures.
But is not God sovereign in all things as to make us rich?
Yes!
But Dr. Bob Utley rightly points out:
“did not God choose the poor of this world” “Choose” is an AORIST MIDDLE INDICATIVE (cf.
Eph.
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