{"id":25,"date":"2012-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/09\/september-09th-2012\/"},"modified":"2012-09-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-09T00:00:00","slug":"september-09th-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/09\/september-09th-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 9th September 2012 – Faith without works…"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Word This Week:<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n
  • Proverbs\u00a0 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23<\/u><\/a> and Psalm\u00a0 125<\/u> OR<\/em>
    Isaiah\u00a0 35:4-7a<\/u><\/a> and Psalm\u00a0 146<\/u> AND
    James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17<\/u>
    Mark\u00a0 7:24-37<\/u><\/a> <\/li>\n

    <\/span>Thoughts on The Word:<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/font>James 2:1-17<\/font><\/strong>
    My brothers and sisters, do you with your\u00a0acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?For\u00a0if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if\u00a0a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,and if you take notice of the one\u00a0wearing the fine clothes and say, \u2018Have a seat here, please\u2019, while to the one\u00a0who is poor you say, \u2018Stand there\u2019, or, \u2018Sit at my feet\u2019,have\u00a0you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil\u00a0thoughts?Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be\u00a0rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who\u00a0love him?But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you?\u00a0Is it not they who drag you into court?Is it not they who blaspheme the\u00a0excellent name that was invoked over you?<\/p>\n

    You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,\u00a0\u2018You shall love your neighbour as yourself.\u2019But if you show partiality, you\u00a0commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.For whoever keeps the\u00a0whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.For the\u00a0one who said, \u2018You shall not commit adultery\u2019, also said, \u2018You shall not\u00a0murder.\u2019 Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a\u00a0transgressor of the law.So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the\u00a0law of liberty.For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no\u00a0mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.
    <\/span>\u00a0
    <\/span>What good is it, my brothers and sisters,\u00a0if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?If a brother
    or sister is naked and lacks daily food,and one of you says to them, \u2018Go in\u00a0peace; keep warm and eat your fill\u2019, and yet you do not supply their bodily\u00a0needs, what is the good of that?So faith by itself, if it has no works, is\u00a0dead.<\/strong>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>This week I want us to look at the passage of scripture from James.\u00a0 It is one of my favourite pieces of scripture!
    <\/span>
    <\/span>James begins by making clear to us that baseless discrimination is not acceptable for followers of Jesus. We are not to make judgements about a person based on their outward appearance.\u00a0 You see the people of James’ time were much like the people today! They were judgemental, and treated those in society who were in greatest need with disdain.\u00a0 Those who had power and influence – i.e. wealth – however were worthy of the highest respect and honour!\u00a0 Now James wants to make clear a concept that is as radical today as it was then – all are equal before God!\u00a0 It doesn’t matter how much money you have, or what your clothes look like.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter if you can put $1000 in the plate at church or a penny, and it doesn’t matter if you are influential and respected or are disdained by society and pitied.\u00a0 In the Kingdom of God all are equal, and for us to pass judgement against another believer because of their social status (or any other baseless form of discrimination) is a grave sin.\u00a0
    <\/span>
    <\/span>What James calls us to do then is to be gracious and show mercy – i.e. to follow the example given to us by the one we claim as our Lord! We have been saved by the grace and mercy of God, and nothing more! How dare we then pass judgement on our brothers and sisters, when we are in receipt of such grace! James calls us to live\u00a0a life after the example of Christ!
    <\/span>
    <\/span>What James wants us to understand is\u00a0that our faith is not just a matter of intellectual assent to the reality of Jesus.\u00a0 It is not just enough to say that we believe, and then not act out that faith.\u00a0\u00a0 No,\u00a0for James faith is a verb – it is an activity – not just an understanding or acceptance.\u00a0\u00a0
    <\/span>
    Now many over the past two thousand years have tried to argue that this\u00a0portion of scripture indicates that our works\u00a0contribute to our salvation, that we are not saved by faith alone, but by faith and <\/em>works or even siply by works alone!\u00a0 Howver that is not what James is saying.\u00a0 The message that we are to get from this is that genuine faith in Jesus is an active and living faith – it is not a one time event of accepting\u00a0Jesus as our Lord and saviour and then sitting back and relaxing! Jesus calls us to follow him, and James is trying to make it clear that this means active participation in\u00a0the Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
    <\/span>
    <\/span>Is your faith an active and living faith?
    <\/span>
    <\/span>I pray that you are richly blessed this week!
    <\/span>Daryl.
    <\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Word This Week: Proverbs\u00a0 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 and Psalm\u00a0 125 OR Isaiah\u00a0 35:4-7a and Psalm\u00a0 146 AND James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17 Mark\u00a0 7:24-37 Thoughts on The Word: James 2:1-17My brothers and sisters, do you with your\u00a0acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?For\u00a0if a person with gold rings and in fine … Continue reading “Sunday 9th September 2012 – Faith without works…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}