Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
Sunday Morning 8/10

      • Matthew 16:24NIV2011

  • Good morning. I am so glad that we can be here this morning together. We enjoyed our weekend last week and the wedding was wonderful.
    Weddings are a great time that you get to show a lot of love to one another. It is always a blessing to gather with family and friends and spend time with each other.
    I was laughing because Knowing what we talked about two weeks ago and what we will continue with today Angie did something that well was kind of contradictory to the message I have been Preaching.
    Up to this point we had not met our Nephews new bride. We were excited to meet her and to help celebrate their Wedding with them. When we finally meet them Angie sticks out her hand and introduces here self as Angie, oh and I am the Favorite Aunt.
    Now if you know Angie you won’t be surprised by this my Niece’s and Nephews present quickly followed that up with a, “she is the one you need to watch out for”.
    Angie has a bit of a reputation as being a little unpredictable.
    Yes Unpredictable is the right word.
    Don’t get it wrong the kids love her and they think she is hilarious but she is...Unpredictable.
    She introduces herself as the Favorite but if you remember from a couple weeks ago we aren’t supposed to show favoritism.
    Not sure If I need to invite Angie to the Alter right now to confess her sins… I might pay for this later.
    Let’s dig back into James and read some more about what He tells us about Favoritism.
    James 2:8–13 NIV
    8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

    The Royal Law

    In verse 8 we have what is described as the Royal law found in Scripture. We know it today as the Golden rule or the Summary of the entire law as. Love your neighbor as yourself.
    As Christians we of course also prioritize the knowledge of loving God with all of who we are but we can’t love God if we don’t love our neighbor.
    I kept getting hung up on this idea of the Royal Law. Why that word?
    Why was the word Royal holding me up or intriguing me.
    Than I realized oh wait I am an American and we don’t like the idea of something that is Royal. We fought the monarchy after all. We don’t want to be ruled over.
    I mean ‘Murecia Right.
    In all seriousness this idea of royal is not to point us to a king that we have to resist but it is to remind us of the authority of the law. To recognize that fact that this is a law from God that is important and can’t be ignored.
    The fact that Jesus uses it to sum up the law and that all of the other laws hinge on this and one other law helps us know we probably should be paying attention to it.
    Than we get back into that favoritism part in verse 9.
    James 2:9 NIV
    9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
    Oh man what a problem this becomes. You can’t show love to all your neighbors if you are showing favoritism. Christ set the example for those.
    Think about stories like Zaccheus and the Samaritan Woman. How did Jesus treat them. I can tell you that they were not highly favored by the Jewish people. One was a tax collector the other a Samaritan.
    Jesus showed them both love and kindness. He didn’t seek to judge them he sough to bring them life. Yet, if we aren’t careful we may be guilty of doing the opposite of What God wants us to do and we may push those people away if we aren’t careful in who we favor.
    What does that make us then. IT makes us lawbreakers.
    It is here that it gets really challenging.
    James 2:10 NIV
    10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
    Oh by the way you aren’t just guilty of breaking the one law you broke you might as well have broken everything. I mean that makes total sense right. If you show favoritism you might as well be counted committing Adultery or a murder.
    This sounds fair right.
    It makes you wonder about the idea that we have a high expectation by God.
    It had me thinking about the problem that we have with Sin.

    Sin Problem

    Do we take it seriously? That is a question that we have to ask ourselves.
    Picture if you will that we compare sin to fire. Now I want to preface this that there is no perfect analogy but this will work for the context of understanding how serious sin should be.
    Have you ever seen a child encounter fire for the first time. They come up to the stove and they see the flame burning and what do they do they reach out and Mom or Dad says “NO! that’s Hot!”
    The child listens for a moment and then they reach out their hand again and they touch the stove and they burn their hand.
    It’s like that with God. Hey see that action or thing its dangerous it will hurt you or it isn’t what I want for you don’t do it. What happens we reach out and we still do it anyway.
    Except this time the consequences are more than just a burn its the movement away from God.
    This doesn’t just have earthly consequences this has eternal consequences.
    Many will tell you that oh but if i do good it will be alright no big deal. What are you worried about it was just a little sin right.
    The problem is that we must never forget that sin is the very thing that seperates us from God.
    From Adam and Eve to this day that Sin keeps us from having the ful relationship that we are supposed to have with who he is.
    It is a serious business.
    James reminds us that sin no matter how big or how small makes us law breakers. It makes us a sinner. Now you might be saying well we are in big trouble but that is where we turn to the hope today.
    James 2:12–13 NIV
    12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

    Mercy Triumphs

    We have the promise that Mercy will triumph over Judgement. The Grace of God is such that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. To come and defeat and give us freedom from the wages of sin. In him we find new life and his mercy is such that he freed us from the bonds of sin even when we don’t deserve it.
    We are reminded of this because we need to remember that God is calling us to live out that very mercy he showed us.
    This passage doesn’t just speak about God’s mercy to us it reminds us that our mercy is supposed to be there for others. We are reminded of the relationship we share with God and so we should reflect that into the world.
    We are reminded that we will be judged and God’s mercy is such that we have the opportunity to be forgiven even in spite of the sinful things we may do because the grace of Jesus stands for us.
    Do we do the same for others. Do we give mercy instead of judgement when we see people who we may not fully understand or agree with.
    Have we treated someone unjustly because we don’t agree with them?
    Have we punished and rejected people because we think they have sinned?
    Do we offer forgiveness?
    Do we offer Grace?
    Do we offer Mercy?
    Do we offer Love?
    In a world that is full of brokenness and hurt and pain let us be instead bringers of mercy and peace be reminded of the fact that God didn’t show favoritism with us and so we need to treat others that same way.
    I challenge you to think in your life right now is there someone you need to give mercy to?
    Is there someone you have wronged and you need to seek their forgiveness?
    Got that person in mind.
    Let’ pray together.
    Transition to commnion.

      • James 2:8–13NIV2011

      • James 2:9NIV2011

      • James 2:10NIV2011

      • James 2:12–13NIV2011

Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
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