James has been rebuking anyone who thinks it's okay to discriminate against their fellow man. He reminded us yesterday that God commanded the people of Israel to love their neighbor as themselves and that Jesus Christ restated this commandment in His teachings. If we treat one person differently than another, we are not keeping this commandment. James has observed the rich and influential being treated with honor while poor people in shabby clothes are being ignored or pushed aside. He is going to point out today that anyone who discriminates against others is a lawbreaker. He is going to use the law of Moses to make his point, for under the law of Moses a person who failed to keep one law was considered guilty of the whole law. In the same way, if we kept every commandment except the one to love our neighbor as ourselves, we would still be sinning against God and against our fellow man.
What do we do with things that are broken? If they can't be mended we usually put them in the garbage. If I broke a piece off the edge of the coffee cup I'm using right now, I might still be able to use it but I'd have to drink from the unbroken side to keep from cutting myself. The cup would have a broken place and it would no longer be completely fit for its intended purpose. If we don't have love for our fellow man we have a broken place and are not completely fit for the Lord's service. The Lord can't use us for His kingdom in the way He wants to use us if we are lacking in love. A lack of love creates sharp edges on us that are capable of hurting others. We might still be able to obey the Lord by sharing the gospel or by ministering to others in various ways, but if there's no real love in our hearts we are not going to be effective.
People can sense it when we don't care about them. Have you ever had the feeling someone just doesn't like you? Sure, they might be polite every time they see you. They might say all the right things. They might run into you at WalMart and slap a big smile on their face and pretend you're just the person they wanted to see. But somehow you just know they don't really care for you. Well, suppose you were an unbeliever and this person tried to share the gospel with you. Would you be interested in hearing what they have to say? It would probably be difficult for you to believe that Christ loves you if someone who claims to follow Him doesn't love you.
James told us yesterday that we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. He referred to this as "the royal law of Scripture" because it was given to us by the King of kings. Here is what he says about not keeping this royal law: "But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 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." (James 2:9-11)
I'm going to use a secular example to prove James's point. We don't typically think of ourselves as lawbreakers if all we do is speed occasionally or fail to stop fully at a stop sign. But there are laws against these things, just as there are laws against thievery and murder. If we never kill anyone, but we typically drive ten miles over the speed limit all the time, we are still lawbreakers. In the same way, if a person broke one of the laws of Moses, he was a lawbreaker, even if the law he broke seemed "small" to him. If we think breaking a traffic law is "small", we will think otherwise when we have to pay an expensive ticket. If we think failing to love our neighbor is a "small" sin, I assure you the Lord thinks otherwise, and the penalty for not loving our neighbor is as serious as the penalty for murdering our neighbor, because Jesus said that hating someone puts us in as much danger of judgment as committing the act of murder. (Matthew 5:21-24)
Our legal system judges us by the laws that we live under. In the same way, although in Christ we do not live under the law of Moses, we are living under the law of love. Although we have the glorious freedom of obtaining mercy through the work of Christ and not through our own works, we are not free from obeying the law of love. "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:12-13) The Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (Matthew 5:7) If we don't show mercy to our fellow man, why should God show us mercy? Jesus warned us, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:2)
The Lord takes a lack of love very seriously. All the sins and crimes we perpetrate against our fellow man begin in a heart that is lacking in love. Why did Cain kill Abel? Because in his heart he hated him. Why did King Saul try many times to kill David? Because in his heart he hated him. Why did David commit adultery with Bathsheba? Because in his heart he lusted for her, because in his heart he did not respect the holy bond of matrimony, and because in his heart he did not care about treating Bathsheba's husband in the way he would want to be treated himself.
Why do people kill? Because they don't love their neighbor as themselves. Why do people steal? Because they don't love their neighbor as themselves. Why do people backstab each other at work? Because they don't love their neighbor as themselves. Why do people tell lies? Why do they gossip? Why do they have no compassion for the troubles of others? Because they don't love their neighbor as themselves. This is why we are in danger of the judgment if we don't love our fellow man. A lack of love leads to all kinds of sin, for sin starts in the heart. A lack of love prevents us from showing mercy, and God is not obligated to be merciful to us if we are not willing to be merciful to others.
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