LET US FULFILL THE LAW OF LOVE!
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah
50:4-10
Gospel Lesson; Mark
8:27-35
Sermon Text; James
2:1-18
In our text for today, James says, the Law of Love is to
"Love your neighbor as yourself".
Those words are easy to hear, but hard to do. Today, we pride ourselves in believing that we avoid making personal judgments of others. Unfortunately, this is not always true.
Think about Jesus and His disciples for a moment. Imagine if Jesus had chose those first disciples, the way a typical company hires its employees, using today’s methods. Employers like to have their employees go through a battery of tests. They take profiles, run them through the computer, and then spit back out who would be the best for that leadership position or that particular job. Let’s say that Jesus were to have done that!
Somebody has written up a mock letter of what that may have entailed. This is just a fictional letter from a consulting company, in regards to the profiles that Jesus could have administered to His twelve potential disciples.
Jesus, Son of Joseph
Wood Crafter’s Carpenter Shop
Nazareth, Galilee
Dear Sir:
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken the battery of tests and we have run them through our computers. It is the staffs’ opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, educational, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would suggest that you continue your search for persons with experience and proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has no leadership skills at all. The two brothers, James and John, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to inform you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James (the son of Alphaeus), and Thaddaeus have radical leanings and registered high manic-depressive scores.
Only one of the candidates shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, who meets people well and has a keen business mind. He has contacts in high places and is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot, as your controller and right-hand man.
We wish you every success in your new venture.
Sincerely yours,
Jordan Management Consultants
Jerusalem, Judea
Certainly, as Jesus picked those disciples, they may have been lacking in educational and vocational means. This is just a mock letter of what people could have seen in the twelve disciples, but Jesus saw much more. He saw through to their hearts and did not show favoritism. It was these same disciples, who even though they were weak in their own rights, went out and fulfilled the Law of Love. After Jesus ascended into Heaven, it was these disciples who fulfilled the Law of Love. They fearlessly proclaimed Jesus, as the Savior of the world, even until their own deaths. Oh sure, they had their weaknesses, but most of the disciples died sharing with others, the love Jesus had shared with them.
As we look at our text for today, I believe that there are three things James shares with us, to show us how to fulfill the Law of Love.
Let Us Not Show Favoritism
The first thing that James tells us, in our text for today, is that we are not to show favoritism. That means that we are not to look at one person as being better or worse than another, because of what they have, or how they can benefit us.
To set this point firmly in the minds of the church, James lays before us a picture of a worship service. Let’s take a look at the guests. The rich man wore a gold ring and fine clothes. He stood in stark contrast to the shabby clothes on the poor man.
Consider the attitude toward the two men. First of all, there was a likely shortage of seats. Most traditions indicate that the meeting places of the early church were sparsely furnished, with most believers either crouching on the floor or standing around the walls. That a man would be offered a seat was probably the kind of treatment reserved for elderly members of the congregation. And yet, the rich man was invited to sit in a place of prominence. The poor man, on the other hand, was immediately directed to the ‘cheap seats’, "sit on the floor by my feet". That attitude toward the two men represented two very different extremes in welcoming newcomers into fellowship.
James takes the opportunity to strike at the real point in verse four, where he says, "have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" It is impossible for us to build our faith, if we put more stock in people than we do in God. By giving this example, we are all made to think of how we have treated people at times, simply in order to gain the favor of those who do good for us, or discourage and push away other people from invading our comfort zones. This kind of behavior simply will not fit with a life of faith in Christ.
Today, if a rich man entered our service and a poor man followed after him, how would we view them? If we saw the rich man drive up in a Humvee, wearing a new suit and jewelry, would we think to ourselves, "Wouldn’t it be great if he would pick our church to attend?" Would we be quick to go and talk to the rich man, and find him a place of prominence? But to the person, who was poor and looked shabby, relegate him to a seat that was not so prominent? That is favoritism.
For the people James was writing to, the favoritism he was referring to was centered on financial power. But whatever the criteria, it is important for us to love all people, for this is what God commands. As James puts it, "don’t show favoritism", or as God says, "fulfill the Law of Love."
Imagine what would happen, if God had shown favoritism. What would it have been like, if God were to say to the world, "I love you, but not you over there"?
The most beloved passage in scripture does not say, "For God so loved parts of the world that He gave His one and only Son…" No! John 3:16 says,
"For God so loved the world
(that includes everyone, all people)
that He gave His one and only Son
that whosoever believes in Him
shall not perish,
but have eternal life."
Instead of showing favoritism, let us fulfill the Law of Love. And as James goes on in our text this morning and says, "do good to Christians who are in need, just as Christ helped us out in our need."
Let us Help Our Fellow Christians in Need
The second thing that James says to show us how to fulfill the Law of Love is,
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
Help out your fellow Christians, when they are in need. Today we call this the Golden Rule, "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you."
And yet, James is really quick, once again, to blast us for our sinful ways and our sinful thoughts. Verse 10, in our text for today, is a very sobering thought. It says,
"For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles at just
one point
is guilty of breaking
all of it."
An analogy I once heard, described sin like a chain. That chain represents God’s Law. Imagine you were hanging high above the ground, holding onto a chain. The chain is made up of interlocking links. If one link breaks, you fall and die. It doesn’t matter which link breaks, the result is the same – death.
The breaking of just one link is death.
So it is with sin.
God is telling us that as He sees sin, if you break the law at any point, you are a lawbreaker. If you steal, kill, or simply tell a lie, they are all the same. God looks at us as law-breakers. Sin is sin, is sin. One sin is not worse than another.
All sin leads to death.
Do right, by fulfilling the Law of Love and "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Let us Demonstrate our Faith,
by Whatever We Do.
The third thing that James says, to show us how to fulfill the Law of Love, is demonstrate your faith by whatever you do.
Our text for today was very difficult, because pretty much of it was pure law. As a matter of a fact, it was almost entirely law! It shows us how we have not kept God’s Law and how we have not loved our neighbor as ourself. The only glimmer of Gospel is found in the words, "our glorious Lord, Jesus Christ". In that one little phrase, it tells us all we need to know about our Savior, as the God – Man, who delivered us from the guilt of our sins against God’s Law of Love, and saved us from the eternal punishment we deserve.
We hear Jesus, Himself, speaking hundreds of years before He went to the cross for us, in Isaiah 50:4-10. There we hear Jesus say, "I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting."
Then you look at the picture on our bulletin this morning. There you see the ultimate fulfillment of love, with Jesus stretching out His arms on the cross. Not only did Jesus live that perfect life for us, but He also went to the cross, in death for us. He won the forgiveness of our sins, and gave us everlasting life in Heaven! Jesus has fulfilled the Law of Love for us.
In the Gospel Lesson, Mark 8:27-35, we see Jesus’ prediction to Peter and the disciples, "but whoever loses his life for me and for the Gospel will save it." May we too set aside our life for Jesus and the Gospel, and demonstrate our faith by whatever we do!
Jesus has fulfilled the Law of Love for us, by going to the cross. Let us fulfill the Law of Love by not showing favoritism, by helping our fellow Christians in need, and by showing our faith by whatever we do.
Amen.
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