First of all apologies for not posting yesterday - things here have been more than a little weird to say the least.
Jas 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Jas 2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
Jas 2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Jas 2:4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Jas 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
Jas 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Jas 2:7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Are you not guilty of being partial? I know that I am at times. It is something we do not always recognize ourselves doing, and yet there we are sucking up to certain people because we know that if we do we are likely to get something out of it. However look at what James says here; if we are partial then we are committing sin. Does he say that we should not respect the rich man? Or that the rich man is wrong for being rich? No but instead James is saying that we should treat the poor man with the same dignity that we treat a rich man. This is a hard thing, and something that because has evolved into a teaching that we should be against being rich. :o Is it wrong to be blessed of God so that we have enough to live on and more besides?
Let?s look at the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts:
Act 5:1-11
(1) But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, (2) And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. (3) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? (4) Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. (5) And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. (6) And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. (7) And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. (8) And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. (9) Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have
together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. (10) Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. (11) And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
Ananias and Sapphira I have a lot of sympathy for. They had seen how members of the early church were selling properties and possessions and then donating the money and putting it in a common pot for the believers. In a way they wanted to be a part of that, but when it came time to part with the money they developed a ruse to make themselves look better ? when in actual fact even giving only part would not have made them look any less to those who were giving all. Yet they sold the possession and they came and gave the amount that they had purposed to give, but made out that they were giving the whole instead of part. This is where they went wrong. They then tried to lie not only to man, but to God Himself and say that is what we sold the land for. Now God is a respecter of property rights. Once God gives us a gift, if it is money all He asks is 10% to show that we love Him the rest is up to us what we do with it and how we spend it, so Ananias and Sapphira had they said well we sold the property for X amount but purposed that we would give Y amount to the Lord would have been fine. Notice that peter says ?was not the property yours to do what you like with? ? In other words God looks at the motives of the heart and not at how much we give, or do not give.
And so it is with here James is not saying that the rich man is wrong to come in his finery and best to worship God, nor is he saying that the beggar is wrong to come as he does, but rather he is saying that it should ever be our job as Christians to do good for our fellow men, and to help those who are less fortunate. When God blesses us it is our job to ?pay it forward? so to speak, and be a blessing to others. Rather the rich man and the beggar should be treated with equal respect. If your seat for a visitor is at the front of the church then let the beggar go and sit next to the rich man and both may eat freely of the bread of life. If you have a fellowship lunch and the beggar walks in off the street, do not sit him down and give him a meagre portion, but allow the rich man to eat plentifully, but rather send the beggar to the front of the queue and let him help himself to as much or as little as he likes and the same with the rich man. The Gospel is a great leveller, for it brings the rich man to the level of the beggar and the beggar to the level of the rich man, for although material goods are nice and make life comfortable, they are not essential to our salvation nor are they essential to the hearing or doing of the word. If both the rich man and the beggar have faith in Christ then in Christ are both men equally rich, for they both have spiritual riches in this earth and a crown of glory waiting for them in heaven. Has God blessed the rich man unfairly and held back from the beggar? To the eyes of the world it would seem he has, and yet God has done what is the best thing for both men, for with riches comes a danger that we will put our money in the place of God, and with poverty comes the temptation to turn to dishonest means to put bread on the table. There is a danger in both extremes, and this is the reason that the prayer of Agur was ?Pro 30:8-9 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.?
We are told in 1 Timothy 6:7-11 that ? For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.? Now there is a tendency today in to uplift poverty as if it is something Godly and wonderful, and that is just as wrong as say that you are wrong if you have more than you need in the material world. Poverty is neither glamorous nor pleasing God. For we must ever be open to allow God to bless us as His people as He desires to do. However there are reasons that God does not bless us that I have covered before in another study, that I shall bring across?..
Home
Login
Register