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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
The manifestation of the disease is always different from the disease! Symptoms are just that, symptoms; they are not the disease. James identified a symptom of spiritual illness among his brethren, but he was not content to merely identify the symptom; he wanted to identify and eliminate the disease. The symptom: Partiality and favoritism (James 2.1-4). The disease: Failure to recognize that willful partiality and favoritism is tantamount to rejecting the Lordship of Jesus Christ!
I hope you followed the opening paragraph. The sin of partiality that existed among the believers to whom James was writing was no small matter. All it amounted to, at least on the outside, was the seating of a well-off brother in a favored pew while relegating a not-so-well-off brother to a place of lesser prominence. It was such a small thing! After all, they weren’t committing murder, or theft, or any of the overt mega-sins that they were so careful to avoid! Herein was the REAL problem; when they acted in the manner described, they denied the very authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ! James attacked this disease at its root and in so doing he provides the basis upon which and from which any of us can ever hope to obtain mercy at the throne of God.
These are fundamental matters; they involve the very foundations of faith. If these foundations are ignored or neglected, the house will collapse. Fundamentals can never be ignored without paying the price at a later date. Jesus sanctioned this law of spiritual economics when He told the story of the wise man and the foolish man during the Sermon on the Mount. He also noted that there was a recognizable hierarchy of principles within God’s economy when He told the inquisitive lawyer that the commandment to love God was first and the second greatest was to love one's neighbor. Failure to see this hierarchy led to the “minor sin” of partiality that existed among James’ brethren. Through logic that cannot be controverted, James skillfully showed that the taproot to this “minor sin of partiality” is the very same taproot that produces murder and adultery!
This is why the fundamentals of the Christian faith have to be perennially and eternally stressed. They cannot be ignored or neglected. To do so is but to invite spiritual disaster. Hence, James thoughtfully and conclusively walked his erring brethren through the reasoning that forced him to conclude that the sin of partiality is on a par with all other sins which emanate from a failure to love one’s neighbor as oneself. There is a direct link between this “formal” commandment to love neighbor as oneself and the kind of “fuzzy” advice contained in the Golden Rule (see Matthew 7.12). Granted this “rule” is nowhere called the Golden Rule by an inspired person, but who can argue but that it is golden! If I treat others as I want to be treated, would that not be the same result as would occur if I love others as I love myself. The difference is only one of perspective; not of substance. The Golden Rule looks to outward acts; the Second Great commandment looks at the heart from which such actions must be controlled.
Had the believers to whom James was writing asked themselves two questions, the unfortunate circumstance of James 2.1-4 would never have seen the light of day. Here are the two questions that went unasked: 1) Would I want to be seated in an inferior place just because someone disapproves of how I dress?” 2) “When I discriminate merely on the basis of how another person dresses, does that action bespeak a heart that loves others as it loves self?” Herein was the taproot of the disease which had to be stamped out! It was not “mere” anything! The disease was a serious one, and one which ate from the inside out, corrupting first the heart and then the practice of believers.
Fundamentals must never be ignored! They are ALWAYS relevant! (Continued)
Questions:
1. What it the difference between a disease and the symptoms of a disease?
2. Can a disease be cured by merely treating the symptoms? Why or why not? What application does this principle have when it comes to sin among believers?
3. What is the relationship between the Royal Law (James 2.8) and the Golden Rule (Matthew 7.12)?
4. What is the taproot of the sin of partiality? What is the taproot of the sin of murder? Adultery? (see James 2.11)?
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